Come and go

Lauren || 21 || Student and TA. //blog under construction

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

Dev lets out a small laugh when Lauren pins her down. She’s only had one other person put up a fight, albeit small and not much of a fight at all once Dev got under her skin, but this was different. Lauren was actually trying to keep her down. “Forceful.”

Good thing, she thinks, she’s been working on her core muscles for over half of her life because it makes it that much easier to turn over, get Lauren on her back. “Fuck watching a movie,” she huffs, her lips brushing right up against Lauren’s ear. She kisses her neck, but not in the same way—they’re hard, connected by bites and accompanied by her hands travelling over Lauren’s curves. “You’re a guest here, sweetheart, ‘kay?” Dev kisses her again, then hovers over her with a smirk. “Can you let me be a good hostess?”

[laurenlefebvre]

So this is how it's going to be. Lauren doesn't say anything initially when Devan flips them over, allowing her to have her few moments with Lauren pinned down beneath her, but there's no way Lauren will stand for not being on top. She can't really stop the moan that escapes from her lips when she feels Devan's hands touching her, Devan's teeth scraping along the length of her neck, but Lauren figures she's got the situation under control.

"Two can play at this one, babe," she breathes into Devan's ear, moving her hands up and underneath Devan's shirt to grip her waist, moving them up so that Lauren is now sitting up underneath Devan. Lauren tugs at Devan's shirt, wanting it off, and she then flips them over as she kisses her neck, ending up back on top.

It's fun, really; Lauren's never really had to fight for dominance like this, and she almost sort of expected this from Devan Channing--she's not complaining. Not one bit.

She drags her lips along Devan's jawline. "I've never really been that great of a house-guest, anyway," she murmurs. "Guess you're going to have to teach me to be a better one."

[raadlucas]

drive me wild // rachelle & lauren

[raadlucas]

Rachelle hadn’t really expected Lauren to bring up that morning in the lounge. She didn’t mind talking about it - least of all with Lauren who had already seen Rachelle at nearly her worst - but she just wasn’t used to someone actually caring enough to ask. “Things are hardly ever fine with my parents,” she admitted with a small, bitter chuckle. “I’m okay, though. Really. I’m used to it.”

The truth was, Rachelle wasn’t sure she’d ever be used to her parents’ emotional and verbal abusiveness. She couldn’t pretend her family life was anywhere near ideal let alone pretend that that fact didn’t bother her. No matter how comfortable she felt with Lauren, Rachelle wasn’t sure she was ready to go drop that entire load on Lauren. “What about you? How are you doing? Your cut seems to have healed up pretty nicely.”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren nodded, focusing on the road as they drove. "I don't really think that being used to that kind of thing is a good thing. Like, at all." 

When they get to a stoplight, Lauren looks over at Rachelle, leaning her head back against the headrest of her seat. "I'm sorry that you're having such a shit time with your parents. I guess I can kind of relate, but it's probably a lot different from what you've got to deal with."

Shit. Slipped. Lauren is supposed to say as little as possible about her own personal life--she doesn't really have a cover story for her hunter parents, and she quickly answers Rachelle's next question in order to skip having to explain it. The light turns green, and Lauren's eyes are back on the road as she takes a left to get to the frat house, less than a block away.

"I'm doing...pretty alright," she says, parking along the sidewalk. She turns the engine of her car off and grins at Rachelle, winking at her. "It wouldn't have been doing as well as it has without the help of one Emergency Nurse Lucas."

She gets out of the car and opens the door up for Rachelle on the other side, sliding an arm around her waist as they walk towards the frat house--a weird part of her wants to keep Rachelle close, as if frat boys are the biggest danger in Rachelle's life (Lauren wishes), and they walk in together, a few of Lauren's acquaintances giving her a few hugs hello.

"Alright," she says, tightening her grip on Rachelle's waist before letting go, "Let's go get drunk, or whatever it is people do in frat houses, yeah?"

