Feet of Clay

[Samantha McManus]

"So... what do we do now?"

[Miriam Bell]

"I'm not letting you take my only friend away, Sam..." she says and though she intends it to be defiant it ends up sounding more pathetic than anything.

[Samantha McManus]

"Is that... really what you think I want to do?"

[Miriam Bell]

"It's what's going to happen. Hell it already happened. He's turned into someone who at best doesn't like me and at worst sees his tormentor every time he looks at me. I can't even blame him for that. It's never anybody's fault, even when it is..." she mutters, sounding bitter herself.

[Samantha McManus]

"This... doesn't help. You have to know that. It just... destroys any benefit of the doubt he was giving you."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam just stares at Sam for a while, lips pressed into a thin line.

"Too late now anyway..." she eventually manages quietly.

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't know if it is."

"You do owe him an apology, though."

[Miriam Bell]

"That'd require me to be sorry for what I did."

[Samantha McManus]

"Then what do you want me to do, Miriam? You don't have to burn your bridges, here."

[Miriam Bell]

"I don't care what this new Will thinks of me. That's why I made that box in the first place. Better than actually changing his mind, yes?"

[Samantha McManus]

"...for an extremely relaive view of 'better.'"

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam sighs. "Whatever. It's probably going to fall apart sooner rather than later anyway..."

[Samantha McManus]

"I want to help," she sighs as well. "You've just got to give me something to bloody work with, here."

[Miriam Bell]

"Work with what, Sam? How are you gonna fix this? You think you can just talk this away and we"ll all hug and everything's going to be fine?"

[Samantha McManus]

"If you were sorry for it and realized it was wrong it'd at least be a start. It'd be a long road back but it'd be better than nothing."

[Miriam Bell]

"But I'm not. I'm not sorry for trying to cheer him up and for wanting my friend back. I'm sick of my life doing it's best to kick me to the curb and stripping me of everything."

[Samantha McManus]

"And let me guess, you blame me for that?"

[Miriam Bell]

"For what? Helping your friend? I could have stopped you but I didn't because I thought maybe she's right, maybe it will be better that way. You just got caught up in the most recent way things are falling apart around me."

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't like seeing you hurting like this, and you know probably as much as I do how hard it is to ignore."

[Miriam Bell]

"Sorry, I'll try to keep the misery contained." she says dryly.

[Samantha McManus]

"That's not what I mean, and you know it."

[Miriam Bell]

"Yeah, but what do you want me to say, Sam? The world's unfair and there's some things you just can't fix."

[Samantha McManus]

"I just have to believe there's some way to make things better, you know?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Wouldn't that just be fantastic." she says, turning to walk over to her desk. Next to her bed the top drawer of Miriam's nightstand is open and inside Sam can see a pile of loose Pound notes, mostly 50s and 100s. Even without counting it's easily several thousands in cash.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam blinks, looking a bit past Miriam.

"You ah... come into a little mad money?"

[Miriam Bell]

"What, Will didn't tell you what we were up to after you dug it out of his brain? Not that it's any of your business, but yes. I got 'lucky' at the Ritz Casino." she says, her tone leaving it ambiguous what exactly she did, but it doesn't sound exactly above water. Or it's just Miriam's sparkling personality making everything she says sound kind of sarcastic and snarky. But considering she's not exactly someone who has the kind of money to even get into that kind of place it's probably the former.

[Samantha McManus]

"Nobody noticed, did they? We're not going to have big guys in suits showing up?"

[Miriam Bell]

"I didn't cheat. I won this legitimately. Besides, it was Poker, so why would the Casino care I took money from people who have so much they won't even notice." she says, specifically neglecting to mention that she did technically get caught by one of the players.

[Samantha McManus]

"Maybe I've seen too many movies, it just seems like the kind of people who'd bet that much take gambling... awfully seriously."

[Miriam Bell]

"They'd have to feel like they lost an unreasonable amount for that now wouldn't they?"