Participants:
| Scene Title | Broken |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Curt gives the newly-returned Veronica advice on passing a psych eval, from one broken soul to another. |
| Date | July 25, 2009 |
The 'rec room' at Fort Hero is not, actually, a single room, although people often refer to it as such; it is several, all branching off a single hall. They were once something else — offices, perhaps, or residences, or storage rooms; holes in the concrete remain where things were once bolted into place, and here and there an odd device remains attached to the walls. By and large, however, such details are irrelevant. Concrete has been softened with draperies and cushions; somehow, chairs and couches have found their way down here, probably with the help of one teleporter or another. All told, it's a fairly comfortable place to be.
These rooms have been dedicated to games, entertainment, unwinding and socializing, the passing of time; each one seems to have its own theme. There is a room with shelves of books and magazines, which were once orderly and neat until people started trading them around; stragglers can always be found in the other rec rooms. Card tables double for ping-pong games; various other boxed games, from Monopoly to Charades to Scrabble, can be found on shelves and in drawers. Two rooms have been fitted with small entertainment centers — TV, VCR, DVD player, stereo; when the metal doors are closed, a decent level of volume can be reached without disturbing anyone else. Too loud, of course, still tends to get noticed. Broadcast and satellite TV stations can also be accessed on these systems. The video/DVD library is across the hall..
Curt is sitting on his ass watching ESPN, cause… well, he's a dude, and it's genetic. It's hardwired. If men could get ESPN in their brains there would a billion accidents a year on the highways. Right now he's watching baseball and starting to nod off in his chair. Cause it's baseball and… well that's boreing.
Veronica pokes her head into the rec room, looking for the new psychologist she's been directed, ordered, to see. She doesn't see anyone but a man. Not who she's looking for — but it is someone she knows. "Lu," she says, not a lot of emotion in that short single syllable. Vee herself is in a tank top and shorts, her arm in an ugly navy blue sling.
Curt jerks up right, "I'm awake!" he says, rubbing at an eye with the back of his hand. He turns to eye Vee, "Hurt your arm climbing out of the play pen or did that big girl take your lunch money again?" he teases before yawning all big and cat like.
"I guess it's more A than B," Veronica says, coming and flopping into the chair across from his. "Dislocated it on the mountain," she says, the right, uninjured, shoulder lifting in a half shrug. "You even leave this joint since I last saw you, or just enjoying the free room and board and lack of civilians?"
Curt snorts, "They don't have a room for me. I sleep in the office mostly. Ignore the stains, they'll wash out. One day." he eyes her, "So what's with the shrink thing?" he grins. Yeah, he knows. "Mommy not spank you enough? Giving you bed wetting problems?"
"It's not my office you're sleeping in, and I'm pretty sure there's rooms enough for everyone if you'd sleep in a room and not a cell like a normal person," Veronica points out, slipping her flip flops off and resting her barefeet on the coffee table. "And everyone has to go to the shrink, from what Len said. Before we can get back to work. So that means you, too, Mister Perfect."
Curt snorts, "Cause I'm normal." he points out. "No I don't. I told the shrink that I had more time on this job then she did in breathing, thereby making me a better agent then it did her a breather and if she liked we could put the two to a test, see which came out on top. I was betting on my skills putting an end to her breathing ones." he smiles coldly. "Besides, they're not getting rid of me." Been here awhile, when they get rid of him it'll be in a hole, or so he suspects.
She's not in a good mod and she doesn't find Curt's threats to the shrink funny, as much as she doesn't want to see the psychologist either. "Well, I guess it's not like anyone ever thought you were sane," she says coolly. "So, you've been here the past three weeks? Anything new and interesting?" she asks. "More rousing games of paintball?" She's apparently not happy to be back from Costa Rica.
Curt snorts, "Um, building blew up yesterday?" he says with a shrug, "Honestly it's been slow. The move is occupying most of the time of the uppers while us measly types are getting mired in a new burocratic overhaul. You know, new home so they wanna try and make it run like a machine when all they really need to do is just let us get the work done."
"Bureaucracies. You'd think with all the crap we sweep under rugs, we could skip some of that nonsense," she says with a shake of her head. "So you miss me at all, partner?" Veronica asks, winking at him as she rests her head on the back of the chair. It's not so much a friendly gesture or tease, but designed to irritate him.
Curt nods his head, "Been a true lack of fine bodies to stare at. I'm stuck staring at Len and he's just not that pretty, don't care how many hats he wears."
"Cad," Veronica says with a bit of a snort, but it's close to a laugh. "Did you seriously not leave this place at all? Go on vacation? Go maim babies and have virgin sacrifices and burn chickens for your enjoyment or something? Why would you stay here?"
