Room 505, Thursday Night

[thatsamilkshake]

So it turns out that punching a tree? Kinda stupid. SAM. Which was why the girl with her chin buried in the fur of a hunting hound (that she was still allowed to call a puppy because...YOUR FACE) looked like she was flipping people the bird if they walked past the half-open door. It wasn't them; it was just the splint. ...Okay, it was also the mood. But still not them.

Brynne, unsurprisingly, was very good at cuddling; Owain...tried to be? But there was a reason the owl on the bed was currently cuddling with Francine's birthday present (whose name was apparently Agravaine, according to -- well, that thought wasn't depressing, was it) instead of Francine.

Look, she wasn't letting them spend the night in the stables tonight, shut up. Also, just... shut up.

[OOC: Open but emo. Last post before Francie heads off for the backpacking trip, but probably not the last post in Fandom.]

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[thatsamilkshake]

Katchoo wouldn't take it as an insult if the fingers that had been stroking through the puppy's fur a moment ago were now repeating the same motions in her hair, right?

"I wonder if apartments in St. Louis let you keep owls," Francine said, voicing a thought that she was supposed to be too cheery and hopeful a person to have, but to paraphrase Katchoo sometime or other, $%&## that.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"They'll just have to deal." Katchoo couldn't possibly take that as an insult. (Had those fingers been running through a cat's fur a moment ago, on the other hand, that might be a bit dicey.) "Guess we gotta take care of 'em, huh?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"If they haven't found a way back by then." Francine failed at complete pessimism, or at least she was trying.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

And Katchoo, for her part, was trying to go for some tiny modicum of optimism. It was a little weird, and bumped up against her awareness of how badly Arthur, at least, had wanted to get home.

"There's gotta be one," she said, cautious and neutral. If purely in theory, right? Blah blah closes a door opens a window yadda all that jazz.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Right." Francine also failed at sounding sure of that. She slid her hand through Katchoo's hair again, then just let her fingers still, biting down on the second, more cynical right that wanted to slide out of her mouth.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

The one that Katchoo's brain had filled in without missing a beat, with an extra touch of cynical when she happened to catch a glimpse of her phone on the nightstand?

Oh. Yeah, that one.

"God, Francie. Damn them for making me miss 'em."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Seriously. Why couldn't they be total jerks? It would make this so much easier." Francine made a stab in the direction of funny, but there was a reason it was a dumb idea to let her wield sharp objects outside of a kitchen. She kind of stabbed herself in the eye this time, because it wasn't the first time she'd said it.

"I told Arthur that a long time ago, right after I found out he and Merlin ... that it was both of them. On the same day I got back from finding out Dad left." Francine Peters, queen of awesome timing.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Still snuggling Brynmor (she could do that, okay), Katchoo sat up to wrap one arm around Francine, and yes, she still wanted to punch Frank Peters in the face for it.

"Because they're pains in the ass that way?"

She couldn't even make herself sound all that pissed off about it, either. That just made things worse.

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine smiled a little. "Arthur did offer to try to be more cruel if I wanted him to. He was hugging me at the time, though, so it lacked a little sincerity." Or she was glommed onto him in a wet, snivelly mess. Details, details.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"And if he wasn't being bitchy at me, that's when I'd suspect something was wrong," Katchoo added.

She wasn't taking bets on that wet, snivelly mess detail, okay.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Funny how I suspect he'd say the same thing about you."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"We had an understanding," Katchoo intoned. "It works."

Works, not worked, because denial was tasty.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Merlin and I don't have understandings," Francine replied. Mmm, tasty denial with buttercream frosting. "We have ...exciting and not at all disastrous attempts to figure things out."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

And sprinkles. Don't forget the sprinkles. And maybe a lava cake-type filling.

It was gourmet, boutique level denial here.

"Not at all disastrous," Katchoo echoed, laughing gruffly in a mirthless but buttercream-frosting-fueled way. "Whaddya have to say about that, dog-and-owl show?"

[thatsamilkshake]

The owl half had chirrup to say, but was more interested in checking Agravaine's feathers for fleas. Good luck there, buddy. The dog half said, "Aroof!" and put a paw over her nose, looking up at Katchoo with big eyes.

"I think she says she wants ice cream."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Which just reminded Katchoo of a conversation with Merlin in the park, and going for ice cream with Brynmor in tow -- or rather being towed by Brynmor -- and that wasn't terribly cheering.

"You and Merlin would teach the dog to have an addiction to ice cream," Katchoo said, not remotely as exasperated as she was trying to look, but her heart wasn't in the impression anyway.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Hey, we eventually switched to doggie ice cream! ...Mostly." Emo, table for four? Except really it was two, because the other two hadn't quite cottoned on to the reason for the emo yet.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

No, and could they keep it that way? Katchoo had enough emo all on her own for about six.

"I didn't even realize they made doggie ice cream."

[thatsamilkshake]

"It's called Frosty Paws." Which made Francine want to laugh just a little, except she was a little afraid to do that because... because. "Arthur still thinks it's spoiling her. We don't care."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"He would." Katchoo was staying just this side of the laughing line herself because of the same because, thanks. "Now I wish I'd gotten around to trying to get him to . . . to . . ."

There was that because again, and she slumped against Francine.

"God."

[thatsamilkshake]

That was about Francine's take on the situation too. She dropped her forehead against Katchoo's and wriggled around so she wouldn't be squishing or squished by a hunting hound when she started the actual clinging. Because clinging there was.

"I know this is supposed to happen, we're all supposed to grow up and leave and miss people and go on with our lives or whatever the heck they did on that graduation episode of Leery's River, but I hate this. They're not just people we went to high school with."

[Yes, months later I have to come back and correct the meta. STFU.]