❝ Do you ever feel like your life and everything in it...❞

[unpreach]

Who: Kate Fuller & You (Yeah and maybe Richie Gecko okay. This could happen)
Where: Various Locations in Wonderland
When: Early to Mid January.
Rating: PG+ to NSFW.
Summary: Kate settles into Wonderland
The Story: ❝...is just slowly turning upside down, like a ship flipping over in the ocean?❞

ɴ.ʙ I welcome threadjacking from anyone (tagging into ongoing threads to have more than 2 characters in it). That said, if you'd prefer the thread to only be with Kate, just put [closed] in the subject line! Prose or Action is good with me, I'll match whatever I get.

[ Despite her appearance with Richie at the New Years Eve Ball, Kate's presence in the Mansion is not easily noticed as January rolls around. She keeps to her room on the tenth floor, getting out only when the walls feel like their closing in on her. If encountered during the day, you can be fairly certain that Kate will be alone but as the sun goes down, there's every chance you'll find any conversation you might have with her, interrupted by a tall man with glasses who if you think is sizing you up, undoubtedly is. ]

ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴇʟ

[ The house of God had once been a place where Kate felt welcomed with open arms, a sanctuary that wrapped her in peace and warmth in a way that even her home could not. It was one of the few places where she had the certainty of belonging that so few ever found in life and she'd thought it would always be that for her, no matter where her life took her. Now? She wasn't so sure.

It had been many months since Kate had stepped foot in a Chapel and though Richie had shown her the one here in Wonderland as a way of putting her at ease, she already wondered if it existed to torment her more than comfort her. Kate had never wavered in her beliefs, despite all she'd seen and experienced this last year. She'd held firm to the knowledge that God loved her because as far as she was concerned, God was love but having time to stop and think about every choice she'd made, Kate could feel the weight of every one of those decisions whenever she stepped foot inside the chapel.

While she doesn't spend hours on end here, Kate can still be found in the Chapel at various times throughout the day, usually when there doesn't appear to be anyone else around. Always tucked into one of the pews at the back, as if she weren't sure she should really be here at all. ]

ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪᴛᴄʜᴇɴ

[ While some people took to the magic of Wonderland; the ease and comfort it afforded those who lived here, Kate found it difficult to trust anything that could be achieved without effort. She'd tried eating in the dining room where most people took their meals but these attempts usually ended with her being more hungry than satisfied and she always ended up retreating to the kitchen where she could fix her own meal.

She was hardly what you'd call a gourmet cook, but Kate had always helped her mother in the kitchen and she'd in many ways taken on the role of caretaker in the time since her mother's death. It wasn't like her father had been in a state to do so and Scott? It was a miracle if Kate could get him to set the table.

Used to cooking for two or more, Kate will be prone to making too much and never one to see food go to waste, anyone who happens into the kitchen while she's here will be offered some of whatever she's making. Those who happen to frequent the kitchen might even realize that she's the one responsible for the plates of food that have handwritten notes beneath them, inviting anyone to take it for themselves. ]

ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ sɴᴏᴡ

[ When you spend your whole life in the small town of Bethel, Texas, a place that despite the bitter cold that came during Winter, had never seen an inch of snow in the time Kate had lived there, the Winter Wonderland that existed beyond the Mansion walls had its own kind of appeal.

Some days, Kate would be content to sit by a window, a cup of hot chocolate warming her hands as she watched the flurries of snow, dance through the air. On days when the weather was mild enough to dare venture out, however, Kate would don multiple layers of clothing and would brave the biting cold just to experience what for her, was more magical than anything she'd seen inside the mansion.]

ᴘʟᴀʏᴇʀs ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ

[ Set something up yourself! Kate will explore the various parts of the Mansion so it won't be inconceivable that you'd come across her almost anywhere. She will also be curious about the mirror side of Wonderland so Mirrors! are more than welcome to tag her as well. Alternatively, if you want to hash an idea out with me, you're welcome to PM her journal or hit me up on plurk: brooklyn2181]

Comments

[seeingthings]

[He clamps his mouth shut as she spits those words out, still not sure if she's angry at him or not, until she finally meets his gaze, the tone of her voice in direct contradiction in his mind to the way she's literally hiding from him in every physical way possible.

His expression goes from awkward to confused in the space of a moment, her body language being interpereted in a way that would correspond to much more frequent situations in which someone would try and place barriers between themselves and him.

It usually involved fear.

He reaches out with an arm as he scoots a little closer, hand touching her shoulder beneath the blanket as his eyes flicker over the details of her face.]

