fandomhighdorms | Deck Outside the Dorms- Sunday Afternoon

Libby had taken advantage of the long weekend and an invitation from Zo for Thanksgiving to go home for a little while, which had been....well, the results were...mixed. It was so nice to see and spend time with Zo's family again (and Claire, too! Even if Claire always seemed to be a little...skeptical around Libby, it was nice to see her again, and she really felt like Zo's girlfriend was starting to warm up to her a little more now that she realized Libby wasn't going to just immediately start proselytizing and damning her to hell or anything like that), and her Grandma Jean even put together a little Thanksgiving for the family, so she got to see some of her siblings again, which was....awkward, sure, especially having to explain to the Littles why she wasn't around anymore, and she'd gotten glares from Patience all weekend (honestly, she was surprised Patience had even elected to come at all), plus it was her turn to be skeptical about the friend from church that Just had all but begged to bring along, who was a bit older and was nice enough, sure, but he seemed particular interested in asking Libby questions about herself and smiled at her an awful lot in a way that sent up alarm bells in her head that this wasn't just some random friend of Just's that he wanted to tag along for the mere sake of their friendship...

So, it was all very interesting, and while she wished she could have spent more time with some of them, a part of her was very grateful to be back at school. And having Kurt be one of the first people she'd see on the way back, making her way from the portalocity office back to the dorms with her duffel bag, well....that didn't hurt, either.

"Hey, Kurt," she greeted, diverting her path over toward him. "Good morning."

Kurt had been looking at some pictures Logan had sent of the team at the most recent training session so Kurt was a little distracted until he heard someone say his name. Looking up to see who it was he immediately broke into a huge grin when he was Libby was back.

"Libby!" he said the excitement likely as evident in his face as it was in his voice. "You're back!"

Kurt stood and started heading towards Libby. "Need any help with that?" he asked with a nod to the bag. "I mean, not saying that you can't manage it... obviously, you can, I just...." Kurt muttered and trailed off, feeling like once again he was blowing it. great. Libby was back for 2 minutes and he was already making things awkward!

The quickness of the offer wasn't really surprising, and it was probably more just Kurt being his usual helpful self more than anything else, but Libby found herself smiling and blushing quite a bit more than she'd have expected at it, too.

"...you," she offered, as if to fill in that blank that he left there by trailing off, "can just port it right upstairs for me to save me the trouble of having to lug it up, right? Not that it's that much of a burden; it's just clothes and some books Zo lent me and some food Mama insisted on sending me off with..."

And she wouldn't want to have him go through any extra trouble on her behalf, so her hand sort of just wrapped around the strap of the bag, somewhat awkwardly, maybe a little defensively, against a certain nervousness already starting to creep in as she ducked her head a little.

"How were things here, though?" she asked. "Did you end up staying? Or did you get a chance to go somewhere for the holiday?"

"Aye, I will take it up for you whenever you like," Kurt said with a small smile and nod. "Would be happy to!"

He gave Libby a smile at her question about how the holidays had been. "I stayed here. Mutti and Vati were taking a trip together and I hope to go back to see them and visit with the team for Christmas. It was quiet around here but nice. I ~~handwavedly~~ made some turkey and stuffing casserole for whoever was still hanging around the dorms. There's still a bit left come to think about it... I kinda went a little overboard and made quite a bit of it" he added with a sheepish grin. "I can get some for you if you would like?"

"You?" Libby lifted her brows and her eyes widened with the pure shock of this news, grinning all the while. "Going overboard? I don't believe it.

"Maybe later, though," she added, the smile softening. "We can exchange, a little of your turkey for some of the pie me and Mama made. I think, right now, I'm still in recovery from all the food I've already had this weekend! We never really did Thanksgiving before, and now this year, I've had two!"

Kurt nodded and then tilted his head slightly as something Libby said caught his attention. "You guys haven't ever done Thanksgiving? A big close family like yours with all those people and everything? I would have thought that would have been a huge family tradition."

