3rd Floor Common Room, Late Friday Morning (... Okay, Noon)

[amitragic]

So that was that on 2020, huh?

Ulysses wished he'd gone to a party, wished he'd gotten wasted, wished he'd sloppily made out with someone at midnight and then gone back to someone else's place after... But the year had ended about the same as it had gone: vaguely disappointing, kind of meh. And so Ulysses'd found himself doing what he'd been doing most of the year, which was hanging out in his room in his boxers, smoking and reading conspiracy theories on his phone.

So far, 2021 wasn't looking much hotter for him. But at least he was out in the common room - in some fetching neon plaid pajama pants that made the heather t-shirt he was wearing up top look even more nondescript than it would have otherwise - curled up on the couch, eating a damn near overflowing bowl of Lucky Charms.

While scrolling on his phone. Look, at least it wasn't actually more conspiracies, right now!

... Because it was everyone's Insta and Snapchat videos and pics from last night, because nothing really, truly made New Year's Day like a severe case of FOMO and vowing to do better in another 365 days.

There were, for some reason, about a dozen boxes of Lucky Charms on the counter in the kitchen area, and more than enough milk in the fridge to complement most, if not even all of it. So if anyone wanted to join him, at least they were all getting breakfast.

[ooc: The first CR post of 2021 is open!]

Comments

[x_discospider_x]

Troy had definitely gone back to sleep after he was finished with radio that morning, and that sleep was still clinging to him a little as he shuffled I to the common room to answer the call of the hungry that had woken him up again.

"S'up, man?" he greeted in a murmur with a lift of his chin, made it to the cupboard, and then stopped, turning around as if he'd just processed all the boxes.

"That's a lot of cereal," he noted, always one for the astutest of observations.

[amitragic]

"Yeah I dunno what the fuck is up with that," Ulysses said, barely succeeding in dragging his eyes briefly away from the screen, with the tone of someone who no longer managed a whole lot of surprise about the odd-but-benign shit this building seemed to pull on the regular. "Good luck for the new year, maybe?"

[x_discospider_x]

"...good enough for me!" Troy decided, although it wouldn't have taken much to convince him at all, and he went to grab a bowl.

A regular bowl, at first, but then he paused, thought better of it, put it back and came out with a large mixing bowl instead.

Look. If this place.was.going to make him go through Christmas, he should be able to really take advantage of it when it did something awesome.

He didn't.get to usually eat stuff like this back home, either, so that was even more.reason to enjoy it while he could.

[amitragic]

Ulysses watched him with a mix of idle curiosity and, honestly, his usual shallow impulses. Until Troy went for the big bowl, anyway, at which point his eyebrows went way up.

"Oh, I should have done that," he said. "I've been, like, repeatedly almost spilling milk and like, soggy cereal onto my lap."

[x_discospider_x]

"I got you, man," said Troy, pulling out another mixing bowl and lightly tossing it his way. "It's not like there's ever too much of a good thing!"

It would likely take several years, a giant cookie, and a Transfer Dance before Troy would learn that particular lesson.

[amitragic]

... Troy. Troy, please, did Ulysses look like the kind of guy you could just toss things to without warning? Yeah, that mixing bowl ended up clattering onto the floor after Uly's startled and embarrassingly semi-flaily attempt to catch it.

Though at least Troy was spared from Ulysses voicing his doubt over that last statement by how he now had to retreave the bowl from where it wasn't supposed to be.

[x_discospider_x]

Well, at least Troy knew he didn't need to feel threatened by Ulysses' latent athletic prowess.

"Sorry, man," he said, with a grin that was sufficiently sheepish, if a little lacking in sincerity. "Guess sometimes I just forget about this quarterback cannon."

It had been a soft toss.at best, but it had been a hot minute since Troy had reminded anyone that he used.to play football, so it worked out.

[amitragic]

There was absolutely nothing about Ulysses that he - or anyone else, for that matter - needed to feel threatened by. He really wasn't that impressive in any regard.

"Yeah, um, don't worry about it, man," he said, gathering his pride as he tipped the remaining contents of his original bowl into this one. Then actually got off the couch, you know, to come get a refill. "Used to play, huh."

[x_discospider_x]

"Yeah," said Troy, sighing sadly and shaking his head for the tragic backstory of his that was about to unfold that he did not get to tell enough people, really, as he emptied pretty much the entire contents of one of the boxes into his bowl.

Which distracted him momentarily with the thought that maybe he could actually just skip the bowl and eat straight from the bag, buuut....nah. The bowl was good, he'd stick with the bowl.

