RP Atermoiements

Dr. Kallie Reed

Dr. Kallie Reed

Member
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[font color=purple]DATE: 8/7/23
LOCATION: L-14
ASSETS: Dr. Kallie Reed; Cait Corby
EQUIPMENT: Only our mortal souls
PURPOSE: Who knows with Cait.[/font]

Kallie Reed was having a relatively good day. The other Class-Ds hadn’t done anything in the last twenty-four hours that required a new lecture about the ethics code. Her kids were all doing well, and they were thriving under the new schooling program she had requested they switch to. She had finished all of her paperwork for the day and had no more visits to make. This was an excellent thing. The last few days had been so hectic and so unbearable that Kallie could use the break.

This was also a very bad thing. It was a bad thing because it meant that she was sitting at her desk with her tablet, pen in hand, and a cup of tea on her desk. Nothing about this would have been particularly alarming to other people, but that was because they couldn’t see what she was painting. That was because they didn’t know that the tea was a special tea, one she had started using because a particular psychiatrist had recommended it to her many years ago.

The chamomile tea was cooling on her desk, and the gray eyes she was working on made her sigh.

She locked the screen to the tablet and set it to the side. She’d only taken up “painting” as a way to distract her hands from the desire to knit. She would never knit again. It had been more than a decade, however, and she still wanted to. Just like she still wanted to walk down that hall until she found his door, even after all these years.

She couldn’t help the fact that she was beginning to delve deep into her own feelings and thoughts. Maybe it was the part of her that was still a psychiatrist at heart. All she knew was she quickly stopped, closing her eyes. She was not going to ruin her first good day in months by thinking about fucking Alvis Holt. She snorted and took a sip of the cooled tea. Kallie had a habit of ruining her own good days. Maybe something would show up to distract her. It wasn’t like anything could stay calm here for too long.

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]The office door was exactly where it was supposed to be. L-14 was weird like that. All of the places Cait had visited had been where they were supposed to be, with none of them shifting around or requiring one to drop through another dimension or go through the floor because the corridor was a mobius strip and that was the only way to get to the doors on one side of it.

Really, the place was hardly any fun at all. Cait could have fixed some of that, except she had a very specific set of instructions not to. It was almost like these people didn't want to be entertained. Or, at least, like they didn't want to entertain Cait, which was somehow more personally offensive.

But this one was different. The nameplate by the door said Dr. Kallie Reed, and because this was L-14, there was a pretty good chance that the office actually belonged to the person listed on the door because, again, these people were boring, and also because they didn't guard their Names nearly as well as they should have. Nonetheless. Dr. Reed was supposedly responsible for most of the junior anomalies here, which meant she undoubtedly knew a few things about ACF-1003, and in addition to that, she was extremely close to Pepper.

So, more on account on the second part than anything else, Cait did the unthinkable: she walked up to the door, knocked twice, and stepped back to wait patiently.
 
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There was the distraction she had been hoping for. Kallie stood from her desk, setting the stoneware mug back down on the table, and made her way to the door. Her lab coat was off, draped over the chair, but within easy enough reach that if there was an emergency she could grab it and go.

She didn’t know what she was expecting when she opened the door, but it wasn’t a goth girl with white and blue hair and electric blue eyes. That was honestly pretty far down her list. She and the young woman were almost eye to eye, with Kallie being slightly taller. She looked the woman up and down, her greying curls falling into her face. Then it dawned on her. This was Cait Corby.

Pepper had gone into great detail when describing Cait to her the day before, and if she hadn’t, Kallie never would have even guessed as to the identity of this woman. She cleared her throat and said,[font color=purple] “You must be Caitlyn Corby. Pepper told me about you. Please come in, and tell me what I can do for you.”[/font color]

She moved away from the door and walked back over to the table, gesturing briefly to the other office chair in the room. Both chairs were of the soft leather variety, the kind that didn't stick to your skin when you stood but were instead soft to the touch. She went to sit back down before stopping.[font color=purple] “Could I offer you a cup of tea? I don’t have any coffee.”[/font color]

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Oh, well, that saved on introductions and not having to do the whole dance around giving a name. Cait took the step inside and nothing tried to murder her or devour her soul.

L-14, man.

