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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Aug 25, 2012 11:02:40 GMT -5
Ashton really didn't see the problem in shopping with his female friends. I mean, sure, they liked different things than he did and he'd never try on a skirt unless it was for a joke but that didn't change much. He knew there were a ton of guys that didn't share his opinion but that had never bothered him. Clearly it didn't bother Pacey, either, for this was the boy he stood with as the rest of their otherwise female group crowded around the mall sign and discussed where they wanted to go first. "I don't know about them but I want to hit the food court," said Ashton as he glanced at Pacey. "I skipped lunch for this!" Despite the complaint, he looked about as bothered as he felt—not at all. He was a relaxed guy and willing to sacrifice a lot for his friends, even if that something was food that he'd otherwise happily consume. He could always eat food later but he might not get a chance to hang out with his friends later in the day and so he'd take whatever time with them he could get. Speaking of later, he groaned as he realised something. "Ugh, and I have work. I love Andy but really." Andrew, or Andy as Ashton affectionately called him, was his boss. He was rather complacent and agreeable as bosses went but Ashton wasn't looking forward to work simply because it had been a lazy day for him thus far. "I need some excuse not to go. Like... I don't know, the mall was overrun by zombies and I was too busy barricading myself into the Zellers that doesn't exist any more to think about work." He glanced in the direction of said Zellers as he spoke. They'd replace it with Target soon enough but for now it was just a darkened store with the security gates pulled shut.
Apparently an idea had been settled on and then they were on the move, not to the food court but to a nearby clothing store. He didn't mind. When he'd said that he needed to visit the food court he'd expected that it would indeed be later when they were all tired out from the walking and shopping. He wandered into the mens section and picked over the jeans, turning his head and looking down to inspect the frayed ends of the pair he had on. There was also a mark on the thigh that he'd been unable to get off no matter how many times he threw them in the laundry. He wasn't sure what it was. "Holy shit, the prices," he said when he checked the tag, shaking his head. "They're jeans, not jewellery." He wasn't one of those people that considered everything and anything overpriced (that was his grandmother's job) but eighty dollars for a pair of pants that he'd need to replace down the line anyway seemed a bit steep. Maybe he needed to look in the less expensive racks. "Anywhere you wanted to check out?" he wondered, not looking at his friend as he examined another tag but talking to him at least. "Not that we have much of a choice but, y'know." He laughed, again sounding more amused than irritated. He was content to be dragged around a store until he wore holes in the bottom of his shoes as long as he had the company of good friends to keep him in high spirits.
[Figure they can visit the shop of doom in a couple posts or whatever, LOL]
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Aug 26, 2012 21:30:53 GMT -5
Pacey really wasn't as effeminate as the amount of time he spent at the mall would suggest. Really, he wasn't! Alright, so he did spend way more time at the mall than most people, male or female, but this had way more to do with his need for new, shiny things than it did for any compulsive need to look badass or anything. Of course, to be fair, Pacey always thought he looked badass anyway, whatever other people thought about his sometimes questionable choices. He'd recently retouched the roots of his hair, so the blonde was bright as it had been the very first time. That had been yesterday, and the first place he'd been able to show it off (apart from the Earth Common Room) was, predictably enough, the mall. This time it had actually been the idea of one of his female friends, though, and so it was that he and Ashton wound up dragged along for some huge shopping spree that day. Pacey didn't mind -- he'd willingly come hang out and buy his friends whatever they asked for any day of the week. Even so, he was quickly distracted by the very mention of food. He'd definitely choose food over clothes any day. "You skipped lunch?!" His jaw dropped open. "Dude, that's blasphemy. We need to get you a sandwich like, stat." That really did sound good though, and he found his mouth watering. "We should grab something later, actually. Oh my god pizza sub." Even though he had eaten lunch, it seemed that pizza subs all over the world were calling his name at that moment.
He cocked his head to the side at the mention of work, though. Pacey himself didn't have a job -- didn't really have need for one, and had honestly never learnt the lesson of independence. "What time's your shift start?" he asked curiously. He didn't know much about having a job at all, actually. "And you know... Target's actually pretty awesome but Zellers, man! I can't believe they're replacing it... plus it looks really creepy now." The empty store really did look pretty ominous, probably full of empty shelves and the like. He wondered when they'd start putting the target signs and all that in -- he did think that Target was badass as far as those types of stores went, definitely more awesome than Wal-Mart. A few trips to various parts of the States had taught him that. Zellers was badass and Canadian, though. He didn't have much time to dwell on this, however, because soon enough the girls were wandering off, giggling, and Pacey followed. Normally when shopping he was a little more decisive about where he was going, but this time he was very much content to follow along. Plus, he liked the girls and all, but he and Ashton were bros and had to stick together and all that jazz. He entered the store without question and followed to the jeans Ashton was inspecting.
He had much less of an issue with money, considering how willing his parents were to load up the bank account for him. Pacey was probably a little bit spoiled, truth be told. "Well, if they're quality, it might be worth it?" he reasoned, trying to put himself in the same position as his friend -- or most of his friends in general actually, considering the fact that most people did not in fact have the same seemingly endless supply of cash. "Nah, nothing in particular -- ooh, sneakers..." He almost wandered off completely, but the shoes really were on the far side of the store and he would have felt bad just abandoning Ashton there while the dude was talking. "But I'm cool with whatever, dude, except I think the girls have plans of their own..." Pacey really was alright with anything, though.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Aug 26, 2012 21:52:28 GMT -5
Pacey seemed pretty alarmed by the fact that Ashton had skipped lunch and Ashton grinned at his friend, having predicted the reaction. Much as he might have seen it coming it still amused him and he shook his head. "All right, not everyone is you. Some of us can function without food twenty four seven." The lightness to his words and expression betrayed that he was only teasing and his stomach growled, seeming to back Pacey up. So maybe he kind of did need to eat before he headed off to work or whatever but he could wait until everyone else was ready to hit the food court before he indulged. "In all honesty, though, I totally wouldn't mind a sandwich right now. Maybe if there's not too big a line at the Subway..." Then Pacey mentioned pizza subs and the cravings switched on. "Guh, I hate you," he joked, swatting his friend on the arm. Ashton was so scrawny that it probably felt as playful as it had meant to feel. He didn't have much strength to boast at all and that was fine with the Earth. He was a pacifist, what did he need to be all tough for? It would be helpful for when he needed to haul the bags of potting soil around, though. Those things were huge! He held back a groan and silently hoped that he didn't have to take inventory today while still dying for a pizza sub thanks to friendly influence. "Do they even sell those here? Cause now I want one. This is all your fault." He tried to come across as huffy but couldn't hold a poker face and ruined it with a laugh.
