2nd Floor Common Room | Sunday Morning

[bookbeltof_love]

Now, like, she knew that Wayne would get his nose right out of joint if she tried taking over breakfast tomorrow but today, now, that was anyone's grab and she was up and at it bright and early, prepping all the food.

Because, sure, they'd been fed at the picnic yesterday but after the first night in a strange new place, well, who wouldn't want freshly made breakfast?

That was Nina's theory anyway.

She had the radio on, playing a bunch of pop songs that she hummed along with as she worked on setting out a spread truly worthy of the name breakfast.

Besides, like, it was a matter of pride since she was teaching cooking this semester…

For those who preferred lighter breakfasts, there was an assortment of yogurts and cereals and fruit that she'd cut neatly into pieces. She had a plethora of breakfast pastries (though those, at least, she'd obtained through a very early morning run to J,GoB) and was making bacon and sausages to go along with waffles, pancakes, and French toast…

It all smelled divine.

[So, so open!]

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[nicedragonsfinishlast]

The shower had felt wonderful, good enough to lift Julius's spirits after his mother's phone call. Changing back into yesterday's clothes had not, so that was Julius's first order of business today: clothes shopping.

However, catching the scent of whatever was cooking on the second floor had abruptly changed Julius's priorities and he followed his nose downstairs and to the second floor common room. Jules (and how funny was it that both his roommate and his school-assigned sibling shared names with his actual siblings?) had said that people tended to share food in the common rooms, so maybe...

"Hello?" he said, poking his head inside "Umm. Is someone cooking in here?"

That was an incredibly stupid question, Julius.

[bookbeltof_love]

"That," Nina said happily, "would be me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sorry, Julius, but she flung punctuation at everyone.

It was only then that she looked up from her cooking to see how belonged to that voice.

"Hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You're one of the newbies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come in, come in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

That...that was a lot of exclamation points, yup.

Not that they were stopping Julius from doing just that, his feet led by his empty stomach, which took the opportunity to rumble loudly as he headed inside. He flushed a bit at the noise, tentatively reaching for a plate like he was worried Nina was going to change her mind. "You recognize everyone else by sight?" he asked.

It had been hard to get a concrete idea of how big the student body was at the picnic yesterday.

[bookbeltof_love]

"I've been here two years," Nina said, as if it explained it. It didn't. Nina had known everyone on sight within days, no matter what she said when it came to introductions.

"In fact," she said, giggling at the rumbling. "I'm, like, pretty sure that you must be Julius, right??????????????????"

It was kind of easy when he was the only new boy.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"How did you--" Give Julius a second while he came to that same conclusion. "I'm the only guy, aren't I?"

At least, to his credit, he didn't seem either appalled to be 'stuck' with only girls or particularly eager to be the only guy in the lot, either. It just...was what it was.

"But, yeah. Julius, uh, Quetz. Nice to meet you." Everyone stumbled over their totally legitimate last names. Everyone. "I'm afraid you've caught me at a loss, though," he added, adding more food to his heaping plate. "I don't think I know everyone's name on the shuttle, never mind here."

[howareyanow]

Even though Wayne had the particular suspicion that he was about to be sufficiently coupe'd, it was rude to be in a room with new people in it and not say hello, and so he gave a nod to the other guy and offered out the good ol' standard, "How are ya now?"

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"Uh, well thanks," Julius said, giving Wayne a nod back. He would have offered a hand, but--breakfast. Sorry, Wayne. "And yourself?"

[howareyanow]

There was, briefly, something of a squint in Wayne's whole face, a faint wince over the fact that no one ever got it quite right, but still somewhat good enough.

"Ohhhh," he drawled easily, blinking away the wince and failing at eye contact a little bit, unless that eye contact was with invisible eyes just over the other guy's head, "not so bad."

And then he seemed to get eye contact a little bit better.

"New kid, right? Nice to mee you. M'Wayne."

All said in relatively the same mostly-nuetral, somewhat strained sort of tone, of course.

