fandomhighdorms | Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning/early afternoon]

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Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning/early afternoon]

Celia normally rose early -- it was partly a defense mechanism, so she could get everything she needed for the day under way before her father rose from his hangover. But after all of yesterday's commotion and surprises, she found herself still abed when it was nearly noon, on Saturday morning.

She quickly found a warm winter dress in her trunk and pulled her hair up in a passable bundle of curls, then ventured out to the common room. Supposedly this was where food could be found -- after the picnic yesterday, she'd not had much interest in seeking out still more food, but today was a different story.

The first and easiest-to-access item she encountered was a blue box bearing a tiger and the words 'Frosted Flakes,' sitting out on a countertop. Celia frowned at it, then peeked around before opening the box. She didn't want to go into someone else's food, but she'd also been given the impression that this was where community items were kept, so....

Hm. Flakes. And they did indeed look frosted. Celia gingerly plucked one of the little morsels out of the box and tried it, then decided she liked it enough to keep eating from the box as she perused the kitchen. Yes, it was much less dignified than how she'd behave with company about, but that was neither here nor there since she was alone for the moment. She was strongly considering levitating things down from top shelves, too -- her father would have told her that if she didn't use her magic, it would lose power, of course, but Celia was still a little cautious about possible witnesses and what it meant that she was here.

She had more pressing concerns at the moment, though. "What in the devil's name is a Froot Loop?"

[totally open, whooooooo! save me from housework. EDIT: shhh it never said Saturday. wishful thinking.]

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She wasn't the only one who tended to get up early. Not wasting time was one of those things that had been burned into his head by his father during the time he'd been alive.

This morning, he'd gotten up, counted his blessings (starting with his parents) and told the world it was good to be alive. Then, he'd gone off on a long run.

Will loved running, he did, but being back in the warmth of the dorms? He loved that even more right now. After showering and changing, he'd set off to take a look around the dorms.

"It's dried sugar that tastes like fruit so people can get away with saying it's good for you," Will said, having caught the question while passing by. "Hello."

Celia hadn't actually expected her question to be answered, and nearly dropped the box of Frosted Flakes as she turned to look at him. "Oh, hello! I -- sorry, I've never seen most of these foods before, and...wait, why do they want to convince you that dried sugar is good for you? Why don't they just call it candy, if that's what it is?"

"Didn't mean to scare you," Will said, holding up a hand as he stepped lightly into the common room. "Sorry. Should have made a noise or something to let you know I was there."

With that said, he shrugged in response to her second question. "And they don't call it candy because including the word 'fruit' in there, misspelled or not, makes people feel like there not being as unhealthy as they are by eating it. It's marketing."

"Marketing," Celia repeated, still frowning a bit. "And don't worry about frightening me -- I'm usually much more observant, honestly. It's my own fault for being distracted by...marketed fruit. They're tricking people into eating poorly?"

She almost admired that, honestly. Distraction and misdirection were key factors in what she did, too.

"Why don't they just make something that's healthier, so they don't have to try to fool anyone, though?"

"They do," Will said, chuckling a bit. "But Froot Loops are aimed at kids. And kids wanna eat sugar and stuff that's going to keep every dentist in the world in business for a long time to come. This kind of thing at least gives parents the illusion that they're not ruining their kids appetites."

He smiled. "The healthy stuff's more for the older crowd. How many kids do you know that are gonna get excited to eat multigrain stuff?"

Will made a face at the thought. "Not me."

"Until yesterday most of my breakfasts consisted of porridge or an egg if I was especially lucky," Celia replied, shrugging. "Though admittedly I think my eight year-old self would have lost her mind with delight at the choices available here. So many colors, even if the actual content of the food isn't especially beneficial."

Not that eight year-old Celia would have cared about that, either.

"I'm Celia, by the way," she added, flushing a bit at having forgotten her manners.

