Where Does the Good Go

[drownondryland]

According to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, when we're dying or have suffered a catastrophic loss, we move through five distinct stages of grief. The order might shift and we all express our loss in different ways, but the steps remain the same.It's been a while since Meredith's done this, standing in front of the bookshelf and carefully scanning row after

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[practicallyaguy]

Zoe did not dance. She'd done her duty to her half of the gender at the council party, worn a dress, got drunk and snagged answers of the guy she liked. A prom did not exactly excite her. It hadn't back in high school when she had had a more solid set of reasons to go. Now it just seemed sad.

"When it bites, it only hurts for a minute I swear," she said as she breezed into the rec room, on the hunt for some satisfyingly geek reading material. Now that she had the room to herself, she could use it as she saw fit until someone lost their mind and gave her a roommate. That meant two things: loud sex and comic books, the latter of which she as scoring more of.

[drownondryland]

"When what bites?" Meredith asked, glancing over at the girl as she swept across the room. She held the cylinder against her and wondered if she should have asked at all. It was possible the girl wasn't even talking to her - was drunk or just one of those people who talked to themselves. It wasn't like she wasn't guilty of that, too.

[practicallyaguy]

"The projector," Zoe clarified, waving at the machine in the corner. It didn't take a rocket scientist to go from cylinder to projector and figure out what had the potential for happening. That was for the best as physics had given her hives.

Five steps from the bookshelf and she turned to walk backwards towards it, her hands making claws as she snapped her teeth. It was a joke, that much was clear. "Proverbial bite, but a tough one none the less."

[drownondryland]

Meredith arched an eyebrow, nodding upwards. "Ah," she said, then managed a crooked, if grim smile. "Definitely a tough one, I know, but I think I'll survive it. The question is whether or not I should. It's all yours if you wanted it." That, at least, would settle the question for her, though she couldn't imagine she wouldn't at least take the film with her. She'd just wind up watching it later. She could delay, but she would always end up here.

[practicallyaguy]

"God no. That thing and I are on the outs for the duration."

If she hadn't needed reading material she would be boycotting the bookshelf as well but a girl can't win at everything. It could be reasoned that it wasn't the projector's fault, but in the grand scheme of blaming inanimate objects this one was at the top of the list.

"So, have at."

[drownondryland]

Watching the episode was pretty much inevitable at this point, Meredith knew that, even if it meant she came back later, even if she put it back. She'd just dig one up again. It would worry her too much for any other outcome now that she'd started asking herself about Izzie's well-being. Watching it in front of a stranger, though, was too weird; at least, watching it in front of someone she'd just talked to. An audience was unavoidable here.

"What'd it do to you?" she asked, managing a lopsided grin. "Other than bite."

[practicallyaguy]

"Star Wars prequels."

She said the three words like they were something radically different like Iranian Death Squads or other terrible and awful things.

"Lame, I know, but there's weird sentimental reasons behind them. I just wish they didn't suck so much."

[drownondryland]

Meredith made a face, gaze turning upward. "I didn't even bother watching the other two," she said. "Mostly because my life got... really busy, but also because they just looked stupid. I mean, who wants a talking frog for a sidekick?" There was a reason she mostly steered clear of those kinds of things, but sometimes childhood memories compelled adults to do stupid things.

[practicallyaguy]

"That makes you a person with much better control than I do, apparently."

When it came to bad movies and cult-like fandoms that she was in, Zoe just couldn't stop herself. If she had been a cat she would be a very dead one.

"No one, that's who. And I met a guy who had a full back tattoo of that guy. Sure it was before the movie came out but still, ridiculous."

[drownondryland]

"That's something he'll be regretting about now," Meredith deadpanned, then her lips pressed into a flat smile and she held up the film canister, giving it a little shake. "Unfortunately, if I do have better control, I use it up on things like Star Wars instead of the urge to watch my own life. This place is pretty screwed up."

[practicallyaguy]

"Yikes. I couldn't watch my life. I can't even look at home movies my parents made, so the idea of anything else kind of squicks me out."

Fictional people are nothing new to Zoe. Her comic book icons were living, breathing people as well as a few video game characters and what not. If there was a blanket rule that applied to everyone, the 'not real' thing probably was it.

That didn't mean she wanted to go check it out.

[drownondryland]

"Yeah, well," Meredith said, shrugging. It was easier to be flip about it when talking to someone else than it was when immersed in a mindful of dark possibilities. "I never liked pictures of myself much and movies are worse. I never think it sounds like me. But... it lets me check on home, you know?" Even if Seattle felt less and less like home all the time.