Room 210- Friday afternoon

[seriesofbaddecisions]

So.

Sabine had come up with a new project, which was adding a border on her side of the room. She'd been inspired by this week a little by the bombs she'd set off for catharsis earlier in the week, getting a stepladder and painting little explosions in those colors at the top of the walls, just beneath the ceiling.

It was something to do. And it kept her from listening to radio, even if she was kind of dying to listen to radio.


[Door s d post open!]

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[white_oleander]

Astrid had swung by after her shop class to drop off the roses she made, then left for a while to get something to eat, walk around a little, trying not to think. And, usually, when she got back and saw the door open or some sign that Sabine was in the room, she would turn right around and find some other way to kill time.

But not today. Today, she did pause a moment, taking a deep breath, as if willing to herself the permission to enter her own room, and did just that.

It was maybe a little thing, to most, but to her, crossing that threshold just then felt like a big step.

"Hey," she said, relieved that it sounded casual, as she glanced briefly at what Sabine was working on, and then headed over to her bed, moving the flowers that she'd spread out there so she could sit and reached for a sketchbook.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Hey," Sabine said, kind of glad she was turned a little weird at the moment, since it was still easier to just not look at anyone directly.

Let alone the roommate Nina had just been shipping her with the day before and leaving her to wonder what that meant.

"How are you doing?"

[white_oleander]

"Not bad," said Astrid, and it was...mostly true? Sort of. She thumbed through her sketchbook to find a blank page, flipped it open, settled it on her lap. Grabbed her pencils from the bedside table, and considered the flowers. "Had shop class. Took a walk. I've got a little bit of a headache."

She smiled a bit wanly at that; it shouldn't be hard to guess exactly why.

"What about you?"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Good," Sabine admitted. Better than she'd expected to be at all this week. "If you need, I have aspirin in my desk. After last year I made sure to stock up first."

[white_oleander]

"Maybe in a bit," said Astrid, not wanting to get up again and not wanting to disturb Sabine's work. "It's not really so bad right now."

She picked up one of the metal roses, moved it a little in the light, picked up one of her pink carnations, laid it at a slight angle beside it, hard and soft. Then she fingered the note that had been attached to the multi-colored ones.

"What are you working on?" she asked, shifting only part of her attention back to Sabine.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Explosions," Sabine said, carefully detailing a corona around the one she was working on. "Half the fun of the bombs I make are the colors I can make. I got inspired."

Honestly, it was amazing she'd never done this before.

[white_oleander]

"I thought maybe they looked a little familiar," Astrid said, faintly, with a smile to match, but the smile was only there for a moment, before she caught her lower lip in her teeth and considered Sabine for a moment, glad that she was caught up in her work as she was.

And then back to the flowers, the note between her fingertips.

"Sabine?" she ventured. "...Can I ask you something?"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Yeah," she said, only a little worried about what this was going to be. She even stopped what she was doing so she could actually look at her. "What's up?"

[white_oleander]

No, don't stop. Don't actually look at her! That only made this harder.

Astrid had already been regretting having said anything, had already started thinking of bullshit questions to ask instead. What do you think about green for my wall next? Do you think black is a good color for me? Who do you think sent these pink flowers?

But she knew this question wasn't going to leave her. It had been haunting her all day, and it was only going to get worse. And she felt like she'd been getting so, so much wrong since she came back.

"Did you mean it?" she asked, forcing it out of herself and then forcing herself to look at Sabine, holding up the note, as if she might not be able to tell what she was talking about. "What you wrote with my flowers?

"It's okay if you didn't," she added, quickly, as if that could erase the question now that it was out there in the air, and she turned away again, starting to tear at the edges of the paper a little. "I mean, I get it. I really do, I just--"

It cut off, like her thoughts had hit a dead end. A coyote running into the painted-on tunnel on the side of a cliff.

She dropped her hands into her lap, looked over imploringly. "You can be honest. I swear. I...want you to be honest."

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Sabine blinked.

She knew what she'd written, but for a moment she wondered if she'd written more than she remembered somehow, or said something wrong without meaning to. But no, she thought she'd kept it simple.

"Of course I meant it," she said, frowning a little. "Astrid..."

[white_oleander]

And that. The way Sabine said her name right there, was half the reason she didn't want to even ask. She didn't want pity. She just wanted to know.

"I mean," she said, trying to justify the question now, to counterbalance the sinking feeling of having gotten it all wrong again, "it's got to kind of suck, right? You get the room to yourself for so long and then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, you're stuck with a roommate again."

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"I never exactly minded you as a roommate," Sabine pointed out, stepping down off the ladder. "I mean, I don't think this week in particular is ideal for anyone in the dorms, but I actually like having you around."

She'd never been sure what it meant that she was around again, though.

[white_oleander]

This week. Astrid let out a huff of a breath. This dizzying, depressing, exhilarating, ridiculous, confusing roller coaster of a week. All of a sudden, Astrid just wanted off the ride. Or at least just reverse it a little.

She was quiet for a moment, considering the flowers on the bed.

"I sent the yellow, orange, and red ones, by the way," she then said, nodding toward Sabine's.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Thank you. They're gorgeous," Sabine said, watching her for a moment, and not just for this week's normal reasons. "Are you okay?"

[white_oleander]

"Yeah, it's fine," said Astrid, shaking her head a little. "It's just a hangover."

She knew that wasn't what Sabine meant. But she needed to deal with the fact that she was pretty sure that was the first time anyone had asked her that since she got back.

No, not quite.

Since she was in the caldera.

"I could probably go for a couple of those aspirins now, though," she added.