Washington D.C., Monday

[brat_inslayage]

The thing was, when Kennedy was allowed to do things like make reservations by herself, what you ended up with was a room at the Beacon and her being slightly annoyed that she hadn't been able to finagle a reservation at the Hay-Adams. (But on the plus side-- if you asked her-- they weren't that far from Dupont Circle.) Not to mention more bags than an overnight trip called for, and that was just Kennedy's stuff, but that was what the bell staff was for, right? She'd tipped nicely and everything.

Two days in D.C. and then a little bit of downtime before heading into New York for New Year's sounded like about the best winter break ever, though, and they had a city to check out so the annoyance wasn't long-lived.

"So," she mused, poking at Yelp on her iPhone (what did people do before these things, seriously?), "the zoo is definitely in the plans, but what else do we want to do? No way we're gonna fit everything into two days."

[[for that girl what's there with her, and sp.]]

Comments

[life_inshadow]

Tara, after the obligatory big-eyed tour of the room with her hands rather precisely behind her back, had flopped unceremoniously onto one of the beds with a guidebook. "National Museum of Women in the Arts?" she suggested. "And then maybe National Archives. I want to see the Declaration of Independence."

Nerd.

"Zoo first, though?" she requested.

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy, who'd just figured out how to connect to the hotel's wireless network, looked over from the other bed with an indulgent grin. (If she'd bothered to play around more she'd have known she could plot out their route on Google Maps on her phone, but that was way more techie than she cared to get.)

Neither of those options was exactly at the top of her list, but she could go with it. "You are seriously making me rethink my concept of the geek-cuteness factor here, but yes. Zoo first, totally. Definitely want to check out some of the stuff in Dupont Circle if we get a chance, too."

A bit apologetically she added, "Sorry about the room. They wouldn't give me a suite."

[life_inshadow]

Tara knew how to use her phone to .... send and receive calls. And texts. So she'd be of no help whatsoever. (To be fair, her phone didn't do a lot more.)

"Dupont, definitely. Maybe for dinner. And they're supposed to have an awesome bookstore." Oh, because that would work with the geek-cuteness thing.

She glanced around the room like the walls might have sprouted mold.

"What's wrong with this room? It looks seriously nice to me."

[brat_inslayage]

Well, it'd be more of an adventure this way, and also meant less likelihood of running into lampposts because she was too busy looking at the map on the phone. Which meant less damage to her ego, so it was a win all around, and by the way the geek-cuteness factor was threatening to go off the charts.

"It's not as big as what I was shooting for." Kennedy could work a pout pretty well when she had a mind to, like she did now. "But, short notice, holiday season, it was the best I could get."

[life_inshadow]

Tara sighed and propped herself up on her elbows, ignoring the book for a moment. "You did amazing, sweetie," she said. "Seriously. If' I'd been in charge we would have ended up in Motel 6."

"And besides, did you see that bathtub?" she asked. "I could swim in it."

[brat_inslayage]

"See, if I'd gotten the suite I was trying for we could have had a hot tub." Kennedy, stop that. "But, no chance of seeing the museums and stuff from there."

She shrugged it off-- mostly-- and set her phone aside. "We should probably get moving soon if we're going to get things done, but how'd Christmas go?"

[life_inshadow]

"I bet the hotel on the island has hot tubs," Tara pointed out gently. "But they don't have museums anywhere around, so."

She bit her lip before answering Kennedy's question. "Not -- bad? I couldn't talk my mom into moving out."

This clearly bothered her a lot.

"And they still don't like" me "Magic. So -- I don't think I'll go home next break."

[brat_inslayage]

"Sounds not good." Kennedy scrambled off her bed and over, reaching out for Tara's hand. "I was worried, you know."

And the worst she'd had to deal with had been her stepmother's brief, acidic critique of her wardrobe, just before she left. Which made the idea of offering an invite home somewhat out of the question, since no way was she going to subject Tara to even that.

"Think seeing some cute fuzzy animals will make it a little better?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara squeezed the offered hand, silent for a moment. "I think cute and furry is a really good start, yeah."

A pause as she tried to put a breve face on it all. "m-my mom was doing better, so ... not totally a wasted visit."

[brat_inslayage]

"Good," Kennedy said as firmly as she could, never quite as self-assured in the face of less tangible problems. "She had to've been glad to see you."

She bit her lip and watched Tara thoughtfully for a moment, running her thumb over the back of Tara's hand. "And there's no reason we can't send a little bit of the zoo to her, is there?"

[life_inshadow]

"She was," Tara said, rolling onto her side to get a better look at Kennedy. "Like ... send her a stuffed animal?"

[brat_inslayage]

"It is," Kennedy said with a slight smile, "more practical than an actual one, and less likely to get us in trouble. "

[life_inshadow]

"I bet they'd give us a koala if we looked really sad and asked really nicely," Tara said lazily.

"... do they even have koalas at this zoo?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Not so sure about that." The website was not helpful. Not being research girl, Kennedy hadn't exactly looked it up. "But there's always one of those little red pandas. Between the two of us, we could totally pull it off."

[life_inshadow]

"If they're small enough we could make one look like a fur collar on a jacket," Tara suggested helpfully. "It might be lonely, though ... maybe we should steal two."

[brat_inslayage]

They were actually having a conversation about stealing animals from the zoo. Mildly preposterous as the idea might be, Kennedy was completely playing along with it, looking far too amused. "It would be more fun to watch two of them playing together, wouldn't it?" she asked, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "Sure. Two of them. We can do that."

[life_inshadow]

"And they'd be the happiest red pandas in the world," Tara said dreamily. She moved to sit next to Kennedy. This was a completely absurd conversation, but it was taking her mind off the lingering melancholy from her trip home. "I'll distract the guards while you grab them."

