fandomhighdorms | Second Floor Common Room; Sunday Morning [01/23].

Entry tags:

Second Floor Common Room; Sunday Morning [01/23].

Even though things seemed like they might be improving between Libby and her roommate after last weekend, she still liked to give Vi her space, and, by now, Libby was just used to spending most of her time, albeit handwavily, in the common rooms or elsewhere. She was definitely starting to feel the ache of homesickness, though, and so she figured she might take care of some of that by writing some letters to send off, trying her best to detail things for her mother, for her siblings, for Zo (who would no doubt tease her a little for writing a letter when she could just text or call, but Libby knew she would appreciate the quaintness of it all the same) without ending up with whole novels for them to read.

There was a lot to be said, though! So she made herself a mug of hot chocolate, since it just seemed to really complete the whole experience, sat down at the table with a notebook and a ready pen, and got to recounting how her first month here in the outside world seemed to be shaping up for her, with the copy of the book she was reading for her books and movie class on hand, as well, because she figured, when she finished with the letters, she would go ahead and get started on that second read-through of it, since she'd pretty much already devoured it at least one.

[[ open common room is open for some lazy Sunday SP! ]]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Kiem was looking for breakfast, specifically cereals and a cup of coffee.

"Hi! Morning!" he greeted Libby. "Are you writing with a pen? I'm terrible at that."

The thing with giving Vi her space was that too much space made the room feel like a cell, and spending time in the gym only complicated those feelings. Also a girl got hungry.

Since as far as Vi was concerned hunger beat out awkwardness, she was currently raiding the fridge, only doing the most cursory check for labels as she pulled things out. "Hey, Libs, you eaten?"

Libby looked up from her small pile of letters with a smile.

"Good morning!" she answered back. "And, yes, I am." The smile went a little wry, almost sheepish but not nearly apologetic enough to make it so. "Probably a little old-fashioned," she admitted, looking down at her neat penmanship, and she shrugged, "but I like it. I do know how to type," she added, lest Kiem think she was too backwards," but I prefer this. Plus, I don't exactly have a computer."

She knew there were computers available at the library, but typing her letters would just feel too impersonal, anyway!

"It's hard to say what's old-fashioned here," Kiem observed. "Besides, I don't think anyone would care. You don't have computers where you are from?"

"Oh," said Libby, giving Vi a slightly awkward smile, because she still felt a little weird about taking food from the common rooms. She really didn't know how any of it was supposed to work, but she did know she'd feel terrible if she wound up accidentally eating something that belonged to someone else. "No, not yet. I was going to make something for myself in a little bit, though."

There was a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and some jelly with her name on it (quite literally) waiting for her, though one of these days, she was really going to have to scrounge up some resources for something a little more than that. Breakfasts in the Hazlett households were never much, but they'd stuck to your ribs much better than PB&J sandwiches.

"I'm making coffee," Kiem said after swallowing a mouthful of cereal. "Want a cup?"

"Oh, no, we do," Libby was quick to clarify. "I'm actually from...this time period?" It still felt a bit weird to say that, but it did seem to clear things up for mot people! "But my family doesn't really use a lot of technology. Cell phone for emergencies, a computer mostly for Daddy's business, though we did have a few educational Bible games on it. No TV at all, though. We..."

She'd gotten a bit better, about trying to explain to some people about how she grew up.

"...like to keep things simple."

Edited 2022-01-23 14:19 (UTC)

"Oh! Well, pens work to, don't they. Bible games, is that about the book... without pictures?"

That last part just slipped out, since it was what Kiem remembered when Kurt had talked about the Bible, even though he did immediately realise it might not convey the knowledge he intended to communicate.

Libby had to grin a little at that. "There's a lot of books," she said, taking a moment to lift up her book from class as an example, "without pictures. And, actually, we have a lot of versions of it with pictures for the Littles, but, really, those just pick out all the good stories that kids would find interesting. The real Bible is definitely just all words, usually so small you have to lean right up to it to even read it!"

But then she bit her lip a little as she considered Kiem and felt compelled to ask, "Is your family not very religious? Or a...different religion?"

