Penny and Lil - May 23
May. 23rd, 2018 05:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainPenny meet her new roommate, Lil, and the hit if off over room planning and candy.
It was bittersweet, saying goodbye to her Uncle Jon. She knew it wasn't forever, or even for long - he was spending the night in town so that they could have breakfast together before his flight home tomorrow - but it still felt finalizing, watching him drive away in the rental car as she stood on the front steps. It was hard for him too, she could tell, though he was trying not to show it.
The halls weren't overly crowded as she made her way back to her room, but they weren't empty, either. She walked with purpose and kept her eyes ahead, trying to look like someone who had places to be to avoid getting stopped. She'd have to start meeting people soon, and she was actually looking forward to it, but talking to new people had never been easy for her, and she wasn't sure she could take the stress of it right now.
Once she made it back to the room, she started to shut the door, but then thought better of it. Her roommate would be back at some point, and she didn't want to make it feel closed off or weird when she came back. She was grateful when she saw that it was neat and that her half of the room had been cleared - the Professor had mentioned it'd been only one person for a w hile, so she honestly hadn't been sure what to expect. She still wasn't - Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton weren't typical teenage decor - but at least it was neat.
She changed into some black gym shorts and an oversized tee shirt from her school's - old school's - Spanish club, pulled her long red hair back with a hair tie, and opened up her truck to get started unpacking.
Lil's head was full of algebra when she got back to her door. Algebra was a relief. Communications, biology, history: they all required a lot of the kind of thinking that Lil didn't feel she was up to, but algebra was simple and clear and still managed to stay exciting somehow. If she managed to survive the rest of this school year, maybe next year she'd double up on maths. She was just about to shift her algebra text to her other hand so she could dig out her room key when she stopped. The door was open.
It took a moment of Lil standing there, rifling through mental notes before she realized what was probably going on, after all, she'd cleaned up just for this. Roommate. She knocked on the open door before stepping in.
"Hey! I'm Lil. I'm guessing you're the new roommate?"
Penny turned around when she heard a knock, and then looked...up. She wasn't the tallest girl in the world, but she felt pretty short righ tnow. "Yeah, hi!" she said, picking her way through her half- unpacked luggage, then offered out he r hand to shake. "I'm Penny. It's nice to meet you."
Another redhead. What was it with Lil getting redheads for roommates? She took Penny's hand. "Nice to meet you too. I lost half my room, but I sorta missed having someone else in here so it's all good!"
"Sorry," Penny said with a smile as they shook, and when she was done, she put her hands on her hips and glanced around the room. "How did you have it set up before I got here?"
Lil waved off her concern. "Oh fuck, don't worry about it. Like I said, company's better. Besides, it wasn't anything special, just some pillows on your bed and like, tea stuff on your desk. I think I'll manage."
"I appreciate it. But I was actually wondering if you wanted to like...bunk or loft them or something? That way we could have more room. We might be able to find a couch at the thrift store or something?" She smiled warmly as she added, "But like, only if you want - if not, it's cool. I was just thinking about it when I was unpacking."
"That's pretty bold, suggesting we pick out furniture when we just met." Lil grinned, a little pleased that she'd managed to make a joke like that to a girl without feeling all weird about it. Well, not too weird anyway. "But sure. Whatever. I sorta liked having a chesterfield."
Penny grinned and flushed just a little bit, even as she gave a goofy fingergun at Lil. "What's a chesterfield? A couch or something?" Her guess was purely context clues - she'd never heard of it in her life. It kind of sounded like name of a British butler.
"Yeah, exactly." Lil nodded and adopted Penny's pose as she looked around the room. If they could do something about the beds, there'd be a whole lot more room for themselves in here. "Okay so you said we could do bunks or lofts? The loft thingee would be pretty good, expecially if... " Lil glanced at her desk, then at her bed, "We could stick the desk under them?"
"I think that'd work great," Penny agreed. "And if we staggered them in an L shape..." She demonstrated her idea, gesturing to how she thought the beds might work, "we could have plenty of room."
"And that would make room for a chesterfield! Or couch, sofa, thing-where-we-put-our-asses... Yeah." Lil walked over to a small table with an electric kettle and a couple of mugs. "And I sorta like tea and snacks in here, for when I'm studying and stuff. Maybe like, an old microwave cart or something? I didn't think of that before but I sorta like the idea now."
"I think that's an awesome idea - I drink a lot of tea. And we could totally find that stuff used if we kept an eye out. Are we allowed to have a microwave?" Most dorms allowed that sort of thing, right?
