Room 415, Friday (all day)

[brat_inslayage]

If Kennedy were the type to be that introspective, and the type to look for patterns, she'd have realized something interesting: it had been an impulsive decision that landed her in Fandom, and it was an impulsive decision that led to why she was packing up her room today, rather than at the end of the summer. Of course, as impulsive decisions went, you could argue this one was a lot more mature than 'this guy is pissing me off and deserves the punch in the face I'm about to give him,' but again, Kennedy wasn't introspective enough to realize that on any tangible level.

There was a whole vague-sense-of-accomplishment vibe going on as she shoved things into bags and boxes-- which was hard work she wasn't used to, and she'd have bitched about it except it just seemed like a dumb thing to bitch about now-- but no huge epiphany, or anything deep like that.

It just seemed like the thing to do, and she'd been thinking about it since Tuesday. Maybe before then, really; seeing Dad and Janelle at graduation had been more awesome than she'd expected it to be, and the reason Tara'd had to go home only cemented the idea. So after her workout she'd sent out emails and text messages to people, letting them know she was heading out, and gotten to work with the packing.

There wasn't much she could do about seeing Dad more often, but Janelle had grown about two shoe sizes since the last time she'd been home, she hadn't seen her mom since elementary school, and... hey, maybe she could try and give her stepmother a little more of a chance, for her sister's sake if nothing else. Maybe there was still a good chance Tara's mom would be okay, but Kennedy'd had too many friends lose people in the past two years already. She had a family, a pretty damn decent one at that, and if there was anything in her life she should probably stop taking for granted that was it. Starting, oh, basically now. Drake would probably approve, she thought, and she was pretty sure Tara would understand.

Besides, it wasn't like she was leaving forever, or anything. No way in hell would that ever happen, so yay for having plenty of cash to burn on travel.

So this was her, seizing the day... but damn, was she going to miss this place.

"Said it before and I'll say it again," Kennedy told Bailey, who was nosing around one of her half-packed boxes and looking perplexed at the increasingly empty state of the room. "Best damn school I ever went to."

[[omg this is kennedy's last student post in fandom. D: post and door both totally open, if you want to say you got a message from her, and up early (too early wah) for sp since i anticipate work being super-busy on actual friday. not that she'll be gone forever. like i'm not gonna use those visit days?]]

Comments

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"This week is getting to be very depressing," Scully observed, her hands in her pockets as she arrived at Kennedy's room.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"I'm told it's a thing that happens at the end of a school year," Kennedy replied, trying to sound casual. "With the leaving and all. Sorta how it goes, you know?"

It hadn't quite sunk in yet, but it was starting to.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"True. I thought you were going to be here the rest of the summer, though." Scully sighed, and gave a small smile. "I was hoping we'd have a chance to fight more monsters, but. You'll come back for special occasions, won't you?"

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"So was I." Kennedy tugged at a piece of fabric wedged between her mattress and the wall, frowning, until she finally managed to extract a t-shirt she thought she'd lost to the gross-splatter-ness of some invasion or other a year ago. "But stuff happens, y'know? Going home and seeing my family started to sound like a really good idea all of a sudden."

She paused long enough to cram the t-shirt into some box or other-- the staff could sort it all out when she got home anyway-- and nudge Bailey lightly away from the corner of the box before he started to chew on it.

"Besides," she went on. "You guys'll be fine with the ass-kicking. 'cause that's the one thing Fandom never has a shortage of. Asses to kick. Also people who kick ass at... um, the ass-kicking."

[longislandiceme]

"Well, yeah," Bobby said, from where he was leaning against the doorframe. "Wouldn't have met me anywhere else."

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"'cause it's all about you, huh, Boy Scout?" Kennedy retorted, her grin a little bit wobbly around the edges. "Although I'll give you credit for that, yeah."

[longislandiceme]

"When isn't it?" he replied flippantly. "For all that we practically grew up next door to each other, we had to go to school in another state to actually meet. You've gotta admit that's kind of funny."

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"Damn big-ass hedges," Kennedy quipped. "Also the possibly three dozen dimensions in the way, but that doesn't really help with the funny, does it?"

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley came over to Kennedy's room some time after receiving her text message, holding a box in his hands that, yes, was meant to be a present. He was nice like that.

"So, you're off, then?" he said from the doorway.

