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.

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[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?"

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"It is, at least where I come from," said Lion-o. "They used to share the same planet with us. They're a different type of alien that are a lot closer to your planet's cats, but they can speak and walk upright. They tend to work as caretakers. I have one that used to be my nanny when I was little."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"If I told Susan that someone else's nanny was a talking cat, she'd have me committed to an asylum," Rilla said, eyes wide.

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you shouldn't tell her, then," said Lion-o, looking rather amused. "Who's Susan?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"My nanny before I was far too old to need one," Rilla replied. "She's now our cook and housekeeper."

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that sounds just like Snarf!" said Lion-o. "He came to Fandom with me initially, but then he went back home to help out, and they keep finding more reason for him to stay. Besides, I've been here for two years now. I really don't need anyone taking care of me."

[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.

[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]

"Does he cook?" Rilla asked. "Susan sends baskets from home because she thinks Yankees can't bake a cookie."

[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.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

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

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"He does! But he doesn't try to send me food, since I work at the diner in town. I get all the burgers and milkshakes I want," said Lion-o.

[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?"

[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]

"Oh, my dear friend Sookie works there as well," Rilla said happily. "I feel like it's a betrayal of Susan to eat at a restaurant, but I can't just starve, can I?"

[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.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

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

Sigh. Another moment lost to that lisp.

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"Starving would be bad, especially when there are so many good food options," said Lion-o. "And if it helps, I don't think my boss, the woman who owns the diner, counts as a Yankee. She's from a place called Canada."

[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.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"That's where I'm from!" Rilla exclaimed. "I should make her acquaintance."