Room 508, Sunday afternoon
May. 1st, 2016 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaroadsqueenRingo had started the day by grabbing a box of donuts right as JGOB opened and taking them out to the causeway. She'd sat there for hours, slowly eating her way through the box, some tiny part of her hoping that two particular people would come walking up and share the pastries with her. No one had, though. Besides, even if one or both of them did eventually make it back, the chances that it would happen to be today as opposed to any other day were pretty slim. An hour after she finished the last donut, Ringo admitted to herself that she was just putting off the task she'd assigned herself, so she headed back to the dorm.
After stopping by her room for a stack of unassembled boxes, a couple of rolls of packing tape, and some markers, she finally opened the door to room 508. An few hours later, Ringo was pretty sure that the two boxes on Raven's bed represented everything the girl had had in the room. Only a few clothes, and what seemed like some antique knickknacks. It wasn't much to leave behind, and somehow that seemed sad. Ringo snorted at that thought. As if Raven's lack of stuff was somehow sadder than Raven never coming back.
There were quite a few more boxes on Kathy's bed, and it had taken here even longer to pack those than it probably would have if so many of those things hadn't sucked Ringo into memories of their owner. A couple of dresses that Letty had insisted Kathy buy in Baltimore. A set of lockpicks. A well-read, but cared-for acceptance letter to Stanford. A sticker-covered iPod (which was such a Kathy thing to own because who even had iPods anymore?).
A pair of well-worn ATs, which she spent a couple of minutes examining, running her fingers lightly along the worn down spots. You could tell a lot about someone from their ATs. What their stance looked like, what kind of tricks they enjoyed the most, the kind of terrain they rode on. To Ringo's practiced eye it was like a montage of every ride Kathy had ever done. She had to swallow around a lump in her throat before she could return to her task.
Most of those things, those memories, went into boxes. After some maudlin staring at a few of them, perhaps, but into boxes. But not everything. Ringo had found a heavy envelope with "Dante" written on it in Kathy's hand, and a couple of paper-wrapped packages addressed to Anders. Once she'd found those, Ringo had looked more carefully, half-hoping that there would be something with her own name on it, but there hadn't been anything. She knew that that didn't mean anything, but somehow it still hurt. She'd taken a couple of minutes to think about that, then Ringo had set the iPod aside next to the other things that needed to be delivered. Kathy probably would have preferred to know that someone would get something out of her music collection, right?
Now Ringo was doing one last pass through the room, looking in corners of closets and under beds to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. If this was the last thing she was going to get to do for her friends, she wanted to do it right.
[ooc: Room and belongings modded with permission. Door and post open.]
After stopping by her room for a stack of unassembled boxes, a couple of rolls of packing tape, and some markers, she finally opened the door to room 508. An few hours later, Ringo was pretty sure that the two boxes on Raven's bed represented everything the girl had had in the room. Only a few clothes, and what seemed like some antique knickknacks. It wasn't much to leave behind, and somehow that seemed sad. Ringo snorted at that thought. As if Raven's lack of stuff was somehow sadder than Raven never coming back.
There were quite a few more boxes on Kathy's bed, and it had taken here even longer to pack those than it probably would have if so many of those things hadn't sucked Ringo into memories of their owner. A couple of dresses that Letty had insisted Kathy buy in Baltimore. A set of lockpicks. A well-read, but cared-for acceptance letter to Stanford. A sticker-covered iPod (which was such a Kathy thing to own because who even had iPods anymore?).
A pair of well-worn ATs, which she spent a couple of minutes examining, running her fingers lightly along the worn down spots. You could tell a lot about someone from their ATs. What their stance looked like, what kind of tricks they enjoyed the most, the kind of terrain they rode on. To Ringo's practiced eye it was like a montage of every ride Kathy had ever done. She had to swallow around a lump in her throat before she could return to her task.
Most of those things, those memories, went into boxes. After some maudlin staring at a few of them, perhaps, but into boxes. But not everything. Ringo had found a heavy envelope with "Dante" written on it in Kathy's hand, and a couple of paper-wrapped packages addressed to Anders. Once she'd found those, Ringo had looked more carefully, half-hoping that there would be something with her own name on it, but there hadn't been anything. She knew that that didn't mean anything, but somehow it still hurt. She'd taken a couple of minutes to think about that, then Ringo had set the iPod aside next to the other things that needed to be delivered. Kathy probably would have preferred to know that someone would get something out of her music collection, right?
