2019-09-07 - Alternate Viewing

Lilith leaves the door unlocked for Byron to come up and inside and texts him to tell him such when he shows in the afternoon. She's asked for something that might be challenging for him, or unfamiliar, at the very least, so she's taken time to put on coffee and the house smells of it and cookies she's pulling out of the oven when he walks in. They're just made from the quick dough mix, though, it's not very impressive, but it does smell good. Dog is on the back edge of the couch and poised as if sitting, pointed, and waiting for a buddy to come in through the door, kind of positioned hopefully like a real dog that waits and greets someone coming in from work.

"Hey. I know this might be a long shot, but it might help me defend and slash back if I'm around and it happens again from that particular source. Maybe easier to trace the energy before it... mm. Dunno. But look. I made cookies." Standing the kitchen, the woman herself ambushes Byron with chatter and pulls out the pan to start spatula'ing the cookies onto a cooling wire rack for haste.

Today, she's wearing a white v-neck little form-fitted t-shirt that's pretty soft and plain, but it's been put over a black layering cleavage tank beneath that color shows through, so it's a little fashionable all the same. She's wearing it with a pair of soft fitted capri pants that have lacing criss cross up the legs to a certain extent and she's barefoot for the time being, hair loose and mostly straight like it was blowdried that way after the shower. While side-eyeing him and doing that, she hums a little to the low music playing then wonders, "What do you think about what Erin had to say or believes?"

Byron had spent the whole morning answering inquires about this latest attack at his apartments which was then followed by a visit to Erin at the hospital. By the time his Rolls is parked outside of the Pawn Shop, his phone is already out and he's sending an email to one of those concerned tenants now that he's no longer driving. Still in his gray suit, he makes his way into the shop then proceeds up the stairs without pause. Before he even opens the loft door, his senses are assaulted by the soothing aroma of coffee and cookies. Not only that, there's a stuffed husky sitting on the couch waiting for him.

He walks with a casual gait, as if he were taking a stroll through her shop and home. "Cookies? For me?" He says with a laugh, wearing a bright smile. "I don't eat them as often as we used to. Though pastries seem to end up at my place every so often, but I do miss a good freshly baked warm cookie. With coffee to boot."

Despite murder and what she'd told him about being pulled into a marine's dream, Byron seems... okay. If things were truly bothering him, he holds it in well. Not that he doesn't act concerned for Erin's plight, but doesn't look overly stressed by it all, not allowing it to consume him. "First of all, Erin feels betrayed, knowing that her grandmother's being upset at her over this new job may have gotten her nearly killed. It's possible. I mean, Hyacinth's father was murdered and it was recently found out that Frankie was his bastard. When this was brought up to her at that particular meeting we were all in with the Addingtons it seemed as if it was the first time that they'd heard about it. But I have my doubts. Margaret Addington knows a lot, including the fact that Erin started working at Kelly's Gym."

"They're cheater cookies, to be fair, but nothing makes a house smell better and hell-- you should be comfortable all the way around for a change before you stress blow. And that includes the air you're breathing in through that darling nose." Lilith tells Byron as she finishes laying all the cookies from pan to rack to cool, reaching to pull two mugs from down in the cabinets afterward for pouring coffee from her drip carafe into. It's no espresso machine, but the slow process at least enhances flavor and makes the room smell amazing. The woman quirks up a hint of a satisfied smile when she sees the man's own smile and demeanor with some delay, but she seems to be watching him from the corner of her eye a little closely while he speaks.

Then her brows go up a touch with mild surprise before she bats her lashes and shakes her head a couple of times, bringing the coffee cups over to set on the coffeetable in front of the couch, giving the cookies a moment before she dumps them onto a plate to bring over as well. While she finishes listening, her hands go to rest on the curve of her hips as she looks up at Byron directly, then, "... didn't know about Frankie. Or if I did, it... went somewhere else in my head for other details. Hope she's okay. But what the hell is Erin going to do for work at the Kelly brothers' gym on Elm Street? Bikini car wash to get guys in paying to punch each other?" A pause, "Bet the old lady knows lots of things she never outright says. I mean, you know, you hear the talk, but... each matter seems to paint her more and more... spidery."

After drawing in a breath, she steps forward to downright latch a hug around Byron's midsection, like an overdue necessity and/or confidence bolster of affection for what's to come here soon, and whatever has already come to pass that she's lacking details on. Being in Erin's room didn't really allow for that. Also she's just like that more ever since the dream and attack on him, "Also, c'mere, past due."

