2nd Floor Common Room; Thursday Afternoon

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

Why Travis was venturing out when he was vomiting words over everyone and everything, he didn't know. Maybe talking to someone would make him feel less like some loner slacker than if he spent time in his room, talking to his phone or possibly slipping and trying to talk to Cate. That just did not need to happen.

So, the late afternoon hours found him in the common room, silently flipping through television. Well, he was silent until his phone dinged and a message from Kyle flashed at him.

going on a date. with a guy. advice?

"Yeah, don't get too attached because he's definitely going to find someone else and dump you if you turn your back for a day or die for five years."

Travis closed his mouth and looked a little sick at having let that slip. He was just going to wait on texting Kyle back.

[Open post]

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[stacyexperiment]

Gwen knew something was up, of course. It hadn't really stopped her from doing anything, though. Sure, when she'd gotten her shiny new eyebrow piercing this morning before class she'd told the guy exactly how much it hurt instead of pretending otherwise, but surely she could keep the big stuff under wraps, right?

"So today's weird," she said, plopping into a chair.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"You noticed that too?" Travis asked, glancing over at her once said plopping had been completed. "I should expect this kind of thing from this place but I didn't. Stupid of me."

[stacyexperiment]

"Everyone's so freaked out about this, but I don't think it's a big deal," Gwen said. "I mean, I'm wrong, but..."

She frowned.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"Haven't said anything too bad, huh?" Travis guessed. "I just let loose on a plant in my room so I'm kind of on the fence about this day."

[stacyexperiment]

"...What did the plant do to you?" Gwen wondered.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"Died," Travis told her. "So, I sympathized and then got mad because I can't seem to ever keep anything good going. Something always happens to mess it up."

[stacyexperiment]

"I know the feeling," Gwen said dryly. "Plants die, though. It's why it's pointless to have one."

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"My mom gave it to me for Christmas so I had to try," Travis replied. "I told her I'd kill it but if I didn't take it, she'd cry and I didn't want to do that to her."

His mother had been a little fragile emotionally for a few months. "So, I took it and tried and it still died because I still suck."

[stacyexperiment]

"Now I feel bad," Gwen said. "I don't think you suck, though, because you tried. It would have happened eventually, probably."

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know you're right," Travis said, shrugging. "Anyway, I tried. That's the important part. Can't stop things from dying."

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"Why is today like this?" Rapunzel asked, wandering in and looking faintly-horrorstruck as she collapsed in a chair. "What did we do to deserve this?"

So. You know. In case your day was lacking at all in melodrama, Rapunzel was here to help.

[stacyexperiment]

"Or people," Gwen said, eyes widening a bit as the mental Abort! Abort! sign began flashing.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"What do you mean?" Travis asked, raising an eyebrow. "You mean all the word vomit or is something else terrible happening?"

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"No, you're right," he said before he could stop himself. "Dying sucks. It really sucks. Don't wanna do that. Ag -- "

He slapped a hand over his mouth quickly.

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"I mean the word vomit and wow is that a great term for that," Rapunzel said, wide-eyed. "I mean, I kind of always tell the truth? But today I'm telling a lot more truth than I'd like and I really, really am not a fan of it."

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"I hate today," Rapunzel said, branching right off of that.

That was both very honest and included pretty strong language for this one, yeah.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"Revealing a lot of secrets that don't need to be out there for the world to hear?" Travis guessed. "Join the club."

[stacyexperiment]

"Wait, you too?" Gwen asked, looking horrified even as she said it.

[stacyexperiment]

"Ugh, tell me about it," Gwen said. Which... she didn't realize was probably incentive to actually tell her about it.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

Travis kept his hand over his mouth but the compulsion to be honest meant he nodded. Dammit.

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"More like being honest and hurting people's feelings," Rapunzel corrected. "Like how I'm really curious about your scar but didn't ask, because that's rude and oh my gosh, I'm still talking."

She was just going to bury her face in her hands over that one, yeah. "Sorry."

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"I told my lizard that he wasn't hiding well when he was playing hide-and-seek with our kitten," Rapunzel told her, looking deeply upset by this. "And Pascal's a chameleon, so that's like, a big deal to him, and now he won't talk to me anymore."

So yeah. Serious stuff.

[stacyexperiment]

"I'm sure he'll get over it," Gwen said. "But I don't know how chameleons think."

[stacyexperiment]

"What the hell. How does this happen to multiple people?" Gwen asked. Also a thing she probably would have asked normally.

[theheadkid.livejournal.com]

"It's okay. You're not the first person to be curious about it and at least you haven't asked to take a picture with me or something like that because that really bugs me," Travis said, wincing a bit at saying that.