There has been a lot going on in the life of Hope Elizabeth Tyler, and with the full moon racing toward her in the next five days, she's got some loose ends she wants to tie up. Just in case she's got to off herself if she becomes a beast.
Her late lab has just finished, and she's coming out of the SMU campus. Her cellular phone is toyed with all the way to the car. Should she call, shouldn't she call? If she does call, what will she say?
As the sun starts to set, she flips her phone open and starts to dial her sister's number. She'll at least call and tell her that she's back with Bobby at the very least.
Sunset is about the time Tripp should be waking up, and that's more or less what he's doing about two minutes before the phone rings. He's been staying comfortably within his hotel room, the drapes drawn shut and the lights all out save for the gentle flow of the clock-radio next to his bed.
With a bit of fumbling around he managed to change the ringtone to something 'normal' and bland.
TWO MINUTES LATER
The phone starts ringing and the bleary-eyed vampire groans, turning his head to look to the flashing contraption. Wait a minute, the phone's ringing? It must be Rose, she did say she'd come over soon! A small smile forms as he rolls over onto his stomach to grab the thing, pushes a few buttons and says groggily, voice coming out much groggier than he actually feels, "Mpph… Hello…?"
"Fa— oh. Sorry, I guess I have the wrong number." Leaning the phone against her shoulder, she starts up the Sidekick, and slowly pulls her way out of the parking lot. "This isn't…" She starts to rattle off the number, and then stops as she has to slam on the breaks. "Ack!" The phone fumbles and she grabs it again. "Sorry, like I was saying, I must have dialed the wrong number. Sorry to have bothered you!"
There's a moments pause from Tripp as he rubs his eyes, still feeling a little out of it as a familiar voice just.. Starts blabbering about a wrong number. Well, he supposed it didn't sound like Rose so it's no problem- And it doesn't click in that other people may be aware of Faith's phone number.
".. Huh? Oh, ok, no problem. Bye." promptly hitting the 'end call' button. He drops the phone and stares up at the ceiling, rubbing his face, ".. Ugh, what time is it, I'm so tired.."
She's been hung up on. Hope glances at the phone as she's at a stop light, and then shakes her head. Here goes nothing!
Faith's number is dialed again, and she sets the phone to her ear. While the phone rings, she moves from the light and starts down the street once more.
The phone starts ringing again. But Tripp doesn't seem to remember that he had answered it a moment ago, instead thinking about a killer dream he had- That's how bad it is when he wakes up and the sun's still shining. Summer's going to do a heck of a number on him, that's for certain.
He glances to it after sitting up, blinks a few times, and then after the fourth ring his heart skips a beat. Well, figuratively anyway- It must be Rose! When he picks up this time he seems more awake, "Hey, Faith? What a conincidence, I was just thinking about you." Don't think too deeply into that.
"What? This isn't Faith, it's Hope. Who is this? I know it's not Ivan. What are you doing with my sister's phone?" There's a slight bit of panic and ire in her voice. Enough so that she's got to pull off to the side of the road in Bobby's neighborhood before she runs the new car into a lamppost as well. "You'd better tell me who this is before I call the cops."
"……." Oh. Snap.
Tripp is quiet for a moment as he lets the words process and he briefly, very briefly panics. It's Hope, it definatly sounds like Hope! "Uh," he starts, "C- Calm down, it's just me, it's Tripp." he starts. He knows he's out of it, so he's very careful not to talk -too- much or he'll end up blabbing something he shouldn't. What he -does- know is that whatever he does, he can't afford to tell Hope the truth; not after what they talked about last week!
"What on God's green earth are you doing with Faith's phone!?!" The Tyler twin in the car punches at the horn, causing a loud beeeeeeeeeeephoooooooonk noise. "Oh. My. God. You didn't kill her, did you? You didn't kidnap her? Oh goodness, I should hang up and call Ivan." Her hands fumble with the phone, and she starts to hang it up. Snap it shut even. Who cares if it's Tripp on the other end of the phone. She's got to make sure her sister is safe!
Er whoops, he gave his name. And not only did he give his name, she hung up on him! Tripp stares at the phone again, as if confirming the disconnect but naturally Hope's number is on the dialing list.
So he just calls Hope right back, scratching his head as he thinks about what to say. Actually it sounded like she was in a car, he hopes she didn't just crash or something.
It takes a few rings for Hope to actually pick up the phone. She's been busily digging in her bookbag for Ivan's number. When she finally reaches for the phone on the passenger seat, she opens it without looking at the number. "Hope Tyler." There's no 'hello' or 'hi' or any form of greeting. Just her name. In case it's the Fellowship, or one of the companies interested in her silver mace.
