Interdimensional gate-crashing is a physical impossibility

[cutting_edgex23]

X slips in through the front door of her apartment, ducking down to bar Steve McQueen's passage out into the hallway.

Farrah makes her own break for it several seconds later.

Apparently she is learning from the best.

X does not sigh.

There would be very little point.

Comments

[cutting_edgex23]

"In Milliways, too."

It is agreement.

X still does not like milkshakes.

[ellectrical]

Beat.

"Then how do you do it?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I do not sleep much," X says, after a moment's thought.

"And I am very difficult to lie to."

Beat.

"That makes it easier. It did when I was not small anymore."

It was different when she was little. Very, very different.

"And -- "

This is the one that is most difficult to articulate.

"I do not want to be what they made me."

[ellectrical]

Elle doesn't answer.

After a moment, she pulls her legs up onto the sofa, and curls up around them.

[cutting_edgex23]

X does not mimic her movements.

She simply falls silent, stays right where she is, and waits.

[ellectrical]

"That's good for you."

It's entirely true. Elle doesn't know how else to say it.

[cutting_edgex23]

"You are not me," X says, after another moment.

"I know."

[ellectrical]

"I know," she repeats.

Then, Elle abruptly rubs at her face. "I'm sorry."

[cutting_edgex23]

X's expression remains blank.

"Why?"

[ellectrical]

Elle shakes her head, and curls further back into her corner of the sofa.

Still, she asks, "How was it?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X frowns, just a little.

"It?"

[ellectrical]

"Sharing."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Oh."

Beat.

"I liked it. It was different than before."

Not least in that X is different than she was five years ago.

Still.

[ellectrical]

Elle folds her arms, and tightens her shoulders in an odd short of stretch.

"Are you going to do it again?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X gives that a few moment's thought.

Then --

"Yes. I think so."

[ellectrical]

Elle seems to thin about this for a moment.

Then, "You don't have to stick around with all of them."

Just so X knows.

[cutting_edgex23]

"All?"

X frowns for a second.

Then --

"Oh."

Beat.

"I know. That."

See: her first time. And the second, too.

[ellectrical]

See: Every time.

Still, it's nothing personal to them, which is why she adds, "Sometimes it's nice to do it with different people."

[cutting_edgex23]

X tilts her head slightly, considering.

Elle makes a point, but --

"I think I like it this way. For now."

Who knows what the future holds?

X, barring unforeseen catastrophe, is going to live for a long, long time.

[ellectrical]

Elle, on the other hand, won't.

So she simply shrugs, and leans back into the couch.

[cutting_edgex23]

X doesn't say anything, either.

But she also leans back into the couch.

Steve McQueen takes this opportunity to jump up between them.

He is tired of being ignored.

[ellectrical]

And doing something she's never done before, Elle immediately grabs the cat, and plops him in her lap.

How about that, Steve McQueen?

[cutting_edgex23]

Steve McQueen tenses, tail flicking back and forth wildly.

What has just happened?

Is this allowed?






Well. Laps are comfortable, so maybe this is okay.

X, watching, barks out a quick, sharp sound that might almost be her version of a laugh.

Strangely, this does not make Steve McQueen any less confused.

[ellectrical]

Beyond this, Elle doesn't do anything more than stroke his fur.

The right way.

Without static electricity.

[cutting_edgex23]

Eventually Steve McQueen starts to purr.

Then Farrah gets envious.

X bends down to scoop her up off the floor and deposit her in her own lap.

Farrah glares at Steve. Steve glares back.

X, meanwhile, mostly watches Elle.