I can... kinda see that? [ no, she can't really. the doubt is obvious. Jen is even scratching her head, but in the end, just shrugs it off. ] I mean, even I couldn't guess the flower now that I think about it.
[Lina's bad at this and has a very complicated relationship with Natalia, is the gist of it. she thinks she understands what makes her tick, what interests her, and she's pretty sure she likes winning.]
Well, my full name's Carmelina, right? [ugh, she doesn't like the way that name feels. tastes.] She thought it was after the camelina—you know, that, uh... one sec.
[she pulls her phone from the pocket of her shorts and brings up a picture of camelina.]
This thing. You've seen it. But I'm actually named after this. [and she pulls the next tab up and shows Jen a picture of a commelina instead.] The commelina. Sounds the same. [in her accent, at least.] But they're two way different flowers.
[ Jen turns halfway to bring her leg up on the couch and drape her arm over the back. easier to see without Lina having to risk falling forward or anything. she watches intently as she's shown and nods. ]
Mm, yeah, way different. It sounds like an easy mistake but... I also don't know why you'd pick what looks like some kind of herb over that. [ she points at the phone, then looks up at Lina with a smirk. ] It's not the right shade, but the blue's so obvious.
[she pulls her phone back and reads over the article about camelina again, and... something jumps out at her that she hadn't noticed.]
This says the one with an A is also called "gold-of-pleasure". [and it's said with the tone of someone who's just, like, quietly surprised by a thing—until it hits her.] She was fucking flirting with me, wasn't she.
[this feels like it might be more of a conversation now, so she walks around the couch and sits down, still being sure to give Jen some space if she needs it.]
Are we about to have a bonding moment where we learn each other's backstories or something?
[ she tapered off that laugh quick, but still sounded lighthearted as Lina moved into place. ] I mean. It could be? It's ... not technically a secret about me, but it's not something I go around telling just anyone. Just a boring detail.
When I was born, my parents named me Jinjing. My family name was Longwei, but my mom changed it all after the divorce. [ does she sound at all resentful of that? not really. it's been so long and she's mostly come to terms with it that it was just so matter-of-fact. ] One day I got curious and I looked up name meanings. I don't know how much of those sites are, like, legit and how many of them just make stuff up to sound pretty. Like Mister Horoscope Boy I was out with at the time.
[she's still glad that Jen trusts her enough with this, even if it is largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. and of course she remembers Horoscope Boy, and can only imagine what he tried to draw from it once she's done appreciating that real good burn. unfortunately, if she's supposed to catch any meaning behind those names, well, her "expertise" is in Japanese culture. so she's got nothing.]
Well. "Jinjing" is supposed to mean "gold mirror" and it's an "elegant girl's name". [ air quote gesture, eyeroll, and all. ] Longwei as a surname is something like "dragon greatness" or "great dragon". I forget.
[ she gestures at her own head. ] You can guess why my dad wanted me to have it.
[Lina's already rolling her eyes at the part about elegance, before the stuff with dragon greatness even comes up. if she could literally take them out of her face and swirl them around David Bowie-style, that's how extreme of an eyeroll she's talking once the full explanation hits.]
Ugh. You can't name a kid just hoping they'll stay exactly the way you want them to for their entire life.
[for all she herself knows, Lina was named after camelina. or maybe she wasn't named after anything. maybe it's just a name and she's always looked at it too deeply, seeing Rose and Clover and the other Geteilts and trying to backfill her own name to fit. but she's decided that this is going to be part of her story, and she respects Jen for making her name part of her own story. it's a weird thing to respect her for, but. here she is.]
[ her own anecdote didn't have that intent behind it. ] Haha, you really think so? It's so, I don't know ... plain! [ she means "white"; which is true for her mother's motivation, but also rude to just say out loud. ] So what if no one could ever pronounce it right in the first place.
Meanwhile, I want to say something about "Lina" just being really easy to remember and short to call out, but you're also the first of three I know on the app. [ a smirk. ] Guess we'll just have to be unique in some other ways.
[sorry, Jen, but Lina's kind of dramatic sometimes. which she's sure Jen has never once noticed. at least she's keeping her tone casual.]
