[For Kate G.] But don't pick on the girl who's only turning on the lightswitch

[girlsolo]

It's been thirteen days since the IPD caught her. She's got six weeks to do her 110 hours. Check this, Dr. Z. she's not even procrastinating. Thirteen days in and she's done forty-eight of them already. Count that. Forty-eight. Four hours a day, every day, plus an extra four hours on Monday.

Today, she's got the ITF laundry detail and she's already two hours into a four hour shift. She might even pull another four, since the laundry room's a great place to look at fashion magazines without getting caught by people who don't need to know she's looking at them. Declan. Tesla. Will. Magnus would be okay. She'd probably get it.

She's sprawled on the floor on her stomach with her feet up, waiting for the dryers to stop or the shit she's soaking (she does not want to know what some of those stains are) to be ready to swap to the wash, when she hears footsteps. "First and second washers are open, first through third dryers," she says without looking up.

She's dutiful about her community service, yeah. But no one said she had to be an overachiever.

[OOC: Assuming Kate's wearing something suitably cute and interesting. There would be combat boots and a jacket, studded bracelets, and at least one flash of color involved. Whether Kate picks up she's the one from the note or not is up to you. I'll have Kate recognize her if not.]

Comments

[everyone_takes]

The boots were awesome, Kate noticed as she headed for one of the open washers, a pile of brightly coloured clothes in her arms. That had been the best part of living in the Compound; instead of hauling all her crap up the boardwalk, she'd just been right down the hall, but a hut was better. Even if people did break into it and steal her shit.

Which she had back now, so that was good. And she was glad that it had somehow ended up in Steve's hands, because at least Danny already knew what she was doing. At least she could still keep it hidden from Marshall.

"Thanks," she said. "Your boots kick ass." Compliments were necessary, she figured, when people deserved them.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Kate answers, not paying any attention until she turns the page and looks up. It's the bright colors in the load of wash that catch her eye. They look...yeah, familiar.

It's other-Kate, the one who's dating Harry Potter. Kate sighs and puts down her magazine. She did promise the Big Cheese she'd talk to them all and this one's been dragging.

Pushing up to her feet, Kate grabs the detergent and carries it over to other-Kate. It's not an excuse. The girl's got her arms full. "Kate, right?"

[everyone_takes]

Busy with the task of shoving her clothes in the machine, Kate didn't look up at first, pausing only when the woman spoke her name. In her time on the island, she'd only done one ridiculous thing that would make her well known in any capacity, but she was still pretty sure not that many people knew about the near bookshelf burning.

"Yeah," she said slowly, taking the detergent as her eyebrows lifted. "That's me." It was weird, but it was a little like being back home. Kate, right? Tara's daughter? I saw your mom the other day, but she was... riding a motorcycle.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate rolls her tongue in her mouth, thinking. It should be easier than this. It's not like she killed other-Kate's puppy or sold it into Abnormal slavery or helped kill her daughter or anything.

She cocks her head, no pokerface, no threat, but her body language is pretty can't fuck with me Teflon. Yeah, this is actually harder with her than the others. Maybe it's because of the funhouse mirror aspect.

It fees like half an hour before she finally says, "I'm Kate. Kate Freelander. The one who switched the books on you." Now that that's out, it's a little easier. "I'll apologize in a minute, but I figure I owe you the chance to bitch me out first."

[everyone_takes]

"Oh," Kate answered, almost relieved. Half the time she still expected someone to come and bitch at her for the whole bookshelf thing and she didn't like that. She was just waiting for the day that someone found out who was like, super protective of books or something.

Bitching the other Kate out wasn't actually something she was all that interested in. Being a bitch could be fun, but she just wasn't feeling it today and besides, it wasn't like she was actually that pissed. Sort of annoyed that her law book had been the thing to go missing, because then anyone could find out what she was doing, but that had worked out okay. "So did you know I was dating Harry when you left me that book?" she asked finally, putting detergent in with her load. "Or was that just a wacky coincidence?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

There's a flicker in other-Kate's eyes that Kate can't read. Or isn't sure she's reading right. It's like she's glad that's all it is. Thinking over the clothes and the shoes and the way she put them together, Kate decides she's maybe not that surprised.

Relieved, yeah. Her shoulders come down a notch, mouth frames a little smile. "Both. I had the Harry Potter book and I wasn't really planning anything until I saw you at breakfast with Harry." It had actually been a little cruel, now that she thought about it.

