[ Kate laughs. It's not the first time someone's said something like that about her, but it is the first time it's been said approvingly. And anything that comes so near to a genuine compliment from Johanna is to be filed away and treasured, obviously. ]
No, none here. The guy I hooked up with on and off for a couple months vanished at a jump before we got to the inevitable break up, which was good since listening to him fumble through it was going to be painful.
[ Not an entirely fair assessment of Aidan but that's another of the perks of him going home: nobody around to call her on being unfair. She props her head up just a little on a folded elbow, mouth tugged into a smile Johanna can hear in her voice. ]
He got so flustered sometimes. You should've seen his face this one time when I suggested he go down on me. Like he'd never heard anybody actually say it before.
[Johanna laughs, and it's mean--but of course it is. She's not even pretending to watch the shitty movie now. Instead, she's laying with her head on Kate's pillow, with her eyes shut and her grin sprawled across her face, very amused at the misfortune of others. Although in this case, the others is only partially Kate, and really only a very little bit Kate at that.]
God, you know how to pick them. But he had done it before, right? Don't tell me he hadn't--and don't tell me he was just too polite--
[The twist of her voice suggests just where politeness can get shoved.]
Hey, anything you say about my taste just comes back on you, remember. [ Not that Kate's offended in the slightest by that little dig, any hurt in her tone very clearly a joke. She's not watching the movie either, leaving the hapless teens to their on-screen fate. She's leaned almost against Johanna's side, one arm still draped around her, hand settled on her ribs for the moment. ]
But no, god, no, he definitely had before. With me, even. He was perfectly good at it, he was just totally taken aback when I suggested it in actual words, out loud. It was almost kind of cute, but, you know. A pretty good sign it wasn't going to work out.
[Johanna just snorts, dismissively, at that chiding. That is to say: obviously she was the exception to her cutting assessment, just like she's always the exception.]
Please. I'm breaking your run of bad luck.
[And you better be grateful for it. The longer they lay in this position, all pushed and draped together, the more used to it Johanna gets. Soon she'll catch herself, and get away. For now, it's all right (more or less); she can put up with it.]
And that's not cute. Did he want it to always be his idea or something? Like a surprise, every time? [Her voice gets all coo-y and purry and pouty, a tone which dissolves instantly with her next pearl of wisdom:] Men are so dumb.
[ Kate's chuckle is definitely not at the idea of Johanna breaking her run of bad luck. Not at all. (She's definitely breaking her run of something.) It's vaguely tempting to roll in closer, maybe hook a leg over Johanna's nearest, but she's comfortable as she is and inertia saves her from pushing her luck for the moment. ]
No, I don't think that was it. I think I just caught him off-guard. It was sort of-- we were having kind of a serious conversation and he'd just woken up from being coma'd and I'd just gotten back from the hallway nightmare and it was kind of conversational whiplash. [ But that's more information than she suspects Johanna wanted, so she adds, not insincerely, ] And men are so dumb.
[It is more information than she wanted, actually, but. Whatever. Maybe one day she'll figure out how to have a normal conversation about abnormal things, instead of just skipping around and disdaining half of what she's told.
Actually, it's more disdaining three-fourths of what she's told, and that's on a good day.]
Really? You'd think he'd just have offered, after all of that. As a welcome back present or something.
Seriously. I thought it was a pretty obvious idea.
[ Boys. Still smiling, Kate shrugs, and shifts a little to brush hair off the back of her neck, letting it spread across the pillow before she tucks her arm beneath it again. ]
You must've broken your share of hearts here or at home, right?
Edited (right right right right) 2015-01-27 20:09 (UTC)
[Her eyes open, narrowed to slits, as she grins--all teeth, all exaggerated. She hasn't actually chopped anyone's heart into pieces, but she's thought about it. More than once.]
But you're right. I guess I've had the chance to do my part so by now, people know not to mess with me.
your tags keep getting older but mine stay the saaaame aaaage
[ Kate huffs a little laugh at that and rolls her eyes, but it's a sort of fond expression, not that Johanna can see it anyway. ]
You must have have a story. Of some poor person long ago who didn't know not to mess with you or some poor dumb boy who didn't understand break ups? Or girl, I guess, but boys just seem dumber.
[Not like Kate's. Nothing like Kate's. Johanna shows her teeth in another grin, and her face is turned up toward the ceiling, and Kate's face is turned away, so she'll never see it; it doesn't matter that it's all teeth and no amusement. She makes herself think of before: District 7]
Mica Comfrey. When I was fourteen, they took half the boys out of our troop and made them work in the sawmill in Creek Village. They were doing some huge project at the Capitol and needed the logs cut faster. Double work for everyone. Mica went with them, and when he came back, two years later, he was twice as tall and twice as good looking and twice as stupid. He told me he was in love with me the day he got back. We hooked up for a week, and then I pushed him in the river when he got too annoying.
[She sighs.]
He pretty much got it then. But I'd still catch him giving me these pathetic little looks.
It's a shame the pretty ones are so often the stupid ones.
[ Not really fair to any of Kate's actual boyfriends but whatever. They had their moments of stupid even if they weren't Mica Comfrey level, whatever that is. Johanna's threshold for stupid is a moving target anyway. ]
How about that first boy, the one who was terrible, did you push him in the river?