Libby gave a bit of a rueful smile at that, with a shrug of her shoulders that tried its best to shake off the awkwardness of the explanation to a question like that, as she tried to think of the easiest way to explain without getting too deep into it. "It's a secular holiday," she pointed out softly. "One that's given itself over to the indulgences of gluttony..." She smiled, just a little. "We usually spend that day going over the history of the Pilgrims, and how they came to America seeking a freedom of religion that we enjoy the benefit of to this very day, and how the feast represents a partnership between them and the Natives, but we've never really made a big deal out of it, or anything. Daddy says, what's the point, when we show thanksgiving for God's bounty every day?"

"I can understand that," Kurt said with a small somewhat sad smile. "I guess that's the great thing about the holidays, you can celebrate them however you want with whoever you want." He looked at Libby and gave a big grin. "That's what makes the holidays special right? Making the traditions and memories however you want. Our big one for us used to be Christmas. Going to Mass and the services before Christmas were some of the few times I actually wasn't as afraid to be out with other people. It just helped make the holiday even more special to me growing up" he added with a small smile.

"It has been kind of fun," Libby admitted, her smile still a little held back as she tried not to be so awkward about her inexperience with these sorts of things, "seeing all the different ways people do actually celebrate. Especially when," her smile grew as she nodded in acknowledgement to Kurt's description of Christmas, "it clearly has a lot of meaning to someone. I've grown up being told that those big celebrations are just distractions that take the focus away from God, but there's really so much more to it than that, isn't there?"

"Aye! For our family at least, it's about the time we have together. A celebration or tradition just helps make it more memorable and special" Kurt said. "We always went to Christmas Mass as a way to be together as a family but also to remind us why we were celebrating and what the reason for the season was and why every day was a day to focus on God. The celebrations just made that one day a little more special, you know?"

Kurt gave Libby a small smile as he debated whether he should ask her the one thing he wanted to just then.

"Hey Libby.... I went to the church here on the island for the first time today. It was really nice. And I was wondering... would you, like to come with me one Sunday... to a service?" Kurt tried not to look too nervous or awkward but the way he was chewing his bottom lip slightly probably gave that away as he waited to see how Libby would respond.

Edited 2022-11-27 14:40 (UTC)

Libby gave a soft, uncertain smile at the first part of what Kurt had said, because she didn't really know, even if now that she'd met more people with different beliefs and traditions, she was starting to understand it a little better. But his invitation (and the clearly nervous way in which it was delivered) set her cheeks blazing, and she shifted a little with an uncertain awkwardness.

"Do you..." she started, then shifted it, slightly. "Would it be...okay? If I did?"

She didn't really know how it was for Catholics, if there were any particular rules or restrictions or anything like that. But she couldn't deny that she was incredibly curious, especially to find out if it was really as bad as her father and her church made them out to be. She found that pretty hard to believe, though, especially considering the Catholics she now knew and especially especially considering how else her father and her church seemed to have been wrong about, too...

"I'd love for you to come, if you want to," Kurt said with a smile. He was a little worried about how Libby would feel and if she would get into any trouble with her family if they found out. He remembered what she had said early on and the way her brother had reacted to finding out he was Catholic. But, he figured Libby would do what she thought was best and if she was ok with the idea, it was something he wanted to at least offer to her. "They probably have several services for the time leading up to Christmas so wouldn't even have to plan too much or really shift schedules or anything."

Oh, Libby was already well beyond the point of getting in trouble with her family. At this point, going to a Catholic mass would be like adding a cup of water to the ocean.

"Then I'd love to go with you sometime," she said.

Especially if it was important to Kurt, though she wasn't going to say that part outloud.

"Good, we'll figure out a time to do it" Kurt said with a small smile. "Could go and grab something for lunch or dinner afterwards.". Definitely just hanging out. Not a date or anything. Unless Libby felt the same as he did...but Kurt wasn't brave enough to ask just yet.

"Is that...is that something you usually do?" Libby wondered, with a small tilt of her head, much smaller than the curiosity starting to build inside. "After you go to church?"

"We often did," Kurt nodded. "We'd either go somewhere nice after the service or go home and cook a nice meal together."

"Then that's what we should do," Libby said, with a firm, decisive sort of nod. "So I can get the full experience of it, right?"

"Will definitely do food afterwards. We can decide if we want to go somewhere or i can make us something back here at the dorms if we decide to do that." Was there the big grin because he was glad this had gone well or excitement over these future plans? Probably a little bit of both!

