forum Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. // OxO // ClOSED

Started August 24, 2022 by @EtherealDreamer

tune

River looked around at the dining hall in awe, admiring how vast the space was. He spotted a table that had two empty chairs and he walked over to one of them, taking a seat.

Aspen quickly followed River and sat next to him, noticing how the bottoms of the chairs were ornate and decorative.

She scooted in her chair and smiled over at River as Mrs. Finch sat down at the head of the table.
She noticed the other side of the table, which would be across from Mrs. Finch, was empty, there wasn't even a chair.

River also wondered why the other side was so empty, but then again, there was only around 20 kids, not nearly enough to fill the ginormous table.

Aspen elbowed River and leaned over, so she could whisper to him, without anyone hearing.

"Do you love this place as much as I do?" She asked him.

"If they have a castle that looks like this, imagine the food they'll serve for dinner!" She said excitedly.

"I know, I'm hoping it'll be great!" River replied back, not realizing how hungry he was until now.

Aspen turned facing forward in her seat as platter were set on the table, large dome covers keeping the secrets of their insides from the children, one by one the children who brought them out opened them. Revealing a whole cooked chicken and Goose, a large bowl of chicken salad, mashed potatoes, carrots and rice.

"Oh my god." Aspen said in awe, looking at River with her mouth open in excitement and awe.
She quickly filled up her plate with a good amount of everything and began to dig in, not listening at all to the chatter around her, but focused on the delicious taste of all the foods.

River stared at the plates in front of him with wide eyes, never seeing so much food in his life. He took some chicken salad and ate a bite, closing his eyes as he savored the burst of flavor.

Aspen took a total of two minutes to eat her whole plate, which was full of food.
She sat back when she was done, rubbing her stomach in happiness.

She had been on the road for almost a week since River found her, or they had found each other, whichever you wanted to call it. She had been eating little amounts of her dried food little by little, to save because she had had no specific location in mind and she didn't know how long she'd be on the road. The only reason she had cooked such a big breakfast the morning after she was found by River was because he looked frail and not so well in terms of eating and she had wanted him to have as much energy as possible.

River piled more food onto his plate and ate until he felt like his stomach would burst.
"That was delicious," he sighed once he swallowed his last bite, feeling great.

Aspen agreed. "tell me about it."

at last the clattering of silver against the plates gradually quieted and then stopped completely, signaling everyone was done.

"As all of you know, we have two new additions to our loop," Mrs. Finch began once everyone was quiet. "Before dinner, I took both of them on a tour around the kitchen dorms and they've chosen who to room with."
There was excited whispering coming from a few kids who were most likely the others who lived near the unlimited snacks.
"Ms. Goldstone, Aspen will be your new roommate," the ymbryne announced. A girl a few chairs down from River gave an excited gasp and eagerly waved to Aspen.
"And Mr. Drakos, River seems to share your love of literature and will be rooming with you."

Aspen waved back at the girl who waved at her and smiled.
She turned to the rest of the table, spotting a boy sulking a bit and thought this must be River's new roomate.

"Mr. Drakos, you will be courteous to your new roommate, won't you?" Mrs. Finch asked, staring down the tall boy with glasses.
River saw him mutter a yes before staring at his plate, frowning.

Aspen looked at River, to see how he would react to his new roommates reaction.

She knew it might hurt his feelings to be roomed with someone who didn't want him there and she mentally told herself if Darius gave River and trouble, she'd have to step in or tell Mrs. Finch.

River was slightly disappointed but Darius seemed like the perfect roommate compared to the guys at the orphange. Darius also didn't seem like the type to try to beat him up in the middle of the night, so that was another plus.
Mrs. Finch nodded, satisfied. "If you're on cleaning duty tonight, then you know what to do. Everyone else, please try to not stay up too late."
The kids immediately started to get up and chat amongst themselves and River saw Aspen's roommate approach her happily. Darius reluctantly got up and went over to him, looking at River warily.

Aspen smiled as her roommate approached her.
She told herself to be calm and just try to engage in conversation, after all this girl was going to be sharing a room with, as long as she stayed here.

"Hi," River said when Darius was in front of him. "It's cool that we're roommates, right?"

Darius nodded, still looking reluctant. "Yeah, I guess…I have a pull-out mattress underneath my bed that you could use."

"Awesome," River smiled.

(you have to play my roommate too, because she's one of your characters—)

Aspen finally unengaged herself in conversation since another girl had come over to her roomate and began chatting idly about how cute one of the boys was.

Aspen walked over, towering over most of the kids at her height of six feet and to the door and exited, finding herself in the hall with her room in it, she counted doors until she came to the second door, nearest to the kitchen door and walked in.

She flung herself on her bed and put an arm over her eyes, kicking the door closed a crack behind her. she sniffled, ignoring the sting behind her eyes and sighed softly.

this place was nice, great even, but it brought on so many memories of her dad that it hurt. She also felt like an outsider in her home again, just like she had with her mother after her dad's throat cancer finally killed him.
She knew some of the kids would be glad to be her friends, maybe even all of them, but she knew she didn't really fit in with them, even if they were all peculiar.

Darius smiled slightly, looking a bit more comfortable than he was before. "Hey, uh…do you want to do a kitchen raid with me and my sister before we're sent back to our dorms? It's kind of a tradition that we do at least every month, just stealing as many snacks as we can before Mrs. Finch gets angry. She hates it when we leave absolutely nothing left in the pantries."

River grinned. "Sounds amazing. I'm in."

(oh damn my bad, misread the thing—)
(but I guess it doesn't really matter now—)

after a half an hour of silence, Janix came in and saw Aspen with her arm over her eyes, her cheeks supporting fresh tears and exited as quietly as possible.

She hurried down the hall and found River, tugging him aside gently, by the sleeve.
"Hi, im Janix, Aspen's roommate and I think she needs some cheering up, I would do it, but she knows you better than any of us." she whispered to him, so no one else would hear.

"Ok," River said before turning back to Darius. "I'll see you and Maya later."
Darius nodded and smiled at him, and River followed Janix to the room. He knocked once before opening the door.

"Hey," he said gently, walking in and sitting beside Aspen. "What's wrong?"

Aspen sniffled and turned away from him.
"I want to go home." She said quietly. "I want my dad."

She pulled herself into the fetal position as much as he long legs would allow.

River sat there awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to that. He didn't know what it was like to have a family, and he was perfectly content with staying at The Chateau forever, especially since no one would care if he was missing from modern times.

He decided to give her a side hug, hoping that silent, supportive companionship might make her feel better.

Aspen stiffened at first and then calmed, wrapping her arms around River and shifted, so it was no longer a side hug, but a hug.

She buried his face in his shoulder and tried to hide her face.