deck | early evening | sunday | june 28

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex hadn't hung around the brunch too long. Just long enough to get some free food and coffee in him before making his way back towards the dorms. He'd contemplated going back to his room and just spending the rest of the day there being a bum but the weather was warm (but not overly hot) and Alex couldn't resist sitting out on the deck for awhile. He'd found himself liking this particular for the quiet and the view. It wasn't something he got to do that often, back home. Too much time spent doing other things that he wasn't going to dwell on. He'd had a nice weekend and he didn't want to go there.

Alex took a seat, kicked his feet up and opened a bottle of water (just water) that he'd snagged from the brunch. Considering he didn't have to go to classes tomorrow, Alex felt that the complete wasting of time by sitting around doing nothing (while still being interesting, thank you) was deserved.

[the deck is an open thing. lazy sunday is lazy.]

Comments

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"You're from up there?" Alex asked. Had she ever mentioned that? Or had he forgotten? Could go either way. "Then, yeah, I'm sure that would make a difference. I'm from the midwest. We're lucky if we see stars through all the tornadoes."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine grinned a little. "I'm from North Carolina," she said dryly. "I've never even been in space, but I plan to go once I'm done here. There's a Battle School up in space, though, and that's where my brother went. Before he started coming here. No point in a battle school once the war you're fighting is over."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Battle School." It bore repeating. Now, Alex was not great at history or really up on current events but he hadn't heard of any wars or schools being established in space. "Did the whole east coast of America go buttfuck insane while I wasn't looking or is this one of those weird things that I don't tend to think too much about?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"...This is a 'I'm from the future' thing?" Valentine offered apologetically. Most people she talked with seemed to know or just took it in stride, so she wasn't really thinking of pointing that out.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Riiiight." The part of his brain that knew this sort of thing tended to be ignored. "From the future." At least he believed her. A few weeks ago, he wouldn't have.

"I'm still adjusting," he said honestly. "It's a jarring change for me. Weirdest thing I saw back home was a friend of mine thinking he could jump off a water tower and use a blanket as a parachute."

Stupid friend.

"You look good for someone from the future," he added.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Are people from the future supposed to be ugly?" Valentine couldn't help asking with a wry grin. "And how long did your friend have to stay in the hospital after that?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"It's a compliment," Alex told her dryly. "Take it and let it buoy you through all the days of your life. And, amazingly enough, he just broke a leg and separated his shoulder. Water tower wasn't that high and he's a lucky sonofabitch."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"A compliment?" Valentine asked. "Great, now I won't get any sleep tonight because I'll be too busy sighing with my heart all a'flutter. And I'm so surprised the blanket parachute didn't work. Who'd've thought?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"If you start writing my name on notebooks, I'll start avoiding because that's just too much," he quipped with a shake of his head. "To go back some, you're really the first future person I've met. For all I know, you could be a robot under all that nice looking covering."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"And if I tell you that I'm not a robot," Valentine said, "then that'll only make you think I am, because what robot would admit to it?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Can robots be trusted?" Alex asked curiously. "I could always get you wet, see if you rust."

That seemed like the easiest, most obvious solution. He hadn't gotten to watch a lot of cartoons as a kid but some things stuck with you.

[i have to wander off to sleeeeeeeeeep. night!]

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Or short circuit," Valentine pointed out and then eyed Alex's water bottle. She jutted her chin up. "Go ahead and try it and see. Then again, if I were a robot, would I encourage you to test it? Would I just be hoping you didn't call my bluff? Who knows?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"It's a conundrum that, I think, must be solved," he said, snagging his water bottle and uncapping it. "Either you're a robot or I'll get a mild version of a wet t-shirt contest."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"If I survive this," Valentine said, arching an eyebrow, "I'll have to write down a few notes. It'd be a shame if such a top-quality experiment went unrecorded."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I didn't hear anything about retaliation in there," Alex noted, shaking the water bottle back and forth in his hand but not splashing yet. "That mean you're a pacifist?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"It could," Valentine said, steadily watching Alex and keeping the grin off her face. "It could also mean that I'm just smart enough not to tell you about my retaliation."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex took a few moments to size her up, pondering various forms of retaliation. He was bigger, probably stronger but she was from the future.

And possibly a robot.

Just to test things out, he cupped his hand, poured some water into and then tossed it her way.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Which meant, of course, that she had a splash of water to wipe from her cheek, but he had a wet hand. Valentine grinned a little, wiping the back of her own hand across where the splash had gone, then shook it a little.

"That," she admitted, "is colder than I thought." Colder water did put a different spin on things a little.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"What, can't take it?" Alex asked, wiping his wet hand on his pants before just flinging the bottle this time, tossing more water in his direction with a grin.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

And that time the water hit with a little jump from Valentine, her eyes closing as she took the splash. "Just stating a fact," she said. "It's a warm night. Feels kind of nice."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"You want me to dump the rest on you?" he asked, amused. He hadn't exactly expected her to freak out but her enjoying the splashing was a little surprising. "Beginning to think you're not a robot, just a girl who likes water."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine wouldn't exactly say that she was enjoying it, especially since it seemed that she was projecting the idea that she was. "I am a fan of swimming," she offered. "You'd be hard pressed to get a robot swimming, I'd think."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Unless you're a technologically advanced robot," Alex suggested but didn't make a move to dump the rest of the water on her. "That your way of telling me no more water?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"That's my way of telling you that if I'm so technologically advanced that I can go swimming," Valentine said, because it wasn't like she was going to just say it, "then the rest of the water would be kind of superfluous."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"And what if I just want to dump the water on you?" he asked, one corner of his mouth lifting into a smile. "Maybe I think water suits you."