the unfavorite

Where: Diego's Dorm When: Sometime in the evening Who: @cara-mrrsn

There was some movie on, but it's not like Cara was paying attention to it as she scrolled through her phone, multiple things to coax Diego's attention to her on the tip of her tongue, though she was trying to wait long enough that he wouldn't just immediately dismiss her to go back to whatever he was working on. He had said he wouldn't be long, and yet, they were still there. She was, yet again, considering just what to say when he spoke, though the subject was definitely not any she had considered. She paused, her thumb hovering over her phone screen before she turned to look at him, one eyebrow arched up. "No," she said slowly, setting her phone down. "Why do you ask?"

likely much to her roommates' appreciation, parker had never been the heaviest sleeper. at sleepovers as a kid, should someone so much as sit up, she would be roused from her slumber. her eldest brother, for a time, liked to joke that it made her like a cat—ears constantly up and tail always extending outwards. on guard. the last several weeks (really, years) hadn't been helpful in that aspect.

Yet another artful tear dripped down Cara's cheek as she slowly nodded her head, sniffling once, twice, instead of outright answering Parker. She had engineered this entire situation, and frankly, she didn't really care how it played out. The optics of it were bad, but if she didn't achieve what G had wanted, and didn't get Parker to get her out of it...at the end of the day, she figured her parents would pull some strings.

Milo gave a soft 'hmm' sound, in light hearted acknowledgement of her words, but not lighthearted enough to actually fully be a laugh. He headed into the dorm, taking a seat on the first sit-able surface he came upon that him and Cara could share, mind still half turning as he tried to come up with a way to ask this that didn't close the door before it ever really opened. "I need your help," he said, as if he was admitting something difficult. It was partly true, Milo did have a bit of an ego. But the other part… He thought that Cara just might like being needed, so he tried to lay it on a bit more than necessary. "Link has something of mine, and I need it back. I don't know where it is, so that's part of the problem… I thought that you could help me out. You have been known to be able to get what you want." He teased, lightly, a bit of a grin crossing his face. "Maybe you could ask him, or find it for me, or something." Milo, tilted his head in Cara's direction, leaning closer to her. "I wouldn't expect you to give you nothing in return, since you'd be helping me out so much."

A small, amused sound left Cara's lips as she turned to look at Milo, eyebrows high on her forehead as her eyes met his. "You have to be kidding," she said, the words almost sing-song. She could mean anything by that, the slight smile on her face not giving any indication of what she thought about his need for her help. The fact that he was asking for it or what he was asking for. It was amusing, in a way that made her feel justified for all her irritation, that he needed her now. But at the same time, she couldn't help but read into the layers to this. Was it just manipulation?

"She was a fucking terrible driver." As far as statements went, this did not shed much light on anything. If Heni was to suddenly develop a penchant for being honest, the natural follow-up would probably be this: none of the people she had gone to school with were. It was a bipartite thing, half socioeconomic (being chauffeured around tended not to instil a child with many opportunities to learn the laws of the road), and half geographic (manhattan wasn't exactly the easiest place to learn to drive, even if the first part had not been true). Heni, for one, had barely scraped her driving test. The first test where she hadn't come out on top. The first test where she had been nothing above mediocre. "Do you think it could have been her? I always got the sense that your parents would - you know." She shrugs herself, then, hands lifted in a way that seemed to convey the words she cannot formulate: sweep it under the rug. Cover it up. Preserve the family image.

"No shit," Cara replied with another shrug of one shoulder, the utter lack of surprise on the judgement of her sister's driving skills. Nothing much about their lives nor Greer's personality spoke to being a good driver. That was partially why Cara never even bothered. If someone expected else of them, that was really their fault, in her opinion. She weaved her head from side to side, eyes distant and lips pursing out as she thought about it. "Do I think she could've hit someone?" she asked, refocusing her eyes on Heni, her gaze going to the opposite extreme - sharp, pointed, fixated on the other girl, a slight frown appearing onto Cara's face. "Sure. It's Greer. She wasn't exactly the picture of being careful," she said, the words not cruel, persay. Just...snarky. "And you don't need to say it like that," Cara added after a beat, a side eyed gaze flickering over Heni. "You know your parents would do the same if you had."

