Fourth Floor Common Room [Monday evening]

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

Olive was in slightly better spirits tonight than she had been last night. Seventeen and melodramatic or not, a little distance helped things, and the whole Rhiannon...everything was sort of funny in hindsight. Most of it, anyway.

Besides, things were better when she had a project. The last time Rhi had pissed her off, it'd been a lot worse, and she'd bought herself a new wardrobe and sewn red felt As onto everything. This was a little less drastic -- as it was officially October, Olive had decided she ought to get to work on her Halloween costume.

So Monday night found her on the floor with several shades of blue and green tulle stacked neatly beside her as she carefully stitched each layer into a length of blue ribbon. It would be a painstaking process, yes, but she'd found a pattern she liked on Etsy and aside from this piece, the costume should be kind of easy. Mmm, a distracting project and laziness? Right up Olive's alley.

The TV was on in the background, presently on Jeopardy. "Who is Groucho Marx?"

"Who is Jack Benny?"

"You're an idiot," Olive told the woman on the television, who'd just lost four hundred dollars.

[omg open CR is open. Let us all mod Jeopardy questions, though that's a real one from tonight!]

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[pursuedthestars]

After drinking in his room for a little while, Jim had gotten bored and had ventured out in search of something to do. The common rooms were usually a good bet for that. His floor's was empty but hey, there was someone in this floor's common room.

"Such negativity," Jim said, having caught the tail end of the insult. "I'm offended."

And a little drunk but he was pretty good at covering that up.

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"By how dumb this idiot is on TV, and how she might still make more money than my college education will cost?" Olive asked, sucking on the tip of her thumb where she'd just pricked it.

[pursuedthestars]

"Yup," Jim said, going with it. He flopped down on the couch and tucked his arm behind his head. "Why's she an idiot anyway? She do anything hilarious? Did I miss something that was funny? Damn."

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"No, she's just...wrong," Olive said, shaking her head and tying off her stitch. "I'd be way better at this. I'm offended by the fact that I'm twenty years younger and like a billion times smarter but I'm not on TV winning money."

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Who is that woman?" Jessica said, playing along as soon as she realized what was on the TV. "Did I win?"

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"You won like, a high five," Olive sighed, disdainful. "Not like, four hundred dollars. Congratulations."

[pursuedthestars]

"Sounds like a personal problem," he said, kicking his feet up and chuckling a bit. "Anyone can get on something like this."

He waved a hand at the television and shook his head. "Just gotta try. You never try, you never succeed. You never succeed, you will never be a rich Egg."

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"Are you playing life coach again?" Olive asked, raising an eyebrow at him as she selected another piece of tulle.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Too bad it wasn't a Daily Double," Jessica said, putting her hand up for the high five. "I would have wagered a fistbump."

[pursuedthestars]

"Everyone around here seems to need it," he said, rubbing his eyes with a fist and lolling his head over towards her. "What're you doing anyway? Knitting?"

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"Sewing," she corrected, eyeing him. He was acting a little odd, even for...you know, Jim standards. "Halloween's only thirty days away and if I'm gonna look awesome, I have to start now."

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"And then gotten double respect knuckles when you got it right?" Olive asked, sticking her needle in her mouth to free up her hand in order to respect that high five.

[pursuedthestars]

"Halloween?" Jim repeated, brow furrowing while his intoxicated mind tried to figure out that reference. "Oh right, the holiday where people dress up as something they will never be and wander around from house to house, hoping for candy."

He'd read about that. Or seen it in a movie. "Yeah, never did that. Boring."

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

The slapping sound was the sound of victory. "Getting it right means that Trebek has to give them, which makes it worth double," Jessica said. "So what's with the sewing? Making anything fancy?"

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

Olive kind of stared. "You get free candy, and you get to dress up." And even if the bustier days were behind her, Olive did love to look fabulous. "How is that boring? Are you feeling okay?"

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"The fanciest of Halloween costumes," Olive assured her. "It involves a tutu. I'm not sure you can get fancier than that. Unless you add a crown."

Everything was fancier with a crown. Fact.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Hey, guy whose name I eventually figured out from our class together. How's it going?" Jessica asked.

[pursuedthestars]

"What's the big deal about dressing up?" asked Jim, ignoring her last question. "I'm pretty comfortable with how I look. I don't need to put on a mask and a cape or whatever's popular these days. If I want candy, I'll get it."

He was feeling a little cynical tonight.

[pursuedthestars]

"Heya," Jim said, smiling easily over at her. "If that's true, what's my name?"

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

Yeah, officially sort of worried. Olive waved her ribbon-and-tulle concoction at him, frowning. "I'm going to wear like, a tank top and tiny shorts under this and I'll be one of the conservative girls. That's one thing to appreciate about dressing up. Plus, it's fun to be someone you're not, for a little bit."

She spoke from experience.

[pursuedthestars]

"Conservative girls?" Jim repeated, giving her a once over and letting that very nice mental image of her in shorts and a tank top entertain him for a second or two. "What's that? Some rock band that was dead when I finally came into the world?"

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Through paying attention and deductive reasoning, I deem you Jim," Jessica said.

[dirtiest-skank.livejournal.com]

"...no, I just mean I'll be more covered up than the ballsier ones," Olive said, cocking her head at him. "Where is your head tonight?"

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Wow. I haven't even thought about Halloween yet," Jessica said. "You are much better at planning this stuff than me."

[pursuedthestars]

Jim pointed to his head and tried to fix her with a concerned look. "It's right here. No one can miss this face, it's just too memorable. Where's your head?"