fandomhighdorms | Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

Tired of studying and quite frankly bored out of his wits, Archie decides to brave the second floor common room and try and meet people.

"Oh . . . hello."

"Oh, hey Archie!" Cally waves a wrench. "What's up? Haven't seen you since you totally dumped me." She giggles a little, and goes back to work on the joystick, though she still glances up occassionally to indicate she's paying attention to him.

Archie shakes his head and takes a seat on the couch. "Apparently you know me." He laughs nervously and tugs at the collar of his jacket. "I regret that I can't return the favor. Memory issues, you see."

He pauses to watch what she's doing for a while, utterly perplexed. "I'm sorry -- dumped you?"

"Memory issues? That sucks." Cally pouts a little and shakes the wrench in his general direction. "You're not just saying that to get out of guilting about it, are you?"

"Guilting about what?" Archie scratches the bridge of his nose in confusion. "And what do you mean by 'dumped'?"

"You really don't remember, do you?" Cally scratches the back of her nose with the wrench, smudging it with engine grease, and harumphs. "I mean, like, you and me were all cuddly, and then you were all 'I gotta be a gentleman' and run off with a stupider girl, d'uh." Cally laughs. "Though that's really a non-issue, now."

Archie chuckles. "No, I'm afraid I honestly don't remember, and I don't even remember your name. Seems a shame to have forgotten, though." He quirks an eyebrow. "A non-issue?"

"Well, non-issue, cause if you had stuck with me, I might not have ended up with the best guy on capus." She smiles, and then quickly adds "Erm, no offense. I mean, you're nice, Archie... but you're not Anders nice." She nods.

"Anders?" He scratches his nose again. "I don't recall ever meeting anyone by that name, so I've no idea how nice he may or may not be, but," he chuckles, "I'll take your word for it, I suppose. And, you know, I still don't know your name, much less what it is this project of yours is."

"Oh, hi." Cally sets down her wrench and offers her hand for shaking. "I'm Cally. And this joystick and assorted wiring is the control set for a Mark Two Viper."

Archie shakes Cally's hand and frowns as it comes away with grease on it. "Cally, hello. Nice to meet you -- again, I suppose. Archie Kennedy, though you clearly already know that."

He stares at the assortment of wiring and components in utter confusion, wondering how in the world one could use it to control anything. "This Mark Two Viper -- is this a ship of some kind?"

"Yep." Cally picks up the wrench and goes back to tightening the lugnuts on the joystick base. "Mark Two is an old school fighter ship from the Colonial Fleet. Great engines, manueverability, and the wiring is just great." Cally smiles.

"Though, if I remember our conversations correctly, all of this is gonna be whizzing right over your head, memory problems or not."

Archie takes off his hat and runs his fingers through his hair. "Most likely, yes," he says, clutching his head with both hands. "The mechanics of steering a ship, to me, involve a great deal of manpower and rehearsed coordination . . . and yet, this seems far more complicated. I'm sorry -- I may just be in your way. I'll be more than happy to leave you alone if I'm distracting you from your work."

"Naw, I could probably do this in my sleep, if I felt like waking up with muscle cramps and oil all over my sheets. You're not a distraction at all." Cally smiles and sets down the wrench.

"So, what happened to cause the memory loss? Or," she giggles "don't you remember?"

Archie chuckles. "I do remember, actually. But you likely wouldn't believe me if I told you. ~~And you wouldn't believe that you can take it from me on good authority that this Anders of yours wouldn't appreciate oil all over the sheets.~~"

"Try me. I've had a friend possessed by an alien tapeworm, almost got eaten by a plant, and bribed Gremlins with moldy sugar cookies. Right now, I'll believe almost anything."

Archie laughs again. "The things I missed while I was in locker 327, I see! And there's your answer, by the way, or at least part of it."

"Oh, geeze, the locker." Cally pats Archie on the back, leaving a few grease smudge behind. "I'm sorry. I lost a friend to that locker for a whole week, once."

"Yes." Archie grimaces, blissfully oblivious to the grease on his uniform jacket. "Apparently I was gone for two weeks, according to Doctor Wilson, though it ended up being months to me. As for my memory . . . shall we just say that what I went through while I was in the locker left me in serious doubt as to the veracity of my current reality?"

"Sure." Cally nods. "Assuming you can tell me what veracity means."

If Archie knew what facepalming was, he might be doing that right now. Not facepalming of the "are you this dense" variety, but rather facepalming of the "I keep forgetting about that timeline gap" variety.

Actually, he may be mentally doing that regardless of his ignorance of the term.

"The truth. Apologies. The truth of my current reality."

"Oh, so, you're not sure whether or not you're real? Or if maybe we're all just products of the dream of some dog, or maybe, like, living in the imagination of an autistic kid staring into a snowglobe?"

Cally giggles. "Well, that's kinda silly, really."

Archie looks mildly hurt at this.

"It's not my own existence that I'm questioning."

Cally bites her lip when she realizes she's been a bit harsh.

"Erm, what do you mean, then?"

"What I mean," he says, his tone a bit curt, "is that I have no idea if some of my memories are true or false. While I was in the locker, I thought I was seeing my future, and it would . . . seem to contradict what I know of myself."

Archie cuts himself off there, still suspecting Cally of making fun of him.

Cally frowns, and sets down the joystick assembly on the ground.

"Come on," she waves at Archie "over here." She smiles tentatively. "Sounds like you could use a hug."

