thecapitol | The only thing that's certain

Entry tags:

The only thing that's certain | Closed/Open

Who| Meulin & you!
What| Settling into the house and then heading out on the town
Where| D4 House; Speakeasy
When| Second week of the Arena
Warnings/Notes| Talk of arena deaths possibly

A. Closed to D4 House; Meulin's Room
Her room has been quietly set up to her satisfaction with her own two hands. There's a brand new corkboard hanging over the desk courtesy of Taria. It's hand painted like the ocean, but from underneath, with fish swimming along and the dappled rings of sunlight playing over the water above. Half of it is obscured in pictures of them together. Taria had insisted she take that scrap of paper from Celebrus that had her name and picture on it and that, too, is pinned up in the corner. The room shone with light, the shimmering white walls reflecting what comes from the windows that take up half the room. It's bright, just like she likes it.

The door to her room is open but on it hangs a whiteboard for messages to her with her name written prettily at the top. If they catch her inside, she's probably balanced on her desk chair or bed or some unreliable surface to hang a string of shells from some fixture or a picture on the wall. Sometimes, she even climbs her bookshelf to place something on top. Being short leads to innovation and possible injury.

"Aha!" She notices them almost right away and waves them in, "A little help?"

B. Closed to D4 House; Living Room
But later, they'd find her on the couch in front of the television she's not watching with a book in hand. Her attention is utterly captivated, so much so that she wouldn't notice the television channels changing or a person nearby unless they dropped down on the couch beside her. When she's suddenly aware of someone nearby, the book snaps shut and her eyes flick upwards.

"Oh--hi!"

OPEN; Speakeasy

This isn't really a working evening. She's here to watch, drink a little, and try to catch up on the gossip. If things come to her, she won't ignore them, but it's nice to just relax a little. It's even harder to keep up appearances at the new house, surrounded by people engrossed in the games and distancing themselves from the rebellion. She settles in at the bar and beams at the bartender. She's a regular who tips well, of course she's welcome. She greets anyone nearby with a smile and a soft hello.

Later, she steps out into the night, pleasantly buzzed, and pulls a blunt from her purse. Her friends are really awful influences. There's a moment of fumbling for her lighter and a noise of dismay. Her gaze darts around until it rests on the nearest figure.

"Excuse me, do you have a light?"

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"Ah, thank you!"

Completely ignoring his growling and possible worrying, mostly because she can't hear it, she uses the fact that he's there to hold her up to slip the end of her string of shells around a little hook on a wall sconce. Success! She tries to move the chair a little without getting off, because the other end needs to go on this hook over there. This proves slightly more daunting than anticipated. The chair wobbles and she puts a hand on the wall to balance.

"A little to the left, Derek?"

Never said she wouldn't give up on goals. Even if they are small and hampered by height.

There's another growl when she just ignores him, even though he knows she can't hear it, but it doesn't surprise him at all that she just keeps doing what she's doing.

It's maybe a little strange, that she isn't afraid of him, that she doesn't shift away from his touch, but - Meulin is strange. It's different with her and Kurloz.

After a moment's debate, Derek just gently picks her up and shifts her over to the left. It's not often that he considers himself safer than anything, especially when it comes to touching other people, but he at least trusts himself not to drop her more than he trusts the chair.

You'd think he wouldn't be so surprised that she's perfectly fine with physical contact when she'd hugged him of her own volition. As it is, she hums, waiting for the chair to move. It does not. In fact, the exact opposite happens. The chair remains utterly stationary and she moves.

There's a squeak at the sudden lifting and movement and especially at who is doing the picking up. Here she thought he wouldn't actually pick her up. Yet, she's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Unconventional but this works!" She hooks the string of shells quite easily at least. Teamwork solves all problems.

That's different. That's - okay, maybe he's not completely sure why that's different, but it just is. He's not used to touching people, not without violence involved.

He grumbles at her as he hangs the strings up, but doesn't respond just yet, not until he can set her back down.

Once she's back on the ground, he reaches over to grab one of the books he'd dropped on the ground. He flips it open to write Ask me or Chuck next time on one of the pages before he holds it up at her.

And is pretty much completely unconcerned with the fact that it's a book on sex positions, but that's beside the point. This is the Capitol.

"I hope you own that book," flies out of her lips as soon as he starts writing. It takes her even longer to parse what he wrote when she notices the content of the book. She smothers a giggle and nods.

"And okay, fine fine, I know. I'm surrounded by tall people. You know I'm used to doing things on my own, right? Big strong adult," she soldiers on before he can point out how she lacks two of those attributes, "Besides, you'd be in here forever."

He can't help but give a vaguely amused snort at her comment - of course he owns the book.

Derek narrows his brows at her when she says she's used to doing things on her own. That's stupid, why wouldn't you take advantage of someone willing to help when you obviously need it? Never mind that Derek never asks for help and doesn't generally accept it when it's given. That's different. Derek's never really had to do anything on his own, anyway, he's always had Chuck.

But she does have a point about him being him in there forever.

I'll get you a stepladder.

He gets only wide innocent blinks in return. He knows exactly why was used to doing things by herself. She certainly wasn't going to get an avox to do it and bothering her housemates seemed rude. His suggestion has merit, at least. She hums, shrugging and tilting her head.

"If you want. I'm telling you, it's fine though," and like the master of distraction she is, she starts reading aloud from the book, "Press a fork firmly into parts of his body, such as his butt, pecs, thigh--Derek, what are you reading?"

It's not rude if it means she's not balancing precariously on unsteady chairs. Besides, if Derek's home - and not locked in his and Chuck's room - it probably means he doesn't have anything better to do at the moment, and he might as well help.

