Room 303, Wednesday Afternoon

[fewer_explosions]

Most people spent this week exercising, taking showers, or, ahem, engaging in other activities. Liara? Liara was just doing what she always did, with about ten times as much focus. It was hardly new for her to channel emotion into learning, and if that learning was especially dedicated this week... it could be a lot worse.

Right now she had several books scattered around the room - a couple on the theorized workings of the multiverse, a couple about human history, a couple about human archaeological findings, one particularly engrossing tome about the architectural roots of this island. She had already read most of them, but there were still several left. And so she sat there on her bed, bent over the book in her lap, scrutinizing each word with intense focus.

All in all, she was not much different this week than she had been the last, or the one before that.

[[ open door, open post! ]]

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[fewer_explosions]

Reading was becoming a less appealing prospect by the minute. "I... no?"

She paused.

"Oh, Goddess, that came out as a question, didn't it?"

[solarhippie]

Karolina chuckled. "A little bit, yes."

But it was cute?

[fewer_explosions]

"I'm sorry," Liara said, finally throwing caution to the wind - or rather, shoving the book away and siddling over to the edge of the bed. "I am feeling a little out of sorts."

She had always been aware Karolina was lovely, but the fact seemed more pointed than it usually did.

[solarhippie]

And she wasn't even glowing in pastel colors!

Just leaning awkwardly in the doorway. Fiddling with her hair. "Yeah, I... think that's going around this week."

[fewer_explosions]

"It has?" Liara asked.

Then the doorway end of the equation struck her a few moments later (she... might have been looking at something else). "Oh! Would you like to come in?"

[solarhippie]

"Sure." Because being slightly closer to each other was a great idea under the circumstances, right. She pushed away from the door and took a few actual steps into the room, sticking her hands awkwardly in her pockets. "Very kind of you to invite me."

That was a joke.

[fewer_explosions]

"You are my friend," Liara said earnestly, entirely missing the joke. "So is this Fandom playing tricks again?"

Perhaps she should offer Karolina a seat.

[solarhippie]

"As far as I can tell," Karolina said, shrugging. "Everyone's a little, um... Feeling a little warmer than usual."

[fewer_explosions]

"Ah."

Pause.

"That is a euphemism, isn't it."

She was terribly on the ball today.

"...Would you like to sit down?"

[solarhippie]

Nothing got past her, did it?

"Uh, yeah, sure."

... And then Karolina could look awkward and not sure where she should sit. Because this week was like that.

[fewer_explosions]

"You could sit on the bed," Liara said encouragingly. "...The other bed. Either bed! Either bed would be fine!"

Okay, that stopped being encouraging somewhere along the line.

[solarhippie]

But it also served to distract Karolina from her own awkward a bit. So, it was almsot useful.

She tilted her head to the side a little. "Are you nervous?"

[fewer_explosions]

"No!" That did not sound terribly not nervous, Liara. "I mean-- Goddess, this stupid whatever it is is messing with my mind!"

Because normally she was a completely composed person.

[solarhippie]

"Oh. Good." Wait, had she meant to say that out loud? How was it 'good' anyway?

She was pretty quick to add, "It's pretty annoying, right?"

[fewer_explosions]

"I'm very glad that I no longer have a roommate," Liara blurted.

[solarhippie]

"... Me too."

See, if they'd both shared that, then it wasn't so bad, right?

Except for Karolina blushing a bit as she let out an embarrassed laugh, but. That happened a lot this week.

[fewer_explosions]

Liara fiddled with her fingers a little bit and mostly tried not to, ah, look, because that was rude, and. And. And: "What did you mean by 'Good'?"

[solarhippie]

... Could she pretend she hadn't said that?

Probably not, right?

So she was going to resist the urge to outwardly flail and just awkwardly played with a strand of hair. "Oh, um..."

Those were not really words, Kar.

[fewer_explosions]

"...I'm sorry," Liara said, appalled at herself. "I did not mean to fluster you."

[solarhippie]

"Oh, no it's not that," Karolina said. "It's just that I like girls." Whoops. "And –– you."

Okay. So. She'd said that.

Oh God.

[fewer_explosions]

...

Well.

"You know that while my species closely resembles human females in some ways, I am not actually a girl?"

Argh. Sorry! Argh. Goddess, why was that the first thing out of her mouth?!

[solarhippie]

"Yes but um, you still look like a girl."

And she'd said 'girls and you', so, there had almost been a distinction there?

She hadn't met Xavin yet. That would've helped.

"A... pretty girl."

[fewer_explosions]

The distinct advantage of having two sides of her mind yelling at her over several things at once was that at least this time around, she didn't blurt the first thing she could think of (which was an awkward 'Oh, thank you') or any of the other things that came after that.

Eventually all sides of her mind found some middle ground.

"In that case," she said, "I should tell you I think you are interesting and a very pretty girl, regardless of whether or not you are wearing your guise."

She was mildly impressed with her ability to be articulate.

[solarhippie]

Karolina was more than mildly impressed, actually. Her eyes even widened a bit, because somehow she hadn't expected that, although honestly, she didn't know what she'd been expecting.

"Oh," she said. "Um... Thank you."

Apparently someone had to say it.

[fewer_explosions]

Balance of the universe restored.

"You're welcome," Liara said earnestly, because honestly, she was only almost 46, she had no real idea what she was doing.