Haunted House College AU

[worthallthis]

While the army is covering tuition, it doesn't cover living expenses, and temporary work on-campus is better than temporary work off-campus. So when the drama department managed to raise funds for a haunted house in one of the frat houses, James put on his best "I can kill you with my pinky" look, a shabby suit (shabby is really all he has, so, lucky), and his growing out hair loose around his face and "interviewed" for a spot as in-character for a creepy fucky as possible.

He had to refuse the first offer to be one of the ghosts inside. Dropping the character and donning a slightly sheepish smile, "Really not that keen on jumping out an' scaring people. Especially the ones that get punchy when they're scared." When the interviewer looked at his resume, saw his army tour (the whole "captured and tortured" thing isn't on there, but it doesn't have to be), she just nodded and stuck him at introductions and taking tickets. The pay isn't great, but it'll cover meals for a while.

So he shows up for opening night, gets his face done all pale with stage-make up and his suit a little spruced up with a very fancy shirt underneath from the costume department, and takes in the faces of the other people who'd been brought on.

Comments

[worthallthis]

He's still here, chatting with one of the guys doing clean-up, helping put the podium he'd been using back inside. He absolutely doesn't look like he had a panic attack a couple hours ago, it's impossible to tell there was anything unpleasant about the night, at all.

He gives her a little salute as she approaches, with the empty beer bottle, that he meets her halfway with, as he's carting it back to the clean-up in the break room to trash with the rest. "How'd the rest of the night go?"

[shadowsran]

"It was fine! Good, normal everything all around." Not her chief concern in the slightest, but then the demeanor he has going answers a lot of her question before she can even voice it. "Everything was good out here too, then-?"

[worthallthis]

"Had one rowdy drunk guy, but I handled it," James says with a shrug and a smile. He tosses the empty bottle into the recycling bag, from four feet away, and makes the mark easily. Pauses then to claim a final slice of pizza (always hungry, these days), and finishes for her benefit, "Everybody else seemed to enjoy the show, and was pretty nice to boot."

[shadowsran]

Thank christ. Taken only marginally aback by the cool, it's primarily relief stilling her. Good shot. "Good. Great-! That's a relief. Just wanted to check and see, you know, the night on the whole wasn't bad. It's always good to get new people in, and I'd hate to see somebody have a - bad first experience and bail. Worth coming back, you think?"

[worthallthis]

"As long as they're paying me," he promises with half a smile. Then, in the interest of honesty, he adds, "We'll see about next time there's one of these things. Ain't just that, anyway, though I doubt you're the only person with a mind for practical jokes." This whole night has been kind of exhausting. While he loves people still, even after everything, interacting with them for this long, having to keep a character, had been tiring.

[shadowsran]

"Well if you're around again, I'd make sure no jokes happened. They're a rowdy bunch, but if I brought it up - not you, specifically, just the idea - they'd probably be a lot better about it." There's little to sell him on, of course. He'll make his own call. Just a shame, were a resignation to do with a poor decision not made on his part.

"And the drunk wasn't too bad, right-?" He's unmarred, so it must have been handled well. "No issues, is all?"

[worthallthis]

"Don't worry about it, seriously." How many times is he gonna say that? He's grouchy about it, behind his amiable front, but half the grouch is at himself, not her. "Really, it's okay." He doesn't want to ruin anybody's fun with his issues. If it's something they'd normally do, it's really more likely to be him that's the problem than them.

He finishes off the last pizza slice, dusts off his hands from the garlic crumbs. "I'm heading out. Where are you staying?" It's dark out, he probably ought to make sure she gets home okay.

[shadowsran]

At least once more, Mr. Barnes.

"That complex a block off campus?" There's little question he knows it in passing, considering the number of students living there, but considerable-if-brief surprise he'd ask. "It's a pretty safe walk? Well lit, no spooky off-roads. You?"

[worthallthis]

Harhar. He's even seen that movie.

Safe or not: "That's on my way back to my apartment. I'll walk ya." Might as well, since they're going in the same direction. Mostly. He usually goes around that block to the south, but it's almost the same distance.

[shadowsran]

"You don't have to," she says, not because she believes it's any effort - it really is a safe walk - but it's the polite thing to say anyway. That she's already angling toward the door ought to be signal enough. It can be made into a nice gesture, anyway. "I think the machine's fixed at the convenience store, if you're a slushie guy I could at least sweeten the pot."

Company'll be nice.

[worthallthis]

"I am a guy who will eat anything you put in front of him, almost, so I won't turn down a slushie." He won't turn down free food. His appetite makes keeping his kitchen stocked pretty hard. He follows her out, getting the front door of the place for her, by dint of having a longer stride. Just barely. She's got long legs, under that skirt.

[shadowsran]

"Noted!"

A phrase which here means if she ever finds out where he lives (ideally less than an hour's walk), he would hypothetically never be safe from dropped-off leftovers. "You'll get a treat for the company, then." And manners - there's an exaggerated little faux-curtsey as she steps outside. "Thanks." And they're off.

"Any other club-type deals you're into, or nah?" She tries, edging gently into more normal conversation like before.

[worthallthis]

"I'm usually too busy working on doing homework for a lot of socializing," he admits with a shrug, falling in beside her. That's only half-true, the other half being that he's so bad at crowds these days, and apparently people do stupid things and he gets panic attacks. No need to get back into that, though. "This is kind of a treat. Lots more fun than bagging groceries."

