Whoops. Don't Worry About It, Really... (Karalie)

[Deleted]

Mmm...coffee...

No...hot chocolate. The perfect winter snack. And venti sized!

Marcus stood there waiting, bundled up in an assortment of scarves and gloves and hats...well, there was only one of each, but the skinny girl had a tendency to lose heat quickly, therefore she always had to make sure she had on enough layers to keep herself warm and toasty whenever she decided to brave the cold and snow. Her male side was no different, only they didn't make a lot of men's clothes in his goth/punk style that were suited for winter.

This was quite possibly the only instance in which Marcus voluntarily wore women's clothes. For convenience. To keep her tiny bum from freezing off so she had even less of a figure. Marcus' manly pride was nothing in the face of sub-zero temperatures(she might have been exaggerating, Marcus just got cold easily).

So donned in a black Aerosmith t-shirt, under a black long-sleeved cotton knit sweater, under a black 2nd Law Muse hoodie, under a black lapel jacket, Marcus waited for her hot chocolate. Oh yeah, and her pants were black as well(of course), with green stitching, hook-loops running down the outer side of each pant leg, and Nightmare Before Christmas knee-high socks under her usual black steel-toed boots.

Yes, this was a lot of black. A lot of black which was just asking to be splotched up with stains of white.

Which to anyone else wouldn't be a problem because bad luck didn't follow them around like a love-sick puppy, but Marcus had gotten on fate's bad side and such an event was as of now unavoidable.

Marcus gleefully received her hot chocolate and relished its warmth in her hand as she made her way over to the condiments table, closing her eyes as she breathed in the chocolatey steam through her nose. She stepped forward just as another shifted to the side. Elbows bumped. Grips were lost. Maybe one of them(or both) were moving faster than they could reasonably keep their hands under control. But through some flailing of hands over canisters and cups, it ended with the blonde girl in black covered in cinnamon dust and powdered creamer. "Damn..." she muttered.

At least her hot chocolate was safe.

[Karalie Heise]

Coffee had become Karalie's greatest friend in these colder months.  Actually, some might go so far as to say the paper cups filled with liquid warmth had become almost an accessory.  She was seldom seen without one these days.  It had become an expensive habit, really, since she couldn't really brew her own mug at home. She'd been doing everything in her power to keep away from anything commonly used in the dorms for fear of what sort of memories they were contaminated with.  She needed to go get herself a keurig, but she hadn't had the time to do it yet with the mixture of school work and extra curriculars.  Besides most of the stores she frequented didn't have those which meant it would be a trip on its own, and her parents hadn't okayed the purchase just yet.  They would.  She only need ask and explain the situation, but in the interim she was hitting up the local coffee shops at least once a day for her fix, sometimes more.

Today was no different.  She had some time for lunch and decided it was the perfect moment for a pick me up.  Plus, after walking around in this weather all morning she was in some serious need of warmth and possibly a little mental break from life.  The big question was how to fix up her coffee.  She'd always done so in the same ways; the same amount of sweetner and creamer, but today they were out of the cream she typically grabbed which meant she would need a whole new formula.  She grabbed the powdered cream, giving it a good sniff and wondering how completely disgusting it would be.  People drank it, so it couldn't be that terrible.  Maybe some cinnamon would help hide the flavor? Or cocoa?  

Karalie picked up the cinnamon and also brought it up to her nose to smell, as if she didn't know what it smelled like already.  Too much of the powder wafted up into her nose, though, and she soon found herself sneezing, throwing her hand with the cinnamon to the side and knocking over the powdered creamer.  It took a second to realize that neither of those things landed on the floor, though.

The girl beside her, dressed for a gothic teenage funeral it seemed, was now covered in white and brown powder.  "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!" She drawled, reaching for a napkin and handing it to the girl, a hand coming to cover her mouth.  "I didn' even see you there!" She insisted, biting her bottom lip and looking up at the girl.  Karalie almost felt bad for the girl.  She would be so pretty if she only put on some makeup and dressed nice! That blond hair! It was gorgeous.  

