Isle of Ikea, Tuesday

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy and Raven had a new apartment in need of decoration and furnishing and they also had a lot of things to not think about and/or work their way through, depending on how they were feeling at the time. Conveniently enough, both of those things worked with the other. Kathy had spent her sleepless hours the night before making lists, flipping through magazines for inspiration (seriously, how many Williams-Sonoma catalogues did you need Eliot?!), and doodling layouts to try to figure our furniture arrangements. Then, once it had gotten bright enough outside that it wouldn't be weird to be up and about, Kathy had put together a trip to the Isle of Ikea. Because what could be better than combining a caffeine buzz, a ridiculously generous budget, and four teenage girls?

You were welcome, Ikea employees!

"So we need pretty much everything," Kathy said, as they landed on the shores of the isle. "Two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and our bedrooms. Pretty much the sky's...the..." She trailed off, looking at the building in front of them. She'd known the whole island was devoted to the store, but she hadn't really thought about how big that store would be. "And this looks like it has everything," she added. "Okay then."

[For those invited, and I have no idea whether the Isle has squirrels or not! Also open for phone calls]

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo had dark circles under her eyes, but was sort of hoping that sugar and caffeine would give her enough energy that no one would notice. Or at least no one would comment on it. Some part of her was making a little note in the back of her head that maybe she should practice more make-up stuff since she didn't really know how to, you know, make it less obvious.

Still, now she was out with her friends, and they were going to shop and celebrate that everyone was back safe and settling back into life on the island. So that was all good, right?

Also, she'd never actually been out to Ikea, and her eyes were huge. "This place is crazy," she murmured, clearly impressed. She was wondering how hard it might be to get in at night to do an AT run.

[spin_kick_snap]

Whereas Ringo might notice that Kathy's makeup was a little heavier than usual and for entirely the same reason. The only difference was, Kathy had learned to do her makeup from her mother, who had celebrated Kathy's 10th birthday with 'makeup to make you beautiful!' and had honed her skills covering up bruises from Banzai scuffles.

"On the off-chance anyone was worried that we'd have to go somewhere else to find something today, I think we can cross that concern right off," Kathy said, shaking her head a little bit. "How much custom does this place get?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

She probably should have noticed, but Ringo's image of Kathy had faded more than she'd like to admit, so she didn't really register it.

"I don't think I was worried about that," Ringo grined. "Though, um, now I'm wondering if we should worry about being trapped in there forever?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"If we really get lost, we can have Raven transform into a giraffe or something to spot our way out," Kathy reassured her. Or maybe 'reassured.' "The bigger danger would be having to fight our way through this place. Too many places to get split up or overrun."

...Yeah, definitely not reassuring at all.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked, looking confused. "Overrun by what? Are there, like, lots of crazy shoppers here?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Err.." Kathy shook her head. "Sorry, Ringo. Habit. I got really used to thinking in a certain way over the last couple of months."

You know, preparing for combat with every turn. Hashtag: Just Zombie Stuff.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh."

Oh!

Ringo shook her head quickly. "No need to apologize," she said with a quick smile while mentally kicking herself for not having realized that on her own. "It's no big deal." Except for Ringo being an obliviously terrible kohai.

"I mean, it can take a while to adjust, right?"

It was something she tried to assure herself most mornings since coming back from LA, so the words came easily.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Exactly that," Kathy said, because that was her mantra, too. "Just a bit more time. It's only been, what, ten days? It's crazy to think I'd be all adjusted by now."

If it made Ringo feel any better, Kathy was clearly a terrible senpai, too. So wrapped up in her own issues, she was failing to notice Ringo's.

Truly, they were the worst.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Yeah, no joke." Ringo managed a little smile as she looked over and up at Kathy. "How are you settling in, anyway? I mean, furniture shopping is probably a sign of things getting back toward normal, right?"

