fandomhighdorms | Third Floor Common Room, Thursday Evening

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Third Floor Common Room, Thursday Evening

So, Kathy's grand plan to go trick-or-treating in the dorms to meet people had kind of been a bust, but an important discovery had been made nevertheless: Theo had never seen Mister What.

Not a single episode. Hadn't even heard of the show. On the eve of the fiftieth anniversary, even!

The very idea was shocking, but Kathy was there to make it right. She couldn't let her favorite wallflower buddy continue to wallow in cultural ignorance forever! So, she'd hooked up her laptop to the TV in the third floor common room, where she had every episode from the new run (and a bunch of the old) ~~torrented~~ TOTALLY LEGALLY OBTAINED on her external hard drive.

The amount of food she'd gotten from the Chinese place in town was ridiculous, but the delivery guy hadn't seemed too fussed about it and the price was about what she'd figured, so she just shrugged and hauled it up, spreading it on the counter. Hopefully the smell of General Tso's Chicken and the distinctive noise of Mister What's time and space machine would lure other people to coming around, too.

[For one, but totally open! Food and episodes completely moddable]

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So, Theo was apparently going to get an education in science fiction tonight. He didn't mind that too much since it sounded like something he'd actually enjoy.

Ange and Dev couldn't even argue about this since they both agreed it sounded like a good time. He found his way into the common room a little bit after Kathy had arrived.

"Something smells good," he said, rubbing his stomach.

Evan really had been invested in his books today, but there were weird sounds coming from the common room, and he'd sat in his room and quietly studied straight through lunch, so the smells that were joining the noises were enough to have him peek into the room curiously.

"Um... What is that?"

Sorry, Kathy. There was a face stretched out like a trampoline begging for moisture on the television, and it was enough to make the stretchy mutant kid stop and stare, momentarily forgetting about food.

"Please help yourself to lots of it," Kathy said, her own plate almost overflowing. "I have no idea how much I ordered, but I know I can't eat it all."

Seriously, Theo. Help yourself.

"I grabbed Chinese because it heats up really well. If we do end up watching the whole series, I wanted something that made for good leftovers to pick at and that we won't get sick of halfway through."

Like, pizza. Pizza always tasted like pizza, even with a bunch of different toppings.

"Dig in!"

"Something smells amazing," Evan agreed from where he'd peeked in through the doorway. "I don't even know what half of those smells are."

Ma Sabahnur hadn't been big on making Chinese food in Evan's virtual reality childhood.

Yet another person ignorant in the ways of Mister What. There was something wrong with this entire school.

"Ugh, it's the last human in the universe and she's terrible," Kathy said, not even looking away from the TV to answer. "She's pretty much my least favorite character from this season and she's only in an episode."

Until next season anyway! But by then, Kathy had other characters she disliked more.

"We're watching pretty much the best scifi show of all time," she said, gesturing Evan in. "Come in and watch with us! On the condition that you have to help yourself to some Chinese food, first."

Kathy was going to get rid of it all come hell or high water.

"I'm kinda glad I missed lunch," Theo joked, coming over and taking a look at the spread. "I used to live off Hot Pockets back home. If you don't know what they are, consider yourself lucky."

"Hey, Hot Pockets are good!" Dev grumbled. "Easy and cheesy!"

Theo would have groaned but he didn't. Instead, he went for a plate to get some Chinese together.

"Only one way to figure out what the smells are," Theo remarked with a small smile. "I'm gonna guess it's Chinese and Chinese food is really good. You start eating it and you don't stop."

"Oh! Um, okay, if you're sure..." Evan kind of sidled into the room, wandering over to investigate the food that was set out on the counter. "I haven't eaten anything all day, but I'll try not to eat it all on you guys."

Tiny mutant. Big appetite.

"So... what is the best scifi show of all time, then? I don't really watch television. Too many books to read."

"That sounds kind of dangerous," Evan admitted with a laugh and a shake of his head. "I mean, I can eat a lot even if what's in front of me is pretty filling. I've got a crazy metabolism."

He could blow up a city block by having a temper tantrum. That kind of power kind of required fuel.

"What's your favorite?"

"Is it cheating to say all of it?" Theo asked, snickering. He scratched his cheek. "The egg rolls, probably. Because I ate a lot of them back home. Shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, all kinds. They're really good."

