[Oct. 13-20] full stops and exclamation marks

[girlsolo]

Kate's back to drinking tequila again. That's never a good sign. Tonight it's a sign she's bouncing between sexy check-in notes with Declan that make this island seem all right and people like Coraline screaming and crying over how much it fucking sucks.

The smart thing to do would be find Will or Magnus, talk some of this out. Even finding someone to spar with, that would work. Thing is, Kate's not that kind of smart. When it comes to helping Coraline? Sure. Yeah. She's been listening to Will do his shrink thing for years now. But when it comes to herself?

Fuck that noise. She'd still rather fuck and forget.

Kate leans her back against a post to watch the room, drinks another shot (hot wheels only, no training), and flirts at whatever makes eye contact. Whether she's Go or just Show, she hasn't decided yet. Mostly, she's trying not to look for anyone in particular. She's trying not to wish he'd come in and just...

Take her home.

[OOC: Find her at the Hub or the Winchester (let me know) any evening between now and the 20th. Available for all of your Freelander needs. If you need a specific date, email me, otherwise I'll work them out. For the record, Kate's very bi but a lot less available than she thinks she is.]

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[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate tosses the shot back without another word. She wants to put her head on her arms on the counter. Or maybe just to hide her head. She's not sure. The alcohol makes desires a little fuzzy.

"It's complicated." It seems to need repeating. She and Declan are complicated. "We probably would've hooked up at home. But we work for different branches of the same organization, so we don't see each other that often." Kate lifts her beer to her mouth and takes a small sip, then sets it neatly back in front of her. "That would've been a good thing. Occasional across the Pond booty call."

Across the Pond? Fuck, she has been spending a lot of time with Declan. She shakes her head, and moves along.

"Thing is, there's no Pond. The rest of our people are from almost two years ago. And when he's coming from, I just McGyvered an ICBM with him to save our collective asses from a very Big Bad." Shit. She probably shouldn't have mentioned the ICBM. "No reason not to fuck, lots of reasons to do it, but no Pond and he's the relationship type. I'm not. Never have been. But he..."

Kate shrugs. "Makes me want things."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Water and marijuana works," Kate answers almost absently.

She's already scanning the hut, checking out everything there. Her fingertips dancing across everything, stopping at the lesbian erotica. She picks it up and flips through a few pages. "Guess you weren't kidding about Magnus and I warming your fantasies."

It's tempting, really tempting, to read a few pages out loud. Somehow with the alcohol, the marijuana and the prospect of no strings sex, she doubts Greg needs the encouragement. She does bend down to unlace her boots, though, and toes those off while she's waiting for him.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Well, hel-lo, gorgeous. Kate dips her chin and her lashes to smile back at him.

He's one of the most beautiful men she's ever seen. Even on an island full of beautiful men, he stands out. He's beautiful enough that it doesn't matter that young and pretty isn't her type. She shifts on her stool and stretches a leg downward, opening up her not here for conversation posture into something more like but I could be, for you.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Steve's a hard guy to miss. Kate's well aware he can be stealthy, move through shadows like a ghost, be perfectly still for hours if he needs. But he's still a hard man to miss with those eyes and that body and the presence. At least, he's hard for her to miss.

She still thinks its a crying damned shame he into Danny, or that they're not into threesomes. Kate tells herself she thinks that, but she's had too much tequila tonight to believe it.

When she arches off her post, she polishes off her beer too and sets it on the bar counter. Her sobriety's measured in small things: the glass not clanking on the counter, her steps not feeling unsteady, her mind not running in depressive circles. She hasn't climbed on a table or into anyone's lap yet.

"Hey," she says to him quietly, leaning really close up at the bar.

[misanthrope_md]

"Hey, a guy needs a hobby," House said dryly. He hadn't really expected her to take him up on the pot, but hey, whatever was going to help his chances. Because if they dropped off now it would be pretty depressing.

He opened a drawer and pulled out a rolled joint and a box of matches. "Nice boots," he said, as he lit it and walked over to her. He was standing close when he gave it to her, looking her over in obvious appreciation.

[likesthestooges.livejournal.com]

"Complicated," Aidan agreed, nodding as he switched to his beer. For someone like Kate, he could see how that would be very complicated. Most people went through life looking for someone to spend it with. Someone like Kate, she did the opposite, so when she found someone that was even remotely similar to a significant other, if she went along with it then it was life changing.

