(no subject)
What do you do with yourself when -- well, when things take a turn you're not expecting; Riley goes with that, on days when he's feeling charitable.
It's a question that Riley Poole is endeavoring to answer.
He wiped every last trace of Chloe out of his apartment and took it all back to Milliways; he tried to take Coyote's advice, but he knows how that went over. He went to a bar, a couple of times, once alone and twice with friends, but getting drunk wasn't much of an answer. All it left him with was a headache and dry mouth, and that same shitty feeling.
Abigail is surprisingly sympathetic. Ben lets him kick his ass at Call of Duty (not that it's that hard to do), and watches him closely when he thinks Riley doesn't notice. Riley's sisters want him to 'talk about it, Riley, God,' and his mom makes him take extra helpings of cookies after he has dinner at the house. They all mean well.
"There are other fish in the sea, Riley," "Time is the greatest healer of all, Riley," "Everything happens for a reason, Riley," "maybe it's for the best, Riley" -- yeah. Great. Helpful. Real helpful. Thank you, world, for those wonderful thoughts. If you don't mind, Riley's just going to go throw himself off a cliff now. Jesus. Is that stuff really supposed to help? Riley wonders. Really?
He throws himself into his work.
Except, oh right, he doesn't have work. So he starts writing code for fun; he starts programming for kicks. He starts spending more money. Clothes, security system components, a couple of computers and systems to tinker with, upgrades for the townhouse, stereo system, rare imports -- always needed a thousand dollar suit or two, right?
His accountant wants to set up a corporation (wink) on an island in the Grand Caymans (wink wink) for tax purposes (wink wink nudge); Riley says, "What am I, Tony Soprano or something?" and Steve smiles and assures him that he is, in fact, dead serious.
He tinkers and he builds; he goes out with friends at night and drops in on Ben and Abigail over at Sickeningly Sweet Mansion every once in a while. He goes to Egypt to help open the new exhibit at the Cairo Museum with Ben and Abigail, and he makes a few other trips like that, too, three over the course of four months; those are pretty cool. He builds up his reservoirs of sarcasm and tries to get back to normal as much as possible, but the problem is that life isn't normal right now.
Milliways doesn't show, and doesn't show. After a while, Riley quits looking.
It's a question that Riley Poole is endeavoring to answer.
He wiped every last trace of Chloe out of his apartment and took it all back to Milliways; he tried to take Coyote's advice, but he knows how that went over. He went to a bar, a couple of times, once alone and twice with friends, but getting drunk wasn't much of an answer. All it left him with was a headache and dry mouth, and that same shitty feeling.
Abigail is surprisingly sympathetic. Ben lets him kick his ass at Call of Duty (not that it's that hard to do), and watches him closely when he thinks Riley doesn't notice. Riley's sisters want him to 'talk about it, Riley, God,' and his mom makes him take extra helpings of cookies after he has dinner at the house. They all mean well.
"There are other fish in the sea, Riley," "Time is the greatest healer of all, Riley," "Everything happens for a reason, Riley," "maybe it's for the best, Riley" -- yeah. Great. Helpful. Real helpful. Thank you, world, for those wonderful thoughts. If you don't mind, Riley's just going to go throw himself off a cliff now. Jesus. Is that stuff really supposed to help? Riley wonders. Really?
He throws himself into his work.
Except, oh right, he doesn't have work. So he starts writing code for fun; he starts programming for kicks. He starts spending more money. Clothes, security system components, a couple of computers and systems to tinker with, upgrades for the townhouse, stereo system, rare imports -- always needed a thousand dollar suit or two, right?
His accountant wants to set up a corporation (wink) on an island in the Grand Caymans (wink wink) for tax purposes (wink wink nudge); Riley says, "What am I, Tony Soprano or something?" and Steve smiles and assures him that he is, in fact, dead serious.
He tinkers and he builds; he goes out with friends at night and drops in on Ben and Abigail over at Sickeningly Sweet Mansion every once in a while. He goes to Egypt to help open the new exhibit at the Cairo Museum with Ben and Abigail, and he makes a few other trips like that, too, three over the course of four months; those are pretty cool. He builds up his reservoirs of sarcasm and tries to get back to normal as much as possible, but the problem is that life isn't normal right now.
Milliways doesn't show, and doesn't show. After a while, Riley quits looking.