Sunnydale, California, Late December 2002 (Tuesday, Fandom Time)
The house wasn't exactly packed yet, but the Summers living room floor had a couple more sleeping bags on it now, and Giles spent a lot of time on the phone trying to book flights. Every time she noticed him at it, Kennedy'd pull out her phone and try to get through to Portalocity again, with absolutely no luck whatsoever.
At least it was consistent. That had to count for something.
There was, from the faint incessant chatter drifting up through the floorboards, a slumber party in full swing downstairs; Buffy was out picking up a new Potential at the bus depot, and in the meantime Molly had taken it upon herself to fill Chloe, Vi, and Eve in on what they'd missed.
Molly never stopped talking, so Kennedy wasn't sorry she was missing out on that, but just because she was upstairs and away from it all it didn't mean sleep was at the top of her agenda.
Willow
For her part, Willow was also glad to have something resembling quiet. She was also very glad for her sleeping bag, which made her spot on the floor totally comfortable and not at all hard and unsnuggly
Kennedy
Not at all? Because any selfish motives aside, it didn't look all that comfortable from Kennedy's perspective on the bed.
"You know," she remarked, rolling over to prop her head up on one hand and peer down at Willow, "you don't have to do this. Flooring it. In the bag, 'cause..."
She patted the mattress a couple of times. "Big comfy bed right here? I mean, you ought to know. Your bed."
Absolutely no points for subtlety here. Negative points, even. Also she felt kind of guilty about the whole bed-stealing thing. See? Not totally selfish!
Willow
"What? I mean - no, it's fine. I'm fine." Willow patted the floor next to her. "This is good. Firm. Excellent back support."
Kennedy
"Funny, you look a little uncomfortable." Kennedy raised an eyebrow, playfully. "Or is it just me?"
Kennedy. Stop it.
Willow
Willow glanced over at her. "No - I mean yes. I mean I'm just a little uneasy with Buffy being out."
Kennedy
"Picking up another newbie, right." Since that seemed to be a thing now, with other Potentials getting sent their way. Kennedy considered the amount of floor space left downstairs, then the likelihood of crash space up here becoming a premium, and frowned. "How many girls arriving this time?"
Willow
"Just one," Willow said. "But since Giles has the coven searching for other slayers-in-waiting to send 'em our way, I expect we'll be seeing more soon enough."
Even more hormonal teenage girls, wheee.
Kennedy
Just what everyone really, really wanted!
"So..." Kennedy stretched out and got comfortable, and yes, she made a bit of a show out of it but she was trying to. "You're saying I should enjoy having this big, soft bed all to myself as long as I can."
She made it sound like a punishment. She kind of thought it was, though.
"Like, before I have to share it with some random stranger." Hey, she'd met a different Willow once. That meant she totally counted as a non-stranger-- if you wanted to apply logic to completely transparent attempts at flirting, and who needed to do that?
Willow
"It is starting to get crowded around here," Willow admitted. "Can't remember the last time I had the bathroom to myself, which is awkward for so many reasons."
Kennedy
"Can't have that," Kennedy remarked with a grin. "This many girls, and more showing up? If we don't get another bathroom around here soon things are gonna get ugly."
Willow
"Moreso than Dawnie's attempts at catering," Willow agreed. She loved Dawn like her own little sister, but even so, certain food combinations were not meant to be consumed by woman nor beast.
Kennedy
"Everybody's gotta have a hobby or something, but oh god, she is so never allowed to meet my friend Karla," Kennedy blurted out, then frowned for just a second; she still couldn't get in touch with anyone from Fandom.
...well, on the bright side, that meant that culinary nightmare wasn't going to be compounding their problems. Thinking of Karla gave her a conversational segue, though.
"But on a less scary note, witchcraft's your thing, right?"
Okay, more of a conversational springboard.
Willow
Given that it hadn't been that long ago since Willow had tried to end the world, her immediate reaction to Kennedy's question was to look worried. "No? Yes? Maybe? Why, what have you heard?"
Kennedy
"Giles mentioned it in his little orientation lecture," Kennedy explained. "The other you was into it, too."
It took her a moment to pick up on the worried look, but when she did she blurted out, "It's totally cool if you are, though! Some of my best friends are witches." And then, because it was Kennedy and she couldn't help it, she grinned. "Guess you could say I have a type."
Willow
"Not a type that's world-endy though, right?" Willow asked. Yanno, just out of random curiosity.
Kennedy
"...that was never a thing that came up before," Kennedy said after a moment of blinking. Well, except for the thing with Jaenelle and the Jhinka, which... Kennedy hadn't blamed her for that reaction.
Willow
"Just checking," Willow said. She gave Kennedy a sheepish look. "Hellmouth. Questions like these come up."
