IC Contact for Route

[leftinbasketforfbi]

Uh, hi there. You've reached Dr. Spencer Reid. I can't come to the phone at the moment, but leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

[You hear that mumbling in the background? That's Flora making a happy humming noise. From her perch on Reid's head.]

Thank you.

Comments

[doitrockapella]

Sydney, Australia.

[How many times has she been there? She's almost lost count. The familiar old lines of the Sydney Opera House — the day she'd taken that had been a near-unparalleled triumph. But no, this was more than a decade before then, and this time she was on the other side of the law...

Unconsciously, her eyes fall closed, and her fingers start to move on her mug as she half-fidgets, even with something occupying her hands.]

He was after Jason Jr., the new underwater camera — it was new then. I haven't had a dream this old in years...I don't know what made Isabelle pick this one, if she had a hand in it at all. But it all went the way I remember. I landed on the ship, his thugs came at me with the harpoon guns. I dodged, lassoed them. That's when one of them kicks me into the tank.

[She shakes her head a little, her brow furrowing slightly, her eyes shut more tightly than before.]

I'm underwater. I try to swim to the surface, but something catches my waist and drags me back down. I can't get free — I'm pushing them off, but every time I get rid of one, another takes its place, and I'm running out of air.

[Abruptly, she stops and opens her eyes, staring off into space a moment before lifting her mug and taking a slow drink — probably as much to buy herself time as anything else.]

If it had been a memory, that's when my partner would've shown up and helped me get free. In the dream, the water goes dark instead — the squid shot its ink. That wasn't supposed to happen. But I was drowning, and the water went black, and I saw a blue glow. That's when I knew it was Isabelle, and I woke up almost immediately thereafter.

[leftinbasketforfbi]

[Reid is quiet while she speaks, his eyes difficult to read. Harpoon guns. Squid. Darkness. Drowning.

The latter two are common themes in nightmares, though the former two are more unique to Carmen. Already, he's instinctively filing away the information and examining it privately.]

Was there a struggle when you woke up?

[doitrockapella]

You could call it that — though it's hard to say you've really struggled with a Haunter. Waking up threw her out of my dream, I think.

[She continues to drum her fingers on her mug.]

Once I was awake, there wasn't much more she could do.

[leftinbasketforfbi]

And how do you feel now?

[It's another soft question, neutral as all the other's he's asked so far, and he takes a careful sip of his tea. He is now fully in 'SSA Spencer Reid' at the moment.]

[doitrockapella]

Frustrated. If I'd known she was going to be this much trouble, I would've named her Sarah Bellum, not Isabelle Touling.

[She knows what he's getting at, but it's still instinct to deflect. It never feels right, making anything about herself too easy.]

The memory she dredged up isn't one I like to relive.