Room 227, Friday Afternoon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie wasn't going to the club fair. Wasn't her thing, as her attempts at non-participation even in a class dedicated to trying to make her participate in things could attest to. She much rather did things on her own, and on her own terms. Things like what she was doing right now.

She was sitting on her bed, reading a random book of poetry she'd picked up at the library a couple of days ago. She was also sparing only the idlest of thoughts to whether there was anything in particular she wanted to do this weekend. She had time to get to that later.

[ooc: Open door/post!]

Comments

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

Jace belonged in a club fair just as much as Natalie did, which was to say that he didn't belong at all. That in addition to Alec having a stupid job and therefore unable to be at Jace's beck and call led to him swallowing a bit of his pride and showing up at Natalie's door.

"Aren't you going to do sign up for science club or literary appreciation society or whatever nerdy clubs this school is offering?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Literature's best enjoyed privately," Natalie replied, not even really glancing up from her book. Not making a big deal of him having shown up, or something. "And I don't care about clubs, I'm sure you know that."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Not worried about padding your college applications?" Jace asked, leaning against the door frame. "Isn't that what the average mundie teenager freaks out about?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Can we not with the 'average mundie' crap?" Natalie requested, in a perfectly neutral tone. "Otherwise I'll be forced to call you stripperface. And I think my applications will be fine. I take enough extra classes."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Why would I be called stripperface?" Jace asked.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie finally looked up, putting the book down in her lap. "Because you have a stripperface. Haven't we been over this yet?"

Meanwhile, her face had signed up to be a hooker in an upcoming project, but he was never going to hear about that.

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"We may have, but I still don't understand it," he said. "Though I did look like a bit of a stripper last weekend, I'll admit to that."

[whenshewasnice]

"What was last weekend?"

She'd spent it all with Sam, so she wasn't aware of island shenanigans, for once.

"Do I even want to know?"

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"All the guys turned into girls," Jace said with a shrug. "I didn't think it was a big deal but Alec was traumatized."

"Then again he turned into his sister, so."

[whenshewasnice]

"Oh. That's happened before." And she'd freaked out. Over Sam turning into a girl. That was best put aside in the pile of things that were not to be shared. "Well, not the Alec-specific thing. Too bad for him, I can see how that's upsetting."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Really? I didn't see the big deal," Jace said. "Izzy has a nice body."

[whenshewasnice]

"Which you can appreciate because you're not a blood relation," Natalie pointed out mildly. "Or gay."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"I would like to think I would be appreciative either way," Jace said. "It's not that big of a deal."

[whenshewasnice]

"Maybe not to you." And she honestly wasn't surprised by that. "Sadly not everyone has your laidback take on it. And you presumably got a body you hadn't seen before, too."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"I have been a girl before thanks to this school but I did get a new body this time around," Jace confirmed. "I liked this one better. Much more voluptuous."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rolled her eyes, reaching for a bookmark from her bedside table. "Please spare me the details, pretty sure I can guess further remarks you might make."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"I didn't do anything dirty with myself if that's what you're thinking," Jace said. "I wasn't quite that bored."

[whenshewasnice]

"Thank you, I feel comforted now," Natalie deadpanned, as she put her book away. "I needed to know that."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Of course you did," he said. "I wouldn't want you thinking I was some sort of pervert."

[whenshewasnice]

"Because you would mind that terribly," Natalie drawled. "You don't have a stripperface for no reason at all, you know."

She shook her head and moved on from that topic. "Are you going to just stand in the doorway like a creeper all day?"

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"I was waiting to be invited in." Because he needed that sort of invitation before, you know.

[whenshewasnice]

"You broke into my room like two weeks ago," Natalie pointed out, because she was ever so helpful. "Now you're waiting for an invitation?"

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

Jace shrugged. "You didn't seem to enjoy it too much the last time and I took that into account and decided to be more polite."

[whenshewasnice]

"Nice, if slightly misguided." She rolled her eyes and beckoned him in with a vague wave of a sort. "Come in."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Everything I do is misguided," Jace said, coming into the room and taking a seat at the desk. "Thought you'd be used to that by now."

[whenshewasnice]

"Maybe I have bouts of misguided hope," she offered, not really meaning it. "Even if all signs point to no."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"I won't hold optimism against you," he said. "Well. I won't be vocal about it anymore."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mmhmm, I'll believe it when I see it." Oh look, there was that pessimism already! Though she'd have probably called it realism instead. "You have a big mouth. Usually it's endearing."

A beat.

"Weirdly."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Wow, no one's called me endearing before," Jace said, lifting an eyebrow. "And coming from you of all people, it's quite shocking."

[whenshewasnice]

"I thought the effect would be softened by the word weirdly, not to mention the idea that it's about your tendency to talk when you shouldn't," Natalie remarked mildly. "Try not to feel too shocked."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Who doesn't have a problem talking when they shouldn't?" Jace asked. "It's a universal problem. Happens to everyone at some point."

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't," Natalie shrugged, even if it was kind of a lie. "Usually, anyway." Of course, she liked using her words sparingly at the best of times. "Fire drills not withstanding."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"But it happened then, didn't it?" Jace asked smugly.

[whenshewasnice]

"Don't act smug," she replied, not expecting it to work. "Guess it did. Your problem is still more permanent than one night without proper sleep in the rain."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Maybe lack of proper sleep is the key," Jace said. "Clearly I should get more beauty sleep. But that also runs the risk of me becoming too beautiful. People won't be able to look at me without passing out."

[whenshewasnice]

"I could still look at you." She was being taught archery by a sleeveless Clint Barton and she had no problem ignoring his arms. She was confident of this. "And you do need your sleep. Even if the lack of it doesn't make you... overly optimistic about what to get from who."

'Desperate' may have been a better word, but she was too proud for that.

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Maybe my pessimism is a defense mechanism," Jace said, tilting his head to the side as he got introspective. "If you're pessimistic and wrong you end up pleasantly surprised, if you're optimistic and wrong you end up disappointed."

[whenshewasnice]

"That is usually how it works," Natalie replied. Because she was no stranger to pessimism. "You're probably not wrong about the defense mechanism thing."

Oh, she thought he was definitely not wrong about that.