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 was pretty sure Virginia was near New York. So if they were going home, Bonnie was his best bet for anything long term. But Cassandra weaved-- maybe that had a lot of stuff like that in common.

It was definitely immensely wrong to be thinking about any human being in terms of pros and cons, but he found it difficult to keep from it after his numerous romantic failures. He'd been thinking for a while that he should be smarter about dating and the things attached to it. It was just a matter of whether this was smart or stupid that he had to be careful of.

He had better stop zoning out, at least. That was definitely in the 'stupid' category. "Um, if you need help-- I can weave. I'm really good. I come form a long line of weavers. And I do lots of that sort of thing so I'm-- I'm good with my hands." Girls liked that, right? "I play guitar." Which they probably knew since they knew him already but oh well.

[blytheandbonnie]

"Oh!" Bonnie chirped excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Oh, that would be wonderful! I'd love to have something to wear besides just this..."

She looked down at the dress. "Gown," she decided the best term was. "Something I'd be a little less nervous to get dirty in, you know?" She laughed like a delighted little girl, reaching out to take Cassandra's hand and giving it a squeeze. "You're the best."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra tensed slightly at the skin-to-skin contact, but she immediately forced herself to relax. What was truly more difficult was listening to Bret introduce himself all over again. She remembered talking to him about weaving, and she could still sing a few of his songs, the ones he had performed in the Stoat, playing on the lute.

"Just draw a picture of how you'd like it," she told Bonnie absently. "I'll try and make something to match it." Try, being the operative word. Cassandra was very much out of practice.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret had the distinct feeling that he was being ignored. Maybe it was girl-time. He wished they would've told him that before they decided to leave him out, though.

Backing off slightly, Bret reevaluated his strategy. Not only had he barely learned anything about this Rowan place but these girls weren't interested him in the slightest! He usually got at least a couple weeks before that happened to him. This was all going so poorly.

Maybe he'd be better off retreating and trying another day? Although leaving now would probably be more awkward than things already were...

Or he could try to get in on the girl-time...

"I can-- Um. I can never make stuff from a picture. It's never as good as the stuff I make up in my head." He glanced at Cassandra nervously. "You must be good." Girls usually liked compliments. He was more sure of that than anything.

[blytheandbonnie]

Other than the dress she was currently wearing, Bonnie had never really seen anything else Cassandra had made, but Bonnie liked getting complimented so she assumed that everyone else liked it as well.

"Well, of course she's good!" Bonnie exclaimed, giving Cassandra a big smile. "I'm sure my new dress will be the prettiest one that I've ever owned

[cassie_of_troy]

What was happening? They were exchanging platitudes now like this was some sort of leisure time. They weren't in the household of a gracious and generous guest. They were practically hostages. Not the type of hostages they had been in the maze, to be certain, but still hostages in a manner of speaking. Cassandra simply didn't trust Cid or Simon. She wondered, vaguely, if either of them did.

"I had considered," she said quietly, "what marketable skills the lot of us might have, if we needed to survive in this world. Off of the caravan. I don't particularly like being dependent and beholding to these strangers whose intentions are unclear to me." She paused a moment. "How do you two feel about it?"

[weedyshyguy]

Bret blinked, confused by the shift in conversation. Cassandra was such a serious girl. Maybe he wasn't smart enough for her. He always hated that feeling. "Um, I dunno. Isn't it dangerous out there? I mean, you saw the-- the lightning...things. And the spider."

Bret shuddered, thinking back on everything he'd seen so far. Truth be told, his experiences in Willaknap were beginning to turn him off his love of nature altogether, and that was harder to accomplish than one might expect.

Suddenly, he missed his sheep.

"I mean, it is kind of...really weird that he knew we'd need weapons, but...but I don't think it would be wise to wander off from all the people who can protect us." He scratched his neck awkwardly, looking away. "Even if some of them are terminators."

[blytheandbonnie]

Off the caravan? Was Cassandra craz--well, probably, yes.

"Didn't you hear about all the scary beasts and creatures out there?" Bonnie said, making a face. Being a scary beast-slash-creature herself, she knew how dangerous mythical beings could be. "I don't really think it's a good idea for us to go wandering. Besides, on the caravan, we at least know we're going somewhere. If we go off by ourselves, we'll probably end up dead or lost somewhere."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra felt an inward sigh. Clearly, this wasn't an argument she was going to win, nor was it even a point she was going to make. "Yes, I suppose you are right," she said evenly. "And if it is the decision of the worldwalkers to trust Cid and Simon, that is their decision to make." Not one she would make, but then again, considering the possibilities for her future, she had very little to lose.