Casual conversation was a good way to avoid thinking too much about the hard things. Hers or Kathy's. Especially since if either of them noticed how oblivious they were to each other, it'd probably just make them feel guilty. Guiltier.

[spin_kick_snap]

Guilty was the new black!

"Exactly!" Kathy said, flashing Ringo a grin and a victory sign. "Raven and I are gearing up to move into our own place! Thinking about maybe having a small housewarming dinner on Friday. Though it'll probably be a housewarming dinner-cum-housework party, depending on how much we get done in the next few days."

Being an insomniac sure made it possible to paint a whole apartment and assemble a bunch of furniture, though, didn't it?

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo beamed. "I'm glad you're both sticking around." She'd just gotten them back, so it was great to know she could keep them for a bit.

"Oh, hey, that reminds me! Did you guys get your stuff out of Mister Spencer's attic?"

Ringo had half-forgotten until that moment that she'd packed all that stuff up.

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's still up there," Kathy said. "We'll get it once we get the big stuff moved in."

No point bringing over clothes or knickknacks if there was nowhere to put them!

"Thank you so much for making sure it got saved," Kathy added, going to pull Ringo in for an impulsive hug. "You kept it safe for us, and we really appreciate it."

[soniaroadsqueen]

That hug was more surprising than it should have been. After all, Ringo and Kathy had always been pretty hug-y.

Things just didn't feel quite like they had before, no matter how hard Ringo tried to pretend otherwise.

But after a second, she returned the hug, maybe a little more desperately than was called for.

"Well, I figured you'd want it when you got back." No 'if', even if Ringo had given up on the possibility months ago. Better not to think about that, or the way Dante had yelled at her for wasting her time.

[spin_kick_snap]

Because they were in the calm before the storm, no matter how much they were both trying to deny it.

"I do," she assured her. "And not everyone else would have thought of it like that. Or gone to the effort of making it happen anyway. So thank you, Ringo. Thank you so much. You're really, really thoughtful and I appreciate it. You. Everything."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo tightened her hug, pressing her face against Kathy's shoulder to try to hide the way her eyes teared up a little bit at that.

"Hey, I just tried to do what you would have," she answered. Which was the truth. Ringo still spent a lot of time thinking about what Kathy, at least the perfect one in her head, would do in any given situation.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Be careful about that," Kathy warned, trying to make a little headway into shattering that perfect conception of her that Ringo had. "That kind of thinking can get you killed. It did me."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Sorry, Kathy. That was going to be a tough job, even if you were the object of the hero worship.

Actually, maybe that made it harder.

"Well, it worked out pretty well this time," she pointed out.

[spin_kick_snap]

But this pedestal was high and she was afraid of heights!

"More by luck than anything else," Kathy said. "And there won't always be a Nanika around to make a wish on. And you'll just be dead."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Well, she really should have thought of that before she was nice and supportive of a young teenaged girl.

But Ringo nodded. "I'm definitely going to try to avoid getting dead."

[spin_kick_snap]

Nice and supportive were things that everyone should try to be! Not special!

"Do that," Kathy said urgently. "And...don't just accept everything. Question. Argue. Remember that nobody has all the right answers."

Especially not a girl who'd died before she turned nineteen.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo nodded, but kept smiling. "Some people have more of them than others."

She meant you, Kathy. In case that wasn't obvious.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka noticed the make up and, unlike Kathy, she didn't have any of her own on to make the subject a no-go zone.

But Alluka really wasn't one to pry so, aside from tilting her head thoughtfully at Ringo, she let it go. But she did notice.

"Do you think the place is?" Alluka wondered. "Or maybe all the things? There's so many things!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't know," Ringo admitted. "I mean, it's just so huge." She shook her head. "What do you imagine they've filled it with?" Like, was there even enough stuff to make a place that large feel anything but empty?

[that_oldsaying]

"Fun things," Alluka opined. "Otherwise, people wouldn't come here, right?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't know," Ringo giggled. "I mean, sometimes people do things that aren't fun, don't they?"