2nd Floor Common room, Wednesday After Clubs

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine was partaking his his usual, 'hello world, I'm bored and attention deficit' pastime.
He was lounging on the common room couch, bowl of popcorn in his lap, and flipping through the channels without rhyme or reason.
His important discovery of the day was that sometimes, the dialog would piece itself together in new and amusing ways.
"Oh, Pete, I never realized that--" someone on a soap opera would croon until he switched the channel, "--the female hyena was often confused for the male because of their pseudo--" click "Oscar Mayer Weiner! Everyone would be in love with me!"
He was having a grand old time.

(Open for all of your common roomly needs!)

Comments

[the_merriest]

Rikku was passing by and couldn't help but hear the ... almost-conversations coming from the teevee thing.

She poked her head in the doorway. "What in the world are you watching!?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"A little bit of everything," Valentine replied, flipping back to the soap opera only to discover, to his woe, that Pete was leaving the hyena because of the horrible Oscar Mayer love triangle that he had just discovered. He looked over his shoulder with a smirk. "Television is more interesting this way."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle might have closed the store a little bit early to make it back before the rain got too bad, and came into the common room still shaking the rain off of her, and went immediately to the cupboards to look for some hot cocoa to make. She sneezed a little before asking, "Anything good on, Weird Mask Guy Number Three?"

[the_merriest]

Rikku giggled. "It is! This looks fun." She hopped down on the couch. "Mind if I join you?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine shrugged and changed the channel again for good measure. "It's a free couch, feel free to take a seat."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine clicked the channel and shrugged. "It's common knowledge that there's never anything good on the television on rainy days, Crazy Shin Kicking Girl Number One. But it all seems more interesting if you mash it together a bit."

[the_merriest]

Rikku sniffed. "That doesn't sound very sociable." And then looked at him again. "Hey, wait! I remember you!"

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly and replying, "Yes... we've met. Several times. And happen to be in a class together. You gave me explosives."

[the_merriest]

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and you have big flashy light-balls. That's not what I meant."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Okaaaaay," Valentine set the remote on the coffee table and turned to look at Rikku. "What did you mean, then?"

[the_merriest]

Rikku folded her arms. "It's been a long day and you're being a jerk, so never mind."

After a few moments - and despite what she had just said - she continued. "I meant that I forgot about you being a chicken, that's all."

[dark_slippy_thing]

This was about the point where the palm of Valentine's hand met his forehead. "I had very nearly managed to forget about that as well. I've had a fear of that Gods class ever since."

[the_merriest]

"I don't really like his class because the gods I know of - well, god - he was evil and destroying people and everyone was mean to us because of him. And we had to kill him, and that sucked. And Ares keeps saying that means he was a false god but how are you supposed to know that, anyway? I mean if they all say they are, how can you tell who's fake and who's not?"

She humphed again. "But you being a chicken, that was cute."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"It has been my experience," Valentine said thoughtfully, "that almost everyone goes around from time to time giving people the impression that they are something that they really are not." He crossed his arms and frowns slightly. "For example, I am neither cute, nor do I make a good chicken."

[the_merriest]

"So, wait. Does that mean all gods are fake gods? Like, is Ares fake, maybe?" She considered. "And that's not true. You were an adorable chicken. You squeaked."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine huffed perhaps a little. "If he can turn people into livestock, I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. And I did not squeak. I loudly protested the indignity of being turned into a common barnyard animal."

[the_merriest]

"It was that bow-thing he was using that changed people, wasn't it? Magic items don't make you a god." She giggled. "And you did squeak. And then you nuzzled my fingers. It was way cute."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Close enough to a god for me, I was the chicken," Valentine mumbled, taking a moment to pout before resuming his argument with a firey passion. "Valentines are not cute. We are not meant to be cute. I assure you, anything that you might think you know about me from my time spent as a chicken is pure misconception."

[the_merriest]

Rikku shrugged. "I don't know anything about you or Valentines. I'm just saying, the baby chicken was adorable. It settled in for head-scritchings and made little peep-noises." She sighed. "I would totally have taken it home with me."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine looked at Rikku long and hard before idly shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth and speaking around it. "You do realize," he stated evenly, "that the chicken was me, and that you'd have been keeping a student as a pet?"

[the_merriest]

"Well, I didn't, did I?" Rikku announced haughtily. "I meant, you know. If you were a normal baby chicken. Or whatever. That would be the cutest thing ever, to just wake up to a baby chicken pecking your nose."

She considered. "Well, unless your roommate has a cat."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine's shudder was rather obvious. "I don't think that if I was a theoretical normal baby chicken, I would much appreciate being eaten by large and hungry feline jaws. Even if I am a certified lion tamer, now."

[the_merriest]

"That's why it wouldn't be a good idea. I mean, that and you being a student and probably not wanting to stay a chicken." Which was a shame, really. "Honestly? A lion tamer?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

The momentary mental image of a weetiny chicken holding a chair and a whip to a lion made Valentine smirk a little. "Well, I haven't tamed any actual lions, but my partner taught me using a skipping rope for ethics class, so if I ever get eaten by a lion, I'll be blaming him." He paused. "I imagine the same rules apply to little chickens and big cats."

[the_merriest]

"I don't think you count as a real lion tamer until you've done it." She shrugged. "And my roommate's cat isn't vicious. But then, I'm not a chicken."