Lil shrugged. "Who gives a fuck, right? They never inspect the rooms or anything." She gave Penny a confused smile before hitting the switch on the kettle. Tea was probably a good idea right about now. "Seriously, this is a little weird. I've known you like, all of five minutes and we got a shopping list? You don't waste time on this room thing, eh?"
Penny laughed a little sheepishly and ducked her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Right, sorry. I'm not that great at talking to new people, so I'd been gearing myself up to ask before you got here." She shrugged. "But we don't have to do it now, if you want to wait."
"Nope, it's nothing you need to say sorry for. It's sorta nice - just dive in and get that shit done and then it's out of the way." Lil pulled her sweater over her head revealing her green and yellow NWT Diamond Centre T-shirt and tossed it on her desk. She lifted a hand to check of their list on her fingers. "We gotta buy a chesterfield, microwave cart and microwave. We gotta move the beds, put 'em on stilts, and get our desks under them. Wanna get the furniture stuff done and then we can crash with some junkfood after?"
"That sounds great!" Penny agreed, and immediately started to push her things out of the way.
It didn't take too long, all things considered, to get the furniture moved around, and when they were done, Penny collapsed on the floor with a huff, stretching her legs out in front of her and leaning back on her elbows. As she did, her stomach growled - not for the first time, but this one was at least audible. She looked up at Lil, grinning big, and held up her hand to offer her a high five. "Want to eat junk now?"
Lil leaned down and slapped her hand. "Shit yeah. I got some stuff stashed in here." She opened the closet door and took down a big cardboard box from the top shelf, stuck it under one arm, and turned on the kettle again before dropping the box beside Penny and joining her on the floor.
"Some of this stuff I brought across the border 'cause sorry, but you guys don't have any of the good chocolate bars down here, and I've never seen Salt and Vinegar chips, but most of it it came out of the kitchen." She dug out a box of cookies and waved it at the other girl. "I figure I'm gonna eat it whether it's there or here so no harm in grabbing it, eh?"
"Sure," Penny said with a shrug - she didn't really understand how the food stuff worked yet anyway. "I actually got some snacks earlier today too, hold on-" She stretched and snagged the handle of a plastic bag - she really needed to get some reusable ones - and pulled it over. She poured out some Cheez-Its, white cheddar popcorn, and the world's largest bag of Sour Patch Kids. "But show me this Canadian junk food."
Lil gave her a puzzled look or a moment and then let it break into a smile. "I guess me talking about the border tipped you off about the Canuck thing? Or... " she looked down at her chest, "maybe the shirt, eh?"
"That, and the Canadian flag," Penny said with a grin. "Where in Canada are you from?"
"For fuck's sake." She closed her eyes. She'd forgotten the flag hanging up over Johnny Cash. "From where the shirt says, Northwest Territories - Yellowknife specifically. You?"
Penny grinned bigger, and grabbed out the bag of sour cream and bacon chips. "Southern California. I'm from Oxnard, which is a city that most people don't even realize is there as they drive to LA." She held up the bag of chips and waggled it a little. "Mind if we try these? I'm curious."
Lil nodded and settled on the floor across from Penny. "Take whatever you want." She grabbed herself a Coffee Crisp bar, trying not to look too hard at the sour gummies. She'd wait until the other girl opened them before she dived in.
Penny tore the bag open and took a singular chip, biting it carefully, her brow knit together as she examined the flavor. She must have approved, because she made a 'mm' sound and nodded as she went in for more. "Thanks. You can have whatever of mine, too."
Once she'd eaten a few more, she looked at Lil and smiled. "So, have you been at the school long?
"Since the end of September last year." Lil leaned back against the frame of her bed. "Mom found out about it last summer, and that was it, I was getting shipped down south."
"Oh, so you've been here for a while, then." She grabbed her half empty water bottle and took a swig before pulling open the sour gummies, taking out a handful, and leaving the bag open. "Had you known about your mutation for longer, then, if she just found out then?"
"Yup. Pretty much since forever. Mom says I wasn't born with it, but I don't remember not having it. There was some kind of accident of something and then next thing mom knows, her kid is unbreakeable."
"Oh, is that your..." Penny paused. She honestly wasn't sure what to call it. She typically said mutation, but that sounded weird, and 'powers' just sounded so corny. She hadn't ever been around other mutants before, so she wasn't sure what was typically used. Finally, she tried, "..ability? Being unbreakable?"