Archie continues to eye her warily ~~as the mun's brain breaks into a million screaming pieces~~. "From you?" He edges cautiously toward Cally. "I fail to see how this will make things any better, but very well."

Cally hugs Archie as comfortingly as possible while still being very, very platonic.

"Not make things better, neccessarily, but I hope it can make you feel better for at least a little bit."

She lets go and pulls back. "Sorry about bein' a little mean about it. Sounds like it was really a loud of really not fun."

Archie accepts the hug rather stiffly, though he doesn't hug Cally back. "Thank you, I suppose. And no, it was not fun at all. You have no idea. Of course, with the amount of work I have to do now to catch up, I almost wish I had stayed dead."

Cally's eyes go wide. "Dead? You died?" Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she just hugs him again.

"I'm soooo sorry, Archie. Forgive me for poking fun? I had no idea."

"Neither did I, but it appears that I did in fact die," Archie replies dryly, and gives Cally a quizzical look. "You're assuming a terrible lot of familiarity on our part, are you not?"

Cally lets go of Archies and scoots a little away from him on the couch.

"Sorry, yeah." She sniffs, and rubs her eyes. "I guess that's a bit too much, given everything." She smiles, sullenly. "Sorry."

Memory or no memory, Archie can't help feeling bad at the look on Cally's face.

"I'm terribly sorry," he offers tentatively. "I didn't mean to be cross with you. It's just . . . well, it's terribly disconcerting to know that people seem to know me, and I can't return the favor."

"It's okay." Cally smiles a bit more genuinely. "I can only imagine how weird it is for you." She shrugs, and pokes a bit at the joystick. "You're more than welcome to get to know me better, if you want. So, like, you're familiar again, I mean."

Archie smiles weakly and kicks off his boots, then sits crosslegged on the couch. "Thank you for the offer. I'm not sure how advisable it is, but thank you nonetheless. I've been so busy trying to catch up with my studies that I've not had time to interact with many people."

He falls silent for a few minutes, watching Cally work, and finally asks, "So -- do tell me a bit about yourself? I can tell you a bit of my own story in return, if you wish."

Archie smiles weakly and kicks off his boots, then sits crosslegged on the couch. "Thank you for the offer. I'm not sure how advisable it is, but thank you nonetheless. I've been so busy trying to catch up with my studies that I've not had time to interact with many people."

He falls silent for a few minutes, watching Cally work, and finally asks, "So -- do tell me a bit about yourself? I can tell you a bit of my own story in return, if you wish."

"Well, what's there to tell, really?" She cracks her knuckles and picks up the joystick and goes back to fixing it up. "I'm from Oasis, which is on Caprica. My dad used to be part of the Colonial Fleet, and my Mom's a teacher."

She fiddles with the joystick while she thinks. "I like toast, chocolate, and the color orange. I read a lot, and there's only one thing I like more than fiddling with machinery." She smiles and looks over at Archie. "Anything more specific you'd like to know?"

"I've never heard of Caprica, or the Colonial Fleet," says Archie absently. "Are you one of the people here who isn't from this world? And you've made me curious now, so I must know what it is that you like more than this, erm . . . 'fiddling with machinery' of yours."

~~He's not smiling mischievously at all.~~

"Well, Anders, of course." She smiles and sets down the joystick, having finished with the assembly. "He's the bestest guy ever. You should meet him, I'm sure you'd get along well together." She nods.

Archie chuckles. "Well, he certainly seems to make you happy, if the way you're smiling is any indication. What makes you so sure we'd get along, though?"

"Well, you're two of the politest guys I know. Like, maybe the only other really, truly polite guy on campus is Bridge, you know. And Maybe Cam. John. Annie... Okay, so, all the guys I know seem to get along really well, cause they're all so cool and stuff, so I figure you'd get along fine, I think. Maybe."

Archie furrows his brow. "The name Cam sounds vaguely familiar somehow. The rest, though, I don't know." He sighs. "Perhaps, when I'm mentally ready for it, I'd be willing to meet this Anders of yours, and your other friends. I don't believe today is that day, though."

Cally shrugs. "Don't want to rush you or anything, so that's totally okay. I just want you to get comfortable and happy with people again, that's all. You're a nice guy, Archie. You deserve to be all up with people and stuff."

Archie smiles and stands up, stretching. "Thank you, Cally, I do appreciate it. And I should probably get back to studying. Seems a damned shame, this long break and I've not enjoyed a moment of it with all my catch-up work."

"Awww, that's no fun. Didn't even enjoy this? Not ever a little?" Cally juts out her lip and give Archie the patented Cally sad-puppy eyes.

Not even dead nineteenth-century sailors are immune to the power of the patented Cally sad-puppy eyes. Archie's mouth falls open and his face immediately crumbles into an expression of dismay.

"Perhaps I misspoke . . . you have been quite pleasant company. Please, forgive my rudeness, Cally. I assure you I had no intention of implying that you were anything less than cordial ~~even though you were for a while there~~."

Cally smiles and hops to her feet. "Just playin' with you. Wasn't trying to imply you hurt me or anything, just kinda sad that you've not had more fun." She wipes her hands off on her shirt then waves.

"Try not to let the homework get you too down. And stop by #201 anytime, okay? I'm totally your friend whenever you need one."

Archie smiles at Cally as he puts his hat on and reaches over to pat her on the shoulder. "I'll remember that. Thank you, Cally -- have a good night."

"You too, Archie. You too." Cally then plops back down on the couch and stares at the joystick for a few moments, before just grabbing the crate and hauling it back to her room.

Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

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