therewaslife | Room 502 | Late Morning | Saturday

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Room 502 | Late Morning | Saturday | January 1

Bod didn't really know what to do on the first day of a new year. It didn't feel much different from yesterday and it didn't look much different either. He'd remained at the party even past midnight and then had come back to his room and slept for several long hours.

Now, he was wide awake and unsure of what to do with himself. He supposed he could read but he was running low on books and didn't want to run out. There was always the thought of trying to call Silas but he figured his guardian wouldn't be around.

In the end, cleaning won out. He'd already gone downstairs to start a load of laundry and was meticulously organizing books, papers, odds and ends and other things he'd acquired. He'd made his bed before deciding that he wanted to wash the sheets and the bed became unmade.

Tomorrow, there'd be the welcome picnic and after that, classes, so today just seemed like a day to clean and organize his room and his life.

[Door and post are open, sure]

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Kate didn't particularly want to do this. But even after what Mitchell had said, it seemed necessary, and fair. So she showed up at Bod's door, looking tired and awkward as she knocked on the doorframe.

"Hey. Have a minute?"

She intended this to be quick.

Bod blinked at that voice and looked up, books in both hands. "Uh, I suppose. Come in, if you'd like. I apologize for the disorganization."

"Doesn't matter," she replied, softly, as she took a step or two into the room, then stopped to stand there. Couldn't be as casual as she was used to being here, right.

Kate couldn't help her eyes quickly checking him for any sign of injury, even though she'd spent a good chunk of the previous night in the dorm lobby, waiting for everyone else to come back just to see nothing had happened.

"I know I'm probably the last person you wanna talk to, but I just thought I should warn you that there's some..." Ugh, how to put it? She fiddled with the scarf around her neck. "Trouble, happening. That might affect you."

"...trouble?" he asked, settling his books down on his bed and stepping a little closer to her without really thinking. He couldn't help it, the feelings were still there even if he'd been attempting to lock them away.

"What's happened?" he asked, standing in front of her, looking concerned despite himself. "Are you all right?"

Kate took a half step back when he moved closer, just because that made this a just that little bit harder and it really was hard enough as it was.

Then she looked a little apologetic for doing that. "No." And right, now she was going to try and be matter-of-fact about this all. "No, I'm not really okay. You, um, remember my friend Hannibal, right?"

Bod looked away at her movement and then moved away himself, back towards his desk and further away from her since he didn't seem welcome near her. He should have expected that but it still hurt.

"I remember him," he said, nodding and sounding a little more impassive about things. It seemed she wanted it that way.

Kate had no idea what she wanted anymore. But she did know it hurt to have him close when she probably wasn't allowed to touch.

She had to take a deep breath to center herself, but tried not to be too obvious about it. "Well, he's a vampire now," she said, voice mostly steady. "And not at all like Silas, before you think that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said and meant it even if he wasn't really looking at her. He couldn't see what this had to do with him yet.

"It's not the worst thing that could happen to someone," he added after a moment. "I suppose it would depend on the environment around them though."

Kate felt something flare up inside her. So much for getting through this all calm and rational, then.

"Well, it's the worst thing that could happen to me," she said, and couldn't help sounding snappish. It wasn't his fault his worldview kept him from jumping to the worst possible conclusion, and she should've expected that from him, but she'd barely slept last night. She was tired and scared.

"And it could very well turn out to be the worst thing to happen to you, too."

"Why are you getting angry at me?" Bod wondered, frowning and holding up a hand. "I've barely said two words since you arrived and you're already angry."

He thought he'd been doing well too. He'd showed concern, she'd seemingly rejected it, he'd been honest and now she was angry for some reason.

"What do you want me to do, Kate?"

"Not assume the best in every situation for once," Kate replied, maybe a little more calmly but not by much. "I'm sorry I'm kind of falling apart at the seams but I'm just really tired."

And getting distracted from her point. Great.

"I wasn't assuming the best, I was merely stating the way I've seen things," Bod said, frowning at her. "Is that not allowed anymore? I'm listening to you but I'm allowed to have an opinion."

He couldn't stop the next thing from coming out of his mouth. "If you're tired, perhaps you should sit down."

"I'm not sitting down, I'm not staying and I'm not that kind of tired, anyway." Well, she was, but it wasn't the one she was feeling the worst right now. She tugged on her scarf again, exasperated and a little helpless. "How you see things isn't good for right now. This is... really, really bad."

"Fine," he said, sighing and crossing his arms. He looked away again, hating that it was so easy to experience those feelings of hurt again. This was just adding to them, hearing her talk like she was.

"What I think isn't good enough. Of course." He shook his head. "Tell me what you need to tell me so you can hurry up and run away."

"Oh come on, that's not what I --" Kate started protesting, but then cut herself off. She'd done this already, they'd done this. She was quiet for a moment, then straightened up some, and her voice was almost emotionless as she rattled off what she'd came to say.

"Hannibal wants to kill me, but he wants to break me by killing people I care about first. You're pretty high up on his list. I'm sorry. And he showed up on the island last night."

She didn't sound very sorry to him though he figured she was forcing herself to sound like that. He still didn't look at her but he closed his eyes briefly at her news.

"I see." He nodded briefly. "I'll be careful."

Kate couldn't help raising her eyebrows. "That's it?" Then, after a pause: "Nevermind, I don't know what I was expecting, anyway." It was like her heart had forgotten for a moment this wasn't a place for her to get sympathy from, anymore.

She remembered that now, although there was a part of her that wanted to show off her injuries just to get a stronger reaction. "Be careful, yes. That'd be good."

"What do you want me to do?" Bod asked, glancing at her now. "I'm not going to keep talking and offering things only for you to flick them away. I tried that, you didn't want to hear me or accept anything, and it hurts to keep trying right now."

He shrugged, feeling some helplessness herself. "You don't want to be here. You sound like you're telling me this out of obligation. What else should I be doing?"

"I am not telling you out of obligation, God." Even the idea of that hurt, to be honest. And maybe it was that hurt part that took over when she yanked that scarf of hers a little further down.

Handprints for him to see. Her stupid unforgiving pale skin, so likely to let bruises stay past their welcome. "I'm telling you because the guy walking around in my best friend's body tried to kill me this Monday and I don't want that to happen to you, because Hannibal is fucking right about what it would do to me."

He blanched at seeing those and he had to look away to fight down the urge to throw up and the urge to leave to find whoever had done that to her. He wasn't strong but he wasn't afraid either.

"What did he say to you?" Bod asked, looking back at her. He couldn't look at her neck, though. "About me? What did he say?"

"Why do you want to know?" Kate asked as she wrapped the scarf properly around her neck again. She knew it looked awful, and if she knew him at all he didn't want to look at it. "It's not really stuff you should want to hear."

Which may have been a nice, evasive way of saying it wasn't really stuff she wanted to repeat. She remembered every word, of course.

"I'm not asking for details," he amended, shaking his head and still looking a bit shaken. "I meant, all I know is that he wants to kill me. What did he say to you? How did he even get onto my name?"

"He fished for the name that got the biggest reaction," Kate replied a little bitterly, shrugging a shoulder. "'Cause it's all about me."

For once, that wasn't a good thing for her.

"I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do," he said, shrugging and still feeling helpless. "Do you...need anything?"

Kate shrugged again. "I'm keeping my room locked up, and I have a stash of painkillers and a strong guy on speed dial," she said. "I don't know if there's anything beyond that that's nay help. So, just stay alive, and don't let him sneak up on you if he shows up again. And... Don't listen to the things he says."

That last bit came out a little softer, even though she hadn't meant it to.

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