Antigua, Saturday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's kotatsu had died an undignified death and the repair (something about proper voltage) was complicated enough to require several days of work. Faced with a girlfriend sad about the cold and, more importantly, faced with a girlfriend's frigid feet, Dante had made the executive decision that they needed a tropical vacation. Immediately. So last week, he'd basically shoved the entire household through a portal that opened to a small island in the Caribbean, complete with blue ocean, white sand, and an all-inclusive menu that contained more fruity booze cocktails than actual food items.

The week had been fun, in a lazy, let's-not-do-anything way, which had also had the side benefit of short-circuiting Kathy's "Christmas Crazy." She'd sprawled in the sun and read trashy novels and swam in the ocean and practiced her Spanish without a care. In fact, she'd lost track of the date until they were talking about returning home tomorrow and she realized that, oh shit, today was her birthday. (And also Dante's, but they didn't talk about that.)

A quick conversation with the resort, some handwavy phone calls to invite guests, and more fairy lights than a grown woman should really need and their little villa was turned into a tropical wonderland birthday party.

[Open! If you think you'd get a phone call (for either Kathy or Dante), you did! Dante modded with permission. No OCD]

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[that_oldsaying]

Luckily, tonight Alluka's hair was just held back by a soft, green headband, which she slipped off as she bounced up and over to sit where Kathy wanted her to.

"I'm sorry if all the different lengths make it harder to work with," Alluka said contritely. "And I'd never run off with your binyeo!"

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"You wanna talk complicated, you should see most of the proper Korean hairstyles," Kathy laughed. "This is gonna be easy. Maybe a little messier than it should be," since she was also working with minimal elastics, "but still okay."

She fingercombed Alluka's hair for a few moments, sectioning it out to plait it. "Wanna tell me about that thing you were trying to get out of telling me about now?"

[that_oldsaying]

"I wasn't trying to get out of telling you entirely," Alluka protested, folding her headband over in her hands. "I just wasn't sure if I should say anything at a party. But, but no one's really listening right now, I guess."

But she was looking around--as much as she could without moving her head--anyway.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You can always tell me anything," Kathy murmured. "Anytime. That's what big sisters are for."

[that_oldsaying]

"I know that," Alluka assured her swiftly. "But, but it's your birthday and--"

She'd wanted it to be a good one, not one with complicated emotions!

"Nanika and I, we think...," she hesitated a moment longer, before realizing that either she had to say it now or she had to flat out say she didn't want to say.

Her voice was very soft, small, when she continued, "We think that... that next time Sarah comes to visit that we know how to bring her fully back now."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's hands stilled in Alluka's hair. Yeah. Complicated emotions was right - but most of them were still good ones.

"I thought that couldn't be done," she said carefully, her fingers remembering to work. "I thought it was too big."

[that_oldsaying]

"So did we," Alluka admitted. "But, but as I've been learning more about how to manipulate nen, Nanika and I started exploring how we're connected. And bringing Sarah back is too much for one of us to do, but we're two of us."

Alluka tucked her hairband away.

"Can I show you something?" she asked. "I don't have to get up."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Uhh...sure?" Kathy asked. She'd been about to ask what 'nen' was, but a demonstration might help, too.

Look, she was still a little thrown here.

[that_oldsaying]

Nen was a complicated hot mess and Alluka wasn't the best at explaining it, though she could use it, thanks to training, even if she was nowhere near a master.

"This is what we figured out how to do," she said, holding one hand out in front of her. The air shivered, as if a localized breeze was rolling through softly, and then from Alluka's hand, like a drawing being sketched in, Nanika formed in front of them, bit by bit.

Once she was fully drawn, and solid, Alluka and Nanika's hands clasped each other's tightly.

"We can't be apart," Alluka said, "and, and I don't think we'll ever manage that, nor do we want to. But--"

"--We're here," Nanika said, her big, hollow black eyes studying Kathy as her empty mouth smiled.

[spin_kick_snap]

As always, those hollow eyes raised goosebumps along Kathy's arm. Nanika radiated 'danger' and Kathy was easily spooked these days. But she was also good at pushing that aside. "Does that mean I can give you a proper hug now?" she asked instead. "Two, actually, so I can thank you for my binyeo, too."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka and Nanika exchanged a glance, though they didn't need to, still connected in both mind and soul and able to hear each other just fine without looking.

"Yes," Nanika said and then, after a moment, "please."

She remembered that Kathy liked manners. Nanika's were kind of terrible but... at least she tried.

[spin_kick_snap]

At least she tried. And, honestly, trying was the important thing.

"Come here," Kathy said, gathering Nanika into her arms and giving her a gentle squeeze. "Thank you," she murmured.

You know. For the gift. For coming to her party. For--lots of things.