(no subject)
"Kid, you haven't scrolled for at least eight nanos."
Enzo utters a soft groan and flops sideways onto the sofa in the D-floor commons, pushing aside his TXTbook as he falls. "I can't concentrate!"
Hugh, lying sideways across an armchair and playing with a string array, gives Enzo his best sympathetic look, but it's not terribly sincere. "Dani still busy?"
"Yeah. You know. Settling in and stuff."
"Yeah. Look, it's only been a second. You've gone without seeing her longer than this before."
"I know. I just..."
"She's harder to reach, I know. It's not like she left the Supercomputer, though. She's just in another city, you can still see each other sometimes. And you said yourself her new digs are way better."
Enzo nods morosely. "It's just hard to get used to."
Hugh stretches himself nearly horizontal so that he can reach to pat Enzo on the shoulder. "Chin up, bud. At least you've got yours." He says this rather louder than strictly necessary.
Ina Jo, working with her door open as befits a moderator, sighs. She gets up from her desk, stomps out into the common area, and folds her arms, which is not a gesture calculated to discourage him.
"You," she informs Hugh, "have done nothing but pester me this entire term."
"That's not true!" he protests, pointing a finger in the air without getting up. "Sometimes I've badgered you."
"To the exclusion of studying."
Hugh blows his lips out in a dismissive raspberry. "Ahh, studying's for responsible sprites."
"You're never going to pass the finals."
"So I've heard." He doesn't look happy, though.
Ina Jo is silent for a moment.
Then: "There are other well-endowed girls in this Academy, you know. And out in the city."
"I know."
"You don't seem to be harassing them."
"Nope."
She gives him a piercing look and more silence. He raises his eyebrows back at her.
Finally, she says, "If we both graduate-this term-then I will let you escort me to the after-party."
Hugh's fingers get tangled in his string array. He sits up, or tries to; his legs over the arm of the chair make it difficult. "Seriously?"
She nods. "Out of uniform and everything."
Hugh, unable to resist a straight line, waggles his eyebrows. "How far out of uniform?"
Ina Jo leans over and pats him gently on the cheek. "That," she says, "depends on your grades."
Enzo utters a soft groan and flops sideways onto the sofa in the D-floor commons, pushing aside his TXTbook as he falls. "I can't concentrate!"
Hugh, lying sideways across an armchair and playing with a string array, gives Enzo his best sympathetic look, but it's not terribly sincere. "Dani still busy?"
"Yeah. You know. Settling in and stuff."
"Yeah. Look, it's only been a second. You've gone without seeing her longer than this before."
"I know. I just..."
"She's harder to reach, I know. It's not like she left the Supercomputer, though. She's just in another city, you can still see each other sometimes. And you said yourself her new digs are way better."
Enzo nods morosely. "It's just hard to get used to."
Hugh stretches himself nearly horizontal so that he can reach to pat Enzo on the shoulder. "Chin up, bud. At least you've got yours." He says this rather louder than strictly necessary.
Ina Jo, working with her door open as befits a moderator, sighs. She gets up from her desk, stomps out into the common area, and folds her arms, which is not a gesture calculated to discourage him.
"You," she informs Hugh, "have done nothing but pester me this entire term."
"That's not true!" he protests, pointing a finger in the air without getting up. "Sometimes I've badgered you."
"To the exclusion of studying."
Hugh blows his lips out in a dismissive raspberry. "Ahh, studying's for responsible sprites."
"You're never going to pass the finals."
"So I've heard." He doesn't look happy, though.
Ina Jo is silent for a moment.
Then: "There are other well-endowed girls in this Academy, you know. And out in the city."
"I know."
"You don't seem to be harassing them."
"Nope."
She gives him a piercing look and more silence. He raises his eyebrows back at her.
Finally, she says, "If we both graduate-this term-then I will let you escort me to the after-party."
Hugh's fingers get tangled in his string array. He sits up, or tries to; his legs over the arm of the chair make it difficult. "Seriously?"
She nods. "Out of uniform and everything."
Hugh, unable to resist a straight line, waggles his eyebrows. "How far out of uniform?"
Ina Jo leans over and pats him gently on the cheek. "That," she says, "depends on your grades."