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

Dev shrugs. She wouldn’t mind watching a movie, considering the last person she watched a movie, sober or drunk, hasn’t spoken to her in something like weeks. “You make it sound like two beautiful girls can’t just watch a movie after drinking.” She puts her hands behind her and arches an eyebrow up at Lauren. “But,” she sighs, “I guess we can skip the movie.”

She takes Lauren’s hand and pulls her down on top of her. Dev might start feeling guilty if she lets her thoughts wander, but she won’t let that happen because she’s good at this. She knows it. She’s good at making others feel good, especially when she isn’t feeling… the best. “If you didn’t want to watch a movie, you could’ve just said so, Lauren.”

Dev kisses her once, twice, lets her hands travel down her back and up under her shirt. It helps that she’s still a little drunk, and it helps that Lauren is crazy gorgeous. “Better?”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren kisses her back with fervor, all thoughts of Rachelle and who the people on the wall are. Straddling her hips, she sits up and takes her shirt off in one swift motion, moving back down to slide her hands into Devan's, effectively pinning her down onto the bed.

"Much better," she says, grinning as she presses light kisses on her neck. "We can watch a movie right now, though,if you really want."

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

All at once the outfit she’s wearing has become too hot, too uncomfortable to even fathom continuum to wear it. Dev whips her shirt over her head and dances out of her jeans and she grabs a shirt and shorts from her drawers. She thinks for a minute, while her head and right arm are through the shirt but her left hasn’t quite gotten there yet, that maybe she should’ve asked if Lauren was okay with it.

Then again, she doesn’t really care.

"Huh?" She spins around at Lauren’s question, her eye catching that picture of Megan that she had planned on taking down after she found out her friend was gone. "Oh. Yeah, I do." Dev hasn’t really come to terms with it yet, the abruptness of it all—the way Megan didn’t even say goodbye, not even a text from her friend, it hurt. It hurts.

"My friend," she continues, runs her hand through her hair and sits on her bed. "She’s gone now, though. I miss her." Dev looks up at Lauren, shrugging. "So. Pick a movie, sweetheart."

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren inhales sharply when Devan starts to strip right in front of her, and immediately averts her eyes. "Gone?" Instead of looking at Devan, she lets her eyes go over the rest of the photos, recognizing a few faces from the files she has on them. She's still too drunk (and concussed) to be able to put two and two together, so she shakes her head and decides to worry about it some other time. "Sorry, I'll stop prying."

She looks down at Devan, and raises an eyebrow. Everything about this night is really just a huge mess to Lauren--she wouldn't be able to tell this story to anyone properly, if they asked. How would one be able to say, 'I was attacked by a bunch of pervs, and then me and an acquaintance fought them off, got drinks, and relentlessly hit on each other while I got drunk with a bad concussion', and not be seen as a total maniac?

Lauren tilts her head to the right a little. "Is a movie why you brought me here?" 

[raadlucas]

drive me wild // rachelle & lauren

[raadlucas]

"Deal," Rachelle replied with a smile as she took Lauren’s hand. Somehow, Lauren’s presence always calmed Rachelle down which she was especially grateful for tonight seeing as she more than likely didn’t know a majority of the people who would be in attendance at the party.

As she exited her apartment, Rachelle was suddenly hit with a heat wave. She looked down at her hand - which her brain had only just registered as being clasped in Lauren’s hand - and her nerves came back full force. Sliding her hand out of the other woman’s was an option, but if it was there already and Lauren seemed fine with it, why pull away?

When they reached Lauren’s car, she held the door open for Rachelle and Rachelle couldn’t help the small frustrated bite she gave her lip when their hands broke contact. “So, how do you know these people? Other classmates? Friends?” Rachelle looked up at Lauren expectantly; internally crossing her fingers that the answer would not be, “Something else…?”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren laughed, understanding the implications behind Rachelle's question. "Floormates. They all live in my residence building, and they party pretty much every weekend." She shrugged. "Not that I'm complaining." 

