Third Floor Common Room, Saturday Evening

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley felt a little silly, entertaining his bratty child in the common room with board games that she seemed irrationally talented at. Honestly, what nine-year-old could beat a trained and experienced Watcher at Scrabble? He was positive that she was making the words up, but every time he consulted a dictionary, all he saw was Eloise's smug little face smirking at -- sure enough -- the word in question printed right there on the page.

Smug brat.

[[common room is open!]]

Comments

[daventry-vamp.livejournal.com]

Oh look, another child was there. And no father to make weird faces at her at the mention of her lineage. Plenty of people had parents who weren't actually married and only acted like friends.

...okay, so they didn't. Shhh.

"Hello?"

[nothingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

As Wesley turned around to see who it was, Eloise quickly plunged her hand into the bag of Scrabble tiles and exchanged two of her six vowels for more profitable letters. Yes! An M and an X. Perfect!

Then she looked up, all sweetness and innocence. "Hello," she chirped. "Look, Daddy, another little girl."

[daventry-vamp.livejournal.com]

"You took some tiles," Malaxandra said, because her father raised her to tell the truth. And her mother raised her not to listen to people when they radiated sweet innocence.

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

Well, at least one other person did?

"Hey!" Des greeted in return.

[daventry-vamp.livejournal.com]

YAY! Malaxandra wasn't so weird after all!

"Hi, have we met?"

[books-and-bows.livejournal.com]

Rue had managed to escape from her mother -- Katniss had only turned her back for a second -- and was looking around to find her father.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she wandered in.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Losing miserably," Wesley groused as yet another of Eloise's words earned a triple-word score. After tallying up her poinds (seriously? Forty-two points for zoeal?) when he looked up. Oh! Rue. Well, that was embarrassing.

"Oh," he said, blushing. "Hello. We're just playing a game."

He didn't dare invite her to play. The last thing he needed was to lose to a six-year-old too.

[books-and-bows.livejournal.com]

"What kind of game?" asked Rue, who definitely wanted to play and would probably only win if she used some kind of Capitol-invented word that Wesley wouldn't know.

[longislandiceme]

Bobby entered the common room in search of food. This in and of itself was not so unusual. The small tousle-haired boy he whose hand was curled in his own? That was somewhat out of the ordinary.

"Hey," Bobby greeted, upon seeing the room was already occupied. "Know if there's anything good in the kitchen?" The boy who accompanied him gave Wes a wide-eyed look and looked as if he wanted to protest something about this, but Bobby continued: "...That can be cooked in a microwave."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

In one moment of appalling mean-ness, Wesley wished certain bratty children could be cooked in a microwave. Then he hated himself for thinking it, but still. Mean.

"I think I saw a bowl of macaroni and cheese?" he suggested.

Eloise turned up her nose at this plebian cuisine. Apparently noodles were beneath her.

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

"I want popcorn and creamsicles," Henry announced happily, still watching his father. "Because Daddy isn't allowed to make real food."

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

"DaddaddaddaddaddaddadDAD!"

Des had to have gotten into the sugar at some point today. Or maybe he was just born with this kind of energy; either way, he'd just hurtled himself bodily across the common room at Bobby like a kid whose parents should probably be concerned about whether he considered any of the Guthries a role model.

[brat_inslayage]

Having kids was exhausting; Kennedy knew that from last year. This year wasn't any less exhausting, particularly with a daughter who was as into the training as she was.

The thing was, though, Kennedy was also a total pushover for anyone who knew how to get to her, and she'd volunteered to take the twins for a little while and let Tara have a break.

"Guys, I'm telling you," she was telling Asher and Miraya as they headed in, "the third floor common room isn't that different from the second floor one."

[nothingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Kids closer to her age! Possibly kids she could bully! Eloise was totally up for that. She got up from her seat, snatching up the bag of tiles so that Wesley couldn't cheat, and ambled over to the door. "Hello," she said sweetly. "I'm Eloise Morgan-Pryce. Who are you?"

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

"Aunt Kennedy!" Henry all but shrieked, making a beeline for her when he spotted her.

[daventry-vamp.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Malaxandra said politely with a little bob.

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

"Mom mom hey MOM!" Des greeted, barrelling towards her.

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

Des? Had had coffee earlier today. Which meant he was nowhere near being ready for bed once the sun set, though he was inside because he wasn't stupid, thank you.

"Hello!" he greeted exuberantly as he bounded into the room, hoping to find someone he knew. Or at least, someone who'd give him cookies.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Why were all the other kids here this weekend so cute? It hardly seemed fair that there were all these bouncy kids running around when all Wes got stuck with was -- well, this one. She was kind of a brat.

"Hello," he said, charmed instantly. "Are you looking for someone?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter peered into the common room with a raised eyebrow.

"So, when did this turn into Fandom Daycare?" he asked.

[nothingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

"I am nine," Eloise informed him loudly. "I am far too old for day care."

[willbeschway.livejournal.com]

"Anything interesting happening in here?" Terry asked after making his way down from the sixth floor ball pit, which he had been transported to for trying to punch that little jerk Brooker in Caritas.

After that, his definition of 'interesting' had jumped up a bit. After all, he TRIED TO PUNCH A KID and was MAGICALLY TRANSPORTED to a BALL PIT.

[daventry-vamp.livejournal.com]

"No," Malaxandra said from her spot on the couch. "Are you also someone who gets kidnapped?"

[nothingbutgrey.livejournal.com]

Well, some people were being mean, and Daddy was losing at Scrabble.

"Not really," Eloise said, swinging her arms as she ambled over. "What's your name?"

Huh. Surprisingly nice!

[liliceflakes.livejournal.com]

"We're getting pizza!" Henry yelled as he ran over. Pizza was very, very exciting when you were five. "That's inneresting!"