5th Floor Common Room, Monday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had been responsible all morning, finishing up the last of her college applications before running off to class. So it wasn't until she got home and logged onto the net that she finally saw the news.

Oh. Oh damn.

There seemed to really be only one thing to do, once she'd gotten past the point of just staring at the screen and willing them to take it all back and declare it to be some kind of weird, tasteless, internet joke. And that was head to the common room and watch the fantasy movie he'd made what, thirty years ago now? Sure, as she'd grown up, she'd started listening to his real music; started appreciating his other roles, both on screen and on stage. But this flick, silly as it was (with a glitter budget almost the size of StuCo's), it was where it had all began.

Huh. According to the back of her DVD, the movie had had supposedly been inspired by "true events". Funny how she'd never noticed that before.

[Because method RP helps? Or something?]

Comments

[ungue.livejournal.com]

Laura was going to head straight to her bed to sulk like a champ, but she sniffed Kathy upstairs and decided to pay a visit. Friends did that, right?

Poking her head in, her attention was temporarily diverted to the television. It was a somewhat familiar sight, but Laura had never been a big movie watched. "What are you watching?" Laura said as she went on to sit next to Kathy, eyes still on the screen.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey," Kathy said, glancing over to give Laura a wan smile. "You've never seen this movie? One of the best fantasy flicks from the 80s. Directed by Jim Hension, produced by George Lucas, designed by Brian Froud...in the 80s, you couldn't do better than those three if you wanted a genre movie."

Granted the movie had barely made half of its budget back at the box office, but it wasn't Kathy's fault people had been stupid in the 80s.

"We're not all that far in if you want to watch it with me?" Kathy offered. "I can catch you up to speed."

[ungue.livejournal.com]

"I have seen very few movies", Laura admitted as she got comfortable on the couch. Movie nights with the other X teens had never been her cup of tea. So Laura listened with interest, as she did know the names of the people she was talking about, kinda.

"Sure", she said, eyes going back to the screen. It wasn't what she had had in mind but it would help her relax anyway. "What is it about?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Every older sister's dream and worst nightmare combined?" Kathy said with a wry laugh. "So, this girl--" She nodded at the TV where the main character was running down a featureless hallway. "--was stuck baby-sitting her baby brother who kept constantly crying. Annoyed, she wished that goblins would come and take him away--and then they do. Except, of course, she hadn't really wanted him to be kidnapped, hadn't even realized that that would work, and so made a deal with the goblin king to get her brother back. She's in a giant maze that she has to solve in a limited amount of time or her brother will turn into a goblin and stay in the Goblin Kingdom forever."

Her laugh was less wry and more open this time. "I got grounded for a week once because my little sister tattled to our parents that I kept trying to trade her to the Goblin King."

[ungue.livejournal.com]

Laura nodded slowly. She rarely stopped to think about family. She knew the basics of annoying little sisters, though, so she was pretty sure that smiling at her attempts to send her sister away via goblins. "It is a good premide", Laura decided a moment later. Something that could probably catch her attention. The girl in question seemed to be more brains than brawn too, so that added depth to her.

"It might have been a lot more if it had actually worked." Because once you go to hell you stop believing some things are impossible. She actually managed to sound amused though; no need to imply she might have casted her sister to another dimension on purpose.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Ha!" Kathy countered with a grin. "I had a plan for that! I was going to take the Goblin King's offer to stay in the Labyrinth. I would have swanned around in a frilly ball gown and never gone home and gotten into trouble."

[ungue.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like something you would do." Or something like a younger Kathy would do. "And your sister? She would be a goblin." Maybe it wasn't such a big loss.

[spin_kick_snap]

"And when we were younger, I would have told you there wasn't much of a difference," Kathy said, dimpling at Laura. "She's three years younger than me so while we didn't fight, exactly, we didn't always get along, either." There was no fighting in the Li household. That was practically carved in stone. "I mean, I always looked out for her, always tried to protect her, but then she'd come into my room and touch my stuff or steal my clothes and I'd threaten to sell her to the Goblin King."

[ungue.livejournal.com]

"I have no reference point other than my cousin Megan, but I had to put some distance education with her for her safety." Sending her to a magical kindgom might not had been a bad option.

Also, she had technically killed all her siblings. Clones. Kinda.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna gave a small wave as she took a seat on the couch. "Hello. I am Hanna. Welcome to Fandom."

