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

[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.

[therewaslife]

"She was my friend," Bod told her, shaking his head and looking away. "It's not something you want to hear a friend say. Wouldn't you carry something with you?"

[vanillajello]

"Mm." She watched him quietly for a moment, then looked down. "Well, apparently I have enough of a problem with one of Mom's alters that she got her very own little bag."

[therewaslife]

"Oh?" Bod pulled himself out of his own temporary brooding to look back at her. "What sort of problem?"

[vanillajello]

"She doesn't like me," Kate said, looking at him and shrugging vaguely. "Which is fine by me because I don't like her either."

Well, sometimes they got along okay. But apparently not okay enough to not warrant a bag.

"She called me a slut." Kate snorted. "Or, would have, if her vintage manners let her use words like that."

[therewaslife]

"A..." All right, Bod couldn't exactly say the word either but that wasn't because he had vintage manners. "Why did she call you that? That's a rather cruel word."

[vanillajello]

"Mom found something she shouldn't have," Kate said, almost idly. "Anyway, 'graceless ingrate' is what she actually called me."

[therewaslife]

"I'm sorry she called you that," he said, reaching to cup her cheeks and touch her skin. "You're not. She was wrong, you're not. You're more than that. I know it."

[vanillajello]

Kate rolled her eyes, and smirked faintly. "It's no big deal," she said, but couldn't help leaning into that touch just a bit. "I know that too."

[therewaslife]

"Sorry," he said and hated that he could feel a blush coming on at the overreaction. He moved his hands away and looked down, shaking his head. "Sorry, that was an overreaction. On my part, I mean."

[vanillajello]

At that, Kate acted on instinct and leaned in to kiss him.

She didn't really pull away even when, after a moment, she said, "Don't apologize for caring." Her voice just barely loud enough to be heard. "My mom called me a slut and tried to wash my mouth with soap, and it was a fucking awful night. Never apologize for caring."

[therewaslife]

"All right," he promised quietly, leaning up to return that kiss because he kind of needed it right then and there. He kind of needed her and to not feel like a monster and to know who he was.

He pulled back, took in some air and said, "I do care about you. I do. I want you to know that even if you already do. You should hear it again." And he kissed her again because it felt right.