Room 508, Wednesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

So, ever since talking it over with Ringo, like, a month ago, Kathy had been toying with the idea of hosting a slumber party. The problem was--she'd never been to one and had no idea how they were supposed to actually work. Should she have it in her room or stake out one of the common rooms? Invite specific people or open it to everyone? Plan activities or just let everyone do what they wanted? She was keeping track of ideas in a notebook, but right now all she had was Food? Yes. Lots of it.

Not helpful.

In a moment of desperation, she'd even gone trawling the net for ideas, but every website she found with ideas had been for little kids, complete with Disney Princess theme decorations and Mattel board games. Everybody probably figured that by the time you were seventeen you already had this kind of thing figured out.

Okay, next idea: try to find examples of sitcoms that featured slumber parties and watch those episodes and hope something clicked? Ooooor give up? That was always an option, too.

It probably said a lot about her that running around the rooftops of Baltimore tackling muggers and drug dealers was easier than planning a small social gathering.

[Open!]

Comments

[tigerundercover]

Raven tapped on the door with her knuckles and leaned in. "Heya, future roommie. What're you up to?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Dyyyyyyyyyyying," Kathy groaned, thudding her head against her notebook. Because there was nothing that couldn't be made better with a bit of melodrama. "Being social sucks and I don't like it. Let's be hermits forever."

[tigerundercover]

"Okay, but I don't think I'd be very good at it." Raven came over to sit next to Kathy. "You're not taking some super-hard summer tutorial thing, are you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nope." She was still thudding her head. "I'm trying to throw a slumber party. Or, well, thinking of doing it. Idly contemplating. Failing completely to throw anything at all. Something like that."

[tigerundercover]

Raven tried not to laugh at her. "Well I can help you with that. What have you figured out so far?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy picked her head up long enough to shove the notebook at Raven.

"I should definitely have food," she mumbled into her arms. "And I should probably invite someone people. Or everyone. Or no one at all. One of those. Ughhh, how am I so bad at this?"

[tigerundercover]

"Your head is too full of school," Raven said. "It's very tragic. Food's a good start. What's the theme for the party?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I need a theme?" Kathy wailed asked. "Why do I need a theme? Isn't coming to a party and, I dunno, having fun and maybe sleeping? Or not sleeping? Whatever people do at parties. I don't even know. I'm terrible at parties. And people. And things. I don't even know."

[tigerundercover]

"Breathe," Raven said, reaching over to pat Kathy on the head. "It doesn't have to be fancy. A theme helps you know what kind of party it is. Is it a birthday party? End of summer bash?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"My birthday's in December," Kathy said. "So, definitely not a birthday party. So...end of summer bash. Or maybe 'Kathy's never thrown a party' party. One of those."

[tigerundercover]

"Okay, so that'd be bigger, then. A birthday sleepover you want to go intimate. Close friends. End of summer bash you could do a more open invitation. Co-ed or girls only?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I was wondering about that. Aren't parties traditionally girls only? But it's not fair to discriminate on basis of gender! And, y'know, some of our friends are guys. So...co-ed? Will people come to a co-ed slumber party? Or will people think that's weird?"

Kathy had no idea anymore.

[tigerundercover]

"You might want to specify that it's platonic," Raven said. "Which I suppose you'd have to do these days with an all-girl one, too."

[spin_kick_snap]

At that, Kathy pulled up her head from her arms and waggled her eyebrows. "Aww, Raven, where's the fun in that? Maybe all high school slumber parties all have hot makeouts. Or, at least, the best ones do."

[tigerundercover]

"If you want everyone to spend the whole night playing spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven, then by all means," Raven said. "But then you always get the one person who's not having any fun because no one wants to make out with them."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Have you looked around at this school?" Kathy asked. "Who here don't isn't makeout-worthy, oh my god."

[tigerundercover]

"You're attracted to everyone, too?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Everyone in this school is unfortunately and unfairly attractive," Kathy grumbled. "I don't even know how that works. I'm not crazy, right? Everyone here is really hot?"

Girls, boys, it didn't really matter. Kathy had eyes. And sometimes pollen week.