She starts driving towards the frat house, intending on leaving the car there overnight and walking back to her dorm after the party. Lauren reaches over turns the radio on as they drive. "So, how are things going with you? Like, you don't have to tell me, but...is everything okay with your parents, and all that?" 

The question is genuine, but there's still a little part of Lauren that is asking for the sake of the assignment--except this time, she feels genuine guilt for that small hint of an ulterior motive in the question. 

This night is not off to a good start.

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

"Look who’s learned the trick of the trade," Dev smirks as she watches Lauren take charge for the round. Max is visibly flustered, and it makes Dev chuckle. She holds one shot glass up, takes it, then follows it up with the second so she wouldn’t have time to regret either of them. 

She nods at Lauren and slides off the stool less-than-gracefully, hooking her arm around her… friend’s(?) in another swift-yet-clumsy movement before she throws a wink over her shoulder at Max.

It’s a quick walk back to her room (or maybe it isn’t, and she’s just too borderline drunk to tell the difference), and when she gets to the door, she fumbles with her keys for a second before she turns the knob. “Welcome home,” she giggles momentarily. “There’s a bunch of shit in my fridge if you want. Movies to pick from. I trust your judgement enough to pick a good one.”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren really can't tell who's drunker on their way back to Devan's room--but then again, she doesn't really care all that much.

She shuts Devan's door behind her and walks in--her room smells vaguely of perfume (big surprise there), and it's in a bit of a state; not the kind of messy that all university students are subject to when it comes to dorm rooms--the kind of messy where it looks like she tried to clean it, but gave up halfway because of...something.

There's a wall of photos, and Lauren glances over at them, immediately recognizing the face of Megan Frasier--Devan's got her arm around her in the photo, and they're both very obviously drunk, a red solo cup in each of their hands. Frasier's pressing a kiss to Devan's cheek, and Devan looks a lot younger in that photo than she does right now. Lauren checks the timestamp to see that it was only a few weeks ago.

She knows the basics of the story from Novotny's report, but she's only allowed pretending like she knows what everyone else 'knows'--Frasier went off the rails after her best friend died, and she left the state.

Frasier was powered. Lauren knows this because she's got a file on her, labelled as more or less 'untouchable' by Novotny herself. If Frasier is powered, then...

"You know her?" Lauren murmurs, pointing at the photo and looking back at Devan.

[raadlucas]

drive me wild // rachelle & lauren

The last thing Rachelle had expected to do was make friends with someone just as she was about to graduate. No. Scratch that. The absolute last thing Rachelle had expected to do was to start developing feelings for someone just as she was about to graduate. 

The process of falling had been so easy, too. All Lauren had had to do was pay attention to Rachelle and Rachelle was hooked. It didn’t hurt (though, in a way it didn’t really help, either) that Lauren seemed to be just as interested in hanging out and being friendly - that was it, it was just a friend being friendly nothing else - as Rachelle was.

When Lauren had invited Rachelle to the party, she knew she was going to definitely be tested. Lauren seemed like the type of girl who would dance like no one was watching and Rachelle wasn’t sure she was prepared to be a witness to it (or what Lauren might or might not be wearing). But she went because she needed to prove to herself that she could handle being friends with someone she was so undeniably attracted to.

She was ready at nine, per Lauren’s request; having spent nearly two hours changing her clothes and checking and rechecking her make-up before deciding that her appearance was, at the least, passable. When Lauren knocked on the door, Rachelle jumped up from her spot on the couch where she had been quietly (and anxiously) awaiting Lauren’s arrival. “Hey,” she said with a smile as she opened the door. “I’m…” She sighed. “Nervous, honestly. I haven’t been to a party since sophomore year.”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren had been figuring out a game plan to hunt down another powered one when she got the text from one of the girls on her floor--a party, tonight, at some frat house on campus.

Initially, she'd wanted to make up an excuse; today was just one of those days where she didn't want to socialize with anyone, but then she realized that she could bring anyone she wanted--and the first person that came to her mind was Rachelle.

