driftfleet | OPEN

Entry tags:

OPEN | VIDEO

Who: Kitty and all the people of fleet!
Broadcast: Yes!
Action: Windrose if you want
When: At some point before the masquerade

We have a masquerade coming up, and I was bored so I thought I'd mettle in people's lives for my own amusement. First, the disclaimer, there is nothing wrong with going to a dance solo.

Now, for anyone else, who wants a date?

Sorry, not me. Taken. But there are probably some of you out there thinking a date would be fun, and sure, why not? So speak up. Let's make some love connections. Or, you know, awkward dancing connections. I'm a mutant, not a miracle worker.

(OOC: Please feel free to threadjack.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She takes his hand, giving it a little squeeze and then kissing his cheek because she doesn't trust herself to stop if she goes for the lips again.] It's good seeing you. Has it been an entire day? [Joking a little at how they're acting, but the day before had been rough—emotionally exhausting. It was just really good to be with him again with that kind of depth but without the weight of it feeling so heavy today.]

Depends, are we talking calendar or stream day? Cuz I think we're a couple hours short on the latter -

[ it hasn't been a full 24 hours. he smiles cheekily. ]

It's good to see you too.

[ after everything they shared a part of him worried they wouldn't be able to just...enjoy each other's company anymore, that all that pain would cast a shadow on their every meeting.

seeing her now, he realizes that was very stupid of him. ]

[Her life has had a lot of pain, trauma, and loss. It can hold her back at times, but she would be a very different person if she let it consume her. She still finds the fun in her life and the sweetness and right now Winn is a big part of both of those things.]

Does that mean I should come back in a couple of hours? [His hand is getting another squeeze as if to say the answer is already no.]

[ oh, the relationship they'd have if they only said what's in their brackets!

he squeezes her hand in return ]

Calendar days are so much easier to follow.

[She's still nervous about some of the things she manages to say out of brackets!] Agreed. You know we didn't even have those in the prison? No seasons or months. Just Day 322. Day 323. [She smiles.] It makes it hard to figure out when you're birthday is.

[ that sounds depressing. he frowns a little. he shouldn't be surprised - and he isn't - it was a prison, and depressing seems to be her theme. it's just...sad, to keep discovering more and more, even if it's the little things. ]

When is your birthday? [ his tone is innocent enough, but he's already trying to figure out what he'd have to do to throw her one to make up for all the ones she's missed. ]

Is it weird if I say I don't think my birthday is going to land on my birthday? [She laughs. It is weird.] I was born on August 15, but I don't think I'll actually turn 21 until after that. My birthday was Day 340 in the prison and then I left on Day 360 and got here on February 1st. So, I guess it will be January 10?

...you're 20?

[ suddenly feeling so. old. and a little creepy. he hadn't really thought about how old she is - it was clear that she's younger than him, but she's so mature it just didn't click that the gap may be that big. he took her drinking. which, considering everything she's been through in her life, she probably does anyway, but still - ]

Oh, come on. It's just a number. [She really couldn't care less how old he is. They fit together well. What else matters? But it's not the first time she's been with someone who was nervous about the age gap. Actually, the only time it didn't happen was with Tyki. Not because there wasn't one, but because he just didn't care.]

Yeah -- [ at least she's over 18 - and maturity wise she probably surpasses him - it's just - going to take a little wrapping his brain around it. ]

So we're back to calendar vs. actual - who'll win round two?

[She can understand that it might have been jarring. She just doesn't want to worry about something like losing him over it. Not now that she's getting invested. It's a relief when he moves on.] Um, I don't know. It feels weird to celebrate in January, but I wouldn't want to prematurely age myself.

[ he's already too invested for her to lose him that easily. or. at all. pretty much the only thing that could make her lose him is if she tried to hurt kara. ]

You're 20, you can take it. I vote calendar.

[ not just because my girlfriend is 21 will make him feel a little less like a creep...but also because that way he won't have to wait as long with all the birthday ideas that already pop into his head. ]

Maybe I can just have my birthday in August and continue to say I'm 20. It's not like people here wouldn't understand being pulled out on a date that didn't match up with when they were coming from.

So, what about you? When's your birthday?

