( Steve wasn't expecting the touch. it makes him shift, just for a moment, before he decides he doesn't hate it. kinda sad that a girl tracing the line of a hideous bruise is the best spontaneous touch he's had in awhile. if you don't count a heal here or there, just enough to keep his guts from falling out on the floor. and Steve chooses not to count that, actually. )
Maybe it'll be gone by then. ( or maybe he'll be stuck already injured, running around already sore and weakened, and the Entity will like that because he'll start the trial already miserable. hard to say. like running No Mither, only somehow even worse. Steve figures Laurie has admired his bruise enough, shifting his shirt back down over his ribs, and leaning back against the log she's sitting on. braced on his elbows so his sore back doesn't have to touch anything, for right now. )
What's that supposed to mean, ( Steve wonders, brows tucked down, the picture of feigned offense. ) I'm a model survivor. Head down, do gens, hide in lockers, that's me. ( no, he is not a model survivor. he blows up any gen he touches, and spends most of his time trying to make sure people get out alive. maybe that would piss the Entity off, actually. people are supposed to be sad and die, maybe refusing to believe that things are hopeless is slightly less delicious for their spider overlord. )
[ the one thing about Steve is he doesn't get mad as easily as some of the others, which is both irritating as hell and convenient, because it means Laurie can push more before she loses out on socialization. it may seem like she fucking hates him - and maybe she does, who knows - but she also doesn't want to move around by herself, staring into space or the fire. that's boring as fuck. bickering at least keeps her brain from atrophying, even if it makes people hate her a little more each time.
they'll all start to hate each other in the end, won't they? ]
You sound like a girl when you scream and you last time you threw a flash bang you fucking blinded me and I still didn't get out. The only person you suck less than is Dwight.
[ somehow, this is a roundabout compliment, but... he really had fucked up that blind, and maybe Steve ought to serve some penance. he's since dropped his shirt back down, but the bruise is so big that she doesn't need to see it again to bring her hand out and press her fingers into it. ]
You sound like a girl when you scream. ( it's the same insult, a lazy return to sender, but it's the truth. nothing damages Laurie's feral girlboss routine than her regular old terrified teenage girl scream. which Steve really hates, by the way. not that he can claim to enjoy anybody's screams. okay, Claudette's is a little funny, if he can forget the context. sounds like something you'd hear on Looney Toons. Laurie's, though, cuts through an entire realm and sets his teeth on edge. Steve is glad she likes to play gone girl, means he has to hear it less.
Laurie talking shit? expected. Laurie deciding to goose the bloodstains under his skin through his shirt? not expected. he's stiff at the surprise, and then he's not when it passes. it hurts, a little, because of course it does. mostly it's just a weird thrill to have someone touch him so casually. like his brain just forgot people could do that, because they wanted to. has it really been that goddamn long? Steve shifts to catch Laurie's fingers before she can press again. he doesn't let go as he leans toward her, despite the unbalanced way they're positioned. Laurie with the high ground, his fingers still curled around hers. ) Knock it off. What if I'm ticklish?
( Steve is not that ticklish, and even if he was he has an ancient babylonian artifact perfectly imprinted up his side and back, there's little chance provoking Laurie to touch him more would result in laughter. it's stupid to even suggest. Steve usually is a little stupid, when there's a girl around he is trying to impress. it's his toxic trait, dumbassing his way into a laugh. in his defense, it does usually work for him. )
I am a girl, [ Laurie snarls almost immediately, partly because she's annoyed that he won't do the nice thing and politely ignore how tortured and glass shattering her screams are, and partly because it's expected. the expected response. she can be normal, too. is probably most normal on the hook when she's just as fallible as any of them, not so big and tough and impassive.
when Steve catches her hand, she's mostly expecting it, because he's sometimes a dopey little pushover but that thing really looks like it hurts. she'd wanted to make him yelp a little, probably should have pushed a little harder. she'd go for round two except that he's still holding onto her hand, and it's so strange that she doesn't immediately shake him off, or clap him against the side of the head to make him let go.
