Weeping Angel A4, Friday After Classes

[vanillajello]

Kate was fighting a losing battle.

Namely, one of trying to stuff all her surprise luggage under her bed. There were just too many. They would never fit. But she just had to try. Not like she wanted them just laying around, when they had labels like Too much responsibility, Pushed around by skeevy guys and Heart bruised by Southern idiot.

And of course, that one fucking luggage set with the label Crazy mother issues.

Eventually though, she just gave up, letting a few of the bags that wouldn't fit just stay in sight. She was just going to flop down on the bed and be thankful that at least she'd been able to push that one black leather bag (which for some reason looked like an old-fashioned doctor's bag, and which had the words That one awful Saturday labelled on it) as far back under the bed as it would go.

Fucking Fandom.

[ooc: Open for cabinmates/visitors! I'll be around for a couple of hours now, and then again later in my evening.]

Comments

[vanillajello]

It wasn't Kate's bag, so she didn't quite forget what they'd been doing. But his obvious distraction was enough to get her head turning to look at the bag too, curious to read what could get that reaction from him.

"What?" she asked. "What is it?"

[therewaslife]

Bod didn't answer for a minute. It took a moment longer for him to realize what she'd said and he turned the bag silently towards her so she could read it.

"Bit of a surprise," he said mildly, covering up his surprise as best he could after getting an unexpected bag. "I don't even know what it means."

Well, that was a lie but it seemed the best thing.

[vanillajello]

Kate read the words, tilting her head to the side a little bit.

"Seems straightforward enough," she said, after a moment, keeping her own tone mild. She'd gotten a few bags she didn't quite understand, but she didn't think that was really the case here.

Still, she wasn't going to ask. Not right away, anyway.

[therewaslife]

"Perhaps," Bod said, running his fingers over that label lightly before shaking his head and getting his hand away from the bag. Getting his mind off of it was a little harder but he could try.

"These bags are rather ridiculous, aren't they?" he asked, forcing a laugh and shaking his head again. "I'm sure the island could have been more creative than this."

[vanillajello]

Kate gave him a look for that laugh, but played along.

Possibly because now she felt like she was channeling Mitchell.

"Mm, yeah. Pretty ridiculous," she said, idly stroking the back of his neck with her fingertips. "But you shouldn't say you want more creativity from it."

[therewaslife]

"What was that look for?" Well, he thought he'd been rather subtle. And getting looks from her was something he was used to but still felt the need to question.

Still, he couldn't help leaning into her fingertips some because it did help the sudden jumps of tension that had formed after getting that bag.

[vanillajello]

Maybe he was pretty subtle, but she was very close. And paying attention to him. Still stroking his neck.

"Nothing," she said.

It sounded more like something, and she didn't bother trying to hide it.

[therewaslife]

"I can tell you're lying," Bod said, looking up at her quietly. "Did I say something wrong?"

[vanillajello]

Kate shrugged a shoulder. "I could tell you were lying too."

Well, no she couldn't. But jumping to conclusions worked, sometimes.

[therewaslife]

"Lying about?" Bod asked, looking for the clarification before he admitted or lied about something again.

[vanillajello]

"About whether you know what that bag is about or not," Kate replied, nodding towards the satchel. "I think you do."

[therewaslife]

"All right." He took a quiet breath and looked up at her before nodding. "I know what it means, that bag. I do."

[vanillajello]

"See, was that so hard?" she asked. "It's not like I'm expecting you to explain, it's just that I'm pretty sure you've asked me not to lie to you. That's usually supposed to go both ways."

[therewaslife]

"Right no, you're right," Bod agreed, looking down and pursing his lips while he tried to gather up his thoughts into something resembling normalcy. "Of course, I think we're still lying to each other. We have been for awhile."

Lies of omission were easy to do. He knew she was hiding things and she probably suspected the same of him.

[vanillajello]

Unfortunately, for Kate that was the normal thing to do. No one was supposed to know absolutely everything. That just wasn't how things worked.

There was a hint of slightly forced indifference in her voice and her expression as she asked, "How so?"

[therewaslife]

"Can you honestly say you're not curious about what I'm not saying about the bags of mine that you've seen today?" Bod wondered quietly.

[vanillajello]

"I haven't claimed I'm not curious," she pointed out, a little more softly now. A little more honest. "I'm just not asking about them."

[therewaslife]

"Why don't you ask about them?" he asked gently, genuinely curious about the answer. "Most people would. People who didn't even know my name would. Do you not want to know the answers?"

[vanillajello]

"It's not that." Though in a way it was. "It's just that I don't like it when people ask me. I mean, I'll tell people if and when I want." She shrugged a shoulderder. "So maybe I just like being told rather than asking."

[therewaslife]

"It's a good reason," he assured her, smiling a bit. "I wasn't accusing, I was just curious. Most people tend to ask. They don't have your sort of patience, I suppose. They want to know and they want to know now especially if there are bits of strangeness here and there."

[vanillajello]

Kate snorted quietly at the mention of patience. She didn't hear that too often. "Yeah, well," she replied, "bits of strangeness are nothing new to me."

[therewaslife]

"Scarlett," he said, deciding to explain one of the easier bags suddenly, "was the name of the girl I knew back when I was in the graveyard. She was my only other friend. Her parents thought I was imaginary because what kind of child would live in a graveyard, right?"

[vanillajello]

"I can see how they'd come to that conclusion," Kate replied with a brief nod, watching him. "Doesn't tend to happen."

[therewaslife]

"Yes, I can too and I didn't mind," Bod said, smiling briefly. "I just liked having a friend. A friend my age, that is. Anyway, she moved away for a few years and I didn't think she'd come back. She did though, when we were both older. And she remembered me. Scarlett was the one who called me a monster. I think I told you that, didn't I? It was her."

[vanillajello]

"Oh. Yeah, I remember, you told me." The day after her own brush with the theme of friends and monsters. In a way it surprised her that she could remember anything said to her around that time.

"And that's why she got her own bag?"

Kate knew there had to be more to it – like why she'd called him a monster – but... That was the easiest question. Open enough.