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! ]]

Comments

[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.

[solarhippie]

Yeah, Karolina wasn't doing so great, either.

"So..."

She fiddled with her hair some more.

[fewer_explosions]

"You still haven't sat down," Liara said. Inanely, she felt.

[solarhippie]

"Right!"

Karolina was just glad to have something to do that wasn't awkwarding. Not that sitting down would necessarily stop her from doing that.

As was probably going to become evident soon enough after she plopped herself down. On the edge of Liara's bed.

[fewer_explosions]

Ah, yes. It was still awkward, though in a different fashion.

Liara waffled for a few long moments before scooting several inches further in Karolina's direction on the bed.

"Are you all right?"

[solarhippie]

"Oh, I'm totally fine," Karolina claimed, waving a hand a little bit. Dismissively. "Or, you know. Apart from this... island thing."

Which was probably why she was kind of looking at her hands right now.

[fewer_explosions]

That was a bad idea, because now Liara was looking at her hands. Karolina's hands.

And then sliding a tentative blue one of her own over to settle on top of one of those hands. She'd seen that on the TV, and... it felt appropriate and Goddess, she should read more about current day human habits.

"Yes, the island thing is... worrying."

[solarhippie]

Karolina kind of twitched, surprised. But not too long, and she curled her hand around Liara's. That seemed like it might be okay. And she wanted to.

Although it was a touch, and okay, her mind seemed to want to think about other ways of touching, and wow, it was almost surprising she didn't blush.

"Well, mostly it's just... distracting."

[fewer_explosions]

"I actually found a great deal of focus," Liara said. "As you can tell by all the books."

She was trying to make a silly joke about herself here. Please bear with her.

[solarhippie]

Well, Karolina chuckled a bit, and even managed a glance up. "I guess not being a big reader is really letting me down here."

[fewer_explosions]

Liara's mouth curved into a smile. "Not everyone has as intimate a relationship with books as I do," she said. "This is a fact of life I have been forced to accept."

[solarhippie]

"... That sounded a little dirty." Look at her braving a blush and making a joke! "Well, it would have if I didn't know the kinds of books you read."

[fewer_explosions]

Dirty jokes and Liara were not something that mixed, per se, but she let go of a soft laugh anyway - it relieved some of the tension. "I did not mean that. My passion for archaeology is entirely platonic."

A few months ago and she wouldn't have been able to handle that joke. Progress.

[solarhippie]

A few months ago and Karolina probably wouldn't have made that joke, either.

"Good," she chuckled, nodding. "Otherwise things would be a little weird."