Strokes of Genius, Wednesday

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo wasn't jumping for joy to go to work about, oh, 99.1% of the time, but for the next three weeks it gave her an excuse to escape the Cabin of Bouncy Cheerful Hell; she might have to take Arthur up on that hunting offer, as bad an idea as that sounded on some levels. She was already, at the very least, considering writing up a prison diary or something.

On the way in to work she'd stopped and handwavily dropped off that application form (filled out with not her own information, of course) back at the, uh, 'adult novelty' store or whatever the hell kind of stupid euphemism people tended to use when they didn't want to call a sex shop a sex shop. It was a relief that the shop wasn't open when she arrived; that encounter yesterday had been unnerving for several reasons.

Anyway. Mission accomplished, and now work -- which, when she wasn't smoking, sketching, or "helping" someone, largely consisted of fiddling with her new cell phone, since she hadn't gotten around to actually loading music on it yet.

[OOC: You are lost and gone forever, oh my darling OCD. (Apparently not so darling since that's an awfully cheerful way to sing about it, no?) I'm around with a couple of patches of Not Around early in the day; unwitting job application by proxy done by arrangement with trigons_child, because we're both kinda evil.]

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[intraspective]

"Do you like hot chocolate?" Ino asked, wandering in with two cups. "'Cause I got one for you and then wasn't sure if you did but figured the odds were decent."

And, hey, if she didn't like it then Ino would have another. Worked for her.

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"Well, I don't hate it," Katchoo allowed, scooting away from Ino's usual counter spot. "Haven't gotten on Arthur's case for the slacker thing yet?"

[intraspective]

"I'm plotting," she said darkly as she hopped up without spilling a drop and offered one of the cups to Katina. "Slacker. Honestly."

Ino had spent most of the morning muttering to her plants about it. How dare he?

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Katchoo slid her phone shut again (the slider was far more amusing than she'd ever admit) and set it aside before taking the cup. "Well, y'know, it's Arthur," she remarked offhandedly. Which . . . considering Arthur, encompassed a lot.

[intraspective]

"Stupid jerk," she muttered. "I don't slack."

If anything she was on the other end of the spectrum, at least she'd thought she was before he'd insulted her direly.

"There's nothing wrong with having fun every now and then!"

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"Well, duh. Don't tell people I know that, though." Katchoo gave her a faint smirk. "Geez, whaddya do, like, work three jobs plus take classes, train, and all that other stuff? What the hell kind of standards does he have for slacking?"

[intraspective]

"Three jobs, three classes, training, reserve, fight club, gardening..." Ino rattled off. "And I don't know how I'm slacking!"

A beat.

"Maybe I should get another job!" Ino maybe had issues with being thought of being lazy.

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Katchoo clutched her hot chocolate more and more like a lifeline as Ino recited her list of activities. "Just listening to that makes me think I need a nap now. God. Where do you get the energy?"

[intraspective]

Ino blinked.

"...I just do?" she said, a bit confused. "I've always had that much."

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"Must be nice," Katchoo remarked. "Guess that's what I get for being a lazy-ass most of my life."

Not entirely true, but pssh.

[intraspective]

Ino actually grinned a bit.

"You?" she teased. "Lazy?"

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"No, the other me," Katchoo shot back lightly.

[intraspective]

"Another one of you would be terrifying," Ino said, making a face. "At least, if you shared the same personality."

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Katchoo took a gulp (ow) of hot chocolate and snorted. "Says you. Have you ever met the rest of my cabin?"

[intraspective]

"Maybe?" she said, glancing sideways. "I mean--I'm not sure. Who all have you got?"

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"Well, Francine I don't mind." The 'obviously' was pretty well implied. "But put the rest of 'em together -- Harper and Adora and Dinah and the rest of 'em -- and it's like death by perky."

[intraspective]

Ino laughed.

"I can just tell you're delighted," she said. "So delighted I'm wondering if you'd rather come be social tomorrow night?"

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With a snort of laughter, Katchoo asked, "What, you want the world to end? Depends. What kind of social?"