He was so focused on dreading work later that he had to think about the question a second or two longer than he should have. "Uh, like, four, I think. Or, yeah, four." He didn't think it started at four, he knew it started then, he'd simply been a little distracted. Or a lot distracted. Guh, work. "So I have a while but I would rather just... not go at all." He liked his job but it was one of those days. "Can I just move in with you and be a freeloader?" he joked. "I can do a good impersonation of a statue if you have guests." He stopped dead in his tracks and tried to mime said statuism but it was too funny to imagine himself standing still in a corner in Pacey's place and so he laughed and broke the illusion. Ashton was constantly joking around and trying to make his friends laugh, the class clown. He had all the humour habits of a Water without being a prankster as well. "Target isn't one of us, Pacey." Then, in his best mimicry of the Disney movie, he sang, "Deception, disgrace~" He couldn't get much further than that without laughing. It was clear he was in a brilliant mood, but then, when wasn't he? "Nothing against Target but yeah, that Zellers is really scary now. I wonder if anyone's tried to break in." Not that there would be anything to steal but people did stupid things sometimes.
Worth it and affordable never liked to be team mates in the gym class of his brain. 'Worth it' tended to be picked last because, right, Ashton was as broke as the rest of the world. He didn't actually envy his richer friends, though, because jealousy had never been much of a problem for him. Oh, he wished he had more than he did sometimes (who didn't?) but he'd never judge someone else for their financial state. He sighed, then picked up the jeans and smiled. "Hey, why not?" He was also very malleable. Pacey seemed to think it was all right so it wasn't a big deal. His parents still had yet to force rent on him and he drove his parents' car. The only thing he bought for himself was gas money and clothes so he figured that indulgence could be allowed. Including on a fucking pizza sub if he could track one down, thanks Pacey. "When don't they?" he laughed, then started to walk toward the sneakers so that Pacey knew he was chill with wandering. "It's cool, though. We could probably just tag with them the whole time and see if they get us up to anything interesting." Shopping was an adventure when done with friends. Never knew what could go wrong.
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Aug 27, 2012 22:36:04 GMT -5
Acting offended at Ashton's words, Pacey let his jaw drop open a little. How could people function without food all the time? It was a mystery to him. That wasn't the most pressing question, though. "Yeah, but why would you even want to? Food's the best, man." He knew that it was a joke, but he probably wouldn't have been offended even if he'd thought that Ashton was serious. The guy was seriously just too nice to start anyway, Pacey thought, but it helped that they both seemed to be relatively easygoing dudes. It did make things a lot easier. He just laughed when Ashton swatted his arm. "Love you too, bro," he responded, pointing a finger gun at Ashton and making a "pew pew" sound as he pretended to shoot it. The topic of pizza subs was seriously distracting, though, and he immediately wanted to drag his friends all off to the food court so that they could get something right away. That would be kind of rude and inconsiderate, though, and his better judgment allowed him to refrain from doing something that ridiculous. "Yeah, Subway has 'em, probably. We should try to sneak away and grab some later. Or if they don't have pizza subs we should just get sandwiches anyway, 'cause... sandwiches." Good food was good, right? Yes, right. "No need to get all mad, dude!" He laughed at the attempt at "huffiness". Well, Ashton had tried.
As a guy who wasn't very good at either prioritizing or managing his time, it didn't really strike him as odd at all that Ashton didn't know what time his shift actually was. Then again, Pacey was also sure that his friend was much better at that whole time management thing than he was -- most people seemed to be. Pace was a decent student but that was just about it -- a part-time job was just unheard of, but that was his spoiled kid side talking. "You should just call in sick, dude. Or go with the zombie thing. Seems pretty believable to me. Or tell Andy there's flower-eating zombies following you so they're harmless but you can't shake 'em and you can't come into work since it'd ruin the shop." Sometimes Pacey listened to the words that came out of his own mouth and wondered what the hell was wrong with him, but he just went with the flow most of the time. It was all good in the hood, and all that jazz. "Dude, freeloaders are always welcome if they provide entertainment. Statue's good. Can you juggle or anything too?" he asked seriously as if juggling would seal the deal. "'Cause if you can drive we can just go... like, right now." Actually, considering Pacey's actual home was in Toronto, they probably couldn't go right then. That would be one longass drive. His parents also probably wouldn't be that happy if he turned up out of the blue with a friend, though it was June now and he would be heading home soon anyway. It was always nice to be back at home.
He laughed when Ashton started singing. "Evil as plain as the... red on its sign?" That was a pretty failed attempt at improvising lyrics, but hey, he'd never claimed to be good at that kind of thing. He was pretty bad with words and cleverness and the like, actually -- numbers clicked way more in his brain. "But it's gonna be a weird day when there's a Target there instead. And we should break in later. Just for fun. I'll bring the rope!" He was kidding, of course -- Pacey had never broken into anything in his life, unless his best friend's dorm room counted, but man, that had just been so that he could steal snacks and lounge around, so he was sure it was okay. Both his parents would probably kill him if he tried to do anything like that. He grinned when Ashton took the jeans anyway. "Hey dude, I can always just grab those for you if you want. It's no sweat." Literally, he would buy his friends almost anything and it wasn't an issue. He and Ashton were bros. There was no reason not to -- but Pacey did know that people sometimes didn't like it when he tried to blow a ton of money on them, so he tried to hold off. These were just jeans, though. "As long as 'interesting' isn't another word for 'illegal' I'm down. And as long as we do get to hit the food court later..." He laughed as he followed along more than happily to the sneakers. A pair caught his eye immediately and he held up one of the shoes -- a bright neon green -- next to his head of blonde hair. "Dude. Dude. Does this totally match or just clash way too much? Can't tell." Hey, shoes were important to Pacey and he wanted to make informed decisions.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Aug 29, 2012 13:18:04 GMT -5
Ashton chuckled, not phased or surprised by Pacey's reaction. At times he took his friends too seriously and would have been concerned by the other Earth's offended tone but they'd been buddies for long enough that he knew his friend wasn't like that. "All right, all right, you win. Food is pretty awesome." Who didn't like food? It tasted so damn good. It sucked that most of the stuff that was good for you tasted worse than the bad stuff but Ashton wasn't a health freak or anything so he paid that little attention. Subway was one exception that he was quite glad for. It's food was a lot healthier than something from Burger King and subs tasted amazing. Of course, a pizza sub probably kicked the health thing right out of the window but did he care? Nope. "Awesome! I totally want one. They better not be sold out. They always run out of the good breads." He hated being stuck eating bread that he'd never tried before in his life, it totally ruined the amazing sandwich experience. "But first we have to be pulled around the mall for another little while." He laughed. He'd definitely be eating at Subway, he decided, even if he didn't eat a pizza sub. "Oh, shut up!" It was the least offended scolding possible being as he was grinning from ear to ear as he said it but that was all right. Since when was Ashton mean?