Kennedy
"I'm going to have to get used to a whole new level of weird around here, huh?" Kennedy chewed on her lower lip, but gave Willow a reassuring smile. "I mean, as long as that's not a hobby or anything."
Willow
"No we're pretty much weird all the time around here," Willow said. "I'd say we do weird professionally only we've never really gotten paid."
Kennedy
"Bummer. All that overtime you could've piled up." Kennedy snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. "Still, nice to know you can help ease me into it."
...no, seriously, Kennedy, stop it.
Willow
"Considering everything you've heard and been through so far," Willow said, "I think you're as eased on down that or any other road as you can be."
Kennedy
"Steepest learning curve ever." Kennedy, sadly, was pretty undeterred despite her, uh, overtures not going the way she'd hoped. "But I can deal. I mean, hey. The company's pretty good."
Willow
"If loud," Willow said, thinking of the girls downstairs.
Kennedy
"Seriously." Kennedy rolled her eyes, but good-naturedly. "Guess my sleeping arrangements worked out pretty good, huh?"
Because she was so untalkative herself.
Willow
"We'll have to enjoy it while it lasts," Willow said.
Kennedy
Kennedy chuckled. "Funny. That was kind of what I was thinking too."
Willow
"By reading lots of books?" Willow guessed. What? Were you supposed to do something else with peace and quiet?
Kennedy
If that wasn't so cute, Kennedy would be a lot more frustrated right now. "Not exactly the kind of educational I had in mind, no."
Willow
"TV?"
Willow sucked at certain kinds of educational guesses.
Kennedy
Okay, yeah, it was a little sigh-worthy, but she'd work with it.
"Maaaaaaybe. In which case I'd say you should probably--" Kennedy patted the bed again. "Join me up here for that."
Wait, was there even a TV in here? Beside the point!
Willow
Well, it certainly looked comfy up there. Still - "Shouldn't we be trying to get some sleep?"
Kennedy
Don't give her lines like that, Willow!
"Hey," Kennedy replied, "If I wanted to sleep, I'd be downstairs catching z's with the other girls."
This... could possibly go on for a while. Luckily (or not), there weren't too many hours left before daylight.
[[1 of 3 (because i'm still coding, hush, no, not that h-- never mind oh god who lets me write ooc notes before i'm even really awake) this week. adapted and tweaked from btvs 7x11, "showtime," preplayed with thanks to the fabulous willbedone. nfi/nfb/ooc-okay, 'god, kennedy' more than appropriate, yaddayadda.]]
At least it was consistent. That had to count for something.
There was, from the faint incessant chatter drifting up through the floorboards, a slumber party in full swing downstairs; Buffy was out picking up a new Potential at the bus depot, and in the meantime Molly had taken it upon herself to fill Chloe, Vi, and Eve in on what they'd missed.
Molly never stopped talking, so Kennedy wasn't sorry she was missing out on that, but just because she was upstairs and away from it all it didn't mean sleep was at the top of her agenda.
Willow
For her part, Willow was also glad to have something resembling quiet. She was also very glad for her sleeping bag, which made her spot on the floor totally comfortable and not at all hard and unsnuggly
Kennedy
Not at all? Because any selfish motives aside, it didn't look all that comfortable from Kennedy's perspective on the bed.
"You know," she remarked, rolling over to prop her head up on one hand and peer down at Willow, "you don't have to do this. Flooring it. In the bag, 'cause..."
She patted the mattress a couple of times. "Big comfy bed right here? I mean, you ought to know. Your bed."
Absolutely no points for subtlety here. Negative points, even. Also she felt kind of guilty about the whole bed-stealing thing. See? Not totally selfish!
Willow
"What? I mean - no, it's fine. I'm fine." Willow patted the floor next to her. "This is good. Firm. Excellent back support."
Kennedy
"Funny, you look a little uncomfortable." Kennedy raised an eyebrow, playfully. "Or is it just me?"
Kennedy. Stop it.
Willow
Willow glanced over at her. "No - I mean yes. I mean I'm just a little uneasy with Buffy being out."
Kennedy
"Picking up another newbie, right." Since that seemed to be a thing now, with other Potentials getting sent their way. Kennedy considered the amount of floor space left downstairs, then the likelihood of crash space up here becoming a premium, and frowned. "How many girls arriving this time?"
Willow
"Just one," Willow said. "But since Giles has the coven searching for other slayers-in-waiting to send 'em our way, I expect we'll be seeing more soon enough."
Even more hormonal teenage girls, wheee.
Kennedy
Just what everyone really, really wanted!
"So..." Kennedy stretched out and got comfortable, and yes, she made a bit of a show out of it but she was trying to. "You're saying I should enjoy having this big, soft bed all to myself as long as I can."
