Genius is a Step Away from Madness - OTA

[a_soul_awake]

There were some things Hope did not understand. People were one of them. The camp was just… suffocating lately. There was so much tension, so much fear and upset feelings she felt as though she had been dumped back in High School. Yes, admittedly, it was a bit more serious than that. Victor had sexually assaulted two women and she suspected someone

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[un_move_able]

Fred Dukes had been out enjoying the cold. He could only hope the next place the team moved to was half as nice as this. He had even joked with Mort that they should go polar bear diving, to which the response was a string of snippy Brit obscenities. Kid just didn't know how to have fun.

Suddenly Hope Chandler went running past him. She seemed to be in her own little world, looking ahead and driven to just run. Dukes could swear he heard her talking to herself.

"Doc, wait up!" he called out, following her.

[a_soul_awake]

Hopes stopped in her tracks and spun around to face whoever had called out her name. She smiled when she saw Fred. She hadn't seen him around all that much lately.

"Hello, Fred. Didn't I tell you to call me Hope?" she asked brightly.

[un_move_able]

Fred smiled bashfully, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Yeah, you always do." Dukes had not spoken with the woman for a while now. The last doctor he had seen was Milbury, and he was a real piece of work.

"So where's the fire?"

[a_soul_awake]

"Which should probably tell you something," she said goodnaturedly. She didn't mind being called "doc" all that much. She just prefered the people she called friends calling her Hope.

"Oh, just, trying to get my head away from camp for a bit," she explained. "It's getting a bit... tense there and I needed a break."

[un_move_able]

"Oh yeah," Fred replied, understanding completely. "I know tense. I know it real good."

He looked around. "You enjoyin' the snow? I sure as hell am. Don't like the heat too much. Dunno if you can tell."

[a_soul_awake]

She gave a wry smile. "Yes, so, I'm escaping with the great outdoors."

"Actually, I'm the opposite. I grew up in hot and humid. I don't really know what to do with snow." She shrugged. It was nice, but after awhile she would prefer something else.

[un_move_able]

"So..." Fred began to walk with her. "I reckon the weather ain't the only thing got yer nerves shot. Most of the time you seem pretty damn mellow."

[a_soul_awake]

She slid her hands deeper into her pockets and sighed, causing a big cloud of mist to rise up in front of her.

"I just get tired of people sometimes." She smiled at him. "Mostly in trying to figure them out. Which I can't do really."

[un_move_able]

Fred knew how that sort of thing worked. He was never the type to understand what other people were really like. With the exception of few close friends, almost everyone around him had the potential to judge and belittle him.

"I get tired of people all the time. S'what makes me be on my own, most of the time anyways. A few friends keep me from doin' it all the time though."

[a_soul_awake]

"Well, besides Atticus and the doctors I work with, there's not many people I really spend my time with at all."

She was probably anti-social that way. Honestly though, she was usually happier and more relaxed doing things on her own. There was a reason she was happy in research.