Room 508, Tuesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was hunched over her computer, muttering to herself. "Raven, what the hell? Don't wander off! No, get back--Dante, how do you have dysentery? Again?! No, I am not stopping this car, there are too many--Dammit, Ringo, how did you break your arm?! Were you AT-ing during the zom--DANTE YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE, YOU JERK! Anders, you're a goddamn magic-user, heal somebody! OH MY GOD, DON'T MAKE ME TURN THIS CAR AROUND AND DRIVE BACK TO THE NUKES, SO HELP ME!" A moment of quiet and then, "Hey! Somebody stole my last battery!"

Someone had discovered Organ Trail on Facebook. And had foolishly decided to play using the names of her friends. And had nearly decided to give up on this carful of people and try again. Surely Kira and Ezra would be more sensible during the zombie apocalypse.

"Raven! I said not to wander off! Great! Now you're dead and I have to start over!" Kathy didn't believe in leaving anyone behind. Even in the pixelated apocalypse.

[Open! Link to the conversation with Dante]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Talking about my--oh!" Kathy grinned and pulled her shirt up to expose her midriff and then tugged her pants down to fully bear her hip. "My tattoo! Yeah, I got it a little after we got back to the island!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo was torn, and her expression made that clear. On the one hand, that was a pretty sweet tattoo! On the other hand, Kathy had gone to get it and hadn't taken her along. Or even told her about it.

In the end, the sweetness totally won out. "Oooh, pretty!" Ink was common enough in the AT scene back home that Ringo had a decent eye for it, and she nodded in approval. "Have you been planning on getting it for a while?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ehhh..." Kathy seesawed her hand. "Ish? In that I saw the pattern and thought about how cool it would be to get a tattoo, if only my parents wouldn't murder me. So, more of an idle daydream than anything else." She flushed a little and admitted, "Then Anders and I got tipsy and decided tattoos were a brilliant idea and afterwards I was embarrassed to admit that at some point, I became the type of person that gets tattoos while drunk."

Not that she'd been drunk! Just...really giggly and tipsy.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo snorted. "So your parents don't know?"

"Do you need somewhere to hide out from them so they don't murder you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm still breathing, aren't I?" Kathy pointed out. "Of course they don't know. I figure that I'll get around to telling them that I have a tattoo sometime in my late thirties. Possibly early forties. You know, once I'm firmly established with a career and a family--plenty of people who would notice if I went inexplicably missing or whatever." She shared a grin with Ringo. "But, yes. I absolutely will hit you up for a place to hide if I need to."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo laughed. "Your parents can't be that bad. I mean, you turned out super-awesome, right?"

Said with the confidence of someone who had never met said parents.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's smile...flattened a little. She let out a nervous chuckle and busied herself playing with a lock of hair. "Of course not," she said lightly. "They're you're typical parents. Strict, but only because they want me to succeed. I just have a tendency to exaggerate is all."

[soniaroadsqueen]

And now Kathy was getting a more serious look from Ringo. Because that didn't sound like Kathy. She wasn't sure what to ask, though, to make sure everything was okay. Or even if she should ask.

Parents weren't a topic Ringo had a lot of experience with.

[spin_kick_snap]

Talking about parents wasn't any easier when you had them, either.

"FYI, Mabel died," Kathy said, nodding towards the computer screen. "Looks like she got typhus."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Well, that was one way to change the subject.

Ringo's pigtails whipped around as she spun back to the screen? "What? Why would she do that?"

"And what's typhus?"

[spin_kick_snap]

It was a good diversion, true!

"A disease. Caused by lice, usually," Kathy said, wrinkling her nose. "She probably got it at the last rest stop."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Were they zombie lice?" Ringo asked. "Is she going to turn into a zombie?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"No, normal lice," Kathy said. "Oh god, no one would survive if the zombie virus was spread by bugs. There are too many bugs in the world for humanity to make it. If she'd died infected the game would have said. It just says typhus, so..." She gave Ringo a small smile. "It's a random event that we weren't paying much attention to. They didn't actually program lice into the game."

Kathy just knew that because she was a nerd.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"So what you're saying," Ringo said slowly, "is that it was your fault." She shook her head. "And you were trying to take over leadership of the group."

Then she sighed and went to restart the game. Again.

This was hard!

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nope, it's still your fault," Kathy said. "As leader you should be paying attention, not letting yourself get distracted. Tsk tsk."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I wouldn't have been distracted if someone had told me about their new tattoo earlier."

That's right, Kathy. Somehow this was all your fault!

[spin_kick_snap]

"If I'd known you were so easily distracted by some colored lines, I never would have let you be leader," Kathy 'comforted.' "I see my error now."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, colored lines is it?" Ringo rolled her eyes. "So you're telling me you're scared of telling your parents about some colored lines?" Hmm?

[spin_kick_snap]

"Absolutely," Kathy said. "My parents are way scarier than zombies."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, that I believe," Ringo allowed with a grin and a shrug. "But if it's just some colored lines and shouldn't distract me, your parents shouldn't mind them either, right?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"That doesn't work at all," Kathy said. "Nice try, but no dice."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"But it's supposed to work on me?" Nice double standard, Kathy!

[spin_kick_snap]

"You're not my parents," Kathy pointed out. "That's why we're friends. And besides, if there were lives on the line, I'd judge my parents for letting people die so they could boggle at my tattoo, too."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, I'm probably way cuter than your parents, at least." Ringo looked over and batted her eyelashes.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy frowned. "Did I never mention my mom was Miss South Korea, 1976?"