Room 415, Saturday Afternoon

[brat_inslayage]

She had packing to do, and as usual it involved a ridiculous amount of luggage. But talking to Rose yesterday had somehow pushed Kennedy's thoughts in the direction of what the hell she was going to do with her life if being the Slayer wasn't ever going to happen, and her workout earlier today hadn't done much to clear her head. (That was ironic

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[life_inshadow]

Tara had left a message late the night before -- your standard hi, not dead, need sleep, love you kind of thing -- so she didn't feel too guilty that it took most of the day for her to feel awake and refreshed enough to go find Kennedy.

"I like this music," she said from the doorway. "... and I missed you. Hi."

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"It's not so much my usual thing, but I like it," Kennedy answered, grinning at her. She'd pretty much given up on choosing between swimsuits in favor of tossing them all into her suitcase instead, but she'd abandon the decision either way, since bounding over to the doorway was more fun. "Missed you too. Everything go okay?"

[life_inshadow]

"As things like that go?" Tara asked, raising an eyebrow the tiniest bit at Kennedy's familiar packing method. "I ... guess, yeah. We got Squall's sister out okay. I un-brainwashed somebody."

A pause. "Jono blew up a building, but not in a way that hurt anybody. Else."

[brat_inslayage]

"So, good trip all around," Kennedy decided before that last bit caught up to her. "Wow, remind me never to piss him off... you un-brainwashed someone? Seriously? Damn, I knew you were good, but damn."

Congratulations, Tara; she rarely looked that impressed.

[life_inshadow]

"Yeah," Tara said, sounding as impressed as Kennedy was -- not a surprise, since she hadn't expected to be able to do it either. "It was ... I could see the spell, kind of? So it was like ... peeling it. Like taking the skin off a banana."

Confidingly, she added, "He was still kind of a jerk, but it sounded like that was just the way he was."

[brat_inslayage]

"That shouldn't make me want a sundae," Kennedy said wryly. "Actually I think we can put that off until we're on a beach somewhere."

She reached out to pull Tara into a quick hug. "Long as he wasn't a jerk to you, and-- everybody else got out okay, right?"

[life_inshadow]

"We should have the sundae off the beach," Tara said. "I don't want sand in my ice cream."

She surrendered to the hug as she put forth that very important plan.

"Everybody got out okay," she added. "We're all tired, but that's about it. Nothing lying on a beach won't cure, honest."

[brat_inslayage]

"Poor baby. You're gonna be sleeping from now until we have to leave, huh?" There was a distinct note of affection in Kennedy's voice as she brought a hand up to run it lightly over Tara's hair. "Sounds like you kinda earned it, though."

How had they gotten to the point where one or the other of them running off to help save a world had become almost routine? She didn't know, but it was pretty cool. Also something she'd miss a lot after Fandom, if the future shook out the way she thought it would.

"So sand-free sundaes, check, and I think I might be good for a nice long backrub on the beach."

[life_inshadow]

"And then sleep some more on the plane," Tara said, smiling softly against Kennedy's shoulder. "Mmmm. I think I might actually be ready to think about classes again, after a week of sleep and backrubs on the beach. It's been ... a lot, last few months. Not bad, just ... a lot has happened."

[brat_inslayage]

"I can turn down the music if you need to crash out for a little bit," Kennedy offered. "Or order in some food, if you're hungry too. You know, just thinking about everything that's gone down the last few months makes me kinda tired? I mean, it sure as hell hasn't been boring."

[life_inshadow]

"The music's fine," Tara said, waving a hand. "I don't really need to be taken care of? I'd ... kind of like to just hang out and watch you do normal stuff. Pack or whatever. Tell me what you did while I was away. Maybe watch a movie."

Boring sounded pretty damn good to her.

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"I worked out, I talked to people, I made Constance sigh a lot?" Kennedy offered, although she looked distinctly smug about that last bit. "Totally nothing interesting, which is a big change from last weekend."

She might have been ruined for long stretches of boring by now, sadly.

"Movie sounds like fun, in a bit." She cast a dubious look at her luggage. "Whenever I finish packing, oh god, why does this take so long?"

Possibly because you had too much stuff, Kennedy.

[life_inshadow]

"Because you always pack like you're going to a deserted island for a year?" Tara suggested, indulgently. She liked that Kennedy was dependable that way -- and besides, it meant sometimes she could steal things when she got sick of her own wardrobe. "What are you doing to Constance?"

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy might not even notice when Tara stole some of her clothes, at that.

"I am not that bad," she objected, and she would be completely wrong about that, by the way. "I just sent her pictures of the kids, that's all. Who knew she'd get that embarrassed about it?"

[life_inshadow]

"She didn't think I did some weird witch thing to get them, did she?" Tara asked with mild alarm. "'Cause they mentioned their dad, so it's not like we did anything that crazy."

Which was reassuring. It meant there were still limits on her power in that particular future, too.

[brat_inslayage]

"Just a reasonable amount of crazy," Kennedy added, frowning thoughtfully at a t-shirt before tossing it back into her dresser. "No, she didn't like, flip out and ask me any questions about that. Once she was done making funny noises, though, she did say they were cute."

She rummaged through the dresser a little more, then asked, "Hey, you know my favorite pair of shorts? Those didn't end up in your room somewhere, did they?"