Quiet
There was something wrong with her comm. Noelle wasn't picking up any signal from the Knights, nothing from anyone in the Alliance. It was just... blank. Quiet.
She pulled it off her wrist and dropped it on the kitchen table, chucking the earpiece down next to it. She didn't notice when it bounced off the table onto the floor. There was a part of her that liked the silence. Maybe needed it. There was so much talking sometimes... so much said.
Grabbing the phone, she sunk into her couch and dialed an international number. After an interminable series of clicks, the phone rang.
"Base Camp, this is Dr. Frost."
"Mom?"
"Noelle! Noelle, how are you? Is everything ok? Are you eating enough? Why are you calling at this time of day? The rates are exorbitant!"
Noelle smiled. Classic mom. "I'm fine. I just... thought I'd call, see how you and Pops are doing."
"We're good. Everyone's good. Busy, of course... but you know how that is."
"Yup."
"Dr. Merediths just found something..." She continued speaking, and Noelle found a certain kind of comfort in just listening to the gossip from the scientific community. It felt... removed. Safe. She made appropriate noises at the appropriate moments, and hung up a little while later without saying much of anything about her life in Paragon City. She didn't really know what to say. Where to even start. That she'd had an arrest warrant issued on her for breaking and entering into Crey facilities? That she'd been sent to the hospital so often she was wishing for frequent flyer miles on the emergency teleportation network? That she'd been having a very adult relationship with the Elvis Presley? How do you say that to your mom? The other stuff... was even harder to talk about.
She laid the telephone handset on the coffee table, but not before turning the ringer deliberately off. Sinking even lower into the couch, Noelle stretched one hand to the glass doors leading to the balcony, and coated them with a fuzzy layer of frost, impossible to see through. She muffled any hallway noise that might come in her front door with a layer of ice, and pulled a blanket around her shoulders, clicking on the TV.
No talking. No thinking. She didn't know where to begin.
She pulled it off her wrist and dropped it on the kitchen table, chucking the earpiece down next to it. She didn't notice when it bounced off the table onto the floor. There was a part of her that liked the silence. Maybe needed it. There was so much talking sometimes... so much said.
Grabbing the phone, she sunk into her couch and dialed an international number. After an interminable series of clicks, the phone rang.
"Base Camp, this is Dr. Frost."
"Mom?"
"Noelle! Noelle, how are you? Is everything ok? Are you eating enough? Why are you calling at this time of day? The rates are exorbitant!"
Noelle smiled. Classic mom. "I'm fine. I just... thought I'd call, see how you and Pops are doing."
"We're good. Everyone's good. Busy, of course... but you know how that is."
"Yup."
"Dr. Merediths just found something..." She continued speaking, and Noelle found a certain kind of comfort in just listening to the gossip from the scientific community. It felt... removed. Safe. She made appropriate noises at the appropriate moments, and hung up a little while later without saying much of anything about her life in Paragon City. She didn't really know what to say. Where to even start. That she'd had an arrest warrant issued on her for breaking and entering into Crey facilities? That she'd been sent to the hospital so often she was wishing for frequent flyer miles on the emergency teleportation network? That she'd been having a very adult relationship with the Elvis Presley? How do you say that to your mom? The other stuff... was even harder to talk about.
She laid the telephone handset on the coffee table, but not before turning the ringer deliberately off. Sinking even lower into the couch, Noelle stretched one hand to the glass doors leading to the balcony, and coated them with a fuzzy layer of frost, impossible to see through. She muffled any hallway noise that might come in her front door with a layer of ice, and pulled a blanket around her shoulders, clicking on the TV.
No talking. No thinking. She didn't know where to begin.
posted by ktbuffy at 12:44 PM
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