I kissed a girl and I liked it.
Apr. 6th, 2019 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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(( PSL for
realitybendstomywill ))
[ Ashe steps out onto the front porch of her small county house, taking in a deep breath of the warm, desert air. It feels so good to be free from the shackles of her illness. After two and a half weeks of pain, misery and recuperating, she wanted to go out and do something that wasn’t lying in bed or being limited to the rooms in her house. Symmetra was leaving within the next day or two and she also felt the need to express her gratitude.
Because… yanno. Ashe wasn’t a pleasant person when she was sick and she knew that all too well. Not that they hadn’t reached an understanding and gotten through that initial unpleasantness, but still.
The day before, she’d suggested that they go into town in the evening for a girl’s night out. Ashe never really had a lot of girl friends in the past and had silently always wondered what it’d be like. She assumed it was a lot different than the loud and rowdy times she had with her boys; which was fine and dandy enough, but sometimes? Getting dressed up just for the sake of it (and maybe for the sake of turning a few heads) sounded like a much better time to her. A different thrill from the bar fights, gambling and alcohol induced shenanigans.
Waiting for the other woman to finish getting ready, she drops her purse on the first step and then turns to take a seat on the porch swing, settling against the back and looking out at the quiet desert before her. She smooths out the soft fabric of the yellow dress she wore and then reaches to adjust the light brown fringe that exposed her shoulders and hung just low enough for a tasteful amount of cleavage. Her normally straight hair held soft curls that framed her face, the longer side lightly bouncing over her shoulder as the breeze blew through the porch. The belt that hugs her slim waist is the same light brown as the fringe, the buckle in the shape of a flower and adorned with turquoise stones. She’d chosen some strappy sandals instead of heels; being that she was still in the process of recovering, she hadn’t wanted to push herself too much. Plus, it was such a nice day for a light and flowy garment. Hell, it was the first time she’d worn a dress in a long while.
Leaning her head back, she closes her eyes, content to enjoy the wind on her face and the calm silence that only someone who lives out in the middle of absolute nowhere could grow accustomed to. ]
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[ Ashe steps out onto the front porch of her small county house, taking in a deep breath of the warm, desert air. It feels so good to be free from the shackles of her illness. After two and a half weeks of pain, misery and recuperating, she wanted to go out and do something that wasn’t lying in bed or being limited to the rooms in her house. Symmetra was leaving within the next day or two and she also felt the need to express her gratitude.
Because… yanno. Ashe wasn’t a pleasant person when she was sick and she knew that all too well. Not that they hadn’t reached an understanding and gotten through that initial unpleasantness, but still.
The day before, she’d suggested that they go into town in the evening for a girl’s night out. Ashe never really had a lot of girl friends in the past and had silently always wondered what it’d be like. She assumed it was a lot different than the loud and rowdy times she had with her boys; which was fine and dandy enough, but sometimes? Getting dressed up just for the sake of it (and maybe for the sake of turning a few heads) sounded like a much better time to her. A different thrill from the bar fights, gambling and alcohol induced shenanigans.
Waiting for the other woman to finish getting ready, she drops her purse on the first step and then turns to take a seat on the porch swing, settling against the back and looking out at the quiet desert before her. She smooths out the soft fabric of the yellow dress she wore and then reaches to adjust the light brown fringe that exposed her shoulders and hung just low enough for a tasteful amount of cleavage. Her normally straight hair held soft curls that framed her face, the longer side lightly bouncing over her shoulder as the breeze blew through the porch. The belt that hugs her slim waist is the same light brown as the fringe, the buckle in the shape of a flower and adorned with turquoise stones. She’d chosen some strappy sandals instead of heels; being that she was still in the process of recovering, she hadn’t wanted to push herself too much. Plus, it was such a nice day for a light and flowy garment. Hell, it was the first time she’d worn a dress in a long while.