Her brain was still definitely trying to wrap itself around the idea that some people around here might not have even heard of Earth before coming here, much less Christianity and the Bible!

Kurt had wandered into the common room looking for something to do since it was far too cold and nasty to do much outdoors. He paused when he saw Libby at the table. He remembered how awkward and ridiculous he had been acting the last time they had ran into each other the other day at the clinic. For a split second he considered trying to back up and leave before she noticed him but knew he did owe her an apology.

"Hey Libby..." he said somewhat timidly as he walked in. "How... ummm.... I just wanted to say sorry... for the other day. It was a strange day all around I think."

Even though Vi's philosophy was that people who didn't want their food stolen shouldn't leave it where it could get stolen especially by accident, there had been more than enough unlabelled ingredients to absolve Libby's conscience of any guilt.

"Let me take care of it then," she said, taking out various utensils. "You'd be doing me a favour. Never learned to cook for only one person." It wasn't technically a lie.

"Oh, hi, Kurt!" Libby greeted him back brightly before the rest of it made her sort of tilted her head a little, almost curiously, and then she seemed to blush a little bit as she remembered. "Oh. You mean...the other day at the clinic?"

It had been an odd day. Not as odd as it had been for some, sure, but she remembered feeling like everything was a little off, like she couldn't really control her emotions very well, but she'd just sort of chalked it up to being an off day, or...well...

Something definitely meant to be private!

She did remember that she'd scolded Kurt like he was a Little or something, though, and she did feel kind of bad about that. She'd just figured it was because old habits were just kind of hard to break out of.

"I'm sorry, too," she offered. "You were just being nice and trying to have fun," she thought, "and I just wnet into Big Sister mode, I think."

Even if a part of her did still feel he wa being a bit silly with it.

Vi started cracking eggs into a bowl. "Sure."

Based on everything she'd seen of him in class, she was pretty sure she wasn't risking anything worse than terrible coffee.

"Some of my family are religious, and some aren't. Most aren't. I think some might be faking it a bit. I'm a member of a sect line everyone else, but it's not a very demanding one."

He sighed. "Which is a good thing. I'm terrible at meditating. Last time she was upset with me my grandmother sent me to a monastery, so I think she still doesn't understand what kind of school this is."

"Do you and Kurt have the same religion, then?" He added.

Libby was about to protest at first, up until that last part. Which just made her relax a little, and smile faintly at Vi.

"It's a little weird, isn't it?" she ventured. "I almost don't know what to do with food when it's just me."

Which was why she'd been so grateful for the time Kurt brought her food. She felt a little bad about it, because it seemed to her pretty backwards; if anything, she should be making food for him. But it did solve at least one mealtime conundrum.

"Did you want help?" she asked, already setting down her pen and pushing out her chair, because that was another thing she wasn't likely to get used to, being idle while other people did the work.

Kiem made acceptable coffee.

"What are you making?" he asked.

"Hi, Kurt! Good morning!"

Kiem smiled at him. "How was your week?"

Edited 2022-01-23 14:50 (UTC)

Libby's eyes went a little wide. A monastery! Sure, Kiem didn't exactly sound happy about it, but that had to have been an interesting experience! Like girls sent off to nunneries in medieval times due to their bad behavior or to keep them chaste and virginal! Which meant now, Libby could only wonder which it was for Kiem and his monastary, although, based on what he said about his grandmother being upset, she had a feeling (oh, how scandalous!) it was probably closer to the first one.

Although she did feel a little bad for thinking that. But that last question gave her enough to puzzle over when it came to how to answer that she didn't feel bad for too long.

"Not...really," she admitted, and she sounded a little apologetic for it. "Kurt's Catholic, which is...."

It was hard, censoring herself from some of the harsh critiques that had been hammered into her. She tried again.

"We both believe in God," she said, "and his only son Jesus Christ dying for our sins, but the way we believe in it and practice our faith is....different."

What with Catholics basically being blasphemous idolators and papists who barely bothered to hide their pagan influences, after all....But she wasn't about to actually say any of that, and not just because it would be gossip if she did.