I know my name is kind of common, but could you imagine me going by Carmelina like it's an everyday thing? God, I can feel myself getting nerdier just thinking about it. [she doesn't need help with that.] At least we're both really good at being unique. I don't know anybody in the city like you.
[ Jen ... doesn't answer that question right off the bat. it's something that's come up in her mind on a rare occasion, but hasn't hit her as hard as recently with all the Retrospec shenanigans. what's in a name? a surprising amount of baggage, that's what. ]
I can't think of anyone else like you either, Carmelina. [ she makes that sound all musical and shit, but cannot keep a straight face afterward. ] ...yeah, I see what you mean now. It's a pretty name but still.
[she scoffs at being called her full name, but if anyone has to do it she's glad it's here and now where it's obviously a joke.]
It's an okay name. I mean, for how much my sisters still give a shit about me it's basically meaningless, but I'm attached to it, I guess.
[she doesn't think she's actually bitched too much about her sisters to Jen. not in depth, at least, because everything they've done until recently has been so shallow. but maybe this'll be a good time? she'll leave the avenue open.]
[ maybe Jen caught up on this in passing, but she never would have pressed too hard because she, herself, didn't find the need to talk about family a lot. not outside of the usual "mom said this" or "mom won't let me do that" and so on.
so yeah. curiosity seems to be the name of the game tonight. ]
God, where do I start. So, like. Rose abandoned us. She got discovered by some label guy and now she's a pop star and she's probably loaded and she never talks to us anymore.
[that all comes out casually, and it might go a long way to explain some of Lina's opinions. but the bigger one is with Clover, and just realizing she'll have to segue into her is enough to get Lina staring off into the middle distance and furrowing her brow.]
Clover got adopted. She just got plucked right out of the orphanage and taken to a place where she doesn't need us anymore. ["me". she means "me".] So that's cool! That's been great. Everybody else got lucky and here I am working as hard as I can with fuck all to show for it.
[except that's not totally true anymore, and she reins in her bitterness quickly enough to add something to it.]
Except, you know. I get you as a roommate. And that's nicer than I thought lately.
[ Jen listens intently. she tries to keep a hold on her opinions and from her face showing any distaste on hearing what happened. this time she cannot blame Lina one bit for her bitterness. it also helped explain a few things, and she made some notes about Rose's behavior in particular. ]
Wow, uh. I'm sorry I asked. [ she really was. ] It sounds rough.
[ part of that last bit sticks with her though. was this time for some levity? maybe. worth a shot. ] I was never super good with hurdles, but even I can clear a low bar like that.
[Jen isn't Clover and this isn't a dream, so nothing will ever actually come of any of this. and she appreciates the joke; it's good to get her off the subject. maybe she shouldn't take the word of known salty bitch Lina Geteilt as gospel, though.]
I know the bar is in the ground, but you'd be surprised how many people have dug themselves deep enough that they trip over it. [shit, she's clever.] And it might have taken me a while, but I do mean it. You're turning out to be a lot of fun.
Heh. If you can't have a good laugh with me around, then who? [ to the point, Jen began to pull the tissues free from her nose. they're just a bit bloodied, but once she's wiped herself off there's no evidence they'll leak again anytime soon. ]
I should go with hardwood floors next time. [ sniff. ] They're softer.
[she's glad her roommate is recovering, at least, even if it's still 100% incontrovertibly Lina's fault that she ended up like this. she sighs quietly, more for theatrics than anything else. because she's struggling with words, trying to find the right thing to actually say so she sounds sincere and not just like she's repeating herself. which is, to put it nicely, fucking impossible.]
You get one on me. That's the fair thing to do, right? Like, I don't know how you're going to do it, but you get to do something to me that hits me as hard as—[her face hit the floor, is what she's about to say before she course-corrects again.]—that hit you.
[ Jen chuckled. ] What, do you think I'm mad? You think this is something I'd want to get even with you over?
[ even if it's not that, even if it's just karma, it's kind of endearing in a messed up way that Lina would just be like "okay, now hit me back" or something to that effect.