She texted her almost immediately after, and couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face when Rachelle accepted her offer just as fast.

Part of her wanted to go because it was Rachelle, and this was another opportunity for Lauren to possibly gain information, and the other part wanted to go because it was Rachelle.

Lauren wasn't about to lie to herself--the feelings for Rachelle Lucas were definitely there, there was no question, but how Lauren handled it was a different question in itself. There was no rule in the Unspoken Hunter Rulebook about falling for an asset; there was just a rule against actually doing something about it. Rachelle hadn't shown any signs of being powered or anything, and Lauren was partially hoping that she was just a human, that Anna was wrong; but then again, Anna was almost never wrong.

((Lauren was just banking on the almost part.))

It could be easy--all Lauren would have to do would be to go to her superiors, tell them Rachelle was perfectly normal, and let them let her be on her way.

But what if, later down the line, Rachelle ended up doing something that revealed her potential abilities? She would be dead in an instant at the hands of the hunters, and so would Lauren.

She let all of this go to the back of her mind as she got dressed in a simple black skirt with a beige top, donning her heels and curling her hair. 

Once she got to Rachelle's dorm, she knocked, and Rachelle opened it; Lauren couldn't really stop the whoosh of air escaping from her mouth as she looked at her. 

Well, shit. 

Lauren gave Rachelle a half-smile, waving at her. "Hi," she said, giving Rachelle a once-over with her eyes. "You look incredible. And you've got nothing to be worried about," she said, holding her hand out for Rachelle to take. "I'll fight off any gross frat boys who try to bug us, and you can make sure none of them spike our drinks. Deal?"

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

Dev shrugs and sets her once again empty glass down on the countertop. She knows she’s getting drunk—her hands are hot and her fingers are heavy, and the uncontrollable urge to just smile has come over her. If Megan was here, she thinks, she would tell me to slow down. And then she’d try to out drink me. She smiles, despite her best efforts.

She’s at least kind of tipsy and Lauren is kind of hot, so Dev kind of has an idea of what she wants to do with the rest of her night. ”Definitely entertaining,” she nods, props her head up on the palm of her hand. “It could involve more alcohol if you wanted.” 

Max gets a clue and before she’s done talking, there’s another rum and coke replacing her finished one. She effectively gulps that down and sighs loudly. “We could go back to my room, watch a movie, play the game that goes with the movie. Maybe clean up that cut you’ve got there. What do you think, sweetheart?”

[laurenlefebvre]

A movie. Lauren can't remember the last time she went to someone else's room, drunk, with the intention of watching a movie and actually watching a movie. 

Well, it's not like the real intention was a movie in the first place-- 

Lauren, no. 

She's really fucking hot.

Lauren, no. 

What about Rachelle?

What about her?

Don't do it.

Too bad.

"A movie. Great." She beckons to the bartender, who has been giving them free drinks all night, with a finger and says, "Another four tequila shots, handsome.Two for her, two for me, please." She adds a lilt to her voice and reaches over to place a hand on his forearm, smirking. "And thank you."

He nods and quickly pours them the shots, and once she's cleared both of them, Lauren gestures to Devan. 

"Shall we?"

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

Dev watches as Lauren’s lips curl and her face contorts as she sticks the lime in her mouth. She puts her own slice on a napkin and slides it over, closer to her. “Often enough.” Her response is simple and accompanied by a shrug, but it’s heavy.

"Often enough" means Dev reaches for the bottle she keeps in her room anytime her mind travels to Sienna, Megan, or to her brother. She looks down at her hands, then shakes her head. "Often enough" means she needs another drink in her hand as soon as possible, and she whisks around to call Max over. "Another rum and coke, Max."

She turns back to Lauren when there’s a glass in her hand again, and she almost swallows half of it in one swig. “So, uh,” Dev swirls her drink around for a second, then flicks her eyes up to Lauren. “You still have to go to that meeting with your friend? Or are you free to do something else tonight?”

