You dated that guy? [Allison turns to her, genuinely surprised. She gently swings their arms back and forth as they walk, without thinking much on the gesture. Her eyebrows raise almost up into her hairline, and her tone when she speaks next is incredulous. Rose had hinted at this before, in the laying out of her surprisingly complex sororal politics. That in the span of their tumultuous, unstable years of living with one another, they had done things like this — rebounded with another one’s ex, slept with a sister’s boyfriend or girlfriend out of jealousy, or spite, or at times simply to be noticed. Allison, who had only one sister (antisocial, cerebral, self-doubting), problems completely separate from this, and where each of them had been noticed far too often for their own good, does not fully understand this. Though she can envision it, from her observations of Rose and her sisters, as separate people and as a singular unit. Always at odds with one another, never entirely at peace — simply at stalemates. And each of them vying for Rose’s attention or praise, in their own ways.
It made Allison uncomfortable to be around them for long, sensing their palatable dislike of her, feeling like an interloper on something not for her eyes. She kept her opinions on Rose’s sisters to herself.
The topic of “the guy with the hair who lies” is a safer one, however, and she relaxes into it. It’s comfortable routine to talk about him — a topic they both agreed on.] The guy who lives on your sister’s couch and thinks having a decent head of hair is a personality trait. And he isn’t dead yet? [In mock disappointment:] You didn’t kill him?
[It seems as if she is not threatened by this news, as much as she is completely flabbergasted. She can’t imagine Rose having the patience once, let alone twice.]
Tried- I keep trying. He can't keep his scams between the two of them.
[ She doesn't think about the gap in their ages very much. All things considered it wasn't that wide a divide especially with the unconventional nature of both of their lives. In some ways Allison's life experience was even more plentiful than her own. But it's strange to think that while she was giving half-hearted handjobs to her sister's now fiance of five years, Allison was being a baby genius. ]
He wasn't the worst boyfriend I've ever had either.
[ She isn't consciously taking them anywhere but naturally her feet drift toward the blooming nightlife. Street lamps and neon signs are just beginning to flicker on, their lights making the dark glass unfurl in the sky. ]
You never talk about your exes.
[ Rose pushes against her making Allison stray off the path. ]
[Allison stumbles more for the performance of it than actually being jostled, and bumps Rose’s hip on her return back to her side. For a time she’s quiet, content: soaking in the sounds of the city waking itself up for the night, watching the street lights dance in Rose’s hair. She’s a little tipsy from earlier, not sloppily drunk but uninhibited enough to feel sentimental and not so guarded.]
I don’t?
[It’s an honest question. It had only just now occurred to her that Rose or anyone might be interested in the parts of her life that was not carrying the torch of her parents’ legacy, of breaking some record or goal in academics or in her career.]
Ah… well, you’ve met Mio.
[She still stopped by on the occasions that the two of them were not swamped with work. Usually it was Gaia who knew of her arrival before Allison even had an inkling of it.] We dated as teenagers for a while, but we’ve known one another since we were kids.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
It made Allison uncomfortable to be around them for long, sensing their palatable dislike of her, feeling like an interloper on something not for her eyes. She kept her opinions on Rose’s sisters to herself.
The topic of “the guy with the hair who lies” is a safer one, however, and she relaxes into it. It’s comfortable routine to talk about him — a topic they both agreed on.] The guy who lives on your sister’s couch and thinks having a decent head of hair is a personality trait. And he isn’t dead yet? [In mock disappointment:] You didn’t kill him?
[It seems as if she is not threatened by this news, as much as she is completely flabbergasted. She can’t imagine Rose having the patience once, let alone twice.]
no subject
[ She doesn't think about the gap in their ages very much. All things considered it wasn't that wide a divide especially with the unconventional nature of both of their lives. In some ways Allison's life experience was even more plentiful than her own. But it's strange to think that while she was giving half-hearted handjobs to her sister's now fiance of five years, Allison was being a baby genius. ]
He wasn't the worst boyfriend I've ever had either.
[ She isn't consciously taking them anywhere but naturally her feet drift toward the blooming nightlife. Street lamps and neon signs are just beginning to flicker on, their lights making the dark glass unfurl in the sky. ]
You never talk about your exes.
[ Rose pushes against her making Allison stray off the path. ]
no subject
I don’t?
[It’s an honest question. It had only just now occurred to her that Rose or anyone might be interested in the parts of her life that was not carrying the torch of her parents’ legacy, of breaking some record or goal in academics or in her career.]
Ah… well, you’ve met Mio.
[She still stopped by on the occasions that the two of them were not swamped with work. Usually it was Gaia who knew of her arrival before Allison even had an inkling of it.] We dated as teenagers for a while, but we’ve known one another since we were kids.