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The Roof | Afternoon | Wednesday | December 29

It was still chilly but Bod was feeling a bit of cabin fever so going up to the roof to escape that seemed logical despite the chill. He'd just bundled up (and added a doofy hat to combat the now shorter hair) and left it at that. He was used to colder temperatures so this really wasn't all that bad. The sun was shining and it warmed him when he turned his face up towards it.

Bod didn't quite feel good but he didn't feel awful today either. Maybe it was the fresh air or maybe it was the quiet contemplation he'd been getting plenty of lately. He didn't know. He did know that classes would soon start and that he'd have even more things to occupy his time. There were plans to look for a job and plans to expand his horizons a bit via the school's clubs.

Right now, he was just standing against the roof's ledge, hands in his pockets and eyes closed.

[Open, sure]

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After nine hours in a plane, and what felt like another in a taxi, there were certain habits Effy had to indulge after dumping her bags back in her room. She had her rooftop smoking needs, and probably always would.

Considering it was technically still holiday, and not that many people seemed to be around it was a little unexpected to find anyone else up here and she gave him a brief once over as she dipped into her jacket for her fags. "Nice hat." That may or may not have been being genuine. She managed to make it difficult to tell.

It was also covering her idea of 'greeting'. Sorry Bod.

"It's keeping my head warm," he said, opening his eyes at the sound of semi familiar voice. He turned to look at her from over his shoulder. "Hullo there."

Even if they'd only spoken once, it was a... memorable, sort of conversation. Or a memorable situation, anyway. One that she was perfectly happy not to bring up now it was past.

"Least it's not covered in bobbles or some shit," she allowed. "Or I might recommend suffering the cold head." Mentally, she might be picturing it, which would explain the hint of smirk that pulled at the corners of her lips.

"Bobbles?" he repeated, looking confused and then looking up at the brim of his hat. "Wouldn't that be distracting? Or just asking for a bird to swoop down and nest there?"

He thought so but he was strange.

"I'd rather my head be warm anyway. I just got a rather extreme haircut and I'm still getting used to it."

"Winter isn't exactly prime time for extreme haircuts," Effy noted, before taking a few moments to light her cigarette and tuck the packet back into her pocket. "Didn't shave it off for a bet or something, right?" He didn't really seem the type, but she asked anyway.

Bod shook his head and leaned a hip against the side of the ledge. He pulled the hat off for her to see, revealing the close cropped hair where he'd once had floppy hair and bangs that reached his eyes.

"I just wanted a change, I suppose," he said and settled the hat back on his head. "Never done something like that just to change something?"

"Couple of tattoos." Did that count? She thought so. "Pissed my parents off no end." They might have also been done partially with that in mind. Her dad's meltdowns were simply entertaining once you'd seen enough to be used to them.

"Looks pretty good," she added as an afterthought. Better than the weird hat, that was for sure.

"Thank you," he said and smiled slightly. "I think you're the first to say that. A tattoo didn't even enter my mind."

Yet.

"I've no real need to anger my parents though since they've passed away. How many do you have, if I can ask?"

Getting a haircut was at least rather less permanent. Effy meandered a little closer before finding a spot to lean against the wall a couple of feet over from him.

"Two," she answered after a second. "And it's far too fucking cold to get them out." While not into layers, she had her limits when it was like this out.

"You were going to get one, what'd it be of?" she wondered.

"I wouldn't ask to see them," he assured her, shaking his head. "That's personal and it's not my place."

He sounded honest and genuine about that, at least. He knew it wasn't his place even if his curiosity tended to be insatiable.

"As for me..." He trailed off, looking thoughtful. "I don't know. Things like that, they're supposed to be rather personal right? Like something meaningful to you?"

Effy shrugged as she took a drag. "Knew someone got the Chinese for bicycle on his back just because he thought it looked neat."

He'd also thought it said 'hope' or some shit. He was an idiot.

Bod chuckled and tucked his hands into his pockets. "I don't know, really. I like graveyards because I grew up in one but I don't know how good a tattoo that would make. I like reading quite a lot. And I'm fairly fluent in Latin. I suppose I could get some Latin script tattooed on me somewhere."

A slight smile tugged at her lips, and for a moment she phased a little out of the conversation. When she finally came out with her, "utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant," in response, it was a little distant.

Clearly she'd picked up the important things in the one year of Latin she'd endured. She knew how to insult people by wishing them proximity to barbarians. Several thousand pounds of her parents money well spent on private education. It was likely that she'd looked that up herself, after quickly getting bored of whatever work they'd actually given her.

"Always liked the headstones with hourglasses," she continued after a second, skipping back to his earlier comment and turning her gaze away from the clouds and towards him. "Bit less cliche than angel wings or skulls or whatever." Said the girl with a skull and crossbones perpetually hanging from one of her bracelets.

"May barbarians invade your personal space," he said and laughed again, enjoying that it wasn't even forced right now. It was nice to be able to laugh again after so much anger and sadness.

