Fourth Floor Common Room: Early Wednesday morning [before workshops]

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Not wanting to wake Aravis if she was asleep, Karal had crept out of their room, bringing two books and his ridiculously thick (especially when you consider they were written in the Karsite version of shorthand) pile of notes with him to the common room.

There was a pot of coffee brewed, and Karal was sitting on one end of the couch, cup of coffee to hand, with the television playing quietly in the background. It had been on when he arrived, and he wasn't entirely sure how to turn it off. He occasionally glanced at it, blinking in amazement at some bit of apparent idiocy, before diving back into his notes.

Altra was sitting on top of the TV, tail hanging in front of the screen, watching Karal.

[ooc: the common room, she is open.]

Comments

[solo_sword]

Jaina was having one of those mornings where making her own coffee was out of the question, so she's very happy to see that there's someplace that already has some, but making the trek up a flight of stairs to see if anyone else had it was perfectly acceptable.

"I'm invading," she said, still a little sleepily as she went to get a cup.

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Hi, Jaina," Charlie said, as she looked around for the sugar. "Are you bringing troops with you?"

[solo_sword]

Jaina? Clearly not entirely awake. "Um?"

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"For the invasion?" Seeing Jaina's look, Charlie grinned, and just passed the cream and sugar over, so Jaina could use them if she wanted. "Never mind. Not important."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Altra snickered inside Karal's head, and Karal smiled at her. "Are you claiming the common room in the name of you, then?" he asked. "Good morning, Jaina."

[solo_sword]

"It's morning," she said, curling up in a chair and holding her coffee like it was something precious. "Hey. And yes, I am. The flag's being made. I have all the appropriate paperwork done and permits arranged, though."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"You have a permit to inavde us?" Karal grinned and nodded at the coffee. "That is very organised of you. Would you accept the coffee as my tribute and allow me to stay? I am rather fond of this common room."

[solo_sword]

"Permit for the flag. And you're allowed. Your cat, too. Sometimes I'm agreeable in the morning," she said.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Ahhh, I see." He hid a smile. "Thank you, Altra and I appreciate it. You are not fond of mornings, I take it?"

[solo_sword]

"I don't mind them in general. I like them better when I can sleep in a little," Jaina said. "Why do you regularly seem to awake when I see you this early?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal glanced around the room, as if making sure no one was close enough to overhear, then leaned forward. "If I confess that I regularly rise before the sun, and quite enjoy it, does that mean you will no longer speak to me?"

[solo_sword]

"No, but I might look at you funny," she said, joking. "Is there a reason?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

He smiled in relief, not that he'd actually thought she would stop talking to him. "Habit, I think. Mornings began early in the Temple."

[solo_sword]

"Aha," she said, getting it. "I have a friend who, at the Academy, used to get up before lessons to go for runs and work on conditioning every morning. I'm not sure I have that sort of dedication."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie didn't have classes today, or work, so she was just wandering again, and was happy to find coffee one floor down. "Karal! Hi, I heard you were back."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Good morning, Charlie," Karal greeted her with a smile. "Back from home or back from New York?"

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"The first one, since I didn't know about the second one," Charlie said, and took a sip of her own coffee. "But I'd like to hear about both. I stopped by and said hi to Trenor a couple times. Did you have fun?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"New York was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. We went to the top of the Empire State Building. It was if the entire world was spread out before us." He didn't think he would ever lose the touch of awe he knew was filing his voice. "And thank you, very much. Did he remain a horse the entire time?"

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Laughing, Charlie said, "Every time I saw him, yeah. And isn't New York great? That's where we lived for six months, when I was seven. Did you see Central Park? And the zoo?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I hndwavily did. I must say, it was a relief to find such an expanse of land in that place. Everything there was so crowded." He sipped his coffee then wrapped his hands around the mug and considered her. "Charlie, did you ever got a place called FAO Schwartz? A place that purports to be this world's largest toystore?"

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Ohhh! Yes, I did." Charlie smiled wistfully. "They had the best dolls ever. We couldn't afford much there at the time, so I liked just going in to look. You guys got to shop there? Did you get anything?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal gaped at her. "You didn't think it was evil?" he blurted, then flushed. "Umm, no, no we didn't get anything."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

"Evil?" Charlie started laughing, then choked it off to a giggle. "Um, no? But I was seven. Seven-year-olds are kind of evil too."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Altra was looking very amused as he watched Karal and Charlie, but he didn't say anything. Karal groaned and rubbed his forehead. "No, I know it is not actually evil. But it seemed evil. It is a long story, and one I will not bore you with." Having Molly know it was embarrassing enough. "And I am sure you were a very nice seven year old."

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie's smile faltered a moment, but she recovered to say, "Most of the time. Although I did make my dad stay there with me for much longer than he probably wanted to. They had a set of blocks that I had built up as tall as I was, and I didn't want to leave." She grinned again. "And long stories are fun. But what else did you see while you were there? Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty?"