glacial_queen | A Private Dining Room, The Estate, Glacia

The small dining room that Karla had set aside for her 'out of town' guests to dine in tonight was one of the ones they hadn't gotten around to denuding of Ludmilla's and/or Hobart's horrible taste in decor yet. Karla had chosen it deliberately, figuring her friends might get a kick out of how completely hideous it was. Everyone knew that extravagantly tacky surroundings aided digestion, right?

Well, Karla was a Healer. She's swear to it, anyway.

And, who knew? Maybe she'd give everyone a souvenir or something! 'I came to Karla's coronation and all I got was this ugly figurine.'

This was how they knew she cared!

Tomorrow was for long, boring speeches and painful formality. Tonight, she was looking forward to just hanging out with friends, having a good time, and threatening to make people sleep in some of the bedrooms that had thus far escaped redecoration.

Any question where Glacia's treasury had wandered off to?

[Open for pretty much anyone who wanted to be invited for the coronation that's absolutely ~~not~~ happening tomorrow! Up early for mega SP, because SP is wonderful. NFB for off-island shenanigans.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

weldedtomyspine

First time.

It took Jaime a moment to process the rest of that. "Then... how did this happen?" He believed her because Momoko wouldn't lie about something like this, but... it was just... weird!

From:

heromaniac

She shook her head. "I don't know? Maybe they misunderstood?" Though she totally couldn't think how Can you give me directions to Jaime's room? could get misinterpreted.

Momoko totally needed cake right now. She sat on one of the poofy ottomans near the door to the sitting room. "Sorry."

From:

weldedtomyspine

"Why apologize?" Jaime shook his head. "It's not your fault someone got confused."

Or evil.

From:

heromaniac

"Because you were finally having a good time and now you're tired and we have to fix this."

"And it probably is my fault. Whoever did this..." She blushed deep. "Thought they were doing me a favour."

From:

weldedtomyspine

"By making you share a room?" Jaime asked, frowning.

From:

heromaniac

"Imagine a whole world full of people who think of relations between people like Karla does?" Momoko was totally not looking up at him.

From:

weldedtomyspine

Jaime frowned. "What do you mean?" Jaime hadn't spent that much time around Karla. Especially not in her own world.

From:

heromaniac

That was his honestly confused tone, not his teasing so she'd have to say it out loud one, or she'd totally have started to cry or something.

"They have... different ideas and customs about... You know, that..." She waved a hand vaguely towards the bed. "More... casual." And exotic at the same time...

Her voice dropped to a mutter out of sheer embarrassment. Talking about this sort of thing with her girlfriends was easier now, but with males, and especially JAIME? Well. Good luck hearing her, Jaime... "Unless it's your First Night, of course. Or if you're Blood, since apparently there's rules for that or something. Protocol, I think. And politics. I mean, I think you can be married and still have a consort, which is totally weird, and you don't even have to care about a person to have them be your consort or even to sleep with someone..."

From:

weldedtomyspine

Fortunately, if that was the word for it, the Scarab made sure that Jaime heard every word.

He blinked slowly, a flush slowly creeping up the back of his neck and into his face. "Oh."

"I see."

"So. It wasn't anything special. Just... different cultural assumptions."

Jaime realized he hadn't exactly had expectations, but the idea that it wasn't special, wasn't Momoko's 'First Night', still threw him for a loop somehow. The part of his brain that wasn't in shock, or totally embarrassed, was trying to figure out who she'd been serious enough with to... Well.

From:

heromaniac

"No! It's special! I mean, it would have been special for me at least, but well, I mean, but, there's not really a, uhm... a reason not to?"

Ah!

"Here, I mean. For them. To them, it would be normal? Except, like I said, sometimes there's rules but not always..." Words were totally failing her, so she took a deep breath and sat up straight.

"Only some of the people here know I don't think of, uhm..."

She could say it to Dinah and Karla, come on... it's just a word!

"...sleeping with someone..."

Chicken.

"The same way as they do, but since they like me and they know how I feel about you, I bet they thought they were doing me a favour. That's what I'm trying to say. It's not that it doesn't mean anything here, it's that it doesn't, uhm, quite fit with, ah. With how I think of it."

From:

weldedtomyspine

Despite his usual ability to speak Momoko, Jaime had a bit of trouble following parts of that, but he still nodded slowly. "Right."

He hesitated for a moment.

