A Hotel on the San Diego Marina, Thursday Morning

[thismaskiwear]

On the scale of positive-versus-negative, so far the hotel was hovering firmly around the area of neutral. On the plus side: the shower was fantastic, the bed was amazingly comfortable, the view of the harbor was gorgeous. On the minus side: the closet door didn't shut properly, the internet in their room wasn't working, and there was this mysterious damp spot on the carpet that she didn't want to know about.

And she couldn't smoke out on the balcony.

She was leaning out over the balcony railing, though, fingers drumming impatiently, staring down into the courtyard at the fountain near the pool . . .

"A whale getting an enema? Okay then."

[OOC: divinesurfchick originally said it. thatsamilkshake made me do it.]

Comments

[thatsamilkshake]

Also the hamburgers cost fifteen bucks and Katchoo had almost gotten them kicked out by starting a scuffle with the bellman who wouldn't let her grab her own luggage cart.

"What?" called Francine from the bed, then made her way to the balcony. "It is not."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Ah, it's all in how you look at it. From this angle, that's what it looks like." Katchoo pointed toward the pool, the source of the constant splashing-water noise that had made them think it was raining outside (well, it was overcast and cold). "Kinda like if you look from here, the seahorses are peeing into the pool! Who'd wanna swim in that? Geesh."

[thatsamilkshake]

"They're not peeing in the pool; they're spitting in the pool!"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Oh, sure, you keep telling yourself that," Katchoo insisted. "Who spits in a long continous stream like that anyway?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"Who pees in a long continuous stream like---- why am I having this conversation? You need to be hit." Luckily there were rather fluffy pillows rather nearby.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Francine! Not the --" Oof. "Pillows! Do you wanna lose 'em over the edge of the balcony?"

[thatsamilkshake]

Well, no, but. "The whale sure looks like he'd be more comfortable with a pillow or two."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"The whale can ask housekeeping." Katchoo snorted. "God knows they'd probably charge him for the extra pillows, too."

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine tossed the pillow back towards the bed -- it landed on her suitcase, instead, and whipped her head back around to face Katchoo. "You moved the nuts, didn't you. I told you not to touch the nuts. They charge you for that."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"I did not move the nuts!" Katchoo inched away from the patio furniture on the balcony just in case. "It's not my fault if the nuts shifted because the closet door sticks!"

There had been a foot on the wall for leverage and then a flying Katchoo that went crashing into the TV cabinet where the nuts were. It was totally different.

[thatsamilkshake]

"Was that what was making all that noise?" Francine dropped her face to her hand. "The guys in the room next door passed me when I was coming back with the ice and asked if we were having a party. And then offered to bring beer if they could come over and join us."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"The guys next door can mind their own frikkin' business," Katchoo said, loud enough to take advantage of any balcony echoey-ness. "If they come over and move anything in the fridge and cost us an extra three hundred bucks for it, I'll make 'em pay for it by licking the lobby floor clean."

[thatsamilkshake]

"That's...." Francine paused. "Not as gross as the whale thing, but still pretty gross."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"There's air freshener and hand sanitizer in the lobby. How gross can it be?" Katchoo remembered the dodgy-looking splatter on the bench by the elevator that hadn't gotten cleaned up for two days. "Don't answer that."

[thatsamilkshake]

"This is me not answering that." Francine gazed back down over the balcony railing. "Seahorses or no, that pool still looks good."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Better than fighting my way through the exhibit hall for two hours," Katchoo agreed. "Think the seahorses would object to skinny dipping?"

[thatsamilkshake]

"Katchoo!" Darn it, why had she tossed away her feather-filled weapon. "The pool attendants would!"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"So tell 'em we saw Brad and Angelina out in the lobby," Katchoo suggested. "That oughta get rid of 'em for an hour."

Or not.

[thatsamilkshake]

"And the umpty-hundred small children?" Okay, maybe more like umpty-five small children. They just sounded like umpty-hundred from up here.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Brad and Angelina and the big stupid bug-eyed sponge thing."

Should someone worry that Katchoo came up with these things so easily?

[thatsamilkshake]

"...Loofahbill?" Francine paused. "Actually I think I did see someone dressed as Octopusly in the lobby."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"There you go." And maybe she'd been in Fandom too long, because she really didn't think it was out of the realm of possibility when she added, "Could be the real thing. Maybe they turned into their costume. The kids'll buy it."

[thatsamilkshake]

"We're not in Fandom, Chewie!" Blink. "Oh God, it can follow us now, can't it. Like that weird luggage that showed up on the backpacking trip."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

". . . oh, let's not talk about that." Angriest. Luggage. Avalanche. Ever. "I'm just sayin', I can't pass by someone in the hallways and wonder if they're just dressed up, or they're actually what they're pretending to be and think nobody realizes it."

Katchoo tilted her head to the side, half-hung over the balcony railing, and squinted at the fountain some more.

"Okay, maybe it's not a whale enema. More like a whale bidet."

[thatsamilkshake]

"....How is that less gross?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"Less injecting," Katchoo informed her. "Obviously."

[thatsamilkshake]

"You're so not selling the skinnydipping idea here." Not that she'd really been selling it before. In the ocean, maaaaybe. In the outdoor hotel pool that every room on this side of the building had a balcony view of?

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Uh, not in the marina part of the ocean, ew. That water was disgusting.

"Ehhhhhhh." Katchoo, who was never cut out for retail anyway, shrugged. "They'd probably charge us for that."