Fifth Floor Common Room [Tuesday afternoon]

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

After her one class of the day, Dany found herself without entertainment, and with a belly full of food threatening to put her to sleep. (While she had yet to learn the term 'food coma,' one was not raised a princess -- outcast or not -- without having to keep from falling asleep through a feast or two.) She made her way up to her room to retrieve the dragons, and while a ride out on her silver sounded appealing, she simply felt too lazy to go through the effort.

Perhaps later. For now, she wandered out to the common room with her three dragons trailing after, and prodded at the buttons on the television until they produced something she, at least vaguely, could understand.

"I'd like to buy a vowel," requested the woman on the screen, as Dany stared, transfixed, at the brightly-colored wheel.

She had not known that there was any instance in which language might cost money, but as she watched the lovely woman in the long gown press the small squares and reveal a series of Es amongst the blanks, she understood. "It's a puzzle!"

Of course, when the answer was, "FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY-FREE SHIPPING," she was at a loss again. But she clapped along when the wheel began to spin the next time, at least. Perhaps this next would make sense.

[common room is open, method RP is in effect. Shut up, I love the Wheel.]

Comments

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla wandered into the common room with (thankfully...) baby boy Jims on her hip. "Oooh, look at the letters," she crooned to him. "That's an A!"

Jims didn't seem remotely interested.

"Hello, Dany!"

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"Hello, Rilla," Dany replied warmly. "And hello, Jims. He's...not quite old enough for word-learning, is he?"

Dany had no idea. If Rhaego had lived, she'd be trying to teach him the Common Tongue and Dothraki alike by the time he was gurgling.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Not just yet," Rilla said. "Oh! But he does have a new trick."

She placed him on the floor on his back and Jims stared at her for a moment, perplexed, before flipping onto his stomach.

"See?"

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"He's got a great survival instinct, this one," Dany said wisely. "Good job, Jims! Does he crawl?"

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"He gets up like he wants too," Rilla said fretfully, "and then just rocks and gets frustrated."

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps he's feigning," Dany suggested with a giggle. "I certainly wouldn't mind being carried about all day. Why learn otherwise?"

[wasthecuteone]

Petra returned from a trip into town with her arms full of groceries. "Hey, Dany," she said over her shoulder as she made a detour to deposit them on the kitchen counter, where they could just wait for now. "What're you watching?" she asked as she went back to flop into a chair.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea," Dany admitted, her eyes wide as she watched the screen. "There are puzzles, and a wheel, and I believe money is somehow involved. And there's clapping!"

The clapping was really the part that she'd followed the easiest.

[wasthecuteone]

Petra listened to all of this, and ventured to guess, "Wheel of Fortune? Man, is that show still on?" Of course, in Petra's world, it had probably been canceled years ago to make way for What Would You Do to Be Famous?

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"There's a wheel! And fortunes!" And yes, if Dany paid attention, it said as much every now and then on the screen. "Why does that woman press the blocks to change them to letters? Is it witchcraft, or electricity? If it's electricity, why is she needed?"

The questions no one ever asked about Vanna White.

[wasthecuteone]

"It's electricity," Petra said, "but I think..." she trailed off, digging for a memory. "I think maybe when, like, I was a little kid, they had to turn the letters by hand? So, like, she actually had a job."

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

Freddie was still playing with his PearPhone when he spotted Petra.

"Oh, hey," he greeted, giving her a wave with his free hand. "Don't suppose you want to know how high we are from sea level?"

He didn't think she would.

[wasthecuteone]

"Not really," Petra said with a shrug. "We're on an island, so I can pretty much figure out the answer is 'not very, plus five floors.' And if I get real curious I could always just look out the window," she pointed out.

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

Freddie opened his mouth like he had a witty response, then closed it and nodded. "Yeah, thought so," he said, putting his phone in his back pocket. "Well, there's ninety-nine cents I won't get back. How you doing?"

[wasthecuteone]

"This is why I'm glad my phone isn't smart," Petra told him. Most of the time she found it annoying that it barely could do e-mail, but, "It saves me money. I'm good, how are you?" And, wait. "Is your phone shaped like a pear?"

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Chuck had always been a big fan of the food coma. It was an afternoon plan he could always get behind. His bag of Cheetos alone probably wouldn't get him there today, but neon orange snacks were good enough in his opinion that it didn't matter.

"How is anyone supposed to get that?" he wondered from the doorway. "You'd think they don't want people to win." Which they probably didn't, from a financial point.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"I thought it was just me not knowing the phrases of this world," Dany replied wryly, glancing over her shoulder with a smile. "One would think that they'd make them a bit easier for the general public. It doesn't seem as though the competitors are exactly brain trusts, either."

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"The smart cookies are probably out there doing brain surgery, or playing at rocket science..." Chuck reasoned.

"Or possibly watching, but knowing all the answers unlike us."

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"I suppose bettering the world is a more noble use of one's time than spinning a wheel," Dany sighed. "And how have you been keeping yourself? Solving the world's problems in your spare time?"

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"I wrote a code to bypass some of the school firewall... Which is not exactly a world problem, and you probably have no idea what that is anyway." Yeaaaah.

"So no, not really. I wish." He shrugged awkwardly. "I had a weekend of other things on my mind."

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

Freddie was out and about mainly because he was testing a new app on his PearPhone.

"This is so cool," he said, wandering into the common room. "This app can tell me exactly how high above sea level I am. He hopped up and down. "See, it changes!"

He was sometimes too nerdy for his own good.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea what you said, aside from 'above sea level,'" Dany said, amused, "but wouldn't looking...out to the sea tell you?"

That was how they did it at home, anyway.

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

"Well, I guess," Freddie said. "But this gets it down to the centimeter." He held out his little pear shaped phone (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110613220823/victorious/images/4/48/Pear_Phone.png) to show a white screen with the current above-sea-level displayed in big black numbers. "Takes out all the guess work."

He paused. "Though now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I need that."

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"Do you live in dear of drowning, or does someone close to you?" Dany asked seriously. "It might be handy then. Though, I do believe my people back home would love that sort of technology. We're nomadic -- knowing our height away from the sea is something we keep track of."

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

"I mean, I don't live in fear," Freddie said. "But drowning is something to be afraid of. I've taken swimming lessons so I'm pretty sure I won't drown. As one of the many things my mom thinks I need protection from, that training started at a young age."

He tilted his head a bit. "Nomadic? That sounds pretty cool."