So she was eager to try and change the subject with an eager, "So what was it like being in a monastery? Did you have to wear thick, itchy robes and shave your head?"

"Well, Libs, usually you eat it." Vi had a smart mouth, it was a problem she wasn't working on. "I know what you mean, seems a waste of food and effort."

She nodded towards the bacon. "If you want you can cut that up. Try to make it fairly fine."

Vander'd cooked like a life long bachelor who'd suddenly acquired several half-starved kids, so Vi did too, at least when it came to things people might actively choose to eat.

Vi would take acceptable coffee. Honestly, she'd take terrible coffee too.

"Breakfast," she replied, pouring milk into the eggs. "Eggs, meat, cheese, all the good stuff." Literally. All of the ingredients here were better than you could get in the undercity.

Kiem was going to assume that meant different sects.

"Itchy robes? No, not itchy ones. And no shaving your head. Just a lot of... not talking. And meditation. I couldn't even check the dart car results. Or climb trees! Not that I usually climb trees a lot, but there wasn't much else to do."

"You put it all together and cook it?"

Kiem was useless at cooking but fairly sure that wasn't how breakfast was usually made.

"Is that what you do with it?" asked Libby, unable to help herself, especially now that she was feeling a little bolder around Vi. Just the fact that she'd agreed to let her help boosted that confidence a little more, too, as well as just being something that Libby could feel wholly comfortable with, not even hesitating a moment to do her part as instructed. "That sounds much better than just staring at it the whole time!"

And, after taking a moment to appreciate that whatever they were making would involve something as nice as bacon, she gave a few experimental chops to cut a few pieces fine as she could before asking, "'Bout like that?"

"I swear," said Libby, smiling at Kiem as if to suggest that if he did climb trees often, she'd understand, he didn't have to pretend, "half the time, we couldn't even keep my brother Val out of trees..."

She wished she could, personally, appreciate the urge, but, of course, climbing trees would have been practically unheard of for a girl.

Meditating (as long as she just equated that to praying) and not talking, though, well...

"How long were you there for?"

It was when three of the five people being cooked for were teenagers hitting their growth spurt. "It's better if you add things to the pan in the right order but, yeah, pretty much."

It wasn't like it was something ridiculously overcomplicated like baking or anything.

"All good, seems to be typical Fandom silliness. All's good" he said with a smile.

"How are things going for you otherwise?"

"Hey Kiem!" He said with a smile. "Been good other than a bit cold. How about you? Anything interesting since we last chatted?"

There was something in Libby's smile that was softly indulgent, as if she was more than happy to let Kurt mark it up to Fandom silliness rather than just some of his own.

"Very good," she answered, "thank you! I was just writing some letters to send home, let everyone know how I'm doing all the way out here, and then I was thinking of reading through our book for class again, but having some company would be nice."

She hesitated a moment, and then figured she just couldn't help herself as she added, teasingly, "So long as you can promise to stay off the table this time. How was the rest of your week, Kurt?"

Vi would take bold over awkward, especially when her people skills were still pretty rusted over. "Yeah, I know, it was a revelation."

She looked across as she started dicing up cheese. "That looks pretty good. I think the meat's more tender here than back home."

Libby nodded, matching the rest of her chops to the first ones, then, hesitating a little before she responded again.

"We're used to just getting the cheap cuts," she said, hoping that saying as much didn't skirt too closely to the issue that had sparked the awkwardness between the two of them in the first place, "unless it's on sale or a special occasion, so this is going to be real nice."

Even if it wasn't, just being able to help out in a kitchen again made it worth it.

"A month," Kiem said. "There was an... accident at school, and it ended up being in all the newslogs, and my grandmother thought it was the best thing to do. I don't think they wanted me back again though, although they wouldn't have dared to object to my grandmother."

"I have to try that sometime," Kiem said. Most of the time he would get the different ingredients cooked separately, but that was when someone else cookied for him, and mixing everything seemed a lot easier.

"Do you cook a lot?"

"It's been a good week," Kiem said, smiling back. "Nothing in particular happened, well, no, Thursday was a bit odd, wasn't it?"

"I will try my best to control myself" he said with a wink and a chuckle.

