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

[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."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh!" Ringo laughed, trying not to pull her hair out of Kathy's fingers when she did. "That explains why you picked up the balance and aerial parts of AirTrek so fast!" That made sense!

Then she wrinkled her nose. "Aren't you a little tall for a gymnast, though?" All the one's that Ringo had ever seen were, well, her size.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey!" Kathy laughed, gently tugging Ringo's hair. "Rude! I was really good!" She grumbled a bit more, before admitting, "But yeah. I got that a lot really. My coach nearly despaired when I hit my last growth spurt."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo laughed again, having a harder time holding still. "I know you're good," she grinned. "After all, I've seen you ride. Being tall isn't a problem with AirTrek, you know. My sister Rika is taller than you, and she used to be the Thorn Queen before me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Does she miss being the Thorn Queen?" Kathy asked. "I miss competing. I liked being pushed to perform at my very best."

She began pinning long sections of hair up, then taking the curling iron to them. "Does Rika resent you beating her?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, she misses it," Ringo agreed with a soft nod. "I mean, no one as into AirTrek as we are likes the idea of giving it up."

She smiled just a bit. "And I don't think she resents me. She yells sometimes, and can be a tough trainer, but I like to think she's secretly proud of me." Not that Rika had ever said so, but it was still a comforting thought.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I bet she is." Kathy's hands stilled in Ringo's hair for a moment. "Big sisters are always proud then their little sisters go on to achieve something great. Especially when they're following in our shoes."

Well, she sorta assumed the latter. Sarah had never been much like her big sister.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blushed at that, ducking her head slightly. "Is that how you feel about your sister?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I do," Kathy said, smiling fondly into middle distance. "She's an absolute brat and is nothing like me, but I've spent my whole life looking out for her. I love her more than anyone else in the world, you know?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"That's so sweet," Ringo declared happily. "I don't feel quite that way about Ume, she's my little sister, but she's so independent that it makes it hard to know if I'm looking out for her, or if she's looking out for me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay, Sarah's pretty independent, but there are still some things I did for her." Like deflecting their parents' attention to herself, though Kathy wasn't keen on sharing that exactly. "That's one of the reasons I became Banzai, did I ever tell you?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"What? No! You totally didn't tell me that." Now Ringo was super curious. "What happened?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nothing happened, exactly? It's just that our home neighborhood--hell, most of Koreatown by this point, is pretty much run by a gang called the South Seventeens. They've been in charge since I was a little kid. I've been followed by them sometimes, they sell drugs by our old middle school, there have been shootouts not far from where we live, all that kind of stuff. It's never actually affected us much, but it's definitely been something like...an environmental hazard, I guess. So all this stuff I do in Baltimore? It's all prep for when I take the fight home to the SS. Because Sarah deserves to live somewhere that's safe."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh." Ringo's smile muted, but was no less genuine. "That makes sense."

She turned slightly to shoot Kathy a glance. "If you want any help when you decide to do that, you'll let me know, right?" For just a second, something cold and dark flickered in her eyes before disappearing beneath her usual expression.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You wanna move to LA with me?" Kathy teased, giving Ringo another hug as she did so. "This isn't going to be a weekend long thing. The SS is entrenched. Has been for a decade at least."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, I don't know about move," Ringo snorted. "The AT scene totally sucks there. But I could visit!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Worse than here?" Kathy asked. "But yes. You should visit. Whether you're there to help me kick ass or just to take in the sights."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Definitely worse than here," Ringo smirked.

"Though I bet you've got better terrain for it." It was hard to get much worse than Fandom for AT terrain without living on, like, a farm.