not here.

[handelaar]

CAO » 002 » 026
NED

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voice;

[handelaar]

[No, she's not in danger, but her room looks like a brawl went down in it and she's telling him her stuff is on the twenty sixth level and what? While she pauses he spends the time impatiently picking his way through with a frown, Christ, what a mess.

He's not sure what he's expecting when she answers, but it's not that. That doesn't make a damn bit of



wait.]

You moved.

[Fuck moving, until she answers he's not sure he's even breathing.]

voice;

[sweetmotherofgod]

[Watch her misunderstand his statement completely.]

There. A bunch of strangers there. It's just-

It's too much.

voice;

[handelaar]

[From zero to shit completely lost in under six seconds, all he heard just then was - ]

You didn't answer the goddamn question!

voice;

[sweetmotherofgod]

That wasn't -

[IT WASN'T A QUESTION LEARN TO INFLECT]

yeah. I moved.

voice;

[handelaar]

TO THE TWENTY-SIXTH FLOOR?!

[There's the inflection, roared right into the mouthpiece.]

voice;

[sweetmotherofgod]

[...oops.

First there's just the sharp intake of breath and the muffled thump of her dropping her communicator, rustling as she picks it up again. Then, whipped-dog timid:]

Thirty-sixth. I meant thirty six.

voice;

[handelaar]

Thirty - NO ONE'S ON THAT FUCKING FLOOR!

[!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

voice;

[sweetmotherofgod]

That's the point! That's the whole - stop shouting at me!

[She... shouts. It's panic, not anger, but it's happening.]

[handelaar]

[He's basically started shouting before she tells him to stop shouting.]

IT'S A STUPID POINT!

[sweetmotherofgod]

I'm not stupid!

[handelaar]

Didn't say that!

[sweetmotherofgod]

No! You never fucking say -

you know what, it doesn't matter. If they're moving everyone down I can't stay. So I moved. It's done.

[handelaar]

Why can't you stay!?

[It's a shout - but not quite yelling again yet.]

[sweetmotherofgod]

[Thick silence. She doesn't understand how he can not get it, but she can't quite figure out how to explain. When she speaks again, she's quiet.]

I just can't. I can't be there and watch it fill up with strangers and pretend that everything's okay.

[handelaar]

[That doesn't explain anything, and he huffs a sound into the comms without thinking before lighting a cigarette. (Also without thinking. Not your room, Ned.)]

So you're just. Leaving.

[sweetmotherofgod]

[But not hers anymore, either. Smoke away.]

Not just. You make it sound like it was easy. It's not, it's just -

[handelaar]

BULLSHIT! WASN'T THAT FUCKING HARD. YOU'RE ALREADY GONE.

[sweetmotherofgod]

NO! I can't keep pretending I'm fine because you're -

[handelaar]

STOP PRETENDING YOU'RE CANCER-SUCKING FINE!

[sweetmotherofgod]

That's what I'm doing.

[handelaar]

What?!

[sweetmotherofgod]

If you're just going to shout over me -

[I can't explain. Or: There's no point trying. Or: All you're doing is making me wish I hadn't told you where I'd gone. She doesn't say any of it, mostly expecting he'll just start again.]

[handelaar]

[Now this might be an unexpected move. There's silence, for one beat, two, and then he starts up all over again.]

Are you telling me. Or -

[sweetmotherofgod]

[Well, she was trying to tell him to shut the fuck up. But he's not screaming at her, so...]

I'm telling you. I feel like a freak and it's killing me. I am not okay.

[handelaar]

Heather.

[suddenly all he wants is to be close to her and is too choked up to say it.]