Fourth Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

It had been a lifetime ago since he last found himself in this common room, but Jak had had a long night (and a long morning's not-really-sleeping. Fucking insomnia) and he was hungry. So he was poking through the drawers in search of something that looked edible.

At least with a few months' training on the local alphabet, he could now make out what was soup and what was toilet cleaner.

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[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"You making breakfast?" Hannibal asked, puttering into the common room and glancing at the scrounger. He didn't immediately recognize Jak what with all the changes but he seemed familiar.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"I'm getting breakfast," Jak returned, shooting a look over his shoulder. He yanked out a packet of cereal. "You can feed yourself."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Someone's touchy," Hannibal said, smirking. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?"

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"I spent the night in a radio booth with a bunch of squirrels and some blond jackass," Jak told him, flinging himself at the couch. Hey, he could share the wealth of bitch around.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Well, it's good to know that Arthur hasn't changed his stripes," Hannibal joked, digging himself out some juice and an apple.

Wait. Granted, it took Hannibal a few moments but now he realized why this guy seemed familiar.

"Didn't you...not talk the last time I saw you?" he asked, juice halfway to his mouth when the question popped out.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Jak said, taking a handful of cereal and dumping that into a bowl. "But that was a long time ago."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Huh." Hannibal left it at that, not really wanting to push something he knew nothing about. He'd met Jak once and didn't think he had that right. "Why didn't you just punch Arthur?"

See, that was more fun to talk about.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak shrugged, dropping a spoon in his cereal. "Didn't seem worth the hassle," he said. "But him and those squirrels are weird."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"The squirrels have always been weird," he said, finding a seat to drop into. "I would call Arthur a pompous ass more than weird."

And he was sure the sentiment was returned.

"From what I heard, you didn't do too bad there," he said. "I've heard worse."

[puppy_fair]

Zack was bored.

Bored was Zack.

Was Zack bored?

"Oh, hi, Jak!" Yes, apparently so. Bored and wandering floors until he ran into intelligent life to pester. Also, he never forgot a set of ears like those ones. So sue him. "Anything good in there?"

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"Cereal," Jak supplied. Huh. Now there was a face he hadn't seen in too long. "And an old muffin. It's yours if you want to take the risk."

[puppy_fair]

"That's me," Zack replied, making his way over and casually leaning forward to take stock of the aforementioned muffin. "Ever the risk-taker."

Wow, Jak was talkative. Dinah certainly hadn't been exaggerating that much. He made a reach for the muffin and started peeling off the wrapper. "And anyhow, I'm pretty sure that it'll take more than a skuzzy muffin to do me in, man."

Oooh, blueberry! ... He was pretty sure.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"It's your funeral."

So far, Zack was taking it all in stride, which was... nice. Jak swallowed down a mouthful of cereal, then snuck a peek at Zack just to make sure he really wasn't going to die of the damn thing.

[puppy_fair]

Zack was totally made to take things in stride, really. Things like talky Jaks and stale muffins. If Zack was making any faces at the moment, they were fully and completely because this particular meal was more than just a touch dry.

"... I could probably throw this at a Zuu and take it out in one hit," he shared, making a rummage through the fridge for some milk. "You weren't kidding when you said it was a little old, man."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"I don't like to kid around." Beat. "Most of the time. How've you been?"

With Zack, that seemed a safe question. Kind of. Jak could even bring up the motivation to care.

Like, a tiny bit.

[puppy_fair]

"Oh, you know. Up to this and that." Zack shrugged a little, his smile going slightly lopsided. "Trying to get into the swing of classes this semester, mostly. I have no idea what prompted me to take two ethics courses."

They were tiring.

"You?"

... Okay, aside from the obvious. The question, coming from Zack, was more of a natural response to the question asked. He wasn't about to start digging, here.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"I've had better years," Jak shared. He was a sharing guy. Kind of. "The week's been pretty slow." Or maybe not.

[puppy_fair]

Zack's lopsided smile went a little sympathetic, at that.

"Dinah had mentioned being worried about you to me on Tuesday," he admitted. "But you seem fine enough to me. Still standing, you know?"

The SOLDIER definition of fine: Not dead.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Heya, Zack," Hannibal said, giving him a wave with the hand holding the apple. "Looking for something to do?"

[puppy_fair]

"Hannibal! Hey!" Zack grinned and gave a little nod. "Yeah, that's about it. It's waaay too quiet for a Saturday on the island, isn't it? After last month, with all the little deer and jingly things and candy."

He'd liked the distractions! They were distracting!

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"I think the island's still waking up." Obviously, Zack was winning that race right there. "Probably get going in a few hours. Plus, it's cold outside so warm beds have their draw during winter."

[puppy_fair]

"See, that's even more of a reason to get up early," Zack laughed. "The sooner you get moving around, the sooner you'll be okay with facing the day, right?"

A pause.

"Anyhow, it's not all that cold out there, is it?"

This was coming from the kid who grew up in a tropical rainforest and still didn't own a winter jacket.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"I haven't been outside yet," he admitted with a shrug. "If there's no snow on the ground, it's probably not that bad. Still, snow would be fun!"

[puppy_fair]

"It would be," Zack agreed. "There was snow on the ground back in Midgar when I visited for the break with Ino, actually. Which is weird. You don't see much precipitation around there, being in the middle of the desert and all."

Zack was going to win bonus points for babbling about things that nobody cared about, wasn't he?

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

The excitement was cute though. Hannibal would forgive him for it because it was adorable.

"It snowed in the desert?" That did sound...weird. "Just randomly or were your seasons weird there?"