necroslacker | room 216 ; thursday afternoon

The constant rain made skateboarding hard. Sam had tried earlier this morning and had just gotten soaked and nearly killed for his troubles. Nearly skating into one of those...robot things wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done. The cyborgs had just registered as a hollow outline in his head, proving that there wasn't life, not even undead, in them.

It hadn't taken him long to pick up his board and beat feet back to the dorms. His soaked clothes had been wrung out as much as possible and then dropped into his hamper. Laundry would have to happen soon. For now, he'd found a worn pair of shorts and a t-shirt which meant he could put the laundry thing off for another day or two.

There was a record spinning on his turntable but he'd turned it low even if The Clash was really meant to be blasted.

Sam was just moving to sit down on his bed when Ashley suddenly appeared, Blackberry in hand. She went to say something but stopped while she listened. The face she made wasn't a good one, Sam could tell.

"They were overrated," Ashley decided with a frown. "Overrated and loud."

"I like them," Sam said lamely.

"Yeah, and you also like lettuce wraps," Ashley pointed out in a tone that clearly said he was crazy for that. "You're not the best judge of things."

Sam groaned and shook his head. "Something I can do for you, Ashley?"

"Been practicing?" Ashley asked, raising an eyebrow. Sam figured she already knew the answer.

"It's not like I can just draw a circle in my room here and raise the dead," Sam pointed out. So, that was a no.

"Sam." Ashley glared at him. "You're never going to be able to deal with all this power if you don't practice. God, I'm not saying raise zombies everyday but if the dead, they're gonna get kind of wary of you if you don't know what you're doing."

"I know." And he did. That was why he wasn't looking at Ashley. "I'll work on it."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Ashley said. "Remember, the Council's meeting in about a week. You're expected there."

"Yeah." Sam scratched his cheek. "I'll be there."

"Good." Ashley said crisply. Again, it looked like she might say something but then she just blinked out and Sam was left sitting on his bed and frowning at the floor.

[Door & post are open! Cut for length because I got wordy. Remember, if you're a regular human, you're not going to see Ashley unless you get close enough to Sam. So, squirrels, it's like he's just talking to the air.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I have no idea what a mongoose is," Sam admitted with a shrug. "It was the first animal name that came to my head that wasn't dog, cat or bird. And those first three things were way too common. So, I went with uncommon. Besides, I think you're more fighter than I am. I'm not much for that stuff."

Jocelyn frowned a little. It was weird sometimes remembering that not everyone here fought forever.

"Survivor then," she said. "The rats, I mean. I don't kknow about mongooses except for the whole jumping on cobras thing. Which is pretty cool."

"Yeah, I think rats have a few things on me," Sam admitted with a shrug. That sounded weird though and he shook his head. "They can keep the whiskers and tail and everything but where they're fighters and survivors, I've kind of...fallen into all of my stuff. Secrets kinda made it necessary."

"You might help that whole 'cute and adorable' goal if you had whiskers and a tail," she considered, tilting her head to contemplate it.

"What's keeping me from being cute and adorable right now?" Sam asked, rubbing his whisker free cheek. "I might not have whiskers and a tail but some people might think that's a good thing. Not you?"

"I'm mostly just curious what 'whiskers and a tail' would look like on a person," Jocelyn decided. "And I didn't make a judgement on the cute thing. You said that was a look you were going for so I figured you didn't think you were there yet."

"You're gonna have to find another person to satisfy your curiosity on that first thing." There was no way Sam was drawing or gluing whiskers and a tail on himself. Not happening.

"And I'm not really going for any look," Sam further admitted. "Really, as long as my hair's flowing free, I'll be fine."

Sam didn't mean that at all and he really didn't mean the little hair flip he did either. Having short hair meant he mostly met air and ended up laughing at his stupidity.

"I've heard this place can add things like that on its own sometimes," Jocelyn pointed out as she cracked up at the hair flippage. "Would you like me to get you some hair spray? A barrette or two?"

Sam ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it up just to make sure he hadn't jinxed himself into suddenly having long hair or something.

"You think I need it?" he asked, playing along for the fun of it. "I don't know, I'm not much for hair product. I just send to shampoo and go and let the environment do the rest. If that means pine needles in my hair, well, it's...a new fad!"

"Maybe some mousse too," she teased. "Something that'll give it more body while keeping the movement. And always pick out the pine cones."

"And if I follow all these suggestions, would that set me on the road to cute and adorable?" Sam wondered, snickering. "I'm not drawing whiskers on my face or sewing a tail on my pants so don't even suggest that."

"You could start wearing fake fur," Jocelyn suggested in lieu of the whiskers. "Then you'd be all huggable like a teddy bear."

She was seriously having this conversation, yes.

"That's assuming someone wants to hug me," Sam pointed out, thinking that the obvious problem here. His lack of fur, fake or not, wasn't a big deal, apparently. "I don't give off the huggable vibe."

"Well, you could work on that too," she teased, not disagreeing with him mostly because it wasn't exactly her place.

"I'm too lazy for that," Sam decided, waving a hand at her. "I'd have to find some fake fur, drape myself in it and go out and find someone to hug me. I don't know, I think I'd feel like...like some sort of Chuck E Cheese mascot. Worst job in the world, if you ask me. Kids are brutal."

Chuck E Cheese was completely outside her frame of reference, but what he meant was fairly clear anyway. "I think just walking about in a fake fur suit would cause spontaneous hugging," Jocelyn decided. "That wouldn't be so hard to test." She considered some more. "Or possibly someone trying to kill you. Maybe it is a bad idea."

"Walking around this place in fake fur is just gonna mean people have to deal with the stink of fake wet fur," Sam pointed out. "And if that happened, I'd blame you and people might come at you with pitchforks. Or maybe they'd just thank you for making me looks ridiculous enough to laugh at."

"Pft pitchforks," she waved off the possible threat. "Please, anyone who uses a pitchfork to fight with is totally insane anyway."

She grinned over at him. "You know, I could live with either of the outcomes."

"You're mean," Sam decided but didn't really mean. "And now I think I wouldn't even put on the fuzzy furry ears unless you did. What's good for the goose is good for the gander and you, Jocelyn, are the gander in this case. I wanna laugh at you too."

"I'm a mean male goose," Jocelyn repeated, torn between laughing and pretend glaring at him. "You so know what to say to a girl."

"...yes!" Sam said, deciding just go with it. Honestly, he hadn't been really sure what a gander was until she'd out and out told him. "You're a mean male goose and I'm eloquent. It's just how things work in this world. It's the status quo."

"Rather be a gander than a drowned rat, Mr. Eloquence," she shot back, still laughing.

"I think you're just committed to me being a rat so you won't have to admit I'm cute and adorable," Sam argued lightly. "What're you gonna do when I full dry off? Just call me a rat. That would hurt my feelings."

"Nah, then I'll call you a mongoose," Jocelyn decided.

"And I'll continue to think you're mean," Sam retorted. "So, looks like we're at an impossible impasse."

Sam smiled before adding, "Gander."

[Have a good one! And thank you!]

room 216 ; thursday afternoon

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