[laurenlefebvre]

There’s something going on with Devan, but Lauren doesn’t know what—nor does she really want to know. She can definitely already feel the alcohol she’s had (she’s small and hasn’t had any dinner yet), but she pretends not to as she copies Devan and takes another long drink from her new rum and coke. 

(She doesn’t want to know, but drinking buddy rules says she has to ask.) 

She’s about to ask ‘What’s up with you?’ but to her relief, Devan’s asking her a question instead, and Lauren doesn’t have to subject herself to listening to something that she probably won’t really care about. 

Lauren raises an eyebrow in response. “Depends on what the ‘something else’ is.” She raises her glass to her lips, taking another small sip. “Does it involve more alcohol and entertainment?”

[laurenlefebvre]

give yourself away // lauren & rachelle

[raadlucas]

Rachelle scoffed incredulously at Lauren’s explanation. “You tripped? I’m not making fun of you at all, it’s just that I was kind of hoping you had a story about, like, fighting off cat-calling assholes or something.” She took a sip of her coffee before continuing, “You know, ‘show them up when you can and fuck them — not literally — if they still think they’re better than you.’ That sort of thing.”

It was hard not to look Lauren directly in the eyes (and not just in a courteous I’m looking at you when you’re speaking sort of way, but in a God, I could get lost in your eyes am I staring oh shit I’m staring sort of way). The cut was rather long for a fall, but Rachelle wasn’t about to question the injuries Lauren had sustained during a trip Rachelle hadn’t been around to see. “I’ll be right back,” she said, putting her cup down on the table as she rose from the couch and crossed the room. When she returned, she had a napkin and a plastic cup of water. She dipped the napkin into the water and reached up to Lauren’s brow, dabbing at the part where Lauren had accidentally removed a bit of the scab. “I don’t have proper medical supplies or anything, but the least we can do is wipe the blood off your face.”

Even after the cut was clean again, Rachelle’s hand lingered near Lauren’s cheek, her fingers lightly brushing the other woman’s skin as she pulled away. “Uh, yeah. Okay. There we go. Much better.” Contact as brief as that had never made her so nervous before she met Lauren.

[laurenlefebvre]

Confused, Lauren sat there and sipped at her coffee while she waited for Rachelle to get back from whatever it was she was doing.

When she got back with water and a napkin, Lauren raised both of her eyebrows. "Whoa, okay, I should be fine--" 

She winced, eyes shut, as Rachelle continued anyway, moving her hand up to place it on Rachelle's hand to gently push it away from her face. The napkin had little spots of blood on it (I can't believe it's still bleeding), and Lauren looked at the napkin for a moment before moving her gaze to Rachelle.

God, she's pretty. 

She stayed like that for a little bit, unconsciously biting her lower lip--her heart was racing and she was mostly pinning it on the pain of her eyebrow (which didn't even hurt that much in the first place). Her eyes flitted down to Rachelle's lips for the briefest of moments--it could be easy, she could just move forward and--

Lauren, what the hell. She realized what was happening and immediately let go of Rachelle's hand, moving herself back and averting her eyes to the coffee table in front of them. "Ah, thanks," she murmured, gingerly touching the wound. "All good."

Befriend the asset, don't fall for the asset, you goddamned idiot. Do your job right. 

Lauren looked back at Rachelle.

But maybe it's too late.

[laurenlefebvre]

give yourself away // lauren & rachelle

[raadlucas]

Rachelle shook her head slowly, laughing softly as she wiped away the last of the tears from her cheek. “Don’t worry about it. I— thank you. It’s just… my mom called and gave me an earful about coming home. She wants me to fly back to DC pretty much right after I graduate, but…” She shrugs and lets out a long sigh, her gaze falling on Lauren without meaning to as she continued. “I like it here.”