She glanced up at the ceiling, trying to conjure up some new topic that was neither Rowan nor herself nor her feelings regarding Bret. And of course, those were the things most on her mind. Funny how that worked.

"How are you coping with your respective room mates?" she ventured after a moment. That felt safe enough. And despite her prickly personality, Cassandra had found herself warming up to Anathema. That was a nice change.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret got the impression that Cassandra wasn't pleased. At least he wasn't the only cause of her poor mood this time. He really wished he knew why his presence seemed to upset her so much, though.

At least she was changing the subject. "I haven't really seen much of him yet." To be fair, he'd been a little too curious since his arrival. He'd spent a lot of time just looking around the caravan-- finding places to play guitar where he wouldn't disturb anyone, mostly --and by the time he got back most nights, he just went straight to bed.

It was at this point that the pattern of the roommates occurred to him and he realized that both of these girls were rooming with other women. Suddenly this change of topics was quite interesting indeed. "What about you? Do you like her?"

[blytheandbonnie]

Bonnie hadn't really interacted with her roommate, since she'd been busy flirting with boys and getting sucked into mazes and taking group showers, so she just gave a shrug in response to the question and said "Yeah, do you like her?"

She wondered why Bret hadn't wanted to admit that he was gay. Was he still in the closet in this timeline? She wondered if she could help him gloriously burst forth from his closet. No one who wrote songs about magical dragons that cried rainbow tears could be straight, after all.

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra glanced back at the door to her room. "Anathema seems...pleasant." That was a fairly diplomatic word, wasn't it? It bothered her, of course, that Anathema was one of those 'mythology lovers' but at least she was fairly subtle and calm about it. Unlike certain less than subtle Welsh individuals she was acquainted with. But that was another matter.

"As far as I can tell, she was one of the first passengers to arrive on the caravan," Cassandra continued. "She's from England, I believe." And she was intelligent enough to suspect Cid and Simon, but Cassandra decided not to say that out loud and applauded herself metaphorically for her demonstration of tact.

Cassandra frowned slightly. "I must admit I feel a bit uncomfortable with the notion of room assignments. I wish I knew how they got my name to put it on the list. And...I rather wish there weren't so many men living in such close quarters."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret, for whatever reason, almost felt personally insulted at Cassandra's last comment. He wasn't even sure what she meant, but he knew it wasn't a compliment, at least. So, deciding that for the time being he was definitely awarding Bonnie many more point, he narrowed his eyes at Cassandra slightly.

"I doubt you'd want to room with a guy either, though. And back home-- in New York, anyway --me and Jemaine roomed together no problem."

Oh. Wait. Girl-who-thought-he's-gay was here. Flip. "Um, we were bandmates so we could practice a lot, you know. Living together. We only had the one bedroom, so we had to sleep in there together, of course."

Pause.

"Different beds."

There, that was sufficiently heterosexual, Bret thought.

[blytheandbonnie]

Bonnie didn't know why Cassandra didn't want boys around. Bonnie liked boys. They did stupid things that made her laugh and some of them smelled really good and their hands were bigger than hers. But she didn't want to make Cassandra feel bad, so she just nodded.

"I do wonder how they got our names." She figured that was neutral enough. "Kind of like the magical names on our journals in Rowan, I guess. Some weird outside factor." Bonnie was distracted when Bret mentioned Jemaine. So he did, at least, remember Jemaine. Was he just trying to hide some sort of sexual attraction?

Boys were weird. That was why she liked them.

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra wasn't so eager to simply glaze over the some weird outside factor, but she supposed that was simply her personality. She had to know. Not everyone was so driven. Certainly not these two. So, she sighed softly and let it go.

Perhaps now was the time to pick a topic more attuned to Bret and Bonnie. "I wonder how long it'll be before the worldwalkers start pairing off," she said lightly. "That is, if they haven't started all ready." She paused. "And not counting the lovers who arrived together."

And who knew how long they would be on the journey. "Maybe Jemaine will show up eventually," she told Bret, trying her best to be nice.