Room 308. Tuesday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had every reason to be happy as he made it back to his room after a quick trip into town to buy coffee and pick up his mail. It was a lovely spring day, and there were no children -- his own, or shrunken versions of his classmates and teachers -- about. He was profoundly grateful for this; children were fine, but he'd gotten his fill of babysitting.

He was mildly curious as to why the change had passed him by, but mostly he was simply thankful for that. No one needed to see the silent, wounded boy he had been. Besides, he hadn't spoken English as a small child, and he doubted he would have been able to find anyone to explain things to him in Czech or Yiddish.

But that was not at the top of his head as he returned to his room, not when the mail had brought good news for him. Sebastien had already telegraphed that he'd be at graduation on Saturday; now he had a letter from Rivka as well, confirming she'd asked for and received the time off to visit him. (And, she wrote, no, Jan, don't send money for a coach.) He'd have to talk to both of them about his final plans to stay in this time -- he'd been dancing around the subject -- but he was optimistic enough to believe that wouldn't go too badly. (He'd badger Sebastien into coming with him. He had to.)

He was grinning as he flopped onto his bed with a novel, door open so he could watch the traffic in the hall.

[OOC: Open room post!]

Comments

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose wasn't working today which was weird for a Tuesday. So between that and no classes, she was a little bit at loose ends.

It was sad, yeah.

But she had a thank you to make, and it seemed like donuts were the best way to do that. So Rose and a bag with a few donuts were pausing in the doorway of Jack's room. "I'd knock, but it's all expected."

[bitten_notshy]

"Door's open anyhow," Jack observed, glancing up. "Oh, good. Nobody cut your hair."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"I was stopping by to thank you for that," she said wryly. The bag of donuts got tossed at Jack as Rose came in. "I'd've killed everything if I woke up yesterday with chopped off hair."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snagged the donuts easily out of the air and poked at them before selecting one. "I figured," he said. "I was trying to convince little Rose not to cut my hair. I didn't think she'd agree to have hers chopped."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well," Rose pulled her hair over her shoulder protectively - and unconsciously. "I was crazy at age six. That's all I got. How'd you enjoy being the grown up?"

[bitten_notshy]

"It gave me blackmail material for years," Jack said smugly. "And I can threaten to throw you in the lake any time I get annoyed. I'm glad not to have to babysit any longer, but I didn't mind being left out."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"You should've gotten the lake-throwing done when I was too little to resist," she teased. "Like Alex did." She flopped down on the end of his bed. "What kind of blackmail material?"

[bitten_notshy]

"But I would have had to carry you all the way from the third floor to the park," Jack mock-whined. "It's better to have it in reserve as a threat."

He shrugged. "Tony directed Dinah and I to act out Space Battles. Dinah filmed it. Karla got mud pie all over my trousers. Silly things like that, mostly."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Aww, poor baby," Rose laughed, shaking her head at Jack's recitation. "Karla's a secretly dirty child. Y'know, that doesn't surprise me at all. I wanna see the Space Battles movie though. There could be a movie night."

[bitten_notshy]

"You all abused me terribly," Jack said. He shook the bag of donuts, proffering it back to Rose if she wanted one. "I want to see it too. Tony was directing me to act green. And then I had to be the bad guy."

"Dinah," he added, "got to be the princess."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

She chose a donut from the bag happily. Mm, fried dough. "So, acting star, how do you act green? And I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to see the play last week. Meant to go on Thursday, and then I was doing the guardian thing for reals."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack looked mildly alarmed. He would have heard if anything was seriously going on, but still. "It's all right," he said. "I was dead for most of the play. Why'd you have to work?"

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose shook her head quickly at the look and reached over to nudge him with her foot. "Don't look like that. It was just Fandom. Dimitri turned into a bear. A baby bear. Like tiny." She was trying not to snicker, but it was hard. "He was thrilled."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had no compunctions about snickering, in part in relief. "No looks," he promised. "That's just hysterical. Did you dress him up and take pictures?"

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Pictures, yes, dressing up, no," she said, laughing now. "Every time I got near him with a ribbon or something, he tried to bite me. He owes me a bunch of new clothes too. Kept chewing through all my jeans and nested in my hoodies."

[bitten_notshy]

"So he was a violent tiny adorable bear," Jack observed, also with a laugh. "I'm sad you didn't get to keep him as a pet a little longer. I'm sure he isn't."

... karma might just bite Jack on this at some point.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Just you wait," Rose teased, echoing narrative unconsciously. "You'll get to be a tiny adorable something one day." She shook her head though. "I'm glad he's back as himself. It was gonna get weird if it went on much longer. Also T&C would run out of hunny."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'll never be a tiny adorable anything," Jack insisted. Ah, now he was just begging the island for trouble. "How much honey can a bear cub eat? I was never sure if that was just in stories or not."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Just you wait. And more than it's probably good to give him," Rose admitted. "I should make Dimitri go to the dentist. I don't think anyone's teeth are supposed to marinate in that much sugar."

[bitten_notshy]

"He was a grouchy small bear," Jack said. "You were doing your best keeping him from going after the flamingos at the pond."

A pause. "Do bears eat flamingos?"

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"...well, now I'm wondering too," she admitted. "Maybe he'll turn into one again and I'll find out."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack made large, sad and completely full of hooey eyes at her. "Film it if you do, would you?"

He didn't have anything against Dimitri; it was jut the concept of bear vs. flamingo that had him intrigued.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Fuck yes," Rose said instantly. "That would go on YouTube immediately. Dimitri would win though."

It was just a given, yes.

[bitten_notshy]

"Not even a question," Jack agreed, in a matter-of-fact way. "He'd have claws, flamingos have beaks. Bears are predators, birds are prey."

"Hard to see it as a contest."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"He'd be like seven inches tall, they're about as tall as me," Rose agreed. "I could see it."

She made a face. "Not that I want more classes or anything, but this week feels like such a waste."