She winced as Lauren nicked her scab, frowning slightly when she expressed her pain. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. I hardly even noticed.” (Definitely a lie. Who wouldn’t have noticed the close proximity and the softness of Lauren’s touch? Shut up, Rachelle.) ”We should talk about whatever happened with this,” she pointed at the scab, “after you get us that coffee.”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren laughs nervously, standing to go pour them two cups of coffee and contemplating what she could tell Rachelle. Sure--she could tell her what happened, that she was attacked and that she managed to fight them off with the help of someone else, but that could potentially lead to 'how did you know how to fight them off?' or 'what were you even doing out that late on a wednesday night?'. Lauren doesn't know the extent of how curious of a person Rachelle is, so she decides to settle for the story that makes her seem like an idiot, rather than the one that makes her sound--well, kind of badass.

She passes a cup to Rachelle and shrugs. "I was just on a run and I tripped badly. On my face. I think it's starting to heal--I probably should've gotten stitches, but--" needles terrify me. "--I just didn't have the time. Hopefully it doesn't get infected, or something."

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

"I think everyone would get their ass kicked in a swordfight with Lucy Liu in Kill Bill," Dev snorts.

It’s nice, she thinks, to have someone to sit at a bar and bullshit with again. Though the memories of Megan laughing so hard she almost falls off the stool, or turning as red as she possibly could after knocking over her drink somewhat haunt her and her smile falters only a bit. “Uh, I used to do karate when I was a kid,” she teases, then shakes her head. “Seriously, though, I’ve done a little training. Basic self-defense stuff. A little knife work. Nothing crazy.”

Dev takes notice of the way Lauren’s eyes travel the length of her body and she smirks at the compliment. “No, the body comes from years of dance and running five miles a day. Appreciate the compliment though, sweetheart.” Dev finishes off her drink and rests it behind her on the counter. “Hey, Max,” she turns and catches his attention instantly, to which she chuckles, “Two shots of tequila and another rum and coke, please.” When he places the shot glasses in front of them, Dev grabs hers and knocks it back, then looks over at Lauren. “Well?”

[laurenlefebvre]

"I'm fairly certain you aren't supposed..." to drink with a possible concussion. Lauren shrugs, mutters "whatever" under her breath, and takes the shit, grimacing slightly as she sucks on the lime slice that had been stuck on the shot glass. 

This is all still very strange--Lauren still has no idea who Devan Channing is, and where she came from, or why she's so good at fighting, but she's still too dazed to be able to care enough, and Devan Channing is extremely attractive, and if Lauren gets drunk enough...

"No lime or anything?" she asks, gesturing towards her, "How often do you do this?"

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

Dev perks up when Lauren pauses in the middle of her excuse, and smiles when she agrees. “I was almost worried you’d make the wrong choice,” she shrugs, purses her lips a bit, “Almost.”

She takes Lauren’s hand—loosely, but just tight enough to hold onto—and pulls her across the street. Just the right amount of people litter the bar, and Dev goes right up to the counter with a smirk. It’s good that she knows the guy tending because it means more free drinks than paid.

"Max," she slides onto one of the barstools and rests her elbow on the counter, propping her head up on her hand. "I need two…" She looks over at Lauren, then turns back to Max. "Two rum and cokes. Pretty please." It’s more fun than she’d like to admit to watch her guy friends fall over themselves to get a smile out of her, but there hasn’t been a time where she’s regretted her flirtatious nature.

She hands a glass to Lauren and takes a sip of her drink. “So. Kung fu, huh? Have you mastered weapons yet? Girls and swords. Super hot.”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren raises an eyebrow at the forwardness of this girl--she still isn't 100% sure if any of this is still happening or not (she's hallucinated some very strange things after extensive head injuries), but she goes along with it, allowing herself to be tugged into the bar.

She watches Devan effortlessly turn on the charm with the semi-attractive bartender there, the bartender furiously nodding and almost tripping over his own feet to get them their drinks. Devan doesn't even seem phased. Hot. 

