Room 227, Late Friday Afternoon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was pretty fed up with today's weirdness already. And she was a shut-in, as a result – well, mostly. Her door was cracked, because Moxy had decided this was a day for wanting to wander back and forth between the room and the hallway. But Natalie herself was staying put on her bed now, trying to focus on reading and not think about any weirdness or annoyance.

Although of course, even being alone hadn't entirely stopped the singing from happening. And her distracted thoughts wandered, and before she knew it, her lips were moving again.

"Olly olly oxen free, all the people you will never be..."

Sigh.

[ooc: Posted expecting a certain massively SP'd thread, but the post is open, the door is cracked, and the girl is wary but can carry a tune like whoa!]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"Dunno if you're talking about my wounds or yours," Jim said, looking over at her. He sighed quietly and kept looking at her.

[whenshewasnice]

"Both, I'd say." She didn't look at him. She just watched her hand instead. "Two-way streets and all that."

[pursuedthestars]

"I'm not wounded."

He was fine. Just fine.

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, maybe just mine then," Natalie replied mildly. Not about to argue when that could bait more singing. She glanced up. "I would've maybe expected more flirty songs from us."

No, that was actually just what she would have preferred. They were terrible at talking and their songs seemed to be the same.

[pursuedthestars]

"Yeah," Jim said, letting out a quiet breath and running his hand over his face. He sighed. "Dunno what that means that they're not flirty songs."

[whenshewasnice]

"Nothing more than that the island hasn't wanted you to serenade me about the curves of my breasts." Or maybe that was some more of her wishful thinking.

She watched him for a moment in a silence that ended up not lasting very long.

"Heaven only knows what you hide in your blue eyes, in your sly smile."

[pursuedthestars]

"You could just ask."

Not that Jim would necessarily tell her what he was hiding but asking was always his go to option when he wanted to know something.

[whenshewasnice]

"So what are you hiding?"

Hey, she could bite. Without much hope held for getting anything substantial out of it.

[pursuedthestars]

"Is there a topic specifically where you think I'm hiding something?" Jim wondered since he hid a lot of stuff.

[whenshewasnice]

"I think you hide a lot," she replied, reaching to brush her fingers against his jaw. "Especially about what you feel. Which is natural. It's where most people hide stuff."

She'd know, wouldn't she?

[pursuedthestars]

"Hmm. I thought I was pretty open about what I felt."

No, he was open about what he wanted but when it came to feeling, he did tend to keep those hidden.

"My sign is vital, my hands are cold. And I'm on my knees looking for the answer."

Jim made a face. "That's not what I feel."

[whenshewasnice]

"Fandom seems to disagree," Natalie replied evenly. She didn't even point out that she knew perfectly well that she was open as hell about some things and that that just further obscured the things he hid.

"Did they tell you you should grow up when you wanted to dream? Did they warn you, better shape up if you want to succeed?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Who would've told me that?" Jim asked, slightly bitter. He shook his head and looked at the ceiling. "Let down and hanging around. Crushed like a bug in the ground."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rubbed her hand against his shoulder. "A crow left of the murder; every piece contains a map of it all."

She held back an eyeroll at her own poetics.

[pursuedthestars]

"How lyrical," Jim said, half smiling over at her. "I'm sure you're not the only one who feels like that, though."

[whenshewasnice]

She gave him a faint smile-of-a-sort back as she moved and replaced her hand with her cheek. Nuzzling. "I don't feel so far away from you lately, love me on the sly."

[pursuedthestars]

"When you're lovers in a dangerous time, sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime. Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight."

He agreed with the last part, at least. The nuzzling was nice enough to keep him from getting pissy at his mouth betraying him.

[whenshewasnice]

"And maybe I'm too young to keep good things from going wrong," Natalie hummed, still with the nuzzling and her eyes closed, "but tonight, you're on my mind, so you never know."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're singing a lot of interesting things tonight," he murmured, slanting a glance her way. "This just this place influencing you?"

[whenshewasnice]

"They're not just random words," she replied quietly. "You know that."

[pursuedthestars]

"I know they're not random words," he admitted with a quiet sigh. "But what I don't know is if, as soon as I leave, they're gonna go away and be attributed to this strange day."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie's eyes opened, and she looked up.

"No."

[pursuedthestars]

Jim chewed on his lip thoughtfully but kept his eyes on her. He didn't look away.

"Uh huh." Still thoughtful. "And what's that exactly mean?"

Because, well, reasons.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't look away either. "That I'm not going to pretend I haven't said and meant what I've said." Well, sung. "Unless of course you're about to humiliate me, in which case I reserve the right to shift the blame all on the island."

She wasn't expecting humiliation but it had to be said.

[pursuedthestars]

"How would I humiliate you?" Jim asked, frowning at her. He wasn't upset since it didn't seem like she was expecting that but he was curious. "By saying I didn't mean anything?"