Christmas Party at Nicodemus Terrace [12/17]

[mslanalang]

Lana had handwavily invited everyone still playing a bunch of people to stop by on Sunday to help decorate and celebrate the upcoming holidays. She'd also told her friends to invite along anyone else they might want

Comments

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

Duce contemplated the tree and the trimmings. The items Lana had looked too.. too.. what was the word.. classy. Totally not Duce's style at all. Frowning, pensive for a moment, she idly reached into her backpack and hauled out a small, multicoloured pad of construction paper. Glancing between it and the tree, snakes waving excitedly around her face, she eventually took a seat on a nearby cushion and tore out a sheet of green paper. Her fingers idly pleat-folded it while she eyed up the tree.

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

Ben glanced over Duce's shoulder, trying not to be concerned over the snakes. "Origami?" He asked. Remembering that he'd met her at the playground, he added, "If Lana had a zen garden you could try for holiday sand sculptures."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

Duce tilted her head back so she could look up at Ben. Grinning up at him, she shook her head, snakes slithering back to coil at the base of her neck. "No.." Beginning to tear the paper down the creases of the pleats, she explained, "Can't make a paper chain without small paper strips, so.." Shredding the paper, she created a steady pile of little green stripes, "I'm making some. Want some paper? I have a whole pad."

"Sand sculptures would be kinda cool," she mused, glancing around the place and noting the mentioned lack of zen garden, "Maybe I'll get her one for Christmas. So how have you been? Haven't seen you around in awhile and thought maybe you'd gotten munched by something." Fiddling with the papers, she added, "The new yoga dude doesn't measure up on the eyecandy quality meter."

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

"Ah, back to basics. Michael's daughter loves paper chains. I'd be happy to help."

Ben half-laughed at the suggestion of being munched. "I'm happy to say that nothing got us. Except life, I guess -- we ended up moving back to Pittsburgh. We've missed this place, though; figured a visit was due." He furrowed his brow at the mention of the 'new yoga dude'. "The new instructor...does he have dreadlocks? Kinda...looks and smells like he hasn't bathed in a while? I was hoping they wouldn't put Charlie in there, but he knows his stuff. Even if he is a little more nutty-crunchy than most people can handle."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

Duce happily handed over the pad of construction paper. "Help yourself. I think I used all the green, though."

Her face relaxed slightly in relief as Ben acknowledged not getting munched, even though she could see for herself that it was true. "Pittsburgh? Land of Amish people and Will Smith? You poor man. You must be in hell. At least here we have.. y'know.. stuff. And no Amish. That's gotta be a bonus."

Nose wrinkling, she made a face of disgust. Several snakes hissed and dodged down the collar of her shirt, trying to get away from the memory of the stench. "That would be the guy, yup. He's the flake in the granola bowl, that's for sure. And who cares if he knows his stuff? The man has no ass! None! There's a flat void of space where a firmly rounded ass should be! It's a crime against yoga. There should be a thingy against it in the yoga instructor's handbook. 'Thou Shalt Not Do Downward Facing Dog If Thou Hast No Ass'."

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

Ben took a few sheets of red and began tearing them. "Not so many Amish in the middle of Pittsburgh. And I think Will Smith belongs to California these days, happily. We've got Michael's mom and stepdad, our son, and friends there, and work. It's not quite as exciting as it was when we lived here, but it'll do for now."

Ben raised an eyebrow at the first reaction to Charlie, but tried to suppress his grin as the mun tried not to spittake at the description. "You'd think just doing Downward Facing Dog would give you a bit of an ass even if you didn't have one, wouldn't you? But yeah, he's lacking a few things -- tact, among others, if I remember correctly. I'd assume he's not exactly bringing in a stampede of new clients. I may have to stop by and have a word or two with the head of staff."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

"Oh, well.. family.." Duce waved a hand airily, "I suppose they almost make up for living in Pahnsellvayneeyuh." She tried for an upper midwest accent and failed, sounding more like a Bostonian with a horrible headcold. "As long as there are no Amish. They're creepy. Will Smith runs a close second, only he's faster and black

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

Ben nodded. "Still plenty of non-Amish non-Will Smith creepy things in Pittsburgh," he said, particularly thinking of Brian Kinney, "some of our friends among them, but it suits us."

