Third Floor Common Room; Monday Morning [03/09].

[howareyanow]

Pitter-patter, let's get at 'er!

'er in this case being breakfast back on schedule and back to normal as per usual. And since Wayne had already done the 'flavors of the trip' inspired breakfast beforehand, and, if he was honest, he was a bit sick of Filipino breakfasts at this point, it was back to the old classics, with an emphasis on some nice fluffy pancakes and plenty of maple syrup, just like God (or at least Wayne's northern Northern American sensibilities) intended.

It was also kind of nice to get back in the kitchen himself, too. Restaurants were nice and all, but Wayne had always been the type to prefer just doin' something himself rather'n have someone else do it fer him. And it was a good way to get things set back on track fer the good ol' usual day-in, day-out.

Fer the most part, anywhey, because who the fuck knew when the island'd give that a little run fer its money.

[[ and open breakfast is open, of course! ]]

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

You know, like, Nina was still pretty grumpy and all but the best way to not be grumpy was to fake it until she either wasn't grumpy any more or until she'd wrapped her brain around all of the reasons why she was so out-of-sorts.

So:

"Gooooooooooooooood moooooooooorning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she announced, bouncing into the common room at precisely her usual time.

[howareyanow]

And Wayne, really, could appreciate that kind of precision, especially on a day meant for getting things back in line with the usual pace of things.

"Nina!" he responded back, right on schedule. "How are ya now?"

[bookbeltof_love]

He didn't really want to know, did he?

"I'm great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said blithely. "And how are you??????????????????????"

[howareyanow]

Well, technicleh speakin', it was just a greetin', but if Nina wanted to share, well, then, he'd want to listen.

But then would Nina really want the criticism and unsolicited advice that would go hand-in-hand with listenin'?

"Oh," he answered, easily enough, "not so bad."

And there was just a moment of enjoying the simplicity of a proper exchange before moving to the next bit.

"Fix you up a plate?"

[bookbeltof_love]

… Probably not, let's be real.

"Yes, please," she said primly, wandering over to see what he was making today. "Ooooooh, everything's looking especially good today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[howareyanow]

"Good to know," Wayne said, giving the current pancake a good flip before adding it to what was already on the plate he'd started putting together even before he finished asking if Nina wanted one, "I haven't gotten rusty in the week off! And here's to hopin'," he nodded to her as he handed the plate over, "it tastes as good as it looks!"

[bookbeltof_love]

"I'm sure it does," Nina said, though she was still going to take that plate over to add a bit of syrup to her pancakes and dump some fruit on them as well, just because she could.

And get herself a glass of orange juice.

"Can you, like, imagine though, if everything tasted just right but for the wrong food???????????????????"

[howareyanow]

For a moment, Wayne felt a small pang over how sad that orange juice looked without a proper umbrella in it.

A sadness that was completely abolished by why what had just come out of Nina's mouth just now.

He squinted at her, grumbling slightly as he ventured into ascertaining if she'd meant exactly what he thought she did.

"You mean," he asked, "if the eggs tasted jus' like perfect pancakes, only it didn't look like pancakes, it still looked like eggs?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she said enthusiastically. "And, like, then the pancakes tasted like bacon and the bacon tasted like orange juice which then, like, tasted like eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina considered her juice.

"Okay, like, maybe not that last one………."

Because that was kind of gross.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"I need coffee, hello," Sabine greeted as she walked in.

[howareyanow]

One day. One day, Sabine, you would give Wayne a nice proper greeting, and all would be well, but he s'posed that one wasn't too bad to work with this time, at least.

"Good thing we got coffee, then," he said, taking a moment to pause what he was working on at the stove to reach over and grab the coffee pot and pour her a mug so the he could hand that over first, because priorities. And he handed it over with the nod that set things right on track, since that was what today was all about.

"Sabine," he said. "How are ya now?"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Thank you. I'm tired, Wayne, that's how I am," she said, immediately sipping said coffee, and if it ended up being too hot you know what, sometimes you had to prioritize whether you needed caffeine or an unburnt throat more. (It was fine.) "How are you?"

[howareyanow]

"Ohhhh," Wayne drawled with the requisite neutral squint, "not so bad."

Which wasn't even entirely true, he was feeling quite a bit better'n that, but that was just how these things went.

"Why so tired?" he asked. "Vacation fatigue?"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Vacation fatigue plus time change. Why can't time stay consistent here?"

Maybe she wasn't used to planet hopping these days and she was annoyed that she didn't bounce back as well as she should.

[howareyanow]

"Because back during the War," said Wayne, as if 1) there hadn't been two of them and 2) he had actually been there (which, for the record, he had not), "Germany thought to themselves...they thought....'y'wanna know what? We're in the middle of a war, let's try to save fuel by maybe kickin' up the clocks forward for an hour, that'll give us more time to use the natural light and waste less 'lectricity in our daily lives,' and they got Daylights Savings Time started up, to mixed results on'n'off ever since. 'Specially since, turns out, it doesn't even save much energy or fuel at all, in the long run."

Thank you, Mr. Random Knowledge about Random Things and google.

"It's not," he added, taking on a note of almost personal offense, "due to farmers. Contrary to pop'lar belief."

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"And they just kept it going anyway?"

Because the wars he'd probably be talking about were kind of too long ago for it to make sense to be a thing.

[howareyanow]

And it didn't even make a whole lot of sense back then, either, realleh.

"Every year," Wayne's tone took on an ever so slight musing quality, "'round this time, there's always talk of gettin' rid of it, but hardly anyone ever really follows through with it. An' y'wanna know what's funny?" Nothing in his voice seemed to suggest it was even remotely giggle-worthy, and his head tilted, his eyes in a thoughtful squint. "No one ever complains when it comes 'round the other way, in the fall, when you get the hour back."

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Well, they are getting something back that was stolen from them," Sabine reasoned.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Nina beamed at her.

"Like, what if there was a terrible coffee shortage?????????????????"

Said the person who didn't need caffeine to be obnoxiously awake.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Then I'd survive. Unhappily," Sabine said. "Also the town would probably stop functioning."

[bookbeltof_love]

"They could, like, all drink soda though, right???????????????????" she said, thoughtfully cutting up another pancake. "Or, like, those energy drink things…………. they're kind of intriguing, you know?????????????? There's some weird flavours to drink………."

And Nina was the last person that needed an energy drink addiction.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"Please never try energy drinks," Sabine said.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Why not??????????????????????????" Nina asked, all big eyes and practically radiating innocence. "I mean, like, some of them don't sound too bad?????????????? They've got tea flavoured ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would have, like, the cotton candy or marshmallow ones…………. that just sounds ugh from the start!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"No one would survive you on energy drinks. The pure energy would flatten the dorms," she stated.

[bookbeltof_love]

"So, like.................,"

She looked thoughtful. Then gleeful.

"So, like, if I ever go evil that's what I should do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina brandished her fork. "Drink energy drinks and rule the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"