"I've seen several of those, the headstones with the hourglasses," he shared, nodding. "I've seen incredibly intricate crypts and mausoleums too with architecture and detail that I don't think could be captured in a tattoo. It's sad, really, because having that on me permanently would almost make me seriously consider a tattoo.

"Be surprised what they can do," she said, tapping some ash off the rooftop. "Just avoid the places where they can't spell the name of their own store." That was never a good sign.

"I don't know if they can match this architecture," he said skeptically. "The place I lived, some of the buildings and structures were nearly two thousand years old. Architecture and masonry were different back then."

"Never going to be exactly the same. Obviously." Well, really. She smirked a little. "You aren't a hunk of rock." It was more the reminder, the symbolism, that counted.

"I know," he said and laughed. "I'd just be...specific about something like that since it was my home. I wouldn't want to get anything wrong. That placed saved me."

Still, she was right. Nothing could be exactly like the original. He shrugged.

"Would you ever get another one?"

Effy hitched another shrug in return. "Maybe. If I thought of something good." It wasn't so much about just irritating the crap out of her dad these days.

"Think most people would call us morbid." Discussing tattooing graveyard symbolism on themselves. Effy didn't really care what those people thought, but it was worth mentioning.

"It wouldn't be the first time someone's called me that," he answered, shrugging. "I've been called macabre too. Most people associate graveyard and graveyard imagery with scary things when really, they're not like that at all. It's sad since they miss out on so much."

That was one sentiment Effy could agree with. It was the sort of place that intrigued and relaxed her, rather than creeped her out.

"Live next door to one or what?" Well, the mind didn't naturally lean towards the truth of his situation. Even after so long in Fandom.

"No, I was actually raised in one," he corrected, laughing a bit. "As in I was raised by the ghosts in that graveyard and spent fifteen years living in tombs and crypts and mausoleums."

Not one who liked to show much surprise, even Effy's brows twitched up a touch at that.

"That's... unusual," she settled on. Queen of the understatement. "And, sounds kind of cold." Mausoleums and crypts weren't exactly known for their home comforts.

"I adjusted to the cold," Bod said and shrugged. It didn't tend to bother him. "Being there, it was for my own safety. There were some fairly bad people coming after me and being in the graveyard meant I was protected."

It hadn't helped his biological parents but it had helped him.

"That's where I learned Latin and got my love of graveyards from."

"Makes my year of Latin classes sound kind of unremarkable." Her preoccupation with death and other assorted creepiness was all her own and from no school's curriculum.

"Don't they have social services in your world?" She was pretty sure they'd haul any kid living in a graveyard out and into care right quickly.

"Probably," Bod answered, lifting a shoulder. "They were never an issue though. I had a guardian who did take care of me. He bought me food, clothes and set me up with tutors. I couldn't leave the graveyard but he could."

"Something change?" He was here, after all. Not exactly a graveyard. Not exactly always safe, either.

"Yes," he said and nodded. "The threat that had been hanging over me there ceased to exist. They were eliminated. Sort of."

Bod figured some of them were still alive somewhere, cloaked in shadows and hiding but they hadn't bothered him at all.

"Sort of," Effy repeated. Not really sure what that meant, but she wasn't really asking either.

"School certainly has a niche." For the truly bizarre and unbelievable.

"It's not a bad place to spend time," Bod agreed, pulling his stupid hat down a little further and sighing a bit. "It hasn't been all that kind to me as of late but I figure that happens to everyone."

Effy exhaled a wry laugh, and inclined a hint of a nod. Yeah. She got that. It'd been alright to her lately, but it wasn't like the place hadn't thrown it's fair share of shit at her over the last year and a half.

"Something specific?" She purposely made it the sort of question that could be vagued up if he didn't want to talk about it. Fuck knew she'd have fobbed someone off asking the same thing.

"I ended a relationship recently," he shared, shrugging and trying to sound casual even if it still hurt. "Before that, it was just the usual island shenanigans that seemed to be hitting me rather hard. I suppose I'm just a bit lonely."

He laughed at himself then and shook his head.

"It's funny, I'd gotten used to being alone when I was younger and then this place broke me of that. Now that I'm back to being mostly alone, it's difficult to re-adjust."

He got a sort of hummed agreement as she fiddled with her cigarette. While she wouldn't say it out loud, she got that. Effy's alone had always been self-imposed, as a safety measure, and she sometimes wondered at the wisdom of changing something that had worked for her -- and worked better if her mental state over the last few months was anything to go by.

"Was it worth it?" See, Effy was juuust fine talking about feelings provided they weren't her own. Just. Fine.

"What, the relationship?" Bod didn't know how to answer that. "It was nice to be loved. I try not to think about anything else in regards to how it ended but it was nice to be loved for a short time."

Bod didn't even care if that made him sound like a sentimental sap. It was true and he was an honest person.

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The Roof | Afternoon | Wednesday | December 29

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