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.

[Open post is open!]

Comments

[vanillajello]

"My now ex-boyfriend lives on this floor." The words came out sounding blunt, but it wasn't like Kate cared about bluntness on the best of days. She shrugged a shoulder. "So no, the kitchen didn't beat me up."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Sucks," Quinn said, actually sympathetic. "I broke up with a guy at home last month. I'm hoping he won't be in my face over Christmas, so I get why you don't want to hang out up here."

[vanillajello]

"Well, at least yours doesn't even live in the same town as you," Kate replied dryly, if not entirely hostile. "Mine lives in the same fucking building."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I'm not saying I'm not lucky," Quinn protested. "The fun part is going to be if I have to see mine with his midget, but I can ignore his existence most of the time."

[vanillajello]

"Is he dating a midget or are you just being rude?"

It was an important distinction.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"She's five two, he's six four. Next to him she looks like a midget."

So yes, just being rude.

"Do I have to be nice about her?"

[vanillajello]

Kate held up a hand. "Hey, I was just checking. You never know what kinds of circus freaks people here might live with at home."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Just your normal everyday American high school circus freaks," Quinn promised. "Why, did you grow up with the bearded lady?"

[vanillajello]

"Mmh, she never had an actual beard." Here, Quinn. Have a stray piece of honesty, most likely courtesy of Kate's wobbly mental state. "We just get a lot of different people here, that's all."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn took the stray honesty as a joke. "No, you're right," she said, shrugging. "It's ... almost a surprise when you meet someone else who isn't all that different."

[vanillajello]

"We are a rare breed," Kate drawled. "But you always have to wait and see whether someone's actually the same, or whether they just look it."

Because she'd had surprises like that happen to her a lot.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Point," Quinn allowed. "But that's just like anywhere. Sometimes people come up with something totally out of the blue and you just have to sort of go with it."