Fourth Floor Common Room [evening]

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

Aravis was bored, and in a particularly lazy mood.

Which was why there was a lethargic Aravis lounging on one of the couches, a sleeping rat on her stomach and a puppy at her feet (when he wasn't scampering around and nosing at things in the room.)

She idly flipped through the channels, slowly polishing off the last of her candy stash.

[zomg, bored and awake all night. open!]

Comments

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna was certainly going to avoid the third floor common room tonight. Thankfully, that's what the nice, usually calm common room on her floor was for. She came in and nodded to Aravis. "Hello; you don't mind if I join you, do you?" With a smile, she added, "Those are adorable pets."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, and of course I don't mind. Good evening," Aravis replied with a little smile. "The rat is an assigned pet. I'm not really a...rodent lover, normally."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Neither am I," Setsuna admitted with a light smile back as she took a seat, "but a rat is still better than an ermine. It's for that creature's class, right? Have you named yours? Alphonse and I have been having a terrible time trying to name his hamster."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"Maggie," she supplied. "I let Seely name her, as I've...no idea what a rat should be named, and she didn't have a name already."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Ohhh." Yes, Setsuna may have been gushing slightly, though she certainly wouldn't ever admit it. "I think that's a lovely name." To bad it was already taken, then. And that Alphonse's hamster was a male, anyway. Or so they thought. Neither of them had really thought to check, really.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

Aravis grinned. "It's for Magpie, because of her markings, but since she's not a bird I didn't think it was right to call her that. What's a hamster?"

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Another rodent," Setsuna nodded, "I think. Much smaller and fluffier than a rat."

She bit her lip a little. "Really, that's all he really is. An itty, bitty," freaking adorable, "ball of fur."

Like a Tribble, but less evil. One would hope.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"It's funny -- up until last week, I'd never had a real pet. Horses, of course, but those weren't pets, or for fun. And now I have two," Aravis said, rolling her eyes.

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"I've never really had one," Setsuna said lightly. Chamo and Ranma absolutely did not count. "How are you holding up with your sudden pet ownership?"

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"Better than I thought," Aravis admitted. "Especially as I didn't pick either of them. The dog was a gift. My room is a bit of a menagerie now -- Karal got a...small gray furry animal, and he already had a cat."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"That is a pretty impressive assortment. Just need a few birds, maybe some fish, a giraffe."

Hey, Setsuna was capable of the occasional joke, but it was rare.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"Possibly we could just bring Trenor up from the stables," she replied, only half-joking. "He does fit. So does a cow. Not that either was there intentionally."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"And now you almost wish I could still turn into a bird..."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

This would be Aravis staring.

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

And this was Setsuna biting her lip a little, turning a bit red. "I had a temporary curse," she explained with a light chuckle. "If I was hit with cold water, I turned into a crow. It went away, though, sometime at the beginning of this year..."

Taking that stare into consideration, Setsuna decided to not mention any similar curses bestowed on exboyfriends.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"...I can't do anything like that," Aravis offered. "That's a rather fortunate curse, though. I saw the prince of my native land turned into an ass for his haughtiness and insolence. The only way to retain his human form was to stay within the bounds of his home."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"...I suppose the bounds of my curse weren't so terrible, then," Setsuna said after thinking a moment. And certainly not mentioning to Aravis the reasons why her curse called for a crow. "Especially considering it was temporary. Surprisingly, though, this happened in China, no where near Fandom at all, but it does sound a bit like something that might happen here."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"I know where China is!" Aravis said proudly. "Are you from there? Do you really eat with sticks?"

Aravis had sort of lost her sense of tact in her excitement at not failing at geography.

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

Setsuna was well used to it by the point to not really mind. In fact, she found it a little amusing, biting her lip a little against a smile. "I'm from Japan, which is an island country near China. And, yes, we really do eat with sticks. Confucius, a great philosopher, believed that knives at a table harboured too many violent intent, which one does not want when they are eating and feasting, so chopsticks became the preferred utensil in our culture."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"I learned to use them," Aravis said happily. "And that's a philosophy that would be well-used in Calormen. I've seen fights break out over cake before."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"Over cake?" Setsuna asked, msotly to make sure she heard that correctly.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"The last slice of it," she said, nodding. "My people are not in possession of the coolest heads, generally."

[bound2blade.livejournal.com]

"It certainly sounds that way," Setsuna said, and then turned a bit red. "Um, no offense intended, of course."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé stepped in to the common room, sketchbook in tow, and gave her cabinmate a smile. "If I brought my cat along, we could have a menagerie," she observed.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

Aravis smiled. "None taken. I'm Calormene by birth, but I fled the country last year. I don't agree with most of their...traditions."