Tripp isn't interested in a silver mace, at least not today! Actually, wait, not ever. His train of thought becoming more solid, he says, "Hope, why would I ask if you were Faith if I kidnapped her? Of -course- I didn't." Gosh.
GOSH.
".. It isn't safe to drive while on the cell phone by the way." he notes.
"I don't know. You brainwashed her. It's happened before." Hope is obviously not thinking clearly. But it has happened before. She yanks the phone away from her ear after a moment, and glares at it. There's a text coming in, with her sister's new number on it. Muttering, "I swear to God if she did this on purpose, I'm going to beat her to death," she places the phone back against her ear. "Right. Well she just texted and gave me her new number. That doesn't tell me what you're doing with her phone though."
Tripp just gives a sigh as he shakes his head. This is obviously not the way he had expected Hope to react; but in a way, twisted as it was, he could understand why. But why would she accuse him so -seriously-?
It was more than disappointing, he found himself a bit hurt.
He hears the muttering easily enough though, "Oh. Um." … "Y- Yeah that makes sense, I mean this thing is falling apart after it, uh, got.. Run over. I guess it isn't dead just yet, eh-heh.." he says, eyes quickly shifting from side to side.
"Tripp Reynolds, you always were a bad liar. Now tell me the truth or I'm hanging up and calling her to get it." Hope's voice is stern, angry, and serious. She really doesn't want to be talking to the vampire at all, but if she's going to, she's going to get the truth.
"You met up with her, and she gave you the phone. Either that or she threw it at you and you kept it. Whatever the reason, I really wish she would have told me before now." It would have afforded her the ability to avoid an awkward situation.
'Holy Crap' are the first words to hit Tripp's mind the moment Hope calls him by his full name. Wow that.. That was -rare-. But it was a sign that his former(??) best friend was really cheese off. His expression is equivilent to D:
"She.. Gave it to me." he confesses, the vampire properly intimidated and lowers his head like a scolded dog, "Look, don't be upset I just.. Uh, let's just pretend this conversation didn't happen ok?" … "Are you still driving?"
"I am not an idiot. I pulled off the road a while ago." Before she punched the horn. Hope would giggle at the fact she just intimidated a vampire, if it weren't for the fact that he is a freaking vampire. "I can't pretend this conversation didn't happen. She gave you her phone." There is some more muttering, which sounds like 'By His holy light, grant me the patience…'.
Tripp cringes a little, drawing the phone away from his ear at the moments when his caller really really exclaims particular words. Man. She was maaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. But at least she wasn't driving still, so there was that at least.
He isn't certain how to respond to the muttering, but the other comment he can at least, "I didn't say you're an idiot, Hope, I've just found you're kind of out of your mind when you talk to me." Probably not the best way to word it, but, "And besides, you said it'd be a problem if you're seen near me this way's much better isn't it?" he's kind of attempting to shift the direction of subject.
"For the love of all that's Holy and bright can you honestly blame me~!?" Oh, Hope is upset. She's not just upset. She's livid that her sister would just 'forget' to give her a new number until right this moment. "No, it's not. It's not better, Tripp. What would be better is if you didn't have your throat torn out by a vampire, and then didn't get turned into an UNHOLY creature."
"……………."
Oh how Tripp wishes the phone just -exploded- in his hand before he heard the last words of Hope's. His grip tightens a little on the phone, yet somehow he manages not to even make it crack in the process- Perhaps it's because he's having mixed emotions at the moment.
His old self probably would have lost it, but in a way he'd forgotten how to do that. "…" he just holds the phone to his ear, stunned into silence.
"That's what I thought," Hope says to the silence, figuring he's just hung up again. "It doesn't matter. I'm sorry that happened to you. It's not that I wish you were dead Tripp. It's that you are dead." He's walking and talking, but he's not her Tripp anymore. "It doesn't matter. It really doesn't. I'll likely be dead in five days, and if not, I'm getting married." Yes, the very first person she's told is the undead person she used to be madly in love with prior to his death.
Tripp runs a free hand through his hair, for a moment still uncertain how to react- When all of a sudden she keeps talking into the receiver. Well, he comes to the conclusion she thinks he hung up,
Her apology makes him feel a little better, but only a little. At least he's not prone to being vocally emo though, "Congratulations with Bobby." he finally replies, sounding a little shaken up at first, but his voice gets a little stronger, "The only think you're going to die of is depression if you keep it up, Hope. I understand there's a lot going on in your life, and- .. Well. I'm wasting my time, just.. Talk to him when you get home, all right?"