"Cheater cookies are still cookies and Pillsbury has done no one any wrong. Unless there was a salmonella recall recently that I'd never heard about." That kind of stuff happens. Byron doesn't settle down into the couch, though he does remove his jacket to lay out over the back of it because it's a warm summer afternoon and it can be a little constricting with how close to form it fits on him. Once that is done, he joins Lilith in the kitchen to watch her work. "I only heard about Frankie recently myself. She's Hyacinth Addington's half-sister, her father mentioned his bastard offspring in his will, I guess, after he was... murdered."

He follows behind Lilith over to the coffee table. The heat of a kitchen when the oven was recently on does make an already hot summer day a little more uncomfortable. "Smells great. All of it. And, I didn't think that Kelly really needed one but, Erin's his new secretary." Yes, Kelly's Gym now has a secretary. How posh is that? "I think she'll be answering calls, scheduling appointments and patching people up with her medical training."

The sudden squeeze given his torso is returned with his own embrace, holding the brunette close against him. "We know that something needs to be done and son and there's already some anger directed towards the Addingtons. Understandably. But Isabella and Alexander Clayton are still trying to steer us in another direction, believing that things will be worse if something happened to Thomas Addington."

"A secretary. Pretty fancy for a place with a rolling door on a bay. But that steering... murder isn't for everyone. Even in the name of..." Lilith says that kind of off the cuff before slowing down and quietening there against Byron as she's held in close, face deciding to take a back and forth nuzzle against his shirt before she softly sighs. It'd obviously screw with her after the fact, she knows it, she's not a psychopath, even though her fury/fear kind of angles her toward either withdrawn/explosive and occasionally without regard in the moment here and there.

But it always calms down and leaves the woman behind and she has to live with the Lilith that's left when she's done hiding or blowing fire, so. Maybe she shouldn't joke about it. Especially since it might actually be a necessity and she's not sure who else would want or be able to do it.

Exhaling through and into the fabric of Byron's shirt, Lilith stands there a moment before murmuring, "If I am attacked or you're attacked in the room with me, I'm going to lash back however I can. And I don't think I'll take the time to calculate or pull punches, so to speak. I hope that's not a true assumption, to assume it's worse if the host goes dark. Maybe that just means the parasite goes down too, one fell swoop since they're so intertwined. But that's... speculation too and a logic thread that may go nowhere with basis." She pauses, then tacks on, "Hopefully, we're both fine and I won't be in a position to defense kill and see the consequences, regardless."

After a long moment, she makes to release for retrieving cookies and shifting to the couch, "Let's sit before our coffee and cookies go cold."

They used to do this a lot as kids, especially leading up to their early teen years when girls stopped giving you cooties. He felt protective over her, because Byron knows that in recent days, he'd had to ask her for a lot. The mending of his own shattered bones was one thing, but doing the same to make a stranger feel whole again, alive and forcing her onto the road to full recovery? That must've took a lot. With her cheek pressed against his shirt, he strokes a gentle hand over her silken hair. "I don't blame them. And if we're wrong about taking out Thomas Addington and something else happens? There's still a part of me that wants to test it out. We'll never know if we don't try." That's the pretty reckless part of him, obviously.

When she explains to him again her reasoning for wanting him to do this now, he answers her with a slow nod. Just like how she's not comfortable healing strangers, this was only something that he was learning and the few times that it was used on him, they've been very unpleasant experiences. "Right. Let's hope that you don't have to resort to this. Let's hope that we trap that fucker in this box that we're going to pull out of our asses and move on with our lives." Though that's hard, some people lost family. They could never really move on.

Once he's released, he moves to join her on the couch, leaning over to grab the cup of coffee first, as that's always much needed. "Hyacinth Addington showed me a way to go about this without the strangeness of bridging minds, openly anyway. She didn't actually show me, but I'm hoping to mimic her technique."

There's a serious and weighted nod from the woman on wander while listening, then she can't help but make a quip, "Oh, good. I won't distract you by thinking about bathrooms on accident again. Kind of fitting it's the one place we've seen the naked." Lilith digs at Byron with a hint of a smile tinged with vague amusement while settling down with a perk of open interest at his explanation on how he's about to try to go about things. In fact, even though he says he's perhaps of no need to actually mindworm her to do it, she shakes out her hands a little bit in 'get ready' fashion before picking up her coffee to blow down into, then sip from while eyeing him.

