Second Floor Common Room, Monday Afternoon

[dressedinblood]

Anna wandered into the second floor common room on Monday afternoon in search of something to do with herself. She picked up the remote control, not really knowing what it was or what it did, and wound up turning on the TV, which gave her a bit of a start at first. She hadn't realized that flat black thing was a television. They had been substantially different when she was alive, and her family had never had one, anyway. And it was in color and the picture was so crisp and bright!

She was quickly able to figure out the remote now that she knew what it was for, and she flipped through the channels--"Good grief, how many are there?"--until she found "HOCKEY!" Her squeal of delight was possibly the happiest she'd sounded since, well. Since she was alive. And they were playing outside! How fun! "Who's playing?" she muttered to herself, squinting at the screen. "The Rangers and...who are the Flyers? Philadelphia? Well...I guess that makes sense..." The NHL couldn't possibly have stayed exactly the same for the last fifty-three years. She would have to find out more.

You could take the ghost out of Canada, but not Canada out of the ghost, it seemed.

((Open!))

Comments

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

Figuring he should actually get out a little now that he was back in town, Dave made his way down to the common room... just in time for hockey.

He could do this. He just had to deny that he didn't feel a natural love for the game deep down in his heart.

"Hi," Dave said. "Anything interesting on?"

[dressedinblood]

"They're playing hockey outside!" Anna said excitedly. "New York and Philadelphia. Philadelphia is. Really, really orange." Really orange.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"Since when do they play pro hockey outside?" Dave asked. His 1981 confusion over that overshadowed his denial of all things hockey-related. "And they weren't always that orange, were they?"

[dressedinblood]

"I don't know," Anna admitted. "They're just really orange. And they've always played hockey outside, just not, you know, in the NHL."

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I didn't realize that. I don't really follow hockey," Dave said. At least, he tried not to. "Oh, I'm sorry. I've told you about my sports preferences without even introducing myself. I'm Dave."

[dressedinblood]

"Anna," Anna said without tearing her eyes away from the screen. New York's goalie was really really good. "Yes, I'm new, before you ask. I try to keep up," or she'd tried. You know. When she was alive and had access to radios and newspapers. "But I've never seen a game like this before!" Meaning...on TV. "Are all the televisions like this here?"

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"What, flat?" Dave asked. "Most of them, I think. It's still a little weird to me, too."

[dressedinblood]

"I didn't even realize it was a television at first," Anna told him, thinking it must be okay if he hadn't known, either. "I don't know what I thought it was...really weird art, maybe?"

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"I got lucky and didn't see notice it until somebody was already watching it," Dave said. "I'm even luckier that I didn't see that until I found out I wasn't in 1980 anymore, because then I would have started wondering why we didn't have TVs like this back home."

"Wait, you know about that weird time travel thing that happens here, right? I just assumed."

[dressedinblood]

...he was from 1980? Damn. "I knew it was a sort of science fiction place, but I don't think I knew about that exactly--oh come on that was high sticking!"

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it's strange. But it's not too bad once you get used to it," Dave said. With that out of the way, he had to comment on the really obvious. "You're kind of a big hockey fan, aren't you?"

[dressedinblood]

"Well, I'm Canadian, so..." Anna trailed off. "It's just exciting, I haven't been able to follow it in forever!" Fifty-three years, to be precise.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"Oh, really? Wow, we have so many Canadians here, people might start thinking it's a spy ring!" Dave said, nervously, and then laughed even more nervously. "I'm just kidding, nobody's a spy."

[dressedinblood]

"I would be a really poor choice of spy," Anna told him. Or else a really good one... "And a high school would be a bad place for a spy ring, wouldn't it?" Why was he so nervous? Was he a spy? Maybe for the Soviets!

...yeah, she really needed to get her hands on a modern history book or something.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"You're probably right," Dave said. "While there's plenty of intelligence here, it's not exactly the kind they'd be looking for."

[dressedinblood]

Anna was suddenly kind of worried. "Is this...is this a school for geniuses or something?" Because she'd been a pretty average student, and she hadn't seen the inside of a textbook in over fifty years. And she was stuck here.

[iwishiwasbig.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no. I mean, there are geniuses here," Dave said. "But I think average students still outnumber them."

