Room 506, Monday afternoon

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo hadn't been to a club before. Prior to Fandom, she'd never really had the opportunity. She wasn't even sure if she was super-excited about it now that she did have the opportunity, but she did have to admit that she was curious.

And a bit competitive.

Which meant that her first time at a club had to be impressive. But it was hard to be impressive when you weren't entirely sure what constituted "impressive" at the intended venue. Which was why Ringo wasn't making a ton of progress in picking from the various dresses that she'd laid out on her bed. They were all new-ish, items she'd picked up on her trip into Baltimore with Kathy.

At least she'd decided that she was definitely wearing heels, and she only had the one pair of those, so that part of her wardrobe was figured out?

Now she just had to do the rest.

Good thing she had plenty of time.

[ooc: Door and post open!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy facepalmed. "Umm, hosiery?" she explained, already pulling out her phone again. If she had to pull up an image of what she meant, she would.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh!" Ringo grinned. "Yeah, I think I've got some."

Hold on while she dug around in her closet. In the boxes at the very bottom. You know, the ones she hadn't opened since she got to the island. She came back out with a triumphant expression. And an unopened package. "These, right?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yes!" Kathy said, looking relieved. It was a translation thing, not a 'I have no idea what these are' thing. "You don't have to wear them, but they'll make your legs looks sleeker."

And at least Ringo wasn't wearing a sports bra. Though they were going to have to go shopping for undergarments sometime, too.

"Ideas for hairstyles?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, I sort of doubt pulling it up in the traditional way," like she'd had it at the homecoming carnival, "will make sense if there's dancing involved," she mused. "But that's about the only fancy style I know how to do."

[spin_kick_snap]

"We don't need fancy, we need hairspray," Kathy stated. "...You don't have any hairspray, do you."

Not really a question.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't think so?" Ringo admitted, glancing toward her closet. "I could check, though?" Who knew? Rika might have snuck some into a moving box at the beginning of the summer.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nah, it's okay. I'll be right back again."

This time when she returned, she had a curling iron, hair spray, bobby pins, and several other items that looked like they'd be useful. "From my mom," she explained. "She's big on trying to turn me into some kind of beauty pageant contestant or something. She's always calling me her beautiful girl, like if she says it enough, it'll be true."

Shrugging, she dumped everything on the bed. "Okay, ponytails out. I need to see what we're working with."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo frowned slightly. "But you are beautiful." Duh, Kathy. "And you know a ton more about fashion than I do." Which was probably true of almost everyone on the island, but shh.

Still, she reached up and pulled the elastics out of her hair, setting it loose. It tumbled free, long and thick and glossy. Ringo at least used conditioner. "Usually I just pull it back or something," she said, catching a strand in one hand and holding it out to examine.

[spin_kick_snap]

"No, my little sister is beautiful," Kathy said softly, but with a wistful smile. "I'm attractive enough, but beauty is--different. Dramatic, maybe. Not me." She still leaned forward to give Ringo a hug, though. "But thanks for saying so anyway. Though pretty much everyone on the island knows more about fashion than you do."

After she pulled away and let Ringo free her hair, she immediately reached for the brush. "You've got gorgeous hair. Such a lovely color and so long! Hmm. Should we go for sleek?" she asked. "Or artfully tousled?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"What's artfully tousled look like?" Ringo asked. "I know sleek. That's Rika's style." She shook her head, "I don't know if I'm nearly pretty enough to pull that off." It really didn't help that Ringo's best reference was her oldest sister who was practically built like a model.

[spin_kick_snap]

As opposed to Ringo? Cause there was nothing wrong with how she was built. Kathy could admit to jealousy over that. "It's...deliberately messy," she explained. "Like, sleek? There's kind of this feeling of perfection to it, you know? You look like...nothing and no one can touch you." She mimicked a haughty look so Ringo could understand what she meant. "Artfully tousled is messy, earthy. Like you just finished an AT race and still look this good."

She was guessing for the one Ringo was going to go for.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, that sounds way more like my style," Ringo grinned. "I mean, I am untouchable when it comes to AirTrek, but this is different. I mean, I do want to impress people, but I also want to be, well, me, you know?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy laughed. "Just wait till I figure out how to make my ATs use my natural speed," she teased, running the brush through Ringo's hair, delicately untangling snarls as she went. "And I beat you in a straight race. Ha!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"You keep telling yourself that," Ringo said airily, suppressing a wince at a particularly tangled bit. Though, considering how little attention she paid to it, her hair was actually in pretty good shape.

"Though I can't wait, either, to see what you can really do." Ringo turned her head to shoot Kathy a grin.

[spin_kick_snap]

Well, maybe if somebody bothered to explain Tuning to Kathy, she'd be better at it.

"Me too," she said, returning that grin, but then pushed Ringo's face back around so she could keep brushing. The curling iron was slowly heating next to her; a few long curls and waves would definitely work with what Kathy was picturing in her head. "So, I'm thinking most of it will be up," she said, "with some tendrils to fall around you for framing. Does your hair take a curl?"

Kathy's didn't without a lot of prep, but maybe Ringo had gotten lucky!

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Um. Maybe?" Ringo had absolutely no idea.

But a little experimentation would almost certainly reveal that it didn't.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Rinnnnnngoooo," Kathy groaned, though it turned into a laugh more than halfway through. "What would you have done if I hadn't come knocking at your door?"

Besides lose the bet she had with Dante, showing up in socks and heels.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I would have figured something out!" Ringo insisted. "Um, but it probably wouldn't have been as good as what you're doing."

Like, picking a random dress, and maybe even trying to go sockless with the heels. And just pulling the elastics out of her hair and calling it good.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah, probably," Kathy said, snickering.

Ringo's hair brushed, she started winding hair around the curling iron to see how well it would take. The resulting curl lasted maybe a minute before falling. "That answers that," she said, switching tactics a bit. "Your hair takes a curl about as well as mine, which is to say it doesn't. So with a lot of of patience and even more gel, we're going to try for a wave."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"A wave?" Ringo sounded kind of excited. "That sounds pretty!"

One day she'd appreciate how much work Kathy was doing for her here.

[spin_kick_snap]

And on that day, she could explain it to her grandchildren, what an underappreciated friend Kathy had been.

"Well, we'll see how well it works out," Kathy said. "And you won't be able to play with your hair much, or you'll ruin it. But having it up means you can dance and move a lot and not have it hang hot and sweaty on your neck."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"That makes sense!" Ringo grinned. "So, hot and practical. I like the sound of this."

She found herself humming happily as Kathy continued to work at her hair. "How did you learn to do all this stuff, anyway? Was it all your mom?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"My mom and my little sister," Kathy said. "I had to wear makeup for meets--stupid, I know, but we did--and my mom would do it for me and talk all about makeup. I'm good at remembering things. And Sarah's all about hair and makeup, too, and she used to try things out on me." Then tension that built up within her when she talked about her mom ebbed as she explained about Sarah. "They were both really into fashion, too, but since that involved actually going out and buying clothes, I didn't really get lessons in that. Not till Fandom, anyway."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Meets?" Ringo asked.

"And if they were into fashion, why didn't you go buy clothes, too?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because I had to practice, or had homework, or just didn't want to," Kathy said. "When they worked on me, I could just sit there and do other stuff. Shopping with my mom on a limited budget's a lot less fun than shopping with Letty. And it's pretty hard to go shopping from behind a book."

Not that she hadn't tried, plenty of times.

"Oh! Didn't I tell you? I used to be a gymnast. Not a professional, because I didn't get paid and I was only decent--" Which mostly meant 'not good enough for her father' "--but I participated in meets and competitions for years."