Lawn of the Dorms | Late, Late, Late Night (2am EST)

[death_and_pies]

It was a quiet night. Just after midnight, a steady rain had started falling, drenching the island quickly and showing no sign of slowing. A few hours later, at 2am, the peace of the night was broken when the fire alarm started blaring. It would shrilly blare, stop and then repeat the same shrill blare two seconds later. And it was not going to

Comments

[rocksthescarf]

Chuck wasn't about to fall for the whole "rush out like an idiot and be forced to stand outside in the cold" fire drill thing twice, thank you. When the alarm went off he had the foresight to grab an umbrella and a joint and was now enjoying the comforts of both as he stood outside.

That's right. The rest of you could suck it.

[a_demosthenes]

"Nice foresight," Valentine commented, sidling up to talk to Chuck, which was in no way related to the fact that he had an umbrella, really.

Okay, it was. And it seemed less work than convincing Turtle to give her one for free.

[rocksthescarf]

"Thank you. I've been victim of the fire drills before. Just be thankful it's warm out," Chuck said. Yeah, he totally knew why she was talking to him right now. Didn't mean he was going to offer to share his umbrella right away.

[a_demosthenes]

But if she got close enough, he wouldn't have to offer; he'd be sharing it by proximity alone. Nice thing about umbrellas were that they covered an area, albeit small, but still, a certain amount of space that Valentine didn't seem to have reservations about quietly invading.

"You think it's definitely a drill, then, and not something burning down for real?"

[rocksthescarf]

"Don't you think if there was a real fire one of our classmates with a hero complex would have done something about it by now?" Chuck asked, taking a step closer to Valentine so she could get more dry space.

[a_demosthenes]

"Maybe they're just slow to the uptake," Valentine said, stepping in to close what little distance was left until she could be taking almost full advantage of the umbrella and brushed a little bit of her sopping hair out of her eyes with a smile. "Okay, then, since there's not a rush of half the student body ordering people to stay calm or rushing in to save kittens, you think someone pulled the alarm, or it's just a show of authoritative sadism?"

[rocksthescarf]

"Both," Chuck said, smirking. "Deadpool probably pulled the alarm."

[a_demosthenes]

Valentine snorted a little. "Good," she said. "I'd hate to think our administrators were letting a chance like this get away."

[rocksthescarf]

"Oh they never miss a chance to torture us," Chuck said. "It's something you learn quickly."

[a_demosthenes]

"Now don't give them too much credit," Valentine said. "From the looks of things, it's this place itself more often than not. But it's good, knowing that the people in charge are still sadistic, manipulative bastards. It makes me feel more at home."

[rocksthescarf]

Chuck snickered. "That is kind of comforting, isn't it?"

Except back in New York Chuck was the sadistic, manipulative bastard in charge.

[a_demosthenes]

"It is, actually," Valentine said with a smirk.

It helped assure her that one of the many facets of the reason she was here wasn't simply to have her get rusty and stop being...well, her.

"No matter where you go: death, taxes, and manipulation."

[rocksthescarf]

"Wise words. And a lesson I think some people here need to learn," Chuck said. "I swear some of these people hopped right out of a Saturday morning cartoon with their cheer and optimism."

[a_demosthenes]

"Aw, Chuck," Valentine glanced over at him with a smirk. "You mean you're not full of all that cheer and optimism? I've been wrong about you all this time."

[rocksthescarf]

"I'm sorry you've been disillusioned," Chuck said. "I hope this won't change things between us."

[a_demosthenes]

"I...I don't know," Valentine sighed with a note of distress, hand to her head. "It's all just been so...skewed. I...I'll need some time, Chuck, to come to terms with all this."