room 216; sunday afternoon

[necroslacker]

Sam's day had started out mundane enough. He'd gotten up after a sleepless night, eaten some breakfast and laid around until finally deciding to give his mom a buzz. She'd caught him up on Haley's goings on and her own things before the conversation had veered towards his uncle. His mom hedged a bit, seeming like she knew something she wasn't telling him. He tried to push her into telling him but she refused and shut down on that subject.

He'd let it go and turned the topic towards asking about something that could be worn to protect regular (it was a subjective definition of that word he was using here) people from seeing what he saw at night. When his mom asked, he'd hedged and just tried to get the information out of her. If there was something, she didn't know what it was and she'd apologized.

The conversation had ended quietly and now Sam was sitting on the edge of his bed, giving that pouch he'd worn for so many years a look over. Maybe he could start wearing it again at night or something. It did help keep ghosts at bay and he did like to sleep sometimes.

He didn't know. And he couldn't really ask anyone else. He'd thought about Brid but shut that down immediately. The Council? Yeah, not sharing his personal life there. Maybe he'd just ask the next person that tried to beat him up.

It happened often enough.

[Open door and post, yes!]

Comments

[necroslacker]

Sam looked a little surprised to hear her ask that. He tempered it thought and shrugged again. "I don't know if there's much to talk about. My mom's holding something important back from me and it's frustrating."

[whenshewasnice]

"Related to what?" Natalie wondered, with a tilt of her head. Of course, she was aware he probably didn't know even that much. "Any idea?"

[necroslacker]

"My uncle," Sam said, shaking his head. "He helped me out and then took off. Kinda disappeared and I think my mom might have made contact. He might be able to help me. Or at least tell me more about this thing I've got."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie nodded, watching him. "Why would your mom keep that from you?"

[necroslacker]

"I don't know." And that was the honest truth. "Unless something bad's happened to him and she doesn't want me to know, I don't know."

[whenshewasnice]

"Hm." Yeah, she didn't really know what to say to that. She wasn't great at this sort of thing. "Hopefully it's not that."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah." He sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. "Hopefully not."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie watched him quietly for a moment. "Are you okay?"

She wasn't even sure why she was asking. It was kind of obvious things weren't all good.

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, fine," he said, waving it off and shaking his head. "He's just my uncle. It's not like he was around when I was a kid or anything. It was just my mom. I'm cool. No harm done."

[whenshewasnice]

"I didn't mean just concerning that," she replied softly, then shrugged. "But okay."

[necroslacker]

"I'm just having one of those days," Sam said, shrugging. "I didn't sleep a lot last night, you know. I was this close to just wearing this stupid thing -- "

He snagged that pouch out of his drawer and waved it around. It wasn't stupid, he knew that, but he was a little irritated.

" -- just to get the ghosts to shut up."

[whenshewasnice]

"So why didn't you?" Natalie wondered, honestly curious. "It would've just been for the night and you could've slept."

[necroslacker]

"Because I hate the way it can make me feel," Sam remarked, shaking his head. "It's like cutting out a part of myself. It almost hurts."

[whenshewasnice]

"Right." That was about what she'd expected to hear, to be honest, even if she hadn't ever heard him put it in so many words before. "Well, I'm sorry."

[necroslacker]

"You don't need to be sorry," Sam sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "It is how it is. I'm dealing with it."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well I'm dealing with it by extention," Natalie pointed out mildly. "I get to be sorry if I want."

[necroslacker]

"I don't accept that apology," Sam said, proving he still had some sarcasm in him.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Hard to accept something that isn't there, I know."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, well."

Sam plucked his pouch off the bed again and stood up, pacing around with it in his hand for a few quiet seconds. He ran his thumb over the material and sighed.

"Any regrets about me now that you know all this stuff?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie watched him for a moment, and gave him one of her very best 'wow you're being an idiot' type of looks.

"No."

Though even if she'd have had them, she probably wouldn't have told him right now.

[necroslacker]

"What's that look for?" Sam asked even if he had an idea what it was for.

[whenshewasnice]

"Being an idiot."

She was nothing if not helpful and straightforward!

[necroslacker]

"...you or me?"

Well, maybe she was thinking she was an idiot for being with him? He didn't know.

[whenshewasnice]

If he couldn't tell from the look she was giving him now, he never would.

"You."

[necroslacker]

"Oh." He looked away because that wasn't a very nice look. "I can't help it, okay? I'm not having a great day. It makes me pessimistic."