Room 506, Wednesday night

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo had had that weird feeling in the back of her head since Tuesday. You know, the one where you are sure you're forgetting something important that you really should have written down or something. The one where you know it's not going to be all that terrible if you never remember, but where when you do you'll be facepalming about how you could have possibly forgotten.

It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but considering how simple Ringo's routines usually were, it wasn't exactly a super-familiar feeling, either. Which meant that after dinner, Ringo had just sort of felt tired. Not the comfortable stretched muscle feeling of a good workout, but the vaguely fuzzy-brained feeling of a day doing too much hard thinking. So she took a bath to relax a bit, then decided to get to bed early.

She was slipping into sleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, and it wasn't long before she drifted into dreams.

[ooc: Expecting one. Up early for great SP justice. That Ringo went to bed early isn't secret, but comments are NFB due to being dreams.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

And it wasn't long after that that she was being woken up again. "Ringo!" Kathy insisted, latching onto Ringo's arm and giving it a good shake. "Ringo, you've got to wake up! Mikan and Ume aren't going to wait forever!" She gave Ringo one more shake for good measure and then switched over to trying to steal the blankets instead. "C'mon, lazybones! You gonna sleep forever?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo reflexively grabbed at the blankets, wanting to stay nice and warm even as she blinked sleepily. "What?" Blink blink.

"Kathy?" It didn't seem weird to have Kathy there. Ringo yawned, still groggy. "What are you talking about?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"You forgot?" Kathy sat back and pouted at Ringo. "You're the worst kohai in the world. Just for that, I'm going to eat your cheesecake." She leaned over and snagged a piece of cheesecake off Ringo's desk, tucking into it with relish. "You know what we're doing today, don't you?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Cheesecake!?" Ringo was awake now! And making grabby hands.

"That's miiiine." She wasn't sure where it had come from, but who cared? Cheesecake!

"And, um, something awesome?" No. She didn't remember.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not any more," Kathy said smugly, eating a forkful of cheesecake. "You need to learn to share."

She ate a few more bites and then hopped up. "Come onnnn, you need to get up! We have a big day to get ready for! And everybody's waiting!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo was pouting as she climbed out of bed. "But I was gonna sleep in," she whined. Then she was in front of her closet and considering a bunch of dresses she definitely hadn't bought. She decided to grab one that sort of slowly shifted color, kind of like when the sun bounced off of a puddle of oil.

"Can't they keep waiting?" For, you know, whatever it was that made today a big day.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't be so lazy," Kathy chided, picking up a brush and starting to run it through Ringo's hair. "It's not nice to make people wait. How tired are you of waiting on me, huh?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Soooo tired," Ringo allowed not weirded out at all by how good her vision was without her glasses or contacts. "But." She flashed a smirk. "Some things are so awesome they're worth the wait."

She blinked, as something about the phrase, or the situation, struck her as odd. "Some things are worth the wait," she repeated in a murmur before her smirk returned to make her firgrt any confusion.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Gosh, Ringo, stop objectifying me," Kathy teased with a toss of her hair. "I'm a person, not a thing. People become things when they die and not before."

Leaving that statement to stand on its own, Kathy pursed her lips. "Ponytails again? Or something new for our special day?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"You know you're--" The thought disappeared mid-word, so Ringo sighed and picked something else to say. "Right, I guess. Something special for--"

She trailed off again with a frown. What was so special about today?

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"That's right," Kathy said, pulling Ringo's hair up and away from her face. "Something special!"

Her hands were gentle, even went encountering overnight snarls. She hummed as she combed through Ringo's hair, singing snatches of songs that had been new eight months ago. "This is nice, isn't it?" she said with a gentle smile. "We should do this more often. Why don't we?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't know," Ringo admitted with a happy little sigh of relaxation as she leaned her head back into Kathy's fingers. She paused, looking puzzled. Because shouldn't she know?

"Well, it's not too late," she said, her smile returning as she leaned her head back to look up at Kathy. "Why don't we just agree to do it more often from now on?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"That sounds like a decent plan," Kathy agreed, smiling down at Ringo's upturned face. "Have a few more like that and you might not need a sempai anymore. And then what'll I do?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I'll never stop needing you around," Ringo said with a fond little smile.

