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 Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 11:18 am
So she was kind of loitering in the mall but it was for a good reason, okay? Like, she had not spent the last fifteen minutes working through a bubble tea and staring at the Air Force Recruitment Office like a nerd for nothing. No, Keren Della-Blue was having deep and important thoughts about her future and whether Destiny City University was the right place for her. After all, Kaatje had eschewed university in favor of armed service and all it had done was turn her into a complete badass. So, like, what if Keren was passing up similar results in favor of academia?
She would never forgive herself.
She’d reached the bottom of her tea, and fished for the last of the boba with her straw. She’d dawdled long enough and really ought to just go in, but maybe her hesitation was as much of a sign as her enthusiasm? Augh.
Making decisions was hard. Maybe she should have just stayed in Israel and gotten drafted. Except, no, that was dumb for a lot of reasons and she didn’t even have citizenship over there (thanks, Dad!) so it didn’t even work, as far as life goals went.
Keren stabbed around with her straw for the very last pearl. She’d get this one, she thought determinedly, and then she’d go in.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:53 am
“Sup,” said Kaatje, descending into the seat next to Keren like someone had just cut her parachute strings a thousand feet from solid ground. “Are you thinking of talking to Sarge in here, buddy?”
Okay, so that was actually obvious, if you knew anything at all about Keren Della-Blue, you’d know she practically worshipped badassery and therefore, Kaatje, although--who wouldn’t worship Kaatje, let’s be real. She was awesome. Anyway, if the military had made Kaatje a badass and Keren wanted to be Kaatje (which she did, again, let’s not lie) then Keren would want to join the military. “My recommendation is, wait a while, ‘cause this guy’s a dorkass and he’ll try to shove you into the reserve officer training program. Actually not a bad idea, but the second you say anything about ‘medical’ he’s gonna be all over you and not in the good way.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:53 am
Keren jumped a little when Kaatje sat down. Actually, Keren jumped a lot, the end of her straw stabbing uselessly against the bottom of her cup. “Hi, Kaatje,” she said, and she felt a little guilty when the other girl called her out on wanting to talk to “sarge.” (But of course she did.) “Um,” she said, “Yes.”
Because that was really obvious. Kaatje’s advice was welcome, though - especially considering that Kaatje was the reason Keren had gone and put herself in this position. “What’s not in the good way?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at the older girl. Kaatje was, after all, the expert on all things air force. “And how long is a while?” She didn’t want to delay her road to glory by too much, after all. Keren was already eighteen and not getting any younger.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:53 am
“College,” said Kaatje, without a blink of an eye. “Keren, kiddo, let me tell you the greatest of secrets: if you have a degree before you talk to a recruiter, you are already about seventy times better than them.” She hooked an arm through Keren’s, and hauled her up out of the chair. Without waiting for approval or disapproval, she hauled her cargo off towards the nearest H&M--the Labor Day sales were really just gearing up, and there was a lot to do. “We should get matching hoodies from the men’s section,” said Kaatje, “the women’s hoodies will collapse after about thirty goddamn seconds of running.”
As she flipped through the rack, she said, “Seriously, though. If you get an MD or whatever, you can go to the Air Force and make your own rules, kiddo. Like, if you don’t want to be a doctor, go the ******** for it. S’better than going to school for, I don’t ******** know, Environmental Sciences. Who even does that.”
Finn Derouen did that. That was exactly who did that.
“No one going in enlisted gets medical,” said Kaatje, plucking a giant plaid monstrosity off the rack and holding it to her figure. She made a disgusted face and put it back. “I was supposed to be on wait until a loadmaster slot opened up, but hey, I’m a mechanic now.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:54 am
Matching hoodies? Keren was totally down for that, and lost her empty cup in a trash can somewhere between the food court and their new location. “I want one that zips,” she said, watching Kaatje browse. “Maybe one of the structural moto-jacket-looking ones.” Or were those So Last Year? She was hoping they’d come back into season for fall.
Shoving her hands into her skirt’s hidden pockets, she considered Kaatje’s suggestion and replied, “I’ve wanted to be a doctor since I was five ******** years old.” Med school was a long time to wait to join the air force - eight ******** years between now and then, if she didn’t get held back by any magical or mundane shenanigans - but if Kaatje was right, that she could take her MD and tell them exactly how high to jump, well, maybe the student debt and the sleepless nights would pay off in more ways than one.
“What’s a loadmaster?” she asked, picking up a flannel pullover and shaking her head. “Ugh, fashion sucks. Who the hell decided we should all be wearing lumberjack chic?”
