Fifth floor common room [evening]

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla had not turned the television on when she'd come into the common room. She was far too engrossed in the magazine she'd just discovered.

Look out, world. Rilla Blythe had discovered Cosmo quizzes.

If only she understood half of the things the questions were asking about!

Comments

[therewaslife]

"Exactly," Bod agreed with a nod. "The fact that they can even observe and report as they do is amazing to me."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"It makes me wonder if the squirrels around my house in Glen St. Mary have been doing the same thing and I've just never noticed," Rilla replied with a little giggle.

[therewaslife]

"Are you going to pay closer attention to them whenever you make it back home now?" Bod asked, laughing. "Wondering what they're talking to each other about in regards to you?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Oh, they're probably much more interested in the doings of my brothers and sisters," Rilla said. "I'm not allowed to go out in the evenings without them acting as escort."

[therewaslife]

"But, you go out in the evenings here without them, don't you?" Bod asked. "And you've been safe."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"It's not about safety," Rilla explained. "It's about propriety. At home, I'm considered too young to be out."

[therewaslife]

"Oh." Bod nodded thoughtfully. "Does that ever bother you, that you can't go out during the evening hours at home?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "When my siblings are home, all of their friends are over in our sitting room anyway. I'm not bored."

[therewaslife]

"Oh well, then that's not so bad," Bod said, nodding. "Your sitting room at home is like a common room here which makes it convenient for talking with people and not going outside."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Very," Rilla said, "though the conversations here don't revolve around what Mary Vance's hat looked like at the prayer meeting on Wednesday."

[therewaslife]

"If it were still winter, I'd be wearing the hat I purchased for the months and it's rather awful so it'd give people something to talk about if I wore it," he offered easily. "It keeps my head warm but it's awful."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"How awful?" Rilla asked eagerly. "Flowers? Birds?"

[therewaslife]

"It's brown," he described and tried to mime what it looked like. "And it's got a brim but it's also made of some cotton-y fabric and it makes my head look rather huge."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"That does sound bad," Rilla said with a little laugh. "Why did you keep it?"

[therewaslife]

"It was warm," Bod answered, laughing, "and it was fairly cheap. I can't afford anything too expensive and I wanted something to keep my ears warm. It's awful but it was practical."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I could knit you something nicer," Rilla offered.

[therewaslife]

"You knit hats?" Bod asked, surprised. "That seems like it would be complicated."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I've gotten ever so much better at them," Rilla told him earnestly. "I'm still bad at socks."

[therewaslife]

"If you'd like to give a hat for me a try, I'd be very grateful and in your debt," Bod told her, smiling. "I can't make them myself and most of the money I make, I'm trying to save for future plans."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"College?" Rilla guessed. "It's why my brother Walter and my sisters Nan and Di are teaching right now."

[therewaslife]

"Possibly college," Bod answered, nodding. "I haven't actually figured that out either. I want to travel and I want to see everything and college would lock me to one place for awhile but I'd love to further my education as well."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Well, being in one really wonderful place for a few years can't be too terrible," Rilla mused. "Not that I have aspirations of college at all."

[therewaslife]

"That is very true," Bod agreed with a nod. "It's something I'll have to give more thought to, I think. I'm not graduating yet so I have time. I just know I want to do all kinds of things."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"What kind of all kinds of things?" Rilla asked. "Teaching, medicine, flying an aeroplane?"

[therewaslife]

"Those are options, yes," he chuckled. "I want to travel and see new places, too. I'd love to learn new languages and camp out under the stars. I'd love to walk through town in the rain and eat foods that squirm oddly on my plate. I want to help people that need it and buy silly hats to wear when it snows."