fandomhighdorms | The Deck, Thursday Morning

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The Deck, Thursday Morning

It was meant to be Winter in Australia. Friday disagreed. This was swimming weather. This was barbeque weather. Australians supposedly had a barbeque all the time when eating. He'd watched Residents. He knew these things. Also, he was awake at a ridiculous hour (before 10am), hungry and in possession of breakfast food. This led to a grand idea involving the new deck facilities.

The smell from the barbeque as he started to cook up a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns and tomatoes wafted up to some of the open windows in the dorms. It smelled good. There was coffee and tea and juice too, because Friday wasn't silly enough to think that he could cook in public without bringing plenty for others.

For the full effect, he was wearing a singlet (wifebeater), board shorts, 'thongs' (flip-flops, not the other kind as far as anyone was aware) and sunglasses. He wasn't wearing the hat. That was just ridiculous. He fished out a packet of shrimp to throw on the barbie. It wasn't breakfast food, but he couldn't resist.

[~~Aussie BBQ tiem nao!~~ Sleep tiem nao.]

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The scent drifted up into the dorms and attracted the attention of a hungry Firecat. And where Karal's eyes went, so went Karal. "Good morning, Friday," he said as Altra led the way onto the deck, ears straight up and whiskers twitching.

Friday turned slightly and looked over his shoulder as he poked at the sausages with his tongs. "You're just in time for food. Actually, you're a bit early, but there's tea while you wait."

"Now that sounds wonderful." Karal smiled and Altra helped Karal navigate to the tea. "Can I pour you a cup while you cook breakfast?"

"As if I'd ever turn down a cup of tea. Unless it's," he faltered, trying to think of the name. "What's it called? Butter tea?"

"Very wise and well remembered," Karal said with a laugh, pouring out two cups of tea, one of which he carried over to offer to Friday. "You'd have no appetite at all after a cup of that."

"Can't have that then. There's perfectly good grub waiting in all its greasy glory to be eaten. You're not a vegetarian, are you?"

Karal found a nearby bench to sit on while Altra abandoned dignity and stood staring up at Friday's hands while he cooked. "I'm not sure," he replied, sipping his tea. "I don't know what that is."

Edited 2008-07-31 12:48 (UTC)

"It's someone who doesn't eat meat. Vegetables only. And tofu. I don't actually know what tofu is, but I'm pretty sure it's not a vegetable or a meat. Anyway, there's eggs and tomato and bread, but the rest of it's all greasy meat." His mouth started to water. "I love greasy meat." He picked up a bit of bacon with his tongs and offered it to Altra.

Altra, with all due dignity, caught it and tugged it off the tongs, carrying it over to sit under Karal's bench. "In that case, I'm definitely not a vegetarian, though I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say I love greasy meat."

"Your arteries will appreciate it as you get older. Mine, on the other hand, will probably strangle me by the time I'm 40. At least I'll die with the memory of plenty of good meals." The batch of food looked about done. "Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown and tomato? There's shrimp too, but it's not really a breakfast food."

Altra's ears went up. :Shrimp?:

Karal smothered a laugh. "I think Altra would like some shrimp, even if it's strictly a breakfast food, and if I could have some, umm, some sausage and tomato, please? And possibly some bread?"

"One order coming right up." He thought about calling the food by weird diner slang, but decided against it when he realised he had no idea what he'd actually say. It was one of those moments where the joke was great in his head, but didn't actually materialise. Rather than dwell on feeling stupid even though no one else knew what he'd been about to say, Friday busied himself preparing a plate of shrimp for Altra and the other plate of food for Karal. He walked them over to the recipients with a plastic knife and fork for Karal when he was done. "All good?"

Altra's purr was loud enough they could probably hear it in the dorms as he sniffed delicately at his shrimp. "It's excellent, thank you," Karal said, settling the plate on his knees and and carefully taking the knife and fork. With Altra under the bench, he couldn't actually see, but he was confident he'd be fine.

And if spilled the food on himself, he wouldn't be able to see it, so there'd be no harm done. "I had no idea you could cook."

Friday shrugged. "Mum's...Mum. Dad cooks pretty well. He stays at home while Mum works, but sometimes he gets on a writing kick and we don't see him for days aside from at bed time. I can pretty much cook food in a microwave and anything on a barbeque or in a fry pan. Anything more complicated than that usually ends it in looking like pudding."

The scent of the food wafted through the air, drifting up and into Romeo's open window, and he decided to get dressed and explore. "Good morrow," he greeted, sleep still thickening his voice. "Are you cooking, Friday?"

"Romeo, haven't seen you in a while. I'm barbecuing. It's like cooking, but with a better chance of setting myself on fire."

"I know, I've been a dreadful sibling," Romeo said. "I can work a fire extinguisher, though, if you do set yourself on fire."

He took a seat on a deck chair and started rummaging for his cigarettes. "How have you been?"

"Can't complain. Well, I can, but there's not a lot to complain about. Classes, telly, sleep. Usual stuff going on. It's pretty boring actually." He seemed quite pleased about that. It was a nice change of pace from saving the world.