[Deleted]

Well this was…..Marcus wasn’t exactly sure what to think about this. There had been occasions where his choice of coloring had been greatly damaged by the surrounding environment - grass stains on his white pants, chalk dusk on his…everything else - but the coffee house was a place she never expected it. To be suddenly doused in white and brown powder by a stranger.

She wasn’t terribly concerned - it was more a inconvenience than anything else - and even if it had been ruined, it still wasn’t that big a deal. She’d just buy a new set. Marcus practically had the entire inventory of the website she frequented memorized. She was sure they knew her by name and were sick of sending packages back and forth as she tried stuff on, realized it didn’t fit both sides of her, and so had to send it back for another size or different item altogether.

Anyway, Marcus looked down at the shorter girl. “Ah! No, don’t worry about it, I’m perfectly okay, it’s just a little powder.” A little powder that invaded her own sinuses. Her face tensed as she felt the tickling, then released about four sharp sneezes consecutively. Marcus felt a warmth spill over her front, and after pulling away the stringy blonde hair that had fallen like a net over her face, she realized that she’d spilt her hot chocolate all over herself. “Ohh….oh, shit…” she uttered stiffly, feeling now somewhat reluctant to move for fear of spreading that hot liquid further into her clothes.

She was thankful, at least, that she was already stuck as a girl(something that happened frequently during the winter) and so didn’t suddenly grow into a man out of her snug clothing.

“S-sorry…” she said to the other girl. “I didn’t get any on you, did I?” Marcus looked over the girl, searching for any chocolate spots on her clothing while hovering over herself with the napkins the girl had offered earlier. However, it was then that Marcus realized who exactly it was she was talking to. “Oh….um…you’re uh…” That girl who she’d seen hanging around Lucas sometimes…wasn’t she his girlfriend? No, couldn’t be, Lucas had other friends who were girls, she knew….unless he was a player and was dating all of them behind their backs!!

Marcus hadn’t realized that she’d stopped speaking at a strange place as was simply staring at the girl with her mouth gaping open.

[Karalie Heise]

She insisted it was alright, but Karalie still felt a little guilty.  She would say it was for the best since the girls clothes were atrocious, but someone who took such great care to look that way did so intentionally which meant she didn't have anything better. And by better she meant Karalie-approved.  
The blond suddenly sneezed and Karalie practically jumped back.  What was in that cinnamon? Pepper?  The girls beverage toppled over and before she knew what was happening its contents went all over the poor girls shirt.  "Oh m'goodness!"  She reached for some napkins, knowing how terrible it was to spill stuff on yourself in public, having just done so herself a month or so ago.  "Here." She offered pushing napkins towards the other girls, feeling genuinely bad and now guilty to boot.  She had probably just ruined this poor girls day.

"No, I'm alright." She drawled, concern in her eyes until the girl seemed to recognize her.  The way she stopped talking suddenly made Karalie suspicious and her lips pursed.  Why was she looking at her that way?  "I'm who?" She asked a little sharply, resisting the urge to pop her hand on her hip.  Who was spreading stories about her?

[Deleted]

Her clothes were wet and powdered, and her head and joints were aching from the sudden onslaught of sneezes wrecking havoc on Marcus’ body. At least she was wearing several layers, so the hot of the hot chocolate wasn’t getting through enough to burn her. But still…it reminded her of when she first met Safia and ended up dousing herself completely in Mountain Dew. She’d been so irritated by that ickiness that she’d taken off her shirt and gone all the way back to her room bare chested like it was normal.

Marcus wasn’t going to be doing that today. She couldn’t. Too cold, she’d never made it back to the dorms.

It was nothing especially with the powder….Marcus just had a tendency for sneezing. Hence why he found himself trapped in one form or the other so very often. “Thanks….” she uttered, taking the extra napkins right away, first wiping her nose and then dabbing at the wet spots on her chest.