New Year's. I skipped from February to March but screw it, the first time in years I have someone to kiss at midnight, I'm keeping it in place.

[ he didn't really mean it as the far future planning that it comes out as - but if pointed out to him - his main concern would be freaking her out, not as much himself. ]

[Oh, she's a little freaked out by it. She ducks her head, feeling the blush in her cheeks. It hasn't escaped her how close to being a year away that is. She's touched because that kind of certainty and excitement about their future is something she wanted from Reid, but he isn't Reid. This is new and sweet and good and...impossibly fragile no matter how tough they are. Things can happen that they can't control.]

You don't know how you're going to feel by then. [She shouldn't say it. She should just let it go. But she's reminding herself. Reminding herself she doesn't get happily-ever-afters and forevers even if she wants them.]

[ it's only when she speaks that he realizes the implications of what he just said ]

-- sorry, sorry, way too soon, right? [ awkwardly chuckling is a go even if a part of him -- really doesn't want to take it back. he's an all in kind of guy. ] I was just making a - dumb joke - you know it's like the puns with my name, it's just compulsory by now. [ his name is win.slow.shot and he was born on new year's. if he's not a cartoon somewhere in the multiverse, the multiverse is just doing it wrong. ] Absolutely no pressure here, I swear. [ she has a painful track record with men, the last thing he wants is to be a part of it ] ..did I freak you out?

...Yes. [Just going with honesty because it's what she does best even when it's hard.] But in a very sweet kind of way.

It's just a lot of things could happen, and I probably worry about those too much. [But saying it's too much isn't the same as stopping.]

[ he gives her hand a little squeeze and smiles apologetically. he understands where she's coming from - it's those things that might be happening that will now keep him awake at night slaving over theories and calculations so that he could take her home with him. ]

I'm sorry. I need to think more before I speak, it's a life-long struggle.

[ considering what she's been through, he can't really blame her. he worries too much even without those experiences. ]

Don't? Just be you. You say some pretty good things.

I just... [She pauses, not sure if she should admit this fear to him.] You're so cute and smart and fun and...you're not going to be single very long at home.

[ he wants to tell her so badly that no - no he won't be because he's going to bring her with him, and they'll be together there too, if she keeps wanting him.

but he can't, not until he has a way to do it. ]

Experience says otherwise -- experience says crazy robo-cat gentleman.

...I've heard that before. [Reid hadn't been with anyone before her. Not outside of a surprise pool kiss when he was protecting a starlet. And then... Then it changed. She can't meet his eyes. She doesn't like comparing him to someone else. He probably doesn't like it either. But it's still a fresh enough wound that it isn't fully healed and the thought of getting a matching one because Winn suddenly remembers the love of his life is...hard.] It's not like I would want you to be alone there either. [She wouldn't. He still has a life to live there and these places don't care about time and space. Somehow it's moving even when they are here together.]

Hey - [ he gently tries to lift her face up to look at him. ]

Is this about - the bad breakup? [ he doesn't like being compared, but he likes her struggling alone even less. they got together knowing that both of them were still at least a little hung up on other people, this is understandable even if unpleasant to be polite. ]

[She lets him guide her gaze back up to meet his.] ...Yeah... Sometimes people just...wake up with new memories of home or disappear for a few days and come back with them. [Just like the prison. She checked.] It could happen to anyone...who isn't like me. [Dead.]

[ anyone who isn't her.

the pain is unmistakable in his eyes. ]

...I didn't know that.

[ there's still so much he doesn't know about this world, an it's a terrifying thought but it's not what matters now. what matters is - she's right, he has no way to reassure her, no way that she'll believe, no way that will be true.

can't they catch a single break? ]

That happened to him? [ gently. he can't imagine how painful that must have been for her, and he's not really sure there is a right course of action there, either. it's awkward as hell, talking about her ex, but more than her boyfriend, it's important to him to be her friend. she needs a good friend. she deserves the best friend. she got him - so he's just going to try his hardest. ]

[She reaches up to touch his face when she sees that look in his eyes. And for a moment she just wants to take it all back and tell him everything will be okay because she doesn't want him hurting and she just keeps telling him things that make that happen.]

...Let's go in your room first? [This isn't a hallway conversation. It hasn't been for awhile and yet...]

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