5th Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

[puppy_fair]

No more school for a few weeks could only mean one thing!

... Well, okay, for Zack it meant a few things. He had options, after all. He could take on some missions back home, but he was kind of iffy about that sort of thing after all of the excitement there last week. Or perhaps he could sneak back to at least take in the tree ceremony in Midgar, but even that kind of seemed like a bad idea right now. There were always things going on around here, though. Even if the relative peace and quiet seemed to be boring him out of his skull.

Clearly, on a Saturday morning with two weeks free from worry about classes, the best thing to do was to find himself a comfy place to sit, grab the remote control, and turn the TV to the most action-packed, violent show he could possibly find.

... Even if it meant that even the action movies were Christmas-themed right now.

[Open! Zack and I are totally in the same boat right now, sans mission trauma, so I'll be about all day being booored at you.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

Really, there was only so long that Bod could read before he got restless and antsy and thoughtful. When he felt those feelings creeping up, he knew he had to move so he was out of his room and down the hall fairly quickly.

Finding someone in his floor's common room was a relief because that meant it wouldn't be quiet. He wandered in and gave the other boy a brief wave.

"I'm glad to see not everyone's left for the break," he said by way of greeting.

[puppy_fair]

Zack offered Bod a little smile, and a slightly bigger wave.

"There's not really anywhere to go," he admitted, shrugging a bit. "I mean, I could head back home for the festival they have in the capital city, but that's a long way to go, just to watch somebody plug in a tree with lights on it."

Welcome to the common room, Bod. Zack was going to ramble at you, now.

"We don't actually have Christmas back home, anyhow. So here is fine!"

And safer!

"... So long as it isn't too quiet, I guess."

[therewaslife]

Rambling was actually more than welcome. It meant it wasn't quiet, he didn't think too much and maybe he stopped trying to brush hair that he didn't have anymore out of his eyes.

"I wasn't really exposed to Christmas back home either," he said, retrieving a water bottle (and making sure not to look at the pudding cups) from the refrigerator. "I mean, I spent time learning about it but we never celebrated. Here is fine for me as well."

[puppy_fair]

Zack leaned over the couch to watch him, gloriously ADHD as usual and temporarily forgetting entirely about the movie.

"Just so long as it doesn't get too boring, huh? I wasn't here last year, so I don't even really know if the school puts anything on for the people who are sticking around, like they did on that holiday with all of the turkey."

So, so much turkey...

[therewaslife]

"I...think there was something," Bod said, coming back to the couches and taking a careful seat. "My recall's not very good right now. I do think there was a dinner, at least."

He laughed though, at Zack's description of Thanksgiving.

"Did you eat a lot of turkey? I did. I don't think I ate for days afterward."

[puppy_fair]

"I wasn't here for the holiday itself," Zack admitted, "but the fraternity got lots of the leftovers, so I was kind of drowning in it."

He'd attempted to make turkey cookies.

Which he hadn't intended to eat, himself, no.

"I'm actually a sort-of vegetarian, so I mostly stuck to the potatoes and carrots and corn and stuff."

[therewaslife]

Sort of vegetarian?" Bod repeated, sipping his water. "Is that difficult? I've met some people that are very passionate about that practice."

[puppy_fair]

"I just kinda lost my appetite for meat," Zack admitted, shrugging. "It's not some kind of animal rights thing, or anything like that. I kinda just... gag on pepperoni."

And other such dead-animal things. Thank you, Wishverse. And again, for hitting him last AU weekend. That was nice.

"It... can kind of be difficult. I mean, back home they don't really cater to vegetarians so much. But then, fresh veggies are pretty scarce. Around here? Way easier. There's always something in the cafeteria."

[therewaslife]

"I admire your determination," Bod said sincerely. "I don't think I could do it. When I was younger, I lived off of junk food brought by my guardian. The only time I got something healthy was when one of my tutors would make stew."

And it was awful but Bod did know it was supposedly healthy.

[intraspective]

... Ino told herself that she was not being clingy of Zack by wandering in after him some time later. To prove that she wasn't clinging... she'd... she'd... go for a walk later.

Or something.

At the moment, she was going to go and curl up on that couch beside him. Her Zack, yes. "What're we watchin'?"

[puppy_fair]

"Some movie about some guy who has to do some stuff," Zack replied, nodding sagely as he directed a grin towards Ino. "I'm not entirely certain, but it's set on Christmas Eve."

He'd managed to catch the important parts before his attention had wandered, see?

"And lots of stuff blows up!"

So he'd caught all of the really important bits!

[intraspective]

"Action flick then," she said, smiling back. "Doesn't surprise me with you."

But, to be fair, she'd probably not have been surprised if he'd managed to get caught up in watching a romantic comedy either. Puppies were puppies and some movies where shiny no matter what they were about.

[puppy_fair]

"Is there much about me that surprises you anymore?"

He had to know! His pride as roomie-and-boyfriend depended on it!

And if the answer was no, then he was going to have to do something drastic and awesome, in order to keep things from getting stale!

[intraspective]

Ino was silent for a moment, clearly considering the question thoughtfully rather than simply dismissing it out of hand.

"Yes," she settled on. "But not this movie choice."

[puppy_fair]

Ooh, hey. And now Zack was going to have to pry.

... Which probably was one of those things that wasn't terribly surprising, huh?

"What kind of things, then? I'm only watching this movie because everything else was about dancing snowmen and stuff."

[intraspective]

Ino hummed, looking a bit impish. "I don't know," she mused. "That's not the sort of information I ought to be givin' out for free."

[puppy_fair]

"What's the cost for that kind of thing? I can totally pay in kisses," Zack decided, laughing a bit. "I have lots of those in supply, you know."

[intraspective]

"I do like kisses," she said, leaning up to see if he'd let her steal one. "But dependin' on the answer, the number of kisses required changes, you know."

[therewaslife]

"Hullo, Ino," Bod said gently, nodding. "I haven't seen you in awhile."

[intraspective]

"Nooo," she said, glancing over at him to smile and say something about that, and got derailed at the sight of him. "Your hair."

What had he done to it?

[therewaslife]

"Oh, I...cut it," he said and reached up to rub at the short hair near his ear. "It's a bit of a change."

[intraspective]

"It looks--good," she said hastily. "Makes you look a bit older but that ain't no bad thing."

[therewaslife]

"Thank you," he said and brushed his fingers through his newly short hair. "It was a bit of an impulsive thing. I did it today, just a few short hours ago."

[intraspective]

"Just in the mood for it?" she asked curiously. And, "you wanna sit with me?"

Keep her company!

Because, clearly, her Zack wasn't enough of that.

[therewaslife]

"I needed a change," he said and, to answer her second question, he got up and moved to sit with her. It was good to be around people right now. He needed it.

"How are you doing?" he asked once he'd settled down beside her.