Jen actually considers this for a long moment as she's balling up the tissues and dumping them on the coffee table. she rises from her sitting posture and rolls her shoulders. then she steps up in front of her roommate and grinds her metal fist into her left palm. ] But! If you insist...
[her hands go up to her face as though that's actually going to guard her. she knows Jen has more strength in one arm than Lina does in her entire upper body.]
I meant metaphorically! Don't actually punch me in the face!
[ Jen lunged downward but didn't go for Lina's face as she was obviously expecting her to do. her knees hit the carpet in front of the couch and her aim was much lower. the other girl's sides, apparently. for a good ol' fashioned revenge tickle!
which won't work if Lina isn't actually ticklish. worth a shot though. ]
[fuck! shit, okay, no, that—she's extremely ticklish, which she hadn't expected to be a problem but here she is giggling like a fucking lunatic and trying very hard to fend her roommate off with both her hands going down to her sides to push her away.]
Aah! Stop it! [she's just glad she's not getting punched because she can definitely withstand this. even her protests have some playfulness behind them.]
[in a second, she'll unpack that this was Jen's second reaction after punching.]
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[she's extremely terrible at telling that, though. which should not remotely be a surprise.]
Even if she was, maybe I wanted to feel like I knew more than her about something for once.
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Well, my full name's Carmelina, right? [ugh, she doesn't like the way that name feels. tastes.] She thought it was after the camelina—you know, that, uh... one sec.
[she pulls her phone from the pocket of her shorts and brings up a picture of camelina.]
This thing. You've seen it. But I'm actually named after this. [and she pulls the next tab up and shows Jen a picture of a commelina instead.] The commelina. Sounds the same. [in her accent, at least.] But they're two way different flowers.
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Mm, yeah, way different. It sounds like an easy mistake but... I also don't know why you'd pick what looks like some kind of herb over that. [ she points at the phone, then looks up at Lina with a smirk. ] It's not the right shade, but the blue's so obvious.
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[she pulls her phone back and reads over the article about camelina again, and... something jumps out at her that she hadn't noticed.]
This says the one with an A is also called "gold-of-pleasure". [and it's said with the tone of someone who's just, like, quietly surprised by a thing—until it hits her.] She was fucking flirting with me, wasn't she.
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What's in a name, though, right? Jen's not even the one I was born with you know.
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[this feels like it might be more of a conversation now, so she walks around the couch and sits down, still being sure to give Jen some space if she needs it.]
Are we about to have a bonding moment where we learn each other's backstories or something?
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When I was born, my parents named me Jinjing. My family name was Longwei, but my mom changed it all after the divorce. [ does she sound at all resentful of that? not really. it's been so long and she's mostly come to terms with it that it was just so matter-of-fact. ] One day I got curious and I looked up name meanings. I don't know how much of those sites are, like, legit and how many of them just make stuff up to sound pretty. Like Mister Horoscope Boy I was out with at the time.
[ remember him? ]
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[she's still glad that Jen trusts her enough with this, even if it is largely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. and of course she remembers Horoscope Boy, and can only imagine what he tried to draw from it once she's done appreciating that real good burn. unfortunately, if she's supposed to catch any meaning behind those names, well, her "expertise" is in Japanese culture. so she's got nothing.]
So what was so bad about it?
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Well. "Jinjing" is supposed to mean "gold mirror" and it's an "elegant girl's name". [ air quote gesture, eyeroll, and all. ] Longwei as a surname is something like "dragon greatness" or "great dragon". I forget.
[ she gestures at her own head. ] You can guess why my dad wanted me to have it.
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Ugh. You can't name a kid just hoping they'll stay exactly the way you want them to for their entire life.
[for all she herself knows, Lina was named after camelina. or maybe she wasn't named after anything. maybe it's just a name and she's always looked at it too deeply, seeing Rose and Clover and the other Geteilts and trying to backfill her own name to fit. but she's decided that this is going to be part of her story, and she respects Jen for making her name part of her own story. it's a weird thing to respect her for, but. here she is.]
Jen's a better name.
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Meanwhile, I want to say something about "Lina" just being really easy to remember and short to call out, but you're also the first of three I know on the app. [ a smirk. ] Guess we'll just have to be unique in some other ways.
