Chloe O'Rourke

I figure I should be the one to give the GM a free ride to ruin Chloe forever.

Might as well

Do you want me to continue my talk with my mother here?

if that's what you prefer.

It's more what you prefer. If it's just time management in the private threads, and we're dealing with an approach, I can keep it there.

This thread works fine then, sure.

Beginning of the Conversation, brought here for convenience

Early in the week your mom finally returns your calls. She responds to Chloe's hesitant greeting with a similarly uncertain one of her own:

"Hello Chloe. Is this, umm, a bad time?"

Chloe was trying her best to stay busy and keep the house clean. On her good days, she cleaned regularly. On her bad days, she curled up in her bed with the blinds pulled. When her phone rang...Chloe thought it was NERV again...until it wasn't, and she almost dropped her phone into her tea.

"Umm...no, Mom. It's...um..." Chloe already began to tear up. "It's not..." Chloe was at a loss as to how to talk to a potential hostage.
How...how have...you been?" It's a normal question, but by the tone, Chloe was more or less asking herself if it was the right question, rather than giving a pleasantry.

The voice on the line hesitates, as if suddenly trying to decide how to approach the question.
"A little bit... stressful, I think! We had a, hmmm... situation up here, I guess you must have seen. But everything is going to be all right. They would never have hurt any of us! I'm positive of it.

Just a misunderstanding, I guess..."

She has the tone of someone trying to recall a dimly-remembered dream.

Chloe was a bit confused by the way her mother was talking. "Mom? What are you talking about? They took hostages! What...what is going on?"

"Now Chloe, there's no need to overreact... you've probably seen the news reports like everybody else, that must be it. Well, it was nothing like they said! Just... everyone was very calm. They had us sit down together in a room, and gave us water. They were friendly, I felt. They wouldn't let us hurt oursel-- nobody tried to hurt us, is what I mean.

I don't get why everyone I talk to is always so irrational about it! The other people, those UN workers who were there, they understood though. It was... look, I'm feeling kind of tired, Chloe."

"Oh...I'm...I'm sorry, Mom." Chloe recognized the slip. The 'hostage takers' either were on their side, or someone had tried to hurt themselves. This was very confusing. "I was...just scared. I thought you were in danger." Chloe had taken on her confrontation posture, looking at the ground, wiggling her feet, wringing her hands, blushing. "I won't...I won't bother you about it."

"Yes, everything will be alright. That's what's important. Umm... what was I going to talk about...

Oh, we're finally getting close to unveiling our project over here. It was a lot of hard work, but I think it should pay off for us very soon! Then I can get away from this city and down to Ark to, uh, see you. That will be good, won't it?"

It sounds like a question she's worried to hear the answer to.