"He thinks it's a good thing, that it's better that way," Atalanta said, bitterness edging her voice. "But despite that and his overly protectiveness, I do love him. Jerk." She laughed.
• • •
Lucy stood up abruptly to walk to the wall and back, matching her quick pace to her anxious thoughts. "The labs," She said, spinning on her heel to face him. "I was there my entire life. You know what it was like; you yourself were a resident for numerous years. It was awful, some days, but it's all I had. All I ever knew, and it was what I had to call home. You can't just pluck someone from that and drop them in a new place and expect them to keep their sanity." She braced the flat of her palms against the small tabletop, stared hard at the wall across. She lowered her voice. "Victor, I'm going to go mad being here. All those years spent in tests and training, sitting here on my butt reading textbooks is tortue. I can't go back to him, but I can't go out either." She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She wasn't making much sense, even in her own head, but spitting fragments was better than letting them rip her apart on the inside.