IC Inbox | Carlos Oliveira

[sendinthedelta]

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Carlos Oliveira ⬤ Resident Evil 3 (2020)
residential district ⬤ Level 2
moonblessing ⬤ Sanguis

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action, backdated to event ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[torsion]

[ She's been a little touchy-feely lately. More than usual. She's often selective with touch or pointed, using it to put weight on words, on feelings, on moments. Sometimes without even realizing she's doing it. But she wants that human contact now, sets out exclusively to indulge in it.

Things between herself and Carlos have been a little tense lately. Some of the reasons are obvious and surface and others are difficult to pry out of the depths and acknowledge -- as difficult as they were years ago, even. Her subconscious seems to be going forward at full throttle lately, including now, as she gingerly knocks on his bedroom door in an almost-rhythm.

There's nothing special about her, hair braided low and thick over her shoulder, dressed as ever like she might go out and hit the gym. But she feels different. Heart seized, trapped in her throat, she tries to ignore it and push it down.

She hates this. ]

[sendinthedelta]

[Carlos had a feeling he might need to tread lightly around her. Not because he was afraid of her, but because he knew whatever was affecting people this time around had him acting a bit more... frat boy than usual. Thankfully not in a jerkish way but there was definitely an urge to be a show off, to go around shirtless or barely covered, and the bad flirty lines fully locked and loaded and ready to go at a moment's notice.

He hasn't been actively avoiding the house, but he was absent for about a day at one point without any real warning. Helping a certain purple pigtailed mage who he discovered lacking chroma earlier in the month has become something of a habit given her predilection to not letting anyone else near her. The only reason he didn't bring her around was because she was already shy enough about what they were doing; he didn't need to drag other people into it.

It didn't help that Aisha reminded him a lot of Jill and the only reason he was even able to help in the first place was because she was literally going to die otherwise.

But he was home right now, crossed legged on his bed with an annoyingly complicated controller in his hands, playing some Prismal version of a sports video game and doing rather poorly at it.

He let out a swear seconds before the knock, likely heard but not overly loud, head rolling back as he huffed and called out.]

Yeah?

[torsion]

[ Jill generally tried to give her housemates some space, even if she enjoyed their company. She had the firm to work at and her other jobs to keep her busy -- anything to ensure she didn't have to examine any deeper feelings or be alone with her thoughts for long. It was a balancing act she's always done, but the closer she became to people the more she felt the need to keep an arm's length between them. Vulnerability had never been her strong suit.

She hasn't asked what either he or Leon have been up to, really, instead opting to give them their privacy. Especially knowing how things worked here, she's not sure she'd be interested in hearing the answers they may offer. None of her business.

His reply isn't exactly expected -- she wasn't even sure if he was home, after all -- and she finds herself a bit lost now that she knows he is. If he wasn't, at least she could make up an excuse, say that she tried. The pause hangs heavy on the air and her balled fist is loosened, still lifted so it's near the door and ready to tap again for a moment and then curled in toward her chest. ]

If you're busy, I can come back another time.

[ She knows it's an excuse, even if she really does want to spend a little time with him. ]

[sendinthedelta]

I'm not.

[He set the controller aside, sliding off the bed to go open the door himself since she was clearly hesitating. The game remained on the game lost screen, the tinny cheering of the digitized crowd mixing with the music that was just different enough to not be recognizable from home.

And yes, he was shirtless. Again.

Look he's not going to question whatever's happening right now. He's just rolling with it. He even leaned against the doorframe with his arm up high, giving that stupid grin of his.]

Sup, Supercop?

[torsion]

[ Jill's familiarity with games were pretty limited to arcades. She wasn't much of a gamer, but she's been known to play a fighting game or two back in the day, especially on a Friday night when the members of STARS would go out drinking together. Hal had taken her out on a date(ish) to an arcade here on her birthday and had her join him on some silly dance game before they'd played a shooting one that she'd managed to out-do him in, but there had been a lot of things there she'd been familiar and unfamiliar with. It had been fun, though.

Her brows rise with a hint of mirth, but she ignores the lack of shirt since she figures he's just been lounging around.

She doesn't particularly like the way he stands, if only because it really makes their height difference obvious. And if he invites her in, she gets the feeling she'll have to go under the arm. ]

Just wanted to see how you're doing, that's all. [ And talk to him. She'd wanted to hang out, too. There's a minute pause between carrying on while she ultimately decides to be more forthright about this. ] Maybe spend a little time with you if you don't mind my company.

[sendinthedelta]

[He's actually surprised at the offer. Checking up on him, sure, but actually wanting to hang out and being the one to broach the subject first?

Must be having an affect on her, too.

