ArchivedLogs:Gender and Dating

Gender and Dating
Dramatis Personae Rasa, Shelby
In Absentia	21 February, 2013 Roommates attempting to get on better terms
Location
Shelby has been out. A lot. Not just today, or this evening, but pretty much at every opportunity she can. It is clear that she is Avoiding The Room. Which doesn't really inspire harmony, as when she is /in/ the room, things are very quiet. Tense quiet, not the other sort. This morning was an especially good example, though it couldn't be attributed to Rasa--she'd been flipping through the internet on her phone, sworn suddenly and loudly, then left in a way that could be described as "storm-like". But the Shelby that bursts in post-dinner is in an extremely good mood and appears to have forgotten to be awkward. She bursts through the door, /singing/. "Take my hand, drag me down, if you fall then I will too!" Okay, so that's pretty much the only non-depressing part of that song but she sings it with /feeling/ as she tosses her backpack towards her bed. Rasa is sitting cross legged on hir bed, flipping through a Granger-esque type of light reading. Ze might have been taking advantage of Shelby's constant absence, since hir guard seems to be down. Ze's wearing a tank top and shorts, thrumming colors splashing across hir visible skin in words that fade with every beat. The beat is pauses for a moment when Shelby throws herself into the room. Hir fingers pause half way through flipping a page to look up at the other girl. When the surprise wears off, words return to hir skin, the background pale, the lettering technicolor bright without an ounce of black. 'Never going to give you up - Never going to let you down' pulses across her face, while 'never going to say good bye' scrawls across hir legs. "Please. Keep singing." Hir tone is ... frustrated. "For real or are you saying I should shut up?" That Shelby says this /cheerfully/ is testament to her good mood. She does stop singing, but there's no keeping the grin down--nor the energy, which is spent in launching herself onto her bed. There is bouncing. When that's done, she's on her side, one arm curled over the waist and the other propping her head up. Rasa is surveyed with good humor. Notice is taken of the tank top and shorts. "Hey, can I ask you something? If you're not busy?" Because clearly, reading books is not something that makes a person count as busy. "I was being ... for real." Rasa admits as ze grabs a blanket and pulls it over hir legs. Ze arms and the visible part of hir back continue to show the severity of the rickrolling she's been infected with. "I am not especially busy. What did you want to ask?" Shelby's eyes follow the movement of the blanket. It is a thoughtful and curious sort of study, in spite of her (non-infectious) good humor. "I was talking to B about you before dinner and he kept...he kept using different words for you. Y'know, like, uh...instead of she or he, he said...what was it." Her brow rumples. Freckles shift. "Ze? He said it was gender neutral, that's it." Though her head is propped up, she somehow manages to give the impression of cocking it. "What's that all about?" "What is the gender neutral pronoun all about? Or why do I use it?" Rasa blinks at Shelby, hir head definitely tilting. "Why do you use it," Shelby confirms. Her eyes flick down again before bouncing back to Rasa's face. She seems more curious than full of approaching dread. "You're a chick, right?" "Sometimes." Rasa replies quietly. There is a long silence while Shelby digests then. Then she asks, "Is that 'cause of how you were born or how your powers work?" "Can you tell the difference between you you and your powers? Were your powers a natural extension of who you were before they manifested or did they affect you from the womb even when you didn't know what they were? Or did you change when you got them?" Rasa poses questions quietly and in quick succession, eyes lowering. "It is hard for me to say. What is it that you really want to know, Shelby?" "I dunno." If those were rhetorical questions, Shelby missed the point. The thoughtfulness lingers, at least. "Back in A--Arkansas, I knew a guy. Except he was born a girl, right? I was dumb and I called him her once. So I've been running around calling you her and I thought...maybe that's why I've been pissing you off." She pauses for a beat. "Part of why." "No." Rasa shakes hir head, wetting hir lips quietly and letting out a breath ze didn't know ze was holding. "No, I do not mind being called a girl. I wanted to choose it, I think, at one point when I was younger, but then it was forced upon me by my parents. I really don't know what I identify as anymore." Shelby's dangling fingertaps beat an idle rhythm on her coverlet. This sort of consideration--the drawn out thoughtfulness--is not a natural ability; she fidgets with it. "Soo...I can call you she, or I can say...ze?" she asks, just to be certain. "'Cause seriously, Rasa, I don't wanna piss you off. I mean. We have to room together and...I dunno. It'll be a drag if we're like, all weird at each other." "Ze is preferred, but I will not get angry if you call me she. I also understand if you wish to do it in front of people you don't think would understand." Rasa closes hir book and turns a little to face Shelby, completely unaware that hir chest reads 'Well, at least she didn't ask about my penis.' "I appreciate the situation - and your consideration. I don't want to have a difficult time in our room either." Shelby's eyes give it away again--they're so /bright/, it's obvious when they flick down. Her grin is