Third Floor Common Room, Early Monday Afternoon

[vanillajello]

"But why do you want to make M.O.T.s?"
”Because there’s a triumph."
"But what kind of triumph?" Kate's brother's voice crackled on speakerphone from her cellphone that was on the kitchen counter.
”It was a school thing,” Kate answered, trying not to sound as evasive as she was being. ”We... won something.”
It made her brother snort. ”Since when do

Comments

[wantstocheer]

Claire showed up in the common room and laughed. "I see we had the same idea," she said. "I was thinking that people needed sweet treats too. Need any help?"

[wantstocheer]

"Oh."

Claire suspected that whatever Kate had heard thus far wasn't good and decided not to press her about it.

"How long do the muffins take?"

[vanillajello]

"Um, 10 minutes," Kate said, checking her little note on the table. She knew she shouldn't talk or even think about the other her, so she was glad for the distraction.

[wantstocheer]

"Cool," Claire said. "Looks like there will be plenty."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I plan on stuffing as many people with these as I possibly can," Kate said with a weak grin, putting the first pan in the oven. "Everyone needs Muffins of Triumph." Some more than others.

[wantstocheer]

"I should find some baskets," Claire said. "We can take them around and give them to people."

[vanillajello]

"Ooh, that's a really good idea!" Kate beamed.

She kind of realized now, that she was still edging around hysteria. It would probably take all week for the shock to wear off.

[wantstocheer]

"Because I suspect some people are going to avoid common areas for a while," Claire said.

[vanillajello]

"I wouldn't be surprised. People need time to deal."

[wantstocheer]

Claire nodded. "Hopefully things will be quiet for the next little bit to give them all time."

[vanillajello]

"If there's any justice in the world, it will be. And you'd think that at least the teaxhers would be cutting people some slack this week," Kate sighed.

[wantstocheer]

"That would be nice, yeah."

[vanillajello]

"Last weeks classes were easy enough for me, though. We played laser-tag in writing class."

She was still boggling over that one.

[wantstocheer]

Claire blinked at that. "What does laser tag have to do with writing?"

[vanillajello]

"We were talking about research, and while we played, we pretended that one team was a government team and the other a pack of heroic rebels," Kate said. "It was research through experience. Or so he said."

[wantstocheer]

"Hmm, okay," Claire said, clearly amused by that concept. "There's never a dull moment around here, is there?"