Office #26, Thursday Morning

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell was in the office as promised, juggling with a few things to dispell the boredom. Boredom was such a massive hazard when you were like him, it was sad, really. If nothing else, doing something kept the mental overthinking at bay.

He opted to turn on the television in the end.

[[ open but sp ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

"You know, I haven't seen a single weird thing yet today," Kate said, wandering in without much fanfare and going to sit down in her usual chair. "It's almost freaking me out."

Little did she know that it was all weirdness-free only because she didn't have a blade of any kind. What she did have, though, was a paper bag full of yesterday's cookies. She was nibbling on one, and it totally counted as breakfast.

[chosehumanity]

"I've got coffee," he offered, "I'm sure the day's just off to an early start."

[vanillajello]

"Coffee," she said, stretching out the second syllable to indicate 'yes please'. "Yeah, there'll be something unusual eventually. A new type of holiday cheer forced upon us."

[chosehumanity]

"Better prepare yourself," Mitchell said, snagging a thermos behind him and setting it down. Help yourself, and all that. "Repeat after me: 'bah, humbug'."

[vanillajello]

"Bah, humbug," she snorted, setting her bag of cookies on his desk and helping herself to coffee. Mmm, coffee.

"I went Christmas shopping yesterday, though, so I think the memory of that alone will keep my anti-cheer shields up at least until next week."

[chosehumanity]

"I'll make sure to send the carolers the other way," he offered, magnanimously, and took a sip of his own coffee. "So, you wanted to talk to me because..."

[vanillajello]

Her eyes narrowed. "I never said I wanted to talk to you. I only wanted the coffee." ...But then she dropped that particular act in favor of wrinkling her nose and glancing away. "I had a pretty insane Monday." Oh, the irony in using that particular word.

"You know the island was crazy over the weekend?"

[chosehumanity]

"Heard a couple of things on the radio," Mitchell said, wrapping his hands around his cup.

[vanillajello]

"Did you happen to hear I was apparently in a coma?" Kate asked, picking up another cookie and dunking it in her coffee. "Which is a pretty majorly shitty thing to happen, and yet I'm actually happy that's what it was."

[chosehumanity]

"Honestly, after about two minutes I figured the broadcaster had dipped into the uppers for the evening," he confessed. "Why does that make you happy?"

[vanillajello]

Kate took a bite of the cookie and chewed and swallowed before answering.

"See, I didn't wake up until Monday morning, and then when I did, I thought it was still Saturday, and I left to go shopping and I didn't figure out I'd missed two days until way in the afternoon, when I was at this coffee shop over in the mainland." She looked at him. "You know, my mom... can't remember what the others do."

[chosehumanity]

"But it wasn't that," Mitchell pointed out, ducking his head with what he hoped was an encouraging smile. "Just Fandom making itself known again." Presumably. None of these things ever affected him.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, I know, that's why I'm so happy it was just a coma," she replied, fully aware of how werd it was to say it was 'just' a coma. "But it was pretty fucking scary for a while there. Especially when I got back and found this letter I'd written before I blacked out. It made it seem so much like I'd cracked."

[chosehumanity]

"Maybe it's a bit like cracking," Mitchell mused, "Maybe the island is just... venting your minds a bit so you don't crack on a more... permanent basis?"

[vanillajello]

Kate took a deep breath, then let it out giving him a wry sort of smile. "Maybe. I mean, it's definitely already done something to my mind. What normal person thinks a coma is a good thing?"

[chosehumanity]

"Good point." Not helping, Mitchell. He laughed, though. "Real life usually doesn't work out like TV and the books tell us it should, anyway. And priorities change."

[vanillajello]

"I'd hope sanity would stay a pretty high priority," she snorted, though not as cynically as the actual words may have suggested. "And that's one lesson I already learned when I was a little kid. My life has never exactly corresponded to anything in fiction, so I stopped expecting it to."

[chosehumanity]

He grinned for a moment, then dimmed it. "What did you want to be as a child?" he asked, seriously, "Since the books weren't it."

[vanillajello]

"An artist, like Mom," she said, after taking a moment to think about it.

"And my brother was supposed to become a director and I was gonna be his star. Oh, and I wanted to be a zoologist." Beat, and some soft chuckling. "For about five minutes, until someone told me it didn't mean I'd just hang out at zoos all the time."