She made it sound like a punishment. She kind of thought it was, though.
"Like, before I have to share it with some random stranger." Hey, she'd met a different Willow once. That meant she totally counted as a non-stranger-- if you wanted to apply logic to completely transparent attempts at flirting, and who needed to do that?
Willow
"It is starting to get crowded around here," Willow admitted. "Can't remember the last time I had the bathroom to myself, which is awkward for so many reasons."
Kennedy
"Can't have that," Kennedy remarked with a grin. "This many girls, and more showing up? If we don't get another bathroom around here soon things are gonna get ugly."
Willow
"Moreso than Dawnie's attempts at catering," Willow agreed. She loved Dawn like her own little sister, but even so, certain food combinations were not meant to be consumed by woman nor beast.
Kennedy
"Everybody's gotta have a hobby or something, but oh god, she is so never allowed to meet my friend Karla," Kennedy blurted out, then frowned for just a second; she still couldn't get in touch with anyone from Fandom.
...well, on the bright side, that meant that culinary nightmare wasn't going to be compounding their problems. Thinking of Karla gave her a conversational segue, though.
"But on a less scary note, witchcraft's your thing, right?"
Okay, more of a conversational springboard.
Willow
Given that it hadn't been that long ago since Willow had tried to end the world, her immediate reaction to Kennedy's question was to look worried. "No? Yes? Maybe? Why, what have you heard?"
Kennedy
"Giles mentioned it in his little orientation lecture," Kennedy explained. "The other you was into it, too."
It took her a moment to pick up on the worried look, but when she did she blurted out, "It's totally cool if you are, though! Some of my best friends are witches." And then, because it was Kennedy and she couldn't help it, she grinned. "Guess you could say I have a type."
Willow
"Not a type that's world-endy though, right?" Willow asked. Yanno, just out of random curiosity.
Kennedy
"...that was never a thing that came up before," Kennedy said after a moment of blinking. Well, except for the thing with Jaenelle and the Jhinka, which... Kennedy hadn't blamed her for that reaction.
Willow
"Just checking," Willow said. She gave Kennedy a sheepish look. "Hellmouth. Questions like these come up."
Kennedy
"I'm going to have to get used to a whole new level of weird around here, huh?" Kennedy chewed on her lower lip, but gave Willow a reassuring smile. "I mean, as long as that's not a hobby or anything."
Willow
"No we're pretty much weird all the time around here," Willow said. "I'd say we do weird professionally only we've never really gotten paid."
Kennedy
"Bummer. All that overtime you could've piled up." Kennedy snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. "Still, nice to know you can help ease me into it."
...no, seriously, Kennedy, stop it.
Willow
"Considering everything you've heard and been through so far," Willow said, "I think you're as eased on down that or any other road as you can be."
Kennedy
"Steepest learning curve ever." Kennedy, sadly, was pretty undeterred despite her, uh, overtures not going the way she'd hoped. "But I can deal. I mean, hey. The company's pretty good."
Willow
"If loud," Willow said, thinking of the girls downstairs.
Kennedy
"Seriously." Kennedy rolled her eyes, but good-naturedly. "Guess my sleeping arrangements worked out pretty good, huh?"
Because she was so untalkative herself.
Willow
"We'll have to enjoy it while it lasts," Willow said.
Kennedy
Kennedy chuckled. "Funny. That was kind of what I was thinking too."
Willow
"By reading lots of books?" Willow guessed. What? Were you supposed to do something else with peace and quiet?
Kennedy
If that wasn't so cute, Kennedy would be a lot more frustrated right now. "Not exactly the kind of educational I had in mind, no."
Willow
"TV?"
Willow sucked at certain kinds of educational guesses.
Kennedy
Okay, yeah, it was a little sigh-worthy, but she'd work with it.
"Maaaaaaybe. In which case I'd say you should probably--" Kennedy patted the bed again. "Join me up here for that."
Wait, was there even a TV in here? Beside the point!
Willow
Well, it certainly looked comfy up there. Still - "Shouldn't we be trying to get some sleep?"
Kennedy
Don't give her lines like that, Willow!
"Hey," Kennedy replied, "If I wanted to sleep, I'd be downstairs catching z's with the other girls."
This... could possibly go on for a while. Luckily (or not), there weren't too many hours left before daylight.
[[1 of 3 (because i'm still coding, hush, no, not that h-- never mind oh god who lets me write ooc notes before i'm even really awake) this week. adapted and tweaked from btvs 7x11, "showtime," preplayed with thanks to the fabulous willbedone. nfi/nfb/ooc-okay, 'god, kennedy' more than appropriate, yaddayadda.]]