Fifth Floor Common Room, Very Late Tuesday Night

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena was restless, and so Elena was crashing on the couch in her PJs, flipping through channels and wishing something was on. Infomercial, infomercial, crappy movie that no one in their right mind would watch, black-and-white reruns, infomercial ...

Oooh, game show network. Watching people be stupid: that was entertaining. Now she just needed popcorn.

(OOC: open!)

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[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose was going to get her ass kicked tomorrow if she didn't get some sleep soon, but she was wide-awake and not really caring. So after a phone call with Lissa who was at lunch, she found her way up to the Common Room a floor up.

"Did you have a total yen to watch people get kicked in the balls or something?" she asked Elena as she flopped down on another of the couches.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"You would not believe the stupid shit people say when they're panicking about winning money," Elena grinned. "'During what month of pregnancy does a woman start to show?' and I kid you not, the lady said September."

Maybe Family Feud referred to everyone killing each other in the parking lot for their colossal fuck-ups after filming stopped.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose snickered, shaking her head. "One through nine weren't enough choices for her? Did the host dude keep from laughing at her?"

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Oh, he howled," she giggled, shaking her head. "They had to stop the timer while he tried to recover. It was that old guy, not the younger one that was short and kind of hot."

Well, he was.

"Don't you have to be up in a couple of hours?" she added, frowning slightly at the clock.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Guys are not hot when they're only two inches taller than me," Rose decided. "That's just sad."

She shrugged. "It's good training to go on just a little sleep," she bs'd, knowing full well Elena would catch it. "And hey, you're up too."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"I would've never figured you for a size queen," Elena teased. "And I don't have to look hot at the ass-crack of dawn so I can get manhandled, either."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I will look hot at the ass-crack of dawn," Rose assured her then laughed. "Besides it's gotta be better than yesterday what with the being covered with pumpkin guts."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Orange is the new black," Elena insisted. "I'm sure you looked chic. Just when this town can't get any weirder, by the way. I'm itching for something to take down, but cucumbers were not what I had in mind."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Seriously," Rose agreed. "If this island wants to give us something to fight at least make it something worth fighting.". She grinned over at Elena. "Cucumbers? Is that why you still have a bit of green over your ear?"

Teasing. So much teasing.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's not Martian cum," she said easily, brushing her hand through her hair to get the goo out. "That might have been more fun to get."

She waited just a second too long for it to seem perfectly casual as she added, "So, I sent an e-mail today."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

She was going to make some sort of crude remark about the Martian cum when Elena's other thing distracted her.

"Oh yeah? Email to who?" Whom. Whatever.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"The boss," she said. Hey, her fingernails were really interesting! Had Rose ever just examined her own fingernails? It was downright fascinating. "Just, you know. Work stuff. Finishing some loose ends with the assignment."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Terribly fascinating. Rose was fascinated enough that she didn't squee at that. Well, also a) she didn't want to wake the whole floor and b) she didn't want to freak Elena the hell out.

"Loose ends like payment?" Which didn't mean she wasn't going right to the point.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Elena said, nodding. Fingernails. Totally. "Cause I finally ... finished that stack. The, uh, the one I've been ..."

The pile of reports. Because, clearly, Rose hadn't realized that that was what they were talking about, or anything. Right.

Elena glanced up, her eyes huge. Somewhere between outright panic and squeeing, herself. Much, much closer to panic.

"So ........"

She'd been like this all day. She'd nearly hyperventilated sending the damn message.

She was so, so, so bad at this.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"So you need a dress," Rose said, not acknowledging the panic with anything other than a total determination everything would be fine. "And shoes. Awesome shoes."

She tilted her head, twisting her hair into a rope. "He reply to the email yet?"

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"There's one at the store," Elena said. "I didn't buy it yet but it's ... I like it. And he said ... he replied but it was very, you know. Him. So it was just, very well, when are you free, like he was scheduling an appointment or something. I ..."

Elena hugged her knees. "I was gonna ... write him back and cancel."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that was jackass-y. He needed to come back to Fandom so Rose could tell him that to his face. Even if she could so see D - someone she might like doing the same thing, and seriously, that was just uncool.

