Second floor common room- Saturday morning

[lovethatjourney]

Alexis had no idea why she had a peacock. And there'd maybe been a little shrieking at having a bird in her room when she woke up, but it'd been short, because as it turned out Preston was pretty cool, and chill.

Which was why they were hanging out in the common room watching whatever was on E! and snarking.

Totally normal scene here, folks.


[Open!]

Comments

[thebeastofhouston]

Arabella was being followed around by a large sheep this morning.

This was fine. This wasn't even unprecedented. Since Cornelius had started working for Baylor Investigations there was usually at least one companion animal around the place at all times, which sometimes meant a raccoon and sometimes meant a giant blue tiger-hound from the arcane realm.

That the sheep talked...well. That was new. Even Sergeant Teddy didn't talk, and he was magically intelligent. Coffee was clearly indicated, except Arabella hadn't been able to find the coffee on her floor. That didn't mean it wasn't there. It just meant she was hopeless before coffee.

"Do y'all have coffee on this floor?" she asked Alexis. "Please say yes."

[lovethatjourney]

"Oh, always," Alexis told her, pointing back to the kitchen area while Preston watched judgily. "That's some sheep."

Was it a sheep? Or did it have another name? She was unclear.

[thebeastofhouston]

"His name is Oscar, apparently," Arabella said. "Do you...want coffee?" she asked Oscar, who just looked at her disapprovingly. "What? I don't know if sheep drink coffee! Do sheep drink coffee?" she asked Alexis.

[lovethatjourney]

"It stunts your growth," Preston said, not knowing if that was true.

[thebeastofhouston]

Arabella looked at her very large sheep friend. "I think he's good on the growth front."

Arabella, on the other hand, was the shortest member of her family, but whatever, that was what heels were for, right?

"Oh, I'm Arabella," she added. "I don't know if we've met." There was a lot to keep track of in this place.

[lovethatjourney]

"Alexis," said Alexis.

Preston cleared his throat.

"And this is Preston. We're having a veg day."

[thebeastofhouston]

"Nice to meet you," Arabella said. "That sounds like a solid plan. I support it." What did peacocks even do for fun, anyway?

Something occurred to her then, and she asked Oscar, "Can you help me with my math homework?"

"Definitely not."

[lovethatjourney]

"Are sheep like, really good at math normally?" Alexis wondered.

[thebeastofhouston]

"I have no idea," Arabella admitted cheerfully. "I've never met a sheep before. But it doesn't hurt to ask, right?"

[lovethatjourney]

Alexis looked to Preston. "Can you help with math homew-"

"Why would I want to when I look like this?" Preston asked.

[thebeastofhouston]

"That seems fair," Arabella agreed. "I can't argue with that logic. If I was a peacock I wouldn't do math either.

"So, what are you watching?"

[lovethatjourney]

"Bad choices made by celebrities on E!" Alexis said. "If you'd like to join us."

[thebeastofhouston]

Arabella scrambled to the nearest spot on a couch. "Are you kidding, that's only one of my favorite things. Even if I don't know all the celebrities here yet."

[lovethatjourney]

"Oh my god, how are we not best friends yet?" Alexis grinned. "I'm apparently from a little before now so I'm still learning a lot of them, and a lot of the ones I do know are old now."

[thebeastofhouston]

"I'm from a reality that's a little different," Arabella explained. "We have magic and stuff? So we have different celebrities and I'm having to catch up on the whole different..." she gestured to the TV. "Thing. You guys are totally missing out on Leif Magnusson."

[lovethatjourney]

"He sounds hot, tell me," Alexis said immediately.

[thebeastofhouston]

Arabella pulled out her phone to show Alexis Leif Magnussson's Instagram. "I guess he's kind of like your...Chris Hemsworth, is that his name?" she said.

Next, she swiped over to the Instagram of a very hot, very rich Italian playboy with a follower count in the millions. "This is Alessandro Sagredo. He's an Antistasi Prime and a count. He followed my sister one time for a hot minute and she freaked out and deleted her account."

[lovethatjourney]

"Noooo, she didn't," Alexis gasped. "Not when she could slide right into those DMs!"

[thebeastofhouston]

"Right?" Arabella demanded, shaking the phone for emphasis. "Right? Look at him! Look at his car! I don't understand that girl sometimes."

She considered showing Alexis Herald, the social media site dedicated to fangirl- and -boying about Primes, but then remembered that the last time she'd been on the Houston forum there had been a thread right at the top titled "Baylor Mystery Prime #2 Heads To Mystery Boarding School." So maybe not that.

[lovethatjourney]

"She picked the wrong path to take on her journey," Alexis said. "Meanwhile, is he still single...?"

[thebeastofhouston]

Arabella shook her head. "Last I heard he got engaged to some socialite heiress. Catalina blew her shot. She blew it!"

"Her new Instagram is boring, too," Oscar added.

"She only posts pictures of tea," Arabella agreed. Wait. How did the sheep know what was on Catalina's Instagram.

[lovethatjourney]

"What kind of brand partnerships can you even get with that?" Alexis said.

Tea, that's what.

[thebeastofhouston]

Now, there was a thought. Arabella texted her sister, Are you trying to get a tea sponsorship?

A few moments later Catalina replied, What? No. Why would I do that?

"I guess she just really likes tea. More than she likes possibly marrying into the Italian nobility." Sisters. "I don't understand!"

[lovethatjourney]

"You can even have both if you really wanted!" said Alexis, sighing on her behalf.