Fourth Floor Common Room; Tuesday Evening [ 12/02 ].

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Since rehearsal (and therefor a good chunk of what he considered him being social) was canceled, Cal decided he'd emerge from the depths of his room yet again, but was feeling too lazy to venture beyond the common room. He flopped on the couch, dug under it for the remote control that still seemed to be there from yesterday, and turned on the TV.

To a program of a Yule Log. And Christmas music. And that was it.

"...Huh," Cal remarked, intelligently, head tilted. He got up, went to his room, and returned with a book in his hand.

It was almost kind of cozy.

[[ open of course! ]]

Comments

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Festive," Mac remarked as she wandered in, MacBook tucked safely under her arm.

She added a slightly belated, "Hey, Cal," after a beat.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"If only modern TVs could also generate the heat of the fire, then we'd be all set," Cal remarked.

And, matching her pause, added, "Hey, Mac. What's up?"

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure there's someone working on it," she said shrugging lightly as she sat down. It really wouldn't surprise her.

"And, not much," Mac admitted. "I got bored of being antisocial in my own room, so I came here. You?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Tuesday's usually one of my social days because of play practice," Cal said, shrugging lightly back, "but it got canceled today. But my brain is still on pseudo-social mode."

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"I really don't have a social day," she admitted, a little sheepishly. "I should probably work on that."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I have too many," Cal decided, making a face at his book. "Want to have one of mine?"

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"What days have you got going spare?" Mac asked with a little smirk.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"You can have my Thursdays at the diner," Cal offered, since Mondays in the library were debatable on the 'social' scale. "Everyone comes in. The only catch is that you have to light cheese on fire."

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"I never even realized cheese was particularly flammable," Mac admitted. "That's a big draw?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yeah," Cal grinned brightly at that. "It's Greek. Saganaki. Fried cheese, lit on fire. I do it with a blow-torch. People love it."

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"One day, I will come down and add to your social load just to get to see that," she told him.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Oh great," Cal rolled his eyes. "More work."

But it sounded like he really didn't mind too much.

[imac-kenzie.livejournal.com]

"Your own fault for making it sound so interesting," she pointed out with a little smile.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

Claire hadn't gone up a floor because it was Cal's, at least not consciously. She just wanted to check if they had better cereal than the third floor. Really.

Of course, him being there didn't entirely suck, and he got a tiny wave before she glanced at the TV. The Yule log drew her in, and she stood watching it, head cocked. "... huh. Isn't that usually a Christmas day thing?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Who cares?" Cal asked, wiggling a bit where he sat as if to get more comfortable. "It's cozy."

There was a slight pause.

"Actually, I have no idea. Good to read by, though?" That, and he was too lazy to bother changing it. He did, however, shift again, from taking over the couch with his lanky body to be sitting in it more normally, feet on the floor. It just so happened to clear up space for Claire to sit down, if she wanted, but was carefully orchestrated to look like maybe Cal just wanted to move and that was all.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

Claire grabbed a pop tart from the cabinet and claimed the seat next to Cal. It was a good seat.

"It is," she agreed, watching the flickering flame again. "Reading anything interesting, or you mean in general?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"In general," Cal said, shrugging, but he showed Claire the cover of the book (http://www.amazon.com/Negotiating-Dead-Margaret-Eleanor-Atwood/dp/B001IADLF2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228266381&sr=8-2) in case she was interested, "but this isn't bad."

His head lolled back on the couch as he looked over at her. "How'd your Thanksgiving go?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"You read Atwood?" It was clear from Claire's tone that she thought this was a good thing. "It was ... really cool, actually. For a family thing. My aunt showed up and she hasn't talked to my mom in like 20 years, and she was this awesome hippie artist. How was yours?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Haven't heard of her," Cal admitted, "but it sounded interesting. Especially if I'm going to try that whole writer thing. Mine was okay. No awesome hippie artists, but my brother bought an Atari."

There was only a second's pause before he held up a finger. "Shut up. It's the latest thing in '76. I'm surprisingly good at Pong, too."

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"I haven't read this one, but her novels are really good," Claire said. "So yeah, she knows what she's talking about with writing."

She swallowed her smirk at his description of his Thanksgiving. "Uh-huh, let me know when you're up to Ms. Pac-Man. I kick ass at that."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Ms. Pac-Man?" Cal asked, arching an eyebrow. "...What?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"You don't know the joy that is Ms. Pac-Man?" Claire said, eyes widening. "Right. 1976. Okay, so it's an arcade game, and you're this little figure that's kind of like just a head with a big mouth and a bow, 'cause she's Ms., and she eats energy pellets and these ghosts try to eat her and it's crazy fun in a dumb way."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

Cal just kind of stared at Claire for a moment.

"Did you, like, score some really ridiculously good pot in the past twenty-four hours or something?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"... not since Friday," Claire said, staring back at him. "It's not my fault you're from the video game dark ages."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"That game sounds utterly insane."