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!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

One of the very few perks of having a meteorologist for a mother was that Amy could almost always avoid weather-related flight delays by relying on her mom for information. That was usually very convenient, but today it meant that due to anticipated late morning storms in northern Texas, Amy had been forced to fly in at ass o'clock in the morning so that she wouldn't run the risk of missing the bus to school. So it looked like she was the first person to reach the Fandom High banner in the airport lounge, and while Amy had always had hopes of one day winning a race, this wasn't quite what she had had in mind.

Armed with an overstuffed duffel bag and her favorite pair of sweatpants (they were decorated with little cartoon strips of bacon!), Amy stifled a heavy yawn and parked herself in a distant corner of the lounge where she could wait for more people to show up.

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"I'm sure it's not Elsa's fault," Anna insisted, feeling a stab at how that had to sound. "She wouldn't just -- shut me out for no reason. I hope."

Very convincing argument, there.

"What's wrong with your garbage?" she asked. "I mean, not what is wrong with it, because I'm sure it's fine, as garbage goes. But what does she think is wrong with it?"

She sighed. "Three years older," she said. "And busy with important --" Wait. It might not be good to tell everyone her sister was the Queen. That sounded intimidating and Royal. That was why people in town wouldn't befriend her; she was The Princess and not just Anna.

"-- important -- family stuff," she finished, lamely. "Is yours older than you, too?"

And because, as much as she loved Elsa, she absolutely couldn't resist, she tacked on, "And bossy?"

Amy shook her head. "Same age. But bossy for sure. She complains that my hair products don't have enough extracts and she tried to make me switch rooms with her last month."

It had been part of a whole blackmail scheme that would have ensured that Lauren kept her mouth shut about Amy having a girlfriend, but just like Anna, Amy felt like there were things she didn't really need to divulge to her new classmates. Her status as a recently outed maybe-lesbian was on the list.

"Three years older can feel like a lot more on Elsa's end," she offered. "If she's eighteen, there are all those adult responsibilities that make teenager stuff seem trivial. It's probably not personal. But it still sucks."

Not that sixteen-year-old Amy had any idea what she was talking about, really. It was just that Anna's earnest energy was reminding her of Karma, which triggered Amy's instinct to comfort her.

Edited 2015-01-03 02:55 (UTC)

"That's awful," Anna gasped. "What if she switches rooms with you while you're gone? I guess it won't matter as much, if you're here. But it would matter. Because it's your room. At least, it would, to me."

Anna was relieved that Amy understood, that Elsa was just, well. Different. Because she'd hate it if she made her sister sound mean or anything when she was just a little ... distant, sometimes. Okay, most of the time. Still.

"She doesn't get out much," Anna continued. "My sister, I mean? So I imagine she has to be busy. All the paperwork and -- important family stuff. At least I know it's not just me, right?"

That was the worst: whenever she feared it was about her.

"Bossy sisters are still the worst," she laughed, in a lower, confidential voice. Amy seemed like a friend. Friends could totally talk about things like that. "And yours isn't even older. That's not fair."

"It would matter!" Amy agreed, vindicated by Anna's apparent understanding of how totally unfair it was. "She has plenty of stuff I don't and I don't try to steal it from her. Not that I would want it anyway."

Amy huffed out a sigh.

"And no way it's just you," she assured Anna, now with less irritation in her voice. "Paperwork and family stuff take up a ton of time. My best friend Karma has an older brother and, well, paperwork isn't his thing, exactly, but before he moved out he did lots of stuff Karma and I weren't allowed to know about. But that doesn't mean he doesn't love Karma."

Well, probably. He was kind of a dick, but Anna didn't need to know that. Even if, yes, the rapport they were striking up did feel pretty friendly. It had been a while since Amy had made a new friend, but as far as she could tell, she wasn't blowing it just yet.

"Of course not," Anna agreed. No way could this Karma person's brother not love her. They were siblings. That's what siblings did. "And it's not even about whether you want anything of hers. It's the principle of it. If she wants something of yours, she could ask to borrow it. It's just rude otherwise."

Not that Anna knew much about typical sibling interactions. Or making friends, or leaving the house, or the twentieth century, or, well. Make a list. It'd be huge.

"So do you know anyone here?" she asked. "I kind of ... don't."

Who would she know? Hans was in the Southern Isles, and Elsa was ruling Arendelle.

"Absolutely no one," Amy said, immediately relieved to hear that Anna was in the same boat. Which had seemed fine enough, back in Austin when she could count her friends on one hand and wasn't actively searching for more, but it was beginning to seem more and more daunting. Three was pretty different from zero, it turned out.

"I've always had at least one friend at school ever since kindergarten," she admitted slowly. "This is going to be an... adjustment." That sounded a little lame, so she aimed for a more upbeat tone when she said, "But it's boarding school, right? Everyone's going to be leaving home to come here. So we won't be the only ones, I bet."

"I hope not," Anna said. "And if it is just us, then -- we still have one another, right?"

They could be the two outcasts who didn't now everyone else. It didn't sound half so lonely if it wasn't just you.

"I wasn't ... in school before," Anna said, carefully. "We kind of had a governess? And then just, Mama and Papa."

After the gates had closed, but that went in the category of Things Not To Bring Up to New Possible Friends.

Edited 2015-01-03 16:14 (UTC)

Wow. Bougie.

"Huh. This might be a little different than you're used to, then," Amy suggested delicately. She couldn't even imagine the whole living-with-a-governess lifestyle. She had to assume it was basically like ~~meta~~ The Sound of Music, only without the war in the background. "I bet you're really looking forward to some independence, huh?"

Edited 2015-01-03 16:20 (UTC)

"I really am," Anna said. Like, more than Amy could possible realize, here. "And meeting people! We were all cooped up in that -- in the house, and here there are just -- people. Everywhere!"

If she thought the BWI Lounge was crowded, then she was possibly going to hyperventilate at the picnic. But air was for people who weren't filled with squee.

"Why are you coming here?" she asked, before adding, "If that's not, um. Rude. To ask."

Still rusty at conversation.

Time to see how well this excuse went over with people. "My mom and stepdad are doing some renovations on our house," Amy said with a shrug of one shoulder. "The builders need the space to work and my room's the biggest. And I think they're knocking out one of my walls or something?"

If she sounded a little ill-informed about the process, it was because she didn't really care about the construction. She just wanted to avoid her best friend until she found a way to come clean about experimentally sleeping with said best friend's boyfriend.

"What about you?"

This was around the moment that Anna realized that "My sister sent me here because she doesn't like me being engaged" might sound a little ... odd, to other people.

"I -- my sister thinks I've been cooped up too much," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. It was true enough, but she hated being dishonest-ish. "So I haven't met people and she thinks I need to, because, you know. Meeting people."

Not marrying the literal first new person she had seen in ten years, kind of thing.

"I think meeting people is overrated," Amy offered gently. "But that's just me. Living totally alone can't be a barrel of laughs either."

She didn't know the half of it.

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BWI Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

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