2nd Floor Common Room, Saturday Morning

[dwarvenswagger]

Thorin had not woken up to the sound of hundreds of dwarves breaking camp. That had been the first tiny hint that things were not as they had been when he'd fallen asleep last night. The second hint was that the ridiculous 'roomba' that he'd had years ago had attacked his foot as he escaped the room he had been given

Comments

[not_a_moonie]

"Some things don't change," Alana said lightly. "Hey, Ronan. Seen any girls who look like me but with horns?"

[thegreywaren]

"...no." He shook his head. "But I also haven't really been looking for any kids. Not my main concern right now."

[not_a_moonie]

"Wouldn't be mine either, except the whole reason I'm here is Hazel talked me into doing the reunion," Alana sighed. "She's a freshman now. Guess she found something more interesting to do than breakfast with mom."

[thegreywaren]

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out for small children," he drawled. "Shouldn't be too hard to look for some horned kid though I probably won't go out of my way or anything."

Of course not.

"Your kids goes here?" He didn't know why anyone would want to spend time in such a small place.

[not_a_moonie]

"I'm stunned," Alana deadpanned. "And yeah, she does. Apparently my stories made the place sound a little too exciting. I think she would've stolen a rocket to get her if I hadn't let her. Do you have kids?"

[thegreywaren]

"No." He shook his head, frowning. "And I don't want them. I've got enough crap to deal with that isn't chasing some kid around to change their dirty diapers."

[not_a_moonie]

Alana flashed a quick smile. "The diaper stage doesn't last too long," she said. "Cleaning up after them ... that's a lifetime thing."

[thegreywaren]

"No, thank you." People had been cleaning up after him for most of his life. He didn't want the roles reversed, thank you. "I'm sure it's very rewarding but no, thank you. Better things to do."

[not_a_moonie]

Alana held up her hands in an appeasing gesture. "Believe me, I'm the last person to try to sell people on having kids. You don't want 'em, don't have 'em. It was just a question."

A pause, then. "... okay, what kind of better things?"

[thegreywaren]

"Anything," he remarked lazily. "Is that your way of trying to ask what I've been doing or something?"

[not_a_moonie]

Alana took a slurp of coffee. "Pretty much, yeah."

[thegreywaren]

"Stuff and things." He smiled thinly. "It's none of your concern. I'm still alive and that's the important part. Besides, you probably wouldn't be interested anyway."

[not_a_moonie]

"Right, because I'm exactly the type of person to ask people what they're up to when I don't care," Alana said, rolling her eyes. "Forget it. Congrats on the still-alive thing."

[thegreywaren]

"Hey, thanks," Ronan said, taking the statement literally. "Thing is, why would you care about what I've been doing? Honest question."

[not_a_moonie]

"Because --"

The thing was, it was a good question, and it deserved a real answer. That threw Alana off her game.

"Because I do," she shrugged. "I didn't forget who you were, the way I did half the people here. I mean, I don't care in the way I care what somebody like Celia or Johnny is doing, but I care." Rueful look. "Or I did, anyhow."

It wasn't like she was going to beg for details.

[thegreywaren]

"Aww, that's sweet, you didn't forget me," Ronan said, sounding amused. "I barely remembered this place once I got away. It wasn't where I wanted to be. Suffice it to say, I went back home and found my niche."