The brunette seems a bit fascinated, at that. Byron's particular skills are kind of mysterious to her, even though they've been explained in part, but they don't often work on an external level where she sees or feels the results so much as her own abilities end up when executed through. So despite the quip that's maybe a touch distracting and teasing like a form of settling as much as their physical position on the couch, she's eyeing him with her head canted a bit after the coffee sip, blue eyes keen with study and general wonder.

Then she realizes how hard she's staring at him, so she looks over and leans to pick up a cookie for bite before... well, staring more and saying, "You can do any goddamn thing you set your mind to."

"I don't mind digging stuff up like that." Byron will whole-heartedly admit, that lingering smile on his face even if his gaze is kept lowered. "Not usually anyway." Delving into other people's minds wasn't the problem for him. It's when his mind is opened to theirs, connected, where his issues stem from. "I mean, I almost forgot about that time. So it was a nice refresher to remind us of how awkward our teenage years were." Only then do his eyes raise to look on her directly.

Taking this moment to sip from his cup, he doesn't say to notice Lilith watching him as he is preparing himself for what he's about to do next. It's not an ability that he uses often at all. Not only that but he has to really dig into his mind to even bring up that moment with the Addingtons so that it's fresh and ready to be put on full display for her. It wasn't the most unpleasant of days, but there was something odd about the whole interaction.

When she offers up her reassuring words, that's when he directs his attention to her again. "Some things are easier to do than others. But here goes."

Rather than send an image directly into Lilith's mind, a screen lights up in the middle of the room, very much like a hologram would if this were a sci-fi flick. It almost has the feel of a boardroom meeting presentation... in the future. His own focus on the illusionary screen before the image of an elderly man: Thomas Addington.

With his drunk gone, Thomas is having trouble figuring out what to do with his hands. They actually move in a miming motion of bringing an imaginary cup to his lips, but woe the disappointment when nothing touches. So he shifts, and he straightens, and then he reclines again, the busy motion of an old man who really, desperately needs a drink.

But from the alcohol cart, Thomas' eyes eventually move away. They stop briefly on Alexander, blurred focus coming in sharp and suddenly, as though trying to deduce why this man is in his house. But he is easily distracted by Isabella after, squinting as though he were trying to bring two of her into one. He seems to want to add something - in fact, his mouth opens to issue forth words (or perhaps drink more imaginary bourbon), but then he immediately snaps a look at Margaret, awaiting her wisdom.

It's this moment in time that she is witness to, watching the man's posture mid-gesture, everything that Lilith needed to get a sense of him. "That's Thomas Addington. The one William Gohl is attached to. I think at that moment, he desperately needing a drink."

Lilith knows all about certain exertions being unfamiliar, hard, and plain uncomfortable, so as she continues to watch Byron, she turns up a bit of a smile in earnest with slant at her lips. It takes a turn toward fond as he looks at her, then she bats her lashes a few times fast as her eyes catch across where he's mentally projecting the imagery of the Addison elder man in full life frozen tilt of capture. Then she downright gasps as she realizes what he's doing and flits eyes between him and the imagery anew with bid to focus on the little things, the things that give character and the general mood of the moment, the need inside him-- it dawns on Lilith to think he probably has a blood chemistry like Hank used to have.

It's something to think on, something kind of familiar, and while making keen, breathless study with eyes rapt, she nods once, then she nods again at Byron. The cookie is partially eaten and frozen in her hand before she finally gets wits to tell the man, "... okay. Okay. That's... wow, I wasn't quite expecting that, it's like-- nevermind, keep focusing, shh me. I see him." After blathering a little onward with general shock and bid to focus anew, Lilith more seriously breathes out another few words before turning direly determined eyes on him.

"I see him. It reminds me of... mm. Perfect."

Byron thinks of nothing else but Thomas Addington in this one moment when he remembered the man most. He looks over the image, pretty proud of his accomplishment. Now he felt comfortable about sharing what he knows. "Got it then?" He'll ask for confirmation before allowing it to disappear completely and he can free his own mind of it all. This gets him to take another sip of his coffee, before he reaches out a hand to snack on those still warm cookies, bringing it to his lips for a little bite once his mug is lowered.