Leaning her head back, she closes her eyes, content to enjoy the wind on her face and the calm silence that only someone who lives out in the middle of absolute nowhere could grow accustomed to. ]
Text message : 9:35 AM - Deadlock Gorge, Arizona
Date: 2019-04-10 12:41 am (UTC)That happened, and Ashe is absolutely horrified. Reading through the drunken texts had been bad enough; watching the saved video between the two of them? Awful. Satya was a freaking saint for putting up with all of that.
Why did she put up with her to begin with? She could have just ignored her. Wouldn’t that have been the best course of action? Drunk people wouldn’t remember how someone else ignored them the next day and if they did, they’d be glad for it.
Now she’s gotta figure out how to go about this. Does she… message her and apologize? Does she act like it never happened? Would Symmetra bring it up on her own sometime? What?
Hnnnng. How incredibly humiliating. On top of a spectacular headache that only seems to worsen as the minutes pass, she can’t quite shake the overwhelming need to address this now. ]
Hey, Satya.
Sorry about last night. I reckon I oughta hide my tablet before I decide to drink.
[ There. It’s a straightforward apology for her drunken shenanigans; which is all they were really. Sort of. Hopefully the other woman isn’t upset? She’s not sure why she cares- Well, no. She knows why. Satya’s one of the first actual friends she’s made in a while. It’d be a shame to chase her off even more than she feels she had after their little outing.
…
Though, everything her drunken, no-filter mind had allowed her to say was 110% true. But that isn't important. Nope. Not at all. Hahah. She's on a roll today.
Alright. She sent the message. Time to set her tablet aside, try to sleep off this hangover, and forget last night even happened. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-10 02:24 am (UTC)When Ashe texts her, she startles so suddenly that the book she had been staring sightlessly at for the past thirty minutes falls onto the floor. She had been expecting this moment and dreading it at the same time, and she taps the messages hesitantly, daring to feel a little hopeful that maybe Ashe will pick up from where she left off and tell her she misses her again... but she doesn't, and what she says instead makes her feel both disappointed and foolish. Of course.
She doesn’t know what to say in reply: she types in a response and deletes it, until she finally makes up her mind on what to say, trying to be as subtle and neutral as possible.]
Good morning, Ashe. [Nice, Symmetra, that isn’t avoiding the subject at all. She bites her lip as she continues typing.] Do not worry about it; I didn’t mind. Are you feeling any better?
[She doesn’t even remember that most people become more honest when drunk, which clearly implies Ashe was being honest: she is far too used to women becoming friendly drunks, their words and actions making her wonder if they also like women or are simply too friendly. From the looks of it, the latter seems to apply to her friend, too.]
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Date: 2019-04-10 03:28 am (UTC)Great.
Picking up her tablet, she pulls it closer to her as she awaits a response. She must have a lot to say? It’s taking a while, which only makes her wonder if she’s about to get a firm scolding. Fair enough, though. She figures that she deserves it.
But then the messages comes through and it's neither a scolding (which is unfortunate, honestly. That would have been funny), or any particular questioning of what was said last night. Okay. No big deal, right? Everything is fine. ]
Just a hangover. It'll pass.
Otherwise, I'm feeling fine.
[ Oh. That's a lie. But she sends the message anyway, staring at the screen for a moment before continuing. ]
How’re you? Make it back home alright?
[ Honestly? This is the first time she’s messaged her since she left (because last night didn’t happen and therefore it doesn’t count; that’s her logic and she’s sticking to it). She’d been pretty busy and… well. She thought that Symmetra might not have wanted to hear from her for a while after their outing.
Y e a h. ]
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Date: 2019-04-10 02:20 pm (UTC)(If she closes her eyes and thinks back to that early morning, she can still feel Ashe’s hair tickle her neck, or the scent of Ashe’s skin against her nose. She tries not to think about any of it.)
Only one thing became clear to Symmetra, however: she crossed Ashe’s boundaries and the other woman didn’t like it. That is why she is going to avoid bringing that up for as long as she possibly can, unless Ashe brings it up, somehow.]
