Groovy Tunes, Thursday

[bestatmystery]

True to her word to Kathy, Lottie went looking for K-Pop at Groovy Tunes today. But a combination of her being honestly pretty bad so far at telling Korean and Japanese things apart and being just generally attuned to finding metal whenever possible led her to the most amazing thing she'd found in Fandom to date.

Adorable Japanese schoolgirl metal.

So this was Lottie texting all of her friends in between flinging herself around the store in time to the blasting music. This was even better than Klingon opera.

[Open! And loud.]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"HI!" Kathy had to yell over the music. The hardcore and yet somehow impossibly adorable music. "THIS THE BAND YOU TEXTED ME ABOUT?"

[bestatmystery]

Lottie paused perfectly mid-thrash, her hair a large black fluffy mass around her head. "YES! AREN'T THEY AMAZING?!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"THEY SOUND SO CUTE!" Kathy called. "DO THEY PLAY THEIR OWN INSTRUMENTS? BECAUSE HOT DARN THEY'RE GOOD!"

Hot darn. Sure.

"I TAKE IT THIS IS LISTENING TO THEM WITH YOUR WHOLE BODY?"

[bestatmystery]

Lottie shrugged. "IN THE VIDEOS THEY MOSTLY DANCE AROUND." Including live ones, so . . . probably not. Then she nodded happily. "CAN YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR HAIR? THAT'S A GOOD SIGN."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST THE BASS VIBRATING THROUGH MY FEET," Kathy noted with a laugh. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO...I DON'T KNOW, BREAK A SUBWOOFER OR SOMETHING?"

Kathy had to worry her way through things before she was allowed to enjoy them, trufax.

[bestatmystery]

"HAVEN'T YET!" Lottie said. This was not for lack of trying. She spun in place with her arms out. "'COURSE BACK HOME MUM WOULD BE YELLIN AT ME BY NOW."

Her throat started to hurt, so she reluctantly danced over to the sound system to turn the music down to a more reasonable level.

"If you don't like feelin like your heart's beating in time with the bass, dancin to more moderate volumes is also acceptable."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'M JUST NOT--!" Right. She didn't have to yell anymore. "I'm just not used to it. My parents aren't as understanding of loud music as your mom is, I think. Or the rest of my building, either."

[bestatmystery]

"But don't you ever go to concerts or clubs?" The media made it seem like an LA teen's entire life should be spent in a loud, dark dance club.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was the worst at being from LA. Her sister told her so frequently.

"Ummm...not really? Again, not something my parents would really be big on me doing much. I went to a club once, but then my friend sorta blundered into an arms deal, so we ended up fighting more than we did dancing..."

That was just the kind of thing that happened when you were from Fandom, really.

[bestatmystery]

"You know your parents don't always haveta know about stuff, right?" Lottie asked. "My friends and I snuck off to a pub once when we were meant to be on a school bowlin trip. It was LOADS of fun."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Up until I came out here, I was bad at stuff like that," Kathy said. "Now that I've spent a few years on Fandom, I've got a whole bunch of things I'm not saying."

For example: that club where it turned into a gunfight.

"The pub here doesn't require sneaking, if that helps any. It's all ages."

[bestatmystery]

Lottie pouted. "And I wasted one of my best cover stories on it!" she said. "Now I have to pretend to be a French music journalist there every time I go for nothing?"

Well, not for nothing. It entertained Kitty pretty well, for one.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Looks like," Kathy said, not even bothering to hide her amusement. "You could have just walked in and ordered whatever you wanted and no one would have cared."

[bestatmystery]

"Well that's just . . . irresponsible. How are teens supposed to get up to harmless no-good?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"There's the Devil's Nest which still cards?" Kathy suggested. "And...I'm probably the worst person to ask about getting up to no good. Uhh...everything you could do after getting permissibly drunk, maybe?"

[bestatmystery]

"You need more rebellion in your life," Lottie decided. "It's good for your soul."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I've got...well, not rebellion, exactly?" Kathy said. "But I definitely get up to stuff."

You know. Patrolling Baltimore as a costumed superhero. That counted for something, right?

[bestatmystery]

"You are being well mysterious, Kathy," Lottie said. "With your faint rebellions and your arms dealing friends."

[spin_kick_snap]

"The arms dealers were no one's friends," Kathy said quickly. Because that part was important to make clear! "My friend just has terrible taste in guys and even worse timing."

Seriously, Sparkle. Seriously.

"As for the other thing, it's not that big a secret. At least, not on the island." She shrugged. "I spend most of my nights in Baltimore, uhh. Fighting crime. With, umm, powers."

Bouncing powers.

"But on the list of things my family can never know, that's pretty high up there."

[bestatmystery]

"YOU HAVE A SECRET IDENTITY!"

Sorry for the shrieking, Kathy, but this was WELL EXCITING.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I do," Kathy said, laughing a little at Lottie's excitement. "And here you thought my only claim to coolness was my taste in music."

[bestatmystery]

"Well of course," Lottie said. "If you went about being cool all the time about everything people would figure out your secret identity too easily."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah, sure, something like that," Kathy said, laughing more. "So if you're ever in Baltimore at night, look up sometimes. If you see a shadow darting overhead, too fast for anything normal...it might just be me."

[bestatmystery]

"VERY mysterious," Lottie said. ". . . Though if there are any smiling vegetable people left behind after that shadow darts around, I will be well put out."

Tackleford's night stalker had left a very firm impression on Lottie.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I..." Kathy wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. "I don't think I've ever met any vegetable people, smiling or not. Certainly don't leave any behind to, what? Lurk?"