Ben finally gave in and laughed at Duce's comments on the yoga instructor. "I'm sorry sir, but you suffer from microbuttockophy, or underdevelopment of the gluteus maximus; you are not allowed to instruct any type of physical fitness wherein your ass plays a major role." He chuckled. "I really shouldn't be so mean, but boy does he give Buddhism, yoga and yoga instructors a bad name. I don't think he even understands that he puts people off, which is even worse."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

Duce grinned, "I'll take your word on the Pittsburgh thing. My dad does business there, but I've never been."

"Exactly," she nodded in satisfaction, lick-chaining a few more rings onto her strand. "And he deserves mean. Anyone that .. unhygienic.. in public deserves whatever open mockery can be directed at them." Black lipstick creased as she repressed a chuckle. "If you have any influence with the.. Ok, what the hell do I call it? Is it a gym? A dojo? A wat? .. the yoga place, anyway, I'm all for you talking to them and getting someone less completely stinky to take over that class. Or, y'know, to hold the dude under some running water and dishsoap until he stops encouraging bacteria to have pre-marital sex. If you want help with that - the water thing - let me know. I can round up some bikers."

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

Ben looked at the strips he had, and continued with the tearing. HIV shouldn't be transmittable through dried saliva, but he wasn't too sure what others might think of him trying the lick-chain trick.

"Studio is the word I hear most, as for what to call it. I'm not sure I have much influence now that I've left, but I'll see what I can do. At the very least I can tell them I've heard people aren't happy with him, and why. I'm sure it won't be the first complaint they've received. I'm not sure most Buddhists would go for the whole 'forcing someone to bathe' thing, even if it was for his own good. And the good of sinus cavities everywhere."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

If Duce could hear Ben's thoughts, the world would be in dire straits, because she'd probably encourage him to start spitting in people's drinks just to fuck with 'what people think'. Since she lacked telepathy, however

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

"Glue or tape would be helpful, thanks." Ben wrinkled his nose. "While not quite as bad as the smell of Charlie, the taste of paper is not one of my favorites." He pondered the idea of Charlie as a statue. "While the Buddhist Center does like its statuary, I think a, uh, highly scented one would be a little beyond their desires. Buddha is all for recognizing that all suffering is an illusion, but I'm betting he never suffered the aroma of someone like Charlie."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

Duce hopped to her feet and went rummaging through some kitchen drawers. Well, Lana had said 'make yourself at home'. One tiny, pale hand ducked into a drawer by the phone, scrabbling through the requisite odds and ends and other detritus of an ordinary life. Her fingers emerged a couple minutes later, waving a small roll of Scotch tape triumphantly.

Returning to her seat, she handed the roll to Ben and answered, "Can't say I blame you. I put up with it for spitballs, but that's about it." After a moment, she added hastily, "When I was younger, of course. I'm too old for that kind of shit now."

Mouth pursed, she reflected, "Well.. probably not. With all that nagk chapstha incense burning all the time, poor Buddha's probably hard pressed to smell anything at all."

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

Ben took the roll of tape and thanked her. "Too old for spitballs? I wasn't sure there was such a thing. My university students always seem to think they're age-appropriate."

Ben pursed his lips in thought as he started fixing the paper chain. "I wonder how much incense it would take to make the students not smell Charlie...although I'd guess it would probably be so much that would set off the fire alarms and cause smoke-inhalation damage to people's lungs."

Re: Living Room

[medusae_x]

"Most college kids are immature, purile little shitheads," Duce said with authority. She should know; she was one - they can smell their own. "Are you still teaching literature?"

Her pale nose wrinkled at the imagery. "Or get them raided as a headshop. That'd be bad. You gotta know a couple people in there will have been eating magic brownies or mushrooms or something while trying to find their own higher state of zen."

Re: Living Room

[prof_ben]

"I'm stuck in administrative hell for the next couple of weeks yet. I'm going back to teaching lit next semester. Hopefully another gay studies class or two as well, depending on enrollment."

Ben shook his head. "Unfortunately, you're right about some of the center's clientele. There are at least a few who think drugs are a good short-cut to enlightenment. Incense pouring out of the windows would probably get the attention of the police." He paused. "Or, considering the area it's in, some of the local drug addicts."