thismaskiwear | Room 505, Sunday Evening

Entry tags:

505,
merlin

Room 505, Sunday Evening

So Katchoo wasn't in the mood to go to Fight Club tonight.

Funny, that; apparently she'd gotten a good chunk of her Need To Hit Things out of her system this week. Okay, maybe not, but somehow it just didn't have its usual appeal tonight.

She was sprawled on her bed instead, a sketchbook open in front of her to a page that was blank and had been blank for the past several hours, Ani DiFranco on the ~~tape player~~ stereo and a bottle of Jack Daniels on the nightstand. Pretty comfortable setup for a good, sullen brood.

Good times -- she didn't even notice when Clocky wheeled over to the slightly ajar door and nudged it open a few inches further.

[OOC: Door and post open, should you wish to poke the Happy Fun Chewieball. May be patches of SP because my headache won't go away.]

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That extra few inches was all Merlin needed to poke his ~~ears~~ head on in the room, knocking as he did so. "Hello?"

Katchoo grunted, first, because she was charming like that. "Merlin. You looking for Francine?"

Well, he sure as hell couldn't be looking for her, right?

He worked for Arthur. A charming knight in shining armor, the man was not.

"Not exactly..."

Well, at least that made him better equipped to deal with her? More so than some poor unsuspecting people.

"Okay," Katchoo said, sitting up slowly -- no sudden movements here -- and running a hand through her hair. At least until her fingers got caught in a snarled-up tangle, woo. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she sort of waved him in. "So what's goin' on then?"

Plus, he had a cup!

...don't ask.

"Francine is worried about you."

If she asked, there would be facepalming. Possibly hysterical laughter. Although she couldn't really fault anyone who'd suggested the idea, could she now?

"Yeah," Katchoo said, blowing out a breath. "I've given her plenty of reason for that."

"After last week, yes," Merlin replied with a nod. He paused for a moment before taking a seat on Francine's bed. "Are you alright?"

Katchoo seriously almost didn't know what to do about this situation; she couldn't blow him off, knowing perfectly well by now that he was honestly a good guy. (Realizing she could actually put people in that category was still a bit mind-blowing.) She'd expected to get yelled at, rather than asked if she was okay.

And getting yelled at was easier to react to with her usual expressionless silence.

"I'm not injured," she allowed, "and the hangover's gone, if that's what you mean."

She suspected it wasn't.

"It's not really," Merlin admitted with a sigh. "She worries about you drinking so much, you know."

Katchoo glanced toward the bottle on the nightstand. "I know. What is this, an intervention?"

"A--huh?"

Okay, people needed to stop using crazy words around the people from the past.

"The part where you come to me and tell me the drinking is a problem and I need to do something about it," Katchoo clarified, with unusual patience for her.

Which was to say she was speaking through her teeth, but she didn't quite look like she would bite. Yet.

"...would that help if I did?"

Okay, now the look was slightly predatory.

"I dunno. Do you think it's helping so far?"

Since, you know, he was here and that was already the subject of conversation . . .

"Right." There was a pause before. "It'd be stupid to ask why, right?"

"Probably." God, Chewie. So nice. "Everybody's gotta do something to deal with the crap. This is mine."

"It won't help with her," Merlin said, looking down at his shoes. They were all rather... shoey. "Unless it's meant to push her away."

Katchoo flinched. Damn that statement for being so observant. Except what she said was, "She's my best friend. You think I want to push her away?"

Um, Katchoo . . .

That got Merlin to look up at her. "I think it seems easier that way."

Katchoo snorted a laugh. "You think? How do you know?"

Yes, sweet sweet issues for them all.

"You drink, Arthur engaged in... other activities," He replied evenly.

Mmm, crunchy chocolate-covered issues, now with 300% more iron(y).

The pause said a lot. Thanks to months of squirrel notes (and rum, mmm, tasty rum) Katchoo could guess what he was getting at.

"What did you want me to do?" Katchoo was at least aware on some level that it was pretty frikkin' idiotic behavior on her part. "Take it out on her? You oughta know what she's like by now. Sweet, innocent girl like Francine doesn't need this stuff unloaded on her."

Yes. Obviously drinking and getting arrested like an idiot was so much smarter. Or, you know, not asking your best friend in more detail about the stuff she's seen in Fandom so you know she might actually be able to handle it. You just failed that intelligence check, Chewie.

"Talk to her?" Merlin suggested. "I don't think there's anything you could say to her that would make her leave you. It's the not talking that's making it that way."

"She doesn't know half of what I've done. Nobody does." Why was she saying this to him? "I'm scared to death of what happens if she finds out."

"She loves you. Even if it's all mixed up right now, I know she does," Merlin insisted. "You have to just be honest and hope for the best sometimes."

"Geez, you sound like a Hallmark card," Katchoo grumbled. "Look, Merlin, I know what you're trying to do. It's really sweet of you."

Yeah. She just said that. Scary, huh?

"But . . . it's pretty naive, too."

Katchoo really needed to get to know people better.

"I already did it with Arthur."

". . . you what now?"

Oh, modern vernacular. How culture-clashy you can be.

"Right. Uh." Katchoo briefly debated, then discarded, the idea of asking if Arthur had a police record as long as her arm; that might take more explaining than she wanted to give. "I'm not planning on getting into any more bar fights any time soon, if that helps."

"Well. I suppose." Really, it was more Merlin with the secrets here. And Merlin had spent time in the dungeons...

Nevermind that now.

"Just give her a bit more credit on what she can handle?"

Yes, dungeons and similar concepts might be a touchy subject at the moment.

"You think?" It was an honest-to-god question, not sarcasm.

Well. Not much sarcasm.

"Guess you'd know, considering what she gets into hanging around with you guys." Best BFF ever, Katchoo. Best BFF ever.

"And just being here," Merlin added. "That other Fandom."

Katchoo never had forgotten, and probably never would forget, Francine's freakout in the mirror that night.

"Yeah." She sighed. "It really matters that much to you?"

"Well, of course it does." For possibly the strangest reasons for a boyfriend ever. "She matters to me and you matter quite a bit to her."

Katchoo stared for a few seconds, then laughed raggedly. "You confuse me, y'know. What the hell am I gonna do with you?"

"As long as it doesn't involve a blow to the head, I think we're good with about anything," Merlin replied, cracking a smile.

"That's really specific there, y'know," Katchoo replied, the faintest trace of a smirk on her face.

. . . not that she knew about any codpieces!

"I can't promise anything. But I'll think about it. All right?"

"I know." Merlin stood up, offering her another grin. "Just be careful, alright?"

"Yeah. Sure." Katchoo had a certain crankiness quota to reach here, but she relented, and even kind of smiled. For a second. If you didn't blink.

"Great! I'm sure it'll work out for the better."

Because he really was naive about some things.

Very. She kind of wanted to pat him on the head for it, but that would be weird. What if her cynicism was communicable?

"Yeeeeeeeeeah. We'll see, huh?"

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Room 505, Sunday Evening

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[Let's just say this is NFB in case mmmkay]

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