DOLLHOUSE: Composure
Jan. 4th, 2010 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
find_rightbrainTitle: Composure
Characters/Pairing: Adelle, mention of Boyd, Topher and Harding
Word Count: 268
Rating: Worksafe
Summary: On the day Adelle DeWitt loses her House...
Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
comment_fic, for the prompt "The world has teeth, and it can bite you with them any time it wants." Spoilers for "Meet Jane Doe".
Disclaimer: Dollhouse and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I am not him, and am making no money from this.
On the day Adelle DeWitt loses her House, she walks out of the office that used to be hers without a crack in her composure. Her face is a mask. Her hands don't shake. Her step doesn't falter.
Though Topher looks shocked and a little sick, Boyd looks at her with something that might be sympathy, and no one else will look at her at all, she knows it will pass before long. Probation, Harding called it, but she knows the truth of it, that once it's slipped from her hands, regaining control becomes a nearly Sisyphean task, all but impossible. But she walks out of that room with her head held high, though her whole world's been cast into the hands of a petty, small-minded man who will tear it apart without a second thought.
Her eyes are burning and her throat feels too tight, but the mask doesn't falter until she gets home. She closes the door behind her, and that's when it all hits her, a punch in the gut and a dash of cold water to the face all at once. Her knees almost buckle, forcing her to the floor. She almost lets out the scream that's been bubbling in her all day, frustration and loss and sheer impotent rage. Her vision blurs, and she thinks she might be crying, but she squeezes her eyes tight shut and tries to convince herself it doesn't matter.
She is still breathing. The house is still standing. There is a way to save it yet, there must be, because Adelle DeWitt will not accept any alternative.
Characters/Pairing: Adelle, mention of Boyd, Topher and Harding
Word Count: 268
Rating: Worksafe
Summary: On the day Adelle DeWitt loses her House...
Notes: Written for
comment_fic, for the prompt "The world has teeth, and it can bite you with them any time it wants." Spoilers for "Meet Jane Doe".Disclaimer: Dollhouse and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I am not him, and am making no money from this.
On the day Adelle DeWitt loses her House, she walks out of the office that used to be hers without a crack in her composure. Her face is a mask. Her hands don't shake. Her step doesn't falter.
Though Topher looks shocked and a little sick, Boyd looks at her with something that might be sympathy, and no one else will look at her at all, she knows it will pass before long. Probation, Harding called it, but she knows the truth of it, that once it's slipped from her hands, regaining control becomes a nearly Sisyphean task, all but impossible. But she walks out of that room with her head held high, though her whole world's been cast into the hands of a petty, small-minded man who will tear it apart without a second thought.
Her eyes are burning and her throat feels too tight, but the mask doesn't falter until she gets home. She closes the door behind her, and that's when it all hits her, a punch in the gut and a dash of cold water to the face all at once. Her knees almost buckle, forcing her to the floor. She almost lets out the scream that's been bubbling in her all day, frustration and loss and sheer impotent rage. Her vision blurs, and she thinks she might be crying, but she squeezes her eyes tight shut and tries to convince herself it doesn't matter.
She is still breathing. The house is still standing. There is a way to save it yet, there must be, because Adelle DeWitt will not accept any alternative.