Home again, home again...kinda. For Sam and Demetri

[fightagain]

The home invasion was still pretty fresh in Gwens mind, but eventually, all LawRusso kids had to go home. While time with Nonna Lucille and time with Grandpa Miyagi had been great (when isn't it), the kids still had things to do at home. So Mr Miyagi dropped them all off, telling them to call if they needed anything, and while Robby went off to do something with his friends, Gwen and Sam spent maybe five minutes in their own home before deciding to go back out again.

They were home long enough for Gwen to assess damage to her drum kit, realize it actually was completely totaled and then they got in Gwens car and left.

Now wandering the Reseda Mall fairly aimlessly, Gwen and Sam head to the food court. This place wasn't nearly as stressful as home was right now, the security and safety of their home still feeling uncertain to Gwen, even with the knowledge that both her dads can and will kick ass and neither herself nor her siblings were incapable of handling her own. But Gwen vaguely remembers a fight in the food court just a few months back.

She was hungry, though, and aimed to get some fried chicken from Popeyes. Turning to look at her sister as they waited in line, she offers her best friend a small smile.

"You good?" Gwen was certainly feeling a little better after the karate invasion at home and the short stay-cation they took at Mr Miyagi's house and Grandma Lucille's house, but that was still a lot to recover from. So she's going to worry and make sure her sister was okay.

Comments

[imalarusso]

Sam would have given just about anything to just feel normal again. But she realized she didn't even really know what that looked like anymore. Their house had been pretty much destroyed. And how exactly was she ever supposed to feel safe there again? The whole karate war had gone on long enough. Sam was exhausted. And she was sure she wasn't the only one.

She was grateful for the time away. But as soon as she'd stepped back into the house, all those feelings and images came flooding back. All of the violence, people screaming, all hell had broken loose. She had been able to keep most of those feelings at bay when they hadn't been actually at the house. But it wasn't like they could stay away forever.

Sam didn't want her sister or anyone else to worry about her so she forced a smile and nodded her head. "I'm good." She doubted Gwen would believe it, but hopefully, she wouldn't push for the moment. Sam would be okay, she just needed time to process everything and then maybe she would be able to move on. It was hard to say though. It was an awful lot for them to carry. At the end of the day, they were just kids. Kreese didn't seem to care. And Sam doubted that the Cobras would wait to "work things out" at the tournament. In all likelihood, things would continue to escalate. And there she was, spiraling inside her head again.

"What are you going to get?" She asked Gwen in an effort to distract them both.

[fightagain]

"Normalcy is what you make of it!" is something stupid their 'guidance counselor' at school would say. She says a lot of stupid shit. And Gwen's gotten detention for calling her out on it a time or two dozen. She regrets none of it, especially not telling her she needed to find a new job if she can't see how the Cobra Kai kids were lying about not being involved in the fight at gym during their soccer game.

So, normalcy wasn't what they made of it. Normalcy was something they had once, and it was a hell of a fight to get back to it.

But they were LawRusso's. They were going to get it figured out and they were going to get through it.

For now, they just had to get through lunch. Considering how both girls were feeling, that wasn't going to be easy.

"Candy," Gwen replies with a determined nod. As much as she loves fried chicken, the crowd is just not doing it for her. She needs something else. Somewhere else.

"I have my candy jar in my bag, it's only five bucks to refill it, and the candy shops strawberry cheesecake gummy bears are calling my name."

They can get fried chicken another time. For now, Gwen will accept the distraction.