#jane. ic.

[locustlace]

OPEN. / jane lashes out - reflex, entirely, as well as the sense that this is probably viktor, because jane has played her cards right, generally speaking, and who would come for her but them, always them - and swings her rolled up yoga mat like a baseball bat, and then promptly realizes that this is literally not viktor.

"oh my god," she says, wide-eyed and a little breathless. "hi. oh my god, are you okay? i am so-" her laugh is short and nervous. "i've just- i've been- a lot of weirdness has been happening around me lately, and i thought you were, uh-"

wendy williams jumps into her head.

"the killer."

[locustlace]

closed for @smalltragedy. / jane knocks. jane stands in the hallway with a bright smile, arms and legs unbroken save one long line of stitches moving from elbow to shoulder on the left. an unanticipated deep cut - but jane had escaped a concussion, and had worn an outfit that, if she's being entirely honest, had ended up looking better with a little wear tear and bloodstain around the edges.

she rehearses the conversation she's anticipating in her head as she waits. (this is a very normal thing to do. jane is certain of it). she will try not to stare too long at viktor's roguish good looks (she is allowed to glare, maybe, but even then only for a minute at most), and she will request they return the red flag they lifted from her mailbox, and there will be a round of denial, and then jane will barrel past them and destroy as many things in her wake as she can.

she is viktor's concussed housecat.

no, thinks jane, irritated with her brain for moving along chuck palahniuk lines, or at least for contributing any ownership to viktor. i am jane's concussed housecat.

[locustlace]

closed for @stainedcherub. / "-but it turned out there was a free clinic. so i messaged them, but then it turned out the clinic wasn't actually needed. so then they offered to get me a drink." jane gives a contained little shrug, nerves apparent. "and if they're still into it, i'll go, obviously, but i was wondering if you maybe wanted to come too? not that i think it's dangerous or anything - babe seems really nice."

both hands have been holding fast to her phone, but she puts it in her pocket now, and reaches for her coffee. "so. oh! also. we'd have to go outside of town for the weekend, it's a little far, but there's this bar that's opening that's sort of doing live music as part of their branding? and i was thinking we could maybe reach out. they were sending out feelers, and i was thinking, you know, we could be paid in exposure. as well as both drinks and money, but i don't know what they're paying, if anything. so, i'm marking the idea down as a tentative possibility, but. yeah! what do you think?"

[locustlace]

closed for @vanisheveryday. / the entirely plucked grape branch sits in its bowl like a hydra. jane leans in, inspecting these mottled plant limbs like a bloodhound with a magnifying glass - and then behind her a door peels open and the shock of company nearly has her falling out of her chair.

her neat little recovery takes under a second, and then she's smiling over her shoulder as her laptop is slammed shut. the barren grape stem sits in its bowl looking far more innocent than jane does (a byproduct of its inanimate nature). "good afternoon."

it occurs to her then that clarification is in order. an attempt is made: "i wasn't looking at porn. you just startled me."