hold the milk put back the sugar [OPEN]

[trollofthree]

Characters: EVERYONE
Format: ANYTHING
This log is: open a cereal party you guys
Location: Dining Hall
Summary: BREAKFAST. It happens every day. It's also a great place to run into people whilst half-asleep, half-dressed and half-everything else.

Comments

[idkmybffxiao]

"I've been looking for a way to help you! I think I figured one out." She slid the book over to him and pointed out the rules that pertained to losing a fight. In particular, she was pointing out the forfeit ruling.

"I'm going to challenge you to a fight, but instead of someone winning traditionally, we'll do something else to decide who wins and the loser forfeits. Do you think that might work?"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher looked over the rule she pointed to -- he'd read it before, but there were so many rules he probably wouldn't have remembered it right off the top of his head. "Ah...! That's a really good idea, Mei!"

This could work. He read it again, and then a third time, but he couldn't see any reason why it would be a problem.

[idkmybffxiao]

She gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yeah!" Mei pulled the book back when he was finished looking over the rule and turned a corner down to keep the page marked. She closed it.

"I guess all that's left is to challenge you, right?"

[greennotgold]

"I--I guess so, yeah," he replied. "But how would we decide which of us wins?"

[idkmybffxiao]

"Oh. Um..."

What could they use to decide? Mei thought on that for a moment before throwing out a few ideas. "Rock, Paper, Sword?" That might sound familiar to Fletcher, with only the 'scissors' part missing. "Or maybe a game or a foot race. There are a lot of things we could do!"

[greennotgold]

"Rock, paper, scissors?" he asked, confused. Maybe it had a different name in Xing? How odd.

"Ah, there are! There might be some board games around here that we could try, too."

[idkmybffxiao]

"Scissors?"

Amestris, why you getting things all wrong. Still, Mei nodded. It had to be the same thing, with only one word off. "Mmhm! Maybe the library or the dorms have games in them. I know how to play checkers, so maybe that!"

[greennotgold]

"Oh, I've played checkers. That could be fun!" He nodded. No one would get hurt, and it would still be an actual competition. "I can go ask before class starts!"

[idkmybffxiao]

"Alright!" Mei was glad she had this loophole figured out. It still remained to see if it did work, but it was worth a try. "And after we make sure you aren't going to get in trouble for not having battles, I can teach you how to fight for real!"

This was step two of her fantastic plan.

She saw no problem with it. No problem whatsoever.

[greennotgold]

"How to fight for real?" His brow furrowed in worry. "But how come? I mean, if there's a way around having to fight..."

[idkmybffxiao]

How come? What kind of question was that! Mei leapt up to stand on her seat, for once actually towering over someone because of doing so, and pulled out a dramatic point. DRAMATIC. She looked serious now, because serious had to go along with dramatic things.

"You don't want to have to rely on other people to do everything for you forever, do you? There will be times when you won't have anyone to help you! Do you really plan to go down without a fight when those times find you?!"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher cringed when she jumped up and pointed at him. He was used to being towered over, but she was making him nervous. If possible, he looked smaller than he really was right now.

"I, I, um," he stuttered. "I, um, but-- but if I have to hurt people...!" That was the one thing he just couldn't bring himself to do.

[idkmybffxiao]

Maybe the looming and the pointing wasn't the greatest plan for convincing Fletcher to not be a wimp. Mei sighed and sat back down, hoping that might put the other kid back at ease.

"Learning to defend yourself isn't about hurting people. If you do have to defend yourself, then the people you might hurt were already planning on hurting you first."

[greennotgold]

"I-I know they were, but..." He sighed and looked down at the table. "As long as I had my alchemy, I could probably stop them without hurting them. As long as there were some plants around, anyway." And there usually were plants, or something made from plants, in the general vicinity. "I don't know if I could hurt someone, even-- even if they wanted to hurt me first."

[idkmybffxiao]

"But you don't have your Alchemy right now," Mei pointed out, but after that, she relented. "It's alright, Fletcher. I guess some people aren't meant to be warriors."

[greennotgold]

Yeah, that was a sore point. Not only was he in some strange environment where he was expected to beat people up, he couldn't even use his one skill...

"I-I'm sorry. I know you wanted to help..."

[idkmybffxiao]

Mei nodded and reached to give him a pat on the shoulder.

"It'll still be alright! We figured out one loophole already! There will be others!"

[greennotgold]

"Right! At least we have a way to keep from losing tokens." Not that he had any right now anyway, but he would if he wound up winning their competition, whatever it was. And he needed some if he was going to get the rest of his brother's memories back.

He smiled up at her sincerely. "Thank you, Mei."

[idkmybffxiao]

"You're welcome! We'll teach this place not to mess with us one way or another!"

Yeeessss. Now for breakfast. Finally.

[greennotgold]

Well, if she was ready to eat, he should probably get his tray off to the front counter... He stood up and picked it up.

"See you later!"