Fifth Floor Common Room, Monday Afternoon

[soniaroadsqueen]

It had required moving some furniture around in order to create the space necessary, but Ringo had managed to lay down a big white sheet on the floor and pin its corners with some large boxes. She'd even had boxes left over, and those were stacked near the edge of the area she'd blocked off.

Most of the boxes were open, too, and revealed their contents to be hundreds of tiny different bits of metal. Ringo had asked Ume to send her AT parts, and Ume had delivered in spades. She had enough pieces here to put together dozens pairs. Sometimes, apparently, little sisters were good for something after all!

Of course so many boxes had taken a lot of work to get up to the fifth floor, and she hoped no one had been annoyed as she had painstakingly moved one box at a time from the lobby.

Now Ringo was sitting in the middle of that white sheet, her smile matched by some happy humming as her hands rapidly swapped out small screwdrivers for tiny wrenches and the pile of precisely-machined metal in front of her began to take shape.

Every so often some screw or gear would slip from her fingers, and she'd have to put down what she had so far and find it. Fortunately, the sheet was very, very clean, and practically nothing blended in against it. So soon enough she'd be back to humming and assembling, and she was almost done with the first unit.

[Open!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"Of course!" Kathy said. "I may not always be in my room or I may be busy with other things, but even if I can't see you right then, you're always welcome to come back!"

She gave Alluka a smile. "It's good to have friends visit me. It reminds me to stop studying sometimes."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka giggled and smiled. "Do you do lots of studying?"

She certainly didn't!

There was no obvious shift in demeanor or manner, but in the next second Alluka was gone, and it was Nanika who stared out through Alluka's big blue eyes.

"I want you to hug Bubbles."

[spin_kick_snap]

And Kathy, with no magic or telepathy or anything along those lines only saw a little girl offering up a beloved toy for a hug. What was wrong with that?

"Awww, okay," Kathy said, leaning in to give Bubbles a good snuggle. "I'm sorry, it was rude of me not to give him a hug when I gave you one, wasn't it?"

[that_oldsaying]

Nanika smiled as Kathy hugged Bubbles.

One request down.

She stared at Kathy. "I want you to brush my hair."

Had Kathy been able to see her aura, she'd be getting the serious creeps now.

[spin_kick_snap]

And if wishes were horses--you know what? Never mind. Kathy couldn't see auras and it was probably best to leave it there.

Kathy raised an eyebrow at the the bald demand, but it was true that Alluka's hair could use a bit of a brush. It was ragged and unevenly cut, which meant it was prone to tangles. "Okay," she said, pulling a small brush out of her bag. "Hmm. You look like you're about due for a trim. We should see about taking care of that for you," she said, pulling her brush through Alluka's hair.

There. That hadn't been that bad!

[that_oldsaying]

It hadn't been that bad at all and Nanika was happy and smiling at everything.

But there was still one more to go! Would Kathy make it three-for-three without any problems.

"Get me an apple."

[spin_kick_snap]

Of course not! Because why should things ever go smoothly?

"All right, now just a wait a minute," Kathy said sternly, folding her arms over her chest. "I think there might be a few key words missing from that request there. Why don't you ask again, but using your manners?"

[that_oldsaying]

Nanika frowned. Was Kathy refusing her?

She looked up at her uncomprehendingly. "Get me an apple."

God, Kathy.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not if you don't say please," Kathy said, drawing on her many, many years of big sisterly authority.

That's right, Nanika. Tremble.

[that_oldsaying]

Ugh.

Nanika didn't tremble. She simply marked that request down in her head as a loss for Kathy and changed her request.

"Get me a drink."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Say please or I'm not moving," Kathy said, looking stubborn. "I know you have lovely manners. I've seen you use them. So I don't know why you've suddenly decided to pretend they don't exist, but I'm your friend, Alluka, not your servant."

[that_oldsaying]

This time she didn't even bother to repeat her request, taking the no as final.

Nanika frowned at Kathy. Hard.

"Get me a sandwich."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy glared at Alluka. "No," she said, refusing that third and final time. "Get it yourself."

