Chronicles of the Cookie Wars (attn Connor, Any)

[Sunar Chugani]

The previous night's party had been quite the success, in Sunar's opinion. He loved meeting new people, and if one of those new people was a talented artist, even better. He hoped he would be able to spend more time with the other artist in the future, discussing their craft or just doodling the sorts of silly collaborative pictures that seemed to always come about when two or more gathered together. And of course, the cookies weren't bad, either. He had offered a few to Daja, but she hadn't seemed in a very good mood that morning; he didn't know why, she'd spent all night talking with Mohinder, she should have been quite joyful. Perhaps she just hadn't gotten any sleep, that must be it.

He slid into a seat beside Connor, dropping his tray onto the table before sliding his notebook out of his bag. "I was inspired by the party," He explained, flipping towards the end and presenting the other boy a picture -- Giant gun wielding ginger bread men were fighting a valiant battle against all the teens who had attended last night's party. Connor himself was facing off against a one armed cookie soldier, and it was clear the one arm had been victim to his vicious teeth. "The great cookie battle was more interesting than class. I think maybe we had homework in English, but I'm not sure, wasn't paying enough attention."

He pushed the drawing over to his friend. "Was so much fun, glad to make the guest list, should do it again sometime." He grabbed his fork and began picking at what he thought was supposed to be a burrito. At least, that's what the menu read, but he wasn't so certain. You could never tell with cafeteria food!

[Connor Pearce]

Staring absently at the salad in front of him, well, the soggy pieces of lettuce and slightly green tomatoes that was being passed off as a salad by the school, Connor spent more time playing with it than actually eating it. Though, he couldn’t be blamed, going hungry looked the preferable option. He was a little surprised he could still feel like eating, after what seemed to be the tonne of cookies he alone devoured at last night’s party.

It had been great fun, the ‘cool’ kids of Gould and Silver hanging out and overloading on that yummy goodness. And everyone got along great, so hopefully a repeat was in order. And now it seemed he was soon going to join the ranks of the computer game playing nerds, under the guidance of Julia. He had to admit, it did sound kind of fun, his friend’s enthusiasm winning him over in the end.

The sound of a tray dropping besides him startled Connor, and he looked up to see Sunar. Grinning at his friend, he leant over to studied the drawing, before picking up the pad to take a closer look, when it was offered to him. “I don’t blame you, that’s a fierce cookie battle taking place there. That’s really good.” he complimented, once again impressed by how good his friend was at drawing. “That’s spot on for Julia. And look at me! Thanks for letting me win against the cookie.” he laughed.

Nodding at Sunar’s suggestion, he finally gave up and pushed his salad away. “Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. We should do a regular thing, the whole lot of us, every week or two. Guess we can overlook the fact that some of us are Silver.” he laughed. “How bout my home next? I’ll kick the parents out, we have a really good entertainment system. Can throw on some movies, maybe some music. How bo...that doesn’t look much better than my salad.” he commented, eyeing off Sunar’s lunch.

[Sunar Chugani]

"Thanks!" Sunar always appreciated compliments, thrived on them, even. On the one hand, he knew he was a better artist than your average Joe, but on the other he wasn't nearly as good as he wanted to be, and he spent too much time browsing other peoples DevArt accounts, which generally lead to a feeling of deep inadequacy, so positive feedback was always welcome. "I dunno, I was having a hard time, since none of my subjects were there for me to study, and I only met some of them last night. Although I may have spent some of that time staring creepily at your friends the better to draw them." He admitted.

"Haha, we should, definitely. Getting together to console one another over our singleness is a great pretext and all, but we don't need any excuse to get together, other than it's just fun." He drummed his fingers against the table, "Sure your parents'll be okay with that, letting a bunch of teenagers over without supervision? Not sure mine would go for that, honestly." He laughed. His parents could be so very traditional sometimes, although they might consider Daja supervision enough for her younger brother and his friends.

"There's supposed to be a rave tomorrow, at the Burbank," He added cautiously; he had never asked Connor to attend one of those before, wasn't entirely sure that the Irish boy would be interested in breaking into an abandoned property to smoke weed (and, in some instances, do harder drugs, though Sunar stuck with weed), but he figured he might as well ask. He would ask Ben and Eden, as well, if they were going to go, but he had more confidance that they wouldn't be turned off by the drugs.

He poked a hole in his burrito with his fork, eyeing the contents suspiciously. "It's a school lunch, of course it doesn't look good. I so should have fixed lunch, or brought cookies. Cookies would be so much more nutritious."

[Connor Pearce]

Laughing at the comment, Connor shook his head slightly, showing he far from minded. “Go ahead, feel free to stare creepily at them all you want. Especially Julia. You have my blessing.” It would make him laugh, to have his friend pull him aside and ask why the Indian guy was staring at her constantly.

