persona_uni | (no subject)

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(no subject)

a. A day in the life

Welcome to yet another day at Vanderhall University. The sun is up, the trees are green, and it’s a little cold but not all that bad. Go to class, or don’t! It’s your day, to do as you want on this perfectly normal college campus that has nothing wrong with it. Clearly.

b. When the clock strikes twelve...

It’s college. Almost no one is in bed by 10, 11, or even midnight. Currently it’s 11:59, and many students (and non-students) are out and about. Some are at the library, working on late night projects or cramming for a test (or several). Some are probably a little, or more than a little, drunk, wandering around with friends or alone. A few might be in their dorms, watching Netflix or just trolling the internet.

But then the clock strikes midnight...

...and suddenly, everything changes.

That computer you were working on, or that phone midtext? Shuts off. It looks like it’s died, but looking around... no technology around is working. Worse, any people you were talking to, or who were even nearby, are now replaced by coffins according to their height. The moon hangs pale and large in the sky, and the entire world is cast in an eerie green light.

Anyone who’s left awake will have maybe a few minutes to take in their surroundings and panic as a result before something else appears. No matter where they are, they will attract creatures like nothing they will have seen before. Even though they’re completely foreign, anyone with a work sense of self-preservation will have their instincts screaming one thing at them.

Run.

[ooc: The game is open! Please feel free to make a top level for one or both prompts; tag around and have fun!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Unfortunately I don't keep a copy of Monopoly in here." He shrugs, lifting himself to sit on one of the benches. "There's only half an hour left now, hopefully. I'm sure we'll manage, even if we have to spend it in silence."

Alec looks around the shed with a little more active interest. "You seem to be fairly knowledgeable about what is and isn't here." Alec does silence even less well than he does polite. And in the back of his mind is the suspicion that he'll be able to drive Richard to annoyance with him.

"I work here. Less than glamorous, I know, but it pays the bills. I'm guessing you don't spend much time out on the grounds, if you haven't seen me before?" Alec does look like the kind who would prefer cooping himself up in a library over lounging out on the grass on sunny days like some of the students.

“On the grounds crew?” There’s something in Alec’s voice, neither admiring nor patronizing yet somehow both at once. He’s willing enough to tilt it further into the latter direction. “What, McDonald’s wasn’t hiring?”

"Mhm." It's difficult to ruffle Richard. Hardly even batting an eyelid (but with a slight upwards curve to his mouth) he replies, "I did my time at McDonald's." He glances out the window again - still nothing.

"I wasn't smart enough for a scholarship, and wasn't rich enough to pay my way in to university.

Those were some of the things Alec might have brought up as an attempt to get a rise out of the other boy, but that doesn't mean he's going to give up now that it's clear they won't work. He'll just have to try a different tact. They have nothing but time, after all.

"Yes, by all means, let's have the uneducated in our country be the ones with the guns."

Again, Richard seems completely unoffended. He would be more surprised by Alec's determination to get him to lash out if it weren't for their previous discussion. "Uneducated isn't the same as unintelligent. You think reading books qualifies you to be responsible with a weapon?"

"Isn't it?" Alec shrugs. "At least I understand the philosophical implications of using one. But I don't fight, so it doesn't matter what I'm going to be responsible for."

"I understand that shooting someone can kill them." And deciding whether to kill someone goes far beyond education, in Richard's opinion. "Count yourself lucky that you've never had to fight."

"Have you ever?" If Alec's voice sounds more charmed than shocked or scared, Richard must be getting used to that by now. "Shot someone to kill them, before that thing back there?"

Richard shifts from one foot to the other, the only sign of discomfort at Alec's question. Otherwise his face remains impassive as he shrugs and answers: "Yeah. Unfortunately."

"Oh?" Alec shifts, eyes fixed on Richard's for the moment. "Was it because they were threatening you? Or perhaps just flirting too aggressively with your girlfriend?"

"Seriously? I know you hardly know me, but do you really pick me for the kind of person who'd kill someone out of jealousy? If that were the case, I'd be in jail, not working at a school."

"They threatened someone I cared about." His tone is flat. Despite all they've discussed, he is closing off now, making it clear that this is the line Alec should not cross.

That Alec has found that spot to make him close off just makes him want to push it more, to see if he can get Richard to lash out instead.

This is, after all, what he's been poking after and looking for.