He hesitated at the suggestion of calling in sick, looking almost worried. Ashton was a terrible liar and so he didn't usually try to get out of trouble using excuses such as sickness or anything of the sort because he felt like everyone would see through them. He was about to say that he'd just suck it up and go when Pacey suggested flower-eating zombies and he laughed. "No no, though, I would be endangered. What if they wanted to kidnap me and make me into their personal chef?" Since, you know, as an Earth elemental he could basically make flowers on command. Andy could too and he figured their elemental link was part of the reason they clicked so well but he really was not in the mood. "I'll probably just go," he sighed regardless. "Andy isn't stupid, I think he's figured out I'm pretty lazy." He did manage a chuckle there. Sometimes when the shop was slow Ashton would sit his butt down on an upturned planter and play games on his phone, text his friends or something. The man had told him to get up off his ass and go do something useful. It hadn't been meant in as cruel a way as it sounded but still, Ashton had been wary of being caught unawares since then. "I... cannot juggle," he said. He sounded put out, though he was only kidding. "I can snowboard down the stairs, though!" He loved talking about his snowboarding and so he wouldn't be surprised if he'd told Pacey he could... several times.
Hey, Ashton though Pacey's on-the-spot lyric creation was pretty bad ass. Then again, he was easily impressed and it didn't take much to awe him. "Haha, yeah!" He guessed that Pacey was joking about breaking in but he still had an important question to ask the other boy, "Wait, so why rope?" He'd never broken into a place before, all right? He was all inexperienced and junk. Their friends would probably think they were weird if they overheard the conversation being exchanged between the two but that was fine with Ash. What was life without a little oddity? He blinked in surprise at Pacey when he offered to buy the jeans. He knew his friend was rich but it was still a really nice thing to offer and Ashton didn't know what to say. "Are you sure? Cause it might take me a while to pay you back or something..." Guh, they were really nice jeans though! Ashton didn't get too weird about other people buying him things because he tended to get things for them in return whenever he had the opportunity. It was more a matter of holy-shit-the-price-tag right now. "Says the guy who was planning to break into Zellers!" He knew that had been a joke so he, too, was joking. He eyed the sneakers and blinked. "I think they look fine? I'm no shoe guru, though! Where'd everyone else go, they might be able to help..." He cast around looking for their friends in the store.
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Aug 31, 2012 11:29:16 GMT -5
There weren't that many things that Pacey took seriously. Actually... well, no, he was able to take most everything pretty seriously when the situation called for it, but this wasn't one of those times. Seeing as he was just hanging out with Ashton and they were just being bros and joking around, he was just fine acting offended. It didn't seem that Ashton was upset by this, either, which was always a bonus. He liked his fellow Earths -- everyone was pretty chill, with a couple of exceptions, but they weren't all Pacey's crowd anyway. "See? I'm always right," he said, grinning, well aware that he was actually wrong... a lot of the time. "Dude, I know right? They never have the Italian bread left, like... What is that?" He shook his head as if to say that this was a legitimate shame. The other breads were okay but it was never the same. Then again, Pacey was a bottomless pit that could swallow up any food in his path, so it was alright no matter what happened. "You're such a bully," he whined, trying not to laugh. He probably wouldn't be able to think of a nicer dude even if he tried.
This was an idea that Pacey hadn't actually considered, but this was true. As Earths they could make flowers pop up from anywhere, make them any kind they wanted too really at this point. "Oh god that's true," he said, frowning and shaking his head a little. "Okay dude, if that happens don't go anywhere near the school, you'll get our whole element kidnapped." Then these zombies would have an entire kitchen crew at their hands, ready to make flowers whenever they needed. At least they wouldn't be eaten, though. This was still better than flesh-eating zombies, he was pretty certain. "But being lazy is fuuun." He wasn't quite as lazy as some other people, but Pacey did like to laze around and do nothing occasionally. That said, he was also the type of guy who liked to be up and doing something or talking to someone, and after a little while he grew restless, so that was the way it went. Pacey pretended to be disappointed when Ashton admitted that he couldn't juggle, but then brightened up at the image of someone snowboarding down the stairs. "Well... We have one really nice long spiral staircase at home that you could probably try to skateboard down. That's still quality entertainment!" he said, laughing a bit. It was true, he did have the one really long staircase back at home -- his family's place was fairly huge. There are also a bunch of shorter staircases but those, he thought, weren't nearly as fun, especially since they went into corners a lot and he didn't want Ashton to be snowboarding into a wall.
