Room 816: You Need a Bad Girl to Blow Your Mind

[Cactus]

Ah, yes - but of course. Paloma was the artiste of the room and naturally she'd have wanted to have something up in the display herself. That made sense. Her tone made it sound like she was surprised Ariana would even have asked; maybe she would have known had she actually gotten up to look at the pictures. Alas, she still sat on the floor, rubbing the soreness out of her feet. Sierra had a point, at this juncture her shoes were likely starting to wear out a little. She'd had them for a while now, and spending several hours walking about wasn't really doing her any favours.

"Not a bad idea," she mused as she let both legs slide onto the floor, stretching her knees and ankles out as she did. "Maybe I'll go and hit up a mall tomorrow, see what I can do about finding some new footwear."

She wouldn't, of course. That was an unexpected expense and not one that Ariana could afford. In order to go on the trip she'd placed herself on a strict budget, and the money that she'd set aside so that her and Ross could have a few decent times by themselves was mostly going toward souvenirs - mostly for him. There were times where she envied her classmates for their financial well-being, but knowing where the money that her family had when she'd been young came from, she was more than happy to know that her father had been able to give her the best life possible through perseverance and hard work rather than deceit.

Ariana half-listened as Katrina rattled off her own bounty from her own excursion. Most of the items were a little out there, not necessarily her style and some of them looked expensive. Good for her, Ariana supposed. This motley crew of girls seemed to be having a good time and coexisting well enough, even if she didn't understand what made most of them tick.

"Pretty neat stuff." She directed the approval at all of them for their respective caches of goodies, stretching her arms out and yawning as she did so. She hadn't picked anything up and didn't feel like explaining why, so she tried her best to seem interested in the items they'd gathered.

"You should have grabbed some coffee for that mug," Ariana quipped at Katrina. It had been a long day and she was starting to think that a coffee would do wonders for her energy level. Maybe even a cigarette, too. Ross wasn't here, so... why not? Plans began to formulate within her mind. "Speaking of, I think I might go seek some out. Anyone game?"

[Laurels]

Katrina began to pack all her Kennedy Center souvenirs back into the bag as the other girls shared their wares. Sierra got a patriotic teddy bear, which Katrina had to find cute. She wasn't really that much into plushies as much as she was as a little girl, but it was still pretty cute. Ariana had mentioned that Katrina should have gotten coffee with the mug. That would have been fun, but Katrina didn't think it would be good to use the mug until she got home, lest she stain it or drop it.

Ariana did suggest moving out to get something. Katrina nodded at the suggestion.

"Yeah, I could go for an iced tea," she said. "I forget, is there a Starbucks in this hotel? They have super good tea."

Katrina put her souvenir bag back with her stuff and grabbed her boots off the floor. She began to put the boots back on, ready for an excursion for a cold drink.

[TheLordOfAwesome]

Sierra went silent and frowned at Paloma's question. She... had not been expecting anyone to ask that question. She was just hoping that they would all hear that she got it for someone else and leave it and that, not try and ask her a question regarding it. It may have been out of politeness but it caught Sierra completely off guard. Now she was mentally scrambling to think up a convincing answer, one that wouldn't lead to a unintentional discovery that she was just bullshitting them over her claim of getting it as a gift. It was times like this where she wished she had a young sibling or something.

"It's, uh..."

Oh, crap, this isn't good. She wasn't prepared for this. The fact she started talking and immediately went into a silence wasn't a good sign. She had to make something up and hoped it sounded convincing. Who wasn't on this trip? There were a few guys she could name, but she doubted any of them would believe she got this cute bear for a guy. A girl maybe? No, no one really jumped out at her except maybe Zen. Perhaps someone on the trip? Like Beryl?

...No that still hurt.

In real time only a handful of second passed but for Sierra it felt like almost an eternity. She would just have to say something and get this over with.

"It's for this... guy I like."

"Brovo, Sierra. Bravo." She imagined the slowest, most sarcastic of slow claps.

Sierra quickly cleared her throat and turned her attention to Ariana and Katrina, hoping to avoid further discussion on the bear.

"I could personally go for a hot chocolate, myself." She said. "Can't remember if there is a place her that serves coffee though. I would think there would be one."

[Espi]

Sierra's response was...impressively terrible. Impressively. Paloma wasn't entirely sure why she was so awkward about it-was she like, embarrassed that she had a guy she liked? Geez, almost as if high schoolers had relationships. Sometimes, they even touched each other's privates! Gasp.

