only hold on to let go | closed

[leaderboards]

WHO: carolina + assorted
WHERE: around the eluvio and bajikan
WHEN: march 8th onward
WHAT: yet another planet catch all
WARNINGS: incredible awkwardness, drinking, tbd?

( closed starters in comments; hit me up if you want to do anything! )

Comments

for wash | march 12

[leaderboards]

​[ this is the sort of thing she had to commit to as soon as the impulse struck. it's been so many years since she last spent real time in a city, or at least one she wasn't wearing armour in, and carolina didn't realize how much she'd missed the sort of life that places like this could contain.

and speaking of life, she's heard great things about the nightlife in gula and fuck it, she indulging. so when she rounds a corner on her way there and comes face to face with wash, she looks distinctly ready to spend the night out, having bought a dress for the occasion and everything, even if it's paired with the cyan jacket she's already taken to wearing around the ship during her downtime.

she presses her lips together, acutely aware of the lipstick on them before she pushes past the deer in headlights stage and finally remembers to greet him. ]

Wash. Good to see you.

[ maybe if she just doesn't bring it up, he won't either. ]

[sixth]

[ In a city this full of.... alien people, Wash isn't expecting to run into too many people he knows. Not at random, anyway. Those he knows are vastly outnumbered by those he doesn't. But while he isn't exactly comfortable down here on this planet, with its strange mood altering air, he isn't too paranoid or uneasy to explore a bit.

Of course, it's only a matter of time before he ends up in Gula, it's siren song of food and drink too enticing to resist. But the last thing he's expecting when he turns a corner is to find himself face to face with Carolina.

At least, he thinks it's Carolina. She looks unlike he's ever seen her. She's wearing lipstick, for fuck's sake. ]

Yeah? [ He stares at her openly, not terribly disturbed by the fact that she'll see him doing it. There's a quirk to his mouth and a note of amusement in his voice. ] Looking for me, huh?

[leaderboards]

No, definitely not. [ that comes out a little too rushed, too honest, so carolina follows it up with what she hopes is a smile. she's never been known for warm expressions and she's definitely been running low on them since freelancer ran itself into the ground, but if she can smile for anyone, she can probably smile for wash.

usually.

right now there's too much tension in her jaw (jesus christ, why is he staring at her?) so it looks more like an uncomfortable grimace. ]

But it's been a few days. [ since she last saw him at the gym. ] So... hey.

[sixth]

[ No, of course she isn't looking for him. No one has ever gotten fixed up to spend time with him and he can't imagine that changing. Which means what? Experience with his sisters suggests two possible answers: she's going out on the town with female friends or she's going on a date.

Imagining Carolina with actual friends is as bizarre as seeing her in makeup. Maybe it wouldn't be if Freelancer hadn't happened, but it had and none of them—except maybe North and York and he doesn't think about them because they're dead and he has enough problems without picking at the wounds—are good at being civilians. Then again, dating seems a little beyond the pale too, even after nagging her over it. ]

You in a hurry? [ His eyebrows rise. ] We can catch up later.

[leaderboards]

[ carolina shakes her head at that, honest about not having any time obligations. nothing she plans to do tonight is going to involve someone she already knows. ]

No, I'm not in a hurry. [ she raises a hand, gestures his way. ] But what about you? Got any... big plans?

[sixth]

[ That makes him snort in sarcastic amusement. He's been slumming around the planet in the most unimpressive civvies he has. Plans are definitely not on the docket. Besides which, friends implies that he has some. ]

Hardly. Where are you headed? [ Then, realizing that that might sound like he's trying to invite himself along, he pats at his chest, indicating his lack of formal attire. ] Don't worry about tag alongs. I'm not dressed for it.

[leaderboards]

I was just going to get a couple of drinks. [ and spend the night out trying to forget the last decade or so of her life, but wash doesn't need to know that. let him fill in his own blanks. there isn't a way carolina can fully save this now that he's seen her, anyway. ]

But we could always do food and beer first, if you're hungry.