Libby still felt a bit uncertain and nervous about the prospect to match Kurt's grin, but the size of his definitely helped hers along past most of that.

"I guess we can just figure it out then," she agreed. "Both of those options sound nice..."

"No worries, we got time. Definitely something we can play by ear and just see how it goes and what we are in the mood for then, " Kurt said, hoping to reassure Libby a bit. And maybe if it ended up being more than a one-time deal around Christmas time they could have the chance to do both at some point. Kurt would be happy with one time or a dozen times, doing something he looked forward to and being able to share that with someone he cared about just made it extra special.

"I'm looking forward it it," said Libby, and she was, but she wasn't entirely sure what quite to say after that. But she tried to find something, biting her lower lip a little as she wondered what else to add...or if she needed to at all.

But just when she thought she might just leave it there, she found something. Not much, but still something.

"Oh," she said, cheeks flushing pink again, "and Zo says hi. Her little brother Owen wants to meet you, too. He didn't believe us, that you were blue, not even after showing him pictures. He says we must have photoshopped it."

"Hahah, the little man has to see for himself huh?" Kurt said with a laugh. "I'd love to meet him, and to see Zo again of course! Please tell them both I said hi next time you speak to her."

"I will," Libby promised, and considering that was probably going to be as soon as she got back up to her room, she was pretty confident about keeping true to her word. "It was so nice seeing her family again, and I even got to talk to Mr. Forrester, her dad, about some of what I've been learning about at the clinic. He's a nurse, actually, so he was pretty impressed. Even if he didn't believe me about Stabby at first, either."

And it lead to a whole thing with Owen wanting a pet crab for himself, now, too.

"I imagine there is a lot on this island in general that many people would find hard to believe. Blue people and funny crabs being among them" Kurt added with a smirk. "But that is so cool her father is a nurse too! I bet you will have lots to talk about as you keep working at the clinic here."

"Oh, Mr. Forrester is great," Libby gushed. "He really was a big inspiration for me, and it was just so neat, being able to talk with him about all sorts of medical things."

And she could tell how impressed he was with how much she'd learned, and that was an incredibly good feeling, especially since he knew first hand how...big all of it was for her.

Libby's fond smile turned into a moment of hesitation before she ventured, "Would you like to see some pictures? I've even got some of Zo and Owen's bunny rabbits, Ziggy and Freddie."

Kurt nodded and smiled, happy to hear how much support Libby was getting back home. And that smile only broadened when she mentioned the photos.

"I'd love to! I got a few from the team that Logan sent me too if you's like to see them as well."

"Of course I would!" Libby said, almost immediately, excitedly, pleased that it would be more of an exchange rather than just her likely boring Kurt with a whole bunch of poorly taken photos of her weekend. "Everyone seems to be doing well, too, on your end? Did you miss out on much by staying here?"

"Folks were traveling but I got to call and talk to them for a bit so that was nice. And the team had a Thanksgiving thing back at the Academy. Logan set up a video call so I at least got to see everyone and experience the tradition of Scott and Logan arguing about how to carve the turkey" Kurt said with a laugh and a shake of his head but a fond smile nonetheless.

"...is there more than one way to carve a turkey?" asked Libby, head tilting a little, because she wouldn't have even thought there'd be that much to it.

"We didn't even have turkey with Zo's family, because they're vegetarians, but now I'm wishing I'd paid more attention to how Grandma Jean did it..."

Edited 2022-11-28 02:01 (UTC)

"If Logan and Scott have an opinion about something, it is usually going to opposites. I think they sometimes do it just to annoy each other, to be honest" Kurt said with a laugh. "I personally don't care how my turkey is carved so long as I can eat it when it's on my plate!"

"Well," Libby laughed a little, "if either of their techniques means no one can eat it, I'm going to side with the other person on that one."

By now, Libby had her phone out and had scrolled through a few pictures (mostly of people, a good number of them her best attempt at selfies) until she got to the ones with the rabbits, because that was clearly the best place to start.

"And here," she said, "is Ziggy and Freddie."

"Awww cute little bunnies. And cool names too" Kurt said. "Zo and her family music fans?" he ventured considering the names the two bunnies had.

Deck Outside the Dorms- Sunday Afternoon

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