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius was, unfortunately, really attuned to watching the emotional weather on people's faces - it was a defense mechanism, being the runt of a family that saw no problems in making the life of anyone smaller than them absolutely miserable just for fun. So he saw that wince and wondered what he'd done to cause it.

But if Wayne wasn't going to comment on it, he was just as happy to let it go.

"Julius," he said, and this time did offer his hand. "And yeah. Showed up yesterday at the shuttle, had no idea I was going to boarding school."

[lovethatjourney]

Alexis strolled in, figuring that she could check out the area now that she'd finally finished hanging everything up in her room.

"Ooh, I don't think I've heard this song."

[bookbeltof_love]

"It's pretty new," Nina said, interrupting her bopping along to it to grin at her newest sibling. "Hi Alexis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you hungry????????????????"

[lovethatjourney]

"What've we got?" Alexis asked, because then if she didn't like the offerings she didn't have to change her mind.

[bookbeltof_love]

"We've got lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

It had given her a bunch to do.

"Various pastries, sausages, bacon, pancakes, waffles, french toast, tons of fruit and yogurt and cereals and, like, I can make you an omelette if you want????????????????"

[lovethatjourney]

"I would adore an omelette," Alexis told her. "It feels like forever since I've had anything home made."

...If she ever had?

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

Julius offered Alexis a small wave as she came in. New kid solidarity or something.

...Not that Alexis seemed the type to need that.

[lovethatjourney]

"Happy second day!" Alexis greeted him brightly. "So how'd yesterday go?"

[nicedragonsfinishlast]

"It was...a lot," Julius admitted. "But everyone seemed really friendly and helpful, which is nice."

And a really pleasant change from his normal.

"I ended up rooming with Freya from the shuttle, which I thought was a little weird? But it turns out I'm the only new guy, and it doesn't make sense to give me my own room, I guess. How about yours?"

[lovethatjourney]

"I got Tahani," Alexis said, her voice going up a couple octaves at the end of that name. "Did you say you're the only new guy?"

[howareyanow]

Even though Wayne had the particular suspicion that he was about to be sufficiently coupe'd, it was rude to be in a room with new people in it and not say hello, and so he gave a nod to the girl and offered out the good ol' standard, "How are ya now?"

Was that exactly the same narrative that had been used to greet the other guy, just with gender-specific details altered? Can confirm! But if it wasn't broke, don't fix it!

[lovethatjourney]

"I'm fabulous," she answered, even if she hadn't decided she was fabulous yet today. "I'm Alexis."

[howareyanow]

Wayne seemed about ready to say one thing, seemed to stop himself, blinked a few times and started to shake his head, but stopped that, too, and tried again.

"Well, which one is it, then?" he asked. "Are you Fabulous or are you Alexis?"

Was that a joke? It might have been! It might also...not have been! Probably Wayne didn't even know fer sure!

[howareyanow]

Of course Wayne was up this early on a Sunday morning. And of course he'd caught the whiff of breakfast drifting down the hallway on his way back up from his morning dart. And it was with a sneaking suspicion (and a slightly rumbly stomach) that he went to go see who might be cooking it all up.

There was a squint, from the doorway.

"Nina," he said, with a glance toward the new faces in the room as well before settling back on her. "How are ya now?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Wayne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nina beamed at him from the stove where her trusty wok and stew pot were. "How are you????????????????"

[howareyanow]

"Good, n'y--" Wayne started the standard response, which pumped the brakes hard on its way out when he realized that he'd already asked her how she was. So the little stutter in the process made him blink a little, looking to the floor, like his brain was recalibrating, and then his eyes swung back up to Nina.

"Makin' breakfast, I see."

On Sunday.

Which there was nothin' wrong with, normally. Nothin' wrong with a good Sunday breakfast at all.

'Cept maybe when it was bein' made by someone who seemed to take a bit too much pleasure in trying to beat him to the punch.

[bookbeltof_love]

"That's right," she said, with a defiant toss of her head. "Like, I figured, why not?????????????????????? It's not Monday, after all.................."

Now, had she tried this tomorrow, she would've been deliberately starting war over breakfast.

"Can I get you a plate?????????????"