“Yeah, they have no problem with that at all, they’re pretty good that way. They trust me to be responsible. And besides, my dad usually encourages that sort of thing, especially when there’s girls involved. He’s still hoping I’d find a nice young lady and switch teams, get over what he thinks is a fad.” he explained, grimacing slightly at the thought. “You should see how excited he got when he found out I was spending a lot of time with Julia. He doesn’t quite get it yet. He will, just will take him some time. But, yeah, no problems with you all coming over. It’ll be fun.”

He had heard rumours going around about the rave, but he hadn’t paid too much attention to them. It wasn’t really his usually sort of thing, not that he was particularly against drugs, people could do whatever they wanted, but he just wasn’t interested in them himself. “Nah, not my sort of thing. Have fun though.” he grinned good naturedly. “And I think Jules has got me lined up all weekend playing games.”

[Sunar Chugani]

Sunar patted Connor on the back sympathetically. "He's taken it pretty good, honestly, could be a lot worse." Although he could understand, about Connor wanting his dad's acceptance; he wasn't sure how his own parents would react if he had brought home a guy, it was really a good thing he leaned more towards girls.

"That's pretty swell of you," He beamed at the other boy, scraping the insides of his burrito out into the open to better inspect them, "It should be great. Hey, actually, I was wondering, did you get any pictures at the party? There was so much going on, I didn't see if you were taking pictures, just assumed you would be, cause I would've been, if I were you, but I'm not you, so I guess I don't really know what I would actually do if I were you, and I just really confused myself."

He shrugged. He hadn't thought Connor would want to go. Ah, well. He was pretty sure Ben would go, and if Ben went, then Eden, would, too. But even if it was just him, well, he would have fun, dancing and smoking and generally having severe sensory overload. That was really one of the best ways to spend a weekend, he thought. "Games, huh. What kind of games? Clue?" He had gotten the vibe that Connor's other friend was a big gamer, in the video and table top game sense, but he hadn't spent too much time talking with her, she'd been too wrapped up talking with the guy with the kid most of the night.

"I don't think this is actually beef," He decided, pushing the burrito innards to one side of the tray. "Definitely not going to risk eating it, might kill me, and then, since you're over here with me, they'll blame you, or maybe just ask uncomfortable questions, unless you manage to dispose of my body before anyone sees it, but that would require some skills, no offense, I can't see you pulling off a murder. Feel free to prove me wrong. Or don't. That works too. Better, in fact."

[Connor Pearce]

Sunar had a point there, it could be worse, a lot worse, with his father. He was actually coping okay with it considering. Connor had realised that it would take a while for his dad to get used to the fact that his only son, only child wouldn’t be meeting a lovely lass, get married and have a dozen kids. The great Irish dream. He couldn’t blame him for holding onto false hope. His mother, on the other hand, took it completely in her stride, nothing had changed in their relationship whatsoever. Except that once every now and then, she now asked, as discretely as always as though trying not to make it obvious to her son, if there was any nice boys at his school he liked. And he loved her for it.

“Hey, it’s no problem. In fact, my pleasure. Reckon it would be heaps of fun. Just don’t expect me to make any cookies, you’ll have to make do with packaged ones.” he teased. It took him a moment to follow along with his friend, but by the end, he was nodding along in agreement. “Well, if I was me, I would take photos, and since I am me, I did. Does that make sense?” he laughed. “I prefer the sneaky shots. Julia busted me once, and Iz did too, so obviously not that successful sneaky shots, but sneaky shots all the same. I like taking photos when no one is aware they’re being taken, it’s often a lot more natural that way. And they’ve turned out real good, started developing them last night. Probably should have sticked to a digital camera for the cookie party, but I love an excuse to play around in my dark room.” he laughed. “I’ll bring a heap in on Monday for you if you like. Or you can pop over on the weekend if you like, check them out.” he shrugged.

“Oh, haven’t played Clue in ages. I was so bad at that game.” Connor grinned at the memory. “No, more of the computer, online, beat people up and wander Middle Earth sort of deal. I think I would be worse at it than I am at Clue, guess I’d find out soon enough.” he speculated. But, with Julia, no matter how bad he sucked at the game, her excitement at playing a Lord Of The Rings game alone would be enough to make it fun.

Laughing at Sunar’s sudden, odd topic change to murder, Connor had to nod. “Yeah, you’re right. I couldn’t pull off a murder. Have never done it before. Yes sirree, I have never killed anyone before.” he said, making his voice just a little bit louder for a moment, glancing around as if on edge. “Good idea, stay clear of the mystery meat.”

[Sunar Chugani]

"That's fine," Sunar waved off Connor's packaged cookie concerns, "Junk food is junk food. Fresh baked is good and all, but I'll take what I can get. Maybe I'll stop by the store, see if I can find my mystery girl again." He hadn't talked to Tae since the dance, which was very unfortunate, since he'd had a great time talking her into just showing up with him in her jeans and sneakers, and then pigging out on snack foods. He was probably so full of preservatives now that he would never die.

