Room 229, Thursday Morning

[arsenicmauls]

Gert wasn't big on Halloween -- hadn't been, really, since she was about nine. Now that she was sixteen, she was pretty over the whole thing, and in the interim she had all but memorized an annoying spiel about how this dumb holiday was just another sign of the appropriation and Americanization of everything anywaySo. No trick-or-treating for her

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[spin_kick_snap]

Here was her chance to deliver her screed to an unsuspecting trick-or-treater, even!

Because later that afternoon, a Minnie Mouse-costumed Kathy was knocking on Gert's door, pillowcase in hand, calling "Trick or treat!"

At least she wasn't dressed up as sexy...anything?

[arsenicmauls]

...Gert had not foreseen this. In fact, she didn't know that people over thirteen did trick-or-treat. Revealing costumes and loud parties, sure, but door-to-door candy demands? In a dorm building?

She swiveled around in her chair, looking a bit apologetic, but also a little judgey. "Yeah, I don't have any candy," she reported. Not now that she'd eaten most of the sugar skull Victor had given her, anyway. "Has anyone actually given you anything?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"You didn't grab any from outside?" Kathy asked. She had some in a bowl outside of her door with a sign that offered it to any trick or treaters that came 'round while she was gone. "I--oh."

She was definitely feeling the judginess and fidgeted a little. "I got some?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Not exactly." Gert didn't mean to come off as mean, which was why her tone was somewhat lighter when she asked, "Wait, couldn't you just sit outside with a bowl?"

It did make trick-or-treating kind of redundant.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, yeah, and I did," Kathy said. "I stuck a bowl on my window sill before I left for class today. But I'm not really trick or treating for the candy, you know? More for the fun of it?"

She just really liked Halloween!

"Plus, it gets me out of my room and talking to people. I figured that's something I should try to do more of. And it's easier if I'm not entirely me when I do it, you know?"

Maybe she didn't know.

"...That probably sounds stupid."

[arsenicmauls]

Sigh, now she definitely felt mean.

"No, it's not," Gert said, reluctantly swallowing her plans to launch into that tirade after all. "It's just taking the normal teenage impulse to put on a figurative mask in order to make friends and making it more literal. It makes sense. Putting yourself out there sucks, and you're kind of new here, too, aren't you?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy could have handled if Gert hadn't so explicitly laid bare what she'd meant, but at least she got it. So Kathy just nodded, a little sheepishly and offered up a small smile.

"Arrived over the summer, so not super new? But yeah, I still feel pretty new just about, oh, all the time."

That was partially due to the fact that she barely knew anyone and once again, they'd circled back around to where Kathy'd thought this was a good-if-slightly-quirky idea.

[arsenicmauls]

"In that case, want my advice?" Gert said, as Old Lace got up from between the two beds and padded over to see who this new person was. "Try trick-or-treating at the businesses. They might actually have candy set out for people, and there's enough students with part-time jobs in town that you'll still meet people."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded, still a little embarrassed. "I might do that," she said, by which she meant she might slink back into her room and try not to be seen. Both were legit options. "I--is that a deinonychus?"

Hello, Old Lace. Kathy was more than a little shocked to make your acquaintance.

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah, she is," Gert said, sounding a little surprised that Kathy had gotten the type of dinosaur right. She sent a telepathic pulse to Old Lace to be nice and not get too close to Kathy's personal space. "She's friendly. You can pet her if you want."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was kind of a giant nerd that way.

"I--you have a dinosaur."

Had Gert missed the memo that they were extinct? And even if they weren't, they were carnivorous and wild and probably shouldn't be kept at pets?