Fifth Floor Common Room, Tuesday evening

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce could be out of his room without feeling the need to find a more private place with the first person he saw. It was a good feeling. A good enough feeling that Bruce was willing to actually risk messing with the television in the common room again. But first? Threats.

"If you act up on me, I will end you," Bruce whispered while kneeling in front of the set. "There's a window right there. I will throw you out of it. You will be destroyed. And then I'll buy a new TV for the floor. I can afford something that will make you look like you're a black and white set. Nobody will miss you. So behave, or you'll force me to prove that I'm serious."

Bruce settled into a seat on the sofa and turned on PBS. It worked just fine. "I'm glad we could come to this arrangement," Bruce said with a bit of a smirk.

Good job badgering the inanimate object into working, Bruce.

[OOC: Much like the writing utensil I use exclusively for writing the third vowel, this post is open.]

Comments

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Were you talking to an empty room just now?" Katniss wondered curiously, peeking around the corner. She'd ventured out of her room, actually seeking company other than Firekeeper or whatever she found in the woods -- the rain had driven her back inside after awhile, anyway. "Or is there someone else here?"

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"Technically, I was talking to an object in the empty room," Bruce said. "And I'm aware that sounds mildly crazy."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Only mildly," Katniss agreed after a moment's consideration. "I've known crazier."

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"Before or after coming here?" Bruce asked.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Both, but in different ways. Here, it tends more towards the funny kind of crazy," Katniss said after a moment's thought.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"That's been my experience, too," Bruce said. "Except that I don't find it that funny. But I give them credit for trying."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"What, you don't think spontaneously bursting into song is funny?" Katniss asked, quirking a tiny smile at him. "Even I thought it was, and I'm not exactly known for my sense of humor."

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"The rest of my class found it hilarious," Bruce said, giving a slight smirk to suggest that MAYBE it was actually funny. "I don't know if that means much, though."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"For once, I'm going to go with majority rule," Katniss decided. "Though I agree that most of the time, things that happen around here are more annoying than funny."

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"Did you do much singing that day?" Bruce asked. He was curious if Katniss's definition of annoying stuck strictly to things she had suffered through.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"I did no singing," she said, confirming that. "Which is precisely why I think it's funny. I'm sure if I had, my opinion would be different."

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"At least you're honest about it," Bruce said. "But it wasn't that bad, really. Just.... strange."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"I'll take it over the flying carnivorous fish," Katniss offered. "Or the other worlds, over summer."

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"You were part of that one too?" Bruce said. "What world did you end up on?"

Bruce talked about it almost like it wasn't a traumatic or even unpleasant. He was odd.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Silent Hill," Katniss said, shifting to a clinical tone. She acted like it wasn't traumatic, either, but she also wasn't a very skilled liar. "Yourself?"

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"Rapture. I can at least say that it must have been beautiful before it went to hell," Bruce said. "It nearly reminded me of home."

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"He told me I didn't want to know," Elphaba told Katniss. She had her droid baby in her arms. "If you learn anything, please share."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"I think he's just trying to make us guess," Katniss admitted, not quite smiling, but at least looking less severe. "Seeing what reaction he might get."

She slanted a look at the baby, and added, "...yours?" with a nod towards it. Elphaba hardly seemed...maternal, and dorms seemed like an inconvenient place for an infant, so she figured there was likely a different explanation.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Yes and no," Elphaba said. "Melena is a tik-tok, part of a class assignment. She's supposed to teach me the problems and results of unprotected sex."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"...how effective," Katniss said, barely managing to suppress a rather inelegant snort. It really did seem effective, to her, if a touch over the top. "Rather a stroke of brilliance. What class? Was it a response to last week?"

Even Katniss hadn't been entirely impervious to the hormonal surges of the week prior, no.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Ethics," Elphaba said. "And I can only imagine it was. While I originally objected, I have to agree the assignment is quite effective."