and god, he shouldn't have made any mention at all of potentially being ticklish. not around her. a slow smile spreads over her face, like she's the fucking Grinch, and then she gives his fingers a squeeze before yanking her hand out of his so that she can wind her arm around his throat in a quick move. it tightens, the intent not to actually strangle him but to keep him in place, and then she tickles her fingers into his ribs, over the bruise but around it too, trying for a ticklish spot. it must look weird to the other survivors scattered around the fire, but all of Laurie's attention is singularly on Steve right now. she doesn't even notice them. ]
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dyinglights.
Date: 2022-09-06 01:30 am (UTC)Maybe it'll be gone by then. ( or maybe he'll be stuck already injured, running around already sore and weakened, and the Entity will like that because he'll start the trial already miserable. hard to say. like running No Mither, only somehow even worse. Steve figures Laurie has admired his bruise enough, shifting his shirt back down over his ribs, and leaning back against the log she's sitting on. braced on his elbows so his sore back doesn't have to touch anything, for right now. )
What's that supposed to mean, ( Steve wonders, brows tucked down, the picture of feigned offense. ) I'm a model survivor. Head down, do gens, hide in lockers, that's me. ( no, he is not a model survivor. he blows up any gen he touches, and spends most of his time trying to make sure people get out alive. maybe that would piss the Entity off, actually. people are supposed to be sad and die, maybe refusing to believe that things are hopeless is slightly less delicious for their spider overlord. )
(flirting rudely)
Date: 2022-09-14 02:59 pm (UTC)they'll all start to hate each other in the end, won't they? ]
You sound like a girl when you scream and you last time you threw a flash bang you fucking blinded me and I still didn't get out. The only person you suck less than is Dwight.
[ somehow, this is a roundabout compliment, but... he really had fucked up that blind, and maybe Steve ought to serve some penance. he's since dropped his shirt back down, but the bruise is so big that she doesn't need to see it again to bring her hand out and press her fingers into it. ]
laurie please u have to know that's his favorite kind
Date: 2022-09-14 09:11 pm (UTC)Laurie talking shit? expected. Laurie deciding to goose the bloodstains under his skin through his shirt? not expected. he's stiff at the surprise, and then he's not when it passes. it hurts, a little, because of course it does. mostly it's just a weird thrill to have someone touch him so casually. like his brain just forgot people could do that, because they wanted to. has it really been that goddamn long? Steve shifts to catch Laurie's fingers before she can press again. he doesn't let go as he leans toward her, despite the unbalanced way they're positioned. Laurie with the high ground, his fingers still curled around hers. ) Knock it off. What if I'm ticklish?
( Steve is not that ticklish, and even if he was he has an ancient babylonian artifact perfectly imprinted up his side and back, there's little chance provoking Laurie to touch him more would result in laughter. it's stupid to even suggest. Steve usually is a little stupid, when there's a girl around he is trying to impress. it's his toxic trait, dumbassing his way into a laugh. in his defense, it does usually work for him. )
no subject
Date: 2022-10-01 11:21 am (UTC)when Steve catches her hand, she's mostly expecting it, because he's sometimes a dopey little pushover but that thing really looks like it hurts. she'd wanted to make him yelp a little, probably should have pushed a little harder. she'd go for round two except that he's still holding onto her hand, and it's so strange that she doesn't immediately shake him off, or clap him against the side of the head to make him let go.
and god, he shouldn't have made any mention at all of potentially being ticklish. not around her. a slow smile spreads over her face, like she's the fucking Grinch, and then she gives his fingers a squeeze before yanking her hand out of his so that she can wind her arm around his throat in a quick move. it tightens, the intent not to actually strangle him but to keep him in place, and then she tickles her fingers into his ribs, over the bruise but around it too, trying for a ticklish spot. it must look weird to the other survivors scattered around the fire, but all of Laurie's attention is singularly on Steve right now. she doesn't even notice them. ]