Fifth floor common room, Saturday afternoon/evening

[kenselvren]

After yesterday's class on propaganda, a light had gone on for Jalian. This was how one person could change more than just their surroundings. She'd largely ignored movies and TV before, but now she was curious.

So, she was sitting in the common room, watching TV. She had a bowl of popcorn and was frowning at the screen trying to pick out which parts were stupid and which might be some form of propaganda.

So far the judgment had mainly come down on "both". For just about everything.



[OOC: Open post!]

Comments

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, thanks." Ringo's smile wasn't as bright as usual, but it was genuine. "You want me to grab you something to drink while I'm up?" That would be a fair trade for popcorn she didn't have to make herself.

[kenselvren]

"Tea or water?"

Jalian eyed Ringo a bit; she'd heard the radio about the Kathy thing, after all. But if it were her, she'd be tired of talking about it already. Maybe Ringo was, too. "Happy birthday, a little late."

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo blinked, then grinned. "Thanks," she said, grabbing a bottle of water for Jalian and putting on a kettle for tea to make that, too. "I don't think any of the cake is left," she stuck her head into the fridge to check. "Sorry."

[kenselvren]

Jalian shrugged. "I can't eat cake anyway." She took the water bottle and raised it in thanks. "I didn't know you could send a cake in the mail, though."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"No cake?" Awww, that was sad! Ringo scooped up a small handful of popcorn and tossed a piece into her mouth.

"And, yeah. It apparently involves boxes full of dry ice, so it's like a mini refrigerator or whatever."

[kenselvren]

"No sugar," Jalian clarified. "It makes me sick. What is dry ice?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Huh. I don't know." Ringo frowned. "I mean, normal ice is cold, too, so why don't they just use that?"

[kenselvren]

Jalian shrugged. "This is colder?" Without knowing what it was, it was hard to say.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I guess so," Ringo said, still frowning thoughtfully. "It's made with, um, carbon dioxide? I think? It's kind of cool, actually! I mean, in a neat way, not just cold. When it melts it just, like, evaporates!"

Which was totally neat!

[kenselvren]

"Oh!" Jalian nodded. "That makes sense, then. Carbon dioxide sublimates, so it doesn't make the food wet." She scrunched her nose. She didn't even eat cake, but soggy cake sounded disgusting.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, of course!" Ringo nodded. "You probably wouldn't want the box getting all soaked, either, since that might make it fall apart." Good call, Jalian!

Ringo stuffed some more popcorn into her mouth and glanced over at the kettle, still waiting for the water to get hot enough for tea.

[kenselvren]

"The cake came from home?" Jalian asked, curious. She couldn't remember if Ringo had ever said much about her home before.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"I think it must have." Ringo smiled slightly. "When I called home to wish my sisters happy birthday, too, Rika said that they'd gotten the same cake for the house, so I think they must have bought two."

[kenselvren]

Jalian cocked her head. "Your sisters are born the same day, or is a birthday something different at your home?" It was hard to tell with all the different realities people were from.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Oh, um," Ringo flushed slightly. "The only one whose actual birthday we know is my big sister Rika's. So we all decided that we'd just have her birthday, too." She grinned. "It makes things easy to coordinate, and it's kind of nice to share it with each other. Makes for a really special day, you know?"

[kenselvren]

Jalian nodded. "That makes sense. And it's good to have your own day to share."

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Yeah." She grinned. "It was too bad I couldn't go home and see everyone this year, but knowing we got to eat the same cake was pretty awesome."

Ringo walked back over to the kettle and checked the water. "You still interested in some tea?"

[kenselvren]

"Yes," Jalian answered. "Please," she remembered to add.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Of course!" Ringo grinned, then looked worried for a moment. "Um, it'll be Japanese-style. Is that okay?" She'd made tea for Lucille once, and the other girl had been unpleasantly surprised by it.

[kenselvren]

"What's the difference?" Jalian asked. It was leaves and water; were there different ways to make that?

[soniaroadsqueen]

"The way the leaves are prepared, I think? I mean, you still just put them in water, I think, but they taste different." Ringo could try using some other style of tea, but she wasn't actually positive that it was just the leaves that were different. Maybe there was something you were supposed to do differently.

[kenselvren]

"I don't mind," Jalian answered. The tea here tasted different than she'd had growing up anyway, but none of it had been terrible so far.

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Okay, then." Ringo grinned and went to make a couple of cups. "So," she said, looking back over her shoulder, "how have you been? It's been, like, forever since we caught up."

[kenselvren]

"The same." Jalian ate another piece of popcorn. "The vacation trip was interesting. I've been learning more about this timeline. You?"

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Mostly just going to class and practicing AirTrek." Ringo flushed slightly, turning her attention back to the tea. "And being a teenager, I guess."

That was one way to describe the whole thing with Kathy.