Suddenly Marcus was feeling shy, unable to figure out how to associate with this girl. Like normal? What was normal? Now that he realized who she was, it…shouldn’t have made it awkward, but for some reason…..Marcus wondered exactly what kind of girl would date a guy like Lucas? “You’re….Sorry!” she said, backing away slightly at the rise in assertion. “I was just….” How to explain this? “Um….I was just thinking I’ve seen you around a lot with a friend of mine, actually he’s not really that close of a friend and I’m not sure I can really call him that because I’m pretty sure he hates that I saw him naked in the shower, and I’m sure he thinks I forced that kiss on him, when in fact it was the other way around, but it was a complete accident, you see, because apparently caffeine makes it so he can’t control his body for some reason and I’m not sure why I’m telling you all this because I’m pretty sure you’re his girlfriend and I’m about to die right now……!”

Marcus took a breath.

[Karalie Heise]

The way she got so flustered only irritated Karalie more.  Who the hell did she think Karalie actually was? Did she know this girl from somewhere?  The blond kept fumbling over her words, as if to try and form a solid, intelligent sentence, something she was clearly failing at and miserably at that.  

Finally a story was pouring out.  She'd seen her with a friend.  A male friend.. Karalie was slowly piecing the puzzle together as this girl laid it out.  Not friends, seen him naked in the shower, forced kisses... Her stomach felt tight and sick as she began to realize who exactly this girl was talking about, and even more so when it was verified.

"I am not his girlfriend." She all but snarled, glaring at the other girl.  Her dark eyes sized the taller girl up.  Luke had chosen her over Karalie? He'd cheated with this homely little thing?  She didn't care that it was mean, Karalie knew she was prettier than the blond, if for no other reason than she made herself actually appear feminine.  Sure, the blond would be cute if she fixed herself up, hot even, but in this state? Really?

"Yer not th'only one he went around kissin', or worse, when we were together." The bitterness was clear in her voice as she spoke, and she tried not to hate the other girl too much.  It wasn't her fault.  She knew that, not that it made all of this any easier to digest.  She hated being reminded of the way she'd been treated.  She deserved so much more! "An' what'd'ya mean he thinks ya'll forced uh kiss on him? An' how'dja see him naked in the shower!" She insisted in a hushed voice, suddenly very curious about all of this.  The things she'd like to do to that boy...

[Deleted]

Who did Marcus think she was? He thought she was Luke’s scary girlfriend, that’s who(though Marcus really didn’t know anything about her enough to make that determination). She was just…well…caught by surprise? No. That wasn’t it. Or maybe she was just in denial?

Or maybe the intimidating look that the girl was giving Marcus was more than enough to terrify the skinny blonde.

She might have jumped slightly when the girl refuted Marcus’ assumption so sharply. “Oh….th-then, my mistake….?” Then….was….someone else…..arg! Coherent thoughts! They were not coming and this girl was still glaring and if Marcus had just kept her mouth shut and played it cool then she wouldn’t be feeling about 10 times smaller than she really was!

Marcus blinked. “Oh.” Now it made sense. That Marcus didn’t know. About the cheating part. “Oh, no! I mean, I’m sorry! Is kinda what I was trying or wanting to say, but yeah, that came out wrong in that it came out at all or all at once….without context….sorry…” Marcus looked down, red in the face. “Um….” She really wanted to explain herself to the girl…

She backed up as someone else squeezed between the two girls to get at the condiment counter. “Um….” she started again. “Maybe we should sit down and I can explain it better? It’s really not what you’re thinking, at least I don’t think.” Never mind that Marcus was still wet….she was holding her jacket out from her torso to hopefully keep the rest of her clothes from getting soiled as well. Bah, she should probably just take it off…and so that’s what she started doing, all while smiling awkwardly at the pressing girl.

[Karalie Heise]

The information slowly seemed to be seeping into this girls thick skull, and Karalie wasn't sure how to feel. She was upset, sulky, and maybe a little guilty for taking her aggression out on her. She should really just be angry with Lucas.  She was angry at Lucas, but it was hard to only be upset with him when others seemed to be involved in his spiraling.  