No, I pushed him out of a tree. God. He didn't leave for the sawmills. His dad was team captain when they picked the boys, so of course he didn't get picked--and we were the oldest ones in the camp for a few years, so we kept having to work together...
[She sighs.]
It sucks, being surrounded by the same hundred people all the time.
Out of a tree? [ Kate's laugh is a little horrified but mostly just a laugh. He's probably fine. ] Ouch.
What'd he do?
[ Surrounded by the same hundred people gets a softer huff of a chuckle and she nods. ] That's a good thing about New York. With millions of people there's always variety if you want it.
I don't always want variety. It's just nice to have people that don't know you, and don't want to know you.
[She's not completely convinced of that statement, in retrospect. But it's too late now. And it really had been suffocating, at the time, comfortable but frustrating, and that part's no lie. So: whatever.]
He didn't do anything. Except annoy me. We weren't even that high in the tree, he didn't break a bone. And he didn't cry, either. Thank god. But he still didn't shut up half the time, so maybe I should have broken his arm.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alsohawkeye) wrote2024-01-11 07:28 pm
no subject
No, none here. The guy I hooked up with on and off for a couple months vanished at a jump before we got to the inevitable break up, which was good since listening to him fumble through it was going to be painful.
[ Not an entirely fair assessment of Aidan but that's another of the perks of him going home: nobody around to call her on being unfair. She props her head up just a little on a folded elbow, mouth tugged into a smile Johanna can hear in her voice. ]
He got so flustered sometimes. You should've seen his face this one time when I suggested he go down on me. Like he'd never heard anybody actually say it before.
no subject
God, you know how to pick them. But he had done it before, right? Don't tell me he hadn't--and don't tell me he was just too polite--
[The twist of her voice suggests just where politeness can get shoved.]
no subject
But no, god, no, he definitely had before. With me, even. He was perfectly good at it, he was just totally taken aback when I suggested it in actual words, out loud. It was almost kind of cute, but, you know. A pretty good sign it wasn't going to work out.
no subject
Please. I'm breaking your run of bad luck.
[And you better be grateful for it. The longer they lay in this position, all pushed and draped together, the more used to it Johanna gets. Soon she'll catch herself, and get away. For now, it's all right (more or less); she can put up with it.]
And that's not cute. Did he want it to always be his idea or something? Like a surprise, every time? [Her voice gets all coo-y and purry and pouty, a tone which dissolves instantly with her next pearl of wisdom:] Men are so dumb.
no subject
No, I don't think that was it. I think I just caught him off-guard. It was sort of-- we were having kind of a serious conversation and he'd just woken up from being coma'd and I'd just gotten back from the hallway nightmare and it was kind of conversational whiplash. [ But that's more information than she suspects Johanna wanted, so she adds, not insincerely, ] And men are so dumb.
no subject
Actually, it's more disdaining three-fourths of what she's told, and that's on a good day.]
Really? You'd think he'd just have offered, after all of that. As a welcome back present or something.
no subject
[ Boys. Still smiling, Kate shrugs, and shifts a little to brush hair off the back of her neck, letting it spread across the pillow before she tucks her arm beneath it again. ]
You must've broken your share of hearts here or at home, right?
all right all right all right all right
[Her eyes open, narrowed to slits, as she grins--all teeth, all exaggerated. She hasn't actually chopped anyone's heart into pieces, but she's thought about it. More than once.]
But you're right. I guess I've had the chance to do my part so by now, people know not to mess with me.
your tags keep getting older but mine stay the saaaame aaaage
You must have have a story. Of some poor person long ago who didn't know not to mess with you or some poor dumb boy who didn't understand break ups? Or girl, I guess, but boys just seem dumber.
no subject
Mica Comfrey. When I was fourteen, they took half the boys out of our troop and made them work in the sawmill in Creek Village. They were doing some huge project at the Capitol and needed the logs cut faster. Double work for everyone. Mica went with them, and when he came back, two years later, he was twice as tall and twice as good looking and twice as stupid. He told me he was in love with me the day he got back. We hooked up for a week, and then I pushed him in the river when he got too annoying.
[She sighs.]
He pretty much got it then. But I'd still catch him giving me these pathetic little looks.
no subject
[ Not really fair to any of Kate's actual boyfriends but whatever. They had their moments of stupid even if they weren't Mica Comfrey level, whatever that is. Johanna's threshold for stupid is a moving target anyway. ]
How about that first boy, the one who was terrible, did you push him in the river?
no subject
[Her eyeroll makes it into her tone of voice.]
No, I pushed him out of a tree. God. He didn't leave for the sawmills. His dad was team captain when they picked the boys, so of course he didn't get picked--and we were the oldest ones in the camp for a few years, so we kept having to work together...
[She sighs.]
It sucks, being surrounded by the same hundred people all the time.
no subject
What'd he do?
[ Surrounded by the same hundred people gets a softer huff of a chuckle and she nods. ] That's a good thing about New York. With millions of people there's always variety if you want it.
no subject
[She's not completely convinced of that statement, in retrospect. But it's too late now. And it really had been suffocating, at the time, comfortable but frustrating, and that part's no lie. So: whatever.]
He didn't do anything. Except annoy me. We weren't even that high in the tree, he didn't break a bone. And he didn't cry, either. Thank god. But he still didn't shut up half the time, so maybe I should have broken his arm.
[Another sigh. Good times.]
Now I told you two. It's your turn again.