I didn't hurt you, did I? [A beat as he considers something else.] Scare you?

[Did he grab her too hard? He can't really remember, it was kind of a blur there at the end.]

[unpreach]

[There's a lot of things that Kate's not very good at; When she's backed into a corner while emotions are running high and the only weapon she has is the words she can wield with deadly precision. When the focus is on her or she's wading through the murky waters of first-time sexual encounters. Forgetting herself for the sake of others? That was where she excelled and it's seeing the look on Richie's face as he reaches for her that makes the embarrassment seem like the least of her worries.

Confusion twists her features, Kate allowing herself to breathe again, that first real physical contact since... it happened... offering more assurance that she hadn't done something wrong than his words had up until now.]

What? [Eyes darting away then back to him again as her arm jerkily drops to the bed.] No you -

[But that sets her mind racing to other things, her eyebrows raising a little.]

Was it supposed to hurt? [Well she didn't know. Clearly, her girlfriends hadn't gotten into this side of things with her and maybe being a Culebra changed things somehow.

Almost as soon as that question is out, however, she hears it in her head and Kate knows she sounds just as awkward and inexperienced as she is, the red returning to her cheeks with a vengeance as her lips press hard together.]

Did I... hurt, you? [There'd been an awful lot of aggressive grunting okay and then he hadn't really been able to look at her and sure, he'd said it wasn't bad, the opposite of bad but what if he was just saying that to be nice?]

[seeingthings]

I just mean...I'm stronger that I used to be you're, well...

[Fucking awkward. This was not supposed to be this hard.]

...you're human and I kind of lost my head there for a minute. [He winces visibly, correcting himself.] Mind. I mean my mind.

[Richie pls.

His eyes widen before he very quickly shakes his head.]

What? No. [He actually breathes out a bit of laughter at that, because holy shit is that the wrong thing to thing.] Definitely no. That was...perfect.

[unpreach]

[See now, that accidental pun had gone right over her head until he drew attention to it by correcting himself and now her scalp is red, because there is literally no other part of her left to braodcast her embarrassment right now.

Oh yeah that headboard is looking very interesting again.]

No, you... [Yep. Beautiful headboard that one. So. Very... Boardlike.

It's only when he's quick to correct that misconception that she dares to lower her gaze again, a guarded look of uncertainty sitting on her features as she pulls in a ragged, uneasy breath.]

Perfect...? [Eyebrows raising a little, like she's trying to be sure he's not just stroking her ego here.]

[seeingthings]

[By this point, he seems to have found comfort in her face again, despite the uncertainty in her eyes. Richie seems to have accepted that she's not angry, and she's not hurt and this is just...something else.

His own eyebrows lift, mirroring hers before he smirks, shaking his head, eyes dropping briefly in disbelief before the lift back to hers. The hand on her shoulder tentatively slides down her arm before it rests over the back of her hand.]

Do we need to pinky swear on it?

[unpreach]

[And of course Richie being kind of a dick - adorable though it might be - is exactly what sees the glimmer of normal Kate return, her head tilting as she offers him a 'really?! get out' look.]

You're not funny. [Except there is a smile that wants to pull at the corners of her mouth and some of the tension is finally easing out of her as the color in her cheeks drains away.

As his hand reaches hers, Kate's turns over, her fingers lacing through his and she lifts it up, hugging it to her chest with their hands now locked together.]

I don't exactly have anything to... compare that to. [Kate pointing out the obvious but she feels like she has to try and explain herself even though it draws attention to, rather than deflects from her inexperience here.]

[seeingthings]

Neither was insinuating that I was lying to you.

[His tone is pretty light though; he's not really pressed about it. Just commenting on the fact that if she's gonna ask a dumb question, she's gonna get a dumb answer.

Her gesture as her fingers interlock with his has him shifting back closer to her, finally feeling her warmth radiating under the sheet as his own body starts to finally cool.]

I'm learning this shit as I go, too.

[He's used to someone who knows all the ins and out and in-betweens and just brings him along for the ride. This is the kind of stuff that got skipped over, and he's not even sure a couple months in a warehouse even qualifies as 'used to it.']

Do you...want me to...

[He hesitates because he's not sure how to even go about this. Does she want him to return the favor? Is she frustrated now? He doesn't want to like...leave her hanging even if that's not how she actually feels about it.]

[unpreach]

[She preferred the term 'creative reassurance' but she supposed that was a fair call and she looks appropriately chastised, despite the grin that still sits on her lips.

