seattle ; monday afternoon

[necroslacker]

It'd been another night racked with nightmares. They were getting worse and worse and Sam had no idea what had seemingly opened the floodgates. He didn't know what was causing everything to spiral out of control. He'd found himself downstairs in the basement way too much and for way too long. Ramon and Frank had even started questioning him and he'd just snapped angrily and stalked away.

That had just concerned them more. And they'd threatened to tell Brid which was great. He didn't want to deal with her when it came to this. He didn't want to deal with anyone. He just wanted to internalize it and make it go away.

He'd locked himself in his room for right now. The bed was unmade and messy and his clothes were strewn about, a testament to just how unfocused he was. But, he was still up and he was still mobile. Well, he was looking out one of the windows at the gray afternoon.

But, that counted.

[NFB but open for interactions]

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[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had regained some sanity over the past day or so. Amazing what Mothers Day at home could do for you.

Her parents were both at work now, and she'd been at the piano for quite a while. Working on songs to ease the pressure in her head. She was still there, actually, as she made the call. Absently playing a quiet melody with the phone tucked between her ear and her elbow.

[necroslacker]

It took Sam a little while to answer but he did eventually shake himself out of his thoughts to pick up his phone.

"Hello?" he asked, trying not to sound as tired as he was.

[whenshewasnice]

"Hello," Natalie replied. "It's me."

Who else would call with soft piano sounds in the background, though?

"How are you?"

[necroslacker]

"Fine," he said simply. It wasn't true, though. "How are you? Musically inclined today?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Musically inclined forever." Well, she was. "Other than that, fine, I guess."

It was probably more true with her than it was with him, anyway.

[necroslacker]

"Good to hear," Sam said, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against the cool glass of the window. "What's got you calling me today?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Nothing particular." Just her mood, really. She played an absently melancholy bit of melody. "Pretending to be social."

[necroslacker]

"Ah." He didn't know if he was the greatest person to be social with especially right now. "I don't know how great I'll be at socializing, if I'm honest. But, I'm never that great."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm not sure you count, anyway." Well, their relationship was an odd one at best. Calling him was cheating. "But why's your socializing particularly crap now?"

[necroslacker]

"Just is," he said evasively. "But, I haven't counted for awhile so I guess I get that."

Or something.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie sighed, and pressed a few more keys. "That's not really what I meant, but okay. Bad day?"

[necroslacker]

"It's just a day, Natalie," he said, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing quietly. "Just like any other day I have lately."

[whenshewasnice]

"That doesn't actually make it a not bad day," Natalie told him a little more softly. "It just means you're having a lot of bad days in a row. That's what it sounds like, anyway."

[necroslacker]

Sam shrugged even though she couldn't see it.

"It is what it is," Sam told her, shrugging again. "I deal with it just fine."

[whenshewasnice]

"Uh huh." That wasn't accusatory, or anything. Just... yeah, even she wasn't sure what it was. "If you say so."

[necroslacker]

"I deal with it."

It was more to convince himself than her.

"And I move on."

[whenshewasnice]

"Okay." This time, her tone was mostly placating. "Anything I can do?"

He asked her that same question often enough.

[necroslacker]

Sam sighed. A part of him wanted to let her in but the other part, the part that was still bitter about everything, didn't. He wanted to shut her down.

"No." And that part won out. "I'm fine. I just need some sleep, I'm sure."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie couldn't say she felt surprised to hear that. A little sad, maybe. Maybe even a little bit rejected, although it was just a faint trace of a feeling that probably came more from other things that had happened lately, than this.

"Okay. Whatever you say. The offer will stand, though."

[necroslacker]

"I appreciate the offer but there's nothing to help because everything's fine," Sam told her, rubbing his cheek and blinking a few times. "I'm just dandy."

[whenshewasnice]

"Don't exaggerate." He was rarely dandy these days. She'd stopped playing, and was holding her phone in the normal manner, now. "But again, whatever you say."

[necroslacker]

Somewhere, deep in Sam's gut, he was starting to get angry at her for just...giving up so easily. For not pushing. It was clawing at him and he was forcing himself to keep it down and keep it out of his voice.

"I'm not exaggerating," Sam told her, shaking his head. "But yeah, I say. Thanks for being so understanding."

[whenshewasnice]

Actually, Natalie thought she was mostly just being passive-aggressive and not entirely giving up.

"I'm really not sure I'm being that understanding, but..."

She took her turn to shrug.

[necroslacker]

"What do you want me to say?" Sam asked her. "Because all you're doing right now is using a passive aggressive tone on me and it's irritating me."

Well, he was irritable already and her tone and words weren't helping.

[whenshewasnice]

"Yeah, I do that to people lately," Natalie replied dryly. "But at least I'm not talking you around in circles? People really dislike that."