"Okay, but thousands of other healthcare professionals and scientists worked for a cure. It's not like they could choose how fast they got there," Tohru argues, "I saw some of that almost firsthand. It was almost impossible fo figure out what the hell this virus even evolved from in the first place. It would be like… like blaming emergency response in an earthquake for not stopping the earthquake. We can't stop horrible things from happening sometimes, no matter how hard we try."
He settled in his spot a little more.
"And the fact that she'd jump to blame someone who only ever tried to help- I think that's what bothers me most of all."
"Yvonne doesn't know how much effort was put in. All she knows is that she feels not enough effort was put in to keep her family alive and herself safe and out of harm's reach." Trianna murmurs.
Cathal makes a face and opens his eyes, looking around. “What-“
Teddy whines, looking at his owner.
Trianna looks over at Cathal and hums quietly.
"We're talking about Yvonne." she says quietly.
Cathal takes a moment to process what she said. He then gasps and bolts upright. “Where is she?! Is she ok?!” He winces and holds his head.
Trianna nods.
"She's hiding somewhere. Not sure where. Maybe in the vents, maybe literally in the walls." she sighs.
Cathal makes a face, swaying slightly.
Teddy whines and makes Cathal lay back down.
"Good grief…" Tohru murmurs, "I thought she left the bunker entirely. I'm not sure what's worse at this point."
He crosses his arms.
"Just because she has trauma doesn't mean she can't at the very least be held accountable. Because frankly, she took things way too far even before provoked."
Cathal rubs his face. “Just- quit you two…youre giving me a headache-“
Trianna looked surprised.
"I was just explaining where she was." she murmurs.
Cathal closes his eyes, looking pale.
Teddy whines, looking around for a water bottle.
"Should I help you back upstairs, or do you need to rest here a moment?" Tohru asks.
He's still seething. While he has accepted that yes, he needs to apologize, there was a lot more at play there than his own behavior, and it angers him that Trianna seems to be entirely taking the side of this girl. Tohru does his best not to let it show.
"What can we do to help otherwise?"
Trianna sighs, "looking" at Tohru.
"Tohru, I'm not just taking her side because she's a woman. I'm not even really taking her side - she messed up too by even coming down here. I'm just trying to get you to see what you did wrong. Don't be pissed at me for that." she murmurs, standing up and leaving the room.
"I already reflected on it and I'm going to apologize. Why keep pushing the matter? I'm not even mad at you, so I'm not sure why you felt a need to justify yourself," Tohru murmurs under his breath, digging his nails into the sides of his thighs. He wishes so desperately he was still back with his group. At least he knew them. And they rarely fought, rarely had too much conflict. Up until they left him. And even then, he didn't fight it.
He's so intensely frustrated that so much of this is falling on him- and why?
Cathal sighs and stands. He looks at Tohru and helps him up. “Don’t do that…” he mutters. He nods to the stairs and leads him out. Teddy stayed right by Cathal’s side, glancing at Tohru every now and then.
"Because even if I don't have eyes I can see you're annoyed." she replies quietly.
Tohru lets go of his steel grip on his leg. The fabric of his pants is thick enough that he hasn't left any marks.
He stands, grunting a little with the effort. In addition to the week-old injury, he has a few scrapes where he dove to keep Cathal from hitting his head.
"Still a lot of assumptions to make," Tohru murmurs, "Eyes or not."
Cathal sighs. “Both of you quit it…” his voice was quiet, more of a whisper. He was having trouble being able to speak again. Teddy took notice and gently woofed at him to be quiet.
Trianna sighs and nods. "Alright, Cathal."
Tohru glances sideways. He's wanted to stop it the whole time. He wants to be left alone more than anything. He silently nods in agreement. Tohru plans to apologize to Cathal as soon as Trianna is out of earshot, but he doesn't know when or if that's going to happen.
He's quiet as they come back into the upper part of the bunker.
Trianna stays where she is, brooding. Just trying to think.
After a while she says, "Alright Yvonne. Time for you to come out."
Yvonne jumps where she was hiding - one of the overhead vent ducts - then sighs, quietly opening the hinged grate.
"How did ye know?" she asks.
Cathal waits until everyone is out, then barricades the door. He still had that panicked look in his eyes as the shock wore off. He glances at Yvonne. “I’m…sorry I touched you. I shouldn’t have-“ he mutters.
Tohru has his arms crossed. As he sees Yvonne, he becomes more tense than angry.
"And I'm sorry for coming at you like that. I wasn't actually planning on laying a finger on you. I panicked when I thought you might mess with some of the lab equipment. I just made the situation worse, huh?"
Yvonne sighs.
"Yer fine. Both of ye. But remember, I may be stupid enough to barge into a room full of pathogen - I am not dumb enough to mess with lab equipment. I leave that shite to scientists and nerds." she says quietly. "And I'm sorry by the way. Shouldn't have pulled my gun on either one of ye."
Cathal nods. “It’s fine…” his voice seemed to get even more quiet.
Tohru’s apprehension visibly fades. He hadn't been expecting an apology, but receiving one, and having his own accepted was a relief.
"That's- that's good to know, I guess," he chuckles, "I don't exactly blame you for the whole pointing a gun at my chest thing, now that I sit and think about it."
He pauses.
"Now that I've cooled down, even just a little, I'm glad you didn't run off and leave the bunker entirely."
Yvonne grins.
"Right then." she says cheerfuly.
Trianna chuckles at Yvonne's ability to bounce back so quickly.
Cathal didn’t seem to be able to recover as quickly as Yvonne did. Instead, he went completely nonverbal. Teddy gently nudges Cathal over to a chair and brings him something to mess with.
Tohru falls somewhere in between. He's relieved, sure, but he's exhausted and still a little frustrated that any of this had happened to begin with.
He sits back up against the wall, next to his bag again. Tohru doesn't particularly feel like talking anymore. He pulls a sketchbook from his bag. He hasn't touched it in weeks.
Yvonne goes away to do her personal workout, popping in her earbuds and starting up her playlist.
Trianna collapses next to her gear, exhausted for no other reason than she had no emotional stamina anymore.
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