Rose frowned at Elena. "Don't you dare. First off, it's email so who knows what he was meaning when he typed it. And second, do you really wanna spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened?

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

It was the reply she had expected; Tseng was Tseng, and couldn't be anything else. He had seemed professional and detached while they were being tortured, for fuck's sake.

"Nothing's going to happen," Elena said, not looking up. "He'll be polite, and I'll try not to embarrass myself too badly. It's a waste of the wine. It's ... he sees me as a Turk, now. He respects me. They all do. I didn't realize it, before. That should be enough. I should be home, working, not ... whatever this is."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose got up to sit next to Elena, not quite touching her, but definitely offering comfort if it was wanted.

"Did you ever find out what his name meant?" she asked, having a point but managing to take a more subtle approach for once.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena leaned over slightly. Not touching Rose, either, but glad for her nearness.

"Yes-and-no," she said. "In Wutaian, Tseng starts with a Z, unless it starts with a Z-h. The e either has a line over it or a downward-accent. All of those are completely different words, some of which have multiple meanings themselves depending on which character they're drawn with. So I have a list of possibilities. Something in the past. A great-grandfather. To detest, or hate. To tie, bind, or give as a present. Justice, righteousness. Relating to politics or government. There were others."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"...so seriously? Your crazy secretive boss has a name with like fifty possible meanings? Why doesn't that surprise me at all," she teased. "So has Mr. I-Can't-Decide-On-A-Meaning ever said anything even implying that you shouldn't be here?"

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"It'd help if I knew how to pronounce Wutaian," Elena said, offering her friend a wry grin. "I think the Zh is more of a juh and not a tsuh but the vowels are beyond me."

Diacritical marks were mocking her. It didn't help that how someone from Midgar pronounced 'Tseng' was probably not the same as how someone Wutaian would.

"He's asked if I'm going back, after I graduate. He hasn't really ... said I shouldn't be here, but I'm not sure he would. I half-expected him to call me and lecture for me throwing a childish tantrum and taking off like that, but he didn't blink."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose grinned back. "Shh, I like it being all sorts of crazy possibilities."

"Of course you're going back," she replied quickly. "I mean - that's where your duty is, where else would you be?"

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't put it past him," she laughed, gently, before nodding her agreement. "That's it. I'm a Turk. I didn't come here to find something else to be. I hope he never thought that. I couldn't ... leave. It's ridiculous."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"He knows you," she said, totally confident in that. "No way he thought anything else." She shrugged and reached out to shake Elena's shoulder gently. "Stop freaking out. Even if nothing comes of it, it's worth it to see what happens."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"You have to help me decide on the dress," Elena said, firmly. "I already have shoes. And -- well, the hell with it. Right? Even if it goes badly, at least I'll get to look classy and drink some vintage wine. See if it lives up to all the hype, right?"

If it went badly, she'd know it was hopeless, and maybe work on getting the hell over him already.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Fuck yes," Rose said, grinning. "Cause if it goes badly, at least you showed him how hot you are and made him know what he's missing."

Rose didn't think it was going to go badly. Rose was a big Elena/Tseng shipper.

"And - you know, see how it goes." She eyed Elena faux-sternly. "And if you cancel, I'm totally calling that Reno of yours and dragging you there."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Exactly what I need," Elena laughed, sticking her tongue out. "More help from Reno. That's partly how this started. 'Hey, Rookie, you should go screw the boss on his desk.' I should know better than to listen to Reno when either of us are drunk."

Also, she'd blurted out 'I love you' instead of, well. Screwing him on the desk. But she couldn't imagine that going over any better.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I'd drag you myself, but I need directions from someone," Rose smirked, making a face back. But then she snickered. "Soooo would it have worked out better or worse if you'd just screwed him on his desk..."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Would have never happened," Elena laughed. "I would have locked the door and unbuttoned my shirt and said something hot, and he would have shouted, thrown me out of the office and given me a week's suspension."

And probably Reno, too, since he would have assumed Reno was somehow to blame for it.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"So good thing you're going this way," Rose smirked. "Now you don't just take your shirt off, now you get to wear a kick ass dress and he can't say anything snippy. I'm saying win win."