Fifth Floor Common Room, Monday, Lunchtime

[not_in_the_book]

After his morning workshop, 'Randy Miller', still rolling his eyes, dropped his stuff off in his room and then made his way to the common room. He smiled, and set to work making soup and sandwiches.

It was awesome how well his George Foreman doubled as a panini grill. Grilled chicken paninis and cream of vegetable soup were just exactly what he wanted today -- and there was plenty of soup, and plenty of fixings if someone wanted a sandwich.

[Open in an open way! I'm around for a couple of hours, then off to work until late.]

Comments

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

With nothing even remotely classlike to deal with until Wednesday, Katchoo had spent pretty much the entire weekend alternately skulking about in the Preserve or sprawled in bed, mostly buried under the covers except for the hand holding the cigarette.

It was close to lunchtime on Monday when she finally decided to surface in search of food, and the smell of soup and sandwiches from the common room tempted her growling stomach enough to override her antisocial tendencies just a bit.

"Hey, Irish," she rasped from the doorway.

[not_in_the_book]

"Katina," Ronan replied, smiling at her. "Hungry? There's soup, and I could do up a panini for you."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo's eyes narrowed slightly, more out of surprise than suspicion although she did her best to sell it as the latter. "It's not gonna cost me anything?"

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan was... not as surprised as he might otherwise have been, given her reactions on Saturday. "... No? The food in the common rooms is pretty much free for the taking, and I like cooking. Help yourself."

He got up and moved to the counter, leaving his food alone for the moment. "D'you want a grilled chicken sandwich? With tomato and havarti, maybe?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo stared at the food on the counter; it was notches above the Campbell's tomato and grilled Kraft-slices sandwiches she'd sometimes gotten in Houston, but not the opulent, excessive spreads she'd had at Darcy's.

It was, in fact, a comfortable medium. Too comfortable; she didn't want to be lulled into complacency, but she was hungry, and so she gave a reserved nod.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan ladled out a bowl of soup and set it on the counter for Katina, and then got to work assembling the sandwich. It was a matter of moments, and then he was oiling up the grill and closing it on the panini. "So, how've the last couple of days been?" he asked. "Did you get out and about much at all?"

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"I discovered the boiler room," she offered in a tone that floated in the grey area between sarcastic and serious. Prodding at the soup experimentally with her spoon, she took a tiny, cautious mouthful.

"Damn, Irish, this is good stuff."

[not_in_the_book]

"Thanks," Ronan said, grinning. "Like I said, I like to cook. A lot."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"No kidding. There's enough food here to feed the whole frikkin' dorm," Katchoo observed between spoonfuls of soup. "Hope they're worth the effort."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, they are.

"So, the boiler room?" he added, smirking a bit. "I suppose you found the dragon, then."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo, who had not actually been anywhere near the boiler room, nearly choked on her soup. "Oh yeah. Miracle I got away with my clothes intact really."

[not_in_the_book]

"Really? But he's usually such a tame dragon. You didn't have any vegetables on you, did you?"

Because, yes. A vegetarian dragon heated he Fandom High boiler.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

". . . do I look like I carry celery in my pockets?"

[not_in_the_book]

"No," Ronan said, "certainly not. But Wilbur doesn't attack just anyone. He's a vegetarian dragon, you see."

Wilbur the Vegetarian Dragon. Where was he coming up with this stuff?

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

There was a pause.

A long pause.

A very long pause.

No, really, you'd better breathe first.

Katchoo finally exhaled a long, slow breath that would have been more dramatic with smoke. "O . . . kay."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan's giggles became more and more difficult to contain the longer the pause went on, until finally, with her exhalation, he dissolved into a gigglefit.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

Katchoo calmly leaned against the counter and concentrated on eating her soup very slowly -- focusing on that kept her from cracking a smile -- and just let him get the gigglefit out.

Except oh crap.

"I hope my sandwich doesn't burn while you're forgetting how to breathe there."

[not_in_the_book]

Still giggling, Ronan flipped open the grill. Look! Perfectly toasted sandwich!

As he slid it onto a plate and cut it down the diagonal, his gigglefit renewed itself.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"You almost had me going there, Irish," Katchoo said, rolling her eyes juuuuuuust a tad. "But then you said his name was Wilbur."

[not_in_the_book]

"I'm surprised I kept it going as long as I did," he admitted. "It's been a while since I've done something like that."

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

"You do this to all the unsuspecting new kids they put in your charge, then," she concluded, shaking her head.