video/action : open!

[passingthrough]

Who: Kitty Pryde + everyone
Broadcast: Network
Action: Iskaulit: Dance studio
When: New Year’s Eve (slightly backdated)

[Not long ago she’d been considering the best way to handle Winn’s birthday now that he’s gone and all. She considered enlisting a close friend or two to be on duty for support or distractions or just barricading herself in her room and feeling it and dealing with that. In the end she went with booze. Lots and lots of booze.

When she turns the feed on she’s lying down on a series of three chairs, holding the communicator above her head.]

Did I ever tell you about the time I was in Marina—the underwater prison place—and this tiny alien or robot or possibly dog man thing took over and made it rain fruit punch and then made us dance in a dance marathon and if we didn’t he was going to put us in a room with a moose. And I’m not drunk! [She laughs like she just said something very funny.]

No, no, I mean I am drunk but it’s also true. It was a very strange place. Did you know you had to get a wristband if you wanted to have sex with someone? Yeah. It was like being at a bar and wanting drink. [Speaking of wanting to drink. She looks around for her bottle and then lifts herself up enough to achieve drinking.] Oh! And then it was like enforced monogamy where you could only be with your band partner.

Wristband. Not like music band. You didn’t have to have sex with the person you played the flute with. [More laughing.]

What was I…? Oh, yeah, do you know I haven’t kissed anyone in moooonths? Yeah. Like May. May 10th. [Winn disappeared May 11.] In the prison you couldn’t do that because every two months—if they were months—they would send out these mistletoe robots that would make you kiss someone or lots of someones. Usually lots of someones. They had shrinking forcefields and confetti. I had to kiss a guy without lips once. Did I mention it was a weird place?

Comments

[candothat]

What was dirty about that? [Tell him! He legitimately has no idea!]

Ah, of course. That is exactly what it looks like you're doing.

[It looks like he's getting into a shuttle. Mostly because he is.]

[passingthrough]

There are a lot of things faces can do.

Are you visiting me, Captain Pavel Chekov?

[candothat]

And probably not all of those things are things that I should think about in a context that involves you.

Captain Pavel Chekov isn't visiting because he does not exist. You will need to settle for me.

[passingthrough]

Can't stop someone from thinking about things.

And I promoted you. We should celebrate.

[candothat]

Very unfair when you're the one who began the thinking about things. [It's fine, his imagination where face-related activities are concerned doesn't get much racier than kissing.]

Although I don't believe that you have the authority to do that, I would be happy to celebrate regardless. There is a holiday today.

[passingthrough]

No, I definitely called you out on it because you started it silently in your head. [Telepath when she's drunk. Totally accurate like some of the time.]

Oh, yeah, a holiday. Sure. Good to have something to mark the spot so I never forget it. [As if she'd forget Winn's birthday no matter when it was.]

[candothat]

I would deny it, but you know my thoughts too well for me to fool you. [She does not.]

...To mark what spot?

[He wouldn't ask so lightly if he knew!]

[passingthrough]

His birthday. [Can you guess which him? Reaching for the bottle for more drinking times!]

[candothat]

[It's not hard to guess since Kitty's use of male pronouns tends to be limited to whoever she's in love with. They generally referred to Reid before; now they refer to Winn.]

Oh.

I'm sorry, Kitty.

[passingthrough]

[He's not wrong. She does always think about Piotr and Reid on their birthdays. She has no idea when Tyki's birthday is but there are things that remind her of him. Sometimes even things that aren't terrible. But open wound in her heart right now is very much Winn-shaped.]

This is why I wanted to keep it casual with him. We managed casual for literally none of the seconds. [She felt so connected to him right away. Sure, some of that is probably rewriting history, but some of it is true. They bonded quickly.]

[candothat]

[What about Chekov's birthday?! He shoves his sad Kitty-related feelings back in the box where they're supposed to stay and focuses on how she must feel because this is not about him. This is about her sad feelings.]

Your history of keeping casual isn't so good. You were doomed.

[passingthrough]

[omg, Chekov, you're right here. She can celebrate it with you and she can spend lots of days with you not just think about you while being apart. You're winning.] I only tried twice. And Tyki was...more casual than the rest. [It's not like they were in love. Probably.] The bands made it harder!

[And then a laugh.]

That makes it sound like the Rolling Stones or the Beatles did it.

[candothat]

[His player is just really emo about stupid things, okay.] Then here should theoretically be easier, yes?

I like that you're so easily amused right now.

[passingthrough]

If I wasn't mostly a happy drunk this would have been a terrible plan.

...Wait are you suggesting I have one night stands here?

[candothat]

Some might say that getting drunk is a terrible plan regardless of the kind of drunk you mostly are.

What? No! I'm not suggesting that you should not do that, but if you wanted to, it should be simpler here than it was in Marina.

[passingthrough]

[She laughs lightly, leaning back.] I was all out of good plans.

Doesn't feel simple. [It would be cheating on Winn. And it wouldn't too.]

Action

[candothat]

[This sounds like an excellent time for him to walk into the dance studio!] Not getting drunk alone is a slightly better plan, I think. May I sit? [A nod to the floor by Kitty's three-chair platform.]

But it should be. Logistically, if not emotionally.

Action

[passingthrough]

Sit away. [Once he does she is going to climb down from those chairs and put her head in his lap.]

Emotions are the hard part. We should get rid of them.

[candothat]

[There are so many good chairs going to waste right now! He tentatively strokes her hair. Good Kitty.]

That would simplify everything... but I would miss them eventually. There are a lot of good emotions.

[passingthrough]

[Purrrr.]

Would we? We could just take away the emotion for missing things.

[candothat]

Never missing things would mean never becoming attached to things to begin with. Never loving anything or anyone. I wouldn't want that.

[passingthrough]

Are you sure? Have you tried it? [But she doesn't mean any of this. Not really. She always gets attached. She always loves. No matter how many times things end badly or she loses them she goes back to it even if she tells herself not to trust again or not to get into it or go so fast, she does.

She just doesn't know if it's a strength or a weakness. Feels like both.]

[candothat]

I am, and I have. [Getting attached to people in universes where they inevitably forget or leave is a stupid thing to do and he has, at various points in his prison-universe career, tried to stop being stupid. It never lasts long. Caring and loving are easy things to start doing and difficult things to stop. Doesn't matter if it's a strength or a weakness; it's just a reality.]

...Would it help to talk?

[passingthrough]

Well, don't. [Sincere. She doesn't want that for him. And then back to being more drunk and less sincere.]

Yes. Please talk to me. Say lots of pretty words. [She smiles at him.]

[candothat]

Don't what? Be sure, or try not becoming attached? There is no sense in telling me either as I'm both very sure and very attached. [Trying not to be too sincere. Combining drinking and sincerity always makes him mopey; maybe Kitty doesn't operate the same way, but why risk it!]

I meant talking in a way that involves mostly you talking and me listening, but yes, okay. What kinds of words are pretty?