Room 203: Thursday

[mother_forker]

Anyone walking by room 205 would note that:
A. The room is a mess.
B. Eleanor was still in bed listening to Tahani on the radio being totally judgmental.

"Make better choices, Eleanor," She repeated in a mocking faux British accent. "While I continue to namedrop celebrities because I'm totally better than you. I'm so pretty with perfect skin, perfect hair and luscious lips that-"

Wait. Where did that come from? Right. Back to indigation.

"Make better choices, Eleanor. Mew. Mew. Mew."

[Open]

Comments

[white_oleander]

Look. Astrid was just heading back to her room after her cupcake class and a little bit of sketching around the school grounds, and she definitely wasn't usually the type to eavesdrop at open doorways, but that was just...hard to simply breeze right by.

She almost hated to interrupt the ranting, but she did take a moment to knock on the doorframe and poke a head in enough to say, "I've got cupcakes, Eleanor, do you want one?" as if to make it seem like she hadn't just been lingering to listen.

[mother_forker]

"Shirt, free food?" Eleanor said sitting up and pushing dirty laundry off her bed to make room. "Fork yeah!"

She paused for a moment. MAKE BETTER CHOICES, ELEANOR

Fork you, Tahani.

"It's just a normal cupcake, right?"

[white_oleander]

"I guess that depends," said Astrid, pausing for a moment to consider a safe path into the actual room to show off the cupcakes she made in class, "on how you feel about chocolate and mint."

She shrugged. "I like them, but I made them, so that probably comes with a bias."

[mother_forker]

“As long as it doesn’t have tuna or cottage cheese, I’m good,” Eleanor said taking one of the cupcakes. “Caritas had a special last night and while I don’t regret my choice and would do it again I was belching that all night. So what’s up with you...”

Wait what was her name again? Alfred? Allie? Allison?

“Astrid?”

Her name was more of a question than recognition.

[white_oleander]

Considering it wasn't really all that common of a name, Astrid would have been impressed that Eleanor had managed to land it if she'd had any idea tehre'd been a struggle.

"No tuna or cottage cheese," she promised, as she took a few more trecherous steps closer to hand one over to Eleanor. "And not much, just heading back to my room, figured I might as well offer you one since you were here..."

Gloriously mocking Tahani.

"What's up with you?"

Besides gloriously mocking Tahani. And making Astrid wonder if perhaps she needed to do a touch-up on the mural in her room to improve the lusciousness of Tahani's lips...

[mother_forker]

“Honestly? Not a heck of a lot. Yesterday I tried to walk on a greased pole and went to Caritas. Classes have been amusing or starting fires. You know. Typical Fandom shirt.”

She took the cupcake and bit into it sending various crumbs into her bed. Not that she cared. “Right now I’m just waiting for the freaky forking stuff to happen around here so I have an excuse to watch people freak out.”

[white_oleander]

It seemed like the crumbs wouldn't make too much of a difference, either, but Astrid wasn't judging so much as simply observing.

"It has been pretty quiet," she admitted, "but I think I'm fine with that. I'll take watching people fall off greasy poles over being kidnapped by evil goat demons or giant novelty singing fish any day."

She moved a little, feeling that leaning against the doorframe was generally the best place to put herself at the moment.

[mother_forker]

Eleanor pondered that for a moment. “Okay. Well giant goats sound bad but I don’t mind the singing fish as long as they have a nice singing voice.”

She waved at a chair that didn’t seem to have too much laundry on it. “Grab a seat. Have you given any thought to the emancipation thing we talked about before?”

[white_oleander]

"It wasn't really doing much singing at all, at that point," Astrid said, deciding she might as well stay for a little bit and had a seat on the chair indicated and picked up a cupcake for herself to pick at. "Just trapping in a forest of shadows and sicking possessed objects straight out of nightmares on us..."

She picked off a small piece of cupcake, chewed it thoughtfully.

"And I have," she said. "A little bit. I picked up my job at Turtle & Canary again, for a little more money, for when I do actually find a lawyer who might help. It's funny. We've got a dozen different types of people around here, but no lawyers...that I know of."

She was also sort of putting it off, because as much as she told herself she was ready for it, she really wasn't. She gave Eleanor a faint smile without looking up.

"I don't think mine will be as smooth as yours was, either."

[mother_forker]

“Well I’m pretty sure my Dad was stoned and my Mom was buzzed on Zinfandel when they signed the papers,” Eleanor mused. “So are you saying your legal guardian wouldn’t feel like signing? Because if their being formers about it you can probably show negligence or some kind of bull shirt like that.”

[white_oleander]

Astrid considered that (and a box of letters in her bedside table) over another piece of cupcake.

"There could probably be some sort of case there," she admitted.

Ingrid would probably fight it like hell, insist passionate that she ways tried to do what was best for her, and then paint Astrid as the ungrateful one...

[mother_forker]

“Oh yeah?” Eleanor said, her interest perking up a bit. “What would be the case? I mean if you want to spill it over cupcakes.”

[white_oleander]

"That's..." said Astrid, after a moment, and a faint, wry sound. Not quite a grunt, not exactly whimper, but somewhere in between, "sort of a 'we'll need more than cupcakes' sort of thing."

There was something oddly appealing in the idea of just spilling it all out to Eleanor, though.

Her smile was faint and apologetic. "It's just really complicated."

[mother_forker]

“Fair enough,” Eleanor said with a nod and a stretch. “That kind of shirt can be tough to deal with. My personal motto? You might as well just look out for yourself because no one else is going to do it for you. Plus that way you won’t be disappointed.”