[dressedinblood]

"Oh, good," Anna said, relieved. "I would be in even more trouble--oh my god power play--okay, sorry. I would be in even more trouble then than I already am. This place is something else."

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"Lu lu lu," sang Butters, on his way into the common room, "I want some apples. Lu lu lu, you'll want some t--"

And then he spotted someone else already there, paused his song, and smiled. "Oh, h-hey, there, Anna! Did you find some shoes yet?"

[dressedinblood]

"No, Butters," Anna said, "not yet." She didn't sound too worried about it, or worried about it all, because it wasn't really a big deal, except for how her shoelessness made her stick out like a sore thumb (well, that and the dress). It wasn't like she really needed shoes, and she still wasn't even sure she'd be able to wear them. "I found hockey, though," she said with more enthusiasm, gesturing to the TV.

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"Ooh, hockey!" said Butters with a nod of approval. "I like football better myself, but just so long as it's not baseball, I'm a-okay! Are you on this floor, too, Anna, or just visiting for the hockey?"

[dressedinblood]

"No, I'm on this floor," Anna confirmed. "Room 205. I'm not much for most sports, but hockey, you know, it's kind of hard to escape. And my father really liked it."

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Neato!" Butters grinned. "Me, too! I'm in 216, with my roommate Sam. He's pretty cool, but I think sometimes he, you know, smokes the reefer. Least he listens to a lot of Pink Floyd and has a skateboard, so, you know....That's cool, that your dad likes hockey. My dad only really gets into wrastlin'."

[dressedinblood]

Anna wondered if she should explain that her father was dead, then decided she didn't want to deal with that right now. "Isn't wrestling kind of a...tiny sport?" 'Sport.'

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"Oh, well, I dunno," said Butters, frowning thoughtfully. "There's a lot of different kinds of wrastlin'. There's the fun kind...I sure like that kind, my wrastlin' name is Triceretops!"

Which, of course, called for his signiture move, fingers pointed up at the side of his head like horns, and a stomp of his foot.

"And then there's the other kind, that's more boring, but Dad's really into it, he even does it naked, like all the old Greek guys used to! He's not very good, though. He's s always gettin' pinned, and for a real long time, too."

[dressedinblood]

Anna stared at him for a moment, then concluded, "I think it's generally better to keep your clothes on."

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was some sort of subconscious Canadian radar thing Toby had going on that drew him to the common room today.

"Sweet!" he exclaimed, upon seeing what was on television. "...Since when did they play games outside?" Because Anna would know.

[dressedinblood]

"I don't know," Anna admitted, "I just turned on the television and they were. They're in a baseball stadium!" It was really neat.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Huh," Toby said, settling down on the couch. Anna's shoeless feet got a quick glance, but he didn't think too much of it. After all, he'd spent the better part of a week wandering around without shoes himself. "Gotta admit, that's pretty cool."

[ooc: ...is it wrong that I so wish this was the CBC broadcast so he could complain about the different HNiC theme?]

[dressedinblood]

Finally, someone who didn't feel the need to comment on her feet! "It is," Anna agreed. "They said there are almost fifty thousand people there!"

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Toby let out a low whistle at that number. "That's coo- oh, how was that not a goal?" he asked, giving the screen a dismayed look.

[dressedinblood]

"Both of the goalies are really good," Anna reported, "but the one for New York is better. Also there hasn't been a fight yet." So clearly it was an unsatisfactory hockey experience.

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"They keep talking about a rivalry, but I'm not really seeing it," Toby admitted. Oh, just wait until the second period, Toby. Just wait.

Something about Anna was niggling at the back of his mind as he spoke to her. He frowned, trying to puzzle it out.

[dressedinblood]

"Me either," Anna agreed. "I think they're messing with us. And how hard can it be to make ice outside in winter?"

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

"Seriously!" Toby agreed. "I mean, there's shinny rinks everywhere in Toronto during the winter."

[dressedinblood]

"You're from Toronto?" Anna asked. "I'm from Thunder Bay!" Wow, Jim hadn't been kidding when he said there were a lot of Canadians here. She sure hoped Toby didn't know any ghost stories...