Wonder City Stories III #45
Apr. 15th, 2014 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wonder_cityThis episode is a little short. 10 comments by Friday gets you another short episode, if you want!
Flying Ace in the Hole
After Jane woke from her nap, she and Angelica had moved up to the deck, while Tinkermel and Tizemt monitored things in the lab. Angelica had a communicator and her phone in case someone needed Jane sent out, and had stopped in the kitchen for some iced tea and snack food.
The sky was cloudless clearwater blue and the trees were still in the early afternoon heat. Cicadas buzzed lazily. She and Jane ate the chips and salsa and drank tea in silence for a while.
"You look tired," Angelica said finally.
"I'm exhausted," Jane said, nodding. "But it's almost over."
"What is?" Angelica said.
"All this," Jane said, and munched on a chip. After she swallowed, she said, "Holding it together. Pretending to be me."
Angelica frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I'm a pretty good actress, right?" Jane said, chuckling without humor. "I got really good at pretending I remember things. Or substituting in words when I don't remember them. God, one of the reasons I needed to stay with you—thank you again for that—was because Dottie kept on reminiscing about things, and I… it hurt to keep realizing how much of it I'd lost. I remember being young pretty well, but the connections and times are… aren't connected." She leaned her forehead on the back of her hand. "That doesn't make sense, I suppose. But this is why I got them to lock me up in the first place."
"You got them to lock you up?" Angelica said. "I always thought the military had just decided you were too big a threat."
"Do you actually think they could've held me if I'd wanted to get out?" Jane said without looking up. "Do you think ten feet of reinforced concrete could really hold me?"
Angelica didn't want to admit that she'd wondered about that—even mentioning it aloud to Kit at one point—but she shook her head.
"All Kendis and Madeline's powers have been able to do," Jane said, "is put me back in the place I was in when I asked to be locked up. It takes a lot of energy to pay attention all the time. To keep from letting out the frustration and anger, to know all the time that there might just be a hole in my head that would let everything leak out or explode." She leaned back in her chair and looked up into the sky.
"I'm sorry," Angelica said. "I didn't realize it was so hard."
"When this is all over," Jane said with a sigh, "I can finally rest."
Flying Ace in the Hole
After Jane woke from her nap, she and Angelica had moved up to the deck, while Tinkermel and Tizemt monitored things in the lab. Angelica had a communicator and her phone in case someone needed Jane sent out, and had stopped in the kitchen for some iced tea and snack food.
The sky was cloudless clearwater blue and the trees were still in the early afternoon heat. Cicadas buzzed lazily. She and Jane ate the chips and salsa and drank tea in silence for a while.
"You look tired," Angelica said finally.
"I'm exhausted," Jane said, nodding. "But it's almost over."
"What is?" Angelica said.
"All this," Jane said, and munched on a chip. After she swallowed, she said, "Holding it together. Pretending to be me."
Angelica frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I'm a pretty good actress, right?" Jane said, chuckling without humor. "I got really good at pretending I remember things. Or substituting in words when I don't remember them. God, one of the reasons I needed to stay with you—thank you again for that—was because Dottie kept on reminiscing about things, and I… it hurt to keep realizing how much of it I'd lost. I remember being young pretty well, but the connections and times are… aren't connected." She leaned her forehead on the back of her hand. "That doesn't make sense, I suppose. But this is why I got them to lock me up in the first place."
"You got them to lock you up?" Angelica said. "I always thought the military had just decided you were too big a threat."
"Do you actually think they could've held me if I'd wanted to get out?" Jane said without looking up. "Do you think ten feet of reinforced concrete could really hold me?"
Angelica didn't want to admit that she'd wondered about that—even mentioning it aloud to Kit at one point—but she shook her head.
"All Kendis and Madeline's powers have been able to do," Jane said, "is put me back in the place I was in when I asked to be locked up. It takes a lot of energy to pay attention all the time. To keep from letting out the frustration and anger, to know all the time that there might just be a hole in my head that would let everything leak out or explode." She leaned back in her chair and looked up into the sky.
"I'm sorry," Angelica said. "I didn't realize it was so hard."
"When this is all over," Jane said with a sigh, "I can finally rest."