Then a moment pause before he continued.

"I should probably write back to the Professor and maybe even Logan. Let them know im doing better here than back at the old school. "

"Yeah... Lots of crazy that day for sure" Kurt said with a nod. "Otherwise just classes and some basketball practice in the gym here and there."

And now Libby's smile seemed somewhat relieved, feeling glad over how nice it was, sometimes, to just say what you were thinking without worrying about your parents or a judgey sister chiding you for it.

"I'm sure they'd love to hear from you," she noted. "You can have some of my paper, if you want, but I only have the one pen with me. Is Logan one of your friends from home?"

"A month doesn't sound all that bad," said Libby, but before coming here, she rarely ever even left her own backyard, so she would have thought a month somewhere new, even if all she could do was meditate and not talk, would have been a thrill, "but I'm sure they'd been happy to have you back! Is.....is your grandmother a very important person, then? Or just a very intimidating one?"

"Basketball? Is that a game?" Kiem asked.

"Both? She's really intimidating, and she's the emperor, and actually I think she would have been happy if I stayed there, but I'm really glad I was sent here this time."

His grandmother must have just been looking for a place as far away as possible.

"But what is your home like? Is it nearby?"

The emperor?

Okay, now Libby was maybe looking a little skeptical, starting to wonder if Kiem might be pulling her leg and teasing her with wild stories, but considering she had a giant sharkman who claimed to be a prince of some land like out of a storybook....it wasn't exactly the craziest thing she'd heard, really...

"Oh, it's probably a lot closer than some," she admitted, "but definitely more than a stone's throw. I'm from Tennessee, out in the country. This..." She still felt a little embarrassed about it, and her smile and lowered voice suggested as much, "...is actually my first time out-of-state! What about where yoi're from?"

"I'm from Iskat," Kiem said. "It's a different planet, in a different solar system, possibly a different universe. I don't know where Tennessee is, sorry. It's in the country? What is it like?"

Libby just needed to shake her head a little with reluctant disbelief. A different solar system? Possibly a different universe?

It was somewhat of a miracle that this girl had actually been taught that the Earth was even round, so that kind of talk would never cease to amaze her...and make her cautiously skeptical, too. Still, if Kiem was making it all up, it was a pretty great story, and he sold it very well.

"Then I guess we're even," she noted with a grin. "Because I sure haven't ever heard of Iskat before, either! And Tennessee is...well...honestly, not having been anywhere else before now, I'm never really sure how to answer that question, because it's just..." She shrugged, "home, I guess! But we live out in a big old farmhouse with a lot of land, right by a forest, and we keep chickens and Daddy's got some dogs for hunting, and we have a little garden, but none of us are really that good at growing anything, so we're just grateful for what the Lord decides to give us on that front. Are you from a city, then? On Iskat?"

Edited 2022-01-23 17:45 (UTC)

"I can get one" Kurt said with a grin as he ported out of sight, appearing a moment later with a pen.

"Thanks" he said as he sat down across from Libby. "And yeah, Logan is one of the other Mutants back home. He's older then I am but we hang out a lot. His codename is Wolverine and hes pretty cool."

"Yeah its a sports game. Five people on a team play against another team trying to make goals with the ball. Lots of running involved...or teleporting in my case if im just goofing around with it."

"Yes, the capital. But I don't really miss it that much, to be honest. Well, sometimes, but most of the time I like it here."

Curious, he continued:

"What do chicken look like here?"

Most animals on Iskat were vicious reptiles of various sizes, regardless of what they were called.

"Teleport?"

"Aye! One of the powers I have as a Mutant is i can teleport."

It did, but today Vi wasn't so blindsided that she couldn't keep hold of her temper and her tongue.

"Cheap cuts are the only option in the lanes, not that they're actually cheap." And if you could get meat at all deeper in the fissures you didn't ask questions about it. "All the food here's real nice."

And it was hard to screw it up this kind of scramble too much.

"Some," Vi replied. "Nothing fancy. Not as often as I used to."

She'd been far too antisocial to be considered for kitchen duty.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Second Floor Common Room; Sunday Morning [01/23].

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject