Room 406, Sunday Morning

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka… Alluka had a package! And that usually wasn't scary, since she tended to get orders in for new clothes pretty frequently, but today's package hadn't had the last skirt she'd bought, or the newest pair of cute shoes that had caught her eye.

(She, she kind of thought, maybe, that she'd have rathered her package be either of those things.)

But now she, and her bunny, and her arms full of a box that was open, and full of papers, was outside of Ringo's door.

"Ringo," she called, knocking. "Ringo, are you there?"

She bounced a little on her feet, both anxious and excited and not really sure how to deal with the nerves fizzling under her skin.

This was really, really happening.

[For she whose room this is!]

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

Over the past couple of months, Ringo had been pushing her ATs a lot harder than usual with all the extra runs and practicing stuff she didn't usually, so when Alluka knocked she was sitting at her desk carefully taking a pair apart to see what parts she'd worn to the point of needing replacement.

But at the knock, her head snapped up. She put her tools down and called out, "The door's open, come on in."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka's shoulders sagged with relief as she heard Ringo's invite. Getting the door open involved a little bit of juggling around her package, but in short order, Alluka was sliding inside the room.

"What are you doing?" she asked, taking in the ATs in pieces. "Did they break?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Not yet," Ringo grinned, glancing at the parts strewn across the table. "I'm doing some maintenance to make sure they stay unbroken."

She turned back to Alluka, noticing the package. "Ooooh, what did you get?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Should I be checking mine too?" Alluka asked, setting her package down on Ringo's bed. "I can go and get mine. And, and it's what did 'we' get, not what did I get."

She fingered one of the papers.

"They're, um, our packages. For the Exam."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"It couldn't hurt. I mean, we've been putting a lot of wear on the parts the past couple of months, you know?"

Ringo sort of trailed off talking about ATs for a moment. "Oh, seriously?" Her eyes lit up. "The application packets?"

[that_oldsaying]

"The application packets," Alluka confirmed, with a nod. "This... this is really happening."

Wow.

That was... that was... just, wow.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo let out a little squeal of excitement. "It is!"

She beamed at Alluka. "This is so exciting!"

[that_oldsaying]

Looking at Ringo, with her grin, Alluka couldn't help but maybe feel like it really was more exciting that terrifying.

"I'm a bit nervous about it all," Alluka admitted, digging one of the packages out to offer to Ringo. "But, but I want to do this."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Nervous?" Ringo cocked her head, pursing her lips as she looked at Alluka, actually paying attention to the other girl's expression this time.

"Because it's such a big thing?" The exam, getting a Hunter's license, all of it.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka nodded--or, well, bounced a little, a full-body nod.

"That and, and it's something we decided," she said, trying to find the words. "That I decided. If that makes sense?"

Most of Alluka's decisions were much smaller.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo smiled at that. "A big decision, huh?"

She studied Alluka thoughtfully for a moment. "Have you ever made one this big before?" she asked curiously. "Like, something that could have this much impact on the rest of your life?"

[that_oldsaying]

"I... don't know," she admitted, tilting her head a little. "Not, not for the rest of my life, unless you mean loving the people I love."

Which was, in a way, a decision that impacted her whole life.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Yeah. I think you're allowed to be a little nervous, you know."

She cocked her head. "But are you, like, scared? Who knows how things will change after we do this, you know?"

[that_oldsaying]

Taking in a deep breath, Alluka hugged her bunny and thought about that.

"A bit," Alluka admitted. "But not scared in a bad way, if that makes sense? It doesn't make me want to hide in my room and not come out?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Is your stomach all tingly-feeling? Like when you're at the top of a really high building and about to AT down it?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Ah!" Colour her surprised but that was-- "Yes, just like that!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Anticipation."

Ringo beamed.

"And, yeah, a little bit of fear. A little bit of uncertainty."

"But," she quirked an eyebrow, "excitement, too, right? Like you don't want to wait and just want it to be now?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Yesyesyes!"

She flung her arms out.

"Like, I want it right now, but I also want it to take forever to get here!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

There was a fuzzy sort of feeling bubbling up inside Ringo at that. She took a moment to fight down the urge to leap to her feet and shout.

It wasn't that she'd been worried about Alluka exactly, but the other girl had never really been in to anything before. Not in any sort of serious way.

So Ringo grinned and flung her own arms out in a mirror of Alluka's gesture. "It's a pretty neat feeling, right? Kind of like you want more of it, but already have all you can handle?"

[that_oldsaying]

"It's such a big feeling! Like you're going to pop, but you're not done wanting!"

Alluka didn't really have words for it that worked better.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, that sounds like it calls for a celebration, right?"

But before she could leap out of her seat and head for the door, Ringo paused and sighed, turning her attention back to the packet or papers Alluka had handed her. "Though I suppose we should really fill these out first, huh?"

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka giggled, taking a seat on Ringo's bed and pulling out her own packet.

"We should definitely do that first," she agreed. "Before we forget."

There was no chance of them forgetting.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"As if!" Ringo laughed.

She fished a couple of pens out of her desk and tossed one toward Alluka. "But knowing that we're going to celebrate after means I might get this done faster."

[that_oldsaying]

She caught the pen, and shook her head.

"I think you're supposed to read all of it first," she pointed out, though she was uncapping the pen even as she did so.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"What? You think I'm not going to fill this thing out and turn it in whatever it says?"

Still, Ringo did set the pen down on the desk to flip through the packet before she started signing anything.