Remember to stay hydrated.
[Yes, good answer. Keep it cool, Satya Vaswani, keep it cool. At that question, she thinks back to the moment she set foot in her apartment and how unnaturally silent and cold it seemed to her, without Ashe’s presence next to her. She gives a little sigh.]
Yes. I still feel the effects of jet lag, but my trip was uneventful, and I started working immediately upon my arrival.
[She was in no condition to work, as horribly jet lagged as she was, but it was either that or being alone with her thoughts in the silence of her own home, and she chose the former. She starts to type another message, then hesitates, only to finish writing it and pressing send.]
Our jobs have kept us quite busy lately, haven’t they?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-11 05:29 am (UTC)Oh hell. Is that a nudge toward the fact that she hasn't messaged her since she left? It really hadn’t been for a lack of wanting to. Should she have messaged her? Because, she’d been pretty damn sure that Satya had been upset about them waking up, snuggled close like they were…
…more than friends.
That isn’t normal for friends, is it? Do girl friends just curl up to each other like that? Is that a platonic thing that can happen? Most of all… why did she enjoy it so much? That closeness; having that warmth of someone curled up next to her. Waking up to the desert air, the soft scent of jasmine, and the feeling of Satya’s breath against her neck as she peacefully slept in her arms was a surprisingly fond memory.
Shaking her head, she wills away the thought.
She cracks her knuckles, leaving one hand overlapping the other as she presses them to her mouth, staring at the message for, perhaps, a lot longer than necessary. Granted, she does have a hangover, but that isn’t really inhibiting her ability to think straight.
Why can’t anything be easy when she isn’t trying to make things purposefully difficult? ]
Yeah. Pretty busy. I figured you would be too since you spent so much time here.
Glad you made it back alright. That jetlag can be rough.
[ Her messages don’t sound natural at all; nothing like that normally would have been. They feel flat and generic and if she feels that way, would Satya be able to tell as well? Not that they’d really known each other before she’d fallen ill. Maybe not.
…
She sighs and sits up. Sleep isn’t going to happen right this minute. ]
I was surprised you even put up with me last night.
You sure didn’t have to… I was drunk.
I thought you were upset anyway after what happened before you left.
Are you?
[ And send. Might as well address head on. It was bad enough that she was gone; she’d really like to be able to talk to her again. She'd acknowledge that much. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-13 07:28 am (UTC)Much like her friend-- can she still call her that?-- Satya has thought about what happened between them a little too much. Like Ashe, she has no idea if platonic girlfriends curl up together like they did, either; in fact, she often remembers with a bitter smile, the only time in her life that she shared her personal space in such a comfortable-- and comforting-- way was when she seduced her and played with her feelings.
But Ashe is different: they didn’t know each other before, and Symmetra was all but ordered to take care of her, taking on a mission unlike anything she had ever signed up for until then. They drank a little too much, and then curled up together for warmth under the desert sky, until their bodies were pressed together so closely that she felt Ashe’s heartbeat almost as strongly as she did her own. She remembers how good it felt to wake up in Ashe’s arms, how they were all but tangled together, and how she shifted even closer and accidentally nuzzled the other woman’s neck upon waking up, letting out a happy little sigh… until she realized what had happened overnight and froze.
Without being aware of it, she pushes the thought away from her mind as fiercely as Ashe did, and tries not to think of it again. Not while they’re speaking through text message, that is.
Ashe is right: those messages don’t sound natural at all, they sound almost forced, like the normalcy they are both trying so hard to will into existence. She has no choice but to play along.]
Thank you. I have traveled many times, and the jetlag never becomes any easier to handle.
[That sounds forced, too, but what else can she say? She is biting at her lower lip as she wonders if they will ever talk as freely as she used to when Ashe starts to write another message, and when it is finally sent, Satya knows the other woman isn’t faking anything anymore.
