room 216 ; saturday afternoon

[necroslacker]

Sam's week hadn't really improved after Brannoc's phone call. It hadn't gotten worse but he'd hoped for good news. Brid had called him last night and hadn't given him that. The conversation hadn't been terse, thankfully, but he could tell she was worried which worried him. Something supernatural was attacking locals in Seattle and she hated that she couldn't figure it out. He'd tried to remind her that she wasn't a superhero but she'd said she was and Sam had laughed because he kind of figured she'd say that.

No one had died though and Brid had promised to keep looking. Sam had hung up with her promising to call if things got worse. And he'd actually admitted a fear that maybe Douglas had somehow escaped which she'd tried to reassure him was false.

Currently, Sam was trying to shove dirty laundry into a too small basket and getting more and more frustrated with it as minutes passed. He knew it wasn't the laundry that was causing his stress and frustration but a build up of a few things and his poor clothes were just in the way. He felt like he just kept hitting brick walls in every area of his life. He'd manage to climb over one and hit another and it was just an unending process.

Sam was getting a headache from all the brick walls. And his laundry was just not fitting in the freaking hamper. That was the story of his life, right there.

[Door & post are open, sure]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"Somehow I feel the latter is more likely." Somehow. Like usual, she stopped once she was near but not too near, and shrugged a shoulder. "Personally I'd opt for Japanese food."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm. I'll take that under advisement," he said, nodding slightly. "Food's food to me. As long as it's not meat, I'm good."

[whenshewasnice]

"What about fish?" Natalie asked, actually curious. "Does that count as meat for you?"

[necroslacker]

"I don't do fish either," he replied, shrugging. "Strict vegetarian. Been that ways for years. Don't see a reason to change."

[whenshewasnice]

"I wasn't trying to challenge your ways," Natalie replied with a brief flicker of amusement. "Just wondering."

He had a hard time keeping diets straight since she didn't much care about them.

[necroslacker]

"Well, there you go," Sam said, using a hand to gesture in addition to his words. "Glad I help solve your wonderment."

After his gesture, he went back to crossing his arms across his chest.

[whenshewasnice]

"Thanks." The slight undercurrent of amusement was still there. It was there also in the way she folded her arms across her chest, mirroring him. "I feel so educated now."

[necroslacker]

He couldn't really figure out why she was amused but he wasn't going to ask. He stayed still, arms crossed. He watched her quietly for a few moments before he managed a simple response.

"I try."

[whenshewasnice]

What Natalie found amusing did not always coincide with other people's opinion of the same. It was probably best not to ask.

She watched him in silence while he watched her, and she just kept on doing it for a moment after he'd managed a response. "I remember Ramon guessed that all we do together is stare at each other in silence," she said then. "He wasn't that far off."

[necroslacker]

"I'm not really sure what I should be doing," he answered quietly. "I haven't seen you for a week and I'd rather not have to do all the talking today."

[whenshewasnice]

"You saw me in class," Yeah, because that totally counted. With all the dancing and thugs and things. "I come and I go. Sometimes I feel more like being alone."

[necroslacker]

Yeah, Sam was beginning to wonder if she got emotions and feelings and anything like that at all. She liked to say she never missed things but Sam thought she was missing a lot.

He didn't say that though. "You're right. Guess that's cool, then. Hope it was a productive time for you."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie would've argued that not immediately reacting was not the same as missing things. Even if there probably was an unhelpful helping of that in there, too.

"Not really," she shrugged. "So should I gather that I was missed, somehow?"

[necroslacker]

"You can gather that I noticed," Sam said, refusing to be the one to give things away right now. He thought he was always the one doing that first and it was exhausting sometimes.

[whenshewasnice]

"Things got weird last time," Natalie said, by way of explanation. Mildly. Shrugging a shoulder. "Tense. I'm sure you noticed that, too."

[necroslacker]

"Yep." Well, he had so there was no use in denying that. "I notice things and yeah, I noticed that."

[whenshewasnice]

"I could tell by your hasty exit," she replied dryly. "I don't know if I have much more to say about that. That happens. Tense... happens."

[necroslacker]

Sam was a little disappointed that that seemed to be all he was going to get from her regarding things. He wasn't surprised but he was a little disappointed.

"Yeah, I get that," he replied, nodding. "Live and learn, I guess? Turn the other cheek? Some other stupid proverb that you'll dismiss because you don't like them?"

[whenshewasnice]

This time, Natalie actually rolled her eyes at him. Her. Whatever.

"I gave us space, Sam," she said. "I don't like fighting so I opted for a timeout. I don't know what more to say."

[necroslacker]

"I don't think it was a fight," Sam said, shrugging and finally pushing away from his desk. He slipped around her and wandered towards his bed. "But, I also don't think you even know why things got tense and I left."

[whenshewasnice]

"No, it wasn't a fight," Natalie agreed, turning a bit as she watched him move across the room. "But in my experience that's what tenseness usually leads to."

And she really, really disliked fighting.

"And no, I don't know."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, didn't think so," he said, turning his back on her so he could frown and hide a sigh. He didn't want her to see the continued disappointment about that. "No big deal, I guess. I'll get over it."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie could frown too, though. "That's it?" she asked his back. "You're not treating this a chance to enlighten me?"

[necroslacker]

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not gonna always be the one to talk and talk and talk between us. I tried a few times last week to get you to talk and you weren't having it. So yeah, that's it. I can't keep being the only one to initiate things."

[whenshewasnice]

"How crappy." If not entirely unjustified, as Natalie would've grudgingly had to admit. This had to be the first time that someone sounded like they were giving up on her before the relationship even had any kind of official status.

"I seem to remember that when I did try to volunteer my thoughts on the things that you so wanted me to talk about," she added, after a pause, "I got nothing but variations of 'yeah I got it' in return, so. No one's perfect, right?"