A Dorm Parking Lot, Los Angeles, CA, Wednesday Morning

[swerval_zero]

After driving halfway across the country with Rat, Zero and Dave dropped him off at LAX early Wednesday morning (her parents didn't care if he actually helped her move in, they just wanted him to make sure she didn't die on the interstate) and picked up another passenger: her new roommate, Janine Berkowitz of Newark, New Jersey. There was one passenger notably absent from the large teal van, and Zero kind of missed his cries of, "Are you my mummy?" But USC had a strict no-pets policy, and this way her parents' nest would hopefully seem a little less empty. Like she hadn't already been at boarding school for two years, anyway.

Now, Zero and Janine had checked into their new room (421 New Residence Hall, woo) and gotten the keys, but they were waiting for their third, unofficial roommate before they actually unloaded anything. Because, Janine and Zero had agreed via e-mail, if Parker was going to freeload until Oxford she could damn well do some heavy lifting.

((OOC: For the one mentioned therein.))

Comments

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker arrived with iced mochas in hand, and a look of dismay for all the stuff. "You didn't have this much stuffwhen you moved out of the dorm, did you? I swear, I'd remember if we'd needed a forklift." She folded her sunglasses away and nodded to Janine. "Hi. Thanks for letting me crash here for six weeks. Mocha?"

[swerval_zero]

Janine was your basic wannabe goth, with clothes from Hot Topic, dyed black hair, and the slightly desperate, mostly relieved expression of a person who has just escaped across the entire country from her parents. She took the mocha and said, "Oooh, caffeine. I'm Janine. And it's totally no problem. Zero said you were having family issues?" Behind Janine's back, Zero nodded frantically and mouthed 'go with it.'

"When I moved out of the dorm that was just my stuff, Parker. This is my stuff and Janine's. Minus whatever we'll need to buy. We'll make a list after we get in the room," Zero said.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker gave Zero a look of "whaaa?" Then caught on, rolled her eyes, and gave Janine a put-upon sigh. "Yes. Well. I'm avoiding my father. It's way too complicated to get into." And how. "But I'm very appreciative of this. I've got an air mattress, we can put it out of the way during the day. I swear I'll be as inobtrusive as possible." She gave Janine's wardrobe a once-over, and added, "You can borrow some of my shoes, if you like." Major concessions to roomies, yes. She turned to Zero and said, "I'm good for helping out with the decorating, since I'll be here a while. As long as we're not talking IKEA."

[swerval_zero]

Zero's eyes glinted behind her rabbit sunglasses with a light one who knew her well might describe as 'evil.' "Oh, but Parker, we are. There's a special dorm trip. But this one's not on an island. We'll also be hitting Target."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Target?" Parker pronounced it as if it were a word in an unfamiliar tongue, possibly meaning 'cricket guts' or better yet, 'dodo entrails.' "Please be kidding?"

[swerval_zero]

Zero rolled her eyes. "Target is cheap, Parker. And this is a dorm. Now go get one of those trolley things for us."

"Yeah," Janine added. "We tried, but apparently we're not intimidating enough to fight off the hordes."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker shuddered, then sized up the trolley thing area. "You're just taking the wrong approach, that's all." She meandered over, weighed her options - bribery, bludgeoning, and flirtation - and settled on a likely-looking Freshman, giving him her most deadly smile. "Hi. I'm Parker. You don't know me yet, but it would be a very good idea if you gave me that trolley. Now."

"Ummm, what...?"

"You don't need it as much as you think you do." Her smile widened, and she waved over to Janine and Zero. "C'mon, I got one!" She turned back to her prey. "Thank you so much." She jerked on the handle and the weedy-looking newcomer lost his grip on it and stood there gaping. "Bye!"

[swerval_zero]

Zero and Janine's muttered conversation (words such as 'surprise' and 'dragonpox' and 'desert' might have drifted) was interrupted by Parker's conquest. Realizing they can has trolley, they rushed to put their stuff on it before someone else decided to attempt a conquest of their own. "Wow," said Janine. "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen."

"That's Parker," Zero said proudly. "Help me get the minifridge on there."

"Uh, Zero," said Janine. "The room has a minifridge."

"I know. This one is better. Right, Parker?"

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"It makes milkshakes," Parker agreed, hoisting her main steamer trunk onto the trolley, and picking up one of Zero's before pausing. "There are many advantages to having Zero as a roommate, Janine. Hmmm." She contemplated the rest of their stuff a second. "Hey!" She smiled at another freshman guy. "Want to make an easy twenty?"

[swerval_zero]

Zero snickered behind her hand as she watched Parker reel in her new slave boy. Minion? Whatever. Then she glanced into her van, which still contained suitcases for both girls, two laptops, books, Zero's guitar and amp, a box of records, and a DVD player. There was no TV. They were going to buy a plasma TV in LA, rather than risk Zero's cross-country driving hurting the poor dear. "We do have a squalling lot of stuff," she admitted.

