3rd Floor Common Room; Friday Afternoon

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke didn't really mind the whole Santa hat thing he had going on right now. He liked the whole festive part of it, having very few experiences of the whole Christmas thing seeing as Camp Half Blood didn't really do much for the holiday. So, yeah, the hat was fine. He was kind of liking watching the annoyed faces of everyone else as they walked around with them on.

That was half the reason Luke had parked himself in the common room. The other half was because he was bored. And the other half was because he had found a carton of s'more ice cream that he was determined to eat himself. Yeah, that was one half too many, whatever. Math wasn't his strong point.

[omg miracle. Open, yes]

Comments

[vanillajello]

Kate was another one of those people who were looking displeased with the whole hat thing. No surprise, really, since she had an artwalk thing to attend in the evening, and she was sure everyone there thought Santa hats were lame.

She'd have to claim it was 'ironic' or some shit like that. Ugh.

"This island needs to not mess with my accessory choices," she announced as she wandered into the common room. In case the look on her face didn't already say that.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke gave Kate a smile. "But you look adorable."

[vanillajello]

"Well I know that," Kate replied, which was... kind of like saying thanks, maybe? She headed for the fridge. "But are a bunch of snooty, artsy posers gonna think that?"

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"They're just jealous they can't pull off the look as well as others can," he said, waving his spoon around for emphasis. "And they poorly hide their jealousy by claiming Christmas has gone too mainstream."

[vanillajello]

"Well that's all well and good," she grumbled as she searched the fridge for her pack of pudding cups, "but doesn't help me with looking cool in their eyes."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Well at least it happened now," he said. "It could have happened in July or something. Then you would have looked psychotic."

[vanillajello]

"Fine, if you wanna be so optimistic about it." She grabbed two pudding cups and a spoon for herself, then wandered over to a chair, plopping herself down on it. "I'm Kate, by the way."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Luke," he said, waving a spoon at her. "You live on this floor, right?"

He saw people around but he rarely talked to them in the halls. Especially in the mornings. He just wasn't functional in the mornings.

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, in 324," Kate nodded. Then one of her eyebrows quirked as she remembered something. "You Percy's cousin Luke?"

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that'd be me," he said, feeling kind of weird that Percy had been talking about him to other people. "I live in 313 with our other cousin Nico."

Demigods everywhere in this school.

[vanillajello]

Oh, that wasn't even all Percy had been talking about. Kate thought she should've gotten a medal for how much she was not looking like she was wondering whether it was some version of him or Nico that had been involved in almost destroying Percy's world.

... So basically, Percy was a horrible blabbermouth.

"Oh, you only moved to this floor after the term started, right?" she asked, instead of all that. "Otherwise we would've met at the newbie picnic."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Well Luke was the one with the horribly cliche bad guy scar. That was probably a good indicator of future evil.

"Oh yeah, I moved in September. I used to live on the second floor," he said. "I have to say I like this floor better. I don't know if you realized it, but you guys were hoarding the good ice cream."

[vanillajello]

"We hoard all the good stuff here, because we're just that awesome," Kate informed him with a hint of smugness, leaning back in her chair. "And I see you've adjusted admirably to the tone of the floor even without my chocolate bribery."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"I missed out on free chocolate?" he asked, pretending to look disappointed. "Well now I feel gypped."

[vanillajello]

"That's what happens to people who move around when it's not moving season," she replied, almost smirking. "Even Percy got chocolate for being a third floor kid. You're just gonna have to find me during teh next picnic."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"I'll have to keep that in mind." Ignore the fact that he was shoving chocolate ice cream in his mouth right now and certainly didn't need any more.

He hadn't missed the tone when Kate mentioned his cousin. "So you've gotten to know Percy pretty well, huh?"

[vanillajello]

"I don't think I'd really put it like that," Kate mused, scraping the bottom of her first pudding cup with her spoon. "I mean, I run into him every once in a while, call him a kid when he acts like one and then listen to him bitch at me about it."

Yes, that seemed to amuse her even now.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

Luke laughed a little. "Yeah, he hates that. He doesn't like it when you call him a brat either."

Or cute, but Luke wanted to be the only person that called him that.

[vanillajello]

"I'm so not surprised," she said, shaking her head. "Because he totally is one, and brats hate being called that."

She should know.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it's true. He's a huge brat," Luke said. "And, in case if you were wondering, it doesn't get better over time. You just learn to tolerate it."

[vanillajello]

"I doubt that's a skill I want to learn," she noted, wrinkling her nose. "I think I'll just start avoiding him once he stops being funny."

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"That's a solid plan," Luke said, batting away the little ball of his Santa hat when it got in his way. "It's probably easy for you to avoid since you aren't family. Lucky you."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I have my own family to deal with," Kate replied idly. Boy, did she ever have a family to deal with. "I try not to get drawn into anyone else's."

For instance, her boyfriend's parents were dead. All four of them.

[trickydemigod.livejournal.com]

"It's for the best. It's too much of a hassle when you've got your own stuff to deal with," he said. "Especially when it comes to our family. Soooo much drama. Centuries of it."

[vanillajello]

"What, like an age-old family feud?" Kate asked, raising a brow. "Like, great-great-great grandfather screwed around and everyone's still paying for it?"