concoursec | she's not so strong

Character(s): Rita Coulia and Nepeta Leijon
Location: Their Dorm Room
Rating: PG-13?
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Rita and Nepeta discuss their gifts

Rita had a poor night sleeping. She had nightmares, tossing and turning until she woke up very early in the morning. It was a good thing that Alduin was sleeping underneath a pile of all the cats Nepeta had. They were understandably fuzzier than she was, but Rita thought to herself that she might have been able to sleep better if she had him with her. She sat up and rubbed her eyes a few times before letting out a long yawn.

The gentle light seeping into the room from the window let her know it was morning, and that at least she had gotten some amount of sleep. Despite being terrible sleep. She watched the sleeping pile of animals for a few minutes just out her door in the common area for a few minutes.

She made another glance around the room, and finally noticed the small envelope on her nightstand. It was yellowed significantly and looked very old. She snatched it up before jumping out of bed, and going into the common area to see if anyone was in their room. No one. No one except for Nepeta in her own side as well. The door was still locked. No one outside. She looked down at the envelope again. "Rita" was written in ink on the front of it.

The envelope was opened up as Rita returned to sit on the edge of her bed. Inside the envelope was a letter, old and yellowed just like the envelope, and a photograph. There was a slightly older man with a young woman, and in her arms was a small child bundled up in a blanket. She set it aside and began to read the letter.

It didn't take her much reading to realize what this was: a letter from her parents. A photograph of them, when she was much younger. The letter was an apology more than anything else. An apology for leaving her, an apology for what happened in their absence, an apology for their deaths, an apology for they chose to do in life, for everything. But they were also happy for her, that she'd grown up to be strong, resolute, and a bit vicious, just like her mother. She was also wise beyond the rights of her age, with a penchant for reading and learning absolutely everything, just like her father. They were proud that she had such a great purpose in life, though they didn't go into detail over what that might be.

Tears dripped from her eyes as she read the letter, but she was careful not to get it wet. She held it back as much as she could, until she picked up the photograph again once she was done with the letter. She couldn't hold it back, then, and broke into quiet sobs. Memories of how it had been so many years ago came rushing back to her, and she cried. She cried for herself, and for her parents.

An hour passed before she felt composed again. Before her tears and the sobs that wracked her body stopped. She made herself seem as presentable as possible, wiping her tears away and blowing her nose, checking to make sure her eyes weren't too red. Once she was confident she didn't look a mess, Rita made her way into Nepeta's room, and gently shook her. She needed to know where that letter came from.

"Nepeta," she said, with a shake. "Nepeta, wake up."

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It was hard for Nepeta to wake up. She still depended on the pills she'd been given to be able to sleep at all, so trying to wake before they had run their course was an uphill battle. Still, somewhere in the fog of her carnage-plagued mind she realized what was happening. Someone was trying to wake her. Her brow creased and she shifted a bit, fighting to gain consciousness and slowly, she blearily opened her eyes.

"Rita?" she let out a small yawn, covering her mind. She was still mostly asleep so she didn't quite catch onto Rita's troubled state.

"What's up?"

As Rita watched Nepeta slowly wake up at her prompting, she realized how stupid an endeavor this was. Nepeta slept heavily, there was probably no way anything could have waken her up in the middle of the night. And even if something had, she probably would've woken Rita up as well...

Still, she was there now. She had to hope Nepeta might have known something.

"I'm guessing you haven't heard anything all night?"

Nepeta rubbed at her eyes, trying to rid them of sleep and she sat up. It took a moment to register what Rita had asked, but then she frowned and shook her head.

"No, I haven't. Did something happen?" Now she was able to sense Rita's distracted state, and she forced herself to fully wake up. Her expression became concerned as she took Rita in. Something was definitely wrong, and after looking her up and down twice over to see if she was hurt in any way she added: "You okay?"

Man, Nepeta and her stupid extraordinary cat-like cat senses. She considered Nepeta a friend, but still, she would have liked to keep her problems from the other girl.

"I'm fine," she muttered quickly, taking a seat on Nepeta's bed once she'd sat up. "Someone left something in my room. I was hoping you might know who it was, but that's probably pretty stupid of me."

Nepeta, of course was not convinced. She had always been particular perceptive when it came to the emotions of others--it all came with being the calming force in her moirallegiance, but she had become even more so since that curse she had briefly had a while back. She was quiet a bit, shifting to give Rita more space and folded her hands on her lap.

"Nah, it isn't. If someone had come in though I think the cats would have been pretty vocal about it--they love visitors," And there were so many of them, "I don't smell and unfamiliar scent either."

Whatever it was that had been left, however, seemed to be weighing on her mind. "Time Compression sometimes makes odd things happen here--not just bringing people in but items as well, or effecting people in some way. Just a while back I got a weird letter. If you don't mind my asking, what did you find?"

Nepeta's answer only ended up troubling Rita a bit more. It was entirely possible the photograph was from the past, if she was guessing correctly at what "time compression" was, but that didn't explain the letter. There was no way her parents could have written the letter.

They told her they died in it.

They apologized for it.

"It..." she trailed off and turned away from Nepeta, looking down at her hands clenching in her lap. She tried not to think of the contents of the letter and the smiles on the faces of her parents, but she couldn't help it. Her body shuddered with silent sobs, and some time passed before she started to mutter again.

"It was a letter and a picture." Tears started to leak out, then, running down her cheeks. She lifted her hands to start wiping at them. What bothered her most was probably that she didn't know why exactly she was crying, and that she couldn't stop herself.

Much like what she had gotten a couple days ago. Nepeta pushes herself up and frowns. She's not entirely sure what to do or say. She has not known Rita for very long, does not know if physical comfort would be what is needed, or if she needs someone to push it out of her mind. Things like that varied from person to person, and what helps one person feel better might make another feel worse.

She hesitated, and then put a hand on Rita's shoulder, just letting her cry for a bit. She didn't shoosh her, she didn't say it was okay, she just let her cry all she needed. Her hand gently rubbed her back in a manner that she hoped was soothing. There wasn't too much she could say or do, since she knew not what the picture or letter contained but she didn't want to rush Rita into speaking before she was ready.

A part of her was already thinking that maybe, like her own photo and letter, it was something that wasn't possible but she wasn't ready to jump to conclusions just yet. Besides, who knew, that might just make her feel worse.

It was hard, and Rita didn't know much better than Nepeta what sort of comfort she needed. There wasn't much of a way for her to know. There was no one for her during the toughest time of her life, and this was just a jarring reminder of that.

But even if she didn't know for sure, what Nepeta was doing felt nice. Not nice in the way a massage might have felt nice, but in a comforting sort of way.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before Rita's sobs quieted and slowed. She still had her face in her hands, but she was beginning to wipe at her face with her sleeves. She didn't bother looking up. She was sure she probably looked like a wreck, and stupid, so she kept her face down.

"I'm sorry, Nepeta," she croaked out, still wiping at her face. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

she's not so strong

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