taxonomites | 8 | [ location: the jeffersonian institute ] / [ visual ]

The feed flickers to life as Brennan turns on the record function, giving Taxon a quick glimpse of her office couch that has clearly been slept on if the blanket and pillow combination is anything to go by, as well as a dog on the floor that's chewing halfheartedly on a toy. Brennan leans back a little as she straightens the tablet and regards the screen, her expression carefully neutral.

"For those of you who were acquainted with her and may not yet be aware of it... Angela Montenegro was sent back home yesterday."

Brennan looks like she's about to add something to this, but decides against it. Instead she presses her lips together into a tight line as if to keep from saying anything further and lowers her gaze, reaching out for the device and fumbling with it for a second before tossing it back on the coffee table in front of her. Brennan's attempt was to turn it off, but she doesn't quite manage it in her distracted state. Instead, the tablet keeps on recording, albeit now only showing a steady view of the ceiling. The audio is still clear as day, however.

The silence is punctuated only by the dog gnawing on her precious toy until Brennan speaks up a moment later.

"Looks like it's just you and me now, Tuesday."

There are no tears in her tone, but the words come out very softly and are followed by a forlorn sigh.

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"It has its good and bad days," Brennan nods. "But thankfully, there are usually more good days than bad. I couldn't do it alone, though; I'm fortunate to have an excellent team of specialists working with me."

Most of the time, Brennan's pride and sense of accomplishment at a job well done outweighs the occasional bad day when a suspect gets away scott-free due to a technicality or a lawyer's fancy trick, or when another one of her dates (though those have been very sporadic lately) goes awry when the guy hears about what she does for a living.

"Yes. Having that personal reason gives my job a further purpose and myself a continued belief in the rightness of my decision to specialize in what I do."

"Always good to have people around you for support." Rose wasn't sure if Angela was one of the specialists, but she thought that she might be.

Rose herself didn't really know what she would do for a career, given the choice. Back in 1400s, women didn't have much of a choice. And when she was on the run, Rose didn't have much time to think about settling down, too focused on helping Trevor.

"Do you ever think that you would do anything else? Another career, perhaps?"

Brennan thinks about this for a moment. "I can't remember having any specific occupational dream as a child, but I was always very interested in sciences. That and my father was a high school science teacher and so encouraged any scientific curiosities I had. Anthropology as a discipline was fascinating to me, and when my parents went missing, it seemed natural to specialize in forensic anthropology."

That is, he was a science teacher after he was done being a bank robber with her mother, but that detail is too personal to get into with someone she'd only just met. It was a touchy subject even to her closest friends.

"Although, a few years ago I ventured into novel writing and wrote a book, just to see if I could. It was a crime novel based loosely on my work. It was quite successful and I wrote a few sequels to it that were also popular, so you could say I'm a best-selling author on the side."

Brennan never was one for excess modesty.

Rose continued to listen to her intently, expressing an interest like she did with Spencer when he told her about wormholes in the library. One thing that Rose always enjoyed was acquiring knowledge. "It makes sense to pursue something that you have a keen interest in. And if you enjoy it, then that makes it even more worthwhile."

Maybe Rose could find something to occupy her time with in Taxon. Which was one of the reasons why she went to the library in the first place.

"You're an author too?" She repeats with a smile. "You've certainly done well for yourself, Brennan."

"This is true. I'm quite acclaimed and independently wealthy," Brennan responds factually, nodding in agreement. Which may not have exactly been the point Rose was making, but Brennan has always been overwhelmingly literal.

"What about yourself, what is it that you do?" she asks after a long moment, her synapses firing enough to prompt some polite inquiry although Brennan generally disliked smalltalk.

Brennan's question makes Rose pause for a while as she tries to figure out how to respond. What exactly could she tell the other woman? Rose couldn't tell her what she really was or what happened in her life. Eventually, she settled on a answer.

"I'm in between jobs at the moment, so I don't really have a chosen field. But I've done a little of everything."

Rose hopes that it is a satisfactory answer.

Brennan nods her head slowly in acknowledgment of Rose's answer. To her, having several jobs was an indicator of either having no formal education or lack of concentration and/or ambition. But she's not about to say any of that aloud. Brennan's fairly certain that would be rude.

"I see," she replies politely. "Well, in that case you're not missing out on anything while here."

She's not sure that's any comfort, but it's the only thing she could think to say.

Rose was uncertain on what Brennan would reply to that, but given her background and what the other woman did for a living, it might not have been good. She couldn't blame her though really.

"I'd love to find something to do here, though. Perhaps even find a job."

She was struggling to find things to occupy her time with in Taxon.

If Brennan knew of Rose's true nature, her outlook on that issue would be different. She considered Angel a friend and understood that certain exceptions could and should be made with vampires. Of course, it had taken her a good while to wrap her scientific head around the fact that vampires weren't just fictional creatures from myths and bad movies.

"I'm sure there's something here you could do, as far as finding occupation goes," Brennan says, tilting her head slightly. "Have you any experience in retail or customer service in general? There are several establishments in Taxon that hire for such positions, I believe."

Edited 2011-04-08 17:47 (UTC)

She has no choice other than to lie to Brennan. Rose couldn't risk telling her that she was a vampire. No one here knew apart from the Mystical Falls residents. Then there was the fact Brennan was a woman of rationality and science; she mightn't believe that Rose was a vampire.

"I have a little experience, yeah. I'm quite good in dealing with people as well." Rose muses for a moment-it wouldn't be a bad place to start. "Thank you for telling me."

That gets a small but genuine smile from the anthropologist.

"You're welcome. Establishing some routines and finding something to occupy oneself with daily does quite a bit in regards to helping one settle in."

Rose nods in agreement, her smile a little brighter than before.

"I think it will help me adjust to this place some more. Perhaps get to know the other residents of Taxon as well."

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