[tigerundercover]

"Trust me," Raven said with feeling. "I have definitely noticed." She shook her head. "I figured it was a side effect of how I can, you know, turn into a boy anytime I want. So I'm into both."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You know," Kathy said carefully, "that's not necessarily a thing because of what you can do. Lots of people are bisexual. Or pansexual--attracted to all genders, not just the binary. Heck, here at school, there's Ezra, Anders, Eliot, and Mr. Hardison..."

Ringo, too, maybe, though Kathy wasn't sure how open she was about that and wasn't going to out her without her consent.

"Possibly others that we just don't know. Either way, it's a pretty normal thing." Beat. "Especially here, where everyone's got, like, a hotness rating that's off the stupid charts."

[tigerundercover]

"But . . . not you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Me?" Kathy shook her head. "Not so much. I mean, things get kinda weird around pollen-time and then, umm, I kinda want everybody, but most of the time I like guys."

She shifted and blushed a little. "In fact, I'm sorta--sometimes--Ezra--it's not a thing or anything, like, whoa, not about that, just sometimes..."

Yes, yes, very eloquent Kathy. Because Raven might not understand the phrase 'friends with benefits'? Or, the possibly even more accurate word 'bootycall'?

Kathy peered up at Raven, a little concerned. "You're not worried that I'm gonna have some kinda big, hetero freakout just because my bestie and future roomie likes girls, right?" She held out her hand to Raven, planning on pulling her into a hug if she could. "Because that's never, ever gonna happen."

[tigerundercover]

"No, of course not!" Raven said. ". . . Mostly. It's still weird to me, so. . . ." She trailed off with a shrug. "I think almost everyone is attracted to everyone during the pollen time."

[spin_kick_snap]

"And thank god, because then we get hot spin the bottle parties like the one we had this year and do you think no one would be interested because there's no pollen?" Kathy asked, before shaking herself. "Sorry, sorry! Talking about you right now, not the party!"

Sorry, Raven. She'd spent the better part of the afternoon focused on this, sometimes it took her brain awhile to disengage.

"I get it's probably weird for you. The 50s aren't exactly known for being a bastion of free love and tolerance. Heck, the 60s are the free love era and I'm still pretty sure it was pretty heteronormative. So, yeah, I get that it might be weird for you, but you have to understand that that doesn't make it weird, you know? You just have a wider pool of people you're attracted to. And that's okay."

And Kathy would cheerfully murder anyone who tried to tell Raven otherwise, dammit.

[tigerundercover]

"We can totally talk about the party more," Raven said. "I don't mind. I mean, I'm glad I'm not weird in the 21st century and that liking girls doesn't mean I have to stop liking boys and all but also I want to hear more about Ezra, and you have a sleepover to plan!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Now Kathy was blushing furiously and hiding behind her notebook again. "Oh, right," she squeaked. "Yes, party! Party is good! We can definitely talk about parties! Ohgodwhatdoyouwanttoknow."

[tigerundercover]

"Everything, obviously," Raven said. "You're not that mortified when you're actually together, are you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"You would be surprised," Kathy mumbled. "He lives to make me blush. It's ridiculous." She was tempted to go back to thudding her head against something. It just seemed like a good idea. "I don't even know how to respond to 'everything.' I can't--you have to ask questions or I swear, I'm not going to be able to do anything but flail around."

[tigerundercover]

"Well, that's because you're adorable when you blush. Though it isn't really much of a challenge," Raven teased. "Okay, let's start with the basics. Are you two dating, or . . . ?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was apparently super-adorable right now. And starting to worry that she might accidentally combust the notebook paper resting on her cheeks.

"Nope, not dating. Just, umm, having fun?" She peeked up at Raven to see how she'd take that idea. "Ezra's not really the kind of guy who dates and I don't think he'd be the kind of guy I'd date anyway."

Ezra and emotional intimacy were oil and water.

[tigerundercover]

"Makes sense," Raven said cheerfully. "So . . . what kind of fun are you having? I believe it's traditionally described in bases."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Umm, well..." Nope. Blushes weren't going anywhere. "There are a couple of runs posted on the board?"

[tigerundercover]

"Kathy!" Raven wasn't so much scandalized as just surprised. "What was it like? Now you have to tell me everything."

