fandomhighdorms | Second Floor Common Room, Thursday Morning

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Second Floor Common Room, Thursday Morning

There were freshly made pancakes in the common room.

There was also maple syrup available.

Oh, and a Canadian. Sometimes you had to live up to stereotypical expectations. And Natalie had missed the newbie picnic due to having been a snake at the time, so this was her vague, belated welcoming gesture. Or something. Really, she'd just felt like having pancakes this morning, and it didn't hurt to make more than what she really needed for herself. She was feeling pretty okay, and therefore it was an okay day for breakfast food related socializing.

Or, if no one came by, an excellent day for sitting on one end of a couch stuffing her face with pancakes while watching some random rerun of a reality show on MTV. Because that was what she was currently doing.

[ooc: Open, duh. ENTERTAIN ME.]

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Never underestimate the power of a teen-aged boy's nose at breakfast time. Sparkle generally enjoyed sleeping in, but when the smell of fresh pancakes reached his nose from down the hall, well...

"Got enough for everyone, there?"

Now the common room had two Canadians in it.

It was practically an invasion! "'Everyone' is too vague a term," Natalie drawled as she glanced over, not too heartbroken to pry her attention away from the drunken shenanigans of reality TV starlets on the screen. She nodded towards the counter. "But there's enough for a few."

"Pretty sure I bring the number up to 'a couple,' so there's still plenty," Sparkle announced, making his way over to the counter to help himself to some pancakes. "What you got on the TV there? Bad canned tans?"

"Something like that," she replied with a shrug and a glance back at the TV. "It was the first thing that was on. Morning programming isn't my favourite."

But let's face it, most things on TV weren't.

"That's why it's on in the timeslot when most people aren't actually watching television," Sparkle theorized. "I mean, maybe as background noise as they head off to work or school or whatever, but mostly? Unless it's cartoons on Saturday, there's nothing good on this time of day for a reason."

"I wouldn't know, I don't really watch much TV anyway." She just caught up on anime via the wonders of the internet, and watched movies. Particular interests. She looked him over. "Is it just me, or do you look a little more ordinary than usual?"

"Too early for makeup," Sparkle explained with a shrug of his shoulders. "I didn't want to miss the pancakes," and at that, he skewered one on the end of a fork and hoisted it up by way of demonstration, "and I bleached it last week, mostly just for shits and giggles. I figure I'll dye it back again once I start showing roots, but for now it's fun seeing just how many people do double-takes."

So far, quite a few.

"And here I thought maybe Alec had finally snapped about dating someone out of the norm."

She'd thought no such thing, and didn't sound like it, either. Even if her quipping tone was a lot on the dry side.

"Yeah, no," Sparkle replied, a weird little expression crossing his face at that, somewhere between amused and curious. "He likes the look, but it's not like he bitches about the spikes and eyeliner or anything. What's up between you two, anyhow?"

Natalie's tone went just a little more dry. Yeah, it was possible. Had a vaguely bored undertone to it, too.

"A boy."

Welp, that got Sparkle's curiosity up a little more.

"That other guy that came along from his reality? Jace or whatever?"

Sparkle had never met Jace. But he had met Alec's sister, so he didn't figure he was missing out all that much, honestly.

Izzy loved you too, Sparkle!

"Jace." No 'or whatever' here. "There were some issues."

If Izzy were to come to the island again, Sparkle was pretty sure he'd just default to living under his bed UNTIL THE END OF TIME.

For the time being, Sparks was going to just purse his lips thoughtfully.

"Jealousy problems?"

Alec didn't generally strike Sparkle as the jealous type, but seeing as Jace was the only other Shadowhunter around, until he'd taken off again...

Natalie brushed her bangs aside with her free hand. "He wasn't too fond of our friendship, no."

Of course, it was more than that, but she wasn't going to mention the part about the raging unreciprocated crush. More out of respect for Jace than Alec, though.

"When you're treated like a threat it's hard to make friends."

"Little bit," Sparkle replied, wrinkling his nose a little. He clearly knew that one from experience. "For all it's worth, Alec and I didn't get off on the right foot back when we met, either. I don't think he really... gets people. Not people outside of his weird little Shadowhunter... whatever it is."

