025 x 520 // accidental video // 可愛いですね～？

[dignity_misery]

[Carla is frowning at herself faintly in a mirror, her cheeks flushed very pink, clearly embarrassed with all of this. Her face is almost as pink as the teacup dress she's standing in. There is a childish sulky tone to her voice when she murmurs,]

...why does she even have this... [She lifts a hand to her hair uncertainly, toying with the fluffy little accessory that's been pinned into her dark hair.] Did someone give it to her as a gift?

[With one leg still in a tall cast she takes a few careful hops backwards to sit down on the edge of a bed, staring down at bare feet, toes curled - (why so much pink?) - against the floor. Her voice lifts, actually speaking to someone,]

I'll have to try your shoes another time.

[It's when she turns to look in that direction that she sees the phone. She had thought it had been tucked out of sight in her jeans, but apparently she was wrong. The realization makes the color in her cheeks darken, and her lower lip blossom into a full pout. Huff.

She defends herself lamely,]

I have better taste than this. [Most days.]


[[ooc; Nope. Couldn't resist. Open action to folks in the warehouse, cause... that's where she's at. Tsun tsun 8(]]

Comments

[dignity_misery]

...the studio?

[She's stalling when she says that. He knows where she's been since coming to the City, the answer seems a bit obvious.]

[intheblanks]

[It's a two-for-one question, and an answer will tell him more than just how long she lived with her ex. But the basic detail is obvious, so he leans back on his hands, looks up, and nods.]

[dignity_misery]

I don't know. [It had all blended together, eventually.] Three years, maybe.

[She had died in the winter at age 25, halfway to her 26th year. She'd made her wish in the fall, just after turning 29. Not quite four, but she had been with him, all that time. Not living, not living at all.]

[intheblanks]

[He holds up a hand. There's no test, no rock to throw, just an offer.]

You left after your wish?

[dignity_misery]

[She's... willing to take his hand, but not keep looking at him, turning her attention back out on the water.]

I don't know. [It was hard to resist going back. The idea that he could forget her made her sick to her stomach. That feeling has changed in the City though. The thought of seeing him again is terrifying, soothed only by Saya's promise to kill him. A promise made because they both knew Carla was too weak to do it herself.] Eventually.

[Nowhere that felt like home.]

[intheblanks]

Think you'll ever leave for good?

[It would sound a strange question, maybe, to someone with no notion that everything she is or does is still somehow wrapped in him.]

[dignity_misery]

[She shakes her head, her voice lowers to almost a whisper because it's not a cute thing to say at all,]

Not until one of us is dead.

[intheblanks]

[He'd be a hypocrite if he couldn't understand that, either. He curls his fingers inward against hers, tugs down lightly.]

Sit down?

[It's not too dirty on these wooden boards.]

[dignity_misery]

[She doesn't do it immediately, looking sullenly and stubbornly to the side, but she's also not leaving without his help, so she uses his shoulder to ease herself down, situating her legs and her skirt in fussy little motions.]

[intheblanks]

[So prissy. It makes him wonder if she took pride in her appearance, once. In fact, it almost makes him smile.]

We need to find something more productive for you to do than ripping things apart.

[We've got to stop you rotting.]

[dignity_misery]

It's fine.

[What is this We.]

Isabela will come with me.

[There won't be any more impromptu trips to strange doctors. That's all she expects he wants to hear.]

[intheblanks]

I didn't say you needed a monster killing support network.

[And in Chase's book, two women possibly being killed in the underground is worse than one.]

It's not fine. It's not changing anything. You're using the fact that you're afraid of not being able to do what you used to [He's kept her hand, and presses another river rock into the palm.] not to do anything at all.

[dignity_misery]

[She closes her fingers around the smooth stone, drawing her hands back into her own lap, keeps her eyes there.]

I don't know what to do.

[intheblanks]

What used to make you happy?

[He doesn't ask 'what would', because even today a cute answer doesn't seem on the cards.]

[dignity_misery]

[She looks confused for a moment before it drops out of her mouth distractedly,]

Puzzles.

[intheblanks]

[She may or may not know why that makes him blink and then smile. If she still has any talent for them, she may.]

All right, we'll work from that.

[dignity_misery]

[She sighs. Sometimes... she doesn't want to be his project. His puzzle. His distraction. She uncurls her hand slowly, trying again at skipping the stone. It doesn't go far, but it jumps twice.]

[intheblanks]

[Despite claims to the contrary, he's not House. She's far more than that. But her answer could have been given by any of the people he keeps closest.

(Puzzles aren't what make him happy, they're just his gift. Sometimes, they keep him sane, but simpler things make him happy.)

Chase watches the stone skip, sitting back and drawing an appraising breath between his teeth.]

Not bad. [As he casually skips a pebble - two, three, four, five.] Work on both wrists every day and you could get from 'doesn't suck' to 'throws like a girl'.

[dignity_misery]

[Despite her claims to the contrary, she's not used to being anything different. Chase had told her that. Maybe she'll get a grasp on it one day.]

I'd rather tie ribbons.

[...at least for today.]

[intheblanks]

[Eyes narrow.]

You didn't bring ribbons.

[Not a question. Not a question.]

[jemerite]

[She finally looks up, smiling shyly.]

Blue ribbons.

[Tucked into the little pocket of her little teacup dress.]

[intheblanks]

[He preferred that dress when she was standing and he had a view encompassing her upper thighs.

Making a (teasing, exaggerated) face, he knits his hands up through his hair, creating a tufty blond mohawk between his fingertips.]

One bow in it.

[jemerite]

[He was the one who told her to sit down, you know.

The smile on her face grows disgustingly warm. She shifts over next to him, pushing up onto her knee to run her fingers through his hair herself. When she's arranged it in a manner she finds acceptable, she produces one of those damn ribbons - royal blue and silky - to tie around the tuft.]

What should I do with the other one?

[She had been plotting pigtails, she's not gonna lie.]

[intheblanks]

[Well, she should know that it's just a steadying grip when he arranges his hands around the backs of her skirts. And that it makes this sitting down arrangement much more agreeable.

Her hands in his hair lull him like a sleepy cat.]

Do I have to walk home with them?

[dignity_misery]

[She considers that. Very deliberately, but eventually she shakes her head.]

I can take them out before Saya sees you.