"Oh, yeah, I just might. Don't be too surprised when I show up on your doorstep, demanding pictures." He laughed. If he could get himself up on Sunday after the rave, he would definitely swing by Connor's, see what he had finished. Might have to wait a bit, though, he knew the Pearce family were Catholic, they might actually attend Mass and everything, so no use showing up while they were away. Mr. Pearce, though, he'd be so disappointed Sunar wasn't a girl. The Hindi boy was pretty sure there were some girls who were disappointed Connor was never going to ask them out, too, but he figured the Irish boy was well aware of that.

"Can't be that hard, can it? You just mash buttons, least ways, that's what I do when I do the battledome in Neopets, can't be too much different." He reasoned. Some people might think up strategies for winning, paying attention to things like equipment and potions and levels, but while he paid some heed to those things (because it was pretty much impossible to win even against the Chia Clown otherwise), but it was too much effort for the most part.

He prodded the mystery meat in question, "So you're saying you know what the school is feeding us? And it's definitely not that person you didn't murder? That's good to know, real helpful, definitely narrows down the options."

[Connor Pearce]

“Mystery girl, eh?” Connor grinned, leaning forward a little as he prepared to grill Sunar. Seeing as how he currently had nothing in the way of a love life himself, he found it fair to help aka interfere with the love lives of his friends. “So, come on, spill. Is she just Mystery Girl, or do you know her name and are holding out on me? You know you have to tell me all you know now, or I’ll never let up. I’m a persistent bugger that way. You like this girl?”

He could just imagine his parents reaction if Sunar turned up unannounced. His mother would be great, immediately inviting the Indian him and offering him every possible food substance that was in the place, all while his father stared him down. It would be hilarious. “Go ahead, it’ll be fun. And gives me an excuse to rock up suddenly at your place one day, demanding to see your pictures.”

“I have no idea.” Connor shrugged. It had been a very long time since he had played any kind of video game, and he was sure the kind of ones Julia played were a lot more involved than any he had been used to. “Last game I played was Sonic The Hedgehog on my Sega. I think that World of Warcraft, and that Lord Of The Rings one she’s after might be a bit different to that. Though, Sonic rocked.”

“Yeah, definitely not the person I didn’t murder.” Connor nodded vigorously, a serious expression on his face as he leaned over further, studying Sunar’s lunch. “Not that it is, cause it’s not, but, might be better to just leave it.” he decided, pushing the food away before a laugh escaped him.

[Sunar Chugani]

"Mystery girl!" Sunar repeated, nodding seriously. "The one I invited to the dance the evening of. She was a little reluctant, since she didn't have a dress and I was already on the way, but it was good fun," He savored the memory. He had been surprised she had actually agreed to go with him, but pleased, very pleased. It had definitley been an adventure, the kind of story he could tell over and over again and people would wonder if he was making it up and wish they were that exciting that they would go last minute to a dance they weren't dressed for. "Her name is Taegan, she goes to Silver, I met her at the grocery store when I was trying to stock up on junk food before the dance, and she was fun, anyone who agrees to show up to a dance in jeans clearly must be awesome. Have to try and find her again, for sure."

He wasn't sure about liking her, though; he hadn't asked her out of attraction, he had asked her on a whim, and while he'd had a good time, he wasn't really sure if he liked her in a romantic way, or just wanted to hang out more with the girl brave enough to take him up on his offer. He liked people, there were plenty of people he found physically attractive, but he had no idea who he liked romantically. It didn't bother him, though, he figured when he liked someone for real, he would know, and for now it would just get in the way of having fun.

"Hey, you know you're always invited over." The Hindi boy invited, "We can play cool games, unlike your non-girlfriend, you know, like Halo, or Rock Band. We'll play it really loud, too, annoy Daja."

He grinned at Connor's explanation, "If you say not to eat it, I'll take your word for it. Clearly you would know."

[Connor Pearce]

“Teagan huh? I can ask Julia about her, get the scoop.” Connor laughed. “Never know, they might be friends, and Julia can invite her to our next hang out. I’d like to meet her, put in a good word for you and all.” he grinned. “Honest. I’ll say you’re a nice guy, real sweet. That’s what girls like, right? Or, is it better if I say you’re a badass? I don’t know, girls are too confusing.” he laughed with a shrug. “That’s why I’ll let you deal with all of that. I’ll just be your wingman.”

“Rock Band? Never played it before, but always wanted too. Would be fun.” he admitted. “Reckon I could rock out.” Grinning, he propped up his feet on the seat opposite, stretching lightly. “Though, I admit, you will probably beat me terribly at it, and Halo, but, I will be a good loser, I promise. I’ll try my best not to throw food at you and everything!”

He laughed at the comment on annoying Sunar’s sister. There seemed to be a lot of that going around these days, siblings annoying siblings. It did sound a lot of fun. “I wish I had a sister, or even a brother. It sounds like fun, annoying them.” he chuckled.