Kate had had long-ass day at work, and somehow she'd managed to be in the dark about the news throughout the day. Not so much now that she was at home, though. Nope. News illumination! That was totally a thing. And so was calling her little brother on the east coast.

Except he didn't pick up, of course he didn't, he was probably out having a party with his art school friends. Or possibly at some café talking about the pointlessness of the marriage institution. It was hard to know with the artsy types. She noted that in the rambly voicemail she left him. Among many other equally rambly things.

Then she danced around the living room for a bit. When Seamus barked excitedly up at her, she picked him up and danced with him in her arms for a bit. She'd had a long day. If there was something to gain happiness from, she'd take it.

[ooc: Obligatory celebratory post! NFB, but open for all the usual.]

It was Sunday morning in Overland Park, even if many a person inside this particular house on Oak Avenue thought it was actually Monday morning. They could probably all agree that it was morning, though. And maybe that last night had been fun.

And as far as their darling hostess was concerned, it had been a success. Kate was thrilled that people had shown up, even if it hadn't stopped being weird to see them all actually in her house. In Kansas. It was trippy, and not just because she'd gotten a little tipsy over the course of the evening. But it had made her so damn happy, and she would have probably tried insisting on staying up all night if Bod hadn't half carried her to bed after she'd started nodding off on the couch.

Things had eventually quieted down, yes, and a comfortable place to sleep had been found for all those who'd stayed over, whether in beds or on mattresses hauled over from the house next door. And now it was morning. Kate was still completely out of it, upstairs in her and Bod's bedroom (formerly her parents' room), of course, but the smell of coffee and crisp bacon was already drifting through the house. And that could only mean one thing:

Marshall was a good person.

[wee ocd up!]

It was the first day of the rest of their lives.

Okay, so maybe that a little overly dramatic, but Kate was pretty much feeling like that. It was still morning, but Tara and Max had more or less packed all their stuff in the truck already. Max was just fetching the last few of the bags now.

They were all gathered in the front yard: Charmaine with Wheels in her arms, Neil, Bod, Kate, and Marshall. And Tara, of course, fussing with some of her bags before the goodbyes.

Kate looked like she was going to cry, but then she'd been looking like that all morning.

( And so Tara is sent on her way. )

All things, including emotional turmoil, calmed down eventually. By the afternoon, tears had dried, Charmaine and Neil had taken Wheels to the park, and Marshall had gone for a walk. Only Kate and Bod remained.

Standing in her parents' kitchen – her kitchen now? – Kate glanced around, sighed, and wondered when she should start moving her crap over from next door.

[ooc: NFB. Once more, preplayed with the utterly fabulous nimeni, and taken and tweaked from the very end of USoT S03E12, also known as the series finale, woe. NO MORE CANON. Open for that guy, and calls and texts!]

Time in Kansas was dragging on and things weren't getting any easier. Sure, Bryce had finally gone the fuck away (for the moment at least) but what he'd left behind was just more turmoil and disarray. It would probably have pleased him.

( Tara reappears. Stuff happens. )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay, nimeni minorly modded with permission! Paraphrased with tweakage from USoT S03E11 and S03E12, 'The Good Parts'.]

It was a rough day.

( What else is new? )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay! Warning for, yes, you guessed it, assorted dark themes. Taken with less tweakage than the parts before from USoT S03E10.]

Man, was it ever fun to be one of the attendants on a flight where members of your family were among the passengers. Especially when it was your dad who was totally having super major flight anxiety and ranting to your brother a little too loudly and battling with his seatbelt.

Kate had to stride down to isle to where Marshall and Max were sitting. "Sir, calm down," she told her dad, in her best polite flight attendant voice, silently thankful she didn't need to watch over them on their connecting flight to New York for the film festival. Max looked a sweaty mess. "You're making the other passengers shit themselves."

( Mon-- Monty! Monty! Monty. Monty. Monty. Monty. Monty. )

She pressed the call button and hoped Luke would save her from the boy monster for at least a moment.

[ooc: NFB, taken with major tweakage from USoT S03E08 'Chicken 'n' Corn'. Mainly for that guy she's calling, though other texts/calls are welcome too.]

After shuffling Bod off to the Portalocity terminal, Kate was left alone, waiting for her flight. The loudspeakers above droned on about smoking and solicitations in the terminal building being prohibited, but she wasn't listening. She could barely sit still in her seat. Staying quiet was impossible.

So she turned to the random guy next to her. "Where are you headed?"

"Business in Chicago," he said, barely glancing up from his laptop. "By way of St. Louis."

"St. Louis?" Kate repeated, her already wide smile getting wider. "Me too. Same flight. St. Louis to San Fransisco, San Fransisco to Osaka... Osaka, Japan."