Even when the image was projected on this holographic screen, Byron got a sense of some discomfort on Lilith's part, especially when she mentions that Thomas Addington reminded her of someone but decided against finishing her sentence. He takes another bite from his cookie, chewing it quietly before following up with another drink. Then he sets the mug down altogether before finishing off the rest of the cookie.

He kinda has a feeling that he knows who she was thinking of then. He doesn't ask if she's okay, but he will smile once their eyes meet, openly taking in a deep breath to make a show of the fact that he's about to do this all over again. Turning to stare up at that same open space, he conjures up an illusion of a screen before what should be a familiar face to most soon appears: Margaret Addington.

"Would you like me to call my accountant to go over the figures with you?" Margaret seems like the kind of person that would have a little maid-summoning bell nearby, so she reaches for that, putting her hand on the handle of it. "My family spent no small fortune ensuring William Gohl was removed from the society that he was so desperate to murder. We even paid for the man's funeral, what more do you want from us?" The look goes to each of them, one by one.

Lastly to Thomas and his readable fucking face. "Stop beating about the bush, children. Speak plainly or go home." Old ladies be getting crabby when the sun sets.

This is the most prominent moment of their meeting that truly stuck out in Byron's mind. When she stopped being the kindly gentle grandmother, talking about Full House on Netflix, and showing her true Margaret Addington colors. Margaret Addington was the first child of the union between Addington and Thorne. She was of his blood, the Thorne bloodline spread throughout that one particular branch of the family. He knows that he doesn't have to make an introduction, but he does so anyway, "Of course, Margaret Addington."

There's a small and permissive, ready nod from Lilith that allows for Byron to remove one image, take a moment to breathe and focus with his coffee and cookie, then start anew with the elder lady Addington on display in a life's moment for her to see. Her head tilts a few degrees while studying this time, none of the surprise apparent, like before. She even resumes eating the rest of her cookie until finished and washes it down with a long drink of coffee. Then she makes a tiny noise low in her throat that's almost frustration.

There's nothing as familiar to compare and suss out a signature from for the lady, internally for Lilith. Or is there? There's something about the battleaxe demeanor that's portrayed that... she can envision running through a pulse, perhaps, at least if she theoretically works through what one might feel like compared to the other in that special way of hers. No telling if it would be enough to trace back, but in the right circumstances with the right desperation, maybe. It might be easier to go at the non-possessed to stop or revenge an attack in the moment, after all, as alternative tactic.

Then when she's finished looking, she leans in to loop her arms about Byron's neck and shoulders to press a kiss hard right on the tip of his nose, "That. Was. Fascinating. And... maybe enough. Maybe not. Hope I don't really have to find out. Thank you." Her mouth goes to one of his cheeks for another rambunctious kiss, then the other side to do the same, apparently a little giddy over getting to see a new thing up close and personal to effectiveness, at that! Maybe. Hopefully. Point is, it was neat and she's attacking him.

Giving her some time to get the whole of what makes up Margaret Addington, once Lilith seems like she doesn't need to see the Addington Matriarch's visage anymore, he lets the illusion fade away. He feels incredibly accomplished today and that's easily seen by that smile on his face. "I don't know if you'll be able to get a lock down on them, especially not without meeting them in person, but I hope that things just don't come to down to that either."

Not one to shy away from the affections of a beautiful lady, he'll accept this mode of gratitude with dignity and grace, returning some of the nuzzling with tenderness of his own. When she's kissing at his cheeks, he leans into her with a laugh, "You're getting crumbs in my beard." A neatly trimmed beard at that. "This method really works for me. It's like some futuristic board room meeting. Not anything more awkard." Pulling back just a little so that she's not smooshed up against him, he's allowing himself time to look at her directly, keeping to this close proximity.

It's a nice, quiet moment, when it's broken up by an exaggerated, but believable complaint, "God, my phone won't stop blowing over this."

Lilith makes counter after an eyeroll and a quiet half-laugh breathed out about crumbs in the beard, "What do you think happens when you eat?" Then she quietens on his small drawback and survey and pulls her face back away from playful and affectionate kiss assault to just look at him for a beat in return. Then when the complaint comes up, she grazes her bottom lip with her teeth in raking and breathes out a tiny, rueful noise that she turns into sympathy on his behalf, "That's what happens when you're the big man." Her arms unlace from around his neck and shoulders before she leans to snag another cookie from the plate and her coffee cup.

