5.4--Goin' Against Your Mind

The following week, Harlan finally gets some work from the lab.  Shalonda informs him that a large emergency conference is being held in Bridgeport for any and all high level medical, law, and scientific specialists aiding in the missing persons cases.  She, along with half of the lab officials, will be leaving the following morning meaning Harlan may be out of work until they return.  Until then, he takes any job that the remaining scientists are willing to throw at him.

Even the ones that he doesn't particularly care for.

Dafne finally gathers the courage to talk to Henri while Harlan is out.  She finds Henri frantically packing clothes into a suitcase.

"Where are you going?"  Dafne asks, throwing a few shirts near Henri's suitcase when she gestures for them.

"One of the director's assistants got sick and he's asked me to go with him to Bridgeport.  Apparently there's this big meet-up going on and I get to help him represent our medical community.  This is a huge deal, whatever this is, and he's chosen me to go with him."

"Oh.  Well that's great, babe."

Henri stops packing, turning her full attention toward a withering Dafne.  "What's wrong Daf?  You've been acting strange all week."

Dafne slumps her shoulders.  If she doesn't just get it all out now, she never will.  "We need to talk..."

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Harlan returns home later than expected.  He's fully ready to just fall into his bed and pass out, but he can't.  Not when he sees Dafne looking so morose in the living room.  "You told her."  He says, sitting down gingerly on the couch.

Dafne nods. "Yeah." She sighs.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"We... broke up.  Henri had some conference thing she had to go to and will be gone for a while, so we still have some things to settle once she gets back.  At least it won't be awkward while we both get our stuff sorted."  She shrugs, smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry."  Harlan isn't sure what else to say.  Why does he have to be so shitty at this sort of thing?

"I'm not.  I said what I need to say and maybe this is for the best.  I still love her and I know she loves me, but..." Dafne hunches her shoulders in defeat. "... what she wants and what I want are two different things apparently."

"And what about, you know, your living situation?"

"You mean am I moving out?"  Harlan nods. "Maybe.  I don't know.  For right now though, no.  We parted as friends and she's offered to let me stay here until I find a place of my own.  Besides, she needs the extra cash from my portion of rent."  Dafne laughs humorlessly, flipping through the channels on the TV.

Harlan frowns at her when she goes silent, hoping that she'll somehow transform back into the Dafne he knows and... likes. 

"That's it." He says, rising from the couch and grabbing Daf's hand.

Dafne laughs, pulling her hand away at first - but Harlan is persistent and grabs her hand again.  "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking you out."  Harlan tugs a few more times on her arm, earning another small laugh from Dafne, before she finally relents and follows him out of the house.

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Dafne swings the door wide, signalling their return from a night out.  She laughs gently when a not-so-sober Harlan trips slightly when the door clips him as it closes.  "Who knew you were so bad at Power Hour." She teases.

"Who knew you were so good."

"I did." Dafne laughs, pointing to herself in triumph.

Harlan grimaces as his stomach lurches slightly.  For being so small, Dafne can sure keep her alcohol down.  The same couldn't be said for Harlan who managed to throw not once, but twice at the bar.

Dafne smiles again, sending Harlan's stomach flipping for an entirely different reason.  "Thanks, Harlan... for taking me out.  It was fun."

"Even while I was throwing up?" Harlan smirks.

"Well that part I could have done without, but in all seriousness - it really helped."

Harlan smiles back at her.  "I'm glad.  Though, next time you need cheering up can we do something that doesn't involve my stomach contents coming back up?"

Dafne slaps him on the shoulder with a toothy grin.  "Sure thing, lightweight."

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Filler, filler, filler! I cut this one short mainly because I'm writing this in between work breaks (and because I didn't save all my pictures to my flash drive, hence the short time skips.  Oops.)  Next chapter, things actually happen... for reals this time.  I swear, these last two chapters have been utter hell to write simply because THERE'S NOTHING GOING ON! But I need to start establishing relationships - you know? /rant.


I haven't done this in a while, so here are the character updates:
-Harlan's logic skill is at level 7.
-Harlan's gardening skill is at level 4 (you probably won't see much of this until much, much later in the story).
-Harlan's handiness skill is at level 7.

On a random note: I switched the genders for a pose and got a nice booty shot of Harlan.

Work it.

The title of this chapter is named after a song by Built to Spill.