Lil nodded. "Invulnerable. Some of the kids around here have half a dozen things they can do, but i just have the one trick. It's pretty impressive though. I haven't been through anything that's managed to leave a scratch yet." She finished her bar and tossed the wrapper back in the box." What about you?"
"That IS useful," Penny said with a nod, clearly impressed. "I can make people...calm? I guess? I think the Professor said 'sedate'. They just sort of...chill out and don't care about whatever they're doing anymore." She shrugged. "I've only really used it a couple times, and only by accident, so I'm not sure how it works."
"You're serious? Oh my fuck, your power is to calm people down and your myroommate." Lil couldn't help the laughed that bubbled out. "People are gonna think the Prof planned that!"
Penny raised her eyebrows, something mixed between amusement and confusion. "Why?"
"I'm sorta known for having a temper. First thing half the people here remember about me is that I told one the kid everyone loves to fuck off. Or I said 'fuck you', something like that anyway." Lil sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before going on. If she'd had half a clue how much those two words would shape things for her, she would have kept her mouth shut. Or she liked to think she would have. "Touchy, thin-skinned, angry... I mean, that's a good chunk of the kids here, but they remember it more when you're a girl."
Penny hesitated, looking a little concerned - not just at the information that her that her new roommate had a temper, but that it was apparently how a lot of the students could be described.
"It can be hard to get past a reputation," she settled on after a moment, then continued, "but I've never actually used my powers on purpose before. It hurts really bad to do it."
Lil frowned. She’d been relieved for a moment because people messing with her head was the last thing she wanted, but empathy finally kicked in, and she realized what Penny’s admission meant for her. “That’s not fair. You got this awesome talent, and it hurts to use? At least they got some resources and shit here – maybe they can help you with that.”
"Yeah, maybe," she said with a shrug. "I don't know why I'd want to control people, though. The professor said they could help me stop doing it by accident though, which will be nice."
Her stomach growled, and she frowned - she was already eating snacks, why was she so hungry? "Do you mind if we went to the kitchen? I think I need something heavier than chips." She rolled her eyes. "Always hungry."
That got rid of her frown. Lil patted her stomach. “Me too. Seems to be a thing with mutants – the kitchen’s pretty much the most popular room here. C’mon, I’ll show you where it is.”
Penny grinned and pushed to her feet, quickly rolling up the tops of the snack bags and shoving then back into get shopping bag. "Awesome! Thanks."
It was bittersweet, saying goodbye to her Uncle Jon. She knew it wasn't forever, or even for long - he was spending the night in town so that they could have breakfast together before his flight home tomorrow - but it still felt finalizing, watching him drive away in the rental car as she stood on the front steps. It was hard for him too, she could tell, though he was trying not to show it.
The halls weren't overly crowded as she made her way back to her room, but they weren't empty, either. She walked with purpose and kept her eyes ahead, trying to look like someone who had places to be to avoid getting stopped. She'd have to start meeting people soon, and she was actually looking forward to it, but talking to new people had never been easy for her, and she wasn't sure she could take the stress of it right now.
Once she made it back to the room, she started to shut the door, but then thought better of it. Her roommate would be back at some point, and she didn't want to make it feel closed off or weird when she came back. She was grateful when she saw that it was neat and that her half of the room had been cleared - the Professor had mentioned it'd been only one person for a w hile, so she honestly hadn't been sure what to expect. She still wasn't - Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton weren't typical teenage decor - but at least it was neat.
She changed into some black gym shorts and an oversized tee shirt from her school's - old school's - Spanish club, pulled her long red hair back with a hair tie, and opened up her truck to get started unpacking.
Lil's head was full of algebra when she got back to her door. Algebra was a relief. Communications, biology, history: they all required a lot of the kind of thinking that Lil didn't feel she was up to, but algebra was simple and clear and still managed to stay exciting somehow. If she managed to survive the rest of this school year, maybe next year she'd double up on maths. She was just about to shift her algebra text to her other hand so she could dig out her room key when she stopped. The door was open.
It took a moment of Lil standing there, rifling through mental notes before she realized what was probably going on, after all, she'd cleaned up just for this. Roommate. She knocked on the open door before stepping in.
"Hey! I'm Lil. I'm guessing you're the new roommate?"
Penny turned around when she heard a knock, and then looked...up. She wasn't the tallest girl in the world, but she felt pretty short righ tnow. "Yeah, hi!" she said, picking her way through her half- unpacked luggage, then offered out he r hand to shake. "I'm Penny. It's nice to meet you."
