Second Floor Common Room, Friday Afternoon

[arsenicmauls]

In the semester that she'd been here, Gert had learned that there were basically two reasons to be in a common room: to watch a bad movie or to try to pawn bagels off on people. Today, shockingly, was an example of neither.

No, today she had Chinese food to give away (seriously, what was it with the delivery guys in this town and bringing way more food than any one person needed?) and the movie she was watching, about a fish looking for his son, was actually pretty good. Imagine that.

Old Lace seemed personally moved by this movie. She was making whimpery noises at the sad parts and everything.

Comments

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah, go for it," Gert granted. "Pro tip about Fandom: they always deliver an insane amount of food to the dorms here. And then charge you for, like, a sixth of it."

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Alex said, reaching for a carton. "Yeah, I notice this place seems to be very generous with food. Maybe they want everyone to have enough energy to fight bears or something."

That would be the weird part of her day.

[arsenicmauls]

"Ugh, don't remind me," Gert said, rolling her eyes. "Dumb teacher not letting me play to my strengths in a survival class. Like I'm ever going to need to fight a bear without my sidekick?"

She nudged Old Lace with her foot.

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

"A dinosaur sidekick would be a good thing to have during a bear attack," Alex said, nodding. She was still getting used to saying things like this out loud. "Better than pepper spray."

[arsenicmauls]

"Right?" Thank you, Alex. "Just because not everyone else has one is no reason for me not to get to benefit from her."

Jeez, Batman.

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

"I tried talking calmly, pepper spray, and martial arts," Alex replied. "I would have preferred the dinosaur option."

[arsenicmauls]

"Yeah, like anyone sane would," Gert agreed emphatically. "Maybe he should feel bad for not offering a dinosaur sidekick to everyone."

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

Alex nodded. "Yeah, that would be the fairest way to give everyone the best chance at fighting bears. Dinosaurs for all!"

With that said, Alex reached over to pet Old Lace, if she wanted.

[arsenicmauls]

Oh, Old Lace totally wanted. She leaned against Alex's hand for maximum petting.

"Also," Gert added, "who the hell even needs to fight bears on a regular basis? Since when is that a rudimentary survival skill?"

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

Then pets she would get.

"Yeah, fighting bears was never part of any training I had. But he seemed to know a lot about it. Like he fights bears all the time or something."

Which was weird.

[arsenicmauls]

"You'd think a guy who dresses the way he does would spend more time fighting, like, bank robbers," Gert remarked uncharitably. "But no, apparently he goes around punching forest animals."

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

"Maybe he fights bank robbing bears." Alex shrugged. After living on this island for a few weeks, she figured anything was possible.

[arsenicmauls]

"See, then the thing is, wouldn't the bear have some kind of weapon besides its... bearness?" Gert wondered. "If it was going to rob a bank, you'd think it'd at least be armed."

What even was this conversation?

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

"Maybe they have super sharp claws made of steel." This really was the strangest conversation Alex ever had. It probably would not be the strangest by the time she graduates.

[arsenicmauls]

"Or laced with poison or something," Gert guessed. "I think I've seen that in a movie. Please don't turn out to be a supervillain and use that."

[lil-nikita.livejournal.com]

"I'll try not to," Alex said, chuckling. It was more likely something the villains she'd know in the future would do.