Third Floor Common Room, Saturday Evening

[wesleynotponcy]

Wesley felt a little silly, entertaining his bratty child in the common room with board games that she seemed irrationally talented at. Honestly, what nine-year-old could beat a trained and experienced Watcher at Scrabble? He was positive that she was making the words up, but every time he consulted a dictionary, all he saw was Eloise's smug little

Comments

[daventry_vamp]

Oh look, another child was there. And no father to make weird faces at her at the mention of her lineage. Plenty of people had parents who weren't actually married and only acted like friends.

...okay, so they didn't. Shhh.

"Hello?"

[nothingbutgrey]

As Wesley turned around to see who it was, Eloise quickly plunged her hand into the bag of Scrabble tiles and exchanged two of her six vowels for more profitable letters. Yes! An M and an X. Perfect!

Then she looked up, all sweetness and innocence. "Hello," she chirped. "Look, Daddy, another little girl."

[daventry_vamp]

"You took some tiles," Malaxandra said, because her father raised her to tell the truth. And her mother raised her not to listen to people when they radiated sweet innocence.

[nothingbutgrey]

Eloise gaped, appalled that anyone would have the nerve to "out" her like that. "No, I didn't," she lied, but the secret was out and she knew it. Then, sulking: "All right, fine, I did. But I don't remember which letters I had before, so ha!"

Wesley was not amused.

[books_and_bows]

Rue had managed to escape from her mother -- Katniss had only turned her back for a second -- and was looking around to find her father.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she wandered in.

[wesleynotponcy]

"Losing miserably," Wesley groused as yet another of Eloise's words earned a triple-word score. After tallying up her poinds (seriously? Forty-two points for zoeal?) when he looked up. Oh! Rue. Well, that was embarrassing.

"Oh," he said, blushing. "Hello. We're just playing a game."

He didn't dare invite her to play. The last thing he needed was to lose to a six-year-old too.

[books_and_bows]

"What kind of game?" asked Rue, who definitely wanted to play and would probably only win if she used some kind of Capitol-invented word that Wesley wouldn't know.

[nothingbutgrey]

"A word game," Eloise chirped helpfully. It was really up for debate whether she was trying to upset Wes or Rue when she offered sweetly, "You should join us! Shouldn't she, Daddy?"

Wesley was forced to nod his approval. "Sure," he said. "If you'd like."

[longislandiceme]

Bobby entered the common room in search of food. This in and of itself was not so unusual. The small tousle-haired boy he whose hand was curled in his own? That was somewhat out of the ordinary.

"Hey," Bobby greeted, upon seeing the room was already occupied. "Know if there's anything good in the kitchen?" The boy who accompanied him gave Wes a wide-eyed look and looked as if he wanted to protest something about this, but Bobby continued: "...That can be cooked in a microwave."

[wesleynotponcy]

In one moment of appalling mean-ness, Wesley wished certain bratty children could be cooked in a microwave. Then he hated himself for thinking it, but still. Mean.

"I think I saw a bowl of macaroni and cheese?" he suggested.

Eloise turned up her nose at this plebian cuisine. Apparently noodles were beneath her.

[longislandiceme]

"Mac and cheese is good," Bobby decided. "Especially if it doesn't involve me trying to cook the pasta." Look, he was well aware of how much of a kitchen-failure he was. "Though I'm starting to think maybe we should just order a bunch of pizzas." There were an awful lot of children beginning to gather, after all...

[nothingbutgrey]

"I don't eat pizza," Eloise chirped helpfully. "Mother thinks it's undignified. I'd like filet mignon, please."

Wesley had been spending the entire day with this child, and even he was suprised by this phenomenal bit of snobbery.

[brat_inslayage]

Having kids was exhausting; Kennedy knew that from last year. This year wasn't any less exhausting, particularly with a daughter who was as into the training as she was.

The thing was, though, Kennedy was also a total pushover for anyone who knew how to get to her, and she'd volunteered to take the twins for a little while and let Tara have a break.

"Guys, I'm telling you," she was telling Asher and Miraya as they headed in, "the third floor common room isn't that different from the second floor one."

[nothingbutgrey]

Ooh! Kids closer to her age! Possibly kids she could bully! Eloise was totally up for that. She got up from her seat, snatching up the bag of tiles so that Wesley couldn't cheat, and ambled over to the door. "Hello," she said sweetly. "I'm Eloise Morgan-Pryce. Who are you?"

[butalljrscooby]

"I'm Asher Tomaso Maclay, and this is Miraya Thalia Maclay," Asher answered, sliding into his role as spokesman. "We're twins."

He didn't seem terribly inclined to be bullied by anyone other than his sister.

[nothingbutgrey]

"Really?" Eloise asked sarcastically. "I couldn't tell. Are you sure you're twins?"

Sorry, Asher. Bullying was kind of her thing. It came from her mother's side.

Mostly.

[liliceflakes]

Des? Had had coffee earlier today. Which meant he was nowhere near being ready for bed once the sun set, though he was inside because he wasn't stupid, thank you.

"Hello!" he greeted exuberantly as he bounded into the room, hoping to find someone he knew. Or at least, someone who'd give him cookies.

[wesleynotponcy]

Why were all the other kids here this weekend so cute? It hardly seemed fair that there were all these bouncy kids running around when all Wes got stuck with was -- well, this one. She was kind of a brat.

"Hello," he said, charmed instantly. "Are you looking for someone?"

[liliceflakes]

"Mom or dad," Des answered. "...Or cookies," he added, since honesty was the best policy and all.

[wesleynotponcy]

"Oh, I saw some," Wesley said without thinking. The idea that this child's parents might not approve of him having cookies did, in fact, occur to him, but look, he was so cute! Surely it couldn't help to give him some.

So he got up, completely oblivious to the fact that Eloise was stealing tiles, and retrieved a box of cookies from the cabinet, then brought them to Des.

Sucker.