[font color="33ccff"]"You could offer, but I wouldn't accept."[/font] You didn't accept drinks from strange entities, demigods, anomalies, or senior researchers. That got drilled into anyone at L-9 pretty quick. In this particular case, it was made much easier by the fact that Cait couldn't stand tea. Her mother had been into teas. They had been medicinal.

[font color="33ccff"]"I'm good. Well, not really, but that's more of an issue of alignment. Anyhow, do you have time to talk?"[/font]
 
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Kallie gave a little smile at Cait’s refusal of the proffered tea and then sat down in her chair. A conversation would definitely be a good distraction. She took the tablet and pen from her table and tucked them away into their drawer. There was a perfect space in the drawer for it, complete with a little pen rest for the stylus.

[font color=purple] “As it just so happens, nothing has gone terribly wrong today, so I do have the time to talk.”[/font color] She pushed there for a second, before adding with hesitation,[font color=purple] “Is this about… Pepper?”[/font color]

If something had happened, or her friend thought something was important enough that she needed to know it, that would certainly ruin her good day. It would also be extremely unexpected, as nothing bad ever happened with Pepper. But there were also dozens of other reasons that Cait could be there.

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"Pepper? Oh, who knows, I usually don't know what I'm going to end up talking about until halfway through the conversation."[/font] Cait had said this with her usual innocently charming air. She was capable of being at least one of those things, anyway. Still, she wasn't really sure how much Dr. Reed knew about the whole Pepper business, and if she wasn't already looped in, then it wasn't Cait's place to reveal anything. Besides, Pepper was a friend, and Cait wasn't going to rat her out to her-

Senior researcher. Cait supposed. Better just think of it that way, yeah?

[font color="33ccff"]"But Pepper's good last I knew, anyway."[/font] Because friends didn't mention the meltdowns, those were private. And also it had been a good conversation about a lot of good things. Especially the whole dating thing. And Cait was definitely not going to bring that up. [font color="33ccff]"Actually I'm supposed to be wandering around here asking people for tidbits of info about 1003 after the last excursion, so we can try to piece together some... pieces. So, without any leading questions, if you had to pull some interesting 1003 facts off the top of your head, what would they be?"[/font]
 
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A soft sigh of relief. While Kallie would never outwardly show it, she worried deeply about the young woman. The soft tone with which she had asked after her was the closest thing to concern that most people would ever hear in her voice. So far nothing bad had happened to her, so she wasn’t sure why she had always expected something to happen when people brought her up, or when Kallie brought her up.

Then Cait asked about Ira. Of all the children she could have possibly asked after, she picked the only one whom Kallie had never been able to connect with. Well, between her and Laine, her failings were few but heavy. Kallie had never really forgiven herself for not trying harder, especially with the revelation that Laine had been acting a certain way to protect herself from Strings. It didn’t help that in less than two months, Cody Redd had managed to get the girl not only talking but receptive enough to others that Pepper had started visiting the girl as well.

No, she had nothing to really say about either of those facts, except that it must have been a personal failing of her own.

[font color=purple] “One Zero Zero Three. Ira. I’m afraid that I can only tell you that she spent my entire tenure here silent until recently. The moment I joined the team who worked with anohumans and began taking over the children’s cases, they assigned me to her. I spent six years trying to convince her to talk to me. She wasn’t having it. I don’t know what Dr. Redd did, but consider it a miracle.”[/font color]

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]Wow, she really was worried about Pepper. Cait knew enough to recognize the signs. It wasn't a bad thing, though. Pepper needed people who cared about her looking out for her, especially since she'd come down with an interminal case of divinity. That was the sort of thing you needed people for, if you wanted to hold on to your humanity.

Not that everyone did, sure, but that didn't seem like Pepper.

Dr. Reed's commentary on 1003, on the other hand, well. Cait didn't need a fancy psychology degree to hear the exasperation in that one. Since she didn't have one of those degrees and didn't have to pretend to be professional about it, she just started giggling.

[font color="33ccff"]"Sorry. You just sound so worked up about it."[/font] Cait wasn't actually sorry and she wasn't actually apologizing, but it was one of those things people said to each other when they weren't trying to get each other mad. [font color="33ccff]"So. Expert analysis - was there some reason she couldn't talk, or was she just being stubborn?"[/font] Cait, having met 1003, felt that it really could have gone either way.
 
