Deck | Friday After Lunch

[wheeler-360.livejournal.com]

Marshall had a sheaf of printouts with him, a collection of pages on proper exercise and stretching that he'd printed out from a link sent to him by Corrine after he'd emailed her to ask her to ask Vaughn to check his email, since he hadn't gotten a response from Vaughn and figured that he probably just wasn't, y'know, as obsessive about checking it as Lucas Corrine some people he knew.

So, y'know, stretching. Between Outdoor Fitness on Mondays and Zombies on Wednesday -- and the homework for Zombies, ugh -- Marshall figured he might as well do things right, so he was trying to follow along with the print-outs as he stretched in preparation for a run. 'Trying' should be stressed; it's not like he had all that much experience, after all.

Please, someone come and help him. Or point and laugh; that works, too.

[Open deck is open! Tautological sentence is tautological!]

Comments

[necroslacker]

There were just new faces popping up everywhere. For a small island, Sam was pretty sure he hadn't seen the same person more than twice since the picnic.

"I feel like I should ask if you're a new kid since that's the question I've gotten about ten times already," Sam joked, giving Peter a little salute. "But, I won't because I have no idea if you're new or not."

[lockestheway]

"Yes, I'm a new kid," Peter said, and narrowly bit down on a in a matter of speaking. He didn't exactly want to go into his so-called alternate family right now - the very thought of it made him feel sympathy for Valentine's firebug tendencies. "And so are you, if I'm reading that right. Hey. I'm Peter Wiggin."

He offered a hand.

[necroslacker]

"Sam LaCroix," he said, taking the offered hand and giving it a shake. "And yep, I'm a new kid. I've been contemplating getting it tattooed on my forehead. But, I'd lose all conversation material so there'd just be awkward silences all around. Nice to meet you, Peter."

[lockestheway]

"At least we can commiserate about being new," Peter suggested, dropping his hand after the shaking had ended. "And all the frustrating questions that status brings. Let me guess-- the next big favorite is 'so what are you taking', or maybe 'have you seen the vice principal in the pyjamas'?"

[necroslacker]

"I've gotten the first one a couple times but the second one, not so much," Sam replied, shrugging. "And I haven't gotten 'what's your sign?' at all which is good, I guess."

The mention of the vice principal in pajamas sounded too amusing not to seek out at some point. Ramon would love a picture of that. "So, in answer to those very important questions, I got myself into a class on outdoor activities which is basically the professor's excuse to run us ragged and a class on trying not to die. Helpful, really. And no, haven't seen the pajamas wearing vice principal. Bet he's a scream, though."

[lockestheway]

"Haven't talked to him, just seen him," Peter said, easily, "But he definitely looks like a big scream, yeah."

Or psychopath calls to psychopath...

He jabbed his thumb over at Marshall. "He mentioned the exercise class," he said. "At least you didn't get the one with the zombies. I think these people watch too many vids."

[necroslacker]

Sam stopped himself from saying it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen a zombie but just barely. He was still wondering if he could actually control the holographic zombies. Questions for later.

"Yeah, I can deal with the exercise class even if I might end up having a heart attack," Sam joked idly, shrugging. "I had to put a freaking bookcase together in my class on not dying. Without instructions. I'm pretty sure there's never been a worse looking bookcase."

[lockestheway]

Peter would have totally read something in that almost-but-not talking about something, too, if he'd had either of his siblings' brands of empathy. Since he didn't, though, he didn't notice.

"'Not dying' class is about building bookcases?" Peter asked, equally idly. "Is it to teach you how to avoid falling on a nail? Because I think there's more obvious places to start."

[necroslacker]

"See, I was thinking more of avoiding death via splinter but your guess might be even better," Sam said, nodding. "Honestly, I don't know what the point was. There weren't any instructions which meant trying to put the thing together on blind faith."

And he didn't have a lot of that. "It ended up gross. Maybe this is like those Kung Fu Kid movies. I'll figure out the point when the class is over. There'll be some deep moral message."

[lockestheway]

"Ah, a morality tale," Peter said, nodding. "My favorite - they're always so bloody."

Snerk.

"So where are you from, Sam? We might as well hit all the big new kid questions, after all."

[necroslacker]

"Seattle," he provided easily. "All the way across the country. I'm missing the rain right now. I miss stepping in puddles big enough to swallow me."

Okay, no he didn't. "What about you? You from some far off land?"

To him, that meant like Europe or something. He'd change his way of thinking quickly though.

[lockestheway]

"North Carolina," Peter said. "A far better coast than yours."

His smile - which was totally fake, not that he expected Sam to notice that - invited anyone to take that as a joke. "Nowhere that fancy."

[necroslacker]

Sam took it as a joke and yes, he didn't notice the smile was fake. He wasn't that astute of an observer. Maybe in a few more years and after a lot more practice, he might notice.

"North Carolina. Never been." Seattle had been pretty much it for him until now. "Guess this means a trip up to Maryland isn't that big a deal for you, then. Just a few hops down the road and still on your far better coast. The coast where the water's green. That coast."