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[ Jen had a bite, too. her last one. she chewed on it as her face went on something of a journey, her brain deciding how she ought to respond. it seemed like a good enough opening for something she was going to share at some point tonight. ]

If I had a choice between putting you in that dress, or the chef's hat, I'd pick the dress hands down. [ she calmly put her fork down on the plate. Jen then licked at something on the corner of her lip, dabbed at it gently with her napkin, sat back, and just sort of gave Lina a look. any second now she'd break that gaze and admit she was joking.

except Jen won't. ]

[and that was where Lina was left, waiting for confirmation that it was all a joke that just wasn't. coming? Jen was just staring at her with a straight face, and as the words played in Lina's head a little more she was starting to get the idea that doing anything straight might have presented a unique sort of challenge for Jen. there was one way to find out. she sat up, pushing herself slightly away from her mostly-empty plate, and tried to sound cool and collected.]

So what if it were just the chef's hat?

[ ooh, that was a good counter-suggestion. Jen leaned forward once more, this time putting her chin on the back of her left hand. ] In that case, I'd probably ask... what's for dessert?

[ the line is delivered smooth as she could make it, complete with a little waggle of her eyebrows. ]

[she could have taken that at face value and given an actual answer—she hadn't made any, but wouldn't be opposed to splitting some of the ice cream she had in the freezer if they really wanted dessert—but she wasn't an idiot. just awkward and bad at talking and kind of an asshole.]

Nothing I thought you'd be interested in until right now.

[at least she didn't show any outward shock, because that was definitely some kind of confirmation. right? wasn't it? ...shit, maybe she should—no, she'd wait until Jen reacted.]

[ with that, Jen's brows rise in surprise.

so, Lina picked up on it, did she? ]

That depends, really. [ but then she smiled and let out a little laugh. ] I could go either way.

[Lina put forth the idea of being mostly naked in their house and Jen said she wanted to eat something. yeah, she picked up on it. this, of all things, was what brought an actual smile to Lina's face, and god she really was a self-caricature sometimes.]

Is this the kind of shit I miss out on when we just don't have dinner together? Oh my god. We should've done this months ago. I mean, like, for more reasons than finding out we both like girls, but come on.

I know, right? [ Jen shrugged with her arms wide. ] Better late than never, I guess. That smile was worth the wait.

[ too gay? dial it back, Jen. ] I mean, I knew you had to have a sense of humor in there somewhere.

Oh my god?

[this was not how she expected her dinner with her roommate to go, but for some reason she just... it was a lot easier to be free with other people who were somewhere in that whole. community. like, yeah, Jen's life was pretty fucking cushy, but Lina was only able to be so open about everything because she didn't have anything left to lose. she could draw some conclusions from that.]

[except those conclusions were all depressing so she was going to jump back a little bit. this good mood wasn't gonna last forever.]

So what the hell is your type, now that you know what I like?

[ Jen's type is thinking "I wish the ladies at the gym would look at my ass the way the guys try to" and then discovering one of them was so she nearly fell off the treadmill.

of course she's not about to say that. she looked to be thinking about it, hard, but in the end...? ] Mmmm, nah. No, I'm not going to give you that kind of power over me.

Oh, what, you think I can set you up with someone? [Lina rolled her eyes, but that was fair, honestly. it was dangerous for Jen to give someone who watched this much anime any idea of what kind of girl she was into.]

Whatever. I know enough about you to make a few good guesses. Like how they need to be muscular and do stuff with their life. Hiking, extreme sports, MMA, whatever. [she shrugs.] Or maybe they just need boobs like yours. What do I know?

Hah! [ Jen snorted. ] C'mon! If it was like that, I could never show my face in a gym or locker room ever.

[ she held up the five fingers of her right hand and index finger of her left. then she lowered the right one. ] That was six things? I'll tell you that you've got one right.

Fine, fine.

[she hated guessing games, mostly because she was so bad at them, so she was just gonna cut the metaphorical knot on this one. in the crudest, most direct way possible.]

Tits.

Nope. [ Jen chuckles as she rises up out of her seat. she walks toward the bathroom, taking off the robe so she doesn't feel so stuffy in it, and pads right back to her drink, all as she speaks. ] I'm not going to lie and say figure doesn't matter. I'm a little shallow.

[ she hums quietly before taking a sip. ] I'm more of a... hmm, how can I put it...

"Hate to see her go, but love to watch her leave."

