fandomhigh | Adulting 101- Monday- 4th period

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adulting

Adulting 101- Monday- 4th period

While the class was meeting in the Danger Shop today, they were starting in the parking lot of an apartment complex. Also, it was 72 degrees and sunny here. Bless you, Danger Shop.

"Today we're talking about apartments," Kitty greeted them. "Because once you're not somewhere that'll put you up in dorms, it's time to find someplace to stay. Sometimes you might have it easy, like if you come from a situation where you can live with your family until you can save up enough money. If you don't have that, though, it gets a little... well, not harder, but you have to do more work. You can find a roommate, or rent a room in someone's house, or you can try to find a place on your own. It's all gonna depend on your situation and preferences and what you can afford. You can find any of these the same way you'd find a job, just on different websites. But today we're going to visit a couple apartments just so you can see what's out there. And you should have some idea of what you want and what you don't, too, before you see a place. Like if I was looking for an apartment, I'd want enough room to entertain, it'd need to accept both cats and dogs-" Shh, Lockheed was totally a cat if he had his image inducer on- "and a washer and dryer on the premises is a must. Laundromats are a bitch in the winter, I'm not trying to deal with that. So you want to have some sort of idea of what you're looking for, and be willing to bend on some things because unless you've got a lot of money you're not going to get everything.

"That said, before we go anywhere, I want to go around and have you guys tell me what you think a good price for a one-bedroom apartment is in this area, and a couple things you would definitely want or don't want to have in your home."

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"There are flying eels," Raven said. "And sometimes we get invaded."

"Those were a challenge! ... but next time, we need to have a net ready," Hanna agreed. "And that is why I need to be prepared. To defend the dormitory if required in the future."

"All by yourself?"

"There were others as well." Hanna looked a little abashed. "Anders, Cassandra, Jalian... but my abilities rely on training as much as anything innate. I must always be ready."

Ready for what? She'd never questioned there would be something to be ready for. So far life hadn't proven her wrong.

Raven nodded. She'd seen enough crap in her time not to question that kind of readiness. Still -- "What do you do for fun, though?"

Hanna was very still, and brushed her hair out of her eyes to give herself a moment. Or two. Or ten. Finally, she said, "Read?"

"Reading's good." This conversation was sort of vaguely familiar to Raven. She had a feeling she and Charles had had more than a few of them in her early days at the mansion. "What kind of books?"

Hanna's expressions lightened a little, and her next words were rushed but happy. "I am reading two non-fiction books, one about sexual health. Two novels from Alanna's world, I think they would be called romantic adventure? And I have completed the first Barry Plodder book, but I wish to read more of his.And Smilla's Sense of Snow, a mystery novel set in Copenhagen. It made me homesick."

She really needed to go to the library, was what she was saying.

"Wow." That was a lot of books. "Sounds like you've been busy."

"I'm used to more to do." Hanna felt a little self-conscious again, fiddling with her drink bottle. "My father..." She cleared her throat. "My father used to assign me tasks with specific purposes, every day. But. Here, I do not even have classes every day. It is--" She shook her head, not having words for how easy life was on one hand, but how frighteningly unstructured it was on the other.

"Different?" Raven offered. "What sorts of things did your father have you do?"

Maybe she could help her find some new hobbies.

"Gather firewood. Hunt for food, hunt animals. Preparing food, and tanning hides. Target shooting. Running. Physical strengthening exercises. Practicing my languages... Memorizing facts about the world... Mapping..."

So, you know, the usual home-schooling experience.

Hanna stuttered to a halt. "I could still do those things. I do some of them. But.... I don't have a goal now."

"Well, we'll find you new goals." Raven could work with this! Maybe! "You've got lots of tactical stuff down, I think. What you need to work on is how to blend in." That Raven knew very well. "How about trying some teenager stuff? Watching TV or playing games or something. Oh! I could teach you to knit." Knitting was boring, but damn if Raven didn't know how to do it. "Then you can make your own cold weather gear."

"I don't know most of those things. Sophie-- a girl I knew-- talked about, oh. Popular singers. And fashion." It had all gone over Hanna's head at the time, but part of that was Sophie never stopping talking. "I am becoming very fond of Looney Toons? Sparkle found me clothing with the characters on them, and I like them. And-- knitting would be useful." It would be good, and soothe some anxiety, to do something useful in the midst of blending in. Something she would not be confused about how to have explained it to her father. "And I need more clothes." Hanna smiled.

"Well then, we should go shopping," Raven decided. "Yarn and clothes. My foster mother made sure I had all sorts of people teaching me how to knit and sew and cook and things." You know, when she remembered Raven existed. "You probably don't need to learn to walk around with a book on your head or sit with your legs properly crossed, but the other things can sometimes be actually useful."

When you felt cold and needed actual clothing, anyway.

"Why would you need to walk with a book on your head?" Hanna asked in bewilderment. "The rest, yes, that would be-- I am learning cake decorating. Cooking things that are not game would be good, wouldn't it?"

She could still remember Sophie's aghast expression when she'd brought two skinned rabbits to the table for breakfast.

"Cake decorating, huh? Skipped right over baking?" Raven wasn't much of a baker, she couldn't exactly blame Hanna for that one. "The book is supposed to help your posture. You have to keep it perfectly balanced no matter what." Raven straightened her neck and held her arms out to her sides, walking a very graceful few steps, doing a pivot on her toes, and walking back, all without letting her head and shoulders move more than the tiniest bit up and down. "A real lady is supposed to float."

Could Hanna hear the irony in her tone? How about in her eye roll?

The irony made her tilt her head again, and the eyeroll made her giggle. "I do not know anything about ladies. But. I would worry if they floated away, even on this island."

Another small snicker. "Friendship is Cake is my class on Wednesday." She was getting very fond of it. Food, plus the antics of Pinkie & Derek, who were like one of her cartoons come to life.

Literally, in one case! "That's the pony's class," Raven said. "I've never actually taken one of hers." Just impersonated her for a day. What? There were HUNDREDS of her. No one even noticed! "She always seems to teach something like what I could have learned at charm school back home." Baking and fashion and things. Raven preferred the self-discovery type classes, thanks.

"I liked the name of it." Friendship. And, she'd realized, the cake part meant people had things to talk about, and be amused by. "Derek never says anything very much. But Pinkie speaks quite a lot, and I am waiting to see if she will ever walk on the ceiling." And then if she could walk off a cliff without falling down, because if that was real in cartoons... "It is not a difficult class, but. This one, and the one on Friday--" On powers and identity, "--and the one with Mr. Wayne, are all more challenging. Although I truly thought there would be more writing of papers on books in a regular school before I got here."

"This isn't actually a very regular school," Raven said. "I think I had one class that had papers and discussions and things, and I've been here more than a year. Though if you want to do more of the academic stuff, there's lots of online classes, too."

"Perhaps I will." There were other skills she didn't want to lose, like the languages. ALthough beyond that she wasn't sure. Hanna smiled a little. "But-- could we shop for jewelry? Just to be pretty, first?"

"Absolutely," Raven agreed. "Jewelry, yarn, and clothes. After we do the self-defense stuff tomorrow?"

"That sounds-- very good." Hanna smiled at Raven, feeling better, a bit, about this 'adulthood' thing. The class helped, but other people did too. "Thank you, Raven."

"It's only fair," Raven assured her. "You're going to teach me things, and I'll teach you things. And the shopping -- that part's just fun."

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Adulting 101- Monday- 4th period

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