Meh, if Sierra wanted to be weird and awkward, Paloma wasn't going to jump down that rabbit hole with her. Now coffee..."Oh, that sounds good." Starbucks was...eh. Okay it was actually kind of gross. Coffee didn't need to be hyper-sweet to be any good. it was like, Starbucks is the MacDonald's of coffee. Fine until you've gone to any other location with another version of the product.

Oh, that was clever. She should write that down, save it for somewhere. "I'm down if you are. But hey, let's find somewhere nicer, like a local place. We can go to a Starbucks back home, right? I'm sure we can find somewhere better."

Standing up, Paloma pocketed her phone and fussed her hair a bit. It was still early evening and pretty sunny out (thanks, earth's orbital tilt) so she could probably get some nice landscape shots depending on when they came back. Assuming they actually left the hotel to eat which they absolutely should. But Paloma wasn't going to begrudge laziness, after their long days out on the town.

Well, not that much.

[Cactus]

Fantastic, a plan had emerged and it involved getting a wonderful, delicious caffeinated beverage. The energy level that some of her roommates seemed to have was mildly off putting, but Ariana surmised that once she got a venti something in her she might actually be able to keep up with the rest of them. Grabbing her shoes and sliding them back onto her not-quite-so-aching-anymore feet, she took a moment to tie the shoelaces tighter than she had this morning. There had been a few times earlier in the day where her laces had untied themselves and she'd almost taken a header. As she did, Paloma took that moment to hipster up their little excursion. Unable to stop herself, she rolled her eyes as she tied her right lace, the gesture unseen to the others.

"Sure, yeah - that works. I don't really care; as long as there's caffeine in it that I can put into my body, I'm in."

As she finished tying the lace, she stood up, and gave Sierra a glance. She was obviously embarrassed by the whole thing, and while Paloma was ready to let it slide, Ariana never met a button she hadn't wanted to push.

"That's adorable! I'm sure he'll love it." Her voice had gone sickly sweet, uncharacteristically so, but her face wore an expression of impish charm. Ariana knew that Sierra probably wouldn't like the comment, but if she couldn't take a joke? This was going to be a long week.

Grabbing her jacket off the chair that she'd laid it upon when entering the room, she slid it on with ease. Her wallet was still in her pocket - purses never had really been her style, though finding clothes with pockets was more than a frustrating endeavour. With everything accounted for, she looked over at Katrina, standing closest to the door.

"Who knows, maybe you'll be able to find some sort of iced tea made with actual tea leaves, imported all the way from China. Or Australia. Or whatever weird spot we end up at."

With a wink, Ariana turned on her heel and set out into the hallway; the expedition for a good cup of coffee had begun.

((Ariana Moretti continued in The Rest of My Life))

[Laurels]

Katrina tapped the heels of her boots on the floor as she finished putting them on. She stood up and stretched a bit. Even if it was just to get a drink, the general exhaustion of the day was still weighing on her a bit. She'd have to make sure she could handle the rest of the week, especially if there was going to be more walking and standing.

Katrina grabbed her purse and gathered with the other girls. She heard Sierra bought the bear as a gift and found that cute. It also reminded her that she should probably get some gifts for her family too. She indulged enough for herself at the Kennedy Center. Russell would probably want something from the Smithsonian. Her parents would probably be okay with anything. They'd just be glad she remembered to get something.

"Yeah, I'm definitely down for any kind of tea," Katrina said to Ariana as they left. "I'm like Mariah Carey. I gotta have my tea."

Katrina chuckled to herself. She wondered if anyone would get that joke, but even if they didn't, she found it funny, which was enough.

Katrina followed them out, ready to complete her quest for some cold caffeinated beverages.

((Katrina Lavell continued elsewhere))

[TheLordOfAwesome]

Unbelievable. It was literally the most slapdash lie ever spoken in her life and they still bought it. She was so surprised that she almost wasn't mad at Ariana's teasing comment. Almost. She still glared at the other girl but didn't say anything in response. She wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth and would strive to let that comment of her's slide.

Sierra moved backed over to her bed and slipped on her boots, followed by her picking up her jacket that was laying on the floor and wrapping it around her waist. She never went anywhere without that jacket. She rejoined the group of girl's just as Katrina made some sort of comment about Mariah Carey and tea. Apparently Katrina found it funny that some musician liked tea.

"I don't get. Does Mariah Carey really like tea or something?" She asked, shrugging.

Sierra placed her hands in the pockets of her jeans, and went with the others out of the room in their mutual search for hot drinks.

((Sierra Cook continued elsewhere...))