Heni was an interesting suggestion, but not one that he agreed with. Somehow, over the last year or so, Monty had found himself confiding in her time and time again, collaborating far too often and earnestly to imagine that Heni carried ulterior motives when it came to the disappearance of Greer. Maybe it was naive on his part, and another example of him being fooled by someone pretty giving him the time of day, but he just couldn't make that leap.

Greer is. The not-entirely-truthful response came to the tip of her tongue, Cara biting it back as she resisted the quip. It wasn't entirely fair to her sister (which for Cara to admit, meant it really wasn't fair). It's not like Greer was actually trying to still be the center of everything. She just...was. Instead, she just let out a heavy sigh, her head falling backwards against the arm of the chair, eyes closing as she dramatically slumped over. "That's actually one of my favorite hobbies," she answered sarcastically, not answering Monty any further for a few moments, a couple slow breaths punctuating the silence before she lifted her head back up, looking at him from the corners of heavy-lidded eyes. "No," Cara admitted. "I got a...tip." Saying she got an anonymous Valentine felt so...bizarre, so juvenile, she couldn't quite bring herself to put it so bluntly.

link's fingers flexed, just the slightest bit, where they rested on her thighs. he didn't pull away, didn't even flinch. her words — daggers, every one — were almost comforting in their familiarity. if cara had tried kindness, that's when he'd know she was really trying to hurt him.

"The only reason," Cara said, crooning her response to Link as he practically grimaced up her, his smile not even remotely genuine. Though he had a point - he had kept her anything but bored, which was something she had always sought out for her life. But she wasn't exactly going to give him any sort of complimentary words, not when she had him exactly where she wanted him. Finally.

"And have him lean forward in that chair, like he gives a shit about me? I can't think of anything worse." Well, she could think of one thing: for Dr.Hart to actually hit the nail on the head. That was worse than the thought of sitting down to talk. Maybe, if she thought long and hard enough about it all, that was why she had avoided appearing on the episode he'd aired, dedicated to them all. If they never spoke, there could be no finding out. No watershed. No unearthing of who Heni was, beneath the glossy facade.

"That man only gives a shit about himself," Cara agreed with a throaty laugh, her eyes rolling as she answered Heni. Though that certainly wasn't the only reason Cara hadn't spoken to him - her parents would literally rather she died too then have their families dirty laundry aired publicly like that. Honestly, she had been surprised they hadn't slapped the entire thing with a cease and desist. Must've gotten a hefty sum for that one.

with that lead effectively shot down, parker began to shut down. for a moment she'd thought they were getting somewhere, what with cara's feelings surrounding the idea of dropping out. while a mere comment about it wouldn't have raised any flags, it hadn't been that—it'd been an examination of her feelings around it. a glimpse. or it would've been, had it not been cut off at the root, washed away with an i don't know, and officially buried by an obviously not-up-to-snuff response. parker wanted so badly to be even a shred helpful, but she'd also always known that cara didn't accept help easily. she was strong-willed and private in a way parker couldn't understand nor emulate, try as she might.

Cara gave a short bob of her head, leaning back in her seat as Parker stood up, settling herself down further in opposition. "Absolutely," she said, the drawl of the word only containing a hint of sarcasm as she turned her head slightly, a passive goodbye if there ever was one - clearly, not open to talking to Parker in that moment, which certainly didn't bode well for the future either.

Diego stayed silent for a while, letting the sounds of the students ordering their coffees for the morning hover between them. He took a few drinks of his own, staring over the top of his cup at Cara with a look on his face that had a subtle acknowledgement to what Cara had said, but also that he did not really believe it at all. But he didn't get the feeling that right this very moment would be appropriate or fair of him to push. So, he didn't. "Do you want to head to my room? I can give you your gift? Or I can walk you back to your room if this really is your first stop from the night." That was sort of a joke. Diego motioned towards the counter, "do you want anything to go?"

"Another coffee," Cara said as she stood up, brushing a hand over her front before she widened her eyes at Diego a bit. "Caffeine will have to replace sleep for now," she added in a lilting voice. Not for the reasons that she was leading Diego to think, but she wasn't exactly going to admit that she wasn't sleeping because of stress. "But I was heading back to mine, you don't need to walk me. How about I just swing by yours later?" she suggested, pausing before stepping back towards the counter to get that other coffee.

