Fifth Floor Common Room, Tuesday Evening

[icecoldfrost]

It was her birthday.

Emma turned the crayon-colored card Hank had manged to mail her over in her hands, trying to wrap her mind around it while the television droned on in the background with Tim Gunn telling someone why they sucked in an awesome manner.

It was her birthday, and she was eighteen. She no longer had to worry about Winston trying to have her committed so that she'd disappear, or social services, or anything like that. She could open a bank account in her own name. She could go to college, get a job, be seen in public. She could have her life back.

It was almost too big to process, but every time she started getting overwhelmed, she touched the flower in her hair and had to grin a little bit.

It was her eighteenth birthday. And so far, it was off to a pretty good start.

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Comments

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Are there really people who hear about goblin invasions, man-eating lockers, randomly turning into an animal, and the complete absence of intramural sports and still think they know it all?" Quinn asked, arching an eyebrow.

[icecoldfrost]

"Boys." Really, that said it all. "Let a girl realize they don't know everything? Perish the day."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I forgot about boys," Quinn said. "If I get one and he doesn't believe me, I think I'll just shut up and let him find out for himself."

Never let it be said Quinn lacked a vindictive streak.

[icecoldfrost]

"Or point them in the direction of someone absolutely insane," Emma suggested. "Like the charming vice principal."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn laughed. "Now I have to decide if I can be quite that mean," she said primly. "On the first day we have to have some mercy."

She so didn't believe that.

[icecoldfrost]

"And on the second, we must be kind. The third, we must be practical." That was about the extent of Emma's patience sometimes, yes. "Which makes our slumber-party plan for the girls excellent, because we can educate them all at once."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Now you're sounding like you have more of a plan than face masks and twister," Quinn observed. "What did you have in mind? That wouldn't make the party feel more like a work camp."

[icecoldfrost]

"Manicures, too," she added. "It's still a party, but a party where we get to do a mass-introduction to culture, without repeating ourselves over and over. Yes, everyone, this is a light-switch, the tv doesn't hear you, and nail polish is pretty, not the devil."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Don't let boys get their own way all the time, take extra classes if you ever want to go to college, learn how to use a baseball bat," Quinn finished. "So, the usual."

[icecoldfrost]

"God, yes, take extra classes," Emma agreed. "Could you imagine trying to get into ESU with something like that demolitions class on your transcript?"

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I somehow ended up in the badass class last term," Quinn said. "It was the best of bad options. At least you can spin demolitions as science."

[icecoldfrost]

"I wonder if they fake our records or something. Maybe badass counts as public speaking," she mused. "The administration can't be that out of touch with reality."

Keep hoping, Ems.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Do people really go to college from here?" Quinn wondered. "Or do they go home and beat up on dragons, or whatever?"