4th Floor Common Room, Saturday Morning

[justice_undone]

Breq had heard the voices of children this morning. It definitely wasn't the strangest thing she had experienced here, and as she was anyway spending the morning in the common room watching music videos on the TV, she decided to put some extra breakfast food on the table. If any children should show up they could help themselves. For herself, Breq made tea, and then made herself comfortable on the couch.

Music videos were an interesting combination of songs and entertainments. They were easy to watch, and a perfect combination with breakfast. Hopefully the sound wouldn't wake up any students who were trying to sleep in.

[Open! Children also welcome, of course.]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh," said Summer, and then a bright smile broke out across her face. "Okay!"

She started running toward the table again, but she stopped again, remembering her manners. She turned toward Breq and dipped her best curtsey, which was a little unbalanced, but she had been practicing. "Thank you, ma'am."

And then she sprinted toward the most sugary cereal she could find, cackling as she dumped way too much of it into a bowl that was a bit too small.

[justice_undone]

"You're welcome." Breq said. The child reminded her of someone. "What's your name?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I'm Summer," she chirped, glad it was an easy question because all of her attention was going into trying to pour her milk without making a mess. It was a...passable job. "Summer Smith. I'm six. I have a little brother, his name is Morty, and he's only three, so he still poops his pants, like, all the time."

Which we're all sure Breq desperately wanted to know, thank you, Summer. But she had to make sure everyone knew how much better she was than that stupid little baby brother of hers.

[justice_undone]

Summer. Now this made sense.

"You're good at pouring milk, Summer," Breq said. "Have you decided what to do after breakfast?"

Someone had to keep an eye on these children.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Thank you," said Summer, lifting her chin up proudly with a pleased smile. There was barely any milk in the bowl, but that didn't stop her from saying, "I am good, aren't I? And I don't know what I'm going to do. I haven't thought that far ahead yet, but I thought maybe the park. Do you know if there are any horses here? Maybe I'll see if I can find some horses. My mom's a horse doctor, you know. She saves horses, like, all the time. I asked her if we could have our own horse, and she said no, probably because she sees them all the time and she's probably sick of them, but I'd like to have my own horse. I even promised to feed it and take care of it, but she still said no, but maybe we'll get a dog, and I guess that's okay, too."

[justice_undone]

Breq sort of followed that. "I think your mother knows best, in this case."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Which meant you earned yourself a heavy sigh and a big old pout, Breq.

"Ugh," Summer added for emphasis, rolling her eyes. "All the adults say that. What do adult have against horses, anyway, huh? Especially if I said I'd take care of it. Well, I mean, Daddy says that maybe if I'm really good, he might get me a horse anyway, but Daddy usually lies about stuff like that."

Plus, Summer was arguably never really good anyway.

[justice_undone]

"If your mother takes care of horses she can hardly have anything against them," Breq observed. "Perhaps she is just concerned for your safety."

Or for the horses'.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"My safety?" Summer scoffed. "A horse would never hurt anyone! They're the most majestic creatures in, like, the world."

[justice_undone]

"I thought they could kick people," Breq said, adding: "by accident. Or that you could fall off."

She knew a lot of human children had no sense of danger and had to be constantly reminded of it, or they wouldn't survive.