Pacey opened his mouth to supply an answer but he didn't really have one, so he closed it and frowned, scratching his head a little in contemplation of it. "Dunno! Isn't that what people just usually say when they need to do anything semi-dangerous?" For some reason there always seemed to be a rope involved -- a rope and a grappling hook -- regardless of what said semi-dangerous activity actually was. "Not like I have experience breaking into Zellers, nope." He was acting shifty but it was just that, an act. He really hadn't done anything of the sort. Ashton's surprised reaction to Pacey's offer didn't really throw him off if only because this tended to be the usual. He didn't really get why it was a big deal, but apparently it was -- still he just waved his hand a little in dismissal of any issues. "Yeah dude, no problem! And you don't have to pay me back, it's all good." They were bros and all that, Pacey trusted that Ashton wouldn't take advantage of that kind of thing -- people had done it in the past but Pacey... never did learn the lesson. His friends were too nice to do that, right? Right! "Hey, hey, it's not like we were going in to steal anything from an empty store!" He knew it was unwise to mention "stealing" anything in a mall, but luckily nobody seemed to hear. People did always think he was a delinquent because of his obnoxious hair, though... "Eh, I have no idea -- wait, did they... leave?" A glance around the store indicated that they weren't there, and then he saw most of their friends over by the checkout. "Dude, I think we're cramping their style and all." He knew that wasn't the case -- the girls were pretty nice and probably wouldn't really try to ditch them. Still, it would be good to stick together or something, not that he was afraid of getting lost. Pacey practically knew the mall inside and out. "We might wanna go pay, though... Here, pass the jeans?"
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Sept 2, 2012 2:34:16 GMT -5
Ashton nodded in enthusiastic agreement when Pacey mentioned the Italian bread. Clearly the other Earth elemental knew what was up. The Italian was definitely the most popular bread most of the time and so it made sense that it was the one that sold out the fastest but that didn't make it any less disappointing when he went into Subway craving it and came out a sad and hungry man. "They need to just make a whole bunch of it and cut back on the other stuff, I bet that would solve their problem." It made sense to him but then, he'd never worked in fast food. His career experience consisted of making flower arrangements and trying not to trip and drop anything. He wasn't particularly clumsy but it was hard to see his feet sometimes when he was holding something large! "... I was going to say something about the Fires having a possible remedy but they'd probably just stand there and laugh." He paused, then amended, "Lark might help though." The fact that his girlfriend was a Fire was something that Ashton had long since ceased being ashamed to admit. Besides, Pacey knew her and that made all the difference. The other Fires? Well, sad as it was, Ashton had to admit he was pretty sure they'd be screwed if the fate of the Earths was left up to them. He liked to believe the best in people but they simply didn't have an encouraging track record.
Ashton's laziness tended to be circumstantial more than anything. He didn't like to do anything boring and he was pretty sure he shared this feeling with the rest of the planet. If he had work to do and he wasn't in the mood he would be more content than ever to laze around on the couch all morning and get nothing done. However, if it was a free day with no work to be done you'd be just as likely to find him out hiking or messing around with friends. "Being lazy doesn't get me paid." He chuckled. It also wouldn't help him keep his job. He was pretty sure that Andy liked him but the man had also warned Ashton that this didn't grant him a trump card. He was still very much in danger of being let go if he screwed up. "Dude, you have a spiral staircase? I love those things!" He'd never snowboarded down a spiral staircase, though, nor anything resembling a staircase. The closest he'd came to unconventional boarding activities was when he'd experimented on an icy hill and nearly broke his leg. He'd ceased thinking out of the box after that. "... Then I guess we need rope!" He was pretty agreeable. "You're such a bad influence, my mother would be ashamed to think that I hung out with the likes of you." He was grinning from ear to ear as he said this and so it was fairly obvious he meant nothing by it. Now that he thought about it, though, Analynn probably would disapprove. She tended to judge all of his friends and take it upon herself to decide who was 'good' or who wasn't.
Ashton was the generous sort who would give every penny in his pocket away if you asked him to but it still touched him when others displayed the slightest amount of kindness toward him in return. He didn't expect favours or gifts from others and so when they were offered or given he was always genuinely grateful. "You're awesome, I hope you know that!" He said it lightly and forced himself not to get emotional. They were just jeans, gosh. It meant a lot to him, though, because Ashton had a lot of feelings. He doesn't even go here. "Uh..." A glance around the store yielded no sign of their friends and he blinked, nodding. "Looks like it, yep! I wonder where they went..." He was so distracted by their absence that he was a couple of steps toward the exit before Pacey reminded him about the jeans and he laughed, handing them over. Ash could be scatterbrained sometimes. Once they'd paid and got out of there, Ashton spotted their friends heading into a store with a hot pink sign that contained... um, a lot of very girly items and apparel. He blinked. "What do," he deadpanned, resorting to internet lingo in order to convey his sense of uncertainty. He really needed to get away from the internet. "Like... are we just gonna follow them in there, or... or food, or...?" He trailed off and looked expectantly at his friend. They should stick together, really, but... uh, lingerie? That was all kinds of awkward. He was straight and he had a girlfriend for gods sakes!
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Sept 5, 2012 16:03:58 GMT -5
Pacey thought over this whole thing for a second before nodding. That did make sense, actually! The business student in him knew that it couldn't possibly be right, or else Subway would have probably done it already, but he didn't actually know if they baked the bread in the store or if they got it delivered from somewhere. He kind of hoped they baked it there just because... mm, that would be yummy. Then again, Pacey would eat anything anyway. "Dude, they really should. And they need to stop doing that weird triangle cheese layering thing, 'cause that doesn't make sense," he said, shaking his head. If he were in charge of Subway, that was what he would do, yes. Unfortunately he wasn't and probably never would be -- his dad's company was doing well, judging by his family's money, but it wasn't big enough for him to buy Subway. Besides which, that had more to do with employees themselves more than corporate decisions, he figured. "Yeah, I think she would," he agreed, nodding. Fires would probably be useful in the impending zombie invasion, whether or not they were the flower- or flesh-eating kind, but unfortunately he didn't think that Fires would be very willing to help them if it was mostly Earths in danger. They hadn't proven too friendly thus far. "And Josh, I figure. And... that's it. Man, that's really sad." He had long ago stopped lamenting the existence of the alliances, knowing that not everyone could get along, but it was still pretty awful still, realizing they probably wouldn't help if his own element's lives were in danger. It was a scary thought.