Quite a few of his best friends in Fandom had left this week. Unfair, that.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

It was unfair, and she could've had a royal bitchfit about that, but it felt like there were better things to spend her energy on. Kennedy and Deep Thoughts were having more than a passing fling this week, it seemed.

"Wes, hey." Kennedy gave him a genuinely apologetic smile. "That's what it's looking like, yeah. Kinda sudden, I know. It's a thing. Me being all spur of the moment."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't have expected it any other way," Wesley assured her. He held out the box. "Here. I wanted to give you this," he said.

It was a normal stake, nothing fancy. But he was pretty sure he'd picked it up in Sunnydale, so it seemed like an appropriate going-away gift. Or maybe he was just weird.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

They were both weird, then, only Kennedy was the kind of greedy weird one tearing into the box as soon as she got a hold of it, while Bailey shuffled his way over toward Wes's feet.

"Aw, my very own stake," she remarked, holding it up. "To go along with all my other very own stakes."

It wasn't sarcastic, though, or at least if it was, it wasn't sarcastic in a mean way; Kennedy was grinning as she tucked it back into the box and packed it away in one of the more tell-tale lumpy bags of her collection. "This one might get a place of honor though."

[trigons_child]

Raven was glad at least someone had informed her they were leaving. She managed to drag herself from her misery and woe to go the few doors down to Kennedy's room to say goodbye, drying her eyes and trying to swallow how upset she was.

Another friend leaving wasn't helping.

"I thought you were to remain until Tara returned," she said unhappily.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"See, this is what Portalocity is for," Kennedy tried to defend herself, because when it came down to it she was so not a match for an unhappy-looking Raven. "I was gonna stay. And then I started getting ideas."

Because that was never a good thing. Except maybe when it was.

"I'm not trying to ditch you guys," she explained a little more gently. "That is so not it."

[trigons_child]

"Ideas?" Raven asked, brow furrowing. "What sort of ideas?"

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"You met my sister last weekend," Kennedy began-- no, seriously, this was a logical segue of sorts. "You know, that's the first time I've seen her since the Christmas before the one we spent at Sookie's? It totally hit me how much I missed that kid, and..."

She trailed off. "You know. There is a certain amount of suckage to how I'm lucky she remembers what I look like. Which is to say nothing of how long it's been since I've seen my mom, and... yeah."

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"This is cheating," Sookie informed her, looking sad as she leaned in Kennedy's doorway. "We were supposed to leave at the same time."

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know. Uncool of me," she said in a tone that proved she'd learned how to be decently self-deprecating when the mood struck. "'cause Fandom should be enjoying our collective awesome for as long as possible."

...the mood only struck briefly, apparently.

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure I can be awesome enough for both of us," Sookie said, trying to make it sound light but sort of failing. "Why the sudden change of plans?"

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Regardless of what other stuff was about to go down for Rose, there was a long period of driving when playing with her phone was about the most interesting thing around.

Which was why when the text message came through, she replied almost instantly with

Dude, you think Fandom can survive with *both* of us gone?

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy laughed when she saw the text come in, and picked up her phone to reply.

If it doesn't, we obviouslyllllnmk didn't leave a good enough impression on them.

Thanks for nosing at the screen mid-text, Bailey.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Snickering, Rose readjusted her knee before typing back.

Survival through intimidation. I can get behind that. Did u have a seizure?

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

After getting Kennedy's message, Dru had made a quick trip to town before heading to the other girl's room.

"I brought you a going away gift."

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy would be lying if she'd claimed (not that she would) she wasn't relieved Dru had dropped by.

...Kennedy also, at the moment, was busy taping up a large box labeled blunt smashy things with a rabbit on her shoulder.

"I think there's room in one of the boxes," she said with a quick smile. "Theoretically. God, how the hell did I end up with so much shit?"

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

Considering she hated good-byes, Dru almost didn't. After all, Kennedy had promised to visit.

"Because you didn't have to pack it up every three or four months and fit it all into the back of a pick-up truck," Dru replied. Hopefully Kennedy wasn't taking that box on a plane with her. Security would have a stroke. "Living a nomadic lifestyle helps you keep the stuff accumulation to a minimum."

Even after over a year in Fandom, she still didn't have all that much in her room.

"Don't worry though, you don't need much room this." Holding her hand out, Dru waited for Kennedy to take the small book of stamps.