Zara Jackson
November 18, 2019 6:31 PM
One roommate thread (tag Bridget) by Zara Jackson
As far as Zara had been concerned, the challenges had been pretty fun. It had been a chance to try out new things and get to know a few people a little better. Only a little, because the challenges were not a place where it was easy to open up and get super personal, both because of there being a job to be done and because of there being so many other people around. Case in point, she wasn't sure why Bridget had looked like she was so shaken up over people agreeing with her that they could have an omlet station, but nor had she asked. She had spent a bit of time thinking over what everyone, and especially Bridget herself, had said and couldn't see anything. She didn't feel like anyone had been mean or confrontational. Bridget had mentioned lots of different combinations of people she spent the holidays with. Zara guessed there were a few reasons that could be something that made you feel crappy, like a messy divorce or something but equally it just sounded like normal life. Her family was too big to always have everyone see each other over the same meal every holiday - grandparents took turns, different combinations of cousins went out on different days. She felt like she was reading way, way into what Bridget had said to conclude there was any kind of problem, and she never would have assumed there was any kind of subtext to Bridget's remarks had it not been for her reaction.She hadn't brought it up at the challenge because it didn't feel like the time or place. She wasn't really sure if anywhere else and any when else were either cos Bridget might not want to talk about it. So, when they found themselves alone in their room, she didn't jump right in. She just gave Bridget a friendly smile.
"Hey. How you doing?" she asked, with enough sympathy that it was clear it was a genuine question, and that it seemed like Bridget hadn't been alright before, but still casual enough that she could just brush it off if she prefered not to talk about it.
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Zara Jackson
One roommate thread (tag Bridget)
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Bridget Ferguson
November 19, 2019 9:47 PM
One reply to it by Bridget Ferguson
Bridget was so so glad the Challenges were over. The first one had been unpleasant because while using magic to get around obstacles, it was quite clear to everyone that she could not do them without it but she didn't necessarily get the impression that Ivy was keen on doing so either. The second was a "survival" situation and while it wasn't nearly as bad as that show that Aunt Patience and her step-cousin Ben (who was the grandson of her step-grandfather Clayton, the son of Mama's step-brother-the son of Grandpa Clayton and his long dead first wife- and his wife who died way way before Grandpa Clayton had married Grandma Cora) watched sometimes with the naked people on it, it still wasn't pleasant .The third one, initially, had seemed like something that was much much better. Nothing physical and uncomfortable....but then it had been proven to be the latter anyway. First off, her team had had Easter which to some people was religious and Bridget had heard that people should never talk religion or politics. Although Aunt Patience had pointed out that when most people said that around her, they meant Aunt Patience specifically . Her aunt had ammended the phrase to that one should not discuss religion or politics unless everyone around thought precisely the same way.
And it had only gotten worse from there. Asking people about their traditions was innocuous enough...until it really wasn't and Bridget had had to make it clear that she didn't exactly have traditions....and everyone supposedly had traditions. Everyone but her. The only clear thing was that none of the various set-ups her family had involved church. However, her not being religious had quickly been forgotten about in a swirl of reminders of her family dysfunction.
Nobody had said anything about it though and Bridget genuinely wasn't sure if that was good or bad. It was good that they hadn't said anything negative but nor had anyone really sought to reassure that there was nothing wrong with her situation, that families came in all shapes and sizes, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Jezebel got assured she "belonged here"-which she did- and she wasn't even upset.
Zara entered the room and asked how she was doing. "I'm all right. You?" Bridget replied, assuming her roommate was just being polite and making friendly chit-chat and everyone, regardless of how they actually felt, usually replied with some version of what she'd just said.And right now, Bridget was all right, more or less.
Besides, who really cared how she felt anyway?
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Bridget Ferguson
One reply to it
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