"I'm not letting go of you that easily. You'll need something better than that if you want to get away from me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Don't worry," Kathy said with a small laugh, "I'll always be here for you." She reached out and tapped Ringo gently on the nose. "You know that, right? No matter what, I'm never that far away?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Some errant thought shot through Ringo's brain too fast for her to latch onto, but it was enough to twist her expression into one of pain for a split second before it fell into the smile appropriate for a conversation like this with her senpai.

"I know. And I hope you know how much that means to me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, I know how great I am, so I can imagine the relief it must be to know I'll always be around to bail you out of trouble," Kathy said with a wink. "And also to help you with makeup. Which is what I'm going to do just as soon as I finish with your hair, so head down, huh?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, right. Make-up." Wait. Was today that special that Kathy was going to do her makeup? Even though Ringo wasn't sure about the details, that did sound right for some reason.

She dutifully lifted her head and sighed. "But it's gonna take so long."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Yeah." Ringo grinned. "I'm pretty lucky."

Wait. Was today special enough for Kathy to do her makeup? Even though she couldn't seem to remember what was special, that sounded right for some reason, so Ringo dutifully moved into the appropriate position. But not without a little bit o token whining. "But makeup's gonna take so loooong."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Only if you keep moooooving," Kathy whined back, putting the finishing touches on an elaborate braided style that seemed like it should have taken hours to finish. "Because then I'll have to keep staaaarting oooover."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Sitting still is so boooooring," Ringo whined again. Then she grinned. "But, oooooh, pretty!" Maybe sitting still was worth it sometimes.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's hair was in a similarly elaborate style, even if it had seemed to be loose just the moment before. "What, you think I can't keep you entertained for the few minutes it takes to put makeup on?" she asked, pouting again. "Worst Ringo ever."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh yeah?" Ringo grinned, leaning back slightly into Kathy. "Okay, then, senpai. Entertain me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hmm, I'd challenge you to another karaoke contest, but you'll just end moving around a bunch, clapping and pretending that counts." She stuck her tongue out at Ringo, then picked up a big, fluffy brush and began to work it over Ringo's skin. It was literally the size of Kathy's palm and even the smallest gesture sent it gliding over the other girl's face. "Do you wanna hear my theory of the afterlife?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo's eyebrows rose. That seemed like an odd topic, but then she shrugged, still trying to hold still. "As long as you keep it interesting," she answered with a little grin.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't believe they're all harps and angels or anything like that," Kathy said, the brush offering ticklish little kisses over Ringo's skin. "I think it's a place where you keep going and keep learning things to make you a better you. Some people need a lot more learning, so it's not always pleasant, but I think that anyone can become better if they work at it. No heaven, no hell, just a place where you go to learn from your mistakes and be better. What do you believe?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo hummed. "I don't know," she admitted. "I guess I never thought about it much?"

Thinking about what happened after death involved a little too much thinking about people she'd lost for Ringo to be comfortable.

"Is that bad of me?"

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"Why should it be bad?" Kathy asked. "Don't be silly. Besides, how many people have you lost? You should name them. Count them. And never forget them, right?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Huh. I can't think of anyone," Ringo allowed after a moment, when her mind couldn't come up with any names. "But if I do, I definitely should remember them, huh?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Of course," Kathy said, and tilted Ringo's face towards the mirror. "And done! What do you think?"

Even though Kathy hadn't done anything more than dust a giant brush over Ringo's face, she had full makeup on.

"You know, no one really dies until they're forgotten. So if you forget someone, you're killing them all over again."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo glanced in the mirror. "When are you going to teach me to be as good as you at this stuff?" she asked with a teasing sigh.

"And if that's true, then I'll never forget. Ever."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, we have loads of time for you to learn all of this!" Kathy said cheerfully. "Maybe it'll be our special thing right before your junior prom. We'll go pick your dress out together, get your hair done, and then I'll teach you how to do a smokey eye to stop someone's heart from across the room."

She smiled at Ringo in the mirror and squeezed her shoulder. "I know you won't," she said, and the makeup Kathy's reflection wore was the traditional funeral style.

[soniaroadsqueen]

A veil flickered across Ringo's vision, disappeared, and then settled into place. It didn't seem out of place.

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "I don't even know if there's anyone's heart I want to stop."

She grinned. "Still, it's a skill that might be worth picking up, so I guess I'll look forward to getting together for that."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo's eyebrows rose. That seemed like an odd topic, but then she shrugged, still trying to hold still. "As long as you keep it interesting," she answered with a little grin.