He's not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. He won't expect anything to come of it because even under these new effects he's not so far gone as to have an inflated ego and entitlement to her or anyone else for that matter. Hanging out is a nice step a little further up the ladder, though.]

Just trying to figure out these weird Prismal consoles. I can totally take a break, though.

[He'll also spare her needing to duck under him, moving away from the door with a motion to come in.]

[torsion]

[ A lot of things have factored into this for her. She's been weird even if she says it's alright that he's different and while she doesn't mean to think on it, it's difficult not to. Part of her feels like she's betraying the "him" she knows, but that's silly. Carlos is Carlos is Carlos, right? Other than the dumb nickname he's been the same at heart and she can't deny that she's missed him. This. ]

Yeah, can't say I'm much of a gamer. I'm not exactly the ideal one to go to if you're looking for some help with that.

[ Part of her appreciates the phrasing but on the other she can't help but examine it and feel minuscule. But she knows both of them are playing casual right now, probably not hoping for too much. Just in case. Jill smiles and ducks her head almost bashfully before dipping into the room with a twist of her hips rather than just walking in normally. ]

Bought some nice steaks the other day, but my housemates went missing. [ There's a hint of chiding to it, but it's only to hide the disappointment. She was looking forward to it, apparently. ] Ended up cooking them and eating them with a friend instead.

[sendinthedelta]

[He'd like to think it's still him. She's different but still Jill, too. He's been saying that since the start, and even if they aren't exactly the same, he'd rather be here with her in some capacity than alone entirely.

Also Supercop is totally a good nickname don't at him.]

It's cool. Just a dumb way to pass the time.

[And get frustrated at.

He laughs shyly at the comment, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing away.]

Busted. Sorry, someone I met a couple of weeks ago needed help.

[That makes him hum thoughtfully a bit, though, thinking that a nice shared meal might be just what they both need to take their minds off the current Prismatica fuckery and to spend time together.]

Actually... how do you feel about trying something new?

[torsion]

[ She'd told him that and she'd meant it before, but it still hits her in strange ways sometimes. It drags itself up, makes itself known, and forms a gap between them before she knows it on some days. ]

Prefer training, myself, but there's nothing wrong with it.

[ There's that tension again. Maybe she's just making it up in her mind and there's actually no strain between them? She wishes it were easier. Jill vaguely raises her arms and holds her hands up. ]

Hey, it's none of my business what you're doing. [ Or she supposes, probably "who" but she's not going to say that. Jill can manage having tact sometimes. ] Something new, though... guess depends on what you might have in mind?

[sendinthedelta]

[Understandably so. Meeting a friend who somehow also wasn't the person you knew was likely to leave a schism with anyone two people, even with how much Carlos insisted Jill was Jill.

He turned while watching her enter the room, leaning against the wall with arms crossed this time. More casual, less expectant.]

Ever had asado? This is the perfect time of the year for it.

[torsion]

[ Maybe part of it is what happened to her, maybe part of it is time. She doesn't know if it would be easier if he were older but she'd like to think that's it. Nothing too big, just the gap in their ages. She knows the best way to get over this bullshit is to spend time with him, but she's been avoiding it to some degree, herself.

She shouldn't be. ]

...you do know that my fluency with romance languages is limited to French and Italian, right? It sounds a bit familiar but you'll have to fill me in.

[sendinthedelta]

[21 is still at the lower end, isn't it? Not that he feels that way. It's not even a "age is just a number" issue. The shit he's seen, been through, even well before Umbrella and Racoon City...

It ages a person, to a painful degree, and no amount of his dumb humor and flirtatious tactics can bury it completely.]

Aw, no Latin spirit? I'm hurt. The entirety of Latin America weeps for not having Jill Valentine know what asado is!

[Please smack him.]

[torsion]

[ Hell, she was three years older than him when they met. It just feels like a lifetime ago to her sometimes. She can feel the aches of age, notices how she heals more slowly. It isn't that she feels like he's young so much as she feels old.

Jill puts a hand to her hip. ]

Chris speaks enough for both of us, usually. Parker's pretty good with the language, too. [ Trust her to have partners that can handle it for her. ] And I've got you to fill in any blanks on top of that.

[ She leans forward slightly like she'll intimidate him with the gesture. ]

Funny. You going to tell me or what? Or is this going to be a "just trust me," that you're roping me into?

[sendinthedelta]

[He's likely to get there sooner rather than later, even without the added pressure of the awful things she went through. His body has been beat to hell and back. No one who is completely human survives all of that and doesn't have problems years down the line.

He snickers with that dopey grin, hands up in surrender.]

You know I'm just giving you shit. Asado is a type of barbecue! Open flame, lots of meat and lots of spices. Usually a communal thing but I'm sure we can swing it with just the two of us.