And then everything around her seems to fade as she realizes Ashe thought she was upset with what happened between them. What? Is that why the other woman has been so quiet? She sits up so quickly that her head spins for a moment, trying to ignore the flicker of hope that blooms in her chest, and her fingers type her reply a little too fast.]
What? No. No, of course I wasn’t upset, I thou
[In her eagerness to tell Ashe that she was-- and is-- quite okay with what happened, she types so quickly that she presses ‘send’ accidentally, and then tries again.]
I thought I had overstepped your boundaries and made you uncomfortable. Are you... were you uncomfortable with what happened?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-13 09:59 pm (UTC)And the sentence isn’t complete. Hah. It’s funny to think that even Satya is capable of a few typing errors every now and again. The other woman was so damn efficient. It brings an amused smile to her face as she reads over the corrected message.
Huh. That’s… a very surprising relief. ]
Nah. You didn't. We drank quite a bit the night before… I reckon that's to blame.
But I thought we had a good time. I sure did.
[ She sets her phone down for a split second and then picks it back up again to add. ]
You’re always welcome if you ever wanna come back and visit. We won’t take my truck next time. Promise.
[ Translation: I really do miss you. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-14 05:23 pm (UTC)I enjoyed it, as well.
[A warm little smile forms on her lips as she sees Ashe’s next message. So she would like to see her again- does this mean she really does miss her? And if that part is true, what about every other message she sent her last night? Satya will have to find a way to ask her that.]
I would like that very much, but I don’t know when I will be able to leave India again.
My invitation still stands, you know: you are welcome to visit. I meant everything I told you last night.
[She hesitates, her phone still in her hand, but then decides to go ahead with it. If Ashe was brave enough to ask her if she was upset after they woke up together, then she can be brave enough to ask this, too.]
Did you?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-14 05:56 pm (UTC)Then she scrolls back down to Satya’s most recent message: I meant everything I told you last night. Did you?
Well. She’d be a damn liar if she said no.
She breathes a soft chuckle, dropping her phone and running her hands up her face and then through her hair. Good lord above what is she even doing? She snatches her phone up again and moves to lie down on her pillow, crossing one leg over the other. ]
Yep. Every word.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-14 10:34 pm (UTC)She looks at her phone and realizes that her message has been read but not replied to, and after staring intensely at the screen for a full three minutes, Satya decides that she should just put it down and not make herself suffer any more than she has to. She sighs, rubbing at her eyes with her hands, and stays like that for a while, wondering what she should have done instead. Can their friendship be salvaged, or is it over? Not feeling uncomfortable with having woken up together after a night spent drinking is not the same as admitting to words that are downright affectionate. Symmetra read too much into it, as usual; she is so lonely that her mind took her to places it most definitely shouldn’t, and she really should have known better.
She glances down at the screen, frowning in concern. Five minutes have passed since she made that question and still no reply. Perhaps Ashe fell asleep, or her phone ran out of battery, or something else came up and she can’t reply right now…
Or maybe she just regrets everything she has told her and is trying to let her down gently, to give her a hint before she says I didn’t mean anything I said loud and clear.
Satya is thinking that maybe she should send her another text, something like I apologize, I shouldn’t have asked that, when the phone finally pings and she jumps, not expecting that to happen. She braces herself and grabs the phone, anticipating a rejection… and what she reads instead makes relief crash over her, strongly enough that she slumps back against the couch. And then she laughs, loud and almost with an edge of mania to it, before she finds the courage to reply.]
I’m glad.
[She bites her lip. There is something she didn’t say last night-- or this morning, to be accurate- but that she wanted to say. Something she held back because the need to ask why? was far greater and more important at the time. She hesitates before finally sending it.]
I miss you, too.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-15 12:16 am (UTC)Satya really was a lovely woman. With a nice smile. Witty. Intelligent. Creative. Beautiful. Warm…
She closes her eyes for a moment. What the hell is she thinking? Women were fine. Great, even. It’s not that; it’s that she’s never really thought that way about anyone other than a man in her entire life. Not in the way that she’s thinking about Satya right now, that is.
