mingle log | the quad and elsewhere | we were young and drinking (coffee) in the park

[lamiaceae]

Characters: Gansey and whoever shows up
What: Interpersonal interaction! Meet each other face-to-face while nothing is on fire
Where: the quad, unless elsewhere seems cool to you
When: loop 1, day 10 (6/10 irl)
Content Warnings: nothing yet. please use and check thread subjects

It's a pleasant day outside. There's a nice breeze and the sun is doing its best. At very least, it's not raining and warmer than it was yesterday. This is, statistically, likely to bring college denizens out of their dorms and offices since rain seems to often be on Newcomb's horizon. Fall in not-at-all-New England is lovely that way.

Gansey, for his part, can be found throughout the day in several places! He likes hanging out near the clocktower to study, since he's found time works best there (at least for him). It's nice to have a watch that's doing something vaguely akin to timekeeping for once.

But he's an explorer at heart, so he can probably also be found in the library, the computer lab, and wandering the grounds. Gansey isn't sure he's interacted with anyone outside a classroom or on Fermii since the train crash, so he's more likely than usual to strike up conversation instead of waiting for it to come to him.

The real question is this: where's everyone else hanging out today?

[ i'll be throwing gansey at anyone who doesn't note that their tag is closed. please mingle! ]

Comments

[dead_tongue]

If her goal is to find useful people, this particular meeting is absolutely a bust.

Iggy pauses on his way past the bench, listening to Claudia play. He loves music - all types, really - and so when she's done he claps.

"And now here's Wonderwall?" he asks cheerily.

[beingawesome]

"Seriously? Why not go with Freebird or Stairway to Heaven?"

No, she's not going to play overdone crap. It's just not here thing.

"If I had a reason to put out a hat, I might do requests, but until then, give me something with meat to it."

[dead_tongue]

"Because that's not the meme," he explains patiently. He strolls a little closer - tall and pointy and smiling cheerfully.

"How about... House of the Rising Sun? Oh! Or Jolene?"

[beingawesome]

She considers a moment, and while it's a bit trite, she starts picking out the main theme for Alice's Restaurant. At least it's some decent fingering to enjoy.

"I guess I'm not really one for the mainstream. Or the high-traffic songs." She segues into some of the deeper cuts of that album, like Ring-around-the-Rosy Rag. Both Guthries really did have a way with invoking fingering.

[dead_tongue]

Iggy listens. Nods.

"You're a snob," he states in a non-judgmental tone.

"That's cool. You play what you wanna play, it's all good."

He tucks his hands into his pockets. "So you're from the modern world? Not some sort of magical realm or something? I keep meeting people from very strange places here."

[beingawesome]

"In the sense that I think we should broaden our horizons instead of just listening to whatever the charts say we should, I'll take it," Claudia said, grinning.

"More or less. I think I lost a few years, but I know what a meme is and why nobody wants to see anyone twerk. Not saying my life didn't have some odd things happen, but I don't have a steep learning curve to overcome."

[dead_tongue]

"So you don't want a playlist of this month's tiktok jams?" he asks innocently.

Iggy claps his hands together lightly. "Oh, yay! I was starting to think I was the only one not from some wacky reality.

"What odd things? Nothing like this, I'm guessing."

[beingawesome]

"If that's anything like YouTube, I'm not much for dumpster diving in the collective online psyche. Just because you can upload yourself singing your heart out doesn't mean you have talent. I've seen plenty of people trending who were there because they were just that bad," Claudia retorts.

"And I think we're not alone. But there's a big wide multiverse out there. You never quite know what you're going to run into. So far everyone at least can pass for human."

[dead_tongue]

"It's sorta like YouTube, yeah. But shorter. Did you have Vine? It's kinda like that, I guess. But with more music."

Iggy considers those, trying to imagine what non-humans might even look like.

"...are you human?" Asked cautiously, like maybe he's being rude.

[beingawesome]

She can't help a laugh at the way he asks that. "Last I checked, yeah, I'm human. I remember something about an android cop back home. I guess that's what I mean about passing for human, because I definitely don't remember anything like aliens or what-not."

It seems fair to say what she can be certain of. Still, she meant it when she said passing for human, because one never knew. Especially since this seemed to be a place where worlds were intersecting somehow.

[dead_tongue]

Iggy's eyes widen. Android cops do not, as far as he's aware, exist in his world outside of the movies.

"Huh," he says intelligently.

"I'm human too. At least, as far as I know. It would be pretty weird to suddenly find out I'm not."

[beingawesome]

"You never know what your parents are hiding from you. That's kind of what parents do." Okay, she's mostly joking. Not that she has any idea what her parents could have told her, since they're long dead.

[dead_tongue]

Iggy's eyes stay wide as he takes this idea far, far too seriously.

Then he relaxes. "No, no I think considering the way my parents are it would be like, against their morals. Say, how old are you? Is that rude to ask?"

[beingawesome]

"Pretty sure asking a woman her age is nearly always rude. It's just one of those things. But I'm twenty. You?"

[dead_tongue]

"Is it?" Genuinely curious.

"Oh, twenty! That's a good age. I'm twenty-four." Now he feels weirdly old.

"So like, are you in campus housing?"

[beingawesome]

"Are there that many options? There's only so much space here." Of course she's in housing, but she just doesn't really feel comfortable just flat-out saying that.

"I could be squatting in a lab or something."

[dead_tongue]

"I think there are some townhouses and stuff," Iggy says, but then he stares again.

"Are you?" he asks, far too gullible.

[beingawesome]

"Good question. What do you think?"

Sorry, Iggy, apparently she's not in the most obliging mood.

[dead_tongue]

He has to actually think about that.

"No," he says finally. "I think that you're probably just in a dorm. I'm in a dorm! It looks like shit, I hope we can find stuff to decorate with."

Clearly more important than time loops and such.

[beingawesome]

"You might want to look up the rules before you put any holes in the walls. Don't want to get charged for damages." Never mind that apparently money isn't a thing here.

[dead_tongue]

Iggy makes a face. "We're in some sort of interdimensional nexus. I'm so not going to worry about a damage deposit."

He grins.

"And I'm gonna paint the walls! Make it look really cool. I haven't decided on a colour palette yet.

"You really aren't too stoked to be here, huh?"

[beingawesome]

"I was kinda in the middle of something back home. I really want to get back there."

[dead_tongue]

"What was it?" Because he's imagining something terribly mundane. Gardening, maybe.

[beingawesome]

"See, that's the problem. I can't really remember the details. But I'm sure I will, and anyway, it's not like there's plenty to fix about this place to make it so we can burst the bubble and get out." She has priorities, all right?

[dead_tongue]

The concept of bursting the bubble and leaving has not occurred to Iggy as being an option. So he stares for a minute.

"Whoa. Hardcore."