She was rambling and stumbling over her words again only infuriating the southerner more.  It was difficult to bit her tongue and not snap to just spit it out, but she understood not everyone was capable of that.  Why was she so nervous, anyway? Did she think Karalie would hurt her? Because that was absurd.  She was not the poke-your-eyes out type, and the fact she hadn;t done it to Luke proved it since he'd deserved that sort of treatment.  

"Fine." She grumbled, grabbing her drink and storming to a seat and sitting down.  She couldn't wait to hear what other shit he pulled behind her back while they were together.  More ammunition for when he decided to mess with her.  His hole just kept deeper and deeper.  "Go on.  I'm listenin'."

[Deleted]

Talk about misunderstandings. If Marcus hadn’t thought that this girl was someone she wasn’t, then the shifter wouldn’t have blurted out all those things in a panicked frenzy to cause even more misunderstandings. She hoped that she could clear it up within some amount of reason. And coherence. Marcus had that bad habit of rambling and ranting even when she was calm, so of course it got worse when she was feeling under pressure.

Marcus finally breathed when she agreed to sit, feeling like that had dissipated at least some of the tension. Maybe. Marcus finished removing her jacked and slung it over the back end of the chair across from where the other girl had sat herself. She slipped in herself, after checking to see if any liquid had gotten on her prized hoodie(something she’d gotten a couple of years ago when the band was on their North American tour - it was irreplaceable). The hot chocolate, however, had been trashed. Unfortunately. Marcus would get another later.

“So…” she started. “Um….I think I should start out by telling you who I am. Uh….” How to put this? “Luke and I are in a band together. Or at least, we’re trying to start one up, but you know, people ditched us, so we’re trying to rebuild, I guess. But we’re kinda okay friends, maybe, though I think he’s just trying to get used to, well, me, as in, a person like me exists at all.” Did that explain some things? Probably not. She extended her hand across the table. “I’m Marcus. And you’re…?” Damn, Marcus didn’t even know this girl’s name, really, she should’ve started with this first before going on a rambling rampage.

[Karalie Heise]

Dark eyes burned holes into the girl across from her as Karalie waited for some semblance of an answer to come out of that stuttering mouth.  As she started talking, Karalie started getting more confused.  She thought only guys were in Luke's band.  Maybe that had changed recently.  And what did she mean get used to a person like her? Like, a girl who could play instruments?  That sounded like something Luke would need to get used to, the idiot.

Suddenly she stopped talking, extending her hand and introducing herself as.. marcus? Who named their daughter Marcus?  She almost glared at the hand extended to her.  Karalie didn't touch other people's hands willingly, not usually, but this might be an exception to that rule.  She was curios about this girl named Marcus.  So she did what she so seldom did, and reached her own hand out, the idea hitting her just as she was about to wrap her fingers around hers. What if she was one of those transexuals!

It was too late to pull her hand back, her fingers curling around the soft digits of the other, a memory flushing forward without a second to spare.  She was looking in the mirror at herself, only.. she wasn't the blond girl sitting in front of her, but a boy.  He looked a lot like her.. It was her.  She didn't like the way the shirt looked on herself, not like this.  She was shifting before her eyes into her female form; definitely fit better as a girl.  The memory was brief but telling and Karalie yanked her hand free, wide eyed as she stared at Marcus.  

"Yer both!" She snapped, holding her hand to herself as if she were a wounded animal, suddenly horrified and curios about the girl across from her.  "He, you... he kissed you?" None of it was making sense.

[Deleted]

The longer Marcus talked, the more dark the atmosphere seemed to get around the girl sitting across from her. And that just made the shifter more nervous. And when she was nervous, the rambling and stuttering only got worse. She just had to hope that once she got it all out, the girl would at least a little bit of what Marcus was talking about. And hopefully not jump to any outrageous conclusions

Marcus smiled nervously with her hand extended, wondering if the girl would even take it. When she started to reach her hand forward, Marcus found herself breathing a silent sigh of relief. That meant that she was willing to be friendly. Great. Perfect. That might make things easier…?