Exhaling slowly, she lifts her phone from where she’d been clutching it against her chest, chiding herself for her own damn emotions. However, she can’t rightly deny them either. So… what the hell? What’s the worst that could happen? Nothing could come of it and they could still be friends. That’d been the primary goal to begin with. Play it cool. Feel it out. ]
Yeah?
That’s good to hear. We had some fun when I wasn’t hacking up a lung, didn’t we?
You know… A couple of times last week when I'd just woken up, I caught myself speaking up to ask you something. Guess I got too used to having you around. B.O.B. was a good sport and answered for you, though. Think it confused him a little.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-16 01:18 am (UTC)That’s good to hear, Ashe says, and Satya lets out a breathless little laugh all over again.]
We certainly did.
[This is good. This is fine, absolutely fine, and she is having no trouble whatsoever trying to make sense of what she feels at the moment. She is in perfect control of her own emotions, and she is not going to let her mind-- or her heart-- dive into chaos. She is Satya Vaswani, she is Symmetra, and she is in absolute control of what she’s feeling.
And then Ashe says she has caught herself speaking to Satya upon waking up, and she gasps quietly as she reads those words, a delirious little smile forming on her lips. Oh. That is-- oh, Gods. Does Ashe not realize how absolutely endearing-- and dangerous-- that is?
The warmth currently flooding her chest does not bode well for anyone involved.]
I see only two possible solutions for this situation. You either upgrade B.O.B.’s programming to replicate my speech patterns, or you make a voice call the next time you need to ask me something upon waking up.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-19 01:57 am (UTC)It’s fine, though. Everything’s fine.
Pulled from her thoughts by the buzz of her phone against her sternum, she inhales deeply, opening her eyes as she lifts her phone to check those next two messages. Hah. ]
Hey, B.O.B.? [ She pauses, listening as the large Omnic man tromps to her room and pokes his head in. ] How’d you like to have Symmetra’s voice?
[ The Omnic audibly blinks, tilting his head in confusion. Why would he…? Huh? ]
Just on account of you likin' her so much.
[ B.O.B. stares at Ashe; possibly judging her silently, but it's difficult to tell with an Omnic. He slowly shakes his head and leaves. Ashe chuckles softly and returns her attention to her phone. ]
B.O.B. didn’t seem to like that idea too much.
Guess I’ll just have to take you up on your offer.
[ What a shame. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-20 02:14 am (UTC)Indeed, she has plenty of reasons to feel very happy right now.
She laughs at Ashe’s next messages, imagining her asking B.O.B. how he felt about emulating her friend. But her smile quickly turns from amused to warm, and Satya looks fondly at her phone, as if she could see the other woman through it.]
I suppose you will.
[She presses the voice call button. Might as well start now, right?]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-20 05:01 am (UTC)She looks positively exhausted; her hair unkempt from sleep. Dark circles under her eyes from that late night and her current hangover. Yeah. She's a mess, but she figures it's to be expected at this point.
Holding her phone in one hand, she frees up her other to lazily wave, offering the other woman a soft half-smile. ]
Hey. [ And she props her cheek in her hand. Okay, but... she really missed seeing her. This is nice. ] Whatcha up to, sugar?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-20 04:16 pm (UTC)Just a little light reading, [she says, picking up the massive book on modern Middle Eastern architecture that had been resting next to her on the couch. She doesn’t elaborate on the fact that she had been having trouble focusing on her book, because her mind kept drifting back to the messages they exchanged hours ago.] And you? How are you feeling?
[She doesn’t look so good. Ashe is right: Satya has seen her at her worst, but the truth is that she would rather see her like this than not see her at all. I missed seeing you, she thinks to herself, too, but doesn’t put that thought into words, not out loud.]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-20 06:10 pm (UTC)That's what you consider light readin'?
