Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was spending her Saturday the way she sent most Saturdays: studying. Hey, she hadn't been in any of her workshops this week due to her impromptu trip to Montreal. She had to catch up. Never mind that she'd been keeping up with her independent coursework even while at home, and catching up with taught workshops seemed to be limited to absently thinking that if she was going to miss a lecture on one of the seven deadly sins, lust was probably the right one to skip.

But whatever. She could still use this time on working on her Latin wordforms and reading ahead in Economics. And she could do it while sitting cross-legged on a couch in the common room, too. That was quite enough pretending to be social for her, especially since the previous week was still making her wary of specifically seeking people out.

There were some bags of tea and an empty cup on the counter in the kitchen area, but they seemed abandoned now. Natalie was drinking Pepsi.

[ooc: Open, duh!]

Comments

[genesishero]

While Evan didn't live down on the second floor, there was that one undeniable fact of the matter, that he had to actually go by the second floor on his way down to most anything that resembled civilization. And, aside from classes, which he'd been pretty quiet in this week, he hadn't really done much in the way of embracing that civilization thing, either. Last week had been weird. That he'd spent it thinking that the crazy pink lady was somehow a good guy just made it weirder. But his Uncle had called him after he'd failed to check in last week, and had told him to get off his butt and go outside, and so that was what he was going to do.

Honest.

Unless he chickened out and decided to slowly work his way up to dealing with more than one person at a time. Which, of course, led him to wander into the common room on his way to the great outdoors, looking kind of sheepish as he realized that the girl on the couch was reading.

"Sorry," he murmured a few steps into the room. "I didn't realize I was interrupting anything."

[whenshewasnice]

"This isn't my room," Natalie noted, dryly but not unkindly, just barely glancing up. She was just that close to the end of the current chapter, see. "If I wanted to stay completely undisturbed, I would have stayed in my room."

[genesishero]

"Oh." Evan hesitated where he stood, and then shrugged and made his way into the common room, after all. That sounded about as close to an invitation as anyone had ever given him at his last school, and, like she said, this wasn't her room. It was easy enough to hide around here, so long as you kept your door shut. "Well... is it an interesting book, then?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Economics," Natalie replied, as if that was really enough to say it all. After a moment, she elaborated anyway. "I've read more interesting things."

But knowing about economics could turn out useful later in life, so, there it was.

[genesishero]

Knowing about a lot of things could turn out useful later in life. Evan looked intrigued, even if the subject didn't sound exactly thrilling.

"There are worse things to read about, too," he decided, walking over to get a better look at the cover of the book. "I keep meaning to pick up a textbook on economics once I've worked through some more of my reading list, even if it does make my uncle think I'm crazy."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie actually looked up now. And didn't bat an eye at the way he looked, by the way. This was Fandom, after all.

"They have economics as an independent option here," she offered mildly, holding up the book for that better look. "What kind of a reading list are you working on?"

[genesishero]

Evan smiled, leaning in and committing the title and he author of the book to memory. He'd have to pull a copy of it from the library, the next time he went.

"A little bit of everything I can get my hands on," he admitted. "They had a course-load at my last school that was about as varied as the one here, and I don't want to fall behind, in case I end up having to go back there at the end of the summer or something. And that stuff always leads into other topics... I have a bunch of books on evolution back in my room right now, and about Egyptian history, and some fiction for when I need a break from studying."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie nodded as she lowered the book into her lap again. She tended to approve of reading, unsurprisingly. Knowledge was kind of a big thing.

"Most people here don't really do that," she noted. "Studying on their own. And the taught classes aren't exactly much work by themselves."

[genesishero]

"Not really, I guess," Evan agreed, shrugging a bit. "Professor Montague's poetry class is about the closest thing to an academic course I've seen so far. Writing haiku and sonnets and things. But there's not really any homework or anything, is there?"

He was kind of lost without homework, truth be told. It kept him busy, putting a practical application to the things he read.

"I went into study hall once, but all of the Professor Madroxes were playing baseball with oranges, which isn't really good for studying."

[whenshewasnice]

"Yeah, he's like that," Natalie said, with the same kind of neutrality that students outside Fandom would have used about a teacher who tended to mumble a bit while lecturing, or something else mundane.

They had their own sort of normal, here. "I usually just study in my room. Or here."

[genesishero]

Honestly, the neutrality was a bit refreshing. Evan wasn't entirely certain what to make of going to a school where most of the other kids spent so much time freaking out about things that were a little different from normal.

"I guess if you're studying in here, at least people come through now and then to remind you to take a break," Evan mused. "What other stuff do you study, if you don't mind me asking? Or is it all economics?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie lived with her slacker of a boyfriend. She got plenty reminders to take a break or two, just by staying in her room.

"Right now Latin, European lit, and American history," she replied, then shrugged. "But I've done various kinds of math and lit and psych previously."

An all-around nerd, yeah.

[genesishero]

Nerds of the world, unite!

"I've studied American history back home," Evan shared, "and tried to continue where I left off here, but a lot of the names and events are different. Now I've got twice as much to study, but it's kind of fascinating to see where the differences are between realities, you know? Figuring out what people on the mainland were doing while back home they were dealing with Skrull invasions or first starting to come to grips with people with powers."

The mainland was kinda weird.

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

Jace had no business being on the second floor aside from hoping to run into Natalie and it looked like he achieved his goal. "Are you being a nerd in here?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm being a diligent student," Natalie drawled, with a glance that she just barely kept from turning into an eyeroll. "But I'm not surprised you can't tell the difference."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Well it's not like I'm going to college or anything," he said, flopping down on the couch. "I already know what I'm gonna be when I grow up and a well rounded education isn't necessary to pull it off."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mm. Well, some of us are less fortunate in that regard." Although it was probably a stretch to call Natalie unfortunate when she had a decent chance at most universities she could set her heart on. "And so we study."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"What are you going to go to school for?" Jace asked curiously. "Gonna get a degree in stoicism?"

[whenshewasnice]

There was that eyeroll. Good job, Jace.

"Literature, most likely. But I'm not married to the idea yet."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"I guess you have a while to decide," Jace said. "Isn't it great? We have another whole year together."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mmhmm," Natalie replied, as noncommittal as ever, resting her book in her lap, now. As if she'd had any chance of getting any reading done after he'd shown up. "A year's a pretty long time."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Think we'll get sick of each other before the end of it?" he asked.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie shrugged. "Who knows," she said, flicking her bangs aside with her fingertips. "The possibilities are endless. We might stay friends forever and braid each other's hair ––" Yeah, she was incapable of saying 'friends forever' without being sarcastic about it. You could blame Todd, or at least his absence. "–– or we might just get bored, or you might end up telling me no one loves me."

[liarallmyown.livejournal.com]

"Now why would I say that?" Jace asked. "You've still got that boring roommate, don't you?"

He thought insulting Sam would distract Natalie from calling him out on his fake ignorance.

[whenshewasnice]

"My boyfriend, who you've never met." Natalie was not that easily distracted, though the correction came out idly. "And you know why you'd say that."