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

[that_oldsaying]

"Ummmmm..."

Alluka wasn't entirely sure of that. Time wasn't her strongest suite.

She squinted at her application.

"Huh? Parental approval is necessary?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"That's not a--"

Ringo froze.

"What?" She spun to look at the papers on her desk, flipping through them to find the section Alluka had to be referencing.

[that_oldsaying]

"That's what it says!" Alluka wailed. "Ringo, why does it say that?!"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I don't know," Ringo muttered with a frown. "Maybe it's, like, an option." And she was busy searching for the other, non-parental-consent option right now.

And, sadly, not finding anything promising.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka reread the form anxiously, waiting for Ringo to see if she could find anything at all that could help.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo was frowning at the paper in front of her and muttering under her breath in frustration. "Legal guardian. Under eighteen."

"Dang it," she sighed, flopping back in her chair in defeat.

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka flopped back on the bed.

"What am I going to do?" she asked plaintively.

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo chewed nervously at her bottom lip.

"Um. Maybe we can get a fake ID or something? One that says you're old enough not to need a parent's signature anymore?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Even with that, do you think they'd believe that?"

Alluka... looked and acted pretty young.

"And we might not have the time to get a fake ID. I wouldn't know where to get one."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, I know where to get them made back home," Ringo said slowly, trying to give her thoughts time to catch up with her words. All of her own IDs were fake, after all.

"But, um, I don't know how long it would take. And, uh, I don't know what IDs from your world even look like, so I don't know if they're, like, easy to copy or not."

The more she talked, the less this sounded like a very promising solution to the problem.

[that_oldsaying]

And, from the expression on Alluka's face, she knew that too.

"Maybe that would have worked if we'd started on the ID problem right after we got back from the summer," Alluka said slowly. "But, but I don't think it would work now."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo glared at the innocent stack of paper on her desk. "They should have told us earlier!"

She sighed. "Now what are we going to do?"

[that_oldsaying]

"Maybe Papa Jono or Papa Hannibal could sign?" Alluka said, leaning over to read her packet again. "They are my papas."

But she didn't know if they were legally her guardians.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, that's a good point. Maybe they actually filed some paperwork or something to make it all official?"

Though, they probably would have mentioned, right?

[that_oldsaying]

"Maybe," she said, though she... really had no idea. "I do have a key to their place."

Which made it legal, right?

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked. "Um. I don't know if that actually matters?"

Oh, it didn't. It definitely didn't.

[that_oldsaying]

"It mattered to me," Alluka protested, since it had been a pretty big deal to her, getting a key, of her very own, to her papas' home.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that!" Ringo rushed to say. "I just, um, meant that it might not matter for the, you know, paperwork."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka glanced doubtfully at Ringo.

A key still seemed pretty official to her.

"I suppose we could, could look it up?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"We could try?" Ringo allowed. "I don't see anything in here about it, though."