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A small smile cracked on Kallie’s face, crossed between something cynical and something genuine. She took a sip of her tea before answering.[font color=purple] “I would say stubbornness. There’s nothing medical to say otherwise, and we believe she just chose to shut down, after… well. Dr. Holtzheim. As far as I’m aware, as it was before I arrived, she didn’t take his death… well. My belief is that the death of the only person she had considered a friend gave her a firm belief that all friends would be taken away from her. So she actively chose not to let anyone in.”[/font color]

Kallie set the stoneware mug back down on the table with a kind of strange reverence for it. She didn’t set it down the way you would a normal mug, somewhat carelessly. The way she set it down was careful, considerate, and cautious as though it could break if she were too rough with it. There was a sadness in her eyes as she looked at it, for a brief second, and then it was gone as quickly as it had come.

[font color=purple] “I’m also of the personal opinion, one that isn’t backed up by any real facts, that it was maybe… too early for her. I was too early. I was trying to get through to her in the early nineties. For someone who doesn’t age and never will, I’m sure that was still well into her grieving period.”[/font color]

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"I think that makes sense. Lot of immortals have problems when they realize everyone they care about is gonna die, yeah?"[/font] This was, of course, completely about the Godbait and had absolutely nothing to do with Cait having had that whole conversation with Pepper just recently. Cait wasn't going to go into all that, because that wasn't right - but if Kallie Reed was able to read between the lines and pick up the idea that maybe a little extra support would be good, well, bonus to her. But it wasn't Cait's fault. Plausible deniability was what it was all about.

[font color="33ccff"]"Eleven's a tough age, anyway. If I had to pick an age to be stuck in for the rest of eternity, it wouldn't be anywhere around middle school. Too many feelings, no real idea what to do with them, an overwhelming belief that you're Right and all the ideals about changing the world to suit you rather than learning to deal with it - actually, no, strike that, that's just perfect for a lil' bitty god, isn't it? Oh, well. Have you noticed any physical changes since she's started talking to Cody? Might be too early, but any hints of, like, growing up? Because that'd be something to watch for, with the whole physical-reflects-metaphysical that some of them pick up."[/font]

Not that Cait was necessarily an expert - she wasn't in research, after all - but she spent enough time with or around various entities of questionable divinity that she was probably at least qualified to ask the questions, even if she wasn't qualified to determine the answers.
 
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Kallie Reed was, in fact, able to read between the lines. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she eyed Cait up and down. How much had Pepper told her? Did Cait know more than she did? She knew that large portions of the information regarding Pepper’s immortality had been classified in the documents, even from her. If that were the case, maybe Kallie should check in with her adoptive daughter.

As for the rest of what Cait was saying– it might be good to check on that aspect of the girl. There was always the possibility that she was right, and the girl might have begun aging again. It seemed unlikely, but with their synergy, anything was possible. Kallie made a mental note to take care of scheduling an appointment with Ira to check for those kinds of signs.

[font color=purple] “Not that I’m… aware of. That’s absolutely something we should be looking into, however.”[/font color] She paused, ruffling her short hair before sighing audibly.[font color=purple] “Well. I suppose that means I'm going to have to pay her a visit, given I trust half of the other Class-Ds as far as I can through them, and given my stature, that would likely be not at all.”[/font color]

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]Oh, Kallie had that I read between the lines look. Cait contrived to look innocent. She was very good at looking innocent. Being innocent, that was another thing, but looking it was different.

It was definitely time to move the conversation on. [font color="33ccff"]"Yeah, you don't seem like the sort of person who goes around yeeting folks."[/font] It was less about stature and more about attitude, really, Cait thought. Sort of an I'm bigger on the inside, therefore I am stronger on the outside methodology. Or maybe it was just a little occult leverage. Kallie probably didn't have occult leverage, but she had psychological leverage, which was basically the same thing but not as flashy.

[font color="33ccff"]"Oh, well. Sounds like you're on top of it. Anyway... while I'm here-"[/font] That was the segue into the really interesting part, and while delivered in a very casual tone, which meant it was not at all about to be casual. [font color="33ccff"]"What'd you and Strings get up to while he was here?"[/font]
 
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Kallie had just raised her cup back up to her lips when the question crossed Cait’s own lips. She swallowed hard and coughed, clearing her throat. She set the mug back down, the same reverence in her carefulness, and turned her body fully in the chair to face Cait. She examined her, hard, her eyes narrowing slightly. Then, she visibly relaxed, as though remembering something.