Which Romeo noticed. "You don't sound as though you mind the boredom," he noted. "But it's been about the same for me." He considered. "At least my modeling class isn't dull."

Insane, but not dull.

"I saw that class and decided there might be sequins. I can go through a lot, but sequins are too much. But yeah, don't mind the boredom so much. I get to sleep in and travel and I don't have to worry about boring layovers and someone kicking the seat behind me. I go to sleep, laze about in bed as long as I want, get up and look out the window. Oh hey, penguins! Or pirates or...what does Australia have? Platypuses. Platypi? They're not normal anyway."

"You chose well. There have been makeup and heels, and I think sequins are next week. I just thought it would be easy." Romeo was never one to deny his own laziness.

"I know, it's considerate of the island to arrange summer vacations for us. Platypi are the ones with bills and fur, are they not? Definitely not normal. At least they don't fall from the sky like koalas."

"Their claws are poisonous too. I read about them on the internet. In fact, now that I think about it, most of the Australian animals I read about are poisonous, want to eat me or can kick me so hard my chest implodes. Maybe we were safer with the pirates."

And that was Romeo, staring. "Dear God, we best not leave the island," he decided.

He eyed the food warily. "You didn't buy any of that on the mainland, did you?"

It was only half a joke. For all he knew, Australian cows and pigs were dangerous, too.

"I did actually, but don't worry. Karal ate some and didn't drop dead." Yes, he was okay with using the priest as an accidental food tester. "I hadn't even thought about local food being poisonous for non-locals. Would the Australians even know? They'd have a natural immunity."

Not just a priest, but a blind priest. Which would have given Romeo pause, but Karal had his god protecting him, right?

"I don't know," he said, trying to reason it out. "They must, or the whole continent would drop dead." He sniffed the air. "I have to say, even if it's poisonous it smells tasty."

Mooching? Of course.

Edited 2008-07-31 13:31 (UTC)

"Want some? There's plenty to go around. Grab a plate and I'll serve you some up. I think the sausages are almost done."

"I think I can take the chance," Romeo grinned happily, helping himself to some coffee before presenting his plate to Friday. "I'll take anything. I'm always happy when someone else cooks -- it saves me trying to do it myself."

Friday grinned and heaped some food onto Romeo's plate. "Put a bit of salt on the tomato if you don't like it too sweet. I always forget and end up pulling a face when I bite into it. But if it turns out that the food is poisoned, don't blame me, okay?"

Romeo nodded and reached for the salt-shaker before picking up his fork. "I'll blame the Australians, not you."

Friday shook his head at Australia. "You leave a bunch of animals on an island for a few million years and they turn all poisonous on you."

"Wow, someone's having a productive morning down here," Angela remarked as she wandered outside.

"It's amazing what an empty stomach will do for motivation. Want some? There's food galore because I figured Jamie and his clones might come. It always helps to be prepared for clones."

"You prepare for clones around here," Angela asked, giving him a funny look. "Oh, I still have so much more to get used to."

"My brain kept stalling when I got here. Funnily enough, that gives you an awful headache. My theory is that the island thinks it's really funny to mess with people, so I've decided that everything here is completely normal. Even clones. Or duplicates. Whatever he calls them. Want some food?"

"I'm sort of learning to take things as they come," Angela said.

"And yes, food would be great," she added with a grin.

"Grab a plate and I'll load you up. The best thing I've found is to nod and smile. It's a lot better for your mental health than trying to make sense of it all."

"If they were, it was not me, I swear it," Romeo noted with a grin, glancing up from his food to greet the new girl.

Angela grinned. "So much food, so early in the morning. I like this new country we're in here."

"And it doesn't even seem to be poisonous," Romeo said, before realizing that probably sounded odd. "Friday was telling me about how all the Australian animals want to kill you. But it seems like the cows and pigs, at least, are safe, poor things."

"Things here are out to get you?" Angela asked with a look of mild disturbance.

"In Australia," Romeo clarified. "They're all poisonous or they kick or have claws or they're far larger than one would expect. Or they jump on your head out of nowhere." He was still smarting from the drop bear attack. "Cute, though. Sometimes."

"Okay," she said slowly. "Suddenly thinking I don't want to go hanging out on the mainland too often."

"Wise plan," Romeo nodded firmly. "Or, if you must, wear protective gear or bring protective friends."

"We've not met, have we? I'm Romeo."

"Angela," she introduced in return, shooting him a bright grin.

"And I will be doing both those the next time I go anywhere near the causeway."

"Then you should be more than prepared," he told her, with a smile of his own.

"Angela," he repeated, with the air of one who would remember the name. "Are you new-ish? I've been here since January."

"Very new-ish," Angela confirmed with a little nod. "I've only been here a few weeks. Still figuring things out."

Yeah, a lot of things, like beer from the sky and random bouts of pirate clothes, that sort of stuff.

"Don't expect it to make sense," he advised. "Unless you're from a world full of things that go bump in the night and" - he watched a cloud of seagulls descend and claim his bacon - "talking birds."

"But it's usually a fun ride."

"I'm not," Angela confirmed. "Not unless I've been really unobservant the last sixteen years."

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The Deck, Thursday Morning

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