[shadowsran]

"Makes sense, I get it. Engineering stuff must be kind of a nightmare." She doesn't know anyone else in the program, but she's had acquaintances in adjacent courses and glances at discussion pieces have made her head spin. Not for her.

"There are more tame ones, you really should keep an ear out if you liked even a little of this. There's usually booths every time a new play's starting up, most of the holidays - the Valentine mixers are great, I hear. Can't carry arrows anymore, but people are great sports about it." Nothing she's taken part in personally, but she hears plenty of reminiscing. That's where the risk raises re: walking in on someone getting oral. She's mostly into the concept of the costuming, the dispensing of flowers.

"Here just for school, or are you sticking around after you graduate?"

[worthallthis]

Arrows. They used to carry arrows? For Valentine's Day? He snorts a little laugh as he realizes they were literally playing Cupid.

"Don't know yet. It depends on whether I can get a job locally or not. I can't afford grad school, so a BA will have to be enough." He's certainly not going back into the army. And he'd really rather not bag groceries forever. "What about you? You're about as far from home as I am."

[shadowsran]

The laugh is encouraging, there's a little more energy about her. At the return question, she shrugs.

"Not going home. I'm not sure about here, I figure I'll go wherever...feels right? Where work takes me, or work a few extra years doing whatever pays if I jump cities with a friend or something." Work to live, as they say, and not the reverse. She'll follow funds if she must, or a passion if she stumbles upon it. "I like it here fine, so I don't worry too much about it. Real snow is worth near anything."

[worthallthis]

Sounds like him, minus the jump-cities-with-a-friend thing. Gotta have friends who actually know you, for that.

He focuses on her, rather than him. That's easier. "You're going to have to graduate eventually, miss can't-pick-a-major," he reminds her. "What's it between, anyway? I'm sure you've got some preferences, right?"

[shadowsran]

It isn't as though she has one booked, herself - but it stands to reason she could, conceivably, by graduation. Illustration of how the wind may carry her is all.

Grinning and shrugging off that too-familiar sentiment, she huffs thought. "Natural resources and conservation, arts, maybe culinary." Broad strokes. There's a great deal she likes, and keeping eggs in all of those baskets while keeping a hold on that scholarship has been a convoluted, hilarious ride. More weird classes than she thought possible. "There's a lot to like, you know? I don't know how anybody picks anything. 'Useless major' jokes are one per person, by the way, so be careful before you blow your one freebie."

[worthallthis]

"Hey, no judgment here," he says, holding up a hand. The metal one has the glove on it again, and the simple motion of holding a hand up doesn't make any mechanical noises. It's only when he's actually exerting himself that it makes itself more obvious. "Conservation is a great career path. And if I thought I could cook worth a damn, I'd love a culinary degree." He subsists on a lot of simple, by-the-box meals, fast food (the gazillion calories in those are perfect), and frozen pizzas. And lots of sandwiches. "I didn't even know they had those. But everybody's gotta eat, right?"

[shadowsran]

That's not what she'd braced herself for, so a little tension visibly seeps out of her shoulders. The silence is noted, but without comment. Hardly her business.

"A lot of culinary courses are learning, y'know? I think there's a line there - you have stuff learning about how you make food, just in general and like, the science to it, and then they've got at least a couple classes for trying to turn that into restaurant-stuff. You pick a lot up, and since most people our age live out of the mess hall it looks pretty impressive." Some still cling to old habits, but many are hitting just such an age where they do appreciate the occasional real, actual meal from a kitchen.

"That's the fun in biding your time! You see a lot of weird niche things. Tons to pick up. Anything fun for a minor, or just hammering away at your main stuff?"

[worthallthis]

"Hadn't planned on one. Army's paying my tuition, and I'm not sure they'd keep covering if I took extra time for a minor," he admits. "Maybe if I found something where the classes overlapped a little." Math, maybe, though that sounds pretty ridiculous-- math majors are mostly genius kids and statistics nerds.

[shadowsran]

"Or even just some extras, when you have free time? I keep a list, actually, I'll nudge it at you sometime. Stuff that isn't for academics, just volunteer, or extra credits if you do art courses. No degree or anything for it, but it's fun on the side." It gets her a lot of networking, and a lot of varied experiences. A good time. "I'd go nuts with all those numbers on my plate and nothing to break it up a little, no idea how you do it."

[worthallthis]

He laughs a little, to hide the pang. Art courses. Fuck. Definitely not going there. "Misty. I am not an artist. Not at all." He hesitates, then, against his better judgment, says, "But if you find me a cooking class I can fit into my schedule. I'll think about it."

Everybody needs to eat, after all.

[shadowsran]

"I don't mean just like, oil-and-canvas art, y'know!" She laughs along with him, waving a hand. "Arts. Multiple. Digital design, music, theater, the classic hands-on stuff, it's a big umbrella." And a fascinating one, she would like to stress. Fun.

"Careful, because I'm gonna find one. You'll be locked in, at that point. Couldn't go and make a stranger go to the trouble for nothin'."

[worthallthis]

Not even a single bit of that sounds like something he'd want to really spend a lot of time on. (Maybe musical. Maybe. But he doubts his metal hand is capable of the kind of fine control needed for a guitar, and he's never been that great at singing. And as he recalls from high school, choir and band things require extra money for supplies and field trips and shit, anyway.)

But cooking classes. That he can probably manage. "Not sure what you're getting out of this scenario, but I'll be getting food," he chuckles at her.