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:54 am
Kaatje snorted. “Yeah, good ******** luck, that’s a Spring 2013 item. And if you want it in hoodie material, you are way too late. That was a thing in the fall of 2010.”
Secret: Kaatje loved fashion. To death. Just, when you were as buff as she, suddenly all the princess dresses made your shoulders look like a linebacker’s. She wasn’t about that kind of life. “So, okay, don’t be stupid and join the Air Force. At least go pre-med and then apply to rotzy.” She paused, and in case that was unclear, said, “Reserve Officer Training Corps. Rotzy.”
Eventually, she pinned down a hoodie she liked alright. “I always forget that DC has weather,” she said, pulling on the flannel-lined jacket and zipping it up. “Do I look like a ******** Eskimo? Think I can lure Prince Finn away from his amnesiac princess?” She spun, which was probably the most girly thing anyone had seen her do, and then stripped the hoodie off. “Loadmaster isn’t important,” she said, “And fashion doesn’t suck. Fashion is great. Fashion, Keren, is literally the best thing to ever happen to this planet. And believe me, a lot of cool things have happened.”
Like Kaatje. Kaatje was awesome.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:54 am
“I don’t think anything short of mind control could pull Finn away from his amnesiac princess,” said Keren, giving Kaatje’s jacket an approving nod. She flipped through the rack, found one in her own size (being busty had its drawbacks), and slipped into it. “Yes, good,” said Keren, flexing her shoulder. “Arms that aren’t cut for doll people.”
She wasn’t, like, a gorilla? But most womens’ shirts were cut such that long sleeves were three-quarter length on her and it was a crime. “I like fashion,” Keren clarified, wondering if her totally cute outfit wasn’t enough of an indicationn. “I am just not into lumberjack chic.” Unlike Kaatje and her weird thing for Finn Derouen - what the ******** was that, even? He wasn’t even, like, cute. Just short and awkward looking and kind of Hobbity. Did he have a big d**k or something? Was that what Keren was missing? Because he definitely had a piece of s**t personality that frowned upon killing and all that.
“R O T C, you mean?” she asked, chewing the inside of her cheek. “Is that what you’re saying to me? I could… I could definitely do that. Will it make me less of a badass in the long term? Because that’s the goal here. I want to be a badass like you. Speaking of, do you have any plans for patrol later?” Keren was kind of itching to beat up a bad dude and kill him in the face, never mind that being totally nonsensical.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:54 am
Kaatje sighed, but it wasn’t like she hadn’t already reached that conclusion on her own. There had been Conflict, and Finn had been clear that he’d rather leave than abandon Arkady. Not like it would really be abandonment, the Xanis brothers were great guys and Arkady liked them, she would have been fine, but--yeah. “Hey, if this’s the way that the fashion pendulum has swung, I can dig it,” said Kaatje, dropping the hoodie over her arm. “It’ll look good with leather. You just have to un-lumberjack it, kiddo, plaid’s a valuable resource.”
Keren, though. Keren. Keren Keren Keren. Kaatje flung an arm over Keren’s shoulder and pulled her close, all abruptly like you do. “Keren, my little murder princess, the only way you could become less of a badass than me was if you gave up on a thing you wanted to try to copy me.” Also, patrol. “Sorry buddy, I have entry control for my barracks tonight. Gotta report in the numbers and make sure my peers are all in bed, you know? Rain check? I can do tomorrow around ten.”
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:55 am
“Leather,” said Keren lowly, slipping the jacket off. She eyed it, and then decided that she had some really cool shiny black leggings and some moto boots that she could totally rock this with. “Okay,” she said, slinging it over her arm. “But, like, the second anyone starts comparing me to the Brawny paper towel dude I am jumping ship.”
That sentence about badassery took a moment to unpack, but Keren nodded once she got it, grateful to have Kaatje’s approval in pursuing her medical degree. She was gonna be a trauma surgeon! And save people! But only good people. Chaos could go kick rocks and die. “Ten PM tomorrow is good,” she said, a little bit disappointed but not too much. She’d go out and kick butt on her own tonight if she had to.
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Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:55 am
Keren was way too pretty and slim to be the Brawny paper towel guy, whoever that was. Kaatje laughed anyway. “I promise I will let you know first,” she said. But in the meantime, she hauled them off towards the checkout line, where she picked out new hair ties. “These. We had these in Munich in the nineties,” she said.
She liked them.
“You could hang around with Nick,” she said. “He’s an a** with a mental disorder but you know, he’s a surgeon. Useful to you, yeah? For tips.” Anyway, that said, she paid for her purchases--and Keren’s--before hauling her protege off to the Cheesecake Factory for cheesecake.
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