Semi-Open

[youwonscience]

WHO: Cosima Niehaus, Ruby Lucas, Avery, Lexa, Herian Amsel, Raymond Gibbs, you?
WHAT: Various odds and ends for Harvestmere
WHEN: Covering the last twoish weeks or so of the month
WHERE: Various
NOTES: Not going to set up open hooks this time. HOWEVER if I a) forgot a thing we said we were going to do or b) You'd like to do something with Cosima this month and aren't elsewhere, hit me by DM or Plurk. ETA: note the warning for discussion of torture in one of the threads.

Comments

[eviscerates]

"For fun, mostly." She leans towards Avery, conspiratorial. "It's part of the whole whimsical, ridiculous package. When you signed up to be our roommate you kinda committed to to it."

After all, the first time they met was when Ruby was running a giant snowfight in July. Good times for all.

And she grins at Cosima, before clarifying: "She means they're a bunch of free-loving hippies who think crystals will give them all the answers to life's problems." Not, mind you, that saying that will necessarily clarify anything, or be an accurate representation of San Francisco.

[youwonscience]

Cosima laughs, "Okay, well, some of us are convinced our collection of sensitive guitar-driven ballads will give us all the answers, and then there are like, the people obsessed with kale. I told Avery about kale earlier," she adds. Helpful!

She comes to give Avery a drink first, because Avery seems to need it more.

"This kind of fortune-telling, it's just... play. Like kids blowing dandelion fuzz to see how many kids they'll have, which as I'm saying it, I realize may not be a thing here either."

[thecookery]

Avery just takes the drink and sits down with it. She has nothing to say to any of this. Doesn't know what she would if she tried. She's not used to people trying to include her in things that are "social" or "fun" (at least not for very long), and this whole... whatever this situation is remains totally uncharted territory for her.

The two of them can sustain the banter without her, right?

[eviscerates]

"I don't think that was a thing where I was from," Ruby replies with a bemused smile. "We used them to tell the time. Not the most effective method, as it turns out." And, equally helpful, "kale is overrated."

Ruby just turns and flops against the bed a little, still holding herself up on her side so she can speak to the others.

"Is palm reading a thing in Thedas?"

[youwonscience]

Cosima gives Avery a mischievous smile that suggests she will be no help at all in checking Ruby's propensity to tease her.

Instead, she just adds, "That's a common clumsy teenage seduction technique in some circles, you know. 'Oh, yeah. Let me look at your palm. Wow, you've got a really long love line, that's amazing.'" She catches Ruby's palm and feigns fascination, peering at it closely.

[thecookery]

Yeah, you know what? She's just going to have a healthy swallow of her drink and continue to eye them with disbelief and mild discomfort.

"Not a line, I've heard before, no," she answers eventually. "Maybe up north."

...okay, realistically it could be a thing in her hometown and she might just not be aware of it. 'Seduction techniques' are not exactly her area of expertise.

[eviscerates]

"Everything happens up north," Ruby agrees wryly, even as she tilts forward to peer at her palm with false dramatics. "Woah. Forget the love line, Cosima. You're ignoring that giant seeing through that bullshit line, there."

It's said with so much dramatic sincerity, too, as she gently nudges Cosima, and looks to Avery with a grin. "Well, are there any lines you can warn us about? I mean, we're kind of unprepared, here. We might need to arm ourselves against some smooth operators."

[youwonscience]

"Hey," she says, laughing, "I did specify clumsy. Also teenagers. I never tried it, but it was tried on me."

A short pause, then she adds, "I generally find even bad lines work well if you're attracted to the person offering them, and vice versa, so warnings are only kind of useful."

[thecookery]

"Yeah, I'm not really the person to ask," Avery is quick to shut down.

She shifts in place so that she's sitting more comfortably but also angled slightly away from where the two of them are goofing around, and her attention goes almost completely to the drink in her hands. Clearly there are mysteries within to be pondered. Why else would she give it such intense regard?