Room 223, Late Friday Morning

[whenshewasnice]

It was Friday morning, and Natalie had the day off. And she was... looking up Portalocity prices for Montreal. Not for today, obviously, but for some time in February. Her birthday was coming up, and she'd already been on the phone with her mother this morning. There'd been talk of how she should come home at some point, somewhere around her birthday.

And being the sensible sort of person that she was, she was comparing prices for different times to save some money. Also because she'd already done her homework for the week and she was bored. Might as well make the extra time useful somehow.

Whatever, she had Pocky. She could deal with her boredom any way she saw fit, and it was not anyone else's business.

[ooc: Open door/post!]

Comments

[life_inshadow]

Tara came back after class and dropped onto her bed. "I don't even have plans, and I'm ready for a weekend."

She had classes or work every day but Tuesday this semester. It tended to feel like a lot by the end of it.

[whenshewasnice]

"I never have plans for the weekend," Natalie noted, glancing away from her computer and greeting her with a little nod. "It's enough that it's there."

Even though she tended to spend hers by getting ahead of the schedule on her independent classwork.

[life_inshadow]

"Just as a philosophical concept," Tara agreed, reaching down to pet Mr. Moxy. (Tara had just come from outside. Sometimes that meant treats, so he was investigating.) "Besides, planning things for the weekend here is ... not the most predictable thing."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's not." And yes, she may have sighed ever so quietly over that. She'd been burned a little by the last few bouts of weird. "Last weekend was normal. Think that'll continue?"

[life_inshadow]

The thing about Tara was, she had to actually take that question seriously.

"For a while," she ventured. "Maybe. Last year we got the fake kids for Valentine's Day."

She furrowed her brow at Natalie; she'd been warned on that one by now, right?

[whenshewasnice]

Ahahaha oops. Yeah, no.

It was enough to make Natalie actually turn in her chair, one eyebrow raised. "Fake kids?" she repeated, like she didn't much care for the sound of that.

[life_inshadow]

Oops.

"Yeah, it's like -- kids you could have in fifteen years. They just go away at the end of the weekend," Tara (kind of) explained, tone a bit faltering. "Last year I got twins with my girlfriend."

She fumbled for her phone. "I saved a picture somewhere..."

[whenshewasnice]

"Like... Actual children?"

Sorry, someone may have been a little hung up on the concept, still. Her birthday happened to be the day after Valentine's day, for one thing. There were quite a few reasons she wasn't really liking this.

[life_inshadow]

"They think they're real," was the answer Tara settled on. "But ... most of them are never going to happen. So, kind of actual. Actual-ish."

She held the phone out toward Natalie. "This is Asher and Miraya, anyhow."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie took a look, and said, "Cute." The truth was, she wasn't too good with kids. That included complimenting ones that weren't there. "They just appeared?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara nodded. "Uh-huh. Well -- technically there's a portal in the park? But I've never seen them come out of it, so ... it's like they appear. They're weirdly good at finding us."

And weirdly calm about their parents being teenagers who had no idea they were parents at all, which was another reason Tara leaned more toward actual-ish than actual.

[whenshewasnice]

"Of course," Natalie drawled, because this was Fandom. The kids being able to find you was pretty much the least surprising thing here.

She fished another Pocky stick from the pack. "Is that any kind of recurring thing?"

[life_inshadow]

"Every single year," Tara sighed. "But I didn't get any kids sophomore year. Sometimes it skips people."

[OOC: Going AFK for a bit.]

[whenshewasnice]

"Suppose that would be too much to hope for," Natalie muttered. Oh, cynicism. "Well, something to look forward to to keep from getting bored, I guess."

And she might have been wondering what her and Sam's kids might look like. Maybe.

[life_inshadow]

"That's a way to look at it," Tara said, encouragingly.

She would be surprised if she had kids this time, but maybe she was wrong?

[whenshewasnice]

"Think it has anything to do with relationship status?"

She wasn't reading her mind, just generally curious and contemplative.

[life_inshadow]

"Nah," Tara said. "I think people who are in love have more kids, but I had one with a guy friend once. It's just weird island stuff."

She shrugged. "But I'm not expecting any of them to come back, I guess."

[whenshewasnice]

"Why not?" Natalie wondered, idly offering the Pocky packet her way since she was occasionally polite and things. "If there's a reason."

[life_inshadow]

Tara shrugged and picked out a Pocky with her fingertips.

"Dunno," she said, gesturing with the cookie a bit. "I guess just ... both the other parents are gone. Not that that would have to make a difference."

[whenshewasnice]

"Oh. Right." Well, if there wa any rhyme or reason to how Fandom worked, that sounded logical enough to Natalie for it to possibly work like that. "Well, I guess we'll see, won't we?"

[life_inshadow]

"Sooner or later, yes."