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[sorry, Jen, but Lina's kind of dramatic sometimes. which she's sure Jen has never once noticed. at least she's keeping her tone casual.]
I know my name is kind of common, but could you imagine me going by Carmelina like it's an everyday thing? God, I can feel myself getting nerdier just thinking about it. [she doesn't need help with that.] At least we're both really good at being unique. I don't know anybody in the city like you.
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I can't think of anyone else like you either, Carmelina. [ she makes that sound all musical and shit, but cannot keep a straight face afterward. ] ...yeah, I see what you mean now. It's a pretty name but still.
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[she scoffs at being called her full name, but if anyone has to do it she's glad it's here and now where it's obviously a joke.]
It's an okay name. I mean, for how much my sisters still give a shit about me it's basically meaningless, but I'm attached to it, I guess.
[she doesn't think she's actually bitched too much about her sisters to Jen. not in depth, at least, because everything they've done until recently has been so shallow. but maybe this'll be a good time? she'll leave the avenue open.]
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so yeah. curiosity seems to be the name of the game tonight. ]
What's their deal, anyway?
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[that all comes out casually, and it might go a long way to explain some of Lina's opinions. but the bigger one is with Clover, and just realizing she'll have to segue into her is enough to get Lina staring off into the middle distance and furrowing her brow.]
Clover got adopted. She just got plucked right out of the orphanage and taken to a place where she doesn't need us anymore. ["me". she means "me".] So that's cool! That's been great. Everybody else got lucky and here I am working as hard as I can with fuck all to show for it.
[except that's not totally true anymore, and she reins in her bitterness quickly enough to add something to it.]
Except, you know. I get you as a roommate. And that's nicer than I thought lately.
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Wow, uh. I'm sorry I asked. [ she really was. ] It sounds rough.
[ part of that last bit sticks with her though. was this time for some levity? maybe. worth a shot. ] I was never super good with hurdles, but even I can clear a low bar like that.
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[Jen isn't Clover and this isn't a dream, so nothing will ever actually come of any of this. and she appreciates the joke; it's good to get her off the subject. maybe she shouldn't take the word of known salty bitch Lina Geteilt as gospel, though.]
I know the bar is in the ground, but you'd be surprised how many people have dug themselves deep enough that they trip over it. [shit, she's clever.] And it might have taken me a while, but I do mean it. You're turning out to be a lot of fun.
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I should go with hardwood floors next time. [ sniff. ] They're softer.
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[she's glad her roommate is recovering, at least, even if it's still 100% incontrovertibly Lina's fault that she ended up like this. she sighs quietly, more for theatrics than anything else. because she's struggling with words, trying to find the right thing to actually say so she sounds sincere and not just like she's repeating herself. which is, to put it nicely, fucking impossible.]
You get one on me. That's the fair thing to do, right? Like, I don't know how you're going to do it, but you get to do something to me that hits me as hard as—[her face hit the floor, is what she's about to say before she course-corrects again.]—that hit you.
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[ even if it's not that, even if it's just karma, it's kind of endearing in a messed up way that Lina would just be like "okay, now hit me back" or something to that effect.
Jen actually considers this for a long moment as she's balling up the tissues and dumping them on the coffee table. she rises from her sitting posture and rolls her shoulders. then she steps up in front of her roommate and grinds her metal fist into her left palm. ] But! If you insist...
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[her hands go up to her face as though that's actually going to guard her. she knows Jen has more strength in one arm than Lina does in her entire upper body.]
I meant metaphorically! Don't actually punch me in the face!
[that is on her for speaking poorly, though.]
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[ Jen lunged downward but didn't go for Lina's face as she was obviously expecting her to do. her knees hit the carpet in front of the couch and her aim was much lower. the other girl's sides, apparently. for a good ol' fashioned revenge tickle!
which won't work if Lina isn't actually ticklish. worth a shot though. ]
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Aah! Stop it! [she's just glad she's not getting punched because she can definitely withstand this. even her protests have some playfulness behind them.]
[in a second, she'll unpack that this was Jen's second reaction after punching.]
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