Curt shrugs a bit, "What would I do?" he asks pointedly, "Went and got a couple hotdogs?" he asks, "That count?" he's broken, he doesn't know how else to put it. What's she want him to do? Get a girlfriend?
She shrugs. "Go and get away from this place and these people… I mean, I know you believe in your work and all, but it's not good to be here all the time. You need space from it or you go crazy," she says quietly. Funny, at one point, people would have said she was married to this job. "And it's not like they have anything useful for you to do yet. Unless you have cases I'm not aware of."
Curt shakes his head, "Nope. Not since I laid a million rounds into those creepy biker guys." he admits. "I just… walk around and occasionally give Kayla a lesson on how to hit the target with a bullet." he eyes his partner, "Look, I'm a little nuts already and lets be square, there's little chance my life will have a happy ending. Might as well wait it out here. Besides, I'm to old for the crap you kids are into. Seriously, street racing and internet cafes? Pfft. What the fuck is a World of Warcraft anyway?"
"Right, 'cause that's what I'm into. Fast and the Furious and weird donkey-eared elves," Veronica says. "I don't get it, you know? You hate yourself for your ability, yet you have no problem being near me — even insist on being in my office, before it was blown up or whatever… there's a disconnect there." She sighs and pulls off her sling, tired of wearing it, and throws it onto another chair. "Unless it's the whole misery loves company thing. Then it makes sense I guess."
Curt chuckles, "I'm a masocist." he says, "And you're broken too. Besides, no one else will talk to me, they run away. I mean literally, they run." he uses his fingers to pantomime fleeing.
"I. Am. Not. Broken." Veronica says it in a cool whisper, and gets up. "And that's your M.O. Scare them all away, then you can mope about the fact that no one stays. Fine by me." So much for the bonding they'd done before the facility blew up. She reaches to pick up the sling from the other chair, not thinking and grabbing with the right hand rather than the uninjured left. She winces, eyes closing. "My shoulder's broken. The rest of me's fine," she adds before he can say anything.
Curt nods his head, "Yup. You're just peachy. So if I ran your phone I wouldn't find anything on there to make me think you were nuts? Or checked your car's GPS? I'd find that you were a wholesome girl with normal interests who in no way hurled herself into dangerous extra curicular activities." his disbelief shows. "You're not that good a liar. You're broken, try to hide that, lie about it, the shrink will eat you alive. Tell her you sometimes have trouble sleeping, you question the job from time to time but you never have to question for long before someone proves you're doing the right thing. Doc will ask how much you drink, keep it under three nights a week. If you date, yes, but don't lie and say it's long term because they'll check on that. Say you meet guys but it never goes anywhere because of the job and you're not sure anyone could understand that. They talk about your childhood, don't sugar coat it, they know everything. Vacations are good destressers, you like them but after a few days away you start to get jumpy, need the job again. What ever you do, don't tell them that you sleep around or you use drugs or you sometimes think about killing yourself or me. You can get away with hurting me though." he lists these things off like a man used to phsyche evals, and it's not like they wouldn't have tested him, he's obviously a candidate for a funny farm. "Take a half valium before you go, it'll keep your mind mostly clear and your heart rate down, harder to gauge dishonest responces. Lie about the little things, be honest, if you can, about the big ones. Becareful of those little things though, they'll use them to trip you up." he turns back to the TV, "Oh yeah, tell them you have a hobby, something risky but fairly safe. Maybe you do martial arts or race cars at a track or rock climb without a harness." he eyes her shoulder, "To help balance the adrenaline. Be to nice, they'll think your lying, be to hardcore, they'll know you're in trouble. Be damaged, but only just enough, and for god sakes, don't sugar coat how you feel for me, because she will ask. They always ask about the partners."
Her whiskey-brown eyes narrow as he calls her broken, as he labels her and then proceeds to tell her how to pass a psych evaluation. "I don't feel for you. Don't flatter yourself," she says, her husky voice cool and low. "And I'm not broken. Someone weaker than me would have given in by now, and you don't know the first thing about it." There is so much he doesn't know. She begins her walk to the door - not too fast, and with her chin held high in that stubborn way of hers.
Curt watches her go and as she reaches the door he speaks up softly, but firmly, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave inpartially. If you are none of these things you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry." his tone is respectful and a touch ironic, "Hemmingway was a pompous self righteous asshole, but he was right. You /are/ broken Princess, realize that, admit it, then you might start to realize you're stronger for it."
Veronica pauses as he speaks, but does not look back before she passes through the door, fleeing like so many do.