005 || [audio/limited action]

[bonescientist]

[Brennan is seated by the kitchen table in Angela's apartment, several sheets of paper spread across the tabletop. An empty coffee mug and her Network device are perched on the edge of the table where a small space remains paper-free. She's perusing the documents with a frown, pausing to scribble notes on a yellow legal pad every now and then. She

Comments

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

[Brennan blinks rapidly, Angela's sudden appearance throwing her off balance. Curiously, she feels exactly like she did years and years ago when she was caught hiding nettles into Russ' bedsheets by her mother. This inexplicable craving for bacon when she's been a vegetarian for a few years already is... distinctly embarrassing and something Brennan does not readily want to admit out loud. To distract her hands from the packet of bacon, she pushes errant strands of hair escaping from her slapdash ponytail behind her ears.]

Angela, hi. You're home early today.

[Brennan is not in the habit of stating the obvious. Apparently, uncharacteristic urges make her behave, well, uncharacteristically. Realizing Angela is probably expecting an answer to her question, Brennan shakes her head, folding her arms across her chest.]

Oh, no. No, there's nothing wrong with the bacon. I just... would you happen to feel like having late breakfast?

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

[Brennan smiles a little and nods, reaching for the frying pan and setting it on the stove. Ah, eggs. Eggs sound really good, too. And more coffee. Maybe toast. But the bacon is clearly the primary objective, here.]

How about some eggs? Maybe some toast as well...

[She trails off, seeming almost to be talking to herself as she opens the fridge door again without waiting for Ange's reply, taking out the carton of eggs. Briefly, she thinks this sounds more like something Booth would eat for breakfast, but she'd rather not think of him so soon after seeing him in the City only to have him leave. As Brennan fiddles with the supplies, she responds distractedly to Angela's inquiry about the documents.]

Those are Zack's notes he compiled of this place while he was here the last time. He gave them to me over the weekend before he... [There's a brief pause.] Went back home with the others.

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

[Brennan nods while cracking eggs into a bowl, wondering whether or not to tell Angela she isn't really concerned with vegetables right now. The question about the notes distracts Brennan from the food for a moment, and she heaves a frustrated sigh.]

I haven't found anything definitively useful yet. Zack has made very succinct measurements of everything that is readily examinable, such as the quality and consistency of the tap water and food, air and soil. There was nothing unusual about the results. However, the introduction of these curse days upon the citizens seems to have a tentative, monthly pattern to them regarding the severity and dispersal of them, but this is just an initial observation. I'll have to examine the notes further and construct a proper timeline to say anything for certain.

[Suddenly, there's a light bulb moment. She stills, mid-movement.]

The curse days.

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

[Despite thinking hard about today's strange occurrence, Brennan still has the presence of mind to store away Angela's nugget of information.]

I'll be sure to make a note about that, thanks.

[Shaking her head a little as if to shake off the confusions, Brennan trashes the egg shells, eyeballing the damn tempting packet of bacon on the counter. Two years worth of effortless abstinence from meat being badly shaken during one afternoon, and specifically in this place? It seems a little too coincidental.]

Not really, Ange. Have you noticed anything strange about yourself today, if you don't mind me asking?

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

[Brennan almost huffs, her shoulders jumping up and down again as she sighs, an uncharacteristic edge of a whine in her tone at the unfairness of it.]

I really, really want to eat that bacon, Ange. Everything else available in this kitchen seems blatantly second rate next to that horribly unhealthy, morally unappealing bacon. And yet I crave it with the intensity that probably rivals that of a drug addict looking for a next dose!

[Finally getting it out of her system, Brennan blows out a tetchy puff of air between her teeth.]

It makes no sense since I don't even eat meat anymore.

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

[Brennan inhales slowly and forces her gaze away from the retreating packet of bacon. This is ridiculous! Out of sheer, stubborn tenacity, she turns around and busies herself with the eggs, only to abruptly change her mind and proceeding to take the coffee grinds out of the pantry, starting to load up the coffee maker. Maybe some coffee will make her feel full and calm her down. Although she does want the eggs, too. Scrambled. But not as much as she wants the bacon. Damn it.]

I'm actually feeling like eating pretty much anything right now, but that bacon is the most tenacious urge at this point. It's all extremely aggravating.

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

No, just toast and coffee.

[Brennan groans at that. It was as she thought. What a rotten week this was turning out to be. Eating some bacon wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would mean surrendering to an urge that isn't even genuine. The thought annoys her greatly, to think someone or something is controlling her in such a way.]

I suspected that was the case. Never during the years I've been a vegetarian have I struggled with my choice of diet nor felt any stronger urge to consume meat. This is too sudden and too forceful to be a casual occurrence or craving.

[Dejectedly, she measures the grinds into the filter bag of the coffee maker.]

Hopefully some coffee might take the edge off. And I'm still making some eggs.

i just want some eggs and bacon. i'm not interested in spam;

[bonescientist]

Are you sure you want to put it in your purse, Angela? It'll smell and ruin the purse.

[Angela's question makes her pause. As irrational as it sounds, imagining a tiny, helpless piglet is helping her resist the bacon. Thankful at the change of subject, Brennan focuses on the new topic that she was supposed to discuss with Angela today anyway.]

I've been fine. Good, actually. I made an appointment with a Mr. Pendleton today for a job interview at the forensics department. He appeared interested to employ me even without decomposing bodies in the City. He seemed rather confident there would be something for me to do, there.

[Brennan shrugs, slightly self-consciously.]

I think it might be good to occupy my time with something. You know I don't deal very well with idleness.