[torsion]

[ He's not the one with the virus in him, but if Chris and Parker can handle it? He can. Hell, Leon manages and while she likes the guy he's a little more... well, lean than the type she tends to partner up with. She's sure he'll be just fine, but part of her worries about that, too. Small stresses, little things that can go wrong. ]

Why didn't you just say so? I'm in. [ No hesitation, no second thought. ] So, you found a place or is this where you tell me the surprise is I'll be manning the grill?

[sendinthedelta]

[Leon is kind of a beanpole. A cute-in-that-90's-boyband beanpole but still.]

Hell no, I'll do it! I wouldn't invite you to share in my culture and then make you do it! That's just rude. I'd have a million abuela hunting my ass on principle alone.

[But she's on board, and that's great!]

I will have to go pick up some stuff, besides the meat. You got a preference? It can be just about anything - pork, beef, chicken, chorizo, sausage...

[torsion]

[ She can appreciate him, but Jill has a more specific Type. ]

I mean, I was joking on that. I wouldn't mind helping, of course. I was hoping we could cook together -- it's why I'd bought steak and asparagus for us before. [ But instead she'd ended up cooking them with Dick. It was a nice evening, but she'd had a plan. ] I mean I'll let you do it if you insist, but I don't like standing idly by.

[ She doesn't know how to be treated to something is part of it, too. ]

Does it have to be one type? I could eat quite a bit right about now and I'm a little indecisive. If this is gonna be a cheat day, I don't hold back. [ She's looping her arm around his now, but movement makes touch less intimate. It doesn't occur to her that she hasn't really been this close to him since he's been here while she tugs him out of the room. ] C'mon, partner.

[sendinthedelta]

[The one leaning against the wall shirtless maybe?]

Sorry again about that...

[It was a weird, weird couple of weeks. Hopefully this does make up for it a little. Also they do have the 4th coming up. He is an American citizen still.]

Actually it's almost always at least three or four different kinds, since you're kinda feeding a lot of people at once with it. You can pick out whatever you want! And if you do wanna help I'm probably gonna need it setting the racks up. It's done a little differently than charcoal grills.

[He grins again at having his arm taken, a very, very faint hint of red coming to his cheeks. It's only after they're out the door that he realizes he's still missing a certain article of clothing and while there's nothing wrong with going out in Lunatia without a shirt he does have some shame.

There's a muttered "hold up" as he bounced back into the room without her, returning with a plain but tight black teeshirt on.]

Alright! Ready when you are, partner~

[torsion]

[ Maybe! ]

It's alright. I shouldn't have made plans without telling you.

[ Weeks? Try months for her. There's normalcy in between, for sure, but it's been a mess overall. It's hard to say where she stands sometimes but moments like this make up for the uncertainty. It feels natural and normal. ]

A little like yakiniku, then. [ A favorite of hers. ] Might still wanna think of it as feeding a lot of people. I can be pretty ravenous, you know. Just don't judge me too much.

[ Lighter, more teasing and without the same weight and discomfort that seems to permeate every conversation they've had so far. Like she's found a spot for them to be in. Jill reluctantly lets go of his arm and laughs, covering her mouth with a hand; it does nothing to make the stupid grin she wears hidden. ]

Ah, that might help, huh? [ Now more self-aware, she doesn't take his arm this time. But she stays near enough that body heat can be felt, almost touching him while she walks off to the front door. ] Bit weird, isn't it? You probably never imagined this... kind of normalcy either, have you? Being here, in a house, in one place... it's not bad but I never expected to be so still like this.

[sendinthedelta]

Well, I'm still gonna make it up to you with this, if nothing else.

[This place really does balance awkwardly between befuddling levels of strange, placidly domestic and actually relaxing. Carlos never really knows what to think of it fully at any given moment but he's at least grateful for the lack of Umbrella and zombies.]

Why would I judge you for that? It would be the best approval of my food I could get!

[He's got your back, babe. Eat everything. Eat it all.]

Well, no, but I also spent most of my days thinking I wasn't going to survive past eighteen in the beginning, so anything beyond that is already a pleasant surprise.

[Again, not the zombies.

Zombies are never a pleasant surprise.]

Having a house I can actually come back to more than two days out of the month is nice, though.

[torsion]

Don't worry about it. [ Less forceful and almost like she's given up on the notion, yet soft enough that it's hard to mistake how much it means to her that he's trying for anything else. ] I'm just happy to be with you.

