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 ]]

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[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."