The Roof [Saturday Evening]

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

This whole crazy American holiday meant not a damn thing to Effy. She wasn't even entirely sure what it was about, to be honest, and hadn't bothered to look it up.

Thanks to that, and the fact half the dorms seemed to be elsewhere, she'd had a pretty quiet day. Not a bad thing sometimes.

But even with her complete apathy when it came to the holiday, she knew things were going on out there, and by evening had taken to making the most of the slightly cooler evening air on the roof, where she could smoke without bothering anyone, and watch the fireworks going off on the mainland in the distance.

Sure, it wasn't the most exciting way to spend an evening, but it was good enough for her right now.

[[Open like a public roof is!]]

Comments

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena found her way to the roof late on Saturday, curious about the popping noises. Fireworks, large ones, in the distance. She'd seen fireworks before once or twice, but they were still impressive.

She sat down on the roof, enjoying the brisk night air and the patterns splayed out on the sky. She nodded to the other girl, one she didn't believe she recognized, before pulling out her cigarettes.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy had glanced over at the girl when she heard noise, vaguely nodding a greeting back.

She added a mild, "Evening," a bit later. Sometimes it takes a little time for her to remember that talking and greeting someone is the sociable thing to do, and bother to make the effort.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Evening," Elena said, lighting her smoke and watching the sky.

After a few minutes, she gestured vaguely to the explosions. "This some kind of holiday?"

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"If you're American, yes," Effy answered, glancing back out at the fireworks. "Pretty, even if you're not."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Very pretty," she agreed. She must not be American, whatever that was. Probably some ethnic or religious group. At least they had nice fireworks.

"Elena," she offered. "New here."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Effy," she said in return. "Not." Well, technically, she was still kind of new, but at least less brand new than this one, she assumed.

"You're not really from around here," Effy decided after a moment. Anyone from the modern Western world usually knew of the 4th of July, and that there was something went on. So she went off a hunch. "Are you?"

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Not even remotely," Elena shook her head. "I'd wager you've never heard of where I'm from, and it'd be hard to explain how I got here. Dimensional portals and so on. Are you from here?"

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Not here here," Effy replied. "But it didn't take any dimensional crap either. Just an eight hour flight and a boring bus ride."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"The shuttle?" she asked. "We had a man in bright red pajamas asking us if any of us planned on destroying reality. I don't think he was the driver. I don't think I'd trust him to drive."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Got a guy in flowy robes asking me what dimension I was from." Which was almost as weird.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"How are you even supposed to answer that?" Elena asked, taking another drag from her cigarette. "I mean, I suppose I'm not from this one, but ... I didn't realize dimensions had names, exactly."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Pretty sure they don't." Effy's answer had been 'the third one', purely because she'd had no idea what he was on about, and she'd rather seem like a smartass than a moron for not knowing.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Helpful question, then," Elena said dryly. She watched the explosions for a few more seconds before adding, "So ... the people in charge here, they're either dim or crazy?"

That was less than reassuring.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy considered her workshops from last semester. Loki... Lazy Guy with the Alligator. "Pretty much."

"Welcome to America." Because lets face it, this school was about all Effy had experienced of the country.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena lifted a shoulder. "On the plus side, at least they won't interfere too badly with us, will they?"

Incompetent authority figures weren't usually disciplinarians.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Haven't so far," Effy told her, and shrugged back. She'd barely seen any authority figures around outside of class. "Hoping that doesn't go changing on us."

"Might want to watch out for the do-gooder tattle tale students, though." That was mostly Worf.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Narcs?" Elena asked, eyes calculating. "What sort of things do they tattle about?"

She was already watching her back, but now she'd have to be more careful not to slip.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Fire safety." Again. All Worf. Possibly limited to just her, because he was a pain.

... And because she wound him up a little.

"And smoking in all the wrong places. Possibly other things." She hadn't broken too many rules to test this out. Which was a shame.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena rolled her eyes. Not at Effy.

"Fire safety," she sighed. "They had nothing better to do? Really?"

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Apparently not," she remarked, rolling her own back. "Watch out for the guy with the forehead." And she made an illustrative 'bumpy' gesture.