11/03/1934

[justgrinandbear]

WHO:  Riff+Charlie
WHERE: Entertainment District, in town
WHEN: Afternoon
WHY: Buddy times between roommates. And oh look, thunderclouds...

Comments

[noonesfavor]

Nearby, someone else was having a perfect time being on his own. Strolling around town had become a favorite pasttime of Charlie's, but autumn was in full swing now and the leaves that had gathered in the gutters and along the streets were bright and perfect-looking, which only added to the appeal. Occaisionally, he went out of his way to step on a crunchy looking one, hands in his pockets and whistling all the while. He thought of those who'd stayed behind closed doors to study that afternoon and pitied them with a grin on his face.

Breathing in, he could almost smell the electricity in the air. The rain-bearing clouds above had been content to pass indecisively overhead for quite some time, but Charlie knew it wouldn't be long before it started to pour. As much as he hated rainy days from the inside, he didn't particularly mind if he got caught in the oncoming storm. Though if he trailed puddles everywhere, his roommates would surely complain ... Then again, there was nothing the neater of the two could say about it if he also got caught, was there? Grinning triumphantly at this conclusion, Charlie closed the distance between himself and an already irritated-looking Riff and turned to study the art piece.

"Hello Riff! Fool~ Now that sounds familiar..." Charlie scrunched up his nose and looked up absently in thought.

[justgrinandbear]

The moment Riff heard that voice, his expression automatically changed: traces of irritation disappeared behind his familiar mask. He smiled at his roommate and chuckled, while internally wanting to scowl (at more than just Charlie's appearance, the clouds still couldn't seem to make up their mind and Riff couldn't help but flick to the occasional glance to check its status in case it suddenly made up its mind): of all the people he knew that he could bump into, it would be the terrier. There went getting away from things.

"Hello, Charlie. 'Fool' isn't that uncommon a term. Fools in a card deck, the Fools of Shakespeare, a general fool," such as yourself, "it goes on. In this case," he made a thoughtful sound, "Fool from the Tarot? The Fool's unlimited potential trait matches the sub-title 'Anything is possible' nicely, if I had to make a guess." If he wanted to give the piece or artist that much credit of thought. He still thought it was a pretentious mess. To be polite, he added, "Your thoughts?"

[noonesfavor]

And there was that snap-in-place smile. If asked, Charlie would admit that he sometimes just prodded at Riff to see the smile slide on there. Especially since, for someone who smiled so much, those unreadable expressions looked quite at home on his face, and that wasn't any good!

Then again, maybe he had just been deep in thought. This time, that certainly seemed to be the case. Charlie tilted his head at Riff when he began speaking, looking every bit the terrier his roommate thought him. He rocked back and forth gently on his heels for a moment afterwards, clearly not thinking too hard about the piece.

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out. It does sound a lot like that Tarot Fool! " Tilting his head the other way, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "You seem to know a lot about it~ Do you like that occult stuff, Riff?" He'd only read about the Tarot for the persona business, and it seemed like an odd thing for his sensible roommate to know about. Something surprising at last! He hadn't missed the glances upwards, either. "It's looking ominous isn't it? Are you headed back or are you testing your luck?" The smile on Charlie's face said exactly which option he was taking.

[justgrinandbear]

"No, not really," Riff replied, scratching the back of his head, appearing a bit sheepish. "Knowledge is useful, no matter what field. I don't believe in superstitions but little facts like that are handy with interpreting symbolism and references, occasionally." Riff should know: he had to dig out information on the main Arcana to understand an obscure play he'd bought on a whim. Riff didn't even believe in God, let alone bits of paper telling you about yourself and your supposed fate, but other people believed and worked with it so if you wanted to understand what they did or how they thought, every little bit helped.

At the mention of the weather, Riff took a longer glance at the sky. "It does, doesn't it?" While the sky had been indecisive before, it looked like it was starting to lean towards rain and people were already starting to look for shelter or pack up. Riff didn't need to look at the smile on Charlie's face to know which option he'd take and while Riff had been willing to stretch his luck earlier, he wasn't one to take chances when things were highly stacked against him unless it was necessary. Risking rain and possible storms was most definitely not necessary.

"Well, my business is done, so I might as well head back," Riff said. "It would be a shame to drip all over the room or even catch a cold."

[noonesfavor]

Symbolism and references... things that made Charlie's eyes glaze over in class, but he understood on some level as good storytelling tools. "Haha, I should've guessed it'd be something like that!" He supposed that was an acceptable answer, though it was less interesting than a closely hidden interest in dark magic or blood sacrifices. But that was Riff for you, always picking the predictable answer. Charlie hadn't even had to ask about the rain, but he perked up anyways, his imaginary tail already wagging. "Business, eh? Ahaha, well at this rate we might end up doing just that anyways! Let's head back together, and if Jimmy finds the room a bit soggy or catches us you can blame me~" Wink.

[justgrinandbear]

If there were times that confirmed why Charlie was a terrier in Riff's mind, it was moments like this: if Charlie had a tail, it'd be wagging and he had that blank look of blissful stupidity that dogs had when they didn't get what was wrong with a situation.

Riff laughed, "I'd rather it didn't come down to that. Not to mention clean up would be troublesome," he added, hoping (but doubting) his roommate would think of that. Behind Charlie, he saw light drops in the distant, cloudier area. "But I agree, if you don't have anything else to do, we should head back. We might still get caught up but we're more likely to avoid the worst of it."