Another redhead. What was it with Lil getting redheads for roommates? She took Penny's hand. "Nice to meet you too. I lost half my room, but I sorta missed having someone else in here so it's all good!"
"Sorry," Penny said with a smile as they shook, and when she was done, she put her hands on her hips and glanced around the room. "How did you have it set up before I got here?"
Lil waved off her concern. "Oh fuck, don't worry about it. Like I said, company's better. Besides, it wasn't anything special, just some pillows on your bed and like, tea stuff on your desk. I think I'll manage."
"I appreciate it. But I was actually wondering if you wanted to like...bunk or loft them or something? That way we could have more room. We might be able to find a couch at the thrift store or something?" She smiled warmly as she added, "But like, only if you want - if not, it's cool. I was just thinking about it when I was unpacking."
"That's pretty bold, suggesting we pick out furniture when we just met." Lil grinned, a little pleased that she'd managed to make a joke like that to a girl without feeling all weird about it. Well, not too weird anyway. "But sure. Whatever. I sorta liked having a chesterfield."
Penny grinned and flushed just a little bit, even as she gave a goofy fingergun at Lil. "What's a chesterfield? A couch or something?" Her guess was purely context clues - she'd never heard of it in her life. It kind of sounded like name of a British butler.
"Yeah, exactly." Lil nodded and adopted Penny's pose as she looked around the room. If they could do something about the beds, there'd be a whole lot more room for themselves in here. "Okay so you said we could do bunks or lofts? The loft thingee would be pretty good, expecially if... " Lil glanced at her desk, then at her bed, "We could stick the desk under them?"
"I think that'd work great," Penny agreed. "And if we staggered them in an L shape..." She demonstrated her idea, gesturing to how she thought the beds might work, "we could have plenty of room."
"And that would make room for a chesterfield! Or couch, sofa, thing-where-we-put-our-asses... Yeah." Lil walked over to a small table with an electric kettle and a couple of mugs. "And I sorta like tea and snacks in here, for when I'm studying and stuff. Maybe like, an old microwave cart or something? I didn't think of that before but I sorta like the idea now."
"I think that's an awesome idea - I drink a lot of tea. And we could totally find that stuff used if we kept an eye out. Are we allowed to have a microwave?" Most dorms allowed that sort of thing, right?
Lil shrugged. "Who gives a fuck, right? They never inspect the rooms or anything." She gave Penny a confused smile before hitting the switch on the kettle. Tea was probably a good idea right about now. "Seriously, this is a little weird. I've known you like, all of five minutes and we got a shopping list? You don't waste time on this room thing, eh?"
Penny laughed a little sheepishly and ducked her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Right, sorry. I'm not that great at talking to new people, so I'd been gearing myself up to ask before you got here." She shrugged. "But we don't have to do it now, if you want to wait."
"Nope, it's nothing you need to say sorry for. It's sorta nice - just dive in and get that shit done and then it's out of the way." Lil pulled her sweater over her head revealing her green and yellow NWT Diamond Centre T-shirt and tossed it on her desk. She lifted a hand to check of their list on her fingers. "We gotta buy a chesterfield, microwave cart and microwave. We gotta move the beds, put 'em on stilts, and get our desks under them. Wanna get the furniture stuff done and then we can crash with some junkfood after?"
"That sounds great!" Penny agreed, and immediately started to push her things out of the way.
It didn't take too long, all things considered, to get the furniture moved around, and when they were done, Penny collapsed on the floor with a huff, stretching her legs out in front of her and leaning back on her elbows. As she did, her stomach growled - not for the first time, but this one was at least audible. She looked up at Lil, grinning big, and held up her hand to offer her a high five. "Want to eat junk now?"
Lil leaned down and slapped her hand. "Shit yeah. I got some stuff stashed in here." She opened the closet door and took down a big cardboard box from the top shelf, stuck it under one arm, and turned on the kettle again before dropping the box beside Penny and joining her on the floor.
"Some of this stuff I brought across the border 'cause sorry, but you guys don't have any of the good chocolate bars down here, and I've never seen Salt and Vinegar chips, but most of it it came out of the kitchen." She dug out a box of cookies and waved it at the other girl. "I figure I'm gonna eat it whether it's there or here so no harm in grabbing it, eh?"
"Sure," Penny said with a shrug - she didn't really understand how the food stuff worked yet anyway. "I actually got some snacks earlier today too, hold on-" She stretched and snagged the handle of a plastic bag - she really needed to get some reusable ones - and pulled it over. She poured out some Cheez-Its, white cheddar popcorn, and the world's largest bag of Sour Patch Kids. "But show me this Canadian junk food."
