Third Floor Common Room, Friday Morning

[lockestheway]

Just a few weeks ago, Peter had been celebrating the end of the war he'd set in motion himself - the one that catapulted Locke into political prominence.

Roughly a week later, his parents had kind of squashed his enthusiasm thoroughly with all that crap about Ender.

After some thinking about it, though, Peter had realised there was only one option - Ender would have to go. And not to some interdimensional school he could easily come back from: he needed to leave.

He'd been working on that for a while now, trying to get some interesting footage released while dealing with the minor world leaders who were now interested in Locke's backing. Which went well, generally speaking, except for minor glitches. Like last night. Like last 'drunken Topher calling him on his 21st century phone' night, which had resulted in at least an hour of apologies to the Congolese prime minister because he really hadn't been telling him to 'have a lie-down'.

Peter hadn't slept much last night.

All of this boiled on down to one thing: Peter Wiggin, lying on the sofa in the common room before classes, a bowl of cereal balancing on his stomach and a giant mug of coffee on the tale.

Topher would pay. Right after he finally managed to grab a nap.

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Comments

[withasword.livejournal.com]

Kate was frequently up at a ridiculous time in the morning, and since she had a morning class today, was saving her training session for later. It resulted in some wandering.

There was a split second where she considered turning and taking her wandering elsewhere when she saw who was already in the room. It was the strict reminder to herself that things that happened that weekend should stay in that weekend that made her stay to investigate the possibility of pre-made caffiene.

"There some of that going spare?" she asked, tipping her head towards his giant mug.

[lockestheway]

"There's still half a pot left," Peter said, with a lazy wave of his hand. At least he lacked the accent - or, for that matter, much recognition with regards to Kate. "Morning."

It had been a weekend. He'd chosen to forget about it.

You know. After the week he spent hiding in bed.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Morning," she offered in return. If he was choosing to forget, then Kate sure as hell was too, and she nodded as she made her way over to fill a mug. "I make it, it tastes like motor oil." Or so other people described it. One of those things that she'd never got the hang of, somehow.

There was probably supposed to be a 'thank you' in there somewhere too.

[lockestheway]

Peter gave it a shrug, and picked his mug up off the table. "I'm no big-time coffee-slinger," he confided, "But as long as it doesn't damage my stomach lining, I think I'm comfortable with that."

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"... That'll do for me." It was entirely possible that Kate's idea of coffee did. You could never be sure what people were putting in food in her days. Rat and dog often ended up getting served as anything but.

She momentarily examined the contents of her mug, then shrugged and found a space on a nearby armchair. "Don't people normally nap in their rooms?" Okay, yes there was the cereal and coffee, but the lying down at least implied nap.

[lockestheway]

"Hey, I'm an unconventional guy," Peter said, taking another sip of his coffee. "And I've got class sometime today, so I thought this might be a nice compromise between sleeping through it, and not getting any rest at all."

He set his mug back down and dumped his spoon back in his cereal.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Not being evil? Not exactly the most stressful of classes." There were slideshows adout checking how much leather you wore and the guy wasn't even there last week.

"Claim being good is just sapping all your energy," she suggested, smirking as she lifted her mug to her lips.

[lockestheway]

"Like being a recovering evil addict?" Peter asked, raising his eyebrows. "Clever. I'll need to remember that one."

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Don't abuse it. That's going to be my fall-back," she warned, mostly kidding.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi had found Pop Tarts. Bliss! "Hey, Kate." She popped one in the toaster and watched it like a cat with a mousehole. "How's it going? Yay Friday."

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"I have coffee, and I didn't have to make it," she answered, raising her mug in a half a toast. So it was going good! It was Kate's equivalent of 'Yay Friday'.

"Big weekend plans?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Mmmm, not yet. Maybe going into Baltimore, it's way past time. Check out the clubs. They've got some good Goth scene to wiggle into." Kenzi grinned happily, then yawned. "You? Oh, I still wanted to see your sword, sometime. How hard is it to learn swords, anyway?"

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Depends what you define as 'learning swords'. There's 'learning not to remove your own hand' and there's 'being able to successfully own people'." One took considerably longer than the other.

"And nope. No plans." Not aside from the ones she had for every day that involved running and training and reading scary-looking books in Latin.

... She had a strange sense of 'fun things to do with free time'.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"I'll text you if we end up somewhere fun. Whenever I do end up doing this, probably not tonight." Kenzi grinned, then said a little more soberly, "I'd like to learn how to not remove my own hand, at least. Bruce was talking up getting training on stuff. Not just faking it. You know?" She tilted her head. "You up for that, sometime?"

[withasword.livejournal.com]

Kate shrugged, "I can try." She'd never had anyone who'd been that interested in learning. People she met already seemed to know their way around a blade. "It could take a while," she warned. "If you want a little more than the 'not accidentally removing appendages' deal."

"Faking it can also be useful." Looking scary and waving a glowing sword could make people back off, more often than not.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi grinned wickedly. "I'm all for that too. No rush, but yeah, if the next time you're going to practice, you let me know... Should I get a sword somewhere?"

Maybe she could steal one from a Baltimore museum? They had all that maritime stuff.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"I can probably find you one." No doubt Kenzi would pick something that looked cool and flashy, but was likely badly balanced, heavy and a pain in the ass to work with.

Possibly she was giving her too little credit.

Kate rolled her mug back and forth between her palms as she watched the other girl. "Unless you've got something in mind..."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi was scavenging; she'd already bounced back from last night. The sunglasses were just preventative, really.

"Do we have muffins?"

Hi to you too, Peter.

[lockestheway]

"I have no idea," Peter said, rolling his eyes. "So, we have you to thank for yesterday evening's escapades, do we?"

Busted, Kenzi.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"We have Pop Tarts!" Almost as good! "...hmmm?"

Escapades? What escapades? No speaky ze English, sir.

[lockestheway]

"You," Peter said, lifting one finger, "Topher," and lifting a second, "voicemails. Care to fill me in on the dish, Kenz?"

He was not allowed to pick up vocabulary from Kenzi.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Ohhh. That. Pssht." Heh. Especially when it made him sound like that. "Topher felt the urge to communicate. Who am I to censor him? He's a flying roaring spaceship."

[lockestheway]

"On his ankle too, I hear," Peter mused. "Remind me never to take you up on any offers."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"You wouldn't need the reminder," Kenzi told him as the Pop Tart popped up. "And it was his idea! Like I'd know about the starship whatever's serial number to tattoo him with?"

...okay, she may have maneuvered him into proving his manliness in the first place, but. "Look, I have new earrings!"

[lockestheway]

"They're really nice," Peter said, without even bothering to look at them. "Next time, take his phone. Then give it back in the morning."

Because Topher's verbal vomit was kind of hilarious.