monochrome Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 okay, i haven't been on in forever and my writing style is super unstable right now, but... of course, i wrote a self indulgent fic to revive this account. there's a super long exposition, as always, and this whole thing is a huge structural mess. take this with a grain of salt. --- Out of the fair share of roommates Camille has had, Sara Criswell is arguably the most atypical. It’s not just that she wears all black, or that she carries a (black) umbrella with her even on sunny days, or that she always has a hood pulled up if her umbrella is put away. Camille gets that. Different people have different fashion senses, and some people just really like black. Hell, Camille likes wearing black, too. Maybe Sara was just one of those 2000s emo kids who never really grew out of it. But then sometimes it goes too far to pass as just a phase. Sara never seems to exit the emo sphere. She constantly has dark circles under her eyes, chained like bruises, and she never smiles, nothing more than the upwards pull of lips even when someone cracks a joke. It’s one thing to keep up that kind of front in public, but Camille has been living with this girl for two months and--to keep up an act like that, even in their private living quarters? Silent brooding human being, 24/7? It’s just a little weird, and Camille is just a little concerned. --- There’s a pretty specific criteria for being a good roommate. The golden rule? Don’t get into other people’s business if they don’t ask you to. “Let’s go out sometime,” Camille says anyway, casually, as if she’s not breaking the golden rule. She isn’t really. It’s not as though Sara doesn’t like her. Sara, who’s in the middle of cramming books onto their bookshelf, turns around. “Excuse me?” “You know. We should go somewhere together. How about to the bay? I heard that there are some great whale-watching tours around there.” “Outside activities aren’t really my thing.” “I mean, whale watching barely even counts as an outdoor activity. You just stand on a ship and see if any whales come out of the water, and if not–” Sara looks uncomfortable, suddenly. “I can’t go whale-watching.” “Yeah?” Camille says. Okay, so maybe whale watching isn’t Sara’s thing. “We can go shopping, then? I hear a new store just opened up. A few days ago, Jessica came back from it wearing like, this green leather jacket, and it looks so good on her--” “I’m kind of busy,” Sara interjects. Then, as an afterthought, she adds-- “Sorry.” “Oh.” Camille is not disappointed. She is definitely not disappointed, not at all. “...well, that’s okay. We can do it whenever you’re not busy? My schedule’s pretty flexible, dude. Or--we can stay in and watch a movie, we’ll have popcorn and all--” Sara digs her hands into her pockets, her lips pressed into a thin line. “Just drop it, okay? You don’t have to try to be friendly with me just because we’re roommates.” Which is, frankly, harsh. But Camille gets it. She’s not going to impose. “You could’ve just said you weren’t interested,” she says with a shrug, standing up from where she’s been leaning against the doorframe. Play it cool, Camille, like you couldn’t care less. So maybe they aren’t exactly friends, then. So maybe they aren’t on good terms yet. It’s okay. She’ll get over it. --- “It sounds like you were asking her out,” Jessica says when Camille recounts the incident to her a day later. “I wasn’t,” Camille says, squinting. It’s bordering winter, and everything--the ground, the trees, the benches--is all glittery and reflective and shit. Sara’s been staying in a lot lately. Camille guesses the snow clashes with her aesthetic. “Or I didn’t mean to imply that, but-- shit.” “Maybe you should just leave her alone. She sounds like the type of person who would appreciate that.” “Are you telling me we’ll be on good terms if I never talk to her again?” “I mean, you won’t be on bad terms, either.” “Okay.” Camille looks down, digging the heel of her shoes into the snow. “Okay, I’ll try that.” --- Sara’s been holing herself up in her room more than usual lately. Camille assumes it’s from the stress of exams and looming deadlines, but she really does look unwell when Camille catches a glimpse of her in the morning. Her cheeks are hollowed out, her eyebrows drawn together in a permanent crease. She doesn’t look angry, per say--just frustrated. Exhausted. She’s paler, too, (though isn’t she always pale?) and her dark undereye circles seem more prominent than usual (though it could be a trick of perception; a change in the lighting). Regardless, Camille’s worried. She heads out early in the afternoon, buys some pizza and breadsticks from a restaurant a couple blocks down. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a start, so she sets the bag of food on Sara’s desk, next to the plethora of notebooks and pens and papers. Pizza is universally liked, right? And so are breadsticks. She’s sitting cross-legged on her bed when there’s a knock on her bedroom door. She tilts her laptop screen down and positions the device on pillow. “What’s up?” The door swings open. Sara’s holding up a brown paper bag, with the same cheese pizza and garlic breadsticks inside, and Camille’s about to clarify that that was for you when Sara sniffles quietly. Camille’s gaze snaps upwards. “Are you… crying?” Sara’s eyes are glazed over, the pink-brown of her irises adulterated with a thin sheen of water that shouldn’t be there. Shit, Camille thinks. Shitshitshitfuck. She had meant to leave dinner as friendly gesture--something to balance out Sara’s stress, or whatever. She hadn’t expected it to lead to this-- Sara’s breath catches sharply, and Camille’s mind is crammed full with an inventive chain of curses when Sara’s shoulders hunch and her head dips forward with... a sneeze? The bag of food drops to the ground with a thump, and Camille can only stare, wide-eyed, as Sara goes in for another. And then another. Her shoulders tremble with each sneeze, and the outbursts are high pitched and jarring and desperate. “The breadsticks have garlic,” she manages finally, her breath wavering on another precarious inhale. She turns her back to Camille, shaking her head dejectedly as she curls in tighter on herself. “I’m alle-- hh!! hhH-ItSXshu! hiiI’ZCShuu!” The sneezes are succeeded by a soft groan, and Sara reaches up, rubbing her nose with the palm of her hand. “You’re allergic to garlic,” Camille finishes for her, and she can see the tips of Sara’s ears flush red. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea. I was just--you seemed so tired, and I wanted to--” She cuts herself off, hyperaware of the fact that she’s rambling. “I’m sorry. I was trying to help. I really fucked that one up, i guess.” “I get that you’re trying, but just--can you please let it go? I--hh!! I can take care of myself-- hIH’tXchu! hH’ezSChew!! --j-just fine.” Camille bites her lip. She’d been expecting this response, anyway. It’s fine. Sara will be fine. “Yeah,” she says. “I’ll let it go.” --- there w e go what a mess ! sorry for any errors (might be back to drastically edit this; i haven't read over it much) i had a part 2 planned with illness too but i dunno if i'll get to it ??? anyway Link to comment
Blah!? Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Well, I know I'll never say no to super long exposition. I don't mean this as a criticism, but I actually kind of wish you hadn't mentioned vampires in the foreword so we could figure it out as we read. You really get a good sense of what Sara's about just from the way you described her appearance. Garlic making vampires sneeze is always a fun angle to take anyway. I hope you do decide to write more with these characters, but either way, thanks for sharing! Link to comment
monochrome Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 @Blah!? Thanks for the feedback, that didn't even cross my mind! I've edited it now (so maybe people can have a fresher read?) Link to comment
mysterysneeze Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 I read this and I found myself smiling ^^ the situation is understandable and I enjoy how the conflicting accidents happened. Good intentions are nice but can lead to more harm than good. I hope she does not give up trying though. i really enjoyed how the personalities of the main characters are written. Poor girls though I liked how you did the different spelling sneezes too ^^ Link to comment
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