"Hey, thanks," she says, taking a long drink of her rum and coke and placing it back on the counter. She chuckles, nodding her head a little. "Yeah. Although, I'd probably still get my ass kicked in a swordfight with Lucy Liu, circa Kill Bill." She shrugs, raising her glass to her lips again. "What about you? Unless there was some crazy adrenaline kick you got back there and your fighting was completely out of nowhere, you have to have gotten some kind of martial arts training." Lauren takes another sip, raising her eyebrows and looking Devan up and down. She then starts to swirl the drink in her hand a little. "It'd also be an explanation for the body you've got on you, there."

[laurenlefebvre]

crossed lines // devan & lauren

[devanchanning]

It’s been a while since Dev’s been able to make a grown man fear her, but it feels even better than she remembers, and she didn’t even need to use her powers. She scoffs, “Shame. I was hoping for a little bit more of a fight.”

She turns her attention to the girl on the ground near her. She looks familiar—in an I’ve seen your face before, but never really talked to you sort of way—and Dev remembers her name is Lauren. And then she wonders why she’d never really talked to her. “Yeah, judging by the blood coming from your face, you totally could’ve handled it.” She offers her hand and helps Lauren up.

Dev eyes her, crosses her arms, smirks. “Up for drinks?” She nods towards the bar across the street and flips her hair over her shoulder. There’s never a wrong time to flirt, she figures, and it’s not even flirting really. It’s a celebratory congratulations.

She eyes Lauren again—slower, more deliberately than the first time, so she can get a read on which direction she’s leaning toward. “On me. You in?”

[laurenlefebvre]

"Thanks," Lauren murmurs again as Channing helps her up. She moves her hand up to her face to wipe the blood running down the side of her face with her sleeve. "I know kung fu. The injury thing was a minor technicality," she says, half-joking, half-not.

She furrows her brow with Channing asks her for drinks. They've just been attacked by a group of men, and Channing is acting like nothing happened and doing this flirtatious hair-flip thing--

Is this girl hitting on me? 

Lauren hesitates, her head still not quite right. She's not entirely sure how she got from meeting up with one of the hunter goons to being faced by some near-unrealistically attractive blonde girl asking her for drinks. "I was supposed to meet up with a friend before those guys..."

Lauren. Awkward talk with one of the idiot hunters that she's supposed to give a game plan to, or drinks with a hot girl? 

Training for being a hunter never covered making that decision.

She shakes her head. "I'll just cancel on him. I think that getting attacked is a substantial excuse, wouldn't you say?" she asks, grinning and nudging her lightly. "Let's go."

[laurenlefebvre]

give yourself away // lauren & rachelle

[raadlucas]

It shouldn’t have surprised Rachelle at all when the call with her mother went south. To be fair, it hadn’t actually surprised her all that much, but still, she held on to the tiny shred of hope that maybe this time her mother would stop acting like a conservative politician and more like a mom. There was nothing about the call that was outside of the routine— Oh, you’re graduating? Great, so you’ll be back in DC in June and you’ll start paying back the tuition money we spent.—but something about the call on this particular day just…

She couldn’t stop crying and she wanted to tell herself to stop, that crying was a sign of weakness, but she’d told herself that so many times before and held in so many tears for so long that this time she found it was impossible to bottle anything else up. She had fought to stay here after her brothers graduated and now she was expected to just pack up and forget about the degree she didn’t even want, but had worked so hard to earn? None of it made any damn sense and none of it ever did nor, Rachelle figured, would it ever.

A hand on her back shook Rachelle from her thoughts and she prayed that she had not just heard the voice of Lauren of all people because the public crying was embarrassing enough. “Yep,” she said quickly, wiping her eyes frantically as she jumped up. “Totally good, thanks. Just tired.”

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren frowns, rubbing Rachelle's back a little before retracting her hand (she's not even sure if Rachelle is good with personal space--Lauren isn't, and she has no idea why she's even doing this in the first place).

She could ask what's wrong--maybe something that Rachelle says could even pertain to Lauren's assignment of extracting important information--but that seems evil and cruel, and Lauren decides to just be a friend.

((For now.))