The man nodded a few times, said a polite 'oh', then went back to whatever it was he'd been doing. Too bad Kate was really too hyper to take a hint right now. "You know, Osaka is a lot like Chicago," she said. "It's a real economic juggernaut. Two and a half million people live there, and in the morning, another million commute there for work. Melts the mind, don't it?" She grinned and took another sip of her iced coffee. "I'm going there to teach English."

"That's something."

( Blah blah blah; disaster strikes. )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, ooc-okay! Taken and tweaked from USoT S03E03.]

So, while there were minor parts of this week that had been mildly depressing, today Kate was pretty excited because her first post-high school job interview was finally here. In preparation, she'd finally had her hair trimmed a bit from the overgrown hippie mess that it had turned into over her time in Fandom (though not as much as to completely lose her pseudo-bohemian charm) and she'd put a lot of thought into her outfit. The job was for a fucking fashion magazine, after all! She had to dress to impress. And she was pretty pleased with the end result, too, thinking it a pretty neat ensemble in appropriate fall colors. Cute but professional. That was the aim.

And she was practically on fire at the interview proper. Bubbling with energy. "And this is what's refreshing about me," she declared. "I am the only person that you are gonna meet here today who isn't lying on her resumé. What's the point? Yeah, I didn't go to college. Yeah, my high school transcript reads a little weird. Yeah, I worked at Barnabeez on Shawnee Mission Parkway and had to sue for sexual harassment, but that was only because my boss was insane!"

She gave only half a second's thought to whether she'd grinned a little too widely during that last bit. No matter, she pressed straight on, leaning forwards toward the interviewer, a thirty-something guy who... really did not look cool enough for a fashion magazine, but she'd deal. "This is what you get with me," she said, and emphasized her points with her hands. "I am smart. I am dedicated. I could write about fashion." She leaned back again, as relaxed as she could pretend to be. "I could write the hell out of this magazine."

At least the guy was smiling, though he had a correction to make. "This isn't a writer's position," he said. "It's... administrative."

Oh. "But I could get there, is what I'm saying," Kate replied, recovering quickly. "This is who I am," she added, smiling. "I'm telling you everything. You can trust me to do a good job because this is me!"

( Is this also you? )

"I'm gonna go out and get some air," Kate told the others. "Meet me out front, okay?" She didn't stay and listen to any comments or objections. She really did want some fresh air. This day was utterly, utterly fired, and she didn't want to spend another minute around the sights and smells that made her remember things she'd rather not. She'd had enough of that already.

Once outside, she turned her cellphone back on, then scrolled absently through her contact list. Was any of this something to report to the world? Maybe not.

[ooc: NFB, but can be open should you wish it to be. Adapted from USoT S03E01, still.]

It was the last day of July, and a sunny Sunday afternoon in Overland Park. Tara had wanted to throw a party in the Gregsons' backyard for the end of summer and the return of her daughter and every good thing she could think of, and so it had come to pass. There was food, and people (some neighbors, some friends from a little further off, and Bod who'd already shown up last night), and a karaoke machine set up under the arch that had been prettying up the back yard ever since Charmaine had failed to get married, earlier in the year.

Everything was pretty perfect. All that was missing was the hostess, though, because no one actually knew where Tara was, but... They were sadly used to that. So, Max was grilling, Charmaine and her belly were off to the side having a Diet Coke she shouldn't have been drinking, Ted was mingling with some people, and Lionel was filming Kate and Marshall.

And the aforementioned Gregson siblings? Were singing their hearts out, doing an enthusiastic karaoke version of Mmmbop. They looked to be enjoying themselves.

It was looking to be a good day on Oak Avenue.

[ooc: NFB, and for the boooy up there in the narrative, and myself in various guises. Bits and pieces taken from United States of Tara S03E01, '...youwillnotwin...'.]

So, basically, Kate's general stance on weddings wasn't getting any better than it had been previously. The whole Zach deal had left her feeling a little confused, she couldn't have cared less about the guests (only two of whom were actually Nicks' relations; his parents, sitting near the front, looking stiff and uncomfortable), Tara had been seeming stressed about having to deal with her parents, the notorious Frank and Bev Craine, the former of which kept thinking Kate's name was Patricia and only remembered half the time that this was Charmaine's wedding, not her graduation.

Everything still looked beautiful, though. Their surroundings still looked like something far more grand than a lame backyard in a Kansas suburb, and Nick was still Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome, standing at the makeshift altar beside the priest as the ceremony was starting. Maybe Charmaine would actually get her fairytale.

( And then it turns into your usual Gregson/Craine affair. )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay! Taken from USoT S02E12, post two of two, warning for discussion of past child abuse. AND SO I AM DOOONE WITH SEASON TWO, WHOOO! Just in time for S3 premiering tomorrow night.]