2nd Floor Common Room | Wednesday Afternoon

[pursuedthestars]

Jim didn't know why he'd come back from Haiti before checking to see if the island was being weird. He really didn't. He'd just come back and as soon as he'd settled down in the common room, he'd noticed his arms were now a very festive shade of green and red. At first, he thought he'd caught some rash from being in Haiti and had almost called Natalie to yell but then cooler heads had prevailed and he figured the island was being whimsical.

Jim just prayed this went away quickly because he didn't need his arms colored like he was going to be some Christmas ornament. Right now, he was ignoring it as best he could while he ate some lunch and watched some random movie on television. Every once in awhile, he tried rubbing the colors away with his hand or a napkin only to sigh when the colors remained just as vibrant as ever.

Jim rolled his eyes and went back to the movie.

[Open CR. I've got no voice so I'm home from work. Lucky me?]

Comments

[arsenicmauls]

Gert strode into the room in search of some soda, but did a double-take as she passed Jim. "Nice look," she noted. "Did you piss off a makeup artist?"

She was, somehow, unaffected today.

[pursuedthestars]

"Yes, that is exactly what I did," Jim said, voice dry. "And then I decided to keep the makeup on because it brings out my eyes!"

He made a face down at his arms again. "It's the island, I think."

[arsenicmauls]

"It does make you look dashing," Gert drawled. "But that makes more sense. Spreading Christmas spirit with tinted skintones. Personally, I'd just rather a rain of gifts."

[pursuedthestars]

"You think this place would do something that normal?" Jim asked, glancing over at her. "That wouldn't be fun. It wouldn't be quirky."

[arsenicmauls]

"Sure, why not?" she said, though actually she wasn't quite as confident as all that. "Some of the weirdness is good stuff, right?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Still weird," Jim pointed out. "My arms are red and green. I feel like I have an exotic disease."

[arsenicmauls]

"You could take this as an opportunity to troll your friends," Gert suggested. "Tell them you have three weeks to live. See how nice people are."

She made her way back from the fridge to the couch, soda in hand. "Except you're probably not the only one suffering from this, so maybe don't actually do that."

[pursuedthestars]

"It's not a bad idea for something in the future," Jim said with a shrug. "Maybe next time the island decides to paint me colors or something. Definitely not a bad idea. This mean you're not sporting any colors anywhere?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Nope," Gert said. "I guess the island's being nice to me for once. You have my sympathies."

Except she was also a little bit smug.

"Wonder how long it'll last," she mused. "If you're stuck with it till Christmas, you might need to invest in some concealer."

[justbeingbay]

"Did you pay somebody off to get out of this?" Bay wondered, waving one red-and-white arm in greeting. "And could I pay them off too?"

[arsenicmauls]

"You know, I wish I figured out that kind of life-in-Fandom-hack, but I think I actually just got lucky this time around," Gert said, grinning a little.

"It actually doesn't look terrible on you, though."

[justbeingbay]

"Thanks. Maybe I should have it tattooed on for good," Bay mused jokingly. "I could start a whole new trend."

[arsenicmauls]

"It's definitely artsy," Gert noted, tilting her head as if she was considering it. "And you'd get an amazing reaction from Kathryn, I'm pretty sure."

[justbeingbay]

"I already faked her out with a clip-on nose ring once," Bay said. "But it's been a while. Probably she'd spaz even worse about a tattoo. Maybe if my grades for the fall aren't great, it'd be a great distraction?"

[arsenicmauls]

"'Hi, Mom, I'm miles and miles away from you, my grades in these weirdly-named classes are mediocre, and I got a full-body tattoo,'" Gert recited. "'Miss you!'"

She tapped her chin. "Yeah, sounds like a fun prank."

[justbeingbay]

Bay shrugged. "I have to make my own fun," she said. "What have you been up to, anyhow? How bad was Thanksgiving here?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Could have been worse, actually," Gert said. "I didn't go to the community center thing, but I hear your roommate antagonized everyone and there were some cookies that everybody hated. I don't think you missed much."

Gert had sulked in her room with latkes, and she wasn't planning on telling anyone that.

"How was Thanksgiving in KC?"

[justbeingbay]

Bay held up her candy cane-striped arms when she spotted Jim on her common room visit. "It got you too, huh?" she asked, sounding more amused than annoyed.

[pursuedthestars]

"Yep," he said, holding up his arms. "Luckily, it's just my arms. I'd be screwed if my beautiful face got colored too."

[justbeingbay]

"See, I have a big white blob on my stomach and red and white stripes up my left leg," Bay shared. "Just the left one, though. Apparently my right leg was perfect just the way it is."

[pursuedthestars]

Jim chuckled and held up a hand as an apology once he stopped snickering.

"You really got it bad," he said, shaking his head. "Tried showering? I did and it didn't work."

[justbeingbay]

Bay tried to look irritated at the chuckle, but the attempt melted pretty fast. "Yeah, I showered," she nodded. "And used body scrub, and shaved my legs. So I'm really really clean, just funny colors."

She shrugged. "At this point I'm just hoping it's a one-day thing. Like the horses yesterday."

[pursuedthestars]

"Least you're not alone?" Jim said, shrugging a shoulder. "Maybe tomorrow we'll wake up and we'll all have beards like Santa Claus."

[justbeingbay]

"Bite your tongue," Bay groaned. "I can handle candy cane skin, but a beard would totally wreck my look."

[pursuedthestars]

"Whereas I would totally rock a beard," he said, rubbing his chin. "Maybe not a white beard but I think brown would make me look pretty awesome."