"Used to play for my old school," he then continued, now that that was.settled. "In line for a scholarship and everything. I was going to have it made. But then..." a pause, for a miserable sigh that was not quite as well performed as he thought it was, another shake of his head. "I messed up. On a keg flip, man, which is much harder than a keg stand. Dislocated both my shoulders, busted up my knee. So, needless to say...sayonara, scholarship..."

He'd actually thrown the flip to so he could get out of it, unable to handle the pressure of it all, but no one needed.to know THAT part...

[amitragic]

"Thats's too bad, man," Ulysses said with a faintly hesitant quality, befitting a person who was still trying to decide whether Troy's attractiveness outweighed how little Ulysses understood or cared about sports.

Either way, he was picking up one of the boxes, and dumping a bunch more cereal into his own oversized bowl. "Musta sucked."

[x_discospider_x]

"Yeah," Troy's sigh was one of agreement, as he now swirled the comically small-seeming spoon around his bowl now that the milk had been poured, to ensure that no piece was left dry. "It did. But it's the reason I wound up here, and this has been great, except for Christmas, so it's not all bad."

Case in point? Appreciating the little things in life, like randomly appearing marshmallow cereal in a too big bowl, as he finally took a bite and melted a little over it before digging in for more.

That was some good randomly appearing cereal!

[amitragic]

Well, at least there was an obvious thing to catch onto there, as Ulysses reached for the milk as well.

"What's wrong with Christmas?"

[x_discospider_x]

"What's wrong with it?" Troy gaped over at Ulysess with his eyes stretching their limits with shock at such a question. "What isn't wrong with it? Well, I did enjoy the Christmas Troy, but everything else? Uuhhhhh, pass. Thanks. I didn't even get any good presents! I thought that was what it was supposed to be all about!"

He poked his spoon into his cereal, shaking his head with a disgruntled sound for the disappointment that had been Christmas.

"It's no wonder we don't celebrate it."

[amitragic]

That was a lot to unpack - 'Christmas Troy'? - but Ulysses was a slacker, so...

He wasn't going to.

"Riiight," he said slowly.

[x_discospider_x]

"All I know," Troy declared with conviction, "is that I hope Easter is way more chill, or else I might as well just go home and not celebrate in peace, you know?"

[amitragic]

"Well, dude, Easter's basically not even a thing," Ulysses said, almost grateful for something he did have something to say about. "I literally forget about it every year."

[x_discospider_x]

Troy looked...doubtful. Wary.

"So no, like, rabid bunnies or something to do with eggs or anything?"

[amitragic]

Ulysses shrugged.

"I mean, not that I remember?"

He... routinely missed major things on this island. But Troy didn't need to know that.

[snowdroplace]

This wasn't her floor but it was just so quiet when she got back from home that Elli couldn't help but go looking for other people.

"Oh, hello!" she said, smiling as she looked in.

[amitragic]

If only Ulysses hadn't been so terrible with names, he might've managed more than a vaguely awkward, "Oh, hey," back at her.

Though at least half of that was because he'd just seen what some of the theater kids from his old school had been up to last night, and ugh, how had he let his NYE be such a bust?

A beat later he glanced up a second time and added, "Uh, there's way too much cereal here, if you want some."

[snowdroplace]

"Did you buy it?" she wondered, with a bit of a startled lilt to the end of that as she wandered on in and over to the kitchen and realized just how much cereal there was. "Or is this the island?"

Well.

She didn't much like it but at least cereal was pretty harmless...

[amitragic]

Ulysses gave a shrug that seemed to involve his entire left arm on top of the basic shoulder-movement. "The island?" he said. "The dorms? Fuck if I know, but it wasn't me."

He didn't have the kind of money to go that hard with buying cereal.

[snowdroplace]

Elli surveyed the cereal carefully. Alright, she also winced at his swearing.

"I think I'll pass," she decided, going instead to get a granola bar. "Just in case something's weird about it."

[amitragic]

"It's good cereal," Ulysses replied, with much more moderate a shrug this time. "But suit yourself."

Granola bar, though. Seriously, Elli? It was like you wanted something other than sugar for breakfast!

[snowdroplace]

Had he looked at the sugar content of most granola bars? They were almost as bad as chocolate bars!

"I'm sure it is," she said, in case he was offended. "I'm just concerned it will make us turn into something or act strange."

[amitragic]

But they looked more healthy!

Let's be real, Ulysses rarely looked too closely at the contents of whatever he was stuffing his face with, so he was entirely at the mercy of marketing.

