Happy early Easter. Hopefully Easter Andy-bunny will leave you plenty of pastel colored bayonets all over your house/yard/school/work/in-laws, etc.
Have a nice day,
~death-in-the-orchard
Rebecca alone was in when the door opened to Seras' knock. The girl appeared as indifferent as usual, and her stare was as uncomfortable as Seras remembered. But the Police Girl shoved aside her uneasiness with a pitifully grin. That felt like it'd been tacked to her face. Stabbing into her pained cheeks.
"I'm so sorry about lunch. I hope you guys didn't wait the whole time – or… I'm sorry, Alucard is really hard to wake up. And s-she didn't answer my call-"
A dull voice responded before the babble could run its course, "No problem, Seras. It's fine. But Francine won't be back till about 4 o'clock, or maybe even closer to 5."
Seras shuffled her feet guiltily, standing in the doorway as Rebecca continued her marathon stare.
Rebecca finally blinked, after what must have been a full 30 seconds. "You can talk to me if you want. Though, I doubt it'll fill up an hour… or whatever time it is right now." The stare crumbled into nothingness as Rebecca turned away, giving Seras permission to enter and close the door herself… while Rebecca rubbed at her tired eyes. She groaned and made a face at herself in the mirror before looking back at her guest, "I didn't feel well, so I didn't go to class today."
"Oh I'm sorry," Seras shot back automatically. "Are you feeling any better?"
A grunt seemed to give a neutral 'maybe'… or 'maybe no.'
As the teen rubbed at her ringed eyes, Seras noted a blue Spider-Man band aid. She smiled, trying to relax herself with the funny picture. "I like your band aid."
The teen's tired eyes popped wide open (a bit too round) and she glanced at the blue band aid as if she had not been the one to put it on. Then the teen chuckled.
…She has a friendly laugh, Seras thought as it soothed her. Strangely.
Rebecca brought up her other hand with a flash of pale pink. "I ran out of Hello Kitty band aids," she explained, wiggling her fingers. There were white kitties on her pointer and middle finger, and then a black kitty on her ring finger. Before Seras' curiosity could move her lips into action, Rebecca had already predicted her questions. She examined her fingers from different angles as she spoke, "I sew, so I prick my fingers a lot." Seras gathered up some reasons to doubt this, but then the girl kept going: "I was trying to stitch up a hole in a T-Shirt while I was in the car last night. Not a good idea." She laughed, and rubbed her fingers affectionately. "I learned my lesson."
"This was before I met with you guys?"
Rebecca's expression dulled, staring into Seras again, seeming to resent the inquiry, the suspicion. The nosiness. "Why is it any of your business?"
"O-oh um," the damning stutter. Oh cheezits. The fledgling gulped, and then smiled through the nervous look that was simply impossible to shake loose. "Just trying to rev up a conversation?" Her brain: … What?
"Okay." Giving up the game, for no apparent reason, Rebecca clasped her hands behind her back, frowning at the ceiling until she'd figured out what she wanted to say. When she was ready, she released her hands clapping them once, as though to gain Seras' already acquired attention. "I lied. But, I'm not really a delinquent. I had permission to go off campus – I went out to lunch with an uncle. Thennn- It got late. I stitched up the shirt while he drove me back. I got home tired, wanted to go to bed… and then… you showed up." She gave a military salute. "That was my day, officer."
The sudden broad smile eased the jolt the word 'officer' had given the Police Girl's sensitive nerves. Seras smiled clumsily right back, then thought her reciprocating chuckle sounded baritone and stupid. Durrherr herr. "Yeah," Seras coughed a bizarre giggle she'd never be able to repeat. "Sorry," she coughed again, excusing the weird laugh.
"You thirsty?" Rebecca asked, turning to fetch a Sprite out of a mini-fridge while Seras waved her hands in a plea to desist her kindness.
"No- no really, I'm fine. It's just the-" Seras took the soda and nodded a humble thank you. Hesitatingly twisting off the cap, listening to the spurt of compressed air… and then the fizzle… she took two long gulps, and then took an even longer breath. … Uncle?
…
The question must have been visible on her face, because Rebecca's eyes narrowed and the previously hospitable (maybe overly-hospitable) girl frowned. "Ohhh. What part of my report didn't you like? Hm? Can't I go out with an uncle? What's so naughty about that?" The dark, sneering smile pricked Seras, and her shoulders twitched as though from a sudden draft.
Staring and at a loss, the fledgling would have readily forfeited the subject, but Rebecca decided to face-plant her bed. And then she broke the silence this odd decision created, propping herself up on her elbows – holding her head thoughtfully. "Hey, Seras?"
"U-uh, yes?"
"I haven't heard any rumors about Francine today… I haven't really been out, but she told me nothing new has come up since yesterday. …You've kept your promise, right?" The girl flipped over, and lay on the bed, watching Seras critically with arms folded behind her head. She bent a knee and swung her ankle onto it, so Seras could see her blue sock bob as her foot tapped the air, rolled in circles – waiting for a reply.
"I promised." Seras looked beyond the blue sock, into the girl's eyes. "I'm just here to help. Not to make things worse. For any of you. …I've got my own problems to deal with, and I wanted to give you guys a hand."
