Third Floor Common Room [Sunday morning]

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Tobias was up early--it was selfish to lay in bed and wait for others to serve you--and was in the common room working on breakfast.

Toast, oatmeal, fresh fruit: nothing fancy because Abnegation didn't believe in fancy, but cooked correctly and served with an open heart because his faction lived to serve.

...even if he wasn't sure why all of the lights and electricity worked all the time around here. It was extravagent!

[OOC: Back from my mini-vacation. Come plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.]

Comments

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Jessica. And Deborah but Jessica is who I meant," he said, peering down at the oatmeal. "Thanks. Hi, Tobias."

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"Hi," Tobias replied. "I don't think I've seen either one, but I'll keep looking, okay? I'm sure they didn't mean to leave you by yourself."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"They probably did," Nathan said, sniffing at the oatmeal. "They dun like me. I'm not like them."

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Tobias was protective even at nine. "What's not to like about you?" he said. "You're fine."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Nathan shrugged slightly again. "I'm not right. Not like them. I don't understand it. It's just what they say."

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"Well, that's just mean," Tobias declared. "They shouldn't say that."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"I just ignore it." Or he tried to. "No one says stuff like that to you?"

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"Not ever," Tobias said, shaking his head vigorously. "But then...mostly people don't talk to me at all."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"What for?" he asked, frowning.

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Tobias shrugged his shoulders and gave Nathan a piece of toast and the apple Tobias had kept aside for himself. "My dad doesn't like me to go out much. He thinks I'll say something wrong."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"To who?" he asked around a mouthful of toast.

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"Anyone who isn't him," Tobias admitted.

Tobias's home life was a little screwed up.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

He could join the club.

"You haven't said nothing wrong to me," Nathan pointed out. "Not one thing."

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

Tobias chewed on his lower lip. "I hope not. It would be...bad...if I did."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"You haven't." Nathan shook his head. "Nothing bad will happen. You've been nice."

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"That's Abnegation," Tobias said. "We help people. It's our whole point."

And so if he'd been helping people, Marcus couldn't be angry that he'd wandered off for a weekend, right?

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Can I help at all?" Nathan wondered.

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Tobias said, nodding. "There's always a way to help. Can you wash dishes?"

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

Hesitating only briefly, Nathan nodded. "Yeah, I think I can. Doesn't sound too hard."

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"I've been doing dishes since I was five," Tobias told him. "It's not too hard. Just don't waste all the soap. It doesn't grow on trees."

His mom didn't tell him where it did grow, but it definitely wasn't trees. Tobias thought it might be a bush.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Does it grow anywhere?" he wondered and was serious about it.

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," Tobias admitted. "But it should, right? I don't know any people in Amity."

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Hopefully," Nathan said, rubbing the side of his head. "Soap's gotta come from somewhere!"

[dauntless-four.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't drop from the sky," Tobias said, nodding.

[halfbad.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it comes from an animal?" Nathan suggested.