[spin_kick_snap]

Now Kathy was hiding behind her hands, voice muffled as she spoke. "Didn't you see us sneaking out of class last week? It felt like everyone was watching and knew what we were about."

As for her other question..."And, umm, good. Really good. So good. Not-giving-Ezra-proper-credit-by-only-calling-it-good good."

[tigerundercover]

"Usually when you feel like everyone is watching you, no one is," Raven said. "Most people are far too interested in their own business to see anyone else's."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I need to get that tattoo'd on my hand or something so I can look at it pretty much constantly," Kathy declared. "I mean, I don't think people are watching me as a self-centered thing, more as a...everyone's waiting to judge and disapprove? Ugh, that still sounds kinda self-centered."

[tigerundercover]

"It's self-centered, but it's not egotistical," Raven decided. "I think you're allowed to be a little self-centered, you know."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I know!" Kathy protested. "...Intellectually."

She sighed, lowering her hands, at least, and looking back up at Raven. "Do you ever stress about what people think about? I mean, I know you're working to get comfortable in your own skin--" and that was a sharp look, since Raven was currently sporting blond-not-blue "--but when you're like that, you seem all confidence all the time."

[tigerundercover]

The blonde was such an ingrained habit these days that switching from one to the other took conscious thought. Or passing out. Like when you consciously relaxed your face or stomach.

"Of course I'm confident, I'm amazing," Raven said, then shrugged sheepishly. "And it's easier to say and think that when I'm basically wearing a mask. I created this look specifically to blend in, you know. So if people are thinking about me, then I did it wrong."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Maybe we'll make our room a Mask Free Zone," Kathy mused. "Where we both work on becoming more confident in our natural selves."

She drummed her fingers on her desk, thinking about how far she'd come already, but also how much further she had to go. Ugh. Why was nothing easy?

"That's one of the reasons I like, umm, spending time with Ezra." Oh god, was she eighty and needed to use old lady euphemisms? "I mean, why I like messing around with Ezra." Still not perfect, but better than 'spending time with' like they hung out and did counted cross-stitch for funsies. "Knowing that someone wants you is kind of a confidence-booster. And so is taking down a buncha guys in the middle of Baltimore."

[tigerundercover]

Raven sighed. "I can only imagine. I was never brave enough to get close to anyone back home, and around here I can't even focus on one person to want to get close to."

Too many options. Paralyzed with choice.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy knew that feel. "For awhile, I was kinda sporting a 5-way crush," she said with a sigh. She nearly told Raven about the mirror-vision she'd had, but even now that whole experience was too close and too raw to share. "Though now I'm not sure I'm really crushing on anybody, exactly."

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna was doing her wandering-around-thing (not checking the perimeter! Because... yeah) and poked her head into Kathy's room. "Hello. What is going on?"

Velcro was trying to escape her grip, but Hanna just lifted him to her shoulder in an attempt to contain him. Good luck on that.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hanna!" Kathy grinned at the other girl and waved her in. "Hey, long time no see! You're just in time to help me plan a possible future slumber party! Because I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Yay!

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna contemplated that, then wandered in to perch on the edge of Kathy's desk. "I have never planned a party either," she said, tone speculative. "But, the time we all watched the superhero movies, doesn't that count?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"That was...I dunno, less a party and more a gathering?" Kathy tried, not entirely certain where the line was drawn there, either. "I mean, it was just something Raven and I planned to do and then other people showed up. This would be something I'd, I dunno, wanna invite a bunch of people to and then panic whether anyone was going to show up or not."

Did that help clarify things?

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"So, it will go even better, with planning," Hanna said. In defiance of this, Velcro leapt off her shoulder and onto the window sill, to prowl around the new territory. "... And of course people will show up. It's a party. And you are well-liked."

[spin_kick_snap]

Conversation had to be paused momentarily so Kathy to lean down and make kissy noises at Velcro. Because obviously. That was what one did when there was a kitty in the room. Though she did beam at Hanna for the 'well-liked' comment.

"Really?" she asked, warmed to her toes. "I mean, I know I've made some really great friends, but...I mean, thanks Hanna. That means a lot."

And Hanna had a point. She had no idea where she registered on a popularity scale, but even if only her friends came, it would still be a pretty fun party.