[brat_inslayage]

That was probably a better plan than the other way around, which would most likely end in violence of some sort. And that, for many reasons, would be Bad.

"Good thing I brought a really big backpack, then." Kennedy reached over to wrap an arm around Tara's waist, shooting a sheepish glance at said backpack atop her insane pile of luggage. "Only we'd have to figure out what they eat, and get some outside the zoo, or they'll be on to us."

This was starting to stretch the limits of her capacity for whimsy, but if it was going to cheer Tara up, she'd keep going.

[life_inshadow]

"...I think it's a really good plan," Tara decided with a giggle, settling against Kennedy. "Your phone knows stuff like that, right?"

She was pretty thoroughly cheered at this point, but she could keep going for a while.

[brat_inslayage]

"Yeah, but it's over there," Kennedy said, and pointed vaguely at her bed. "Which, funny enough, isn't really where I'd rather be right now. Good thing we don't have to fly back to Fandom, huh? 'cause sneaking red pandas past airport security would be a lot tougher."

[life_inshadow]

"Mmmm," Tara agreed, because she was not in a hurry to move away either. "And we'd have to figure out something to do with them while we went to New York, too."

[brat_inslayage]

"We might have to come back after we think this plan through a little more, and settle for a stuffed animal for now," Kennedy said thoughtfully, leaning closer to rest her chin against Tara's shoulder. "Can't wait to show you around New York, either."

[life_inshadow]

"What's the best thing you want to show me?" Tara asked. She turned her head slightly to press a kiss to Kennedy's mouth.

[brat_inslayage]

"God, do I have to pick one?" Kennedy asked, laughing and a few moments later, once she'd rather reluctantly pulled back, but only far enough to rest her forehead against Tara's. "Sure, there's all the big tourist stuff, like if you've ever wanted to go ice skating at the Rockefeller Center rink-- that should still be open. And if you like bookstores you'll probably love Oscar Wilde in the Village. I'll ask Constance, she might know a few magic shops in the area too."

It... didn't occur to Kennedy to warn her about the massive amounts of people; she'd always taken that for granted.

[life_inshadow]

Tara lit up. "I want to ice skate," she said shyly. "Will you laugh when I fall on my ass?"

The crowds would be ... an experience.

[brat_inslayage]

Some kind of experience, for sure.

Kennedy grinned at her. "So we'll do that. Promise not to laugh, although I wouldn't object if you didn't fall on your ass. I like it." Oh, there was that thing she did with not thinking about what was coming out of her mouth again.

[life_inshadow]

"Really?" It was a good thing Tara was twisting her neck to inspect said posterior -- it helped to hide the blush. "Thanks."

"You always make me feel good, do you know that?"

[OOC: NIGHT!]

[brat_inslayage]

Helped to hide it, but Kennedy still thought it was adorable. She laughed and, on impulse, leaned in to nuzzle at Tara's neck. "That's because I have skills." And such a sense of modesty about them, too. It was amazing.

[[sleep well!]]

[life_inshadow]

Dazzling, as was that neck ... thing. Tara's mouth opened in a round little o and her hand went around to stroke up Kennedy's back.

Modest or not, Kennedy was certainly backing up that claim of skills

[brat_inslayage]

She wasn't even trying to prove anything, actually; it was just something she'd done for no reason other than because she wanted to. Kennedy turned slightly to wrap both arms around Tara, just enjoying the closeness.

"I'm not gonna want to leave at all if we don't get moving soon," she said quietly against Tara's neck, amused and reluctant at the same time.

[life_inshadow]

"... remind me why that's a bad thing." Tara wanted to see the museums, really. But...

[brat_inslayage]

"Things we wanted to see?" It took Kennedy, who hadn't exactly moved away at all, a little while to remember how say that much. She was supposed to be better about this talking thing, right? Could she help it if she was distracted?

[life_inshadow]

"Right," Tara said, also not moving. She murmured against Kennedy's neck, "... is the zoo going anywhere?"

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy shook her head, sliding a hand up into Tara's hair. "Doubt that. Wanna risk it?"

[life_inshadow]

"I can take a chance," Tara laughed, bringing her thigh slightly cloer to press against Kennedy's.

[brat_inslayage]

What was Kennedy supposed to do but lean further into the contact, and let her free hand drop onto Tara's knee? Well, start to trail kisses along the line of her jaw, maybe.

"Oooh, living dangerously," she teased with a low chuckle. "That's kind of hot."

[life_inshadow]

"Only kind of?"

Kennedy was rubbing off on Tara, apparently -- she didn't seem entirely comfortable with what she'd said.

She was, however, entirely comfortable with the kissing and the hand on her knee.

[brat_inslayage]

"Only kind of a lot," Kennedy insisted. She'd picked up on the discomfort, though, and pulled back to try and meet Tara's eyes. "But in case you hadn't noticed? I like you a hell of a lot even without that."

[life_inshadow]

"I know," Tara reassured her. And she even managed to sound like she believed it.

She squeezed Kenndy's hand. "Should we try for the zoo?" Not that the neck kissing thing wasn't nice, but there were small, furry things waiting.

[brat_inslayage]

"Unless we're really into hypothermia, I think we should stick to the indoor exhibits." Kennedy wouldn't have objected to staying in the room, honestly, but she had sort of promised, and she did want to see Tara's reaction to cute and fuzzy creatures. She started to stand, but didn't seem inclined to let go of Tara's hand. "And then dinner? I know a few good places we can go."

Her stomach made a little growly noise of agreement. "Oh, quiet, you."