[everyone_takes]

"It's a good thing we both already knew about the books," she pointed out, closing the lid of the washer and turning it on before she turned around and jumped up on top of it. "I mean, if I hadn't known my boyfriend came from a book somehow, that would've been a pretty shitty way to find out."

And for a moment, she'd been tempted to open it up and leaf through the pages. There was all sorts of history there that she could have discovered with just a few minutes of reading. A year ago, she might have, but she found she hadn't wanted to do it now. Harry would tell her the things he wanted her to know.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it would've been. For both of you. I thought about that a lot afterwards." She had. It had been one of the things that pushed her toward finishing it when and how she did. It's probably why she's been more reluctant to deal with this apology than the others.

Lips pressed in a small frown, she leans against the washer opposite other-Kate. "Taking shit to start with was part prank, part me being pissed off at being here. I'm sorry about it, but I'm actually a lot sorrier about putting something important to you on the line. It's okay though, with you and Harry, nothing bad happened because of it?"

Fuck her. She's actually worried about that. Some days, she really fucking hates MacRae and Zimmerman and the entire damned Sanctuary.

[everyone_takes]

For a second, Kate was tempted to make up some story about how they'd had a massive fight, Harry finding out for the first time that he was fictional from the book beside her bed, but she couldn't do it. A few months ago maybe she would've been able to, but things had shifted lately. She felt less and less need to lie.

It was weird.

"Nah, we're all good," she said, waving her hand. "We both knew already and we both know that we know, so it's not a big deal. I mean, I don't read them or anything, but... well, it's sort of hard to miss Harry Potter back in my world."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate flips her a smile. It should be sharp-edged and bitchy, but there's just nothing there. What she ends up saying is, "What's that like, dating The Boy Who Lived? Half of everyone has to know all his business and be up in his grill and yours. It must feel like dating Prince William half the time."

Not that she cares or anything. She's just nosy.

Uh-huh.

[everyone_takes]

It wasn't a question she normally gave much thought to and Kate's shoulders lifted slowly. It wasn't like that here. Even if people did know who he was and his history, they pretty much gave Harry all the space he deserved, as far as she knew, and besides Lionel Trane, no one had asked her what it was like. (And no one had asked her if he tasted like butterbeer, but Kate figured if anyone was going to say that, it was going to be Lionel. It was part of his charm.)

"Pretty normal," she answered after a moment. "I'm pretty used to people staring at me because life was like, fucking crazy back home, but no one does that here." It was nice.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Huh." Kate guesses that makes sense. "I guess with lots of people finding stuff like that out about themselves, no one's really going to make a big deal out of it." Henry would probably still fanboy the crap out of Trip, but after Kate punched him once, at least he'd keep his mouth shut.

Fuck. She really misses him.

She hops up on the washer opposite other-Kate. "Mind my asking what flavor of crazy? Seems like everyone's got a story around here."

[everyone_takes]

Tara's shit wasn't something Kate had ever really been quiet about. It might have been embarrassing or even hurtful, but she'd never hidden it from anyone. It was a part of who she was, whether she liked it or not, and Kate knew her life would've been a lot different if her mom hadn't been sick.

With a shrug, she said, "My mom's sick. She has DID. They used to call it Multiple Personalities." And whether or not the name was changed, that was still what it felt like to Kate most of the time. There were multiple people in her mom's body and sometimes she got Tara, but sometimes she got T. Or Alice.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate's never been the sit and chit-chat type. Yeah, she's constantly bugging Hank and Biggie when she's bored, but they're always talking about something. She doesn't know how to do this empathic crap. That's Will's job.

But this girl, there's just something about her. Same as Coraline. Kate can't help getting drawn into that shrug. It's like watching herself in the mirror. "Sounds rough. You have family to help out with that or was it just you?"

[everyone_takes]

There had definitely been periods of rough, times when things had been really, extremely fucked up, but Kate had always been sort of weirdly optimistic about it. They could handle anything, the five of them, so long as Charmaine wasn't being a total bitch or her mom was being honest.

"Nah, there was a bunch of us," she said. "My brother, my dad, my aunt." Her grandparents pretended to help, but they mostly just made shit worse. "I mean, it's not even that big a deal. It just... is."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

It's not that big a deal. It just is. It's like a page from her own playbook. And some people - Will - would say it was guarded or overcompensating or something. Maybe it is. It's also how you cope. When things are crazy, like other-Kate's mom or her life when mom went all weird and withdrawn after dad died and Thad was born, you learn fast. Boo-hooing about it does no good.

