3rd Floor Common Room : Sunday Afternoon

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

It'd been a week on the island and nothing catastrophic had happened yet. Theo wasn't sure if he wanted to call that a win but it wasn't a bad start. Thom and Kiori had been amused by the antics of the island and they were already trying to find time to come out there. Things back home were...the same. His friends were keeping Dr. Brockton up to date on his progress and his parents were...off at another seminar.

Of course.

"Cartoons!" Dev bellowed, making Theo outwardly wince at the volume. "We never get to watch cartoons!"

"That's because there's nothing of value in them, Dev," Ange said, rubbing her head like the long suffering Elysian that she was. "There are so many better things to watch."

"There's value in that they're funny," Dev growled, almost pouting. "What do you want to watch? Something about plants?"

"Well, plants are qu -- "

"NO!"

"Cut it out!" Theo snapped, rubbing his temple and frowning. "We're just not going to watch anything!"

And with that, Theo stabbed the remote control and shut the television off. So, now he was just sitting in the common room with the television off and two arguing entities in his head.

His first foray into a common room had gone so well!

[Common room is open. Feel free to have heard Theo shout at no one.]

Comments

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I could give up on it completely." There were things he did like to watch, after all. "It's just really bad right now. I just had to make my outrage known."

Ange was shaking her head at the lying he was doing. Dev was just cheering him on.

[tigerundercover]

"You're clearly very passionate about it," Raven teased gently. "What were you watching? So I'll know to stay away from it."

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"The news."

It was the first thing that came to mind and probably not Theo's best lie ever. True, the news was pretty bad sometimes but there were things that were a lot worse.

"Just lots of dumb stuff going on in the world today. It deserved to be yelled at even if it makes me look like a crazy person."

[tigerundercover]

Raven frowned. "What kind of dumb things? It's not nuclear, is it?"

Nuclear warfare was pretty much the threat where she was from. She'd been enjoying the fact that it didn't seem to be so, here.

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

Oh man, now he was going to have to come up with another lie. He wasn't great at this but he was in it now.

"No, no, nothing like that," he assured her with a shake of his head. "Just lots of...stock market things."

"Oh Theo, the stock market?" Ange sighed and shook her head. "I refuse to help you with this."

Dev shook his head. "I got nothing, kid."

[tigerundercover]

Now Raven was just confused. "Do you . . . invest?"

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Theo was too.

"No." So, the lie continued to fall apart. "But, I bet people who do are just really upset right now! It looks bad."

[tigerundercover]

"Oh." Yeah, Raven now had no idea what to make of this conversation. Which called for a change of subject. "So I was thinking I might cook something."

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

Good call, Raven!

"You can cook?" Theo latched onto the change in subject quickly. "I can't. What would you cook?"

[tigerundercover]

No, not really. "Of course. All fifties girls learn how to cook." Well, in classes in school, anyway. If Raven had a real mom, maybe she'd learn a bit from her, but Charles' mother possibly didn't even know where the kitchen was. "I was thinking maybe a roast." It was the only thing she'd managed with moderate success in her class, after all. "But I'd need someone to help me eat it."

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"I volunteer!" Theo said and went so far as to raise his hand in the air like that would help. "I mean, if you'd like and all. I've got a pretty good appetite and I haven't had roast in...forever."

[tigerundercover]

"Well, let's see what ingredients we have, first," Raven said. "I don't want to have to do too much grocery shopping."

She was already going to have to use all her pocket money for the month on new gadgets, and she didn't want to have to ask Charles for more after only a week.

She checked on the shelves and in the fridge, marvelling for a moment at how many different "instant" food there were, and from how many different countries. She found some fresh vegetables and beef stock and plenty of dried herbs (a little on the old side, but they'd do), but not a single rump roast. "Where's all the meat?"

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

Theo took a turn peering into the refrigerator like he would be able to find something in a corner that she hadn't seen but Raven was right. There was no meat in there.

"Huh. Guess it's not something they keep in the dorms," he said, shutting the fridge door and leaning against it. "Guess most kids prefer to eat..."

He picked up one of the boxes of instant food. "Macaroni and cheese."

[tigerundercover]

Raven had taken a look at that. It didn't look like any macaroni and cheese she'd ever eaten. "Why do modern kids all want to eat thing that look like they've been irradiated?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "Cheese is not that color of orange."

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"Because it's quick and easy," Theo guessed, shaking the macaroni and cheese box. "I'll admit that this stuff's not too bad, though, for being what it is. It's quick and it's easy not to mess it up."

[tigerundercover]

"When I pictured automatic food of the future," Raven said, "I still thought it would look like food. Well, unless it was in pill form."

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"And this isn't even the worst of it," Theo said, giving the box another shake before putting it down. "Don't ever search out something called Vienna sausages. They're gross."

[tigerundercover]

"I'll keep that in mind," Raven said seriously. "Anything else I should watch out for?"

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"Well, there's a lot of stuff I don't like but if I list it all, I might turn you off on something you might like," Theo told her. "Make you miss a good food opportunity."

[tigerundercover]

"I suppose there is something to be said for exploration," Raven said. "So, should we hunt down some meat, or make a veggie stew?" She could probably do stew. You just threw everything in water and cooked the hell out of it, right?

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"It's up to you," Theo decided. "I'm not gonna be much good for helping you cook unless handing you stuff and being encouraging counts."

[tigerundercover]

"They sound good in my book," Raven decided. "Let's do stew. Then we don't have to go out and try to find a roast." She didn't have high hopes for the contents of modern grocery stories, now. "See if you can find a nice big pot?"

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"That I think I can do without messing it up," Theo said, reaching to start opening cupboards and cabinets. "Even I know the difference between a pot and a pan and a skillet."

If that sounded like an accomplishment, it was because it was, in Theo's eyes.

[tigerundercover]

"Congratulations," Raven said. "That's the first step to becoming a cook."

[theoplustwo.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, thank you," Theo said, taking a little bow once he had a pot in his hand. "This one look big enough? Seems like it'd hold a good amount of stew."