She pretty much knew everyone but the new kids by sight by now, unless... "Unless you are a boy changed into a girl, or a girl changed into someone else, in which case, you were already welcome."

[ungue.livejournal.com]

This girl sounded like her a bit, with the preference to not use abbreviations. She moved with the same sense of precision Laura had seen in few people. Laura liked her already, but she needed to be sure she wasn't someone sent to kill her life. That sort of thing usually ruined friendships.

"Hello, I am Laura. I have always been female, and I hope to remain so." She was starting to think it was a matter of time now.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna gave a small, slight giggle-- something she wouldn't have done a year ago, but it felt more natural now. Natural to not try to make it bigger to fit in, or to erase it. "I would hope for that too. But I was ein reindeer--" Her accent slipped into a stronger German flavor for a moment there, and she shrugged in rueful resignation, studying Laura. "--for two weeks. It was not so bad."

The other girl seemed-- wary? Cautious? Hanna could not get a read on her yet, but she would not do anything to startle her. "What do you think of the island so far?"

[ungue.livejournal.com]

"You were a reindeer." Not a question, because Hanna sounded pretty honest (and Laura could hear heartbeats), it was more like her brain trying to work with the information.

Trying not to shrug, Laura sighed. "It is strange. I not used to bring somewhere so... calm and... nice."

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"I woke up as one, one day. Then just headed for the Preserve." Hanna made a face. "I changed back and was very cold and confused, but knew who I was, so..." Laura's comment on the Island made her tilt her head. "Ah." There were many students for whom Fandom's strangeness was a good change, not just an odd one. "Where were you before? If you do not mind telling. If you do, you do not have to explain it."

[ungue.livejournal.com]

Laura didn't say it, but her face was pretty much making a 'huh' expression all the while. So there was that.

Her question made her wonder about it though. Why was it a thing for her? "My life...has been filled with violence. This is a welcomed change, but I do not know if I will get used." Leaving was still an option.

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna was quiet a moment, then nodded. "I had violence, and training in violence, before the island. I have been here a year. Almost exactly." She studied Laura back, wondering about what kind of violence it had been. "There are students here from wars. From places with terrible conditions. Or just terrible families." She bit her lip, and said, "Wait. A few weeks. See if you can adjust. This is my suggestion. It became easier for me?"

[ungue.livejournal.com]

"I can tell. There is something about the way you move." Not as terribly obvious as it was a year ago, most likely, but it was still there. Similar to the way Kathy moved but more... raw, perhaps? It was difficult to put in words. "Okay, I will." She wouldn't get any more optimistic... but she had nowhere else to be anyway.

And then, because she was curious. "What kind of training you received?"

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna had overslept; she had no classes on Monday, and hadn't felt well enough to go to work. So she was still in her pajamas when she entered the common room, following the sound of music.

Not that Sound of Music.

"What are we watching?" she asked Kathy, curious.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hanna, hi!" Kathy said, bouncing up to give her a hug. "You're not a reindeer anymore, hi!"

Startling powers of observation there, Kathy. Good job.

"One of my favorite movies, actually. Came out in the 80s, which was an amazing decade for fantasy flicks." Kathy loved her some cheesy 80s fantasy, along with cheesy 90s horror and early-aught cheesy scifi. "Watch it with us?"

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"Yes, of course," Hanna said, taking a drink out of the refrigerator and settling onto the couch. "So it is old. Would I know anyone who is in it?" Then she paused and laughed, the reindeer comment settling in. "No, I am not, thank everything."

[spin_kick_snap]

"David Bowie?" Kathy checked, because, well, there was a reason she was watching it today of all days. "Jennifer Connolly? And it was directed by Jim Henson and produced by George Lucas. Those are probably the biggest names of the film."

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"Lucas, I know." She'd been here a year now, and she'd been trying to acclimatize, after all. Something Jonothan had said once clicked in her head too. "Bowie is a singer, yes?" Then she paused, staring at the screen. "..."

David Bowie in full Goblin-wear was quite a sight.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Was," Kathy said softly. "One of the best, yeah."

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"Was?" Hanna looked sympathetic, because Kathy seemed sad, then was distracted from the visuals by Bowie's voice. "He does sing very well."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Today," Kathy said quietly.

Which was why it was an excellent time to focus on the movie, yes. "Doesn't he? He also wrote all the lyrics for the songs. And, damn, he can fill out a pair of pants."