homophonic: jonas

[camena]

Comments

[westedge]

Of course I do. [ factually. ] People have more history and everything when they're older that you have to try to work with.

[camena]

Guess that makes sense. And you're not stuck with, like... Every possible kid your age in the city for school every day anymore.

[westedge]

Right. When you're a kid it's like...practically built-in friendships in preschool and stuff. Your mom drops you off at a table full of fingerpaints, you try to go and grab the jar of red at the same time as somebody, and suddenly you're best friends because you both like red. No thought, no deeper meaning, just simple stuff.

And when you get older and you have more opinions, maybe you like red but you like blue much better, so you can't just bond over something simple. You have to dig a little deeper, but it's not, like, a guarantee you'll like what you find there.

[camena]

... Sure, yeah. When you grow up with people you kind of... grow around each other like vines, I guess? You adapt to each other already being there, so it's harder to get wedged apart.

[ but because she is a little bit allergic to having serious conversations without some kind of stupid aside: ]

But for the record, my favorite color is blue. And Ren likes purple.

[westedge]

[ pff. he's not that interested in dragging the mood down further with his own cynical (and lonely) ideology, so he lets her chance the subject a little. ]

Well we all have our flaws, I guess. [ it's easier to joke about stupid things, too. ]

[camena]

[ unfortunately she does not keep the conversation linear. she just. veers right back into it. ]

And we're still young, you know. There's still lots of time for you to meet new people and bond over your favorite crayons or whatever.

[westedge]

[ NO GO BACK. he hates it here. ]

Alex. [ patiently. and maybe a little resigned. ] I think you're forgetting that meeting people is actually kind of stressful. Pretty sure that was a little obvious on the island? We made it work, but...barely, half the time.

[ sometimes you end up picking fights and fucking up and spending your night thinking maybe it would be better if you weren't there. ]

[camena]

It was a stressful time! School will only be like... half as stressful as the island!

[ HALF IS STILL TOO STRESSFUL, THERE WERE GHOSTS AND PEOPLE DYING ]

[westedge]

[ ?!!?!? ]

Is that supposed to make me feel better, or...? [ HALF IS STILL BAD. ]

[camena]

Yes.

[ and she opens her mouth to be like "you got through the night didn't you???" but. apparently they fucking didn't. so. ???????? she closes her mouth. ]

[westedge]

[ ... ]

I guess to be fair to you? It was probably the first time I was actually kind of looking forward to going to school. Even with the stress.

[camena]

[ okay she is touched by this, but unfortunately she chooses to express that with a big exaggerated: ] Awwwwwwww.

[westedge]

[ oh my god. he's just. TURNING AROUND TO WALK INTO A RANDOM STORE. ]

Stop. Just. Stop.

[camena]

[ she just follows him! teehee ✨ ]

No, it'll be fun! I have to tell you all the secrets! Like, don't take afternoon Math even though it sounds better. And don't talk too much in History class even though it feels like you can get away with it. And in English, you can distract Mr. Collins into going off on a tangent about his dog for like the entire period. And if you skip, use the exit by the gym to get outside without the front office seeing you.

[westedge]

[ the thing about it is. he's absolutely pretending to be annoyed and ignore her. he is keeping his back to her while he's browsing through clothes since i decided they are now in the gift shop, but it's very obvious that he's still listening.

it's kind of charming in the dumbest way possible because it all sounds so normal and nice and like...the very smaller, quieter town vibe that he's never really experienced before. it's not like he doubted alex would know these things, but it's a little funny to listen to her rattle off these facts. ]

How is it that class hasn't even started and I feel like I should be taking notes? [ dry. but amused. ] Some of this stuff you're gonna have to repeat when we get back, I can't keep up with all of your secrets that easy.

[camena]

[ she starts idly looking through clothes too, but with no real focus. debatable if she is even registering the things she looks at. ]

What? No. Memorize it now.

[westedge]

What makes you think I'm good at memorizing anything? [ wandering to flip through a rack of hoodies. still just kind of half-joking. ]

[camena]

You can do anything you set your mind to. [ platitude? did you want meaningless platitude? ]

[westedge]

Just because your profile says "fatherly advice" doesn't mean I actually need it right now.

[camena]

No, see, that's how fatherly advice works. You feel like you don't need it at the time, and then—later, you realize it was at just the right time!

[westedge]

[ there's a snort. ]

Right, okay. Any other advice you feel like dishing out that may or may not matter later? [ picking up a white hoodie to look it over... ]

[camena]

Yeah. Don't wear white when you live in a gross warehouse.

[westedge]

[ pff. ]

Besides that, but thanks. I don't know...just...looking to expand my horizons, or something.

[camena]

With options like this, you can expand them like... an inch. In one direction only.

[westedge]

This suddenly feels a lot more like you just not trusting my judgment here.

[ not at all true. ]