[font color=purple] “You work at Nine. With Strings. Well, then. What exactly do you want to know? What we did while he was here, or what I know about him, or what he knows about me? I could tell you a lot of things, but for the most part, I probably won’t. You could always just ask the bastard himself.”[/font color]

Although she said it with some vitriol, there was a glint in her eyes as she leaned forward, clasping her hands together on the desk. There was a smile on her face, the same one she had given Strings so many years ago when they had first met. It was a smile of interest, of unnerving calm, and maybe just a little mischievousness. It was a smile that said “ask away.”

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]She called him a bastard. That was a great sign, as far as Cait was concerned. It implied that Kallie had actually known the guy. From the reaction, she'd probably known him pretty well. People didn't generally react like that with someone they'd just seen in the hallways once or twice.

[font color="33ccff"]"I did ask him,"[/font] Cait responded. [font color="33ccff"]"But he's usually the first, second, and fourth person to tell you not to trust a word he says. Someone else usually gets third before he has a chance. So I'm asking you! Since, you know, I do have to work with him and all."[/font] Cait did not consider that a problem. Cait, in fact, considered that awesome. It was just that everyone else considered that a problem, and she was pretty good at saying what people expected, especially if it helped get her what she wanted.

[font color="33ccff"]"Mostly I just want to know what he was like. You know, when he was younger and not quite so full of [Redacted]."[/font] She'd actually said 'Redacted.' The brackets were somehow implied. It was a Foundation thing. Besides, it wasn't like Cait could talk about what Strings was full of, or at least what he'd been full of up until recently. If people assumed she'd meant something else there, well, good for them. If they didn't, she still hadn't said anything that gave too much away, or would surprise anyone who actually knew him.

[font color="33ccff"]"You worked with him, yeah? So what's the coolest thing you ever worked on? And what was he like off hours? You know. The hot gossip. I am absolutely here for the hot gossip, Dr. Reed."[/font]
 
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It wouldn’t surprise Kallie if Strings was full of some kind of [Redacted], whether it be eldritch bullshit again or just generally shit. She thought back to the very first time they had met, and how he had had so little of his own blood in his body that he had practically been dead. Then she gave a snort and leaned back in her chair, a slight fondness making its way into the smile. Maybe she was feeling nostalgic that day. Usually, her response to someone bringing up Strings was a long angry rant about where he could stick the ethics code in order for him to properly absorb it.

Today, she was feeling a bit more… like her old self. Herself before Alvis.

[font color=purple] “What was younger Strings like– a lot like he is now, although he may have gotten even more self-aware since then. He was every ounce of the bastard he is today. Strings has always been Strings. He might have been… softer, in a way, back then. We had some moments.”[/font color] She smiled a little bit and chuckled under her breath as she remembered all their amicable arguments and the trouble he used to get into.[font color=purple] “He was a troublemaker, the same as he is now. Always has been and always will be. I remember how he was brought in. I was the one who examined the fucking idiot.”[/font color]

Kallie took a long sip of her tea, it having cooled off enough to do so.[font color=purple] “He was the same off the clock as he was on it. Strings has never been interested in putting on a mask like that. Just the usual one. What we worked on… For a while, he was in the anohuman department with me, but he was at his best in the psychology department. Can’t really say too much about what we worked on together, most of those records as restricted, but I can say he was a bitch and a half to help train.”[/font color]

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"He's not an idiot,"[/font] Cait said, defensively. She hadn't argued about bastard, but she was going to argue about that one. Strings was many things. Cait didn't think she knew half of them. Gail had once said that he didn't either and the Foundation was just a toy for figuring himself out because he was the most interesting person he'd ever met, but Cait didn't know if she believed that. Also, it had been after one of Those Events and Gail had been hung over. Also, Gail was only slightly more trustworthy than Strings, especially when she was having a lawyer moment.