Sparkle tried to avoid calling it a 'cult' out of respect for Alec's roots, but he really wasn't sure what else to call it.

"He doesn't get people, doesn't have many friends, and is protective of his own." All things she could understand, all while not being terribly fond of them. She shrugged a shoulder vaguely, stabbing a piece of pancake with her fork. "And freaks out over Jace caring about anyone else, as if a mundane would break the parabatai bond."

She considered it less a cult and more just a severely different way of living.

Sparkle sighed, plopping himself down on the arm of the couch to eat his pancakes.

"I hate that word they use," he shared. "It's like, automatic 'less than' all wrapped up in seven letters. 'Mundane.' Are we that freaking boring?" He vengefully stuffed his mouth full of pancake, shaking his head. "I'm no superhero, but I'm not totally fucking inept, either."

"And I'm not inept at all. Alec knows that too, since he's still holding a grudge from a parallel universe." Granted, she'd beaten him up. But that wasn't them. "But I don't mind the word as long as all it means is 'not a Shadowhunter'."

It was when it was 'mundie' with a scowl that it annoyed her.

Yeah, Sparkle definitely wasn't a fan.

"If that's all it means," Sparkle allowed, frowning all the same. "Still feels like a 'less than,' to me, though. Alec doesn't use it so much anymore, I wanna say he's learning." He gave his shoulders a shrug. "I don't mind being 'other,' just so long as it isn't the same thing as 'inferior,' you know?"

"Mm. I don't really care if anyone thinks I'm inferior as long as I know I'm not." Well, that wasn't entirely true. But, anyone she actually cared about was always a special case. "Jace never stopped using it, but I had his respect, so. Whatever."

"Respect goes a pretty long way, too," Sparkle allowed. "I mean, a person can call me some pretty shit things, so long as they're not serious about it and I know they don't think of me like dirt or something. Never really knew Jace, though. Can't imagine he'd think all too highly of me, either way."

Maybe higher than Izzy did?

Probably not. He was the mundie that was dating Alec, after all.

"Jace doesn't think highly of much of anyone apart from himself," Natalie replied mildly, without judgment. The boy had called her big sister. Clearly she'd passed the Jace Wayland quality control check. "It's mostly not personal."

"Guess it wouldn't be," Sparkle allowed as he skewered the last of his pancake on the end of his fork. "Stupid, the kind of shit people think matters. He's important to Alec, so. I dunno. Kinda guess I wanna get a seal of approval that's not ever gonna happen."

He had a whole morning of twenty-years-from-now possible future weekend arguing behind him to back him up on that one. It was disheartening in a way that he wasn't about to admit.

Natalie fell silent for a moment, just absently eating what was left on her plate. Swiping up rest of the syrup.

Her attention was still idly on her breakfast when she spoke again. "If all else fails, tell him his sister approves," she said, predictably mild in tone. "It should count for something."

Natalie was so getting a kind of wary side-eye for that one.

"... Yeah?"

Look, Sparkle was still getting used to having people's approval at all. Especially unsolicited, like this. He had no idea what to do with it.

Whereas Natalie didn't give a damn whether her approval was necessary or wanted or anything. It was just another thought she chose to express.

She glanced over with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Just trying to figure out why," Sparkle admitted, mucking around with his fork in the syrup left over on his plate. "Not really in the habit of trying to earn approval or anything."

At that, Natalie shrugged a shoulder. "Mine is hard to earn on purpose, anyway."

And no, that didn't really answer the question why.

"Well yeah, mine too," Sparkle replied, and then hung on that sentiment for a moment before shrugging his shoulder. "Whatever. Thanks, I guess."

That was a far more genuine thanks than it probably sounded like. There were even undertones of, 'yeah, I approve of you, too,' in there. Not really things that Sparkle was in the habit of sharing, no.

"These pancakes are fucking awesome, you know that?"

Natalie just shrugged again. No comments on his thanks or any possible undertones. She wasn't big on sharing, either.

"I don't make bad pancakes. But thanks."

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Second Floor Common Room, Thursday Morning

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