"Will," he returned, making sure to look her in the eye (#16: ALWAYS LOOK PEOPLE IN THE EYE. GIVE THEM A HANDSHAKE THEY’LL REMEMBER) as he said it. After a moment, he offered a hand out for a handshake.

"My eight year old self was probably more into eggs too," he added easily. "But, we couldn't really afford it. So, cereal it was. Cheap and easy to eat on the go."

They had always seemed to be on the go over the course of his life.

Celia shook the offered hand delicately, raising her brows at him. "If cereal was this readily available where I'm from," she assured him, smiling, "I'd have grown up on it too, I'm positive. It seems like the perfect food for children, really -- they can eat it themselves and find it easily and minimal supervision is needed. No one's going to set their hair afire or cut themselves making this, right?"

Exactly Hector's style of parenting, unless it came to her gifts. Celia was always a child second, and a budding magician first.

Whereas Will really had no idea what he was. It was still a learning process and one that had been stunted when he'd been scurried away from Wisconsin and hidden here on some small island.

Will shook her hand just as gently before he let go. He smiled again. "That's true, yeah. Worst thing that can happen with cereal is dumping the milk everywhere but in the bowl."

Safe to say he'd done that a time or two when his parents hadn't been looking.

"So, then you've got milk you have to clean up with nothing but paper towels and dry cereal," he said, shaking his head. "Not a great breakfast but it still works, I guess."

"...you put milk on it?" Celia asked, confused, but then she looked at the box she was holding again. "Oh, yes. I suppose the tiger is. Well, that adds something beneficial, at least. Unless you dump it on the floor, of course." Though she wouldn't have. Or at least, she would have had it cleaned up in seconds. Using her powers to tidy was one of the very first things she'd mastered.

She slanted a look at him. "Did you grow up around here? In this time, anyway? I've never asked anyone that question before, but apparently it's necessary here."

"I...think so?" It was really hard to tell. The technology seemed similar (though slightly less advanced than the Center) and he'd recognized almost everything so far. There weren't any flying cars to make him think he'd gone forward in time and electricity was prevalent so he didn't think he'd gone back either.

Still, he really wish Dr. Rourke would have told him a little more than he had about this mysterious island that he'd been shuttled off to for awhile.

"I'm gonna guess that means you didn't grow up in this...time?" Okay wow, that sounded so strange coming out of his mouth. Not a typical question at all.

"It was 1884 when I left New York yesterday," Celia answered simply, having moved past her hysteria on this matter yesterday. "It's been quite...eye-opening. Hence not knowing about the Froot Loops."

She frowned a bit, tilting her head. "You're not sure if this is the same time you're from? That sounds even more confusing than being thrust forward by a century, somehow."

"Whoa, wow," Will said, eyes widening at her answer. "1884? I've only read about that time in textbooks."

It was such a dumb thing to say and Will wished he could have taken it back almost as soon as it left his mouth. Probably not the last time he'd do something like that.

"And, uh -- " Will started to say after he'd recovered from hearing she was from the far past " -- me being here happened pretty fast. I don't know a lot about it so I don't know exactly when it is, if that makes sense. I think the time here is pretty close to the time there."

How did everyone who lived here not have a headache constantly? "I think I've just confused myself."

Celia had to smile at him for that -- she didn't even know what would be in textbooks about her time, considering she had still been living it. "You seem to have a better grasp on things than I do, anyway," she agreed. "Though it does seem like most of the people I've talked to decided to come here quickly -- on a moment's whim, or were sent here by their parents with similar impulsiveness. Makes you curious about the sort of place this school really is, since no one seems to plan their visit far in advance."

Made her curious, anyway. She wondered whether Will might have gifts of his own -- it seemed nearly everyone here did -- and whether they were like hers. She didn't think he was her opponent, but then, Hector had never told her how to recognize them when they appeared. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Edited 2014-01-05 18:17 (UTC)

Will had a few gifts. They were still very, very new to him, still not fully developed and still in the process of being learned but he had them. Dr. Rourke had told him to practice but not to show off. It fell in line with one of his dad's rules pretty well.

