Third Floor Common Room, Sunday Afternoon

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Sov brought a radio and a soldering iron into the common room. The radio wasn't strictly necessary, but it was Sov's most priced possession and they wanted to show it to Tony, if nothing else as an example of the type of technology they were used to. They placed the things on the table and sat down, waiting for their friend to show up. They might have been a little early. Tony's promise to show them how to build a radio was important, after all.

[Sov and Tony are going to be nerdy, but it's a very open common room.]

Comments

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Ariel." Sov smiled, remembering them from the welcome picnic. "We're building a radio."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Her eyes instantly lit up; Ariel figured it would be something like that, but the confirmation just made her all the more excited. "That's awesome! I've taken apart radios before, but I've never built one before. I wish I knew how, though, because it was kind of sad that I couldn't put the radio back together after I took it apart..."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Sov's hand instinctively reached out and wrapped itself protectively around the radio. That one was not for taking apart, thank you very much. Especially not if you didn't know how to put it back together.

"Uh, what did you do with them?"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I just wanted to see what kind of parts were inside of it," Ariel said with a shrug. "The radio didn't work anymore, and sometimes, the parts of things are just as interesting as the thing itself, you know? So all the parts are just...a part of my collection now, since I really couldn't get it back together again, but I found another, in tact one for the collection, too."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"What do you collect?" Sov asked with genuine interest.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

It was a question that could only be met with a bright, pleased smile.

"Everything," she said, with a bit of a gush of wistfulness, her eyes dancing.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Everything?"

And after a pause: "So is there room enough for you in your room?" That was meant to be a joke.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"And my roommate now, too, if you'd believe it!" Ariel said with a chuckle. "Thankfully, she doesn't have a lot of stuff! I have started keeping some of the stuff back home, too, though; when I visit, I just bring some of what might be able to handle the wetness better with me. I used to have a whole cavern just filled with stuff, but there aren't enough secret spots on this island for one here."

And she'd certainly tried to find one. But those squirrels were everywhere!

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"A whole cavern? Have you had problems with people stealing your things?" Sov asked. They tried to imagine what this collection looked like, but failed. "I didn't bring much here," they added. Because they didn't own a lot of stuff.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel shook her head. "Not really; the cavern was super-hidden back home, but I know if I came across a random cavern filled with stuff, I might be tempted to take something."

Not tempted. She downright would.

"When I came here, I didn't have anything at all," Ariel added. "I had to start completely from scratch, but it was so much fun! And there's a lot more here, too, so it's easier. You really have to hunt for treasure back home."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"People here do seem to have more things than people at home," Sov said. "But I've never really had a collection of any kind. How do you decide what fits in it?"

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"It's very simple, really," Ariel grinned. "If it's something interesting and I like it, it'll go in the collection! And there are very few things I don't like."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Really? Do you give things away when you tire of them?" Sov asked.

[bedtime!]

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"I can't really imagine ever tiring of them," Ariel admitted with a faint shrug and a faint smile.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"No?" Sov hadn't ever considered collecting things. "Well, if I'd had that many things, my hearth sibs would have stolen most of it."

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

Ariel grinned a little bit at that. "That's why I had to keep the collection secret back home," she said. "My sisters are constantly swiping each other's stuff. How many...hearth siblings do you have?"

Ariel only assumed they had to be like sisters.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Canon isn't clear on that, but I'll say Fifteen!"

Hearth siblings were children of the same age who had been brought up in the same hearth. In this case, two of them were actual siblings and most of the others were cousins.

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

"Ohmygosh!" Ariel giggled. "And here I thought six was a lot! That had to be pretty fun sometimes...and annoying at others, I bet."