Dr. Reed was having a researcher moment, which was what happened when people thought for a moment that Strings was fun, before they remembered who they were talking about. Not that Cait didn't find him fun all the time, but that was Cait and she was also not trustworthy. [font color="33ccff"]"You almost sounded like you liked him for a minute there."[/font] Poking the seven-eyed transdimensional bear was a time-honored L-9 pastime. [font color="33ccff"]"So, did you ever, like, kiss?"[/font]
 
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[font color=purple] “I think he’s the exact opposite of an idiot. I think he’s one of the most intelligent and self-aware people I've met in my life. I think he’s the exact opposite of an idiot, Cait. But that doesn’t mean I won’t take every opportunity to insult him as I possibly can.”[/font color] She flashed a genuine smile then, one full of mirth and delight, which then fell into something more devious as Cait asked if they had ever kissed.

For some reason, that had been a prominent betting pool when they both worked at L-14, especially after the Alvis mess. She had no idea why everyone thought they should fuck, but that wasn’t her problem. If anything, it was a problem with how everyone else viewed relationships between men and women. Kallie was of the mindset that they could be friends without having to be more than that. Not everyone could be Cody and Pepper, after all.

Which was why, with the biggest and most unnerving grin yet, she answered,[font color=purple] “Tell me Cait, do you think we ever kissed? Do you think I liked him or was attracted to him?”[/font color]

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[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"][font color="33ccff"]"Okay, then,"[/font] Cait responded, mollified. If Dr. Reed wanted to toss around insults, that was fine, as long as she knew they weren't accurate and they were both on the same page that Strings might have been many things worthy of insult to some people, but idiot wasn't one of them.

And, of course, because Dr. Reed was one of those Psychology People, she turned Cait's question around without answering it. Usually people expected this to make Cait uncomfortable. The people who knew Cait best knew that there was absolutely no chance, or that maybe it did and she liked it because she did get on well enough with Strings, or that 'you fool, you just activated my trap card.' Or all of the above.

So she returned the unnerving grin with the impish smile of someone who had seen way more unnerving grins than that, put her chin in her hands, and stared at Dr. Reed unabashedly while she considered the question.

[font color="33ccff"]"No."[/font] She'd needed to hear the response to be sure, but yeah, that was the answer. Of course, if she'd been a normal person, she'd probably have left it at that, but this was Cait. [font color="33ccff"]"But-"[/font] Because there was a but there, and not the kind that got inadvisable tattoos. [font color="33ccff"]"It was because of someone else. Not him."[/font]

Cait sat up a little bit, lowering one of her hands and tilting her head to rest her cheek on the other. [font color="33ccff"]"You were with someone else. Or had been with someone else. Or wanted to be with someone else."[/font] Cait spent a lot of time analyzing relationships, usually when they belonged to other people. It had started as something to do when she was a kid in a tourist trap, but she'd kept it up because it was funny.

She sat back now, for real this time. [font color="33ccff"]"'Cause you've got all the markers of working with someone who does things differently than you do in a way that annoys the heck out of you and you probably annoy the heck out of them and then things happen and you end up dating for six months."[/font]

That one Cait knew quite a bit about.
 
[div style="background-color:purple;border-top:purple 4px outset;border-left:purple 4px inset;border-right:purple 4px outset;border-bottom:purple 4px inset;"][div style="border-top:purple 4px inset;border-left:purple 4px outset;border-right:purple 4px inset;border-bottom:purple 4px outset;"][div style="background-color:white;color:black;padding:15px;font-family:courier new;"]
It started off fine. She had guessed right that they had never been an item, thank god. Kallie had never gotten even the slightest hint of that kind of interest from Strings, and she had certainly never displayed any herself. But all of her mirth at playing games with Cait disappeared as the younger woman hit her in the gut. It probably wasn’t intentional. She probably thought it was funny. That seemed to be exactly what was happening as she tacked on her guess of how the relationship went.

And she was wrong, she was so off base. And before she could stop herself, her mouth moved, and the voice that came out was strangled, constricted with emotion.[font color=purple] “You’re wrong. It wasn’t for six months and it wasn’t because we annoyed each other, it was– it was–”[/font color]

She drew in a sharp breath, her body suddenly held tense and upright as she looked away, trying to breathe. Repress. Don’t feel it. Strings had said he wasn’t worth it and that they had needed distance. He was right about these kinds of things. Alvis wasn’t worth– he wasn’t worth–.[font color=purple] “Alvis and I weren’t like that. We were never, not really, and we, uh, it was almost seven years that we were friends.”[/font color]

She didn’t know why she was still talking. Shutting up now would be good. She carefully picked up the earthenware mug and took a long drink of the chamomile tea, but it tasted like ash in her mouth. It was his tea, after all. He had recommended it to her and had even bought her some so many years ago. He had given her the mug as well. Repress. Repress. Repress.