"I do, but never met my mom catch me saying that," Kathy laughed, picking up a spring roll. "I'm pretty sure she thinks Hot Pockets are the driving force behind cancer, heart disease, and gingivitis. She acts like they are, anyway."

Her mother was a woman of very strong opinions on a variety of subjects. Kathy usually ended up disagreeing with most of them.

"But tonight, we have meat and veggies and all the good stuff. Can't have you crashing halfway through the Tenth Mister's run."

"Those would be... those ones?" Evan pointed at the box of egg rolls, looking a little confused as he did so. "There's egg inside the outside fried pastry bit, then?"

Seriously, he needed to order Chinese delivery more often, poor kid.

"If I still have a bunch of it left after tonight, consider it yours for the taking," Kathy offered. "There's no way I can eat everything and my mom will walk from LA to yell at me if she finds out I let it rot in the fridge."

Or worse, threw away perfectly good food!

"And the best scifi show is absolutely Mister What," she added. "Believe me, I am walking proof that you can balance both plenty of reading and TV watching. It's an important life skill!"

"Hey, I won't crash!" Theo told her confidently. "I've pulled all nighters before."

It typically wasn't for a television show but he was totally open for experiences.

"I slept late today and I am an expert at watching television watching. Seriously, they gave me a medal back home."

Not really.

"I think that's how it works," Theo said before snickering. "To be honest, I don't really know a huge amount about how they're cooked. I just know they're really good and if you're not careful, you can eat like ten."

In his head, Ange just facepalmed.

"Watching TV is a life skill?"

But... but he'd never learned it! Was he doomed forever, now?

"I mean, we kind of had a TV while I was, um, growing up. But it was mostly turned to the news. We didn't have cable or anything."

Possibly because Fantomex wanted to control what kind of rot Evan was filling his head with as he grew up. Or possibly because he didn't want to program it into the VR world that Evan had grown up in.

"I'll only try one," Evan announced as he made up his mind. "If I just bring the one with me, I can't accidentally make off with the whole box, right?"

It seemed like a safe strategy, anyhow!

"Brave but we'll see if it works," Theo teased with a smile. "If you manage it, I'll be very surprised."

Egg rolls were so addicting, Evan.

"Well, I brought lots of soda, too, just in case," Kathy said with a grin, pulling out a can for herself and offering him one. "I've never medaled, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten an honorable mention a time or two."

Evan was so doomed. He pursed his lips a little, and then shrugged and put an egg roll onto his plate, along with some rice (because he recognized rice) and chicken with cashews on it.

"Well, if I end up getting up for more, I guess I'll have earned a second one for making the trip, right?"

Or he could just stretch his arm all the way to the counter from the couch. His particular mutant powerset made being lazy surprisingly easy.

"Well, balancing TV watching with other things is," Kathy decided. "Or balancing the internet with pretty much everything else in existence."

You heard it here first, Evan.

"I was lucky; my dad's a pretty big nerd, too. So I grew up on shows like this, Galaxy Quest, Wendy the Werewolf Stalker... anything with monsters of the week and cheesy special effects were fair game in our house growing up."

Except for Japanese monster movies. Her dad had a thing, where 'thing' was actually 'giant prejudice based in an inability to let go of the past.'

"Good rationalization," Theo said, nodding. "I don't think anyone will blame you if you do get more though. Egg rolls are just that good."

He nodded again.

"And apparently, they'll make good fuel for a long night."

"You planned this really quickly," said Theo, taking the drink and toasting her with it. "You work fast."

"The internet isn't that addictive, is it?" Evan really didn't have any problems with time management when it came to the internet. But then, he'd learned pretty quickly that nine out of ten things on the internet were either horrible and soul-crushing, or cats. He was fine with cats, but he didn't do so well with the soul-crushing. "I guess maybe I just don't go to the right websites. But we didn't have much time to get lost while watching television or using the computer, anyway. I grew up on a farm. There were chores, and school wasn't exactly a quick walk from home, and I was always more interested in baseball anyway."

A beat.

"I used to have an uncle," for lack of a better word, these days, "who would constantly lament just how much popular culture I didn't really know."

Even if it was his own damn fault.

"Long night?" Evan blinked at the television. "Are you and Kathy planning on staying up late to watch whatever this is, then?"

He was still pretty intrigued.

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Third Floor Common Room, Thursday Evening

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