Fifth Floor Common Room, Tuesday Evening

[wasthecuteone]

Petra had come to the common room to watch TV while she did her nails, but she hadn't gotten quite as far as the 'doing her nails' part yet. This was because, while channel surfing for something to watch while doing her nails, she'd encountered a flashback. At first she just sort of stared at the TV screen, stunned to realize they still had boy bands in this dimension--she'd kind of thought they'd worn out their welcome years ago, and had frankly found that a relief--and momentarily insulted that the song implied that the only reason someone would wear makeup was "to cover up." Hello, maybe the fictional girl in the song just liked makeup. But then one of these babyfaced teenagers with hair that looked like a bunch of seagulls had attacked it earnestly sang that to prove he was right, he put it in a song, and the idea that being in a song made something right struck her as so funny the whole thing hit her at once, and she wound up laughing so hard tears ran down her face and she fell off the couch.

Okay. This wasn't exactly a flashback, although the terribleness of that hair was pretty familiar. There was the fact that, "You don't even dance!" as Petra hauled herself up via the coffee table to shout at the screen before collapsing with the giggles once again.

So, yes. Anyone entering the fifth floor common room, or simply passing by, would find a British boy band singing on the TV and Petra West laughing herself sick. Business as usual?

((I had to. Open common room is open. Come mock One Direction with Petra! Or defend them. Whatever floats your character's boat.))

Comments

[ultron_junior]

And Victor thought he was done listening to boy bands when he stopped living with Molly.

Apparently not.

"Hey," he said, glancing at Petra with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Do you know where they keep sandwich stuff up there? Fourth floor's pretty bare."

[wasthecuteone]

Petra hauled herself up again, wiping at her eyes--oh, God, her eyeliner was probably a disaster. "Check the fridge?" she suggested. Another burst of giggles escaped, but she got it under control. "I think I saw some--hee--some turkey in there earlier."

[ultron_junior]

"Thanks," Victor said, loping over to poke around. Turkey was fine.

As he did: "You're laughing at the music, right?" he asked. "I was wondering about you a little when I heard it from the hall." And then he realized that sounded slightly jerky and added "... not in a bad way."

[wasthecuteone]

"I'm laughing at the everything," Petra corrected. "Hahahaha oh God they're color-coordinated."

[ultron_junior]

"I thought all those bands were," Victor said. "Matching clothes, just a little different to show how they're all unique individuals."

He was ... just a touch sarcastic.

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

"Victor!" Ulrik greeted, a slight is-this-shit-for-real edge to his voice as his eyes kept darting back to the TV.

[ultron_junior]

"Ulrik!" Victor returned, since that seemed to be what they were doing. "I thought I was done listening to this stuff when I quit living with a 12-year-old."

Two 12-year-olds, these days, but Molly had not yet taught Klara the ways of boy bands.

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

"Petra has me beginning to fear that this will be my fate when I return home," he admitted with a sigh. "Though at least if you survived, I can hold out hope for myself."

[ultron_junior]

"You just need to be strong," Victor nodded. "And willing to distract them. Or do what I do and wear headphones a lot."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi wandered in, licking what had been an obscene chocolate lollipop, and was now just a vaguely disturbing shape, and stopped, looking askance. And askew. And aslant. "...the hell is this?"

[wasthecuteone]

"Kenzi!" Petra said, flailing one hand around in what might have been a greeting. "I think they've sung the chorus like a dozen times already!"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Is it 'na na na nah' or 'la la laaaa'?" Kenzi asked, wandering over and staring. "Oh my gawd. They are so... trendy."

[wasthecuteone]

"There was a na na na part! It was like thirty seconds. Of a song that can't be three whole minutes long. There's no there there," Petra said, sounding disappointed by their shallowness. "Don't you just love their hair? It looks like it was styled by an angry cat."

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Suspenders! And what is up with those pants?" Kenzi marveled, staring at them. "The hair says 'I am dangerous.' To grade-schoolers."

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

"Is this," Ulrik said slowly, side-eyeing the television so much "seriously what passes for music in your century?"

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"This is what passes *un-seriously* as a blitz of marketing genius. The music is kind of a side-angle," Kenzi told him, smirking at the TV.

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry, I only understood about half of what you said just now," Ulrik confessed.

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi grinned in amusement. "Oh-oh-oh!... 'scuse me, been earwormed. Curse you, Ziho. These guys are all cute, right? At least to young girls. Who want to spend money on, oh, notebooks with their faces, and bookbags, and a million other things. Because they heard this song and saw this video and think they're dreeeeeeamy."

[wasthecuteone]

Wow, Petra thought the randoms from her time would have started exporting this crap first thing. "If you're a twelve-year-old girl? Yes."

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

Portable music players were still a rarity, since they required batteries that were also rare. They were the sort of thing that fetched a prince's ransom on the market these days.

Or a princess's. Ulrik's nose wrinkled up in an expression of distaste as he remembered Kristina did, in fact, possess one. Though he had no idea what kind of musical recordings she had to go along with it. "It's just the same few chords over and over," he observed.

[wasthecuteone]

You didn't have to export the players to export the crappy music, Ulrik. That was what sheet music was for. "Um, duh. It's not supposed to be good. Just catchy."

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

"Ooooh, I thought I heard One Direction!" Freddie said, all excited as he came in to sit down and watch.

Yes, Freddie loved One Direction. It was canon.

[wasthecuteone]

"Is that what they're called?" Petra asked, sounding disapproving. "It doesn't even have 'boyz' in it. How is that a legitimate boy band name? Is it all spelled correctly? Wait, please tell me the 'One' is just the number 1. Or that there's a k in 'Direction' at least."

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

"Nope, just words. I guess because they're British they believe in proper English. At least in their band name," Freddie said with a smile. "I hear they might be doing a tour in America soon, I'm actually trying to get them to come on iCarly."

He was super excited about that.

[wasthecuteone]

"Well, that's disappointing. The spelling, I mean. But it still doesn't mean anything." But. "Oh, God, they're coming here? It's an invasion!" And she was laughing again.