[barely seeing any reason to conceal it anymore given the subject of their conversation, Lina's eyes follow Jen as she walks, and she sits up a little straighter (well,) when that robe comes off and she can actually appreciate the way those clothes look on her.]

I understand entirely. [fully aware and uncaring of how obvious she's being, she leans back a little in her chair and gives her roommate a Look.] I never got that myself, you know? But hey, no judgment. We know what we like and that's the important part.

[why is it this that she's chill about.]

[ she extends her index finger from her glass to point at Lina. ] Exactly!

Though I do feel sorry for anyone who has 'em like — [ Jen gestures outward from her chest in a wide arc. ~~like a certain figure~~. ] That back pain is no joke.

Oh my god, yeah. [the gesture keeps the smile on Lina's face; she knows what Jen's going to comment on even before she says it.]

There's definitely a limit. Like, okay, if the Erlkönigin in there were a real person, I would feel so bad for her. Especially if she's riding a horse? With thigh cut-outs? She'd be miserable. These designs really aren't practical.

[but she didn't buy it because she thought the outfit was practical. god, no.]

But... like I keep saying. Girls who look like that aren't into me. [it doesn't sound like she's beating herself up for it this time—she says it like she's stating a fact, but it's kind of a blasé one.]

That statue barely looked to be holding it together. A real lady would just... snap. Like a twig.

[ but enough about waifus, on to the 3D women. ]

It's. Mm. You need... something. [ Jen crossed her arms again and thought for a long moment. then, she had something of a random idea as her eyes left Lina and fell upon her empty glass of tea.

this was kind of a stupid idea, too, but she shifted her state of mind some.

yeah. okay. ]

Ugh, why is my throat so dry today? [ she leaned her head back to expose her neck, fingers running down the side of her throat. then Jen picked up the glass, padded over to Lina's side of the table, and leaned on the edge with one hand while she looked down at her. the look is... one she hasn't seen from Jen before. the look of a woman who wants something, but doesn't seem to particularly care if the other person does.

with a voice to match. ]

Could you pour me some more?

[ the pitcher is literally right there. past where Jen had walked. it was not a small table but she could have just reached and gotten it for herself. that's the exercise. ]

[sorry, Jen. a regular normal person who knew how to interact with other human beings would probably have picked up on this. unfortunately, Lina.]

[she looked wordlessly from Jen to the pitcher and back, then raised an eyebrow. left with absolutely no way to properly read the look she was getting, Lina defaulted to her, uh, regular state of things.] You can...

[wait, was this some kind of test? okay, fine, she shut up and reached over to grab the pitcher, then brought it back and looked up at her roommate again. her face had the word "unsure" written all over it, but without saying much, she cautiously poured enough tea to fill her roommate's glass.]

Is that... good?

[ Jen never would have been able to do that, right there, so smoothly if it was actually in public. or with some very, very attractive stranger in most cases. it took some actual obvious deliberation on Lina's part, but once the drink is full Jen drops the facade and returns to her side of the table. ]

Hah! I can't believe that worked.

[ good thing she has this nice, cold drink now because she needs to guzzle some of that down to maintain her cool. great going, Jen. ]

You can't believe what worked?

[Lina has no idea what just happened. she feels like she just got played but can't even begin to guess what the game was.]

You got me to do something for you? Big victory, really pulled one over on your personal chef.

[no, she's not watching Jen drink. no she wasn't swayed by the way her fingers ran down her neck earlier.]

You were, what, half a second away from telling me to do it myself, right? I saw it.

[ she put the glass down and trailed her finger over the rim of it. ] I knew you'd probably do it for me anyway. You want to know why?

Why? Because I'm trying to be a decent roommate?

[look, just because Jen was right didn't mean Lina had to like it.]

I had confidence.

...and maybe that, too. But mostly it was the confidence. [ Jen turned around and no she didn't have a faint color to her cheeks that must be Lina's imagination. ] That's something you can use to your advantage even if you don't have cash to blow on the superficial stuff. Money can buy you cute clothes, makeovers, and drinks, but at the end of the day money can't buy you confidence.

[so it was a lesson, not a test. either way it was better than the answer of "because you're gay" that Lina had been half-expecting. she leaned forward, elbows on the table.]

I have tons of confidence. I've just never used it for the same stuff you use it for.

Being confident about your own flaws, you mean? [ that isn't meant to sound malicious but, again, look at their talks before this week. ] That doesn't count.

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