Let your arrow go [open]

[weedyshyguy]

Characters: weedyshyguy and cassie_of_troy and anyone who encounters him on his way there :>

Setting/Location: The hallway in Alpha tower heading towards cassie_of_troy's room.

Date & Time: Morning, Day 14

Warnings: ...Bret? He seems to have garnered a warning for awkwardness here. Not that that's new exactly, but those who don't know him are so much more shocked. Fff.

Summary: Bret's

Comments

[cassie_of_troy]

It had been a long time since Cassandra last slept without any dreams. The events of the maze had apparently worn her out more than she thought because for the first time, she found herself waking after the sun had risen, with no memory of her dreams at all. She allowed herself to luxuriate in bed for a little while, savoring the feelings before she finally dragged herself to her feet and dressed. She had made herself a chiton out of a spare bedsheet. The mere smell of fresh clothing was comforting

[weedyshyguy]

Bret toyed with the arrow, his breath catching a little as Cassandra stepped into sight. Okay, he could do this. He talked to girls all the time. Alright, maybe not all the time but-- well, flip, he was in his thirties. This shouldn't freak him out this much, right?

No, it shouldn't. But it did. Oh well, all he could do was try. It wasn't like he was actively trying to pick her up, after all.

He waved the arrow a little. "Hey. Um. Thought you might...want this back...maybe." So far not so smooth, but that meant it was only uphill from here.

[cassie_of_troy]

Past the point of no return. Cassandra pursed her lips for a moment. This could still be salvaged, she decided. She could simply accept the arrow and hopefully leave it at that. She knew Bret. He wasn't always the best at putting things together. Perhaps he thought nothing of how protective she had been of him lately. Perhaps he hadn't even noticed it. It was possible, wasn't it?

No. It really wasn't.

Bracing herself for whatever was to come, Cassandra made her way down the hall, head held high. "Thank you," she said tersely, holding her hand out for the arrow. At the very least, she supposed with a bit of sick irony, he wasn't accusing her of trying to kill him. He seemed to have understood that the arrow was meant for his protection.

Hopefully.

[weedyshyguy]

Clearing his throat, he handed over the arrow, careful to keep the sharp bits far from her hand. Bret had been rehearsing possible ways to broach the topic of her knowing more about him than he did about her, but now that he was in the moment it was like his powers of speech had left him completely. In fact, all he really managed was, "Um. So," before he trailed off, shuffling his feet awkwardly.

"You...Uh. Do we know each other?" Sometimes blunt was best.

[cassie_of_troy]

She took the arrow from him, tossing a longing glance back over her shoulder at the door to her room. It seemed so far way now, taunting her. But retreat was apparently not a feasible option at this time. She had known Bret would ask. She had done her best to deny the possibility, but she had known. And silently, she scolded herself. Lying to herself was still lying. And she detested lying

[weedyshyguy]

Ohhh. Maybe that's all this was? After all, if a woman ever reminded him of his sister he tended to shy away from any attraction he felt to them. Of course, that probably wasn't the same as a desire to protect and/or kill people, but still. He felt a little better.

"So you're not from that...um, Ronen place? Like Bonnie?" He chewed his lip and then added, "She said she knew me. But she got some of the details wrong." Like the gay details.

[cassie_of_troy]

Bonnie. Of course. In all of the fuss, Cassandra had forgotten that Bret and Bonnie made contact over the devices. She had meant to address that matter further with Bonnie, but there hadn't been time. Now, she'd have to find a new way of approaching.

Lightly, Cassandra cleared her throat. "I am from Rowan," she said tightly. "And from Earth before that. Rowan is a place a lot like here. People from different times and places were all mysteriously drawn there. Like me and Bonnie. Both from Earth, but nearly three thousand years apart." She didn't feel the need to address the fact that Bret had been drawn there as well. He'd either draw that conclusion for himself, or he wouldn't.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret blinked, his mind combing through this information and trying to find a common link. "So-- so maybe she met me in the future? Maybe...maybe after here I went there?" Man, and he'd been so looking forward to going home. "That'd be kind of like Terminator, wouldn't it? Guess it makes sense with so many of them around."

And now came the...well, all the questions were awkward. This was just the one that could ruin any chances he'd have at wooing her should he decide he wanted to.

Or wait. Was that wrong? Considering she said he reminded her of her brother... He still wished he could keep his options open. Oh well.

"Bonnie said something...I mean, it's crazy, but she said I was...more involved with my friend Jemaine than I...am. As in. As in-- in a way I'm not because-- Hn." He made a distressed noise, as if he was mere seconds away from flailing his arms and running away. "I'm straight, okay? Just-- I want that to be clear."

[blytheandbonnie]

At that, Bonnie came bouncing around a corner, wearing her Tuck Everlasting dress and singing to herself. "That's me in the corner!" she gaily proclaimed, much more cheerfully than R.E.M. ever had. "That's me in the spotlight, lo-o-osing my religion!"

She paused when she nearly collided with Cassandra and Bret. She didn't seem embarrassed by her sub-par vocal performance. Instead she just wrinkled up her nose and said "You know, that doesn't make any sense. Who puts a spotlight in a corner, anyway? You go into a corner if you're trying not to be seen."