It was hard for Kate to wrap her head around the idea that any of this was new to him, the mere fact that he'd been with Santanico suggesting that he had a lot more experience in this stuff than she did, but he had said she was the only girlfriend he'd ever had and she had to try and remember that by way of simply being different to Santanico? This was new for Richie.

She can tell be the way he's intentionally skipping words or detail or anything that even resembles a clue as to what he's talking about, that he's asking her something that relates to what they'd just done but the blank stare that greets him as she waits for the punchline, should comfortably suggest that she has no idea what he's suggesting here.]

Want you to... what, exactly?

[seeingthings]

[Alright, then. No choice. Time to be blunt.]

I'm asking you if you want me to return the favor.

[He expects the answer might be no, and that would be fine, but-]

I don't want you to think that I'm only thinking about myself.

[Ehehehe ha haaaaaaa....]

But I also don't want to just...not ask you first.

[She'd asked him, in a sideways sort of way. Plus it was easier than unknowingly crossing a line and making her upset or something.]

[unpreach]

[There really was no good way for this to come up. If he didn't ask then he ran the risk of her feeling unwanted in some way. If he did without asking he might freak her out and that wouldn't really finish the night off well. Then there was this: The asking, which though it might have been the wise approach, also took the so-called magic out of it.

Not that she actually wanted that... she didn't think anyway.]

O-ohhh. [Doing her best to seem completely casual, like sure I get asked things like this all the time.

She doesn't.]

Um.... [With their hands entwined she can't do any of the nervous ticks she's prone to; no tucking her hair behind her ear or scratching above her eyebrow, no chance to really school her expression into a mask of ease.]

Do you mean like... right now?

[seeingthings]

[He presses his lips together, wets them with his tongue, and then nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders slightly.

Somehow, that's Richie body language for yes.]

I thought you might have wanted me to earlier but then I sort of got distracted.

[In a good way. Her fault, by the way. That's not a complaint.]

[unpreach]

[And now it's her turn to look a little confused again because... had she done that? Was there some 'I want you to do that' vibe that she was sending out only she didn't know she was sending it out?]

Well I didn't... really... [What are words right now.] I wasn't really thinking about me so much?

[But she had been grinding against him. She had been moaning at the friction caused by his leg pressing between her legs.]

I don't like, need to or anything? [Is that even a thing? Do women get the female equivalent of what he had so wonderfully described as 'blue balls'?]

I'm good. [Yep, lets just put an end to this conversation before it spins off into somehow even more awkward than the time you accidentally came on me.]

[seeingthings]

I'm not asking if you need to. I'm asking if you want to.

[Just...clarifying that here. And it's not like he wouldn't be perfectly happy to just...pretend this little conversation didn't happen and go back to just...falling into her some more.

Or maybe fast forward a few weeks or a few months to where this wasn't awkward as fuck.

He yawns then, because once again, he's still a guy, which means post-orgasm sleepiness is setting in, his body relaxing into the mattress as they get past the worst of that whole mess they just trampled through together.]

Let me know if you change your mind.

[He's just gonna...scoot in closer for warmth because he's practically cold-blooded these days. The joys of being like a fucking snake.]

[unpreach]

Ohhh, oh okay. [And then because nothing makes things more awkward like a polite response, she adds a;] Thanks.

[for good measure?

This however? The cuddling portion? This was something that she finally felt comfortable with and while the fact that he was pants free and she was half naked herself, might have been alarming at any other point in time? Kate was just grateful to be back in familiar territory.

The hangover tension eases from her body as he inches closer, Kate quietly aware of how ridiculous it is that she's still wearing jeans but she's not quite bold enough to rid herself of them, despite the fact that nobody was ever comfortable sleeping in denim while sober.

Her fingers slip free from his, Kate swapping his hand to her other so she can casually slip her arm across his body and she exhales a sigh, soft and content now that normality has been restored.]

I'm happy to just, do this. [A smile finally playing at the corner of her mouth as she peers back at him through half-lidded eyes.]

[seeingthings]

[His free arm slips under her as he leans to lay back on the mattress, gently pulling her with him to settle her in the crook of his arm, head against his chest, where his heart beats slow and steady.

His head dips down so that he can press his lips to the crown of her head, right at her hairline, before he inhales her scent mixed with the familiarity of the shampoo she uses.]

Mm.

[He murmurs back quietly in agreement as he gets even more comfortable, her body soft and warm against his, a constant confirmation of the fact that she's here.

He needs that, sometimes, when his mind starts to wander, in this case towards the edge of unconciousness.]