[intraspective]

"Elena--new girl--and I are throwing a party at Caritas for viewing the first episodes of each of the cabins," Ino said, grinning. "So world ending worthy?"

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"Sure, make me have to cover it on the radio," Katchoo said idly, shooting her a quick grin back. "I'll make Lacey do that part. Sure, why the hell not?"

Never mind that she'd told Dinah the other night that she didn't mock in a group. It'd get her away from Bouncy Cheerful Hell, right?

[intraspective]

Well, unless Bouncy Cheerful Hell followed her, but.

"Hurrah!" Ino said, laughing. "You can be Smile Time's judge then. We thought, one judge from each cabin, and they can't vote for their own show, so it's the best way to prevent skewing the odds."

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"Good call, or you'd be automatically stacking the deck against my cabin," Katchoo remarked, spinning her phone around on the counter.

If Bouncy Cheerful Hell followed her, she'd raise some hell.

[intraspective]

"Pfft," Ino said, laughing. "We wouldn't want that now, would we?"

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"Oh, we wouldn't?" Katchoo could actually feign innocence pretty well. "Oops."

[intraspective]

"I could kick you," Ino mock-threatened.

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"And then I'd be sad," Katchoo replied without missing a beat, an insanely deadpan delivery of a pretty ridiculous claim.

[intraspective]

"You so would not be," she said, rolling her eyes. "Liar!"

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Katchoo shrugged, acknowledging but not denying the claim. "What would you do if I really was sad?"

[intraspective]

"Run for the hills," Ino said promptly. "That would creep me out, no offence."

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"It's much more comforting for you to think of me as evil and slightly inhuman, then?"

That was . . . she wasn't sure how to take that, but Ino's honesty was always a breath of fresh air.

[intraspective]

"I don't think of you as evil or slightly inhuman," Ino said, making a face at her. "You're--"

"--you," she finished lamely. Good cover, Ino. "Just, if you're sad, then it's either really crappy and I probably can't help anyway and so you'd be better off if I ran for someone who might be able to do something, or it's an act and you're going to kill me. Which, well."

She'd rather not have happen?

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Well. That's --" Good to know, actually. "Not what I was thinking you'd say. Island's short on people I can tolerate. It'd be a shame to have to kill you." Katchoo cringed internally at the joke. "'course I'd have to catch you first, probably, and that'd be a bitch and a half, you and your walking on ceilings, huh?"

[intraspective]

"At the very least two bitches," she said, with a sidelong glance. "Would you?"

It was vaguely distressing that this was the second time in as many weeks Ino had asked that of someone.

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"The list of people I would kill is very, very short," Katchoo said in a more serious tone, "and you're a long way from making it."

[intraspective]

"That's good to know," she said, smiling. Because it was.

Then added lightly: "As I'd hate to have you break a nail just trying to touch me."

Braaat.

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"Appreciate that." Katchoo held up one hand, short-chewed nails with motley paint flecks under the nailbeds and all, and wiggled her fingers. "After all the work I put into 'em and all."

[intraspective]

"They're lovely nails," she said, keeping a straight face. "All natural."

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Katchoo fluttered her eyelashes mockingly. That was probably disturbing. "Oh, yeah. We sit around frikkin' Smile Time and do each other's nails and gossip, y'know."

[intraspective]

It was disturbing!

"How do you know the others don't?" she pointed out with a laugh.

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"Sadly, I'm pretty sure they do. Or something equally nauseating." Katchoo swept an arm around to indicate the store. "This is why I'm glad I'm here today. And tomorrow. Swear to god I might just camp on the roof, or behind the camp gym."

[intraspective]

"You could even camp in here," she noted. "Since you don't got to leave for tomorrow."

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"I have class tomorrow," Katchoo said, looking so thrilled about it, really. "Dammit, why didn't I bring a sleeping bag down?"

[intraspective]

"Run over to Turtle's shop," Ino said smugly. "Grab one there."

Ino always had some sort of answer.

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"Smartass," Katchoo said mildly. For her, anyway. "Might do that after work."