As a friend, Lauren is genuinely concerned for Rachelle's well-being; she's known her for all of two weeks, but Rachelle's open nature has Lauren feeling like she's known her for longer, as cliche as it may be.

"Cute even when you're crying," she says lightly, absentmindedly reaching over to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind Rachelle's ear. Lauren pulls her hand back when she realizes what she's doing. "Ah, sorry," she says hastily, reaching up and accidentally scratching at the cut on her eyebrow (it's started to scab a little, and scabs itch). "Ow--I, yeah, sorry. For the comment and the touching thing. Totally not cool of me to do that without asking. But like, are you actually okay? You can talk to me--I've just started a pot of coffee over there, if you want me to grab you a cup. We can just sit and talk if you want."

[laurenlefebvre]

give yourself away // lauren & rachelle

Lauren wakes up at around 7 in the morning with a killer headache--she raises her fingertips to the cut on her eyebrow, which still hasn't quite healed over yet.

(She should probably get stitches, but Lauren is terrified of needles--something that she refuses to admit to herself.)

Coffee might help. There probably isn't even anyone in the lounge at this hour, anyway. 

Lauren gets out of bed and slips on a pair of sweats (even though there might not be anyone out and roaming the halls, she doesn't really want to be seen in her underwear), smoothing down the t-shirt she had worn to bed the night before and stretching. 

She makes her way over to the residence lounge--there are a few beer bottles strewn on the counter, presumably from the party last night, and she fills up the coffeemaker, a shitty old thing that usually requires a hit or two to start functioning.

After it starts to boil the water, she turns and walks over to the couches on the other side of the lounge, only to see someone curled up on one of them--she seems distressed, maybe even like she's crying, and Lauren is prepared to turn back around--until she recognizes the blonde hair as Rachelle's.

"Uh, Rachelle?" she says, furrowing a brow and going over to sit next to her. Tentatively, she places a hand on her back and leans over at an attempt to make eye contact with her. "Everything alright?"

[raadlucas]

introduction to chemistry // rachelle & lauren

[raadlucas]

"Yeah, I’ve sort of given up trying to show others I’m capable," Rachelle admitted. "I do it for myself now. And, I think it’s probably better that way." She bit her bottom lip and looked away, suddenly aware of just how personal this conversation was getting. "I appreciate that…" she replied quietly. "Thanks."

The waitress came by then and after they’d ordered their food, Rachelle realized she no longer had the menu to hide behind. “Yeah, fucking them wouldn’t… it wouldn’t be the first thing to cross my mind, anyway,” she confessed with a small laugh. “But I get your point.” She looked down at her hands, willing herself not to pick at her nails. It was a habit she realized she shared with her cousin; a habit she had quit months ago and did not intend to pick up again.

"If you don’t mind me asking," she began as she attempted to change the subject, "what is your job?” Rachelle thought about mentioning that she was currently unemployed because her parents had threatened to pull her college tuition if she didn’t ‘stay focused on school’, but decided against it. This was their first meeting outside of class, Lauren didn’t need to be burdened with Rachelle’s troubles even if Rachelle was already almost completely certain she could trust Lauren with anything.

[laurenlefebvre]

Lauren hesitated slightly--hopefully before Rachelle could notice. "Ah, I can't talk too much about it," she said, shrugging. "It's a family business. But it's not very interesting," she added, figuring out ways to change the subject. 

She usually makes up something stupid with her occupation--I work for one of the bioengineering research labs at Hailgrove, and there's top-secret engineering things that I can't tell you about, I work for the mafia (which she might as well be doing), etc...but she isn't sure how much she wants to lie to Rachelle.

It's irrational, and stupid, but Rachelle Lucas just seems so innocent, to the point where it feels like lying to her is tainting the person she is, as if hearing lies makes you a liar, yourself.

Hoping that Rachelle doesn't push the subject, Lauren continues on to a different point of conversation--still related to what they're talking about, but moving away from Lauren and her life.

"What about you? What do you do?"