[ No. She really doesn't look good. It's nothing that a little bit of sleep, a bath, and some ibuprofen can't fix, but she's beyond wanting to get up at this point. The first option is all she'll be doing for the majority of the day.
The product of loneliness, really. It hits harder some days more than others. Unfortunately, trying to drown it in alcohol has many consequences. ]
I feel like hell, but... guess that one's on me. Reckon I drank a little too much last night.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-20 10:06 pm (UTC)[Satya gives her a funny look. Don't be silly, Ashe; there is nothing complicated about this book for it to qualify as anything more than 'light reading'.
Her gaze softens when Ashe speaks again. Of course she would feel like hell, given all the alcohol she ingested, but... why did she drink in the first place? She frowns again, obviously concerned.]
Why did you drink so much? Is something the matter?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-21 02:42 am (UTC)Light readin' is usually a magazine or somethin'. That looks like a college textbook. But to each their own, I reckon.
[ At Satya's next question, Ashe isn't entirely sure how to respond at first. Or if she even wants to. The truth ran a little deeper and it wasn't something that she'd openly talk about with just anyone; if she even considered talking about it to begin with.
She shakes her head and gives a small shrug of her shoulders. ]
Dunno. One drink led to the next. Guess I just lost track.
[ Good enough. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-04-21 04:58 am (UTC)A college textbook can be considered light reading, you realize.
[Luckily for Ashe, Satya sees no reason to doubt her words, and it seems plausible enough that someone would lose control of their alcohol intake the more they drank, so she doesn't press her for a different answer.]
You should be more careful the next time you drink, in that case. [Spoken in a neutral tone of voice; for once, she isn't judging. What a novel experience.] Although I do enjoy your company, perhaps it would be a good idea for you to rest a little longer? You clearly haven't slept as much as your body requires.
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Date: 2019-04-21 05:40 am (UTC)[ Ashe rests her chin against the back of her arm, humming thoughtfully in response to Satya's suggestion. While she isn't wrong, she's also rather enjoying being able to talk to her and see her face via their video chat. She's definitely planning on making a habit out of this... yanno. When time allows for it.
With a soft sigh, she turns over onto her back, holding her phone above her as she looks up at the screen. ]
Yeah. I reckon. This headache ain't goin' away anytime soon. [ Pause. Her gaze flickers to the side for a moment, before returning to the screen. ] Talk to you later?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-21 09:31 pm (UTC)[Ashe isn't the only one who intends to make these video calls a regular occurrence: Satya wonders when they will be able to do it again, and is already looking forward to it, too. Given their timezone difference, it won't be possible to talk for hours on end because one of them will always have to go to work or go to sleep, but it would be lovely to talk to her in the mornings, or in the evenings, or...
She stops herself. That would certainly be too much, and she doesn't want to come across as overbearing or-- gods forbid-- clingy. She just feels an uncomplicated kind of joy when she speaks to Ashe, that's all.
(Except feelings are never uncomplicated, not for her, and that should sound every alarm in her mind-- and in her heart-- but it doesn't.)
When Ashe turns over onto her back, Satya does the same, making herself more comfortable on her couch.]
Of course. [She smiles and waves at the other woman.] Sleep well, Ashe.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-22 04:39 am (UTC)[ She gives her a little wave and a wink in return before ending the call.
She rests her phone against her chest as she stares up at the ceiling for a moment or two. So... maybe drunk texting Satya hadn't been such a bad thing after all. Granted, she'd likely never revisit those series of messages, but at least they're talking again?
Maybe there was something to that old saying "Everything happens for a reason." Even if those reasons aren't always the best, some of them were.
Releasing a sigh, she sets her phone aside and pulls the covers up over her, curling up onto her side as she tries to relax. The house is still all too quiet, but at least now she's too tired for it to bother her. Maybe she'd give Satya a call later. That was something to look forward to. ]