Was payment worth it? Pacey had to actually think about this one for a second. Work was... ugh, work was so much work! It required effort and all that, and from what he could tell, most jobs were pretty boring. He figured that at least Ashton got to work with flowers and that was always great, was as close as he could get to using his element as a job, but even so... was it really that great? He didn't figure that it was for some reason, but then again he didn't need to work part-time for his spending money, so he was in a different boat. "Nah, I guess not. Unless you were like, a mattress tester or smoething. Boom, you should do that," he said, clapping his hands together with conviction as if he'd just come up with a totally brilliant idea. "Yeah man, it's pretty sick," he said, laughing a little. "For real, you should come visit. Bring your snowboard." It'd probably be a lot of fun to snowboard down that thing, though. Pacey could board too, but probably not as well -- not down the stairs or anything. His parents... er, would probably also not appreciate that, now that he thought about it, so this was luckily all a joke. "Always need rope! Can you supply the grappling hook? And a flashlight. Probably need a flashlight." He thought of random scenes from those spy movies where they had to break into places. Pacey probably watched too many movies. "Would she really? I don't want your mom to hate me, dude." He knew from the grin that it was a joke and so he was grinning too, but in all seriousness it would upset him if his friends' parents actually disapproved of him. He wasn't a bad kid, all things considered, and mothers tended to like him for some reason (probably the baby face...).
He popped his collar as if taking this entire thing to heart, but really he didn't think it was too much of a big deal at all. "I know, I'm just the best," he joked, shaking his head a little and laughing. Pacey really wasn't anywhere close to the best, unless it was the best at wasting money, in which case yeah, he probably was, but it just burnt a hole up in his pocket otherwise. He had no problem with paying, and he fished his debit card out of his wallet rather than pay in some obscene amount of cash -- he had some bills on his person but definitely not enough to pay for the jeans and sneakers. His card ran through it no problem, though, and he handed Ashton the bag with his jeans as they left the store only to follow their girl friends to... Oh. He was pretty sure he'd gone a faint shade of pink. "Uh... uh. Um," he said, stuttering a little. Pacey liked girls, alright, he did -- they were so cute and pretty and he had a soft spot for pretty girls, honestly, but things like this were... were far beyond him. Admittedly he knew that a lingerie store would be crawling with girls and if he'd been a bit more of a sleaze he might have been itching to just follow them inside but oh god no, Pacey was not in the slightest, and words failed him for a second. "I want to just get food, but but... we should stay with them, but... Uh..." Derp. He spent a lot of time on the internet, too. "Maybe we should just... wait for them out here?" He always felt kind of lame when he went all awkward teenage boy but come on, lingerie shopping with girls was so not something Pacey was very familiar with. "Like... I dunno." He gestured vaguely and awkwardly at a bench near the front of the store.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Sept 8, 2012 0:36:24 GMT -5
Ashton laughed in response. He didn't have as much of a problem with their cheese as Pacey apparently did but it was amusing either way. "I just get the shredded stuff. You should, too, save yourself the grief of triangles." He put his hand over his heart as if to say that having the layered triangle cheese was an absolute tragedy. He was a bit of a drama queen but it was all in good fun. "Probably. Two people against however many zombies we'll be facing isn't a whole lot, though. Sucks." He spoke as if the impending apocalypse was a real thing, even adding a sigh at the end. Though he was saying this all with light-hearted intent, it was a bit sad to consider that their elemental enemies didn't have their back in a real fight. "Oh well. We'd help them, at least we've got that on our conscience." He couldn't speak for the entire Earth element but most of them were either forgiving or selfless or some other kind-hearted trait that would lead them into aiding the enemy if it all came down to some outer conflict. Ashton didn't like to have enemies, didn't consider anyone his true enemy until they really did something to wrong him, and so he wouldn't hesitate to drop grudges if the need arose.
Being paid for laziness probably sounded like a great deal to most people and Ash was certainly one of them. Too bad that it didn't exist. Or did it? He chuckled and asked seriously, "Is that even a thing? Mattress tester? You'd think they'd just get volunteers to do it." He wasn't sure what to think of volunteer work. On one hand it gave people a chance to pitch in for the sake of pitching in, honest work, but it also gave whoever was hiring them free labour. It didn't mean Ashton wouldn't lend a (free) hand if someone asked him for a favour. No, he was far too generous to turn down a chance at being helpful. Or maybe he was just a pushover. It all depended on perspective. "Don't you live in like, Toronto? Sorry, haven't got the hang of teleportation yet." He was only joking but Toronto was really far from the Hollow. "If you're willing to give me a ride, though, totally. And I'll bring my board but like, do you guys even have mountains?" British Columbia was covered in them but some of the other provinces weren't as lucky. Considering Ashton wasn't the greatest at geography, Ontario might be as mountainous as Alberta for all he knew. Hey, at least he could point it out on a map. He wasn't completely hopeless or anything!
He could only imagine the looks on the faces of security if they were caught tip-toeing around an empty Zellers with a grappling hook and a length of rope. "I'll see if Inspector Gadget is having a sale, sure." Did he take anything seriously? Not usually. This wasn't meant to be taken seriously, though, and so Ashton's silliness wasn't too out of place. He hoped. It would suck to have a friend judge him because of it but he trusted that Pacey wasn't that type. "Uh. I mean, if we actually broke into Zellers, but otherwise... no, I don't think so." Doing it was one thing but talking about it? Analynn might scold him if she overheard the joking, she took everything far too seriously, but he didn't think that she'd hate his friend if she knew they weren't delinquents in reality. Realising that his uncertainty probably wasn't all that comforting, he said, "Mom's just weird. She does strange things. I think you're all good, though." He loved his mother, he really did, but she was a bit... unpredictable. Not crazy unpredictable but definitely enough to put him on edge when he wasn't sure how she'd react to things. Which was most of the time.
He'd never been inside of a lingerie store before. Ever. Why would he go in there, after all, when it was very clearly a women's clothing store? A clothing store for, erm, sexy undergarments. He was just as much an awkward teenage guy as Pacey right about then, staring at the store, then the sign, then his friend with a rather lost expression. 'What do' had pretty much summed up how he was feeling. "They never stayed with us," he said weakly, as if trying to justify his sudden urge to go bury all the feels in a sandwich at Subway. He wasn't the type to abandon friends, though, and so Pacey's words kept him rooted in place. We really should stay. Should. Would they? Could they sit outside of that shop for a while and make awkward conversation as their friends perused the wares? He found himself wondering if they were going to buy something and then oh god he didn't want to picture any of his friends like that, no, he had a girlfriend for Christ's sakes! Sighing his defeat, he wandered over to the bench and plopped his butt down on it, trying to keep his gaze on Pacey rather than over toward the store. "So, uh..." Damn it, why was conversation so much harder under pressure like this?