"They won't be upset or anything if we don't..." Um...

Jaime suddenly found he couldn't finish that question.

From:

heromaniac

She rubbed her face. "No." Confused, yes, but not upset.

Momoko hesitated, her hands still covering her face. "Will you be?"

"I really do love you, Jaime, okay? Really! But..." Breathe. BREATHE, Momoko! He wasn't going to leave you because you weren't going to sleep with him. Right?

From:

weldedtomyspine

Jaime blinked, frowning. "Why... Why would I be?" Should he be upset? He shouldn't, right? After all, they hadn't even discussed anything like that! Were they even ready for something like that?

His eyes lost focused as his thoughts began chasing themselves in a circle around in his head.

From:

heromaniac

Momoko was breathing again.

"When I got to Fandom, the boys there... The people there seem to think of relationships different than I do. Than what I was raised to think. Even Dinah." She shrugged. "You and I never talked about it, so I don't know. And it's never really come up."

From:

weldedtomyspine

"That's... true, I guess? But... I mean... even with Dinah..."

Jaime trailed off with a flush, not sure if he should keep talking.

From:

heromaniac

If he didn't, she was going to fill in the blanks herself. And remember how well that works?

"Even with Dinah...?" Momoko frowned. "Oh. Our beliefs are close in a lot of ways, but Dinah and I totally don't have the same ideas about relationships. But it's her choice, you know? To... To sleep with someone. Just like it's mine to, well, not." And there she was blushing and turning her face away again.

"I sometimes wonder if maybe she needs it, a... what's the term? Physical relationship? She's like that with some stuff in life. Physical. Like it means more for her when it's something she can touch."

From:

weldedtomyspine

Jaime thought about that for a moment. "Maybe? I mean, I know what you mean." He sighed. "That was one of the things that we almost fought about a couple of times. How physical to be..."

He shook his head. "I always thought that, despite what she said, she was at least a little bit disappointed in me. Even if she did respect my decision."

From:

heromaniac

That had Momoko looking back up at him in surprise.

"You guys fought? Over this? I... never heard about that." Which was plain weird, since she'd been the ear for both of them that whole time. Though she hadn't really heard anything about the physical side of their relationship. She'd... just assumed they had one and it was none of her business. "Or that she was at all disappointed. Well, until the end, I mean."

And that was understandable.

From:

weldedtomyspine

"Well, 'fight' is probably too strong a word?" Jaime frowned, thinking back. "We just had... different expectations, I think. And... we weren't very good about talking about expectations, either." It had been hard to think around Dinah sometimes. She was so... Dinah. And she'd been able to turn him into a collection of raging hormones pretty easily.

From:

heromaniac

And that had Momoko snickering a little, sorry. "We're not very good at talking in general."

"Different expectations?" Hmm. "I have expectations, but... I'm not ready to sleep with anyone. No matter my feelings. I mean, sleep sleep is fine, but, not more than that."

...

"Is that okay?"

From:

weldedtomyspine

Jaime smiled slightly. "That's what I told Dinah," he said softly. "What kind of jerk would I be if I couldn't be okay with that when I asked her to be?"

He shook his head. More softly: "I'm not ready either, yet."

From:

heromaniac

...

"Eh?! You mean you and Dinah didn't..." And she couldn't finish that sentence, but wow was she shocked.

She'd just... assumed!

From:

weldedtomyspine

"No," Jaime said, almost too soft to hear.

Look, it was an awkward topic, okay? Really awkward. Especially considering how close they'd come more than once. And doubly so when considering how he felt about Momoko.

From:

heromaniac

It was awkward for Momoko, too. And had been, going all the way back to when he and Dinah had been dating and Momoko had been at home trying not to have feelings for him.

"Ah. I'm... sorry for jumping to conclusions, Jaime." And for the small pleased feeling she got, hearing his confession. "So. Uhm. Since that's, ah. Settled. We can figure out something about the room. Maybe share tonight and find another in the morning?"

From:

weldedtomyspine

Jaime's shoulders tensed, then relaxed, grateful for an excuse to get away from the topic.

"I think it might be better if I took the sofa I saw in the sitting room," he offered. For one thing, given the conversation they'd just had, it was probably safer for his peace of mind. The memories of those close calls with Dinah felt fresh again, and he could feel his heart racing a bit.

So, yeah, best to keep his distance for now.