noteful | Birthday Party for Laura/X-23

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Birthday Party for Laura/X-23

It's a pretty low-key party, all things considered, and not significantly different than the one Parker or Meg would have thrown in a dorm room for a friend at home, not-exactly-traditional menu not withstanding.

There's music, low enough to talk over (and maybe with a little more folk in the mix than one expects to find a party). Balloons and streamers in purple and blue and red. A place to leave presents. People to meet or catch up with.

And, most importantly, a chance to wish X-23 (or Laura) a very happy birthday.

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"The same thing in reverse?" Dinah suggests. "The whole point of the costume is so people don't pay that much attention to my face."

Fishnets do fine.

"Yes." Alanna smirks. "That makes sense, and I suppose I did the same thing, in a way. No one expected to see Squire Alan in a dress."

Imagine what they would have said to see Squire Alan in fishnets!

"You were disguised as a boy?"

This, Dinah thinks, is awesome.

"I was, for eight years. It was necessary to try for my shield. Girls weren't allowed."

She makes a rather expressive face to indicate exactly what she thinks of that.

Dinah agrees with Alanna's thoughts on the subject.

"They wouldn't let my mother join the police force," she says, comparing experiences. "So she fought crime incognito instead."

A memory of the day she talked Thom into switching places crosses Alanna's mind. It makes her look almost melancholy.

"I wonder if that's what I would have done," she says, "if my brother and I hadn't been able to switch places. Looking back, I think I would've done just about anything to stay away from the convent.

"Why wouldn't they let her join?"

"They'd 'already filled their quota for female officers this year'" Dinah quotes with some contempt.

"They just didn't want another Honest Cop like my Grandad."

"Quota," Alanna scowls. "Well, they are clearly stupid.

"Do you work with your mother?"

Oddly enough, there seems to be a faint longing in her voice.

"She's retired," Dinah says. "And she never wanted me doing this anyway."

"My daughter doesn't want me doing what I do and certainly never wanted it for herself, though I confess I wanted it for her. I've resigned myself to her choices, but it still twinges."

The same thing but in reverse again? Something like that, anyway.

Alanna gives Dinah a half smile. "Family is hard."

Edited 2009-03-05 15:32 (UTC)

Dinah replies with a full smile, tinged only slightly with regret.

"Worth every effort, though."

"Yes," Alanna agrees. "The difficult things usually are."

Curious, she bites back a question about Dinah's family. The subject can be a touchy one, and she doesn't want to be intrusive. It's a compliment, really; if she liked Dinah any less, Alanna would have no problem being frank.

Instead she laughs, "Although I might revise that opinion if my three don't stop clamoring to come back here."

Dinah grins. "You have three? That must be a handful."

Tilting her head, Alanna considers this.

"Triplets. They are each a handful. Together they're enough trouble for an entire army to hold."

But she's grinning as she says it.

Dinah laughs.

"Do you have an army to help?"

"No."

Beat.

"But it's at least a regiment." She grins. "My husband, thank the Goddess, prefers to stay at home, and we live with my adopted father. Raph is also indispensable. Have you met him?"

"Yeah!"

It's possible Dinah has a little bit of a crush.

"He's got that really sweet bike in the gym."

Uh oh. Better not tell Abigail. She'll tease Raph silly.

"Aye," Alanna confirms, though it's a bit hesitant. She doesn't know much about bikes, other than that they defy gravity on two wheels and Goldy dumped her off one. "He's not from Tortall, clearly, but he was staying with us when we got locked out for almost seven years. Raph's family."

Dinah smiles, understanding.

"Most of my family aren't actually related to me. My uncles."

"It happens with alarming frequency here," she says. Of course the way she says 'alarming' makes it sound more like 'delightful'. "The only blood relation I have left is my brother and that's... complicated."

"Really, why?"

Where to begin?

"He died. And then-"

(I brought him back to life)

"-he was brought back to life. Now he lives on Earth. I haven't seen him in seven years." She shrugs. "Complicated."

Yeah, that is complicated.

But not too much of a stretch for Dinah.

"Was he happy, on Earth, last time you saw him?"

"It was here. I don't know where he's living," she confesses. "But I think he's happier there, yes."

It wouldn't take much.

"Good."

Dinah gives a weak smile. She's aware that Alanna must miss her brother terribly but,

"I'm an only child. It was just me and all the grown ups."

Birthday Party for Laura/X-23

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