"Makes sense that it's easier for you that way. Eat more cookies before you're forced to run out, crumbs and all, hm?" She starts to lift her cup up to her mouth, momentarily contemplative on wind down from her small burst of giddiness.

"I try to eat as neatly as possible, okay!" Byron says, the sound of laughter still heard in her voice. He always enjoyed being close to her and they've had many good memories of sharing a quiet moment in each other's company in the past. He watches when she grazes at her bottom lip, listens to soft almost regretful sound. "I'm the big man embroiled in the fact that I nearly had three deaths in my building within just a few months time. Erin Addington moved out or was planning to. I gotta wonder if anyone else is thinking of doing the same."

When it's her turn to withdraw from him, he'll oblige her and take another cookie to chew on. "Are you really okay, Lilith? What was asked of your in the span of week, healing people, putting people back together again, that has to take a lot out of you. Especially in what bad shape we both were in." Himself and Addington.

"Yep. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Your plate is full. Makes certain things understandable." Lilith tells Byron after a little hitch of her shoulder in nonchalance, glancing down into her coffee cup for a moment before draining the rest of it and rising up to a stand to go pour herself a refill. On her way, she grabs Dog off of the back frame of the couch from silly pose to toss over with lob at the bed across from the living room setup, knocking a hand back through her hair afterwards. She seems pretty distracted and in want of motion to shake it off in some sense.

Once at the kitchen counter, she pours from the carafe on the warmer plate and leans forward against the edge of it with her forearms in post up, looking at her hands around the cup while she hangs out there, "I'm just arming myself just in case, that's why I asked you to show me. I don't want to take up anymore of your time, though., if you have things to get to. I should do inventory value estimates this evening anyway."

Even as he's nibbling at a cookie, Byron can sense Lilith's distress, he'll observe her as she moves around, though won't openly stare. He even takes another sip from his cup, reclining back into his chair for the brief amount of time he's planning on sticking around, having several many things on his agenda for the rest of the day. "I'll let you to your work in a bit. I just need a little breather before I throw myself into the chaos again."

Once this is said, he sets his cup down for what he plans to do now, he'll keep himself relaxed, eyes focused forward as he tries to envision Lilith in his mind.

He knows that she's upset about something, but he wants to delve deeper to find out what. Maybe it's an attempt for him to flex his own abilities in practice. More than likely, that is the case, but in truth he's just trying to grasp what she's truly feeling. Is she really alright?

Foolish and resigned.

He didn't know what he was doing. He was just grateful to be alive. Accept it and bury it away.

That's on her, it's icing Lilith's veins gradually, like ice water dumped into into a warm simmering pot and diffused straight through to kill the bubbles at constant motion inside. Her eyes are on the cup and she stands there a moment before doing a quick bat of lashes to look up from her lash-dropped stare, reacting to the bit of shimmer coming from over Byron's direction. Did he just...

Dread. It's not him, it makes her want to damn the moment because she can feel that too. She knows what she's seeing in the bathroom mirrors and won't say. Everything has a price.

Foolish. Resigned. Stupidly hopeful.

Lilith sighs to herself and pushes up after that tiny bit of noise to go turn on the sink and start washing off the cookie pan after a cup of coffee. She doesn't quite realize enough of what Byron can or can't be doing so much to work up enough suspicion to be annoyed and he's just sitting on the couch, isn't he? She picks up conversation after a moment, "Take your breather, champ. Speaking of new things, a while back, Carver confirmed I was tossing shit at him in my sleep, not just breaking. I don't know if I actually told you that or about how I thought I had a poltergeist item. Makes me feel a little better about doing inventory, I guess, knowing I can probably touch everything safely and none of it's haunted."

Lilith can't help but feel a little funny, though, inside, with flutters and a little shiver, despite what she doesn't quite get around to accusing Byron of as far as that slip of catching his exertion goes. And the dread is tinged with shadows.

Byron is not facing Lilith at all and from where she stands near the burner, she only catches a glimpse of his profile or less. For all she knows, he's munching away on cookies or savoring the remainder of his coffee. He's posture is mostly still though, which is why he chose to recline and relax fully against the couch so it didn't look so awkward with him staring out into nothingness. And also for the fact that some readings can be powerful. Emotions can carry such a heavy weight.

This sense of foolishness was a mystery. He sensed restless and some hint of discontent, but why? Then it begins to come to him in both heavy laden emotions and glimpses of images from her mind. While he can't read her thoughts, the emotions that stir within her coupled by visual glimpses that are very telling of where her mind is begins to cobble together a slightly clearer picture.