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Sept 8, 2012 22:20:51 GMT -5
The triangular cheese was really a problem that he'd never understood. Why not alternate the direction of the triangle so that there wasn't that one weird dry patch without cheese and that one extra layer of cheese on the other side of the sub? It didn't make sense at all. Pacey felt very strongly about his sandwiches, though, so these were things tha the would seriously have to think about should he ever get the chance to ask someone in charge of Subway. "I... never thought of that, actually," he said, laughing a bit. "I guess I know what I'm doing from now on! Cheese is important." It was, too. The cheesiness of his sub was not a matter to be taken lightly -- okay it was, but still, he liked to be a little dramatic when it was just in fun. "Yeah, I think we'd actually be screwed," he said with a kind of sigh. It was too bad if they wouldn't be able to put aside their differences, but at this point Pacey no longer expected them to. A couple of years at the Academy had shown him that it'd be really unlikely. "Yeah, for real. I don't know what we'd be able to stop that they wouldn't, though... but it's the thought!" He'd try his best, too, because much as he really hated some of the Fires and Thunders, Pacey wouldn't let anything happen to an entire group of people as a whole if he could do anything about it.
Though he could be fairly lazy, he didn't sleep or nap quite so much that he would actually seek a job doing that. If someone offered it to him and all he had to do was sleep on a mattress at night and tell them how it was, though... Pacey would like to do that. Then again, he was okay on most mattresses, not that he didn't like and occasionally miss his hugeass, comfortable bed at home. "No idea, but if they exist, then sign me up!" he joked. He was in no desperate need of money, though, so maybe it would be more fair to let other people take up that kind of job. "What? Dude, how have you not gotten teleportation yet?" He shook his head as if saying that this were a basic concept. Even if it were, though, he would never make a friend feel bad about not knowing it. That was beyond cruel. People were always learning new things. That was just how life worked! There were many things he didn't know, either -- like how to operate a stove, for instance -- so he wouldn't be a fan of anyone making fun of him for such a thing, and he refused to do the same to others. "And dude, for sure. Over the summer or something, you actually should come. It'd be great!" He usually did take off to go back home for his summer breaks -- his parents would send someone to get him and take him to the nearest airport. He was sure they wouldn't mind if Ashton came along, too. "Nah, dude. Boarding around here's probably a lot better," he said, sighing. There were ski hills and things, but it was nothing like the Rockies, definitely not.
What on Earth would they use a grappling hook for? He didn't know the answer to that question either, but he gave Ashton a furtive nod when he said that he would try to get one, as if this were of the utmost importance and their "plan" would fall apart without it. "If not it's okay, I think the rope will be good to get us in," he said, his face cracking into an easy grin. "I guess we should also buy all-black outfits for sneaking in." Considering how much he would waste money, it wouldn't be that surprising if he actually did this, went and bought an entire outfit for a purpose that would never actually become a reality... but hey, Pacey enjoyed life. "Okay. I guess we should refrain from any rule-breaking then," he said, acting as if this disappointed him, but he was glad to hear that Ashton's mom wouldn't actually hate him or anything. He really would never do anything of the sort, so this was good news. "Nah, she's probably not that weird. All parents do weird things, bro." He did love his parents very much but hey... there was something about becoming a parent that made people pretty dang strange. He would probably be very different by the time he was a father, too -- if he ever became a father, and he did want that day to come at some point, but probably not in the near future. Heck no.
As of this present moment in time, lingerie stores were very much uncharted territory for Pacey, and he had no intention of changing that. Alright... alright, okay, he liked girls as much as any other straight teenage boy (maybe more, shush) so he wouldn't say no to being surrounded by pictures of beautiful women in lingerie, but considering his first thought was ew no oh my god, it was probably a bad idea to go anywhere near the place. His mind was a complicated mess, that was all. He watched the last of the girls enter the store -- none of them seemed to have remembered that Ashton and Pacey were even with them at all, which was a little disappointing in this situation but nothing he'd take to heart. He did, however, just glance between Ashton and then the store and back again several times before he was finally able to answer. "Yeah... yeah, they didn't. But I don't want to lose them or anything..." Awkward as hell shopping moments aside, they were all friends, and it would be a dick move to leave them there. Pacey followed Ashton over to the bench when he moved, glad that at least he had someone to sit with while the girls were in the store. If he were alone with them he would have probably had no choice but to enter -- that or stand around awkwardly, and he was sure that a teenage boy creeping around outside a lingerie store never looked good. "So, uh... You know, sandwiches! And stuff! Sandwiches are good," he said lamely. "And uh... We should like... hit up a video game store later or something." He said this mostly because it was a typical guy thing to do, enter the video game store when at the mall, though he realized that he just sounded like he was trying to defend their masculinity. The thought made him smile a bit but it came off grim as he joked, "Uh. Football. Monster trucks. 'Cause... totally manly men right here." He cleared his throat. ...Yep.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Sept 12, 2012 3:18:39 GMT -5
The more they talked about sandwiches, the more Ashton wanted one. He could imagine the shredded cheese, the tomatoes, the crisp green lettuce (provided it was crisp and not turning brown like that one time he'd went, yuck), the other toppings all working in perfect harmony. Or a pizza sub. Jesus, either one sounded fantastic right about now. He could almost start drooling right there and then but that would be weird and so he refrained. Still, damn it, their mall trip had only just begun and already he was looking forward to the part where they'd skip off to the food court and happily indulge. "Doomed to a life of flower-creating slavery," he sighed, then laughed. "Not like my job is much different. I'd do all right with the zombies." He was joking of course, his job wasn't that bad or he'd have up and quit by now. His parents hadn't yet begun to demand rent from him and so he didn't need the job. He wanted it for the money he made from it. "Uh. Um. No idea, actually, I'm with ya on that one. We care, though, that's all that matters. Sharing is car—no, no, caring is... ah, I don't know where I was going with that one." He shook his head, appearing sheepishly amused with himself. He hated when his thoughts ran ahead with him, it happened a lot and usually ended with Ashton uttering something completely nonsensical. Like now.
