Room 511, Saturday Evening

[thatsamilkshake]

If Francine had made it back to the island in time for the Welcome Picnic, anybody who didn't know her might well have mistaken her for one of the new students, considering the number of boxes and bags she was laden down with.

But no, she'd been here more than a semester now, and the packages were just the debris of a Peters family Christmas, divided about half and half between wearable and edible. Her flight got in late enough that by the time she hit her room and offloaded at least enough packages to start pulling off three layers of mom-knitted outerwear, Francine was way too...... flooooooooph to consider heading down to what was left of the picnic.

It was a happy kind of flooooooph, though, as she set about trying to sort things into Hang Up, Give Out, Eat, or Drop Off At The Thrift Shop And Tell Grandma It Burned In Freak Closet-Fire.

The door was propped open with a couple of neatly-wrapped boxes as she moved around the room, humming cheerfully.

[OOC: Open to oldbies, newbies, roomies, and pretty much anything that ends in ies except mummies because NO.]

Comments

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Super-durable," said Katchoo, and who knew Francine's superpower was making Katchoo's voice do that otherwise-impossible weak-and-faltering thing? "Wow, Francine, you, uh -- you shouldn't have, really!" she concluded with a too-bright smile.

Also, lots of internal flailing.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Of course I should have!" Francine insisted, blissfully unaware of what she'd let that poor clock in for. Sort of. "When you love somebody it's your duty to make sure they get to class on time at least once a week!"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Francie, if you love me you should let me sleep through all my classes," Katchoo half protested, but even if that poor clock was in for a rough life of it the gesture wasn't lost on her. So that would be Katchoo going in for a hug again.

[thatsamilkshake]

"If you did that, you might flunk out!" Francine protested, perfectly happy with the hug option.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that'd be such a loss to the academic world," quipped Katchoo. Who was, it might be noted, still glomping. "Missed you, you goof."

[thatsamilkshake]

"It'd be a loss to the Francine community!" Francine said, bonking her forehead lightly against Katchoo's. "I missed you too."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo grinned up -- and up -- at Francine. "I oughta send your mom flowers for letting you come back, except that would kinda defeat the purpose." She had a feeling Francine would start to wonder if she didn't actually take the clock (*gulp*) out of the box soon, though, and disengaged herself to start the next phase of gift-opening.

". . . it has wheels?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"And a little face!" Francine clapped. "Isn't it cute?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"It's somethin', all right." Katchoo wouldn't have said 'cute.' It reminded her of one of those roadsters with the round headlights and the gleaming oval chrome grill that looked, in the rearview mirror, like it was coming up behind you to bite you in the ass.

It also seemed to be on, already, and not blinking 12:00. "Batteries included, apparently."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine looked closer at it. "Really? I bought some but I didn't put them in. I guess you have extras now."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

And then the clock beeped at her. Not a beep so much as a shrill alarm blare, but just for a second. And with attitude.

Katchoo stared at it. "I'm already awake, you know."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine laughed and patted it on the... well, on the top, which was sort of like a head, since it had a face. "Aww. It's just saying hi!"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

The clock beeped now, an actual beep that sounded much friendlier than the noise it had made a few moments ago.

"Just saying hi, she says, like it's normal for clocks to do that," she muttered.

Bzzzzzt! The clock, apparently offended, wriggled its way out of Katchoo's hands and hit the floor, where it proceeded to drive around her feet in circles.

"Um."

[thatsamilkshake]

"That's what the wheels are for!" Francine explained. Except for how that explained nothing except the obvious, that they were for driving around Katchoo's feet in circles while beeping indignantly.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo started to aim a kick at the clock and caught herself halfway when it hit her that kicking her Christmas present was probably not the best thing to do in front of the person who'd given it to her. (She couldn't help it; hitting clocks was a habit.)

Of course, the end result of this was Katchoo on her back on the floor with a clock rolling up to her head and going bzzzzzzzzzzt in her face. For a standard alarm clock noise, it sounded alarmingly *rimshot* like a raspberry.

"I'm pretty sure none of these features were listed on the box."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine tried not to laugh as she offered Katchoo a hand up. Reeeeally.

"Well, it did say 'New and Exciting Abilities!' "

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

The clock rolled away a few feet and let out a series of rapidfire beeps like a snicker, and Katchoo spared it a narrow-eyed Look (tm) as she hauled herself back up with Francine's help. "And now," she drawled, "every time I wake up I can think of you."

[thatsamilkshake]

"Beeping in your ear?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah," Katchoo said, and the clock rolled up to bump into her foot again, insistently. "Those sweet, dulcet beeps that make me never wanna get out of bed."

BzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

". . . not like that."

[thatsamilkshake]

"I don't think it likes people staying in bed," Francine teased.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

The clock bumped into Katchoo's foot again, even more obnoxiously. "Gee, you don't say."

[thatsamilkshake]

"It likes you, though!" Obviously.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo managed a slightly manic smile. "The gift that keeps on giving."