Marcus had no reason to believe that there was a specific reason why Karalie disliked touching other people. If she had made mention of it, Marcus would have understood, though. There were a lot of inconvenient powers like that around. Marcus did briefly wonder what this girl’s power was, however.

Their hands touched and the girl’s features shifted. It was brief, but too noticeable to ignore. Then she snatched her hand away from the blonde. “Huh? What…? Both..?” Well, yeah…that was true, but Marcus didn’t know if she was talking about that or about something else. Did she have some power that let her know when they touched? “Y-yeah….” she replied with a blush in her cheeks. “Not exactly something I advertise, for obvious reasons, but I guess it’s kinda important you know in this case?” Why was that a question? Of course it was important! Marcus nodded, her lips pressing together meekly and fixing her gaze on the table. She didn’t like that look on her face. It was the same one she’d gotten from her grandfather. “Was an accident, actually. I think. He stole my Mountain Dew. I guess he isn’t supposed to have caffeine? Said it makes his muscles twerk out or something. Anyway, I don’t know if that was just an excuse, but I didn’t tell him I was a boy until he was about to do it…he actually looked a little terrified, understandably so, of course, and looked like he was trying pretty hard to back off after that, but well…..” Didn’t help. Marcus peeked back up at the girl to observe her reaction. “And that’s what happened there.”

[Karalie Heise]

It seemed the more she learned about Lucas, the angrier she was that she had ever trusted the fool to begin with.  Really, it was a miracle none of those memories came forward when she touched that boy.  It was like he wanted her to know, wanted her to find out what a piece of dirt he was. No, dirt was better than Lucas.  Sludge you found deep in the ground under earth worms was better than stupid Lucas.

As Marcus explained her.. his.. her? Story, Karalie felt her body tighten and her face warm.  Why was she sitting there listening to this? It wasn't like she was dating the boy anymore!  That was so like Luke.  Him and his stupid caffeine thing.  She suspected it wasn't entirely real.  He probably blew it out of proportion to get away with doing idiotic things.  She knew better now.  

"Were we t'gether when that happened?" She asked in a low, almost sulky voice.  Her head was lowered and her lips were pursed as she glowered slightly at the girl across from her.  Then she realized there was probably more.  They were in a band together after all.  Who hung out with a guy like that after he did something like he had?  "An' why do I get th'feelin' there's more?"

[Deleted]

Marcus wasn’t sure if she was helping matters any by explaining herself. Definitely would’ve been better to just keep her mouth shut. But there was a whole other half of the story that she probably wasn’t going to be left off the hook for, so…guess she just had to grit her teeth and bear it.

Conversely to what Karalie thought, Marcus didn’t think that Luke was lying about the caffeine thing. After all, he tried to stop himself once he found out Marcus was a guy…and was pretty upset afterwards.

“Uh…I don’t know? When were you…when did you…break up?” Geeze, she didn’t know anything about these guys! If she had, then she wouldn’t have made that stupid mistake in the first place! “That one happened….Ugh…I think it was around the end of August…? Maybe?” Marcus didn’t exactly have the best sense of time, so it could have been earlier than that.

“Um…well, there is.” Marcus was hesitant to tell it though. “….he didn’t know what I looked like as a guy, so I kinda avoided him after that. I mean, I…I slapped him…because he said some really…really insensitive shit…” About stuff that Marcus already had a hard enough time dealing with…and to have those things pointed out so plainly by someone else…. “Then the band thing happened….and then…” The shower thing. “The dork slipped and fell in the showers - I was in the stall next to his - and hurt his leg something terrible.” And his dick, apparently. “The guy could barely stand, much less walk. So I got him dressed and took him to the infirmary….” Marcus lowered her head. “That’s really all that happened….” Was that enough to appease her curiosity? Or was there going to be more questions now?