"It seems like you should still be in jail, no?"

"No." His reply is curt as he disconnects from the conversation. Getting Richard to lash out is a feat only a few have achieved, and he's not going to add this abrasive student to the list.

He stares out the window as the sky changes from green to black.

"It's over." He pulls the table away from the door, then turns back to Alec. "I'll walk you back."

Alec watches him for a careful moment, then lets out a breath and a shrug as Richard starts to move again.

If the danger is over, then his perverse need to keep Alec safe should be as well.

"Are you going to kiss me on my doorstep?"

Richard's eyebrows raise at that. Of all the strange things Alec has said so far, this has caught him most by surprise. He doesn't respond immediately, looking over Alec to determine if it is simply a joke as he opens the door for him. He can't deny that Alec is attractive, in an unconventional way, sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes.

He fixes Alec with a serious stare and responds with: "You don't owe me anything." The question is so out of left field that he wonders if this is Alec's way of trying to thank him for protecting him, though given the student's supposed desire to die that doesn't really make sense.

Alec does his best to hide the fact that he didn’t expect Richard to respond, certainly not like that. Most of what he says is calculated in one way or another, and any hint of homosexuality should have Richard running off to put as much distance between himself and Alec as he can. But then again, Alec has spent the last almost-hour watching him, and he’s not making up the fact that he likes what he’s seen.

“Of course I do, but I’m not going to repay it with sex.” Alec’s voice sounds positively disgusted by the idea, and he is. It’s a revolting concept and the fact that he’s interested doesn’t change that much. “Or repay it at all, to be honest.” Then, because there’s no moment too delicate not to be shattered, “Unless you wanted a diamond watch, or something. I’m sure it would look lovely on your wrist, next to the shovel.”

"That's good. There's a little self-respect in there, then," he comments, gesturing at Alec.

He lets Alec lead the way back to his building.

"But no, I won't."

There are too many logical reasons not to. Alec is a student, and while Richard isn't a professor, it's still inappropriate. He's complex and dangerous and everything Richard doesn't need in his life. Though danger has never stopped him before, and if anything it's encouraged him.

And then there's the possibility that is just a game, that Alec is plotting a joke where he is the punch line. After all, he's made it abundantly clear that he isn't impressed by Richard or his employment history.

Alec’s lips crack up into an almost-smile at the comment, before he catches himself. He doesn’t need this man to make him happy, he doesn’t want to be happy.

Besides, his follow-up is like a dose of cold water. Of course. Not that Alec could have expected it to go any differently. He’s done nothing but make a nuisance of himself.

“Is that a no to the watch or a kiss? Because I know which one is the better deal.”

"Both." He can't help but want to draw out that half smile again. He finds himself hoping that they are nearly there, because his self-control is waning.

"Though I'm curious to hear your opinion. Given my lowly employment, I'm guessing it's the watch. I could sell it and buy a nice cravat, or a silver dinner set."

Oh. Alec is decidedly not supposed to find himself being charmed, and he’s going to do his best to ignore that, which means clamping down on another half smile, summoning his arrogance instead.

“But the kiss could open up an entirely different world of possibilities.” And he hadn’t actually meant for that to sound as sexual as he realizes it does, as soon as it’s out of his mouth. He’s just going to trip over his own feet for a moment, awkward and fumbling.

Alec acts both older than and exactly his age, and Richard is reminded of the latter in this moment. He remembers himself at eighteen, mature in many ways but still all awkward laughs and red-tipped ears whenever he tried to flirt.

"You're saying I could be in for two watches?" He glances at Alec, a not-so-innocent gleam in his eye. "Tempting, but I'm not quite so poor I need to sell my body." His tone makes it clear that he doesn't really think that's what Alec was implying.

“Nor am I quite so desperate that I need to buy it.” Alec’s words, at least, are still smooth, with the casual arrogance that might come from wealth but doesn’t, not really.

“Although how quickly you leap from an innocent kiss to something more sordid. Perhaps it would stop there, at least until the next time we meet.” That should be an easier sell, shouldn’t it be?

"Perhaps," Richard repeats, his eyebrow raising to show his doubt. Alec has proven his forwardness, and Richard knows his own disposition (and his weakness for voices, he will not think about what that silky voice would sound like strained and wanting).

"I'm afraid the answer is still no."