2nd floor common room, Monday evening

[sairis]

Sairis was confused by his class, a little annoyed to still be in this strange place, and at loose ends. He was taking that all out on the common room by cooking.

Beans, because look, he had plenty of experience with them. With eggs and onions. He'd found a few spices around and gone based on taste rather than whatever they were called.

Hopefully if anyone else dropped by they liked marjoram and chili powder.

He'd spent some of his money on a loaf of bread to go with it, because even if kneading dough sounded cathartic, he hadn't wanted to wait until midnight to eat.

And there was tea, but it had gone cold. Which might not be an entirely bad thing.



[Open common room!]

Comments

[thatsmysword]

Henry hadn't the faintest what chili powder was, but he was tired and he smelled food. "Ah, I don't think that's for you, Mutt," he said, patting his dog as he slunk out the door to follow his nose.

"Hello?"

[sairis]

"Henry." Sairis nodded to him. "This is almost done, and there's bread and tea already." He pointed his spoon at them.

[thatsmysword]

"Suppose I should finally try some of that tea, then," Henry mused, already wandering over towards the bread. "What are you makin'?"

[sairis]

Sairis shrugged. "Beans with eggs and onions. Just easy food."

[thatsmysword]

"Hardly anything wrong with that," Henry said merrily. "I do still have leftovers from the picnic, but nothing beats a freshly-made supper."

He took a big bite of the bread. Nom.

[sairis]

"Was it fun?" Sairis asked. "I was working on something and lost track of time."

He stirred the food, reached for his cup of tea, and grimaced when he noticed it was cold, but drank it anyway.

[thatsmysword]

"Ah, it was the way it usually is," Henry said. He eyed the tea, then eyed Sairis's face, and decided today would not be the day he'd try it. "Plenty of food, sunshine, I think we've one more new student. Not very exciting."

[sairis]

"What's the new student like?" Sairis gave the food another stir and reached for plates.

[thatsmysword]

"Didn't get the chance to speak to him," Henry said, with a light shrug. "I'm sure he'll be all right. Looked like he fit in, at least."

Shirtlessly.

[sairis]

"If you say so." People around here were so different, Sairis wasn't sure what "fitting in" even looked like.

He handed Henry a plate. "Here. I can make a plate for Mutt, too, if you want."

[thatsmysword]

"Ah, thank you. He'd like that," Henry said, taking the plate. "Always hungry, that one."

Unlike his owner, clearly, who wasn't digging in immediately at all. Nope.

[sairis]

"He's a dog. From what I gather, they're just like that." Sairis rummaged around until he found a bowl and filled it, too, before getting his own and sitting down.

"Is the dean here an odd one, or is he normal for this place?" he wondered.

[thatsmysword]

Henry frowned as he sat on down more firmly. "How d'you mean?"

[sairis]

"I have a class called 'How Not to Die'. I thought it would be survival tips, but he gave us clues on paper to run errands for him."

[thatsmysword]

"That does sound like Dean Anakin Skywalker," Henry mused. "But I'm afraid he's the first and only dean I've ever had, so I'm not sure if that's normal for 'em or not. Doesn't sound fitting to the class, but perhaps he knows something we don't?"

[sairis]

"I honestly have no idea," Sairis admitted. "I've only seen one other dean, and never spoken to him. Maybe excuses to run odd errands is normal."

To be fair, his own master had had him run all sorts of errands. But he hadn't tried to pretend they were supposed to be fun.

[thatsmysword]

Henry shrugged. "My experience is that anyone with power loves ordering people around," he said. "Go over here, do this, carry that..."

[sairis]

Sairis snorted. "You're not wrong. I've mostly only had to deal with my master before, though."

[thatsmysword]

"How was he, then?" Henry asked.

[sairis]

"He's...he was strict, but he raised me and taught me." Sairis shrugged. "He never really ordered anyone else as long as I lived with him. Unless you count things like, 'don't step there, it's dangerous.'"

[thatsmysword]

"Seems alright, then," Henry offered, like he hadn't grown up the much-beloved son of the village blacksmith whose strictest command was just 'don't go off whacking things with swords'. (One Henry hadn't listened to, at that.) "Not anything like Dean Skywalker and his classes."

[sairis]

Sairis sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm used to being ordered around, but orders that make sense. I don't know what Dean Skywalker is thinking most of the time."

[thatsmysword]

"I think he just likes torturing us," Henry offered. "Or at least we're supposed to dance for his amusement."

[sairis]

"Definitely the latter," Sairis said. "What's the point, though? Does he just enjoy people doing pointless things? If he just likes ordering us around, we could be doing his laundry or something useful."

[thatsmysword]

"Perhaps the lack of a point is the point," Henry mused. "To teach us all something about pointlessness."

[sairis]

"Then the class should be called 'learning about pointlessness'," Sairis said, exasperated. "I thought I'd be learning survival techniques."

[thatsmysword]

"With Dean Skywalker, I just assume that whatever he does is going to be some form of Shenanigans," Henry sighed. "Without free clothes."

[sairis]

"Shenanigans?" Sairis asked.

[thatsmysword]

"It's Wednesdays in summer," Henry said. "Dean Skywalker gets us all rounded up at the park and makes us do strange things for his amusement. You get free clothes out of it, though!"

In case Sairis was wondering where Henry got all of those awful t-shirts.

[sairis]

"I suppose if there's at least something you get out of it," Sairis said only a little doubtfully.

Because he hadn't been there yet.

[thatsmysword]

"It's just the shirts for me," Henry said. "Don't know if you need any."

[sairis]

Sairis shrugged. "I've rarely had more than one or two, so I won't say no."

Again, largely because he hadn't seen them yet.

[thatsmysword]

"Just be sure to be cautious moving about the island on Wednesdays if you don't want in that week," Henry added, sagely. "I don't know how he does it, but he gets us all if we're not careful."

[sairis]

"I'll be careful," Sairis promised. "Thanks for the advice."

Which he would promptly forget.