Too Much Time on His Hands... [OPEN]

[soveryverylost]

Characters: Ryoga and Anyone
Location: The Rec Room
Time: Middle of the day on a weekday during summer break
Content: Ryoga's been staying inside so he won't wander off and has dicovered daytime television--more specifically soap operas. He's watching a marathon of "The Pugnacious and the Pretty" (I know, I have a little too much fun with thinly

Comments

[dukesson]

Luke was wandering the halls, something he had been often doing for numerous days now. Sometimes he tried to map some important areas in his head, but mostly it was just to find something to relieve his boredom.

He found himself passing a room that he vaguely remembered visiting before. There were voices coming from it. He looked inside, seeing a dark-haired boy watching the television screen carefully. Though he had seen videos before, Luke had never actually watched public television before. He leaned on the back of the couch, watching for about a minute, then asked, "What's this?"

[soveryverylost]

Fortunately for Luke, the program had just gone to commercials, otherwise Ryoga might not have heard the question. As it was, the query broke the boy's melodrama induced daze, and he jumped slightly.

"Huh? Oh, it's a soap opera called 'The Pugnacious and the Pretty,' and I swear all of the characters are insane. I kind of like this guy named Alonzo, though. He's a little less annoying than the others, but that's probably just because he's trying to be super nice to help hide the fact that he's actually an undercover assassin."

[dukesson]

"Soap Opera?" Luke questioned aloud, the term unfamiliar to him. The mention of insane characters promised some form of amusement, so he vaulted over the back of the couch and decided he might as well give it a try.

Before he could ask what the term "soap opera" meant, a very energetic and musical soft drink commercial came on and he was suddenly distracted.

[soveryverylost]

Unaware that the other a boy was no longer paying full attention, Ryoga took it upon himself to address Luke's obvious confusion. "Basically, it's a dramatic show that comes on it the middle of the day instead of in the evening. I have no idea why they call them that; no one really seems to talk about soap."

After a few moments, Ryoga recognized Luke as the new person he'd run into on the day of the water fight. Fighting down panic, he tried hard to act like he'd never seen the other boy before. Luke had only seen him as a pig, after all.

[dukesson]

Luke, not having heard his explanation very clearly, replied with a "Huh."

The commercial ended, and seeing that the next was was rather wordy and boring, Luke lost interest in that and glanced over at the boy sitting next to him. He was now sitting stiffly up straight and seemed to be making an effort to not look at him. Luke may not be the most perceptive, but this did seem a little weird.

"What's with you?" he asked accusingly.

[soveryverylost]

"Nothing!" Unfortunately for Ryoga, that came out a bit louder than normal conversational levels and sounded very defensive. He took a deep breath. "Nothing," he repeated more calmly. "I'm, uh... I'm not very good with other people, that's all."

It was mostly true. Ryoga could be relatively sociable, but he was also pretty awkward most of the time.

[dukesson]

"Oh." Luke thought about it for a moment as the commercials neared their end for that break.

"...Don't think I've been out long enough to know if I'm good with other people or not," he muttered, trying to remember the few students he'd met in his short time here so far.

[soveryverylost]

Ryoga relaxed again as his explanation was easily accepted.

He might have wondered exactly what Luke meant by being "out long enough," but he was watching for the show to resume intently and didn't hear the low mumble.

He really ought to introduce himself, but that would just have to wait for the next set of commercials.

[dukesson]

Luke dropped the attempted conversation as the show returned. Luke was bored enough that he watched without comment for a while, despite not having a clue what was going on. A few scenes passed and he had to admit, it wasn't a bad story. Gradually, he found himself getting drawn in.

The episode led into an important decision for one of the actresses. She looked away uncertainly, her inner monologue informing the audience of every thought. Finally, she turned back with an accepting smile.

"What are you doing?!" Luke suddenly shouted at the screen, "He's obviously a jerk!"

[soveryverylost]

"I know, right?" Ryoga agreed. "Every unattached female character on the show loves this guy, and I have no idea why!" Sure, he was conventionally attractive and had money, but he was also conceited, greedy, and rude. Oh yeah, he'd also hired an assassin to kill the woman's brother, but she didn't know about that.

The other option wasn't exactly spectacular either, though... The assassin was an okay guy, once you got over the whole "hired to kill people, possibly ones related to you" thing. Of course, the woman didn't know the other guy was an assassin, either. She was pretty oblivious.

"She probably won't realize what a horrible person he is until it's too late." Ryoga shook his head sadly.

As the show passed through a transitional scene without dialogue, Ryoga turned to the other occupant of the couch. "I'm Ryoga by the way. It's nice to meet you." Again--this time as a human being.

[dukesson]

"Tch, that's annoying," Luke replied bitterly, "There's gotta be some other guy out there better than him." He was getting pretty easily attached to the show, though he wouldn't admit it, and turned out to be the type of viewer eager to express his opinion on whatever was going on.

He snapped back to reality when the other boy addressed him personally.

"Oh, um... I'm Luke. Luke fon Fabre," he replied a little awkwardly.

[soveryverylost]

"Well, there is a guy who's at least nicer most of the time," Ryoga explained. "The trouble is, she probably wouldn't give him a chance if she knew the secret he's been keeping from her."

Ryoga could totally relate to that. It sucked to keep a secret that you knew you should tell someone, but you don't because telling them would hurt them, too.

"I'm not sure she even realizes the second guy is in love with her--she seems to think he's just a really close friend."

It might help things along if the guy would confess his feelings, but Ryoga knew all about not being able to do that, too!