[ It's more vulnerable than Jill usually is willing to be, but they're on the move and talking about other things. She doesn't expect it to turn into a more serious conversation or for it to be much more than a displaced comment that they'll both soon forget. ]

I'll make you eat those words. [ If he's lucky, he might get to catch her on the adductor machine working her muscles later, even. ] I suppose that's the same as... well, what I've known about you always, in that case. Didn't expect to make it to thirty, but here I am.

[ She starts with him down the street with a purpose, not terribly far from the supermarkets and restaurants that scatter the city. His mention of age again reminds her of how young he is again. He had already been three years younger than her when they met, but now...

Beside him, she almost curiously peers up at him. Studying him without subtlety, but not intensely. Jill isn't sure what to say and her thoughts start and hardly finish. Time is so complicated. Especially when it feels a little like it's been lost. ]

[sendinthedelta]

[He can't rewind time and even in a place like this he figures that's either difficult or near impossible for anyone else. He does want to try and make it up to her at the very very least, and hearing that she still wants to spend time with him is a relief.

He smirks at "make you eat those words" like he wouldn't absolutely enjoy that. Careful, Jill. You'll give the boy ideas.]

I'm glad you are.

[It's terrible how much she's had to endure in those years, but he would still rather have her alive and (relatively) healthy.

The look doesn't go amiss entirely, though it does take him a moment to catch on as he's looking up where the best places to get the needed supplies are. He glances over and blinks, head tilting slightly.]

Something on my face?

[torsion]

[ Maybe their connection was never as strong as it had been between them back then or maybe it's just that he hasn't gotten to the point that she has yet, over more than a decade of time, but it's easy to not give up on their friendship. Frustrating when she wants to hang out with him, but there are other reasons for that at times, too. She's still getting used to a lot of this. To him. ]

Alive? Congrats, so am I. [ She laughs a little, wiping some hair to the side of her face, just over her ear lobe. ] Christ, thirty-six come October. Bit weird, but not bad.

[ Maybe if she didn't take care of herself or looked older it might be a different tune.

She peers at him more intensely, naturally, when he draws attention to her gaze. ]

Mmm. Just looking at you. Same but different. A lot of it is your hair and facial hair, I guess -- not that I mind. Or I'd want you to change to suit what I've known. Just weird trying to figure things out. What more I might need to know or learn. Hard to not bring what I used to know into things and push those expectations away. [ She takes his arm now and looks ahead of her. Her hold is light, looping around his. ] But I'm happy to. I like you the way you are so... if I ever make you feel like I'd rather have someone else here, let me know. I'm not great at talking about my feelings or being reassuring, but you're a special case.

[sendinthedelta]

[Look, you just don't escape a city getting nuked after surviving zombies, mutants and money-grubbing Russians and not manage to form some sort of lasting connection.]

Not bad at all.

[He grins at her broadly. Age is just a number and they both probably feel far, far older than their numbers, but as far as he's concerned she looks amazing despite everything.]

Well, we didn't exactly get to talk about ourselves much past the introductions, so it's not like we really know much beyond uh, y'know. I was some poor schmuck duped by you know who and you were just trying to get the hell out of Racoon without getting turned into Nemesis mush.

[He shrugs, smiling lightly this time at the tight grip and the warm exchange of chroma.]

But, nah, you haven't made me feel like that. If you ever wanna know something you're more than welcome to ask, though.

[torsion]

[ It certainly can help. She'd drifted away with him and they'd related on a lot of things, mostly in regard to lifestyle and interests. Nerds. ]

See, that is an honest compliment.

[ Mostly, it's something she can wiggle out of. It doesn't feel like overt flattery. It's hard to read if he's just teasing or not half the time, but she supposes it's like getting a taste of her own medicine. Karma. ]

We had some time. Actions speak louder than words, anyway. [ Something she's said to Chris and he's made his own. The chroma is something Jill is still getting used to and to some degree, it makes her hesitate to touch people. It makes her feel like she doesn't fully have control. ] Yeah, well, you've seen my shoulder. You came up right after I was stabbed. Carried me to the church in the clocktower then went off to the hospital to look for something to help me, waited with me for days until I could get up and get out with you.

[ Sheepish, she keeps her eyes off him. Almost laser-focused and staring while not entirely seeing things ahead of them. It strains her heart. ]

It wasn't what you did for me that made me care about you or have us stick together as friends, you know. Doing... something like that matters, especially when no one else has ever done that sort of thing for me. I'm always the one putting my life on the line. It's the only time someone did that for me. [ She peers at him, but is quick to take action so it's harder to catch her expression; Jill dips in, swerves to the tips of her toes and gives him a little peck on his jawline. Quick to fall back in line like it never happens immediately after, though. ] Especially after everything that's happened to me over the past four years... it, it you know. Is something that matters.

[ (Weenie.) ]