“Thank you.” Bridget felt her cheeks grow pink again. “That means a lot to me.” Though she knew that, in the end, comparing herself to a fictional character was a futile task, but it didn’t hurt to have Quail compare her to Kara – or Alex. “Yes please, I’d love to talk about it. It seems like such an important show – a very good one to have around at any point, but especially now. Gives a certain air of hope, which I’m always a fan of.” She gave a quick shrug of her shoulders, relieved at how natural this all felt. She knew that she was able to socialize, that despite her occasional bouts of introversion or wariness, being social and talking with others had never been something of great difficulty for her.
That didn’t mean that it wasn’t nice when she was able to just slip into a conversation easily, and when her conversation partner seemed ready to talk about anything and everything. “Well, I’ve never really dealt with teenage boys, so I can’t say anything about that for sure, but sounds about right.” She gave a shrug. “Sports? I think some boys like that, but also I don’t want to be all gender-specific and one of my fr– coworkers– who’s also my friend I think, and a girl, really likes video games, so who knows. But yes, I’ll talk about it with you.” She smiled at Quail.
“Perfect absolutely positively.” Bridget smiled again. “We even shared a bed until we were about seven. We match up well, and all that…” Her voice trailed off. “Oh, she’s adopted. We don’t look at all alike, but she’s as good as my twin. We’re matched up evenly and –” She gave a small sigh. “I love her more than anything else in my whole life. If you don’t make me shut up right now, I might give you a full soliloquy on why I adore her so much.” Bridget wrinkled up her nose before brushing a few of her fingers across the bridge.
You investigate a lot of different things, huh? You must be… really smart. Full of knowledge and all that.
“Oh, a whole lot.” She bit her lip. “I guess I’m smart? I mean, I’ve always gotten high marks-slash-grades, and I like to think – no, I do know that I’m open to all sorts of ways of thinking, so I suppose so. But I do think most folks can be wicked smart if they try – and that intelligence comes in all different ways.” She gave a slow nod at Quail’s question. “Yes, sort of. Though they also eat humans. Basically, even if you love The Little Mermaid, please do not try and find our mermaids, ‘cause you might end up as a snack. Which would be very much not good at all.” She ran her hands through her hair. “Baku are creatures who look vaguely tapir-like and who feed on nightmares, but not in the same way that mara do. They eat your bad dreams to make them go away. They are incredibly adorable and –” Bridget grabbed her phone again, scrolling through her photos until she found one that her fathers had sent her. “Here. Adorable, right?! I never had one as a pet, but some folks do. They’re tough to get, but I think I heard of some that live around Ashkent.” She gave a shake of her head. “Beatrice. That’s my sister’s name. She sometimes keeps to herself, but you might’ve met her.” Though Bridget knew that she too might know if Beatrice had met Quail, but perhaps the girl knew her sister. That would be lovely – she always thought that the whole world deserved to see how beautiful and wonderful her sister was.
“Those are all very good reasons.” Bridget gave Quail another smile. “For a small town, it’s fairly open – both to those of us who aren’t straight and also to those who are supernatural.” She quirked a smile. “Though there’s still a hefty number of folks who don’t believe it what’s right under their noses. But someday I’ll help to prove that they’re all wrong, and then they can be open to further education, which is never a bad thing.”
“Oh- you’re welcome. Obviously. It was definitely intended as a compliment, obviously, since I like Kara so much, and I like you, because I’m here with you, and you’re nice and.... I’m rambling....” Quail admitted with a shy smile, tucking her hair behind her ears and pushing her glasses up on her nose. “I definitely agree with you, and the whole alien rights issue...it’s definitely relevant today. This show in this political climate. Kind of perfect without being in your face about it. It’s such a feminist show, too, which I love.” She grinned as she thought about it, and how much this show meant to her. Quail usually had trouble in conversations and talking to people, so she was nervous but she thought this was going better than she anticipated.
“Yeah, he likes sports, too, but I don’t like them either... sometimes I think the only thing we have in common is we’re both adopted. But I do sometimes wonder what it would be like if he ended up being gay too. That would be pretty neat, at least it would give us something else in common. Or if he....” She trailed off, realizing she couldn’t announce if he suddenly developed powers. “I guess if he’s not gay we have liking girls in common. He’s not really expressed much interest romantically and I don’t want to push him about that sorta stuff. He’s shy.” She wasn’t sure Quinn would appreciate her talking this much about him so she dropped the topic with a smile.
“Wow....okay. I...can’t... really imagine being that close to someone,” was all she said in response to her ranting about her sister, feeling a bit uncomfortable by the whole thing. It made her feel self conscious about her relationship with her brother and whether it was close enough. The fact that she didn’t have a best friend to that degree and in fact, Bridget could be considered her closest friend right now.
“Oh - I don’t want to be eaten, so I’ll take your word for it....” As Bridget spoke about baku she was in disbelief. It was a lot to take in and she took the phone to look at the photo, smiling. “Yeah, it is really cute. So people keep them as a pet and they take your nightmares? I don’t have that many nightmares but I imagine for someone who has chronic ones that might help a lot.” When the redhead spoke her sister’s name it didn’t sound familiar but she nodded in understanding.
“I agree - people should be more open. Acting all hush hush and pretending all this isn’t happening? It doesn’t do anybody any good.”
