Third Floor Common Room, Saturday Morning

[lockestheway]

Peter prided himself in being able to adapt to any situation in a short span of time. By the end of this week, he was genuinely no longer thrown by their current location. Skeptical of half the stories that had been told him, yes, but a touch of healthy skepticism had never helped anyone.

He'd also noticed the importance everyone here seemed to put on their friendships with one another. Their little common room get-togethers. And, wel, it was obvious he was already a little behind, PR-wise, here. So what else could he do but move his ass to the common room in the morning and set out some cereal? Enough to make it look like a properly catered breakfast.

It took a little planning, sure. But if his brother had managed to make friends here - of course he had - then he'd just have to pretend to be just as loveable as Ender to get ahead.

So, cereal, a stack of plates, bread, stuff like that. And Peter with a bowl of cornflakes, watching the news.

[[ open! ]]

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[dollpocalypse]

Topher was just going to wander into the common room for a bag of Cheetos, but then he saw all the food that was laid out, and his plans abruptly changed.

"Whoa," he marveled. "Did the island change again and make food?"

[lockestheway]

"Nope," Peter said, with a cheerful kind of friendliness in his tone that made him roll his eyes at himself on the inside. "Just a third floor kind of breakfast. Come on in."

[dollpocalypse]

Again with this third floor pride. But hey, free breakfast was free breakfast. He wandered in and took a bowl, then poured in a ton of cereal and comparatively little milk. Whatever, he was in this for the cereal anyway. He brought his bowl and a spoon over the couch and flopped down on it, ignoring the way the milk spilled.

"Hey."

Social skills. They existed.

[lockestheway]

Hey, third floor pride was a useful instrument if you wanted to make allies and paint a favorable picture of yourself without putting in too much effort. And it was easy to piggyback on, thanks, Kate. But whatever, Peter didn't expect anyone else to grasp that.

"Hey," he returned. "Don't I know you from the shuttle or something?"

Like seeing him from afar whilst Peter was busy mentally whining plotting the death of his parents?

[dollpocalypse]

"Probably, yeah," Topher said, actually having the decency to stop a spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth in order to respond. "I'm Topher."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"It does that, it usually rains it," Effy informed him. "Likes to make you work for your food." Appearing it right on your plate was so mundane.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher blinked. "Typical," he finally said. "Well, roof food-catching parties can be fun."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Think that would be new, even for here." At least, Effy hadn't seen one in the last couple of years.

"You the party throwing sort?" He didn't seem it, but looks could always be deceiving.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher laughed. "Nope. The food catching sort, maybe."

He held up his cereal bowl as proof.

[vanillajello]

Kate had a sixth sense about being mentioned in narrative wandered in, freshly showered and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, intending to get a pudding cup or two. She'd had a proper breakfast before returning from her trip, but driving was totally a craving-inducing thing.

She smirked when she saw the food laid out. "Someone's been making an effort."

[lockestheway]

"Third floor pride, right?" Peter said, looking up. "I just thought I'd follow the bright example."

[vanillajello]

"Smart boy," Kate replied, not entirely sincerely but mostly. She headed for the fridge. "And the hungry people of the third floor thank you."

[lockestheway]

"What, didn't I cater enough to your exclusive tastes?" Peter asked, following her movements. "There's plenty here."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

What teenager wasn't going to be positive about easily accessible food? Even Effy, who picked at the best of times, wouldn't complain at being able to snag a bowl of cereal as she passed, without having to waste time pawing through every cupboard.

"Someone was busy this morning," she noted, as she sat, assuming someone might pipe up to claim it.

[lockestheway]

"Hey, I was getting some food for myself, and I thought: I can't be the only hungry teenager on the third floor," Peter said, his voice still firmly lodged in 'friendly'.

He really, really hoped this one wasn't going to be another juvenile delinquent.

"I'm Peter. Just recently moved in."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Effy. Soon to move out," she shared, snagging a few pieces from her bowl of milk-free cereal to eat.

Totally a juvenile delinquent. But reformed! Sort of.

"What's with the bribery?" There were so few people who actually did that kind of thing purely out of the kindness of their hearts.

[lockestheway]

"According to Kate, 'third floor pride' is a thing," Peter said, shrugging magnanimously. "I didn't want to get clobbered by any elderly third floorers who didn't feel I'd paid my tribute accordingly."

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

It was probably not a good sign, for him, anyway, that when Alexander stepped into the room and saw plates and cereal and toast set out, his first impulse was to start cracking eggs.

He should probably see if anyone should want some first before he went about making them. He wasn't a slave anymore, after all, and kings were hardly known to fry eggs for the masses...

"Ah, good morning, everyone," he said in greeting with a smile. "Saturday morning brunch, then, is it?"

[lockestheway]

"That's about right," Peter said, taking a sip from his glass of milk. "Come in and enjoy."

Please don't be another potential blot on my already-checkered record...

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," said Alexander, who grabbed a bowl and was intending on doing just that before he opened his mouth again and it just came pouring out of him despite his best efforts.

"Do you suppose anyone would like any eggs?"

Egads! Well, he tried, anyway, and perhaps he was just set in his lot in life to be a king who made eggs. In the long run, that wasn't really so bad.

[lockestheway]

"I doubt anyone would turn it down, champ," said Peter. He could get used to getting people making eggs for him without prompting. See, Val? It's not that hard to be nice to me.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

After wrapping up his radio broadcast, Dave made his way over to the common room to get something to eat. (But not coffee. He already grabbed that in town.)

He was a little surprised to see this many people awake already, but he was learning to deal with surprises. "Good morning," he said in general to the room. "Watching the news?"

[lockestheway]

"Just catching up with what's going on in the big, bad world," said Peter. With a plate of scrambled eggs in hand, he was definitely starting to relax a little.

Which mostly made him smugger.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"Hopefully nothing too big or bad," Dave said as he started to rummage for some cereal. "Although since we're in Fandom, those are probably relative terms."

[lockestheway]

"Oh, this is the perfectly ordinary big, bad world," Peter said, gesturing at the TV with his remote. "Just earthquakes and political squabbling, no vikings."