This is a bad idea.

[staturity]

For the first time in quite a while, Cassie opened the Sensorium door. She stood with her hand rested against the arch.

She really wanted to just step back into the Sensorium again. Anyone could run into her. Jonas, Kate, Billy-

"Just get here soon." She mumbled.

Comments

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

Nate was nothing is not timely. A moment or so after she opened the door, there he was, hustling around the corner. He quickly came even with her and stopped, a hand going to the back of his neck self-consciously.

"Hey."

[staturity]

"Listen, I don't care what you think. You're not worthless." She should have maybe stopped to examine how Nate's thinking about himself wasn't all that different about her own, but that would take some serious prefrontal cortex activation.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

"...Uh...okay." Obviously, that wasn't the conversation starter he'd been expecting. Thus he hadn't had a response in mind for it. If he drew the parallels between them, he wisely held his piece.

[staturity]

Cassie picked up on his surprise. "...You thought I called you here to make out with you?"

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

His eyes widened a moment and he quickly shook his head. "What? No! I was just...you know, expecting a 'hi' or something first."

[staturity]

"Oh- I- er- well now I feel stupid. Sorry." She was really on a roll today.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

He laughed quietly, shaking his head. "It happens. I'm uh...I'm glad you're alright though?"

[staturity]

"I uh-" Cassie felt the distinct need to go retreat back into the Sensoriums. "Yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you guys worry." Even if she knew they would.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

"Hey, we worry about you even when you're not hiding out in giant fleshy simulation rooms anyway. So really, it's not your fault." He smiled, running a hand through his hair and trying to ignore the headache that threatened to reassert itself.

[staturity]

"Yeah, well, come here." Despite saying that, Cassie walked over to Nate to give him a hug. Just a hug.

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

The hug was easily returned, and he rubbed her back gently. Hopefully if they stayed calm, things would just...stay calm. "Oh hey, we got proper clothes, you know? From uh... the last mission. A lot of the guys who went down brought up plenty of clothes and things we can wear. And Stacy doesn't seem to mind if we take of the plantsuits."

[staturity]

"That's... good but none of them are made out of unstable molecules, are they? I don't want to hulk out and end up naked."

[wheresmysuit.livejournal.com]

A pause. "I don't know actually. But I wouldn't be surprised? Besides, even if they aren't I'm sure I can alter them to accommodate your abilities."

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Some time after Nate had left the Sensorium, there was a knock at the door. It opened before Cassie answered, mostly so that Jonas could make sure that she did not have a hologram of her father wandering around in here. He did not think that she would, since she had promised the contrary, but he worried. And he was very glad to see that his worries were not matched by reality.

"[Hello Cassie,]" he said softly, smiling a little. "[Do you still want some space, or may I spend some time with you again?]"

[staturity]

Well, she had been spending time with her hologram father but she'd stopped doing that once Nate came.

And she felt like she was going to be sick.

"Jonas, I don't know how to tell you this." Cassie stared at the floor. "I... really messed up."

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas was at her side in a flash, worriedly looking her over for any signs of injury.

"[Are you all right?]" he asked, not seeing anything physically wrong with her.

[staturity]

"I'm fine- I mean- I'm not hurt I..." She pinched the bridge of her nose. There was no easy way to say this. "I kissed Nate." A lot. A whole lot.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[...Oh.]"

It really was not fair that his stomach could clench when he did not actually have a stomach. "[And?]"

[staturity]

"And-" Cassie fell back onto holographic couch and put her hands over her head. "And I'm a terrible person and you deserve someone so much better than me." She said, unable to hold back her tears.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

Jonas half-reached for her, hovering at the edge of the couch.

"[You are not a terrible person,]" he said softly. "[You recognized that it was a mistake.]" And she would not do it again, right?

Right?

[staturity]

"Because you deserve someone who can keep her hormones in check and knows what she wants and doesn't dissolve into a ball of tears the moment someone so much as sneezes on her." Cassie continued.

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[You are selling yourself short,]" Jonas said, crouching down to get down on her level. "[And even if you were not -- which you are --]" It bore repeating. "[--I love you anyway.]"

[staturity]

Cassie put her hands over her mouth as if that would hold back her sobs. It didn't.

"I can't do this to you."

[vision-ya.livejournal.com]

"[Cassie...]" Jonas said, resting his hands on her shoulders. "[I did not ask that you be perfect. If...if you had not seen that it was a mistake, or had not told me, then it would be a different situation, but...]" He sighed. "[I love you.]"

[staturity]

She still couldn't look at him. "Jonas... I love you, I-" The resolve she'd built up while in the Sensorium was slipping from her grasp like sand. "I can't..."