“huh.” beck would have preferred that - complete enablement had to be better than the hypocritical selective parenting her parents engaged in, where they would spend whatever it took to keep her quiet and then pretend they were disciplining her the second she spoke up. “uhh… yeah. mine are exactly the same. anything to shut us up, right?” she laughed slightly too high-pitched. “and thank god, because that would really suck. like, imagine losing your credit cards. who even knows how to open a credit card?” not beck - American Express customer service had laughed out loud when she’d told them her previous card had been closed and could they please send another to the address on file? no, no cosigner, no, no proof of income, no, no savings.

Cara's lips pursed out as she made a soft huff of agreement. "Seems to be their default for sure," she said, clucking her tongue as she pulled her phone out, absentmindedly glancing at the screen for a moment before she glanced back up at Beck. "At least we never have to worry about that," she said, raising her eyebrows up for a moment. "I have to get to class. Text me later, we can go out tonight," Cara suggested as she turned away and giving Beck a lackadaisical wave over her shoulder.

That was it, wasn’t it? As righteous as she felt a moment ago, this was no different from a pot calling the kettle black. She recognized Cara’s neediness, only because she observed the same symptoms in herself. She held no great insight in humanity, there was no secret weapon to get Cara to back off. It was as if she gazed into a warped mirror. It’d been so long since Greer’s disappearance, she forgot the cruel streak in the Morrison girls. It didn’t matter though… Even if Cara was right about her being desperate, the butt of their jokes, she was no better than Rhia. They were made of the same stuff. Which made it easier for Rhia to scorn Cara in the moment. Whatever it was she wanted, she would never get it from Rhia. And there was at least some gratification for sticking up for herself. What was another burnt bridge to her anyway?

Where: Cara's Dorm When: Some evening Who: @cara-mrrsn

Cara swung open the door to see Milo, her expression registering none of the surprise she felt at him turning up at her door. She could never quite keep track of if they were getting along or not, any given day seeming to be different - totally because of him, not her moods that changed with the weather, of course. In less than a blank, she cast her mind over the last few times she had seen him, unable to recall a reason they'd be at odds at the moment. May as well hear him out, despite the oddness of his unannounced arrival, Cara leaning onto the door frame, one shoulder propped against it as she quirked an eyebrow up at him, her only greeting and the only indication he could go on. "Usually when someone turns up at my door spouting about how much they need me, it's not for talking," she said, a low laugh leaving her throat as she stepped back. Cara rolled her eyes at him, a hint of a smirk playing on her lips - amused, perhaps, by the turn of events that resulted in her having power in the situation, even if she didn't know what they were - before she motioned for him to come in.

"Oh, you know, I need an angle for my tell-all interview." The tone is deadpan, the intonation flat, sarcasm matching that of the younger Morrison sister. This was on her, was it not? To have thought she could get an actual answer out of Cara, without having to resort to playing social surgeon, piecing together microscopic pieces of information until she was left with something resembled the truth. In an instant, Heni decides it is probably easier to be honest. "Did you get one of those ... fuck, I don't know what to call them - Valentine's cards for G? Mine indicated that someone may have hit someone with Greer's car. Or been in her car when she hit someone."

Cara's eyebrows arched up, an unimpressed expression on her face as she sucked on her teeth. The derisive noise didn't clarify much, it seemingly equally possible that Cara disapproved of the actual concept as she did of the sarcasm. Even though one of those was more than deserved, considering how she had answered first. "I did," she answered a moment later, not offering anything else. It hadn't been that long ago she had thrown around Henrietta's name with Monty in discussing hers, not that she had much considered it. "I don't know anything about that. I don't even know if her car was still here when she left or if she had brought it back home. Maybe it wasn't working because she fucking ran someone over. All I know is it wasn't at the Hamptons yet when she..." Cara's voice trailed off, the younger Morrison shrugging up a shoulder. Ran away. Disappeared. Vanished. Whatever word she would've chosen, saying it outright still didn't feel right somehow.