fourth ♢ spam

[versusnurture]

[Abigail knows, now, that it's only a matter of time. He's been allowed into the kitchen. He won't show his true face, but one way or another, he'll start working on people. Ripping them apart, one way or another. Making them see too much of themselves until they eat themselves up from the inside, or worse. And she doesn't know, even now, if she wants to help him or if she wants to run.]

[She's tired of being prey, tired of being helpless, tired of being alone and crazy, and most of all she doesn't want people to know - so why has she been telling them? Why did she tell Arkin, why did she let Zane find out? Why is Ben, who has power, letting this happen?]

[She is afraid, so she ties a bright blue scarf around her neck and makes deliberate appearances in several common rooms, the cafeteria, the greenhouse, and the library, a copy of Jane Eyre tucked under her arm. She's quiet when it's appropriate, polite or even chatty when someone approaches her. But there's something not quite right about the set of her smile, to those who know her very well or look very closely, and her heart beats like a rabbit's every time she sees someone new.]

for ben } thursday

[After Riddick finds her, Abigail thinks about the situation for a while. No, she doesn't trust Ben. She doesn't really trust anyone. But Riddick had at least one point: he seems to have decent motives. He seems to care. And maybe that means she's going about this all wrong. Maybe he's more Will than Hannibal. Or like Alana, even: smart and capable but with a part of him that can't see through what Abigail holds on the outside.]

[He has trouble, she knows, with touch. But he's sweet anyway. He cares.]

[She waits for him outside the kitchen, when his shift is over, hands twisting in the hem of her shirt, eyes on the floor.]

Comments

[versusnurture]

[Abigail isn't sure why she's okay with Touko. There are more similarities between them than she'd like to acknowledge. That's why, when she waves, she doesn't stop at a wave - just walks on over with a little smile.]

Hi, [she says brightly, then lowers her voice:] Hi.

[persecutioncomplex]

You're bored, aren't you?

[No matter what's changed, she still has no manners.]

[versusnurture]

[It's fine; the lack of manners just make her smile.]

I'm almost always bored, yeah.

[persecutioncomplex]

It's boring.

[She looks away, trying to find something to say now that she's started this conversation, eye catching on the homework she's doing while she pretends to be working.]

At least no one made you go to school yet.

[versusnurture]

You don't want to go to school?

[Abigail peers over the counter, glancing at the work.]

You don't like it?

[persecutioncomplex]

It's the same as it was back home.

[This is, at least in part, the truth; despite her abilities, she's only an average student in a system heavily weighted towards left-brain intelligence.]

I... I know I look like the kind of person who would like it.

[versusnurture]

You look like the kind of person who looks like a person.

[She shrugs.]

I wanted to go to college, so, you know. There's no point going backwards. Especially not when I'm dead.

[persecutioncomplex]

It's living. You don't get to start over. I know it's what some people say, but...

[versusnurture]

What do you mean, you don't get to start over?