#28: LET PEOPLE UNDERESTIMATE YOU. THAT WAY THEY’LL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE WHAT YOU’RE CAPABLE OF.

"Yeah," Will said, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, this place isn't really striking me as a place people plan vacations around. I mean, I'm sure the beach is nice when it's not ten degrees outside and I can say it's pretty idyllic little town from what I saw on my run this morning but it feels...strange."

"Plus there's the time travel," Celia pointed out helpfully. "And the fact that the man who drove us from the, um, airport -- " still a totally unfamiliar word, yes, " -- used telepathy to speak to us. And I don't know about your world, but people don't do that in mine."

At least, not openly.

Telepathy. That was one of those things that Will could do didn't really understand. It seemed so intrusive, listening to other people's thoughts but sometimes, it just happened. He remembered his friend Nando and how he'd just known the names of Nando's kids. He hadn't been able to explain it at the time but now...

"People don't do it in mine either. Not that I know of, at least," Will said, inserting some truth into the lie. #63: THE BEST WAY TO LIE IS TO INCLUDE PART OF THE TRUTH. "Telepathy, huh? Was it weird?"

"It was like hearing him but...not hearing him," Celia said, tilting her head. "I've never met a telepath before. But apparently there's all sorts like that, here. My roommate's from another planet, and she has wings. I certainly didn't expect that."

"...wings?" Okay, that was weird to hear even for a guy who was apparently seeing creatures from other dimensions all over the place. "Like a bird?"

"More like a butterfly, I think," Celia said, nodding. "She says she can't fly much with them, which makes me wonder why have wings at all, but they're quite pretty. It must be strange for her to see so many of us without wings, though. I can't wrap my mind around how different everyone is, here. I've been in nearly every major city in Europe and America, and my father practices magic for a living, and still I've seen more oddities in the last day and a half than in the last ten years."

"Magic?" Will asked, catching that tidbit more than anything else that she'd said. He'd heard everything, of course, but the magic part was something knew to him, something interesting.

"Not like pulling a rabbit out of a hat magic, I'd guess?" Will added, sounding sheepish. "That's about the extent of my magical knowledge. As you can see, it's really vast."

That was a joke.

"You're on the right track," Celia said, giggling, "though he'd be terribly insulted by that comparison."

Celia, though, obviously didn't mind.

"He's a stage illusionist, though," she added, more seriously. "Performing spectacles before an audience and hopefully making people believe in magic, even if just for a night. I've been learning tricks since I was little, too, and eventually I imagine I'll end up doing something similar."

Hector had wanted her to be a medium, until he'd sent her here. From there he'd probably have tossed her onstage, too.

And of course, Celia was omitting the part where their magic was real.

Edited 2014-01-05 19:53 (UTC)

"Does he succeed?" Will wondered. "At the making people believe in magic thing, I mean. I've never seen a magic show myself. Sometimes, I'll catch one of those specials on television but I'm getting the feeling what you're talking about is a little different."

Magic wasn't something he'd ever really paid that much attention to beyond what he caught on TV. He'd just chalked magic up as silly party tricks which he realized now was a stupid thing to do. Nothing was impossible.

"Depends on the audience," Celia said, shrugging and smiling. "How skeptical they were to begin with, and how much they want to believe."

Hector had taught her to always have a way the audience could explain the trick, because there was always at least one who wanted to.

"Have you ever seen someone even perform a trick?" she asked curiously. Where she was from, street performers would play shell games or pull a penny from behind your ear all the time.

[ugh sorry I lost internet, thanks blizzard.]

Edited 2014-01-05 22:19 (UTC)

"Not live and in person, no," Will said, shaking his head. "Sometimes, I'll catch some Las Vegas special on television where a guy says he's going to make some huge monument disappear into thin air."

Those spectacles hadn't been very believable because there was no way the Lincoln Memorial was just going to vanish because a guy in a bedazzled shirt snapped his fingers.

[Not a problem!]

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Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning/early afternoon]

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