3rd Floor Common Room, Tuesday Morning

[lockestheway]

Early risers would be able to catch him coming in: Peter Wiggin, a sour look on his face, seeming somewhat sleep-deprived as he dragged his luggage with him into the common room, where he promptly collapsed on the couch.

Sure, he could have gone all the way to his own room, but he didn't have any food in his own room, and he was hungry. Alongside the tired, the disgruntled, and the thorough feeling of emasculation that Chamrajnagar's email had ignited in him.

He'd drag himself upright, dust himself off, and pretend nothing was wrong the moment he caught sight of anyone else. Honest. But right now, he was going to lay here on this couch and feel miserable.

The world sucked.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"There better be real water up here."

Kate's still-damp hair was pulled into a scruffy braid to get it out of the way, since she’d already spent far too much time on it this morning as it was. Cocoa made for a poor showering experience.

And eggnog for poorer coffee.

[lockestheway]

Peter sat up immediately (well, not so immediately as to be sudden, but definitely quickly) and ran a hand through his hair as if that had been his problem, too, and that's why he was currently slumped on this couch looking like he'd been hit by a truck. "Not as far as I know," he said, which wasn't technically a lie.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Does that mean you have checked, or you haven't?" Kate wondered, eying him with only the slightest curiosity, and making her way towards the kitchen sink all the same.

[lockestheway]

"It means you better be careful opening that faucet," Peter said, discretely kicking his bag behind his legs.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I can say there's none in the laundry room," Quinn said dryly. "I hate these days. Water's a human right."

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"You're our go-to student council type right?" Kate noted, cocking her head to look over at Quinn.

"Might be something worth adding to your manifesto." Real water, every day. It would get Kate's vote today.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I'll do my best, but we can only do so much to combat acts of the island," Quinn said, straightening a bit. "Honestly, if somebody could get the island to listen to them I'd vote her dictator for life."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had not tried to shower, thankfully. But she had tried washing her face with eggnog.

She was never doing that again, thank you.

But right now, she was on her way up to the roof, just for a breather, as she was choosing to just take this weirdness as it came. It would pass, just like the fruitcakes of the day before. "Public service announcement," she said, on her detour of leaning in the door to the common room, "don't use the faucets."

[lockestheway]

"Yeah, I heard," Peter called out, as if 'eggnog from the faucets' was the worst thing that had happened to him today. (Okay, technically, it was, but only because Chamrajnagar's email had come yesterday. But he'd been in transit long enough that it still seemed like today, or... well, whatever.) "You're a victim too, huh?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, I was surprised," Natalie drawled. 'Victim' was not a word she'd ever prefer to apply to herself. "Think it's another deranged Christmas present from the island."

[lockestheway]

"I guess it's a step up from 'trying to erase us all from existence'," Peter said. "Time to start keeping buckets of water in our rooms for a rainy day."

Har har, Peter.

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"If you find real water, I put dibs on some coffee," Kate tossed out. If she couldn't have a decent shower, she at least wanted caffeine.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie shrugged. "I'd suggest checking with the Perk," she said. "You'd think they might have some sort of safety protocol in place for stuff like this."

If they didn't, they should have.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I wish I'd seen you before I started my laundry," Quinn contributed. "But thanks for the warning."

[whenshewasnice]

"I think everyone living here should just learn to check everything before doing any supposedly everyday tasks," Natalie replied with a little shrug. "Apparently, especially so around Christmas."

[dollpocalypse]

Look at that, Peter. Topher was dragging his luggage in too! And, since his bags had been fairly stuffed as it was, happened to be wearing a green plaid poncho and, yes, leather pants.

Merry Christmas, Peter.

"Oh, hey, you're back!" Topher said, sticking his head into the common room. "Hey."

[lockestheway]

Thank you, narrative.

Peter took one look at Topher and started laughing. Uproariously.

Yeah, okay, he'd needed that one.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher blinked. He hadn't expected that. "What!?"

He was probably just laughing at the bad sunburn, right?

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Topher?" Quinn's voice was quiet. "Why do you own leather pants?"

Seriously. It was weird.

[dollpocalypse]

But hot, right?

"Because," Topher said informatively, turning in them and glancing down. "They're awesome."

They really, really were not.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie took a quiet look at Topher's ensemble.

And then just said, "Right."

[dollpocalypse]

"It looks fine!" Topher protested.

It didn't look fine. It didn't look fine at all.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn wasn't going home until after her hotel shift on Wednesday. She liked the quieter days at school, and, honestly, Christmas without her dad in the house was going to be weird. She was fine delaying it.

Today, though, she regretted the choice.

"I think the washing machine ruined all my clothes," she whined, as she flopped into a chair. "I can't even dry them or the hot chocolate will set."

[lockestheway]

"Well, that's the advantage of Fandom," Peter said. He was kicking it back by now, having wrangled his poker face back into place. "You can just hold out for a day - or take a long ride down a short causeway."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"But then I have to drag all my stuff to my car and back," Quinn said. She didn't really want to solve the problem: she wanted to whine more. "Pass."

She ran a hand ruefully over her hair, as she took in some of the sticky heads in the room. "At least I didn't start with a shower."