It was a good thing that their conversation had reached the level of ridiculous that it was at, else he might have taken Pacey's tone seriously. Had teleportation actually existed, he'd have gotten flustered and tried to come up with some kind of excuse as to why he didn't understand it like the rest of the world. It didn't, though, and so he settled for faking this. "I'm different, okay? You're so insensitive." He pouted, actually pouted, and then burst into laughter. Said laughter made it rather hard to force out, "My daddy told me I was a special snowflake." In the company of friends, his silly behaviour tended to reach its peak. Some called him weird and others were happy to roll with it but as a fairly confident and cheerful person, Ashton didn't mind what people said about him. Whatever would be, would be. He couldn't change the opinions of others, all he could do was stop them from hurting too much. As they chatted about the possibility of hanging out over the summer break, his lips pressed into a thoughtful line. A province without mountains? How sad. He'd feel lost without them, he loved to test his own skills by hitting the slopes. "Then maybe you could stay for a while in the winter or something. I could show you some awesome places for it." He still missed the beaches of Vancouver sometimes but he had to admit that Maple Hollow's abundant wilderness was a neat change to his surroundings.
His first thought at the mention of all-black was the two boys sneaking around in ninja-suits, nunchucks and all. It made him laugh, not that this was a difficult thing to do, and he shook his head in amusement as they walked around trying to locate their friends. "Well, no. My dad is parent-weird. My mom is... her-weird. It's hard to explain." She often did things that made no sense to Ashton and probably no sense to others, either. She was a hypocrite but that was less weird and more annoying. And she was a writer, which came with some oddities of its own. Thoughts of his mother soon turned into a mild panic over indecision as he and Pacey sat on the bench in front of the lingerie store and stumbled over a plan of action. "I, yeah, I guess you're right. Blah." And so here they were stuck, trying to think of things that didn't involve their friends in skimpy outfits. "Pizza subs," he chimed in, glad for an excuse not to talk about lingerie. "Ooh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Are you looking for any game in particular or do you want to just hang around?" He wasn't into video games enough to know all of the new and popular titles but he definitely loved to go a few rounds with his friends whenever there was a group of them and a console lying around. He didn't care whether he won or lost and it made him a good candidate for playing with. No whining and sore losing, not unless he was kidding around. "Totally manly. I don't work at a flower shop or anything, I, ah, I... I crush those flowers. Because I'm a man." And now he was laughing again.
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Sept 14, 2012 15:34:31 GMT -5
He liked being an Earth and he wouldn't have given it up for any other element (despite the fact that yes, fire would be far more useful in the zombie invasion), but he did have to admit that it'd be pretty lousy if that was all he had to do, day in and day out, prepare flower meals for zombies. Pacey wasn't good enough for that slave labour nonsense, even when it was something as simple as creating flowers, which was at this point mostly standard. Well, it was easier than many other things he could be expected to do by eleventh grade at the Academy, anyway. "At least you get paid for work though," he pointed out, laughing a bit. "I don't think zombies would actually like... pay you, y'know." Nope, he was pretty sure that he wouldn't want whatever zombie currency was -- human body parts or something. Gross. "Yeah, at least we can say we tried," he said, shaking his head, kind of amused at his friend's apparently derailed train of thought. "S'all good bro, it's not like I ever know where I'm going with anything." Well that wasn't technically true, but everyone occasionally went off on tangents and had no idea what they were saying anymore, he was pretty sure.
Pacey would never really be that mean to a friend, but he also trusted that Ashton and most people knew this -- really Pace was just a big softie, deep down -- so his apology was definitely very much pretended and teasing. "Sorry, Ashton, man. You've shown me like... the error of my ways," he said, suppressing the smile. "But you should really get help, dude. Like, teleportation lessons or something. I hear they're cheaper now than they used to be," he suggested with a look of utmost sympathy, but it was all ruined because he burst out laughing loudly at the words "special snowflake". A couple of their girl friends turned around to stare at him but Pacey just waved them off, unable to speak for a second. They seemed to decide it wasn't worth asking. "Oh man. Too much, dude, too much." There was just something really hilarious about those two words together. Pacey wouldn't say that he was one of those people who were unable to ever keep a straight face, but he couldn't keep it together all the time, either. "Yeah, that'd be sick!" he said, jumping on the idea. He didn't stay for very long over breaks because he did after all miss Toronto when he was at the Academy, but he wouldn't mind staying behind for a bit this winter. "We should definitely go boarding. And laugh at the skiers. 'Cause... skiing." His tone made it sound like there was some kind of contempt or something. He was totally kidding -- skiing was fun too -- but from experience, he'd say that snowboarding was a lot harder... and, as such, way more fun.
He gave his friend a skeptical look. "But I still think all parents are parent-weird," he said. Then again, maybe not. He'd never met Ashton's parents and he really couldn't judge two people he'd never met. Well, he could, but not properly. "Well, s'long as she doesn't hate me. It's all good!" Ashton had already told him that she probably wouldn't, though, so this was good enough for Pacey. Parents did usually like him even if they did stare a little uncomfortably at his hair, which he kind of understood well enough. Then... well, there were probably other reasons for parents and adults and people in general not to like him, too, but he liked himself just fine. "Yeah... yeeeah," he said, stretching out the word uncomfortably, looking at the floor, the bench, his shoes, up at the ceiling (it was well-decorated, like most mall ceilings generally were...) -- anything to avoid staring awkwardly at the store of doom in front of them. "Yeah, pizza subs! Or meatball subs... Could go for either of them actually," he said, shaking his head. "Meh, just hanging around, but I dunno, depends what we find there." He never hesitated in buying things on a whim. Video games were no exception. "Nah, definitely not. You destroy those flowers, man. Like a man. The man that you are." The image of Ashton going on a Hulk-like rampage and obliterating an entire flower shop was too much and he laughed again, glad that they had some kind of distraction from the lingerie store. Then his eyes accidentally found it again and he sobered up, shaking his head. "Dude, if we're totally manly men, how did we get roped into this?"