Rebecca's mouth twitched, her features showed evidence of perplexity. But then she stared at her sock, whisking her foot from side to side. Picking up a hand, she sighed at her Hello Kitties, and let her legs flop back onto her comforter. "Sorry. If they let us have pets, I would've used a hamster… not you." She sighed at Hello Kitty, and Seras' mouth worked itself as she understood nothing of what had just been said. Rebecca looked at Seras, met her gaze, and then resumed her conversation with her band aid. "I was testing the uncle story on you, but I already figured that you'd heard the rumors about me too. I mean, who hasn't? Everyone's just butting into each other's lives lately." She continued to inspect her fingers, as Seras waited, baby blue bright with hope. "Yeah, I've got an older boyfriend. So shoot me. It's my life, and I do what I want with it."
It was quiet for a time, so Seras mustered up her itty-bitty scrap of confidence, and bet everything she had on an attempt at being forward. "Did your boyfriend know Francine's ex-boyfriend?"
Rebecca looked her over, but didn't exhibit any signs of anger or annoyance. She was quite calm. And her big toe tapped without rhythm. "All the old guys have to know each other?" Rolling her eyes at the lack of an impact this had on Seras, Rebecca then mumbled, "Yeah. And I might have introduced them. And that might just be why I'm so involved in my roommate's problems. And why I feel so freaken stupid-guilty about it." She hissed at her Hello Kitties, and then turned a cold eye on Spider-Man. Suddenly she showed the blue band aid to Seras, staring at her dully – rings of exhaustion hanging deepening her gaze. "My 28 year old boyfriend is basically a 6 year old trapped in an adult body. Yeah, sooo intimidating. He doesn't even have the guts to kiss me, and… well, we don't say his name anymore, but You-Know-Who, the ex, was pretty similar. …Francine gave him a make-over, and taught him how to look nice and keep eye-contact when he's talking to 'the ladies.' I'm just saying this so you know that me and Francine were, or are, in total control, at all times. No one was being taken advantage of. Anything and everything was done with consent and consideration- Alright?"
Seras' head bobbled in a lively nod, her blonde fluffy brain gears beginning to smoke – as information and theories came pouring into and out of her head. "I never thought you guys were irresponsible-" she began, with a genuine tone and expression.
Rebecca laughed outright in Seras' face, "We are irresponsible! Completely irresponsible. But we're not idiots. …I'm saying we know we're irresponsible, and we've got it under control. We're not nose-diving, not quite yet. Especially not Francine- She's through with it all. Wiped her hands clean of the whole mess." After a moment, Rebecca took notice of Seras' uneasiness, and her fidgeting feet. And the blonde kept looking away, as if deciding on something. Rebecca flinched and frowned instinctually when Seras took a sharp breath, and announced a loud Okay! much too strongly.
"I've sorta got experience with this as well. Given- but- well… Um… Let's see here." She scratched her head and giggled at her awkwardness. "My semi-erm-interest-potentially-um-yeah, might be in his early to mid-twenties."
"Does he really exist, or are you just trying to get chummy?" Rebecca grimaced and regretted her hasty suspicion, when she saw the hurt look on Seras' face – seeing that the girl was being honest, with someone she barely knew. For whatever reason. "Sorry- I'm sorry, okay? So we're all in the same boat." One of the desks in the back of the dorm room buzzed as a cell-phone received a text, and then went into a wild fit – seizuring all over the wood. Rebecca went to soothe the device. Scanning through the text quickly, the teen stared at Seras – with the way-too-long manner Seras hated. "You have any idea where this teacher took Francine's errr- ex-boyfriend? Is he in jail? Or was he just escorted off the premises?"
"Is he trying to contact you?" After she'd said it, she first resented her own stupidity and forgetfulness, and second applauded her brilliance for totally following her story. Seras questioned the phone, and then Rebecca. Knowing the girl had a knack for manipulation. Things came together like two snails oozing headlong into a traffic accident and mutual brain damage, while thoughts raged in a flurry of impatience around them. The fledgling quickly added, with the thrill of unhampered joy knocking against her ribs (having no beating heart to fill the role), "Maybe they just fired him and made him leave, and he never got arrested?"
"No, Spider-Man's asking about him." Rebecca waved the blue band aid at Seras' blank look. "He says he's worried, and so is a friend of theirs. He's been missing since he left for his date with Francine."
The question bubbled right out of the Police Girl as her head spun, "Are they all roommates or something?"
"Hm?" Rebecca shrugged after a pause, "Yeah, they are. It's expensive to live here, but they didn't want to have to deal with some long, crazy commute. Spider-Man's the only one with a car, I think. They share it and all pitch in for gas-money, I'm assuming." The girl's marathon stare split to the phone as Rebecca tapped out a message at break-neck speed. "Hey, you mind if I mention your sister was the last one to see him?"
"Uh- uh, ahaha ummm-" Seras gurgled through her grin. The teen didn't look up, and the fingers didn't stop. "I… I dunno. Maybe not-"
"Already sent it."
Suddenly jittery, Seras twiddled her fingers and looked about with a sense of helplessness. "Uh- okay then. Did you use h- her name?"
Rebecca read off the text, "A girl I know saw him get escorted off the campus by a teacher." There was a buzz as a new text came in. Luckily, Rebecca still kept her marathon stare on the tiny screen, so she missed the burning cherry-red that coated Seras' cheeks - and her wild fidgeting. Oh my god oh my god oh my god are we really talking to our targets oh my god I'm the first one to get contact, not my Master, not Father Anderson- ME! I did it! Woohoo! Go ME! SERAS RULES! (for once I'm the awesome one)
"He wants me to talk to Alucard, and see if I can get some more information about where he might've gone." There was a hum, and then a few quick taps on the cell phone before it clattered onto the desk, as though the owner could not imagine it breaking – not in a million years. "How about we all have dinner tonight?"
Rebecca started when she saw Seras' insanely overjoyed, and rather pointy grin.