[that_oldsaying]

Nanika looked unmoved by that refusal, but anyone paying attention to her aura would notice a certain... change...

You had one more chance, Kathy. That was it.

"Get me a sandwich," she insisted.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy glared at Alluka and then relented. "Are you just hungry, Alluka?" she asked. "You could just say that instead of being so demanding." She still sounded disappointed in Alluka's refusal to say 'please', but lord knew that Kathy wasn't exactly the most pleasant person in the world when she was hangry.

"Fine," she said, turning to the fridge. "I will make you a sandwich, Alluka, because I have no idea what or when you've been eating and you're clearly so hungry you've forgotten your manners. But I hope they come back with a full belly."

There was bread, butter, and cheese in the fridge, as well a tomato that still looked good and half an onion. It didn't take a full ten minutes for Kathy to make a grilled cheese sandwich, which she passed to Alluka, along with the glass of milk and an apple she found in the crisper.

"Eat up," she said. NO HAPPY SMILES FOR YOU, ALLUKA.

[that_oldsaying]

That's okay! Nanika was going to smile all the happy smiles as she dug in.

It was tasty and exactly what she'd wanted--and more than that, besides, as she ate her apple and drank her milk too--and Kathy narrowly avoided painful, bloody death.

Really, it was a win all around!

She was still smiling as she finished up.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Did you have anything you wanted to say?" Kathy asked, waiting patiently.

Dorm mom right here, let it be known.

[that_oldsaying]

Nanika paused at that and glanced at Kathy speculatively.

Oh, fine. It wasn't like she didn't know the words existed.

"Thank you," she said politely.

Happy now?

[spin_kick_snap]

Yes, actually, Kathy was. "I appreciate that," Kathy told her, taking her plate and cup to the sink so she could wash up. "I'm always happy to make sure you eat something, but manners go a long way, okay?"

[that_oldsaying]

Since Kathy seemed to expect an answer, Nanika gave her a simple, powerless, "Okay."

Once Kathy had taken her dishes, though, the familiar blue eyes of Alluka disappeared, to be replaced with Nanika's true features: empty pits for eyes and a mouth, as her power flared around her.

And she waited for Kathy to make a wish.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy continued to wash the dishes, speaking loudly enough for Alluka to hear her over the sound of running water. "Look, I know what it's like to be so hungry you're just mad at everything. And if you feel that way, come to me, or to Anders, or to the common rooms--or the cafeteria if you're up at the school--and we'll make sure you get something to eat. Eating regularly is important. You're still growing, after all."

She finished the dishes in the sink, and left them drying in the rack. "Speaking of eating, I'm kind of peckish. Hmm...I wonder..." Without looking at Alluka, Kathy crossed over to the fridge and opened the freezer, taking in the morass of frozen dinners and ice cube trays and forgotten detritus that had migrated up to the freezer. "I could really go for some ice cream right now. I would love to find a carton with more than just half a scoop left because someone didn't want to finish it off. How about you, Alluka? Do you want some ice cream, too?"

Fat chance. This was a dorm freezer after all and ice cream lasted maybe ten minutes before the teenage locusts descended.

[that_oldsaying]

The funny thing about wishes was that they did not have to be phrased directly as such for Nanika to understand them as being a wish.

Nanika smiled, her empty pit of a mouth curving, as she said: "Okay."

This 'okay' was accompanied by a brief surge of power as Kathy's wish was granted.

There would be ice cream in the freezer. Definitely.

Then, between one blink and the next, Nanika left and Alluka was back, to pick up her giraffe and notice that she felt pleasantly full. Nanika was a pleased presence in the back of her head, so Alluka wasn't worried about anything.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh my god!" The searching had paid off in ways that Kathy would never have expected. Somehow, an entire half-gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough had gotten buried behind and never discovered. It was still sealed and heavy in Kathy's grip when she picked it up. "Hey, Alluka, look what I found!"

She turned and held up the full container of ice cream, like an archaeologist with a find that would revolutionize the field. "You up for an ice cream sundae?"