Now Ringo was doing one last pass through the room, looking in corners of closets and under beds to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. If this was the last thing she was going to get to do for her friends, she wanted to do it right.
[ooc: Room and belongings modded with permission. Door and post open.]
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 07:29 pm (UTC)Something about Alluka's words and tone, the things that kept getting repeated, were beginning to give shape to a realization. One that she'd never really paid enough attention to have picked up on before. It was just the seed of an idea, but now that she had it, she was frowning slightly.
"Do you really think that Kathy would care more about her stuff being here, where she left it, than about whether we were okay and remembered her and were glad to have her back?"
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Date: 2016-05-01 07:35 pm (UTC)"She needs to have a home," Alluka said stubbornly, because it was true. "And you're stealing hers. You're being bad, Ringo. When she gets back, she'll be happy to see us. But she still needs a home."
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 07:41 pm (UTC)But something else was bothering Ringo, now. "But she was graduating this year. She would have been leaving sometime this summer." Alluka had understood that, right?
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 07:45 pm (UTC)Or anything like that.
She shook her head furiously. "No, she wasn't going to leave!" Alluka protested. "Even, even if she... graduated? This is her home! She'd stay here!"
Obviously.
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Date: 2016-05-01 07:52 pm (UTC)She focused her gaze back on Alluka. "It's in California, Alluka. On the other side of the country. She would have started in the Fall."
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Date: 2016-05-01 07:56 pm (UTC)That was a lie, right?
That Kathy would've left anyway? Was she not going to tell Alluka? Was her being sick just a story so that Alluka would be okay? Was, was Alluka the stupid one instead of Ringo?
Did, did that mean Kathy had lied to her?
"You're lying!" Alluka was back to shouting. "You're lying! You're wrong! You're bad! You're making things up! You're stealing Kathy's room and now you're lying! Kathy said she's coming back! She's coming back and she's not leaving! I'm going to believe what Kathy told me! Not you!"
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 08:02 pm (UTC)"I can show you the letter, if you like. The one from Stanford."
It wasn't that Ringo cared (much) about the accusation, and it wasn't that she wanted to hurt Alluka, but she couldn't stand the thought of the other girl waiting forever, insisting that nothing would ever change and that everything was fine.
Because it wasn't fine. And when you lost someone, you needed to mourn them properly.
Hear that, Dante?You couldn't do that by sticking your fingers in your ears and refusing to face reality.no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 08:12 pm (UTC)Alluka wasn't stupid, but she had none of the frame of reference any other person her physical age would have. Graduation didn't make sense to her. Not getting to keep her room didn't make sense to her.
None of this made sense to her and she didn't want it to either, since it meant that Ringo was right and Kathy wasn't coming back.
She hadn't lost anyone. Kathy was coming back.
"I don't care about a stupid letter!" Alluka snapped. "I don't care about it! You probably just made all of it up too! Just like you're so eager to get rid of Kathy! You never were her friend! You don't care about her at all! You just want her gone! That's why you're doing this! I never knew you were so mean, Ringo! Why are you being so mean?"
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 08:17 pm (UTC)You were never her friend!
She had been trying to keep it together. To be mature and adult and responsible. Like Kathy would have been if their situations were reversed.
You don't care about her at all!
She wanted to be there for all the people that Kathy's loss was hurting. All the people who, in other circumstances, Kathy would have been there to comfort.
You just want her gone!
But for the moment, Ringo couldn't be there for anyone. She was too busy curling her knees up to her chest on Kathy's bed and sobbing.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 08:22 pm (UTC)Alluka looked at Ringo, sobbing on the bed, and her own eyes filled with tears again.
"You're the worst, Ringo!"
Then she ran, away from Ringo, and away from the mess she was making of Kathy's room.
Ringo was such a liar! She was so mean! She was completely wrong.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-01 08:31 pm (UTC)Eventually she cried herself out and grabbed the hem of her tshirt, lifting it up to scrub at her face before taking a deep breath and making herself stand up.
She had a job to finish.
She'd think about Alluka, and about what she should do with her friend (still her friend, she hoped), later.
Later.