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

[justbeingbay]

Bay shrugged. "I think it's like, if people can tell you're trying to look like a hipster, it's lame," she said. "If it's just your sense of style, it can work on some guys. Not sure about you."

[pursuedthestars]

"Well, I wouldn't want to go full on mountain man if I did end up with a beard," he said, making a face. "Maybe something nicely trimmed that'll keep my face warm and make me look good."

[justbeingbay]

"You could just grow a curly mustache," Bay suggested innocently. "Maybe wax it at the ends. Like Salvador Dali."

[pursuedthestars]

"A mustache?" Jim said, sounding skeptical. "I think I'd look...mustaches are weird looking. They make people look creepy."

[justbeingbay]

"Yeah, I might have suggested that just to see what you'd say," Bay said, and pulled a strand of hair across her face in a faux mustache. "What do you think? Is this look me?"

[pursuedthestars]

"You look like a bank robber," Jim quipped, smirking. "Like a very inept bank robber. Anyone who can't grow a mustache can't rob a bank."

[justbeingbay]

"There go my dreams of a Bonnie Parker kind of life," Bay sighed. "Pretty sexist of you, Jim."

[pursuedthestars]

"Prove me wrong and go rob a bank," Jim suggested with a smile.

[justbeingbay]

"Yeah ... so I kind of lied. Maybe I'm not a fan of the part where Bonnie Parker got shot to death," Bay said lightly. "I like to live my life on the not-a-criminal side of things."

[pursuedthestars]

"Hey, some criminal type things are kinda fun," Jim admitted with a shrug. "I stole a car when I was a kid and went joyriding. Pretty awesome."

[justbeingbay]

"Okay, so joyriding's fun," Bay conceded. "But one time I tried to help out a friend by 'borrowing'" -- air quotes -- "some money from my dad? That one didn't go over so well."

[pursuedthestars]

"Because someone found out?" Jim guessed.

[justbeingbay]

"Oh yes," Bay said, with an eyeroll. "And then it turned into a massive fight, and then I ran away to Mexico, then my friend ripped us off, then we had another massive fight -- and then I came here. So. There ended my criminal past, but I guess it worked out for the best."

With red-and-white skin.

[pursuedthestars]

"Wow." Jim hadn't actually expected all of that. "So, this is...kind of like a punishment? Like military school but a little less restrictive?"

[justbeingbay]

"Nah, more like an 'I hate Kansas City right now and boarding school is definitely not Kansas City,'" Bay said, shaking her head. "My old school was this total prepfest. I never fit in. What about you?"

They might have had the 'how did you get here' conversation before, but Bay couldn't remember it if they had.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim couldn't remember either.

"Change of scenery," he said, nodding. "Me and my mom's husband didn't really get along because he's a gigantic asshole. So, I got shipped off to hopefully mature. I think it's gone pretty well."

[justbeingbay]

"We made it this close to graduation, right?" Bay asked rhetorically. "And I only almost died a few times. Also, sorry about the asshole stepdad."

[pursuedthestars]

"Eh, the asshole can be tolerated," Jim said, shrugging. "And I can't believe we're that close to graduation. I haven't got a clue as to what I'm doing afterward."

[justbeingbay]

"I'm sending my portfolio to a bunch of art schools," Bay told him. "If I don't get in ... I dunno. I'll figure it out when it happens."

Probably she'd go work for her dad until she figured it out, but that was too depressing to mention.

She tilted her head toward him. "Seriously, no plan at all?"

[pursuedthestars]

Jim shrugged. "I'll probably think of something in the next few months."

Pike's offer was still there, if anything, though he cringed inwardly at even thinking about that.

"Male model sounds alluring."

[justbeingbay]

"Yeah, if I were about four inches taller I'd be all about the runway," Bay joked. "Sadly we can't all just be pretty faces."

[pursuedthestars]

"You can be my part time agent!" Jim decided, laughing. "Or the person I go to when I need new portraits painted of me for my porcelain walls."

Thinking big, that was Jim.