Fifth Floor Common Room [evening]

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla was knitting a scarf (which she'd tell you if you enquired. Which you might. It wasn't a terribly successful scarf) and mulling over a poster she'd seen about the student council elections she'd seen oh so handwavily in the halls.

She wondered how politics worked in America and if she'd finally have to figure out the difference between a Democrat and a Republican. But for now, there was knitting.

Really bad knitting.

Comments

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

Lion-o poked his head into the common room, as if he was looking for someone specific. "Oh, hi," he said, spotting Rilla. "I don't suppose you've seen a girl named Momoko?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla shrieked. "Oh dear heavens!"

Well, that was certainly an inauspicious beginning.

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

Uh oh.

"Don't be afraid!" said Lion-o, holding his hands up to show that they were empty. "I'm just another student who happens to not be human. I've never harmed anyone. You can ask around."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Are you an alien?" Rilla quavered. "From a...giant cat...planet?"

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

Lion-o considered his words carefully. "Yes, I am an alien, though I don't really think of myself as one," he said. "And the people from my planet are all cats, except for the snarfs, of course. Though they might resemble Earth cats in a way..."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Snarfs?" Rilla repeated. "Is that really a word?"

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

It was really not polite of George to stare. She should be used to weirdness by now, what with having a friend with green skin, and a roommate whose face was apparently on fire. So it was less of a stare and more of an extended double take.

And then she was clearing her throat and doing her best to seem totally like she hadn't been staring. "No?" she said. "I ... don't think I've ... met her."

She refrained from asking if Momoko was a cat-person, too.

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"Hmm, maybe I should just call her cell phone. I know she's living on this floor," said Lion-o. The staring didn't bother him that much. He was quite used to it.

"My name is Lion-o, and I live two floors down from here," he said, trying to be polite. "Are you a new student? I don't believe I've seen you around."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"I'm George," she said, finally managing to not stare at him, hi, a little tact please. "I'm on the fourth floor. With Jono?"

In case he knew Jono. Hey, maybe he did. Small school and all.

"Yeah, I'm new," she added. "Still ... trying to adjust to everything."

Like cat-people and a roommate whose face was on fire. Shit like that.

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"It can be a little difficult," said Lion-o. "I wasn't prepared when I arrived to find that everyone else was human. It took some getting used to."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"I can see where that would be ... a shock," George said. "I was ... the other way? Not expecting the ... non-human side of things."

Which he had probably already grasped, from the staring.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

So, George was bored. Jono was out for the night, and when your antisocial roommate had more on his calendar than you did, that was a good sign that you were starting to grow moss. So she wandered the dorms until she found a common room that had someone in it.

Ah. Random girl knitting.

"Hey," she said. "So ... what are you making?"

Ever the scintillating conversationalist, she was.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla tilted her head at it. "It's supposed to be a scarf," she said. "Does it look like one?"

Currently, it looked like a lumpy potholder.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

Amazingly, George seemed to realize that this was a situation that probably should err on the side of tact.

"... Sure," she said awkwardly. "It's a ... good start."

And hey, maybe all scarves looked like that at the very beginning. But she kind of had a feeling they didn't, to be honest.

"... I don't know how to knit," George added.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I could teach you," Rilla replied earnestly. "I taught Bruce!"

Who'd probably moved way past Rilla's expertise at this point.

"I'm Rilla Blythe. It's lovely to meet you..." She waited for the girl to offer her name.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"George," she supplied helpfully. "George Lass. It's ... nice to meet you too."

Totally up on social niceties, here.

"I'm not sure I'd be a good learner," she admitted. "I don't think I have the patience for it."

Or much of anything that didn't involve instant gratification.

[exspeedydotcom]

"Yo," Roy said to Rilla and everyone else in the common room as he entered. He made straight for the fridge, took out a carton of orange juice, and stopped just short of his first instinct, which was to drink straight from the carton.

Sometimes, the total lack of female influences in his development did show through.

Right. He needed a glass.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Rilla said, sitting up straighter. Handsome boys always brought out the best in her manners. "How are you?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"I'm good," Roy said, glancing over his shoulder from his rummaging for a clean glass and flashing his best grin at her. "How are you doing? And what are you making, there?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I'm quite well," Rilla said, blushing. "I'm making a thcarf."

Sigh. Another moment lost to that lisp.

[exspeedydotcom]

Clean glass! Roy poured himself some orange juice as he asked, "Scarf, huh? Is it for you, or for a gift for someone or something?"

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Hey," George said, waving one hand at the guy.

Not all that fazed by the near-carton-drinking. Mason still drank out of cartons.

Mason did a lot worse than drink out of cartons.

[exspeedydotcom]

"Hey," Roy said, waving back. "New girl?"

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"New girl," she said. "George. Small island. Everyone seems able to pick out newbies."

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy had an excellent memory for girls. "George," he said. "I'm Roy. And, yeah, it's not a big school. If you don't remember ever even seeing someone in the hall, they're probably new." He shrugged.