Lil gave her a puzzled look or a moment and then let it break into a smile. "I guess me talking about the border tipped you off about the Canuck thing? Or... " she looked down at her chest, "maybe the shirt, eh?"
"That, and the Canadian flag," Penny said with a grin. "Where in Canada are you from?"
"For fuck's sake." She closed her eyes. She'd forgotten the flag hanging up over Johnny Cash. "From where the shirt says, Northwest Territories - Yellowknife specifically. You?"
Penny grinned bigger, and grabbed out the bag of sour cream and bacon chips. "Southern California. I'm from Oxnard, which is a city that most people don't even realize is there as they drive to LA." She held up the bag of chips and waggled it a little. "Mind if we try these? I'm curious."
Lil nodded and settled on the floor across from Penny. "Take whatever you want." She grabbed herself a Coffee Crisp bar, trying not to look too hard at the sour gummies. She'd wait until the other girl opened them before she dived in.
Penny tore the bag open and took a singular chip, biting it carefully, her brow knit together as she examined the flavor. She must have approved, because she made a 'mm' sound and nodded as she went in for more. "Thanks. You can have whatever of mine, too."
Once she'd eaten a few more, she looked at Lil and smiled. "So, have you been at the school long?
"Since the end of September last year." Lil leaned back against the frame of her bed. "Mom found out about it last summer, and that was it, I was getting shipped down south."
"Oh, so you've been here for a while, then." She grabbed her half empty water bottle and took a swig before pulling open the sour gummies, taking out a handful, and leaving the bag open. "Had you known about your mutation for longer, then, if she just found out then?"
"Yup. Pretty much since forever. Mom says I wasn't born with it, but I don't remember not having it. There was some kind of accident of something and then next thing mom knows, her kid is unbreakeable."
"Oh, is that your..." Penny paused. She honestly wasn't sure what to call it. She typically said mutation, but that sounded weird, and 'powers' just sounded so corny. She hadn't ever been around other mutants before, so she wasn't sure what was typically used. Finally, she tried, "..ability? Being unbreakable?"
Lil nodded. "Invulnerable. Some of the kids around here have half a dozen things they can do, but i just have the one trick. It's pretty impressive though. I haven't been through anything that's managed to leave a scratch yet." She finished her bar and tossed the wrapper back in the box." What about you?"
"That IS useful," Penny said with a nod, clearly impressed. "I can make people...calm? I guess? I think the Professor said 'sedate'. They just sort of...chill out and don't care about whatever they're doing anymore." She shrugged. "I've only really used it a couple times, and only by accident, so I'm not sure how it works."
"You're serious? Oh my fuck, your power is to calm people down and your myroommate." Lil couldn't help the laughed that bubbled out. "People are gonna think the Prof planned that!"
Penny raised her eyebrows, something mixed between amusement and confusion. "Why?"
"I'm sorta known for having a temper. First thing half the people here remember about me is that I told one the kid everyone loves to fuck off. Or I said 'fuck you', something like that anyway." Lil sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before going on. If she'd had half a clue how much those two words would shape things for her, she would have kept her mouth shut. Or she liked to think she would have. "Touchy, thin-skinned, angry... I mean, that's a good chunk of the kids here, but they remember it more when you're a girl."
Penny hesitated, looking a little concerned - not just at the information that her that her new roommate had a temper, but that it was apparently how a lot of the students could be described.
"It can be hard to get past a reputation," she settled on after a moment, then continued, "but I've never actually used my powers on purpose before. It hurts really bad to do it."
Lil frowned. She’d been relieved for a moment because people messing with her head was the last thing she wanted, but empathy finally kicked in, and she realized what Penny’s admission meant for her. “That’s not fair. You got this awesome talent, and it hurts to use? At least they got some resources and shit here – maybe they can help you with that.”
"Yeah, maybe," she said with a shrug. "I don't know why I'd want to control people, though. The professor said they could help me stop doing it by accident though, which will be nice."
Her stomach growled, and she frowned - she was already eating snacks, why was she so hungry? "Do you mind if we went to the kitchen? I think I need something heavier than chips." She rolled her eyes. "Always hungry."
That got rid of her frown. Lil patted her stomach. “Me too. Seems to be a thing with mutants – the kitchen’s pretty much the most popular room here. C’mon, I’ll show you where it is.”
Penny grinned and pushed to her feet, quickly rolling up the tops of the snack bags and shoving then back into get shopping bag. "Awesome! Thanks."