"I don't know, I know there's a lot of food that gets delivered here in like, total excess," he said. "Never heard of it doing anything to anyone."

[snowdroplace]

"This is true," she admitted, getting a glass of milk as well. "But these weren't delivered, so far as we know, right? It's one thing when we know where the food came from but another thing entirely when it just... appears out of thin air."

[amitragic]

Ulysses, who also routinely ate the things that literally fell out of the sky, offered her another shrug.

"Well, I'm fine so far," he said, "and Troy seemd to be fine so far, and he's had way more than I have."

[snowdroplace]

"Even still," she said mildly. "It doesn't hurt to have someone who hasn't eaten it just in case. Especially since I know first aid."

Elli was a little pessimistic about the island. It was amazing she'd come back at all.

[amitragic]

Meanwhile, Ulysses had basically not been blessed with any kind of self-preservation instinct to speak of.

He tilted his head. By kind of a lot, actually. "You really think it'd do something where first aid would help? And not, like, a full-on transformation."

[snowdroplace]

“It certainly can’t hurt to have someone knowing first aid around,” Elli ventured. “Even leaving aside the island, people can fall or cut themselves while cooking and those injuries can be significant if you fall wrong or are unlucky with a knife. Accidents happen.”

[amitragic]

"I mean, now you're just making a case for eating the cereal," Ulysses pointed out, shoving another spoonful of cereal into his mouth as if to make a point, before gesturing towards the kitchen with the spoon. "'Cause that just makes cooking sound really dangerous."

[snowdroplace]

Elli laughed.

“Everything is dangerous if you think about long enough, don’t you think?”

[amitragic]

Ulysses sighed as his head tilted again. "Yeah..."

Uly, please. Sounding wistful about it was not a good look.

[snowdroplace]

She blinked.

“I must have heard wrong,” Elli said slowly, “but that sort of sounded like you wanted things to be dangerous?”

Was he another madman here?

[amitragic]

Kiiiind of, yes. But in a lowkey way?

"I mean, uh, no?" Ulysses said, sort of straightening up in his seat, like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. "But, like... Beats being bored."

[snowdroplace]

"That's what hobbies are for," Elli said briskly. "Not danger."

[amitragic]

"I don't know," Ulysses said, shrugging vaguely, "some people's hobbies are kinda dangerous, you know? Haven't you heard of like, extreme sports?"

Which he would never do because he severely lacked the discipline and general athletic... ability at all.

[x_discospider_x]

"Oh, hey, Elli," Troy greeted, smiling up from his literal mixing bowl fill of cereal and waving the spoon at her a little. "How's it going?"

[snowdroplace]

"Hi Troy," she said and she was glad enough to see him that she was going to ignore the horrifying amounts of sugar he was ingesting.

For now.

She might cycle back around to it.

"I just got back from my home," she said. "I spent the holidays with my family. How are you?"

[x_discospider_x]

"Not bad! Pretty good, actually! I've been taking it easy..." He said it like he expected her to be proud of him for that. "...and my leg's barely even bothering me anymore, so I should be good and ready to go for classes next week!"

[snowdroplace]

Well... he had been meant to take it easy, so Elli couldn’t negatively judge him too hard for that.

“Good,” she said warmly. “I’m glad you’re doing so much better! Have you been keeping up with the stretches suggested so your first day back to full motion doesn’t wind up causing you pain?”

Those stretches were important!

[x_discospider_x]

"Yes," Troy reported, dutifully, with a small grin, "actually, I have. I know it's important stretch after an injury..."

He had had more than his fair share!

He probably wasn't as...diligent with them as he should be, but he still did them a little!

[snowdroplace]

Her smile got brighter.

“Oh, good,” she said relieved. “Honestly, the number of people who don’t listen and then are shocked when their injuries don’t heal properly is far too many.”

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Look, it wasn't like Illyana had gone out either. Where, exactly, would she go? KITTY'S bar?

Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope.

She was on a mission to find more cereal since her floor didn't have any sugary ones left when she stuck her head in the second floor common room.

"...are you eating all of those?"

[amitragic]

"Yeah, I'm looking to just... fully incapacitate myself with sugar to start off the new year right."

You got the sarcasm because he liked you, Illyana.

"Of course not. Help yourself."

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Sounds about right. If they want us to go into the new year with positive outlook, we need a sugar high."

What? Was she supposed to be an optimist just because she got to hang a new calendar in her room?

[amitragic]

"Not my preferred high --" Yes, Uly, everyone who'd spent more than half an hour with you probably knew that. "-- but I'll take it."