The Park, Tuesday Afternoon

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Kathy had to meet up with Eliot to return Val, but she figured that she and the puppy had time for at least one more walk together. So after strapping on her ATs and grabbing an ice cream cone from Chilly Boulder, she headed over to the park to run about with Val and maybe toss a ball around for her to fetch. It seemed like an appropriately summery thing to do, didn't it? One of those scenarios that came right out of a Rockwell painting.

If one ignored the trio of squirrels hanging out in a tree passing a nipper bottle of rum around and a teal deer that had wandered out of the preserve.

[Open!]

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[bestatmystery]

It was still pretty disgustingly hot out, but Lottie had determined that she wasn't going to let the island's very un-British weather turn her into one of those creepy indoor people. She was out for a very determined summer stroll, her hair pulled up into a reluctant bun to keep it from totally collapsing in the humidity.

She waved excitedly at Kathy when she saw her, and then gasped even more excitedly at the sight of Val. "You didn't tell me you had a dog!"

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Kathy beamed and waved back. She hadn't checked on her little sister at all this term, she was both pleased and a little guilty to see her. "That's because I don't," she called. "I'm puppy-sitting for a friend."

'Friend' slipped out before 'teacher' and Kathy was pretty okay with that.

"I have to return her in a bit, but I wanted one last romp around the park before I did."

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That was alright, Lottie didn't hold it against her. She almost never saw her actual sister either, after all.

"That's well nice of you. I couldn't imagine only gettin to have a dog for a little while," Lottie said. "I'm missing my Pepper like crazy."

She crouched down to offer Val her hand, as was only polite before scooping a puppy up and throwing it over your shoulder gleefully.

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"I never had a pet before," Kathy admitted. "So I didn't know what I was missing. But, yeah, now I'm not sure I wanna give her back. Except she keeps making sad, whiny noises at night. She misses her owner to much to really keep her."

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"Awww," Lottie said, ruffling Val's ears. "Poor little puppy! I'm sure your person misses you just as much." She looked up at Kathy. "Not even a goldfish or something? Are your parents weirdo hippies who don't believe in television or ownin animals or being called 'Mum' and 'Dad', like my friend Mildred's?"

Or, you know, they didn't have the spare money. Like Shauna's family.

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Or a mix of the two?

"Not really?" Kathy said, shrugging. "We grew up in a pretty small apartment in LA and we didn't really have room for a puppy or anything. And my dad hates cats, so...Actually, my dad didn't really see the point of most pets. Birds were noisy and fish didn't do anything and my mom was not about to let a rodent in the house, so no gerbils or hamsters or anything like that."

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"Hmmph." That was what Lottie thought of that attitude. "I guess if you're goin' home after school you can't just decide to have one here, either." Pets were forever, not just for Christmas or birthdays or one year at school before you had to go live somewhere where it wouldn't be welcome. "I talked my mum into lettin me bring Pepper next session, though. So you can come play with him sometimes. He loves people."

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"Pretty much," Kathy said with a reluctant nod. "And then I go off to college and most dorms don't allow for pets, either, so no luck there. I guess that just means you'll have to deal with me dropping in randomly to visit with Pepper and see if she wants to go for walks."

It would be Lottie's duty as her little sister! Or something.

"So, how're you settling in? I hear you got a job at the music store?"

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"Yes!" Lottie said, grinning. "Jono gave me a copy of Nevermind to play and I said I didn't have a record player here yet and he gave me a job! It was the best."

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"Excellent!" Kathy said. "What did you think of Nirvana? Here, they pretty much defined the grunge genre, them and Pearl Jam."

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"I couldn't understand a single word he sang!" This was totally a selling point. "It was very moody. He should try screaming more. It's good for you."

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"Some of the earlier stuff is a little screamier," Kathy said. "Try In Utero next, I think you'll like it." Hmm... "If you like stuff you can't understand, have you ever tried K-Pop?"

She was going to convert someone to K-Pop fandom before she graduated. Someone.

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"That is . . . J-pop only the next letter down?" Lottie said. "Oh, KOREA pop!"

It took her a moment, sometimes.

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"Got it in one," Kathy said, winking at her. "You like badass girl groups, right? Hang on."

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her ipod and handed over one of the earbuds. "Check this out," she said. "This song is by one of my favorite bands, T-Ara, with another girl group with them. The reason I love it so much? The video is them all just staring at the camera with soulful eyes and singing all pretty and then out of nowhere a couple of them just start rapping--all while looking like pretty, pretty princesses. It's great."

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Lottie listened thoughtfully, unconsciously moving her shoulders a little along to the music.

"Wow," she said. "You can almost hear their puppy-dog eyes!"