“Sorry for the confusion,” she said. “I panicked, and tend to speak before thinking so all that stuff just came out all at once and if I’d known you guys were broken up I don’t think I would have worried so much…”

[Karalie Heise]

Karalie glowered down at her coffee, looking more like a sullen child than the high school senior she was.  In a lot of ways she supposed she really was still just a child, but dealing with stuff like this seemed, well, sort of grown up.  "Just b'fore Thanksgivin'." She grumbled, mulling it all over.  The mention of "that one" made her stomach clench unpleasantly, realizing there was probably more than one.  And if that kiss had happened in August, she and Lucas were together.  He'd failed to mention it.  Of course it would have been a fight, but if he'd explained it maybe she'd have forgiven him.  Either way she would have known and this wouldn't all be coming as such an unpleasant surprise months after the fact. 

Things didn't seem to be adding up to Karalie.  If he'd been a dick to her.. him.. then why the hell was he in a band with Luke? Who would be friends with a dick like that? Not her.  It was bad enough she'd dated him.  The more Marcus went on, the lower she wanted to sink into the ground.  It didn't matter that she wasn't with him anymore.  It still hurt to be reminded of how horribly he'd treated her and how completely oblivious she'd been to the whole thing.


"Ya'll shoulda jus' left'm there tuh drown."  Her lips pursed, knowing it wasn't exactly the most Christian thing to say, but it didn't matter since Marcus had come to his rescue.  She let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through her dark curls, looking across at Marcus for a long moment, frowning slightly.  Karalie was torn about whether she appreciated the information or not.  Why hadn't she.. he come to her when she was with Luke? That would have made her life easier! Then again, she hadn't run into her while she was dating Luke.  Maybe if she had..

"Well, I guess thanks." She sighed again, more softly, the breath wheezing through her nose quietly.  "Ya'll friends with him, or..?" She raised a brow questioningly, unsure what Marcus' connection with the guy even was.

[Deleted]

Just before Thanksgiving….well…that made Marcus feel pretty bad then. Because that meant that he kissed her when he was still dating Karalie, and that thing in the shower…. that happened just before Thanksgiving too. Marcus couldn’t remember when exactly, which made it even harder to tell when it was in relation to their breakup. Marcus lowered her head guiltily. “Sorry….if I’d known that you two were together at that time….well, I’d just met him, but I would have told you myself. Should have….I’m, uh…ha ha, I’m pretty chicken when it comes to coming clean, you know?” Marcus laughed nervously, though it was far from funny.

Lucas should have told her about it. He should have told Karalie. That he ‘accidentally’ kissed Marcus. It made her wonder what all that shit was he said about wanting to tell people up front what’s up regardless of how much it might make them hate him. Wasn’t he the one who got pissed at Marcus for hiding her power and who she was from him when he was a boy? It was admirable-ish to say at the time, something that Marcus had little confidence in being able to do. She was such a coward. But if he couldn’t do the same thing out of respect to his girlfriend….? Why would he chastise Marcus for being scared to tell the truth? Marcus was going to have to ask him about it next she saw him.

Karalie’s jibe at Lucas made her thin lips curl into a slight smile. “Yeah, probably. I just…well, I don’t like being mean to people, is all. Even if they’ve been horrible…to me…” Marcus’ face dropped as the truth of that hit her. Yeah….that must be why she always let her mother get away with the shit she pulled. And why Marcus always forgave her in a second whenever it was she decided to come back to ‘make up for it’. Though her attempts never really made it stop hurting. Sigh…

Marcus smiled again at the thanks. “Sorry,” she said again as well. “I ended up freaking out on you and….ha ha, I’m not too good at keeping my cool, I guess. Can’t tell a lie to save my life!” She laughed a laugh which quickly died down, because it was obviously inappropriate. Marcus rose her eyes to meet with Karalie’s. “Friend’s….Uh…yeah. At least, I think so.” Marcus knitted her eyebrows in thought. “It’s really weird though, I think he may actually prefer being friends with the girl me over the guy me….and I don’t know what to think about that.” Considering Lucas seemed to be a lot nicer to her than he was to him. Was that guy a sexist or something? Marcus might have to ask about that too.