Oh, he's still there. There is an 'oh shit' moment, and then Hope exhales a heavy sigh. "I am not depressed, but there's a very good chance I'm going to be a monster, and unlike you, I can't live with myself if that happens." The congratulations is almost missed. "Wasting your time on what? No, I guess it doesn't matter. And talk to who? Ivan?" Because why would she need to talk to Bobby about her engagement to Bobby?
"No, to Bobby," Tripp replies, "Because it's obvious to me that you need support; even if you aren't depressed.. Or anxious." Thus perhaps clarifying what the 'waste of time' in his case is.
Tripp seems to be taking the marriage thing pretty well. And, well, why wouldn't he? "You couldn't live with yourself? Not even if your sister wanted you to?"
"Can't and won't. I'm not subjecting another monster on a world that's already full of them. Especially when they don't even know half these things exist." Hope knows a lot of it. Werewolves and telepaths thanks to the attack on Bobby's family, and what his sister is. Witches thanks to Faith. Sometimes it's too much for her to hold it all in.
Tripp for a moment is silent again. He can't believe these words are coming out of Hope's mouth, and really the only thing he can assume are that they're words of her cult or whatever it is. He tries to, but he just can't comprehend what Hope had been through to understand her frame of mind.
He's finding himself getting a little frustrated though, "If you become a werewolf.. What if I said I could take you away?"
Hope is not in a cult. Her church is like any other Christian church in the teachings of God. But it also teaches about vampires and ways to keep safe from them, and that they are creatures of Satan.
Hope is not crazy. She has issues with things that go bump in the night. "That's not fair, Tripp. It's not. You can't do that. How… how dare you say that, knowing how I felt!??" Hope's voice is getting more shrill at that. How can he congratulate her on her future engagement and then offer to take her away?
"Is it any more fair than what you're doing to Bobby?" he replies, his brows furrowed, the sound of his hand slamming down upon the lampdesk perhaps heard in the background, "Is it any more sensical than you being so willing to kill yourself when you're getting -married-, Hope? What the hell is that!"
"Bobby knows what I'm planning. That's why I'm not planning on saying yes until after the full moon." It's very sane and logical to her, you see. Hope now yells into the phone, "So what you're doing is NOT fair! It's not. How dare you? How dare you wait two years to come back into our lives? How dare you try to ruin the first good thing in my life in two years by making that offer!?!?"
"You're not plan- Y- .. -What-?" Tripp sputters, brushing his hand through his hair. He wonders what could possibly be going on in Bobby's head, he can't be ok with this, there's just no way! "Seriously, Hope? Listen to yourself, 'ruining the first good thing in your life in two years'? I'm sorry, aren't you the one that's going to be throwing it all away when you become a 'monster', Hope? And you're more angry about my stupid offer than what you're doing to your fiance'? That is bull, you're not serious about making him happy!"
"I'm listening to you right now, and I'm thinking you don't care. About how anyone feels but yourself. Maybe that's normal to someone in your position, but I'm not letting you get out of this without realizing you need to get it togeather. And if it takes me being 'unfair' for you to do that, so be it."
"Did you… are you… Did you seriously just threaten to kidnap me?!?" Hope likely looks like a madwoman inside her pink Suzuki Sidekick, yelling at the phone. It's a good thing she's down the block from the Cornett place, or she'd be in loads of trouble. "I do care about the people in my life. They wouldn't want to live with a monster." She is listening to herself very much. She knows what she's saying. She knows how she feels. And she knows what she has to do if this is the case.
".. Kidnap you? Somehow I don't think that would work," Tripp replies, looking a little taken aback by the question. ".. Hope, you're not thinking. You're just telling yourself what you want to hear. I don't know what else to say to you right now."
"So I'm just going to leave it at that. Good bye, Hope."
"No, Tripp. I'm hearing things fine. You think taking me away so I don't off myself is a good idea." Hope frowns at the phone, and slams her hand against the steering wheel, this time avoiding the horn. "But you're right. It wouldn't work. It would just make Bobby really upset." Unless Tripp was actually saving her life, and then he'd probably be okay with it. "Word of advice, Tripp? Check the call display next time you answer the phone. I don't think Ivan would be at all happy with you if you answered on her phone." Then she just simply throws the phone to the back of the vehicle until she's calmer.
… Oh yeah. He should look at the display, true. In the meantime he's got to cool down himself, and think hard about what he's going to do next, and consider if he's truely right or just being stubborn. There's a sinking feeling that he gets that he may end up doing something drastic; which could have very bad consequences for him in the future. He drops onto his back and rubs his hands over his face, "Should I really do that? .. Geez louise, that's -insane-."