Kate nods at her, knowing. It just is. "I hear that. It's kinda like living in gangland or something. You get used to it. You do what you have to."

[everyone_takes]

"Yeah, exactly," Kate said, a little relieved. Some people just got it, they just understood that you couldn't change shit like that, so you dealt with it as best you could. Sometimes that meant getting mad and sometimes it meant just doing what needed to be done and sometimes it meant nothing at all.

"People would think it was the weirdest thing ever. For me it's just like... I don't know, my mom's sometimes a dude. And she's been sometimes a dude since I was a kid."

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"What's weird to someone else can start to look normal, real fast." Like living in what's basically a castle with a mermaid, a two-faced guy, and dozens of Abnormals. Not to mention, "Back home, Bigfoot's one of my best friends." And when she'd met him, she'd been thinking about selling him.

Kate frowns a little, not sure of herself in a conversation like this. "I'm not trying to say it's not rough or anything. I'm sure it is. I just get that life's about working with what you've got." Shut up, Will. He's only been trying to remind her of that since she got here.

[everyone_takes]

"Wait, Bigfoot?" Kate asked, because nothing else that was said even mattered the slightest bit after that. "Like, actual Bigfoot?" If someone had said that to her in Kansas, she would have called them crazy in a second. But here on the island... well, she'd seen a lot of weird shit. Bigfoot wouldn't even be in the top five.

"For real?" she asked, just to be clear. "Really for real Bigfoot?"

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate's mouth quirks with a sharp wry smile that barely covers the pain of that loss. "Yeah. He's actually been working for my boss for like fifty years or something. He's great. Seriously." There's no hiding either the longing or the fondness in her voice. Clean laundry's always going to remind her of Biggie. "We watch 'Operation: Paranormal' together every week."

She's been trying not to think about him. Or Henry, but especially not Biggie. Fuck, she really misses them.

[everyone_takes]

"Mind literally blown," Kate said. It wasn't every week someone told her that not only did Bigfoot exist, but that he had a job and they were friends. "So is the Loch Ness Monster real, too? I mean, they're sort of in the same vein, as far as I know..."

Maybe that was a stupid question, but it was one she had to ask anyway.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

"Yup." Actually, Kate's not completely sure on that one. She'll ask Declan. "At least, probably. Pretty much everything you've ever heard about is real in some way. Except aliens. We haven't run into any of those yet."

It's funny, Kate thinks as she hops down from the washer to check on the clothes. She doesn't tell most people what they actually do. But there's something about other-Kate that says she's not going to go telling tales and pointing fingers, and Kate likes that's she's smiling. It feels like she's making up for messing with her.

"There's a mermaid we call 'Sally' living with us, the goddess Kali's actually a telepathic projection of a giant sea spider..." Her eyes flash with mischief as she glances back over her shoulder. "Had enough yet?"

[everyone_takes]

"Ew," she said, nose wrinkling at the thought of a giant sea spider. "Seriously, that's pretty gross. I mean, spiders in general aren't my favourite things in the world, but now you're telling me there's a giant one. In the ocean?"

Which meant she was never going to go swimming there again if she could help it. Even if the spider hadn't been near the island before, weird shit happened here all the time.

[girlsolo.livejournal.com]

Kate laughs just a little. "Bertha's huge. Like half an island fights with Godzilla big. And sedated last time we saw her. She actually looks a lot more like a robot crab than a spider. Seriously, don't worry about her interrupting your beach funtimes."

If Bertha shows up, she's more likely to interrupt the beach than the funtimes. Man, now Kate's even more pissed off at the state of the island than ever. Yeah, there were superpowers when the movie monsters showed up, but what if there aren't, next time? There's not enough firepower on this island to deal with Bertha. She keeps that off her face, though, smiling while she sorts and folds.

[everyone_takes]

"All that sounds pretty unreal," she said, her heels banging lightly against the washer as she considered it. There was always a chance Kate was bullshitting her. She had gone into her hut and stolen her shit, leaving behind a Harry Potter book, of all things, so it wasn't impossible that she would be lying.

"But I guess everyone comes from pretty different worlds," she added. "I mean, there sure aren't any wizards in mine."