immediate and immense. "I dunno if it's /consideration/, I'm just making this shit up as I go along, you know? You're like...my first roommate /ever/. My first real one, anyway. So I get it wrong but I /want/ to get it right. So, like. Friends?" Rasa looks confused, brows furrowing up as ze turns hir attention down. Then hir eyes are wide. "Fuck." Ze grabs the blanket and pulls it up over hir chest and shoulders, blocking out the view of hir flesh, hir face turning fire engine red as the curse word scribbles itself over and over and over again across hir face. "Uh. Yes. Friends would be good." "Cool." It doesn't seem possible that Shelby's grin could get any larger, but it /does/. Maybe all of the time she spends with the twins. "I, uh. I'm kinda glad you're more chickish. I don't even wanna know what you would've thought at me if I'd hit on you when I got here." "What do you mean?" The 'fucks' disappear slowly and the brazen red fades to something pinkish, the colors not at all natural for skin. Rasa keeps the blanket up under hir chin, studying hir roommate. "Do you usually hit on all male-ish individuals?" "Not /all/ of them, but...how awesome would it be to have a cute guy roommate, huh?" Shelby rolls onto her back and lets her head hang over the edge of the bed, turning her grin upside down. "Not that I'm gonna be a nerd or anything but I /totally/ wouldn't get any studying done, even with B tutoring me." "And you get studying done with B tutoring you?" Rasa is curious about this. Ze stays pink though. Hir thoughts are quiet. "I don't know about attractive roommates so much. I understand that pretty is nice, but I guess I've never really found anyone that distracting before." "Well, he hasn't tutored me /yet/. But he's probably gonna make me do /some/ studying." From the way Shelby says this, it would seem she's looking forward to the challenge. She folds her hands over her stomach and looks across at Rasa. "Um. That kinda reminds me..." That she's slowing down her speech /could/ be a bad sign. "Are you...do you like Bastian?" "I like Bastian, but I am not ... interested in him in the relationship way. I do not think he likes me either. You know, like... like way." Rasa shrugs at Shelby and rubs at hir face briefly, hand disappearing under the blanket again. "Isn't he your person anyway?" "Oh, okay." That's not ominous or anything--that or the relief that flickers over Shelby's face, upside down though it is. "We're not like, boyfriend or girlfriend. Everyone thinks we are though, it's kinda weird." Of course, all of her plausible deniability is blown out of the water when she adds, "I kissed him today. I think maybe it was his first kiss." "Oh? Did you like it?" Rasa is curious, calm and quiet. "It was nice. I don't think I've ever been someone's first kiss before." It is a distinction she is proud of. Shelby flips over onto her stomach, elbows braced on the edge of the bed. "Why do you keep calling him my person?" "Which part is funny?" Rasa asks, chewing on hir lip for a moment. "The fact that I point out the possessiveness, or the person thing? I guess... I just use 'person' instead of boyfriend or girlfriend on account of it being not gendered. Also, if I said 'partner' it has more... um, bigger connotations. Would 'someone' work better?" Shelby shakes her head, making her hair swing. "The, uh. Yeah, possessiveness. He's not /mine/. Hell, we've only been on one date." She rests her chin on the heel of her hand and looks towards the ceiling. "It's all been so crazy, dating's kind of...I dunno." "Ah. Some people reject possesiveness. It sounds like a nice group, I think, of people who just love without jealousy. Do you think it is like that? Or are you just too new to have that kind of attachment to him yet?" Rasa's questions are very removed, not at all swoony with romanticism. Shelby might be getting used to the distance--at least, she doesn't take any of that personally. "I dunno," she answers honestly. "I stayed with some folks like that, down in Florida. It was kinda fun until one of the chicks went whoa nutso. And I like Bastian but...too new, I guess. I can't even, like, hug him without him turning purple." Her eyes roam Rasa's face. "You really haven't ever even crushed on someone?" "I... um. Hm. Well." Rasa considers this, the red rising like a flood from hir neck up to the crown of hir head. "Some people are very pretty and I like receiving attention from them. It's nice, but ... well, dating? When you look like me? It's all very new that anyone would respond favorably to me and so it was very easy to talk myself out of whatever... things might have stirred. So, maybe, but not really." "Huh." Shelby, to her credit, is trying to seriously think about this. It's just...no one really wants to know where her mind goes /when/ she thinks like this. Witness: "Whenever I like someone, it just happens, I don't think I could talk myself out of it. So, like, you just need to meet the right person and /bam/. That Ivan kid is pretty nice, I think he liked you, but if it isn't there...I'll keep an eye out, okay?" She swings herself up, feet to the floor. Energized, apparently, by the prospect of playing matchmaker. "I'm gonna go grab a shower." "Ivan is fun, but I am not interested in romantics with him." Rasa nods as Shelby gets up. "Okay. See you later." Ze stays where she is, chewing on hir lip. "And... um, thanks." Shelby, satisfied that she has maintained the promise of friends, give Rasa her best grin as she gathers up jammies and a towel. "No prob!" And off she goes, to terrorize whomever is in the bathroom.