[white_oleander]

"I mean," Astrid countered a little wryly, "I'm sure you can still be disappointed."

She was looking at Eleanor thoughtfully now, though.

"Sounds like you kind of had to take that on pretty early," she said, with the tone of someone who should have taken it on earlier than she had, because then maybe when she didn't have a choice, she'd be a lot better at it than she was now.

[mother_forker]

Eleanor shrugged. “Yeah. I guess so. I mean my parents were shirtballs. My Mom killed the family dog because she was so forking self-centered. My dad was in and out of jail so much the best picture I have of him is his mugshot.”

She let out a laugh which wasn’t really about anything funny. “And I mean, those ash-holes couldn’t bother to even remember my birthday. How could I expect them to forking take care of me when I spent more time taking care of them?”

And if that came off with Eleanor sounding self-centered it’s because she’s totally self-centered.

[white_oleander]

But it didn't sound self-centered at all, and Astrif was pretty sure she knew self-centered.

"Your mom sounds like my mom," she admitted, her small laugh pretty humourless, too. "And the only picture I have of my dad is one I found in one of my mom's books. I've never actually met him.

"I'm glad you got out of that, though."

[mother_forker]

"Oh?" Eleanor said looking sympathetic. "Does your Mom pretend to be your sister and attempt to sleep with your boyfriends too? Man, I'm glad it's not just me."

[white_oleander]

"I've...never even had a boyfriend," said Astrid, almost regrettably, not for the fact itself, but for the fact that it wasn't something she could actually relate to Eleanor over, "so, yeah, you do sort of have one up on me there."

And Astrid didn't even want to think about how it would have gone over if she ever had

[mother_forker]

"Never had a boyfriend? Shiiiiiiiirt," Eleanor said, now pulling herself out of bed. "Well, fork me. I can help you out with that. All we need is a local bar with a ladies night."

You may not want this kind of help, Astrid.

[white_oleander]

"I....don't think I really want one," Astrid said, laughing a little with the
nervous implication underneath that she was not going to think about right now. And while she was not afraid to let Eleanor know that she definitely didn't want that kind of hip, she couldn't help being a little curious of what a local ladies' night bar hop with someone like Eleanor might be like.

"But that does sound kind of interesting."

[mother_forker]

Annnnnd now Eleanor was giving Astrid an amused look.

"Oh. Sorry. I just assumed," Eleanor said. "So if you're looking for a girlfriend? That's an entirely different kind of ladies night. No worries, I know a couple of places that fit the bill."

[white_oleander]

"No, it's not that..." Astrid started quickly, but she faltered, because that maybe did strike a lot closer to the truth, but her generally inept social upbringing didn't leave her very prepared for any of that on a healthy level, "...either. I just...

"It'll be fun, I guess," she tried that tact instead, "whichever way it went."

Which was not picking up anyone, boy or girl, and just being what she could only assume was an actual normal human girl.

[mother_forker]

"Okay, Okay," Eleanor said seeing this was a touchy subject. "No worries. If you haven't figured it out yet there's plenty of time and opportunities to work that out. I think to start off you need just a night out. So. How do you feel about jello shots?"

Because getting Summer to serve Astrid Jello shots and somehow maybe involve Rosa and Amaya in the same bar sounded like a wonderful idea.

[white_oleander]

"I'm not familiar enough to form a conclusive opinion," Astrid admitted. "You're thinking Caritas on Wednesday, then?"

Because that was an easy line to draw, and also, who needed a brain, anyway?

[mother_forker]

"Well unless you have a fake ID and we can head into Baltimore," Eleanor said with a shrug. "I've got a solid one that always works."

At least in Arizona.

"Anyway, it sounds to me like you could use a night out so you can forget about your parent shirt. What do you say?"

[white_oleander]

"Well, my actual ID says I'm 42," Astrid pointed out, "but it expires in 1995."

The expiration dates'll get you.

"But I think you're right. We can invite some.other people, too, make a night out it...Sounds fun, actually."

They needed more.distractions around here, really.

[mother_forker]

"Abso-forking-lutely," Eleanor agreed. "We need a girls night out. We can even invite Tahani-butt so she can see what a real night out is like."

And not because of her lips. Nope.

[white_oleander]

Oh, no, definitely not those. Or her butt.

"Definitely Tahani," Astrid, who was going to suggest that anyway for no particular reason, agreed. "Instant prestige for our girls night out. And if we add Alexis? Instant entertainment, too."

[mother_forker]

"Hmm, If we do that we'll probably have to score some additional cash. Or make them pay for everything," Eleanor said thoughtfully as she began to pick through the clothes on her bed to find something somewhat clean. "And I still owe them money for dry cleaning."

[white_oleander]

Astrid would have thought that that seemed a waste of money, if it weren't for the fact that she had a hunch that money wasn't going anywhere.

"Maybe Summer will cut us all a good deal."

[mother_forker]

"True. And if we all get sucked into Anakin's insane weekly torture session we can all get the first round of jello shots for free," Eleanor added cheerfully. "I believe the next one will be shrimp inspired."

[white_oleander]

Astrid kept up on radio enough to not be surprised by this, but that didn't mean she was going to look forward to it.

"That's going to be an experience," she said.

But she figured the possibility of witnessing Tahani even in the same room as a shrimp jello shot would be enough to sway Mae to come along too. She hoped.