When people use their powers, different things tend to happen. For Byron, especially for reads, it seems that he almost falls into a trance, concentrating so hard on what he's investigating whether it's person, place or thing. There may also be a stillness in the air around. Subtle things. When he breaks away from Lilith's aura, he's sipping at his cup of coffee again, finally finishing it off. With the empty mug in one hand and a cookie in the other, he makes his way into the kitchen to place the mug into the sink.

"Tossing shit in your sleep?" He asks with a quirk of a brow. "That's interesting. Useful to know. It seems like everyone and their grandmothers are developing new powers." Something which has been slowly grating on his nerves, feeling like a one trick pony who hasn't even lived up to his full potential in what he can do. Some of that annoyance is hinted in his tone, but for the most part, there's only a mild sense of interest there. Placing the cookie between his lips, he leans in to give her a parting, quietly pondering on this new information given. In a muffled tone, grasping the cookie within his teeth now, he murmurs, "I'm heading to the hospital to check on Erin, then I'll be responding to client calls for the rest of the night. Most likely." The cookie now removed, once he releases her from his hold, he leans in close to brush his lips against hair, "Let me know how that all goes." He means this new ability thing of hers, even if he honestly doesn't care.

"I haven't messed around trying so much save for a few tricks to prove it. I don't think I like knowing I can and kind of wish Carver hadn't told me. But it explains something about what I do with locks, more than anything, I think, knowing how they're built already. I was pushing around inside instead of breaking things down to move." Lilith tells Byron with a little shrug of her shoulders, not seeming too certain or keen on it herself, because she's already a bit of a wrecking ball. She sets the pan aside to dry and nudges her head into the lean down to brush lips to her hair, brows somewhat knit downward with vague bother while she's too close to survey much in that span of time.

After drawing in a breath, Lilith reaches to grab for a towel to wipe at her hands and wring the material in brief with twist around one of her wrists, "Be careful. And good luck with people, I suppose. I prefer my things. It's all I'm really harmless and good at, deep down." She's still semi-reserved compared to earlier but she's being amiable enough, tossing the towel away onto the counter to lean there and watch him go.

"It's not as if you're not dangerous the way you are now." Byron says in mostly good humor, noting her concern over discovering these new abilities. "You shine Lilith. It's what you do. It's what makes you special. Powerful." He knows that he shines as well to a lesser extant. It's something that he's had to live with, especially in recent months, but even as children, some of them made it clear as day that they were special.

"The lock thing? I would've figured that's what people like you do." Spirtualists. "I mean, you move things and like you said break things down. Working a lock isn't all that different. But the other stuff." A pause, "While I don't know your full powerset, I do know that TK is something else." His shoulders lift, "I don't even know everything that I can do, so I'm doing some exploration of my own."

With an easy grin on his lips, everything seems fine with him. He allows himself this moment of thought. There are things that he could say right now, but there are other thoughts that prevent him from doing so. "I'll check back with you once I'm in the hospital. Unless I'll be interrupting your... in-ventory." That's said in a drawn-out playful tone. "I'll probably park at the park. I need some time to clear my head. And the walk to the hospital will do me some good. And Lilith," There's another brief pause here, "Thanks. For everything."

"Sure. It's just... things I'd do anyway, for my own reasons. Isn't really..." That's a lie, whatever Lilith is about to say about her 'things' she does not being a big deal and she knows it, so in the end, she just shrugs a little good-natured at Byron and continues to lean against the counter. After drinking from her cup, she puts her cheek in hand and comments quietly, "I could probably check my phone and leave the thrill of mass evaluation math and counts behind for a moment or two, yeah. Keep me updated. I worry with things as they are right now."

"See you later."

When he's gone, she keeps her lean right there on the counter and drinks her coffee, eyeing the surface for a beat after staring at the door. After her jaw twitches and she takes a moment to let go and feel and look wounded and confused, she turns around and manually breaks the cup in the sink just to put it back together again after hearing it shatter the good old fashioned way.

Sometimes, the need to fix something is just as inherent as the need to break for her, catered to the moment, and the feel of it is like heroin when she hurts. She does it three times in a row, watching the puzzle pieces draw back together over and over until she's colder inside. Then she focuses on what she needs to do all around. And she doesn't look in the mirror when she goes into the bathroom to get a hair clip on her way downstairs.