That wasn't even taking into account the ICBM and other weird things that she was apparently involved in. It was no surprise that she wasn't settling well into the normalcy of the island.

"Has he been pressuring for a relationship?"

[trytobegood.livejournal.com]

She seemed to be inviting further interaction, and I was not opposed to such a thing, as bereft of friends as I was here. I was as cautious as ever, even in a place that seemed so far from conspiracies and from plots to kill me as payment for my mother's deeds. Still, I was mindful of my tendency toward isolation, and did not wish to hide myself away for whatever length I might be kept in such a place.

"This is my first visit to this establishment," I said to her in Cruithne, which seemed the prevailing language of the island. I glanced at her drink, though I could not venture a guess as to its contents. "Are you by chance familiar with the fare here?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Magnus always comes first. That's what she'd told Steve and if she meant in terms of working loyalty, it still holds true here. Whatever the fuck Kate's doing tonight, it's just not important if the boss needs her.

So she finger-waves off the tequila shot headed her way and taps her beer glass instead with a smile for the server. She smiles brighter at Magnus. "Yeah, of course."

Maybe it's not just for Magnus. Kate's always glad for the time with her.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"But you like them better off?" There's an edge to that, a push that's looking for a response. It doesn't matter what the response is, but she needs more than words here.

She's a club kid from way back, though, and the joint in her hand and the first hit are familiar even without the clouds of smoke and the pounding bass. When she holds the smoke long enough, the edges blur and she doesn't hate the island quite so much.

She gestures to the bed behind her. "Mind if I sit?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

When Aidan puts it that way, she bridles. "He's not pressuring me," Kate snaps, defensive and protective of Declan. No surprise, it's the exact same reaction she had to Magnus, Sam and Declan getting in her grill about Aidan.

Except... "I guess he kind of is. But it's not..." Hand rubbing her temples, Kate sighs, and looks past Aidan, past the open sides of the bar out into the night. It doesn't feel like pressure, because it's denial instead. It doesn't feel like pressure because she wants it too.

"It's dumb, is what it is. He gave me an ultimatum. No more sex until I can promise him exclusivity. Thing is, I want to promise it. I just can't. I don't make promises I'm not sure I can keep."

[newkindofcop]

He'd offered her a polite smile at seeing her from a distance, when her eyes finally meet his, but he doesn't dwell for very long, digging back into his food and leaning forward over the plate slightly. If she's in the mood to talk - and right now, it looks as though she might be on the prowl for something - he gets the feeling she'll be making the rounds eventually.

He feels a nudging up along his side and turns, moving his head without moving his body to observe. "Hey, Kate," he greets, his tone nothing more than casual.

[misanthrope_md]

"Not at all." House waited for her, and then leaned his cane against the dresser and crossed the room, steps a bit halting. He stopped in front of her.

"I'm sure you know how beautiful you are," he said. They always did. "Fuck, if we were back home I'd assume you were a hooker." He sat down beside her. "But you've kind of made my night. Week. Month. Whatever."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

With a laugh and an amused cock of her head, Kate offers back the joint. "Probably should be huffy about that, but I've been called worse."

She's done worse. Hell, she's done that, but not often. It might be just sex, but getting paid for it feels like crap. Not dirty, just insulting.

"Curious why you'd think that. You're a good-looking guy. Any chick worth fucking couldn't give a--" Her lips curl up like a well-played joke as her hand gestures out toward the cane and lands on his good thigh, almost affectionate. "Fuck about that. Yeah, you're a dick but you're also a doc and that comes with the territory in the best ones."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Mind company?" There's a purr in her voice, always there when she's drinking, but it's not targeted. Even if she's not great at personal space right now (or ever with her people), Kate knows what off-limits looks like.

Magnus looks like off-limits. Will, too. She wonders if Declan will ever look like off-limits. Or she will. She's pretty sure she never will, even if she gives him that promise.

When.

How fucked up is it that it's a when?

[misanthrope_md]

House took a hit off of the joint and held it back out to her. He liked that she thought he was good looking. It wasn't that he didn't agree - it was more that the leg and the age he assumed canceled it out most of the time.

Also, the last statement made him like her even more.