There were also a few mysterious boxes that were slated to stay in Dave. Zero hoped Parker wouldn't notice them just yet.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

The minion had a friend, as it turned out, and one who favored the Goth look as well, and immediately started asking Janine where she'd gotten her jewelry, if she had any tattoos, what she thought of Blue Oyster Cult.... Between the five of them, they managed to load up the trolley and get it to the elevator without too much hassle, and Parker didn't even have to break a nail.

"You really, really do have a ton. Some creative re-design of your space might be in order, or I'll be sleeping in my trunk. Hold the elevator door, Vern," Parker ordered her minion. "You and -- what's your name? Keanu? Riiight. Grab that end, would you?" Parker turned back to Zero as the boys went by, straining to move the trolley. "So when do classes start?"

[swerval_zero]

"Monday," Zero said. "But don't worry about that, the first week is just syllabi and silly getting to know you things."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Point," Parker conceded, waiting for Zero to unlock the door to her and Janine's room. "Just remember, any time you guys need to study, I can go shopping for shoes. Or help with your movies, if that's what you're doing."

[swerval_zero]

Janine seemed to have gotten distracted by flirting with Keanu, so Zero dug out her keys as she said, "We're all doing the film thing, Parker, this is the Cinema Floor. Oh, hey," she turned to Vern. "Are you on this floor?" He nodded. "Yay!"

Zero finally got the key in the lock and flung open the door to their room. "Behold! Our palatial estate!" Only not, 'cause it was a dorm room.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker gave the room a deadpan glance, then looked back at Zero. "Palazzo Rico, yup. I love the sink." Relenting a little, she added, "Larger than what I'm going to get at Oxford, though."

[swerval_zero]

Zero attempted to push their trolley further into the room, but despite being wiry, she was still but little. Luckily, Vern decided to help her. "Yeh, the sink cost extra." She put her hands on her hips. "We can make this better."

((Don't be so sure, I had a corner room when I was at Cambridge and it was freakin' huge. Of course, Cambridge is not Oxford.))

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Something to maximize floor space, first," Parker said, looking at the matching beds.

"Maybe we can hang them from the ceiling?" Janine wondered, grunting as she and Vern turned the trolley. "From chains!"

Parker blinked. "That's one solution."

[swerval_zero]

Zero put her hands on her hips, trying to remember Arsenal and Twitch's various dorm rooms. "How about if we raise the beds--they make little heavy plastic things you can put the legs on, I've seen them--and put the dressers and fridges and whatnot underneath? Trash can can go in the sink alcove. We need something to put the TV on, though, they're probably not going to let us wall-mount it."

"Maybe by the window?" Janine suggested as she retrieved her sheets from one of her suitcases. "And how are you going to get onto the bed then?"

"I can jump!"

"We could wall-mount it if we spackle. You know. With toothpaste."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Toothpaste?" Parker was starting to think Zero had gotten the perfect roommate. For her. "You really want to live in Minty Fresh Land?" She shook her head. "Although I think you're onto something with the raised beds. You could even hang a hammock under one, if you wanted to. But they *make* ladders for this kind of thing, you know."

[swerval_zero]

"We don't want them that tall," Zero protested. "Do we? And we wouldn't have to toothpaste-spackle until we move out. You know. To hide the holes. Duh, Parker."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker paused, then said, "So, you're covering up the footprints and the holes your steel-toes put into the wall. Got it. Why not?"

[swerval_zero]

"I've just never had much desire for a bed taller than me," Zero said with a shrug.

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Either way, whatever maximizes space." Parker looked around, then remembered her promise and fished out a twenty for Vern. "Thanks *so* much for the help. Both of you." She grinned at Keanu, who was leaning against Janine's desk and animatedly telling the story of his last tattoo. "I suppose we'll be seeing you guys around a bit." She turned back to Zero. "Food before or after unpacking? Or do you have some orientation thing to get to?"

[swerval_zero]

Zero shrugged. "Floor meeting's not 'til tonight. Let's go find tacos. Janine? Tacos?" Janine kind of waved vaguely at them in the middle of her diatribe on some vampire book. "We'll bring you back the tacos. You can start unpacking."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker held the door, then murmured "Good plan," as they abandoned the unloading of the cart to Janine and her fellow critic. "Tacos, and scoping out the nearest source of caffiene, and escaping the unpacking in one blow. I think you're off to a good start."

[swerval_zero]

"That's the best part," Zero said gleefully. "There's a coffee shop right next door. And the library, but I'm not worried about it yet."

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"Perfect! Late night study session, you've got the essentials within reach. Order out for pizza and you never have to go more than next door." Parker firmly squashed down the thought of how it would have been cool to be going to school here with Zero, and concentrated on how much fun the next six weeks would be. "And the guys are a little gormless, but that's not all bad. Much easier to get film crew minions that way."

[swerval_zero]

"You just scare them. Besides," Zero said with a flip of her fire engine-red hair, "I already have one. Now. If I were a taqueria, where would I be?"