It ended poorly. When she looked back up at Cait, her whole demeanor had changed. There was a harshness in her voice and a hard glint in her eyes. She had been on the verge of a panic attack, but was now just angry, it seemed.[font color=purple] “You’re right. Strings and I never fucked, or kissed, or did anything, though a lot of people thought we should.”[/font color]

[/div][/div][/div]
 
[div style="border-top: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #33ccff solid; border-left: 4px #33ccff solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]Huh.

That had gone weirdly. Cait had been talking about Strings, and all of a sudden they were talking about some other guy. So, apparently there was some other guy, and apparently it was still a thing. Or, more accurately, still a not thing which was basically a thing but upside-down.

And apparently that other guy was Alvis. Dr. Alvis Holt? Really? That guy?

Dr. Reed had some issues. Cait hadn't exactly expected to uncover that much of a bomb there, but hey, she had gone to the Strings School Of Inquisition, which basically went something like:

[div align="center"][div style="width: 800px;"][div][attr="style","display:grid;grid-template-columns: 200px 200px 200px; grid-template-rows: 70px 150px 150px 150px 150px;grid-template-areas: 'L1 M1 R1' 'L2 M2 R2' 'L3 M3 R3' 'L4 M4 R4' 'L5 M5 R5';font-size:12px;font-family:courier new;"]
[div][attr="style","grid-area:L1;"]
[div][attr="style","text-align:right;"]______________[/div][div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]|
|
v[/div]
[/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:M1;"]
[div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]____________________________[/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:R1;"]
[div][attr="style","text-align:left;"]______________[/div][div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]|
|
|[/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:L2;"][div][attr="style","margin:2px;text-align:center;line-height:112px;"][div style="border-top: 4px #CCCCCC solid; border-bottom: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #cccccc solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]Did it break?
[/div][/div][/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:M2;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;line-height:150px;"]----------> No ---------->[/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:R2;"][div][attr="style","margin:2px;text-align:center;line-height:112px;"][div style="border-top: 4px #CCCCCC solid; border-bottom: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #cccccc solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]Poke it again[/div][/div][/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:L3;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]|
|
|
v

Yes
|
|
|
v[/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:M3;"][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:R3;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]^
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|[/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:L4;"][div][attr="style","margin:2px;text-align:center;line-height:112px;"][div style="border-top: 4px #CCCCCC solid; border-bottom: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #cccccc solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';"]A little or a lot?
[/div][/div][/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:M4;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;line-height:155px;"]--------> A little -------->[/div][/div]

[div][attr="style","grid-area:R4;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]^
|
|
|
|[/div][div][attr="style","text-align:left;"]--------------[/div]
[/div]
[div][attr="style","grid-area:L5;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;"]|
|
v[/div]
[div][attr="Style","text-align:right;"]A lot --------->

[/div][/div]
[div][attr="style","grid-area:M5;"][div][attr="style","text-align:center;line-height:132px;"]------------------------->[/div][/div]
[div][attr="style","grid-area:R5;"][div][attr="style","margin:2px;text-align:center;"][div style="border-top: 4px #CCCCCC solid; border-bottom: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #000000 solid; border-right: 4px #000000 solid;"][div style="border-right: 4px #cccccc solid; border-left: 4px #cccccc solid; border-bottom: 4px #000000 solid; border-top: 4px #000000 solid;padding:8px; background-color:white;color:black;font-family:'courier new';padding-top:42px;padding-bottom:42px;"]Great!
Now you know how it works![/div][/div]

[/div][/div][/div][/div][/div]

So this was, overall, pretty successful. She'd have to tell him about it, once he was... well. Around. Ugh. Cait hated it when her people weren't around.

[font color="33ccff"]"I don't think you should have. Then he'd probably have been different."[/font] A lot of people probably would have seen that as a good thing, but Cait wasn't a lot of people. [font color="33ccff"]"This explains, like, so much about Pepper, though."[/font]
 
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