He leaned in closer to her, making sure that the lit joint was out of the way, and brushed his lips softly against the pulse point on her neck. "Also it all means that I have the unique combination of both overconfidence and overcompensation. And I haven't gone down on a woman in way too long."

[newkindofcop]

"Not at all," Steve amiably replies, shrugging once. He does adjust his posture again, though, leaning back slightly so as not to cut her off completely, his arms dropping down loosely as his shoulders relax, and when he sits back against the back of the bar chair, there's something of a casual curiosity in his gaze as he takes her in.

"How's it going?"

[notsocommon]

"I was feeling a bit lonely. Will's preparing for one of his classes tomorrow, grading tests or something," Helen said. She babbled a little which was unlike her but the real reason why she was at the Winchester was far more complex.

"And you? What brings you out tonight?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate's already leaning on her forearms on the table, so it's not like a huge gesture or anything to unwrap her hand from her beer glass and catch Magnus's hand for a few seconds. Will's taking care of her in ways Kate never could, but it's still her job to protect the boss.

"Same thing that brings me out every night, Pinky. Trying to take over the--" She flashes a smile for the reference Magnus probably won't get, decides she's going to find it on the bookshelf and make her watch it, all in the space of the beat between the end of one thought and the beginning of the next. "Whoops, no, that's Tesla."

She grins and pulls her hand back. "Not much else to do and it beats staring at the ceiling planning my community service hours." They haven't really talked about that, but Kate knows she knows. Now's as good a time as any, if the doc's got words she needs to make about it.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate hops up on the chair next to him. Yeah, she's still sober-ish enough to hop. Sober-ish enough to still get served, too, when she nods and asks for a beer before answering Steve.

"Okay," she says, a verbal shrug to match the physical one. "Can I ask you something personal?" Sober-ish enough to know it's a good idea to ask permission, drunk-ish enough to do it.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Her nose wrinkles at the armchair self-analysis. It makes him sound like Will. Now that she thinks about that, though, she just bets Will likes that too. Giving head, probably as much as getting it.

Declan-- is something she's not going to think about right now.

"Yeah? And how long since a woman's gone down on you?" Her hands skim across his thigh, over his dick and up to his waistband. She's not opposed to him getting between her thighs. But he strikes her as a guy in desperate need of a good blow job.

[newkindofcop]

He doesn't quite know what she's preparing to ask, and a part of him isn't sure if he needs to be cautious or overly concerned in any way, but the look on her face doesn't seem too worrying, and curiosity wins out over the rest.

"Sure," he replies, equally nonchalant, and at least she gives warning and asks before she comes right out and says it. He'll give her credit for that.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Planting her elbow on the bar, Kate shifts to face him. Their legs brush, but it's not intentional. Or, well, it is intentional, but it's intentional like the big smile before a lift. Look here, not there.

"How did you know it had to be Danny and no one else?"

It's a really personal question. The kind she only ever asks her team usually. But he kind of feels like Magnus 2.0 sometimes. Most of the world, she'll never trust. Some people, like Steve and Magnus and Biggie and Declan, that's just instinctive.

[newkindofcop]

"Honestly?" He doesn't know why she's asking for certain, but that doesn't mean he's going to give her a less-than-honest answer. He doesn't talk about Danny too often, at least not until he gets a read on the situation. It's not that he's trying to avoid the subject, but he also doesn't feel a need to define his life around this relationship.

"It was after he punched me in the face for getting him shot. And I did get him shot, technically. Going in without backup, you have to anticipate certain casualties, but - he held his own with me, and that caught my attention."

He clears his throat, punctuating the remark with a sip of beer. It's more than he's ever admitted about the start of things to anyone, especially someone he doesn't know all too well.

[misanthrope_md]

Not since Helen. Which he didn't say out loud for obvious reasons, not the least of which being that she might think he meant Magnus. He also didn't tell her how long it had been since anyone had gone down on him.

House took the joint, took one more hit, and then tossed it into a cup of water on the beside table. No fire near pants unfastening action.

"Did I mention you're hot?" he asked breathlessly. "And you're touching me. I already kind of liked you since you're a smartass, but this just pushed you over the edge."

[notsocommon]

"And how has the community service gone, then?"

It wasn't Helen's place to censure Kate when she'd done what she was supposed to and confessed to her crimes. The invasion of privacy wasn't something Helen cared for, no, but she would get over that (or install better locks).

"Managing to clear away the hours?"