A June Tourist

[takingkarabusiness]

Who: Touristas, visitors, and friends.
Broadcast: probably not
Action: S.S. Tourist
When: June!

[ The ship! It mingles in a month! Happy summer, happy calibrations, let's boogie ]

Comments

[ action: closed to Kate ] [ May 24 on ]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ After her conversation with Mon-El, she doesn't call or text Kate, she just checks out her usual haunts on the fleet and hopes to find her. If she's lucky, she'll be near some super brew ]

[ action: closed to Chekov ] [ May 24 on ]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ At some point after her discussion with her boyfriend, Kara decides that pouting is less fun alone and goes to find Chekov. When she catches him, she aims for upbeat and probably lands somewhere between Eeyore and Sadness from Inside Out ]

Do you know where any candy is?

[ action: closed to Natasha ] [ May 24 ]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ At some point in all of her processing, Kara decides to go to the gym and work out some frustrations. She doesn't even notice when Natasha slips in (probably)—she's working on one of the extra strength punching bags with intense focus ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha didn't try to sneak in, but Kara is focused and Natasha is naturally a light step. She pauses while wrapping her own knuckles to have a go at the regular old punching bag, watching her work out her feelings.]

Hard day?

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she glances over. she became aware of Nat's presence after she entered but didn't pay attention to who it was ]

Yeah, you could say that.

[outstandingbalance]

[An arched brow, mixing curiosity and concern with a sort of profession distance.]

Guess it's better to take it out on the bag than on people. ...Should I ask what happened?

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she stills the bag with both hands and sighs, unsure if she wants to go down this path. But she also wants to know. ]

Did you know about Mon-El being a prince?

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha's expression softens at that, a little surprise allowed to show on her face.]

It never came up.

[takingkarabusiness]

Well, he is, and not only did he lie about it to me here, it started at home. So. I don't know what to do about that.

They were tyrants and slaveholders, Natasha. Dictatorial hedonists.

[outstandingbalance]

How did you find out? [Seems like the right question to ask next. There are a lot of reasons it could come out.]

[takingkarabusiness]

[ this is a point in his favor ]

He came clean.

[outstandingbalance]

[A pause at that while Natasha does the math, then she nods.]

It seemed like he had something on his mind the last time we talked. Like there was something hanging over his head.

Seems like he decided to meet it.

[takingkarabusiness]

There wasn't a repeat of the last time he neglected to tell me something, in case you're wondering. I told him we'd talk about it again but I had to think.

[outstandingbalance]

Seems fair. That's a lot to take in.

[Natasha considers if she should leave it at that. Maybe she should. Kara says she needed to think, which wasn't unreasonable.

But Kara hasn't struck Natasha as the type who withdraws from people.]

It's a lot to let out, too. Believe me, I've told a lot of lies. The longer you tell them, the harder it is to stop.

[ladybro]

[ fortunately for kara, kate's current haunt is the same one that nets her money. she's behind the counter at malum -- her back to the bar's room while she ticks through inventory on the shelves. counting out the good stuff, the middle stuff, the stuff they pass off as the bad stuff but is still pretty good stuff.

she can hear that someone's entered the establishment, but she's not quick to turn around. whoever it is will announce themselves in time. ]

[takingkarabusiness]

Hey, bartender. Hit me with your best shot.

[takingkarabusiness]

He didn't have to start in the first place.

[ well. i mean, it was definitely the smartest move but she won't acknowledge that unprompted ]

[outstandingbalance]

Maybe he didn't. [Natasha shrugs. That's not her call to make, and she doesn't want to make it about defending Mon-El's decision to lie one way or the other.] But unless you has a time machine, going back and undoing it isn't exactly an option. Even if he wants to make it right.

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she sighs again ]

It's not a small thing. I don't know if anyone can really understand that. It's not just the lying to me—which is obviously a huge issue—but who the prince was. What that family did and stood for. I can't just ignore that.

[outstandingbalance]

Then don't ignore that. But if he was asking you to, I don't think you'd have any problem figuring out what to do.

[takingkarabusiness]

Of course he wasn't asking me to ignore that. It would be a lot easier if he was just a jerk.

[outstandingbalance]

Maybe. Do you want it to be easier? Because it doesn't have to be that hard.

[takingkarabusiness]

How do you figure?

[outstandingbalance]

He's not who you thought he was, and he lied to you. It wouldn't be unfair of you not to trust him after that—not in the way that you can continue a relationship. It's possible that this is too much for him to really correct. So if you want it to be easy, you can break it off. You can tell him that you'll support him changing, but you can't be with him.

[She tilts her head, studying Kara's face.]

On the other hand, he can't change the past and he can't change who he is. Bearing that in mind... he's doing something very hard, trying to get right. You can judge him for what he should have done, or you choose to judge him for what he's trying to do now.

[takingkarabusiness]

[ she watches natasha as she speaks, but when she brings up breaking it off, kara looks away and chews on her lip. it's clear that's where the conflict lies ]

It should be easy and it's just not. So my options are break up or just forgive and forget?