[cassie_of_troy]

Of course, Cassandra had no idea what Bonnie was talking about, but she was fairly relieved for the interruption. Not only did she have no desire to answer questions about Bret and Jemaine and Rowan, but she frankly, didn't know how to respond to his adamant insistence that he was straight. She knew plenty of straight men who slept with other men.

"Bonnie," she said with a measure of relief in her voice, "good to see you looking so lively." That probably meant she didn't need to feed, right? Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

She paused a moment, trying to think of something appropriate and off-topic to say. "I suppose," she started slowly, "we're all quite lucky to be alive after our brush with the sirens in the maze."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret felt his insides twist in a half-good half-bad way at the sound of the female voice. Something about a girl singing one of his favorite songs. A pretty girl with red hair and no apparent boyfriend. Who already knew him.

...As a gay guy, but still.

Fully distracted from their previous conversation, he turned, smiling in a goofy fashion at Bonnie. And proceeded to stare for a bit longer than necessary as his voice caught up with the current situation. "Hey Bonnie. And you're right, I always wondered about that also." It was good to have things in common. "Are you well?" As was using proper grammar.

[blytheandbonnie]

"Yes, yes," Bonnie agreed, waving her hand in an absent way that clearly revealed that the tiny vampire had all but forgotten their time spent in the maze. "Glad we got out."

She smiled brightly, turning in a circle to show off her clean white Tuck Everlasting dress. "Yes! I'm feeling great, thanks. Look at how nice and clean my dress is. It is pretty, isn't it?" Bonnie smoothed down the skirt, smiling fondly. "Not really my style back home, though. I wore bright things--colorful things! My friend Elena could have pulled this off really well though because she had that whole princess thing down to a science. I guess I'd be the jester at the court."

At this, she laughed brightly, as though it was no matter at all. "At least I'd get to wear one of those funny hats, right?"

[cassie_of_troy]

"I don't know," Cassandra answered. These were three words that she very rarely uttered. Hats were a relatively new phenomena in her experience, truth be told. She was more familiar with turbans and the horse hair plumes on the helmets that scared little children. As for jesters, she only had a vague notion of that one as well and she couldn't even remember where that had come from. A vision, perhaps. In general, they only took place in the near future, no more than ten or fifteen years away, but every now and then, she would be struck with one of the far future, of places not even discovered in her time. Those were strangely some of her favorites, probably because they had nothing to do with the deaths of people she actually knew.

Deciding to give Bonnie something, she nodded slightly. "It is a beautiful dress," she said. "Their facilities for washing are...astonishing." Mind-boggling was probably a better word for it. Cassandra still wasn't entirely clear on the hot, running water concept.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret was surprised that Bonnie was saying such negative things about herself in such a happy way. He'd managed matter-of-fact, sometimes, but most of the time when he was feeling insecure he was sad about it. Not...she almost seemed pleased.

Weird.

Not in a bad way, though, and in fact it only made him like her more. He wasn't too complex when it came to his interest in women, and as far as Bonnie was concerned, being pretty and singing a song he liked had already put her in the front running. Cassandra was pretty too, and mysterious, but somehow--

Okay, he felt weird comparing them when they were both standing right there.

"It's very pretty," he managed eventually. He gave Cassandra a little Look, vaguely confused by her comment on the facilities, but he didn't say anything just yet. Instead, he turned to Bonnie again, "When you say 'back home', do you mean Rowan?"

[blytheandbonnie]

Bonnie was a little perplexed by the laundry facilities comment as well, but she supposed that doing laundry would have been more difficult in Greece--like it had been in Rowan, if she was being fair. "Yes!" she agreed with Cassandra anyway (because no one liked feeling like they weren't understood) and smiled brightly. "They are remarkable, aren't they?"

She turned back to Bret then. "No, not Rowan. Clothes in Rowan were kind of medieval-y-ish." She shrugged. "I meant back in Virginia. I wore a lot of bright clothes then. My very, very favorite was this bright turquoise tube skirt." Not elegant like Elena, with her Guess jeans and her baby doll dresses, but Bonnie knew who she was. "I would give just about anything to have that skirt back," she sighed for a moment and then shrugged. "Oh well. Guess a skirt shouldn't be my first priority for getting back, huh?"

[cassie_of_troy]

"I'm not sure what our priorities should be," Cassandra mused. She folded her arms, leaning her shoulder against the wall. "Staying alive, I suppose. And getting back, me to Rowan, you two to your respective homes." She supposed it was speaking out of turn to presume that Bonnie preferred...what was it? Virginia? To presume that Bonnie preferred Virginia to Rowan, but given how she felt about the clothing alone, it seemed reasonable.

Perhaps that answered Bret's question.

She glanced at Bonnie. "I salvaged a bolt of blue fabric. I can make a dress for you, if you show me what you want it to look like." A small, humorless smile came to her lips. "In my day, a woman's worth depended heavily on her ability to weave. I'm not fantastic, but I managed this, I suppose." She indicated her dress.