Strokes of Genius, Wednesday (9/23)

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

In a continuation of an Approximately Week-Long Period of Time That Had Not Gone Well, Katchoo had woken up not only to realize that Francine's bed was empty and the most likely reason for that, but that she was a @(*&)! frikkin' guy AGAIN.

And scruffy this time, at that. Argh.

On a Wednesday, which meant work, and . . . great.

That guy slouched behind the register, staring at the cell phone in his hand like he didn't know what he'd do if it rang today, wore an awfully familiar scowl. The odds were good that the voice would sound exactly the same too, even.

This week could get better any time. Right?

[OOC: All I know is this Strokes of Genius post looks better when OCD-free. And open. And guess who's been listening to too much JoCo lately.]

Comments

[bitchprince]

Today... was turning out to be a little disorienting, yes.

But Arthur wasn't going to let that stop him from finally stepping in and talking to Katina about... things. Which was to say, actual, physical things, rather than whatever Francine had tried to corner him into talking about, because that had just been mortifying confusing odd. "Katina?" he called.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Right here, geez, quit yer yelling," Katchoo groused, with no further explanation forthcoming. He'd turned into a girl; he could figure it out. Otherwise, hell, she could use the entertainment.

[bitchprince]

Like anyone else spoke quite like that. Which... didn't keep Arthur from physically double-taking once before he could manage to shake it off. "Your turn, is it?"

Unfair. Where were his frantic voicemails from Morgana? ... Oh, god, Morgana.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo rubbed at her (his, whatever) jaw and scowled at the stubble.

"Looks like. Wooooooooooooo." Cleanup on aisle 4, someone spilled sarcasm everywhere. But hey, there'd been a double-take. Awesome. Oh, god. There'd better not be pictures of this.

[bitchprince]

"Well, it's only a day," he said, with... somewhat uncharacteristic sympathy, but come on. "I needed to talk to you."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Longest twenty-four goddamn hours of my life." Naturally, it would have to be today.

"Needed to, huh?" asked Katchoo, one eyebrow creeping hairline-ward.

[bitchprince]

Arthur sighed, and glanced at the ground for a moment. Mainly to check for squirrels. "What you did in the cell, to be precise," he said. He had... not quite gotten the image of Katina nearly tearing a man's face off out of his mind, no.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Saying that she'd scrubbed under her nails for an hour to feel less grossed out about it would probably not help. The scrubbing hadn't helped with that either, come to think of it.

"What about it?" Her voice and face, unfamiliar as the latter was, went wary and nearly still.

[bitchprince]

"Is that something they teach you in schools?"

The only reason he hadn't asked where did you learn that? was that he wasn't yet completely sure that they didn't, although he did a fairly credible job of sounding like he was half-accusing her of something anyway.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

It was a credible enough job to make Katchoo flinch and look away.

"Hell no. Nobody likes to admit the place they teach that exists."

[bitchprince]

"Then what place was it," Arthur said, watching her. It was curiosity, mainly, if a guarded kind.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Shit. She'd been hoping this would never come up. Kind of late for that now, though. Cat out of the bag and all -- god, she hated cats.

"Y'know, if you'd showed up a few minutes earlier we'd be avoiding this conversation." It wasn't so much flinging an accusation at him as it was underhand-lobbing it in a high overhead arc, somewhere in his general vicinity. Katchoo took a deep breath, leaned forward against the counter, and asked, "Francine ever told you anything about what happened after I left Houston?"

[bitchprince]

He wasn't going to wince at that underhanded hot potato. Everything had gone over well, there was no reason he should have a momentary squeeze of guilt at that.

"No." Mostly because whenever Katina came up in conversation with Francine, it was usually in the vein of can we please get off this topic, I'm not going to get involved in an argument between two girls.

[intraspective]

Okay. See? Totally taking a break from sulking to go and see what else was up with other people.

"Katina!" she carolled and sure, it sounded manlier today, but who else managed that particular greeting that particular way?

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Nobody, that was for damn sure.

"Ino," drawled Katchoo, who was starting to feel like her habitual scowl wasn't as scowly as it could be on this face. "Got you too, I see."

[intraspective]

"And on my birthday," she complained, making a face. "What kind of a joke is that? Seriously."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Even if it'd happened to her last year too, there had been a veritable $*!#storm of swearing in 505 when Katchoo woke up this morning. "A sick one," Katchoo muttered vehemently, faceplanting into the counter again just for a moment. "Tell you happy birthday, but . . ."

[intraspective]

"At least the party is tomorrow?" she said, smiling a bit and leaning against the counter. "That helps. I'll recognize everyone there, at least. Not like today, honestly. So you can tell me tomorrow."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose I ought to have expected it was coming--but seriously. Today of all days."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"The universe is a bitch about timing." Katchoo picked up a bit of discarded register receipt tape and rolled it into the tightest possible ball with fingers that were too thick and ungainly for her liking. "Monday, at least, I didn't leave the room. Would've been convenient then."

Yes. For her, maybe.

"And yeah," she added, surprising herself by volunteering, "I'll show tomorrow. Y'know, before you pester me about it."

[intraspective]

"Yay!" she actually grinned at that. "You're spared pestering then."

For the moment, anyway. Ino was pretty good at finding things to pester about.

"Why didn't you leave?" she asked, figuring that hopping up on the counter was a might as well. "Just grumpy?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I'm just going to save myself from that," Katchoo deadpanned. "You know me, I gotta take a break from my swingin' social life sometimes. Like a mini spiritual retreat without having to go to Tibet."

[intraspective]

"Well," she said idly, "it's not like you're that grumpy 'round me."

Or if she was, Ino just steamrolled over it.

"So it's a totally valid question. Did you find it all enlightening and stuff?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo shrugged and flicked the paper ball as hard as possible, watching it arc halfway across the store. "Nah. I think it bombed."

Or possibly she'd just spent it in a haze of smoking and trying -- and failing -- to paint.

[intraspective]

"Think the lack of mountain air caused the failure," she decided, watching the paper ball. "Because mountain air helps, apparently. It's got to if everyone goes to Tibet. You still needing spiritual enlightenment?"

That was, somehow, an 'are you alright?'. It worked for her.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Maybe a spiritual nightlight," Katchoo answered, reaching out with one finger to spin the cell phone lying on the counter. It was the closest she'd come to saying yes.