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell's mouth curled up. "So did you get anywhere with that?"

[vanillajello]

"Not really," she shrugged one shoulder with a slight smile. "Stuff got in the way."

[chosehumanity]

"Ever think about trying it again?" he asked. "It might help you come to grips with all the insanity that goes on."

[vanillajello]

"I... know what you mean. I think I'm kinda using my ballet practice for that, really," Kate shared.

[chosehumanity]

"Your ballet?" he asked, surprised. "I didn't know you still danced at all."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I don't, not really, because there's no one to instruct me here," she said. "But I go down to the gym at the dorms once or twice a week, and just do the old routines."

[chosehumanity]

"Hey, maybe the school can think of a way for you to perform," he said, cracking a grin. "...On your own initiative. No gremlins."

[vanillajello]

"And not as a result of losing a bet," Kate supplied. She'd have to poke Hannibal about that again. "...But yeah. Maybe." She wasn't opposed to the idea, no. "Performing is pretty awesome, after all."

[bitten_notshy]

"Do you have a second to give some advice?" Jack asked from the doorway.

He looked a bit different. Not only was the glow of love upon him in a way that would make regular Jack roll his eyes right out of his head, but he'd put bits of magenta through his hair and was wearing a t-shirt selected to impress Priestly. (This one. So Jack's sense of punk was a little off.)

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell turned his head away from the TV, ready to give him an earnest affirmative, when-- "Yeah," he said, "Go home and put on another t-shirt. You look like you just fell out of a Hot Topic." Advice given!

[bitten_notshy]

"The fellow at the shop said he sold a lot of these," Jack complained as he looked down at himself. "Why, what's wrong with this one?"

[chosehumanity]

"Nothing," Mitchell replied, shrugging, "If you want people to assume you use words like 'pxnk' and 'prep' and spend most of your time in malls whining about your life."

[bitten_notshy]

"... so Priestly wouldn't like it." Jack didn't understand Mitchell exactly, but he got the gist, enough to understand the most important point in the world to him. "What about the hair? I rather like the hair."

[chosehumanity]

"It's... very... pink."

Purple, technically. Or magenta. But whatever. It was pink.

[bitten_notshy]

"His is blue," Jack said dreamily, taking it as a compliment. "... unless it's green. Or purple."

He happily added, "I'm in love. Really in love."

[chosehumanity]

"Ah," Mitchell said, pursing his lips, "Then you might want to do something about that unless you want him to assume you've got a secret life as a rentboy."

Not always the most PC, our Mitchell.

[bitten_notshy]

"It does not -- I look like a rentboy?" Oh, way to crush Jack's nascent hopes, Mitchell. "Maybe he likes that look. He used to go out with that girl Claudia and she never seemed to be wearing clothes."

[chosehumanity]

Oh, this was more complicated than he thought. Teenagers and their lovelives. "...and you're sure he's into blokes?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Not as of yet," Jack said, the one hitch in his plans making him wrinkle his nose. "Dinah said he's said he wouldn't rule it out, though? And if anyone can convince him to experiment, I think I could." Modesty had never exactly been one of Jack's more sterling qualities. "It'll be different when he knows how I feel."

[chosehumanity]

"...Yeah." A beat. "I'm not trying to dash your hopes here, mate, but you might be barking up against the wrong tree. Figuratively. Possibly literally."

[bitten_notshy]

"I won't know until I try, will I?" Jack said, as if he hadn't heard Mitchell at all. "I love him, and that's what matters. I know he can overlook something as minor as gender. He's that good a man."

[chosehumanity]

"Yeah, I think greater romances have smashed on that turf."

He shot Jack a decidedly funny look.

[bitten_notshy]

"You aren't," Jack pouted, "being very supportive."

Possibly because he was acting insane.

[chosehumanity]

"You're bursting into my office looking like the offspring of a mallrat and a club kid, demanding advice on how to romance a straight bloke," Mitchell reminded him. "Quite frankly I'm not sure how much there is to support here."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack's sulk was growing to epic proportions. "Fine," he said, heading for the doorway. Vampires were so jealous. "I'll come see you when things have worked out with him. Love will win him over. I know it will."

[chosehumanity]

"You have fun with that," Mitchell told him, unimpressed.

Teenagers. Sometimes, they were a little hard to--

His phone started ringing. Christ. George...