(Untitled)

[mothersmucker]

Scott isn't really expecting anybody to show. If anybody does, it'll probably be students from class-- he offered 'em a whopping letter increase in their grade to bribe them, and of course the permanent esteem of their favorite professor into the bargain-- though it's possible some people might stumble in on a whim, lured by the promise of free

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[like_arrows]

I'll give you a full letter grade raise if you can tell me why I'm here. Okay, so there's something to be said for listening to the god of love read Rilke and if you don't love a little Gaiman, I'm not sure you have a soul, but these things, in my experience, tend to filled up with pretentious hipsters and teenage girls who stole their daddy's rhyming dictionary to write about the boy next door, and these things aren't mutually exclusive. There's a reason I skipped if anyone in my school tried to host a poetry slam or a gathering of any kind. But then, that reason was mostly "It's high school," so there's no real harm in turning up to see what the island's residents have to offer.

Given that no one seems to be prepared to offer up their own work, it might not even be that bad. Sitting near the back, I sip my coffee and debate whether or not even chocolate's worth it.

[alas_yorick]

Yorick slips into a chair next to Nico's while someone's in the middle of reading from The Old Man and the Sea. Seriously, The Old Man and the Sea? It's like they're trying to sabotage Scott's shindig.

"Gonna get up there, de Gallo?" he whispers.

[like_arrows]

Looking over at Yorick, I raise my brow at him. "I'm sorry, I don't have any Hemingway memorized. I think I'll be staying right here, thanks. What about you?" After his performance as Bottom -- which, not gonna lie, the name still makes me laugh -- I wouldn't miss that.

[alas_yorick]

"Lame, Nico. Lame." Yorick holds up his copy of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and grins. "Hell yes I am. This is serious business right here, life changing material."

[like_arrows]

"Damn right it is." Okay, I don't have a world class crush on Yorick these days and I don't bend easily to name-calling, but being lame kind of makes me want to join in. "I'm just not sure I could handle being follow up to that story about the dog and the cake." Seriously, nothing's going to hold a candle to that on the cute scale.

[alas_yorick]

Yorick laughs. "I'm not sure anybody can. Who the hell let kids in here? I was all ready to read from Sex With Aliens."

He lifts his ass, pulling a small soft cover from his back pocket. "If you need something, I brought this." The book is green, with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in white. "It's Beth's favorite, I have some pages marked for good excerpts."

[like_arrows]

Smiling just a little wider, I reach over to take it. It's been well-loved, that much is clear. "I'll think about it," I say, "look it over. Who's Beth?" It seems like a dangerous question. Anything about home tends to be. Never stops me asking.

[alas_yorick]

"My girlfriend from back home. My ex, I guess, even though I never got a chance to actually break it off with her," Yorick says, rubbing the back of his neck to give him the chance to look away. They've been apart for years, but he still feels guilty sometimes.

"She was in Australia when the plague hit, and me in New York."

[like_arrows]

"Oh," I say, and "I'm sorry." It seems inadequate. It is inadequate, even if he's moved on, even if Beth's an ex. I know my life sucked, but it doesn't preclude all other lives sucking. "I've never read it. I'm guessing it's not actually about motorcycles?"

[alas_yorick]

Yorick smiles a little. "Nah, it's philosophy. Basically it asks...why has technology alienated us from our world? If we can't define good, how can we live it? Deep shit like that." His smile broadens, becomes fond. "Beth was a thinker."

[like_arrows]

The way he smiles makes me smile, too, infected by it, I guess. It'd be nice to feel that way about someone, to be that sure, even after the fact. "I guess we don't have to worry so much about that first part here."

[alas_yorick]

"Yeah, it's kinda funny. That's how the world was after the plague." He looks down at the book, smacks it lightly against his thigh. "I kind of wish I'd gotten to see her again. I keep waiting for her to show up here, but no go. Haven't seen her in the island history logs, either."

And he's checked, more than once. Just in case.

[apoorupbringing]

"Please tell me you have some goth wiccan poetry to rock these people's faces with," Chase said as he dropped down to sprawl next to Nico, tucking his hands behind his head as he did so and flashing her a sideways kind of grin.

[like_arrows]

"What, like about bats and the dark secrets concealed beneath my cape?" I ask, leaning just a little to the side. "Only if you wrote one for me."

Truthfully, I'd pay good money to see Chase write something like that, if money did any good. Or if I had any.

[apoorupbringing]

"I'll write one for you right now if you'll get up and do it," Chase told her.

"But I'll have to have a peek under that cape first. For inspiration."

[like_arrows]

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you can't do that on stage," I deadpan. Leaning in, I grin, not sure if he'll take the bait or not. It'd be worth it if he did. "Do it, write me one, I'll totally get up and perform it right now."