Room 324, Monday After Classes

[vanillajello]

Apparently, going to high school classes was hard work.

Or Kate and her kids shared a gene for being lazy.

Either way, after Japanese Etiquette and Tradition, they'd headed back to Kate's room. Now, Dani was sprawled on the floor with a stack of his mother's kid-friendliest manga, and Vivienne had claimed the laptop for important research. Or so she said.

And Kate was keeping up a conversation, being all sneaky about finding out more about the way things worked were the kids were from. Not really asking questions, but kind of nudging the kids towards the subjects she was curious about.

She was pretty sure that Vivienne was on to her, and that Dani was barely listening. But, whatever. They had a big bag of candy. All was good.

[ooc: Open door, open post! Can't we keep the kids forever?]

Comments

[therewaslife]

"Not that much, no," Bod agreed, smiling a little easier now. "Are you and your children --" That wasn't getting less strange. " -- doing anything fun tonight?"

[bratsforparents.livejournal.com]

"Bowling!" Dani exclaimed.

Kate blinked a few times, then glanced at the boy. "We haven't really talked about that yet." Beat. "Apparently, Dani wants to go bowling."

[therewaslife]

"And thus, your plans are made," he said and snickered. "Good that you have someone so decisive with you, isn't it?"

[vanillajello]

"Decisive and loud and really kind of rude," Kate replied. "Ah, family resemblance."

[therewaslife]

"I don't know, from what I've seen, he's been fairly...nice. And forthright," he added, nodding. "He says what he thinks, at least?"

[vanillajello]

"Now if he only thought about what he says before he says it..."

"Mooom. I'm right here."

"I know," Kate told him, a bit amused. "Maybe you'll learn something by listening. If you're gonna do the brutal honesty thing, you gotta learn from the pros."

[therewaslife]

"Has he said anything that awful or embarrassing?" Bod wondered, lowering his voice out of courtesy to the child but asking anyway.

[vanillajello]

"Mostly to her," she replied, voice equally lowered, nodding at Vivienne, "which I guess is okay--" Her voice was hardly more than a secretive whisper now. "--because she could kick his ass from here to next Wednesday in a dozen different ways, but..."

[therewaslife]

"Well, they're both still alive," he noted, glancing at them both, "so perhaps her patience is long and tested. You seem like you're doing just fine."

[vanillajello]

"I'm not worried about me."

Yes she was. But not about the one who was here.

[therewaslife]

"I was more just giving you a compliment there, Kate," Bod said, smiling a bit. "It wasn't a comment on the current state of things. It was just a compliment."

[vanillajello]

"Oh." It was an easy mistake to make when your mind was drifting towards the past and other worlds and what should never happen.

She smiled a bit back at him. "Thanks."

[therewaslife]

"You're welcome," he said, nodding and feeling a bit uncomfortable with things again. He felt out of place, which wasn't new, and out of his depth. "I should have clarified. I probably shouldn't have bothered you in the first place all things considered but I should have clarified."

[vanillajello]

"Bod," she said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder lightly. That was a nice, we're-just-friends kind of gesture, right? "Stop worrying."

And then she smirked at him, because he'd said the same to her often enough.

[therewaslife]

"I don't know if I can," he admitted, shaking his head at his ridiculousness. "It seems to be ingrained for me in unfamiliar situations. I don't know what to do."

[vanillajello]

"Find a constant. Concentrate. Adjust," she said lightly and quietly, pulling her hand back before it got a mind of its own and found his neck. Time and place for everything, and this so wasn't it.

[therewaslife]

"You sound familiar," Bod said, unable to stop one side of his mouth from curling up in a smile. "You should stop listening to whoever it was that told you that. I think he might be a little touched in the head."

[vanillajello]

Kate snickered. "Mm, I think he is," she nodded. "But I kinda like him that way."

[therewaslife]

"I don't know if that makes you brave or foolish," said Bod, getting a sudden idea and pulling a pen out of his pocket. He gestured for her hand. "You might regret that in the long run."

[vanillajello]

"Eh, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it," she shrugged, holding out her hand for him without hesitation. "Maybe I'm not all there, either."

[therewaslife]

"Maybe," he said, drawing a small happy face on her hand before writing Hi. Well, he could've said that out loud. The smiley face had been intended for her hand though. Paper?

Which, yes, would probably be better for writing anything to her since it could be trashed but now he was drawing another smiley face after asking that question.

[vanillajello]

She bit on her lip to stop herself from laughing too hard, then reached for a notebook from her bedside table with her free hand.

And then, realizing Vivienne was giving them a curious look, she asked him, "So have you started studying for your finals yet?"

It was the best she could come up with at this precise moment.

[therewaslife]

"No," he said, adding some hair to that smiley face before smiling down at his handiwork. "I should though. Ethics might be difficult. There's been a lot of things discussed in there."

He paused and nodded at the notebook. Her turn, so to speak.

"Have you?"

[vanillajello]

"No, and I'm not sure I'll even need to, too much," she replied, reclaiming her hand before opening the notebook to the first empty page there was and reaching for a pen.

"I already knew most of Algren's stuff before the class, and Drake's final shouldn't be hard."

Hello, she wrote. You're weird.

As she drew a smiley face next to the last word, she added, "And I can always bribe Mitchell with baked goods."

[therewaslife]

"It sounds like an easy week of final exams for you," he said, reaching over to write something in return.

Am I? Why for now? he scrawled. Now you can tell me whatever you'd like.