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"Yes, exactly!" Kathy said, laughing, pleased with the way Lottie had been grooving. "They're just so pretty and precious--and then, bam! They start rapping. A lot of current K-Pop owes a great deal to American hip hop. I've got a bunch of T-Ara's stuff. They're not the hardest K-Pop group out there, but they're fun. Sugar Free and Number Nine are some of my favorite songs by them."

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"Do they have it at the store?" Lottie asked. "Only it has the best sound system! You can feel the bass in your hair."

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"You know? I have no idea," Kathy said, tilting her head. "I've, uhh, never been in there for the music."

Just to steal Mr. Starsmore's most important possession ever. La.

"You'll have to check it out for me and let me know. On most islands this size, I'd say no way, they'd maybe have a single artist at most. But Fandom?" She shook her head. "For all I know, Mr. Starsmore might have an entire wing of Asian punk fusion just waiting to be discovered."

If he did, Lottie needed to contact Kathy immediately.

[bestatmystery]

"I bet they do. They've got some very strange varieties of things there."

And not just the weird boy version of the Beetles.

"There's this thing called Klingon opera and it's AMAZING."

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"That's a variety I've never heard of," Kathy said, intrigued. "What's that like?"

Kathy was going to have to start visiting her little sister at work, apparently!

"The store just sells CDs and vinyl, right?" Well, if she bought the CDs, she could rip them to a more modern format...

[bestatmystery]

"Like German opera only growlier," Lottie said. "It's very epic. I spend most of my time in the vinyl section," she admitted. "So I haven't explored much, yet. I think it also has a bunch of audio equipment and stuff, too?"

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"I'm lazy, I like my MP3s," Kathy admitted. "My ipod is easier to carry than a portable record player, after all."

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"MP3s are well portable," Lottie agreed. "And they serve their purpose. But sometimes you wanna listen with your whole body, you know?"

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"That's usually when I fling myself off of something high and go running," Kathy said, neglecting the part where she usually followed that up by tackling a criminal or two. "So, again, MP3s. Or--is that not what you mean?"

Kathy didn't normally do loud.

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"Not really," Lottie said. "I mean more like . . . when the bass rattles your whole chest and the olds in the house start yelling that you're going to break the windows."

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"...I've never listened to music that loud," Kathy admitted. "Even when my parents aren't home to complain, the walls in the apartment are thin enough that all the neighbors would hear, back home."

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"You're entirely too responsible," Lottie decided. "You should come by the store and we can listen to music properly."

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"Okay," Kathy decided. Because, hey, music. "You work...Thursdays, right?"

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"Yup! Hopefully they don't end up havin a REALLY EXCITING class on Thursdays next session. I like only having to do one thing a day."

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"I know what you mean," Kathy sighed. "I didn't sign up for a single extra class this semester and I feel positively decadent with all my free time."

...Kathy that was not the same thing.

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"My two classes are about eating and playing with magic," Lottie said. "It's quite the full summer load."

Any classes in the summer were extra. Come on now, Kathy!

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Kathy regularly took the maximum eight classes and then also signed up for more taught by the computer. She was bad at summertime, okay?

"I've got eight," she admitted. "And I'm learning knife-fighting on the side. But they're all fun courses, so it's barely like taking classes at all. And I have Mondays off!"

Fear her crazy schedule!

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". . . You have a dramatic'ly different concept of summer," Lottie noted.

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"What's Britain's university standards like?" Kathy countered. "And how much debt do most students graduate with?"

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"I dunno," Lottie admitted. "I'm still considerin if I want to take any A-levels."

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"...I don't even know what that means," Kathy said, confused. "Is that like senior year?"

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"You don't have A-levels?" America didn't have A-levels. Lottie suddenly wanted to go to school here forever. (Or, you know, until she was 18.) "They're these tests in all sorts of subjecks to find out if you've learned enough for higher education. You don't have to take them to be done schooling, but universities like them."

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"Oh, like the SATs!" Kathy said. "And the AP exams! Yeah, I took a ton of those this summer. I have one more coming up, in fact. And then, I'll be done until November, when the SAT IIs happen."

Sorry, Lottie. No dice.

[bestatmystery]

Lottie slowly shook her head. "I don't think even my friend Shauna is as into school as you are."

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"Yeah," Kathy said. "I get that a lot. But I'm cool in other ways?"

Keep telling yourself that, Kathy.

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"Well sure!" Lottie agreed. "You've got excellent taste in music."

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"I'll take it," Kathy said, laughing. "And if anyone else says anything, I can point to you and say, 'At least my little sister thinks I'm cool!' You know. One of them."

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"I promise to back you up. That's what little sisters are for!"

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"And I promise that when you get in trouble with Mom and Dad--or, rather, the Principal or the Dean--I'll be there to bail you out. Because that's what we big sisters do," Kathy said, eyes sparkling.

[bestatmystery]

Lottie offered her hand. "It's a deal!"

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"Deal," Kathy said, and shook.