The Roof; Sunday Evening.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

There were two reasons why Cal was currently sitting on the roof of the building, slowly drawing in the smoke and tobacco and cancer of a menthol cigarette. The first had to do with the tiny little albino monkeys, two of which were currently still occasionally hopping up on his knees, chittering something, and tilting their heads at him before scattered off for a little longer. Not the monkeys themselves; for the most part, they hadn't actually surprised Cal too much when he woke up and saw them. When he woke up and saw them, however, they had gotten a hold of the pages he had typed up yesterday and planned to burn today. What pages weren't being wrinkled or torn or nibbled on were being carefully thrown around, like ticker tape at a parade, or, as Cal dreaded, being carted off to God knows where. So his morning and his afternoon had been spent trying to reclaim what was his from their little primate clutches and send them to the originally intended fate, hoping that whatever was slipped out of the room, pillaged away by the monkeys, was nothing too incriminating.

The second reason was the residual, remaining effects of the contents of the pages in the first place. He'd hoped that writing about it and then sleeping on it would have allowed it to fade, but it didn't. Not even after chasing monkeys. And so he gave in, went outside, and had a smoke, and then decided that the view was too nice and he was too lazy, to bother with doing anything else.


[[ damn, I'm all poetical and whatnot tonight. Either way, open roof is open! ]]

Comments

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hinata, mildly hopeful that the roof would be empty again, ventured up the stairs with a notebook in her arms and being careful not to step on the monkey that had been following her for most of the day.

She paused upon seeing that no, the roof wasn't empty. Should she leave?

"G-Good evening," she said quietly.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal took a moment to let out a long, drawn-out breath, a sigh that slowly expelled a string of smoke from clutching to his lungs before responding.

"Hey."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

A response like that was better than none at all, and she took a few silent steps over and away from the door, as she placed the name to the voice. "H-Have you been w-well, Cal-san?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal responded with a shrug, tapping a little ash into the makeshift tray he'd fashioned out of a lid of some sorts. "Okay, I guess," he answered; his head tilted as he glanced over. "How about you? ...Hinata, right?"

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She bobbed her head. "Y-Yes, it's Hinata. And I've b-been well enough. It's q-quiet here."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Here on the roof?" Cal smiled a little. "Yeah. I like it."

He nodded his head toward the monkeys chasing each other nearby, and then took another deep drag. "Even they seemed to have quieted down since they got up here."

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I w-was here yesterday," she said, smiling at the monkeys. "V-Very peaceful. A-And I'm sure that the m-monkeys are just getting t-tired. H-Have they slept at all?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

No; not since they've been in my company, anyway. They're energy seems boundless, though. Probably because they're so little."

And, he believed, a little evil.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I p-predict that when they go d-down, they'll go down h-hard." Hinata offered him a smile. "M-Much like small c-children."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

The comparison got a light chuckle. "Or drunks," Cal added.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

"I w-wouldn't really know," she admitted. "N-Not much experience with e-either."

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

There may have been a guy-nod in her direction, if she caught it.

[shyest-eyes.livejournal.com]

She nodded her head in greeting. "G-Good evening."

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Hey. Talking. He could do that.

"Evening. Name's Jack. You new?" It was not asked in an unfriendly manner.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack needed some fresh air. The kind of air that can't be gotten from opening a window or walking outside. Air with perspective.

Air that didn't have monkeys. Oh. He wasn't alone up here. ...aside from the albino primate things.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

The guy who'd wandered up got himself a little lift of Cal's chin in greeting, somewhere in between tapping ashes and taking another long drag.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Hey. How's things? Jack replied with his own guy-nod.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal, still not as well versed on the complexity of the sort of male language driven only by gestures, didn't quite follow the unspoken question and just wondered if this guy suffered from some sort of neck tic or something.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack tucked his chin a bit, and raised an eyebrow.

The hell, this guy speak a different dialect? Fine. Be verbal about it. "Hey."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Hey."

Guy speak or not, Cal didn't really speak much at all without prompting.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Can I get one?" Jack asked, pantomiming smoking a cigarette.

Jack could talk without prompting. About anything. It's a gift.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Uhhh, it's kind of my last pack," Cal said, with a bit of apology and a glance toward Jack that implored him for some understanding. He was making more money now that he was working at the diner, sure, but his cigarettes were kind of a precious commodity.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Not a problem," Jack said, with a 'hands off' gesture close to 'don't shoot!' or the like. "Gotta make 'em last."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal sucked in a breath, glad he understood. "...Exactly."

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"I hear you," Jack said, nodding.

[yay weird pings! Though, if you've completely and thoroughly ruined Jack's chance with Hinata, I will curse you to the Hell of 80s Mullets. XDD The Chinese have a lot of hells. :P ]