He grunts his disagreement when she says it's fine, but there's no point arguing further. He already knows he's going to get it for her.

Besides, he's much more distracted when she starts reading from the book, and he scowls a little.

"Don't know. Doesn't seem helpful so far."

Oh Derek. Oh poor sweet Derek. Meulin smiles and shakes her head at his scowl, even if his words are a little muddle to lipread. What is she thinking, she's hardly any better than him. But he must be worried or at least struggling a little with certain parts of his relationship if he's reading Capitol sex advice books.

"No no no. You need something better. I have just the thing..."

She stands on tiptoe, nearly climbing on her bookshelf to reach the top. Tucked up there, all innocent among the rest of her collection, is a steamy novel. Well, there are several steamy novels. She has a small collection of those. But she doesn't just pull out the novel, she grabs a different book, with several helpful diagrams and positions. She drops both in his hands.

"I've done some research."

He's not worried. Or struggling. He's extremely happy in his relationship, thank you.

...all right, maybe he's a little bit worried. It's just - Derek's never done this before, and he can't help but treat it the same way that he treats everything else he doesn't know anything about but wants to learn. It's a devotion to knowing everything he can that's only strengthened by the fact that Chuck is so much more experienced than him, and that all he wants is to be everything Chuck needs.

His brows furrow when she starts practically climbing on her bookshelf, but they smooth out when she clambors down. And then his expression lights up, just the smallest bit, when she drops books into his hands.

"You too?"

The two words are simple to catch and bring a flare of heat to her cheeks. Embarrassment, maybe, but it settles when she reconciles the 'You' with the 'too'. He's worried too. Hah--how did she never think of that. He has a more experience boyfriend too. The flustered expression fades and shifts into a determined one that is at odds with her shrug of a reply.

But because it's Derek and he understands, she explains beyond that.

"I work for a gossip column and I don't know how much of what was said about Kurloz is true but if like, a quarter of it is, he's done...a lot. And it's fine, I mean, he doesn't anymore. Not with me. But I've never done anything beyond the very basics and never all the way--so... I wanted to be ready. For when we do."

Such a determined look, like she's daring him to make fun of her for it.

There's a moment where he reaches out, like he's going to try to soothe away the embarrassment somehow, but then he realizes what he's doing and drops his hand before he touches her, unsettled. Fortunately, she seems to get over it on her own, even if he's unsure of what to make of the determined expression on her face.

Then she explains, and far from making fun of her, Derek nods. He opens up his book again, writing in it instead of replying verbally.

'Me too. Wasn't lying when I said I wasn't interested, before. He always was.' There's a pause, then - because it's Meulin and she understands - he adds, 'Just want to make it good.'

If he's unsure of what to make of her expression than she's not sure what to make of that stalled reaching. If he was trying to help, he stops before it even happens. Meulin doesn't stop to muse over it though, too worried--then suddenly relieved.

He gets it. He really does. And if that nod wasn't enough, he writes down exactly what she needed to hear. Someone else gets it.

"Exactly," She pulls her hands close to her chest, nodding in earnest, "I mean, we have different situations, but it's like that. I just want to be--want to make it good. For him."

Something in Derek's chest eases when she says I just want to be, even though she cuts it off and finishes with a repeat of what he'd said. She doesn't have to finish it, because he knows exactly what she'd been going to say.

I just want to be good for him.

Derek feels the same. Chuck was his first, but he wasn't Chuck's, and he just wants to be enough for him. So Chuck won't regret that he settled on Derek, instead of continuing with the variety he got before.

He underlines me too where he'd written it in his book, then takes a closer look at the books she'd given him before something occurs to him and he starts writing again.

Want the ones I have that were useful?

Meulin is used to wordless understanding from others. Her sister, Kurloz, sometimes friends from home. It's different when Derek looks at her with understanding. Different. Nice.

She smiles through her embarrassment, nodding at his underlining, though she didn't need it. Me too has been the theme of their whole conversation. But she nods again, more enthusiastic, when he offers an exchange.

"Oh--Did you have useful ones? Are they..." She gestures uselessly, not even with innuendo, "Would they be useful for my relationship? Different needs meowbe. Though I guess not that different sometimes."

There's a small smile as he nods in response to her question. Different, yeah, but close enough sometimes - especially when all of Chuck's experience is with girls. Derek's interested in learning everything.

They can at least give ideas. Maybe not perfect but something so you're not going in blind.

Which is the worst thing, for him. Experimentation is fun, yeah, but not having a basis for it, something to springboard off of? That's what he hates.

"Nothing in these books is purrfect. Written for general things and we don't have general relationships--but yes. I'd love some useful books."

Could she just learn as she's going? Yes. Would she giggle at her mistakes and would Kurloz would be fine with them anyways? Of course. But they both share a desire to know things ahead of time, especially from books.

Derek smiles at her - a real smile, tiny and almost hesitant, but genuine. It reminds him of when they were young, when they would read stories together and she would scoff at the endings and change them to better suit her preferences. Usually he'd go along with them, but every once in a while he'd add his own opinions.

He'd be lying if he said that the reminder was why he suggested it - but he'd also be lying if he said it wasn't nice.

I'll bring them to you. We can exchange notes, if you want.

Her smile mirrors and magnifies his own. Hesitant yet genuine but it's not small at all. It lights up her face and brings some energy back with it. Sharing notes, helping each other out, that was friendships right? It might be awkward but she's sure there's no one else she'd trust with this.

"Sounds like a plan. I have more books if you want something different later. Novels too, though I'm really unsure of how much you can put into practice. Fiction and all."

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The only thing that's certain | Closed/Open

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