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Sept 16, 2012 10:33:24 GMT -5
If he thought about it, it would not be out of character for his father to tease him with the special snowflake deal if Ashton was in a bad mood. Not that bad moods were common with the Earth elemental but it was the thought that counted. Ashton's father was a lot more lax and easy-going than his wife and Ash was pretty glad of that. It was always nice to have one parent who could take a joke. Apparently Pacey thought the special snowflake thing was pretty funny, too, because he started laughing and it made Ashton laugh as well. He waved his hand dismissively when their friends looked back to indicate that they should be ignored. Friends were probably used to it, at least to some degree. "Is it anything like Harry Potter? I don't wanna get splinched, no way." That was some scary shit. You think you're just taking a short-cut home and the next thing you know you can't find your arm. He shuddered at the thought. No, that was definitely a little too grim to consider at great lengths. "Totally. I can kinda ski but... meh, snowboarding is more fun!" He had actually found snowboarding when his family had taken a holiday up to the ski slopes and he'd figured out that he preferred both feet on one board. No doing the splits in mid-air for Ashton, no thanks. "How good are you?" That's what she said, much? He snickered a little when he realised this and stressed, "At boarding and stuff." If he'd been a lot more immature and comfortable with cracking sex jokes he might have given it a shot but that wasn't Ashton's thing. The gutter mind was there but the reactions were not.
He thought about it, tried to think of all the things his mother had ever done in comparison to stories that he'd heard from his friends. This thought process didn't last very long, mostly because Ashton didn't have the greatest memory for that kind of thing and so he shook his head. "I dunno, maybe." He still sounded skeptical but it wasn't like he was going to start a debate about it. He wasn't the argumentative type. "But Pacey, she's a writer. You get what I mean? She writes." The first part was serious and the last a little more ridiculous. He needed to take himself more seriously, geez. Straightening his face, he said with actual seriousness this time, "I don't get her. Is it like that with your mom? I mean like... she says and does things and it's like, what the heck, Mom, how is that normal?" Maybe he had gotten more genes from his father or something like that. He understood his father decently well. It still sucked when he got into trouble but at least he usually understood what his Dad was so upset about. "I don't think she really hates anyone," he said cheerfully. Except her mother-in-law, but that was because she was an elemental and Ana was still weird about that. "She's just... weird." He nodded. That was a good way to explain Analynn's bitterness and stuff to a friend, right?
Ashton pulled out his wallet and leafed through the collection of bills he had there. There were only a couple left, his next paycheck was soon and so he was running low. Still, there was enough in there for a video game or two if something seemed good. He didn't have all of the consoles available but he did have a 360 because his brother had begged for it last Christmas. It wasn't his specifically but Cameron only played every once and a while. The kid was flighty, jumping from interest to interest. His older brother benefited, at least. "We might be able to play it later on if we—aw, damn, nevermind." He sighed. "Forgot about work." While it was nice to be making money and not being the only one in his group of friends that had to leech off everyone else, he did miss being able to do whatever he wanted, when he wanted. Ashton used to at least be the one who was always available to hang out. Now he had a schedule, ew. He jokingly roared and stomped his foot against the tiled floor, then leaned back into the bench. "Because we suck?" he suggested. He glanced at the store and was going to suggest that they go in and fetch the girls but he quickly went limp and decided against it. What if they were, like, changing? No no no. "Uh. How long do you think they'll take?" He tried not to sound too hopeful. He looked around for a clock then remembered his phone and pulled it out to check the time. "I mean I have time and stuff but like... we're just sitting here and blah." Fairly decent explanation, right? And blah.
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Post by PACEY LUCAS BAEK on Sept 22, 2012 20:12:58 GMT -5
Pacey had seen all the Harry Potter movies -- owned all of them, in fact, and had for a few years had a hugeass crush on Emma Watson -- and he'd even read the first couple of books, but when Ashton mentioned the word "splinched", he had to admit that he had no idea what the heck his friend was talking about. He really wasn't as invested as many other people were. "What is getting splinched?" he asked, then realized that it probably had something to do with that whole teleportation thing. Apparition? Was that what it was called. "Oh damn, wait, is it that thing that happened to Ron in like, number seven? 'Cause then... yeah, no. If that's how teleportation works in real life I don't want it either." He shuddered a little bit at the thought, actually. "But why ski when you can board, man?" Skiing was actually a lot easier than snowboarding, he thought at least, and so did many of the snowboarders he knew, so that was that. Then again, they were probably biased. "The best you'll never have," Pacey couldn't help but say, straight-faced as anything for just a split second before he laughed. His mind wasn't totally in the gutter but Ashton had set himself up for that one. "Uh, I'm not too bad. Probably not as good as you but I can get around okay!" From what he knew, his friend was kind of a beast with a board, so there was no comparison there. Pacey didn't get to go nearly often enough.
It wasn't like Pacey actually knew Ashton's mom, so he would have backed down in an argument anyway. Even so, he wasn't really about to start anything over it, because he just wasn't a fan of conflict in general. He wasn't even sure it was meekness, either, because he wasn't a particularly shy person, and truth be told he was probably strong enough in his own right to hold his ground, but... urgh, there was something really off-setting about it. Luckily with Ashton and his other friends there was no need to argue ever. "No, actually, I don't get what you mean at all!" he said, laughing and scratching his head a little bit in confusion. He didn't really know any writers as far as he knew. "What does your mom write?" His mother didn't actually work but his father made more than enough money for the family. "Not really, man. I dunno. My parents are pretty normal. But then again I don't get to see them a lot anymore." This last part was said almost wistfully, but it wasn't so bad -- he would like to see his parents more often but he liked the Academy, it wasn't mandatory, and he certainly didn't expect his parents to uproot everything to come to Maple Hollow. "I'm pretty sure she's pretty normal, though." He grinned a little. He liked his parents a lot. "But that's good that she doesn't hate anyone!" Pacey didn't really think that there was anyone he could say he really hated, either, but there were probably a couple of people who came close. The Academy wasn't always a friendly place.
He would have loved to go over to Ashton's place -- or even back to Pacey's own dorm, where he had a pretty decent collection of video game consoles himself -- afterward for some video gaming, especially after all this nonsense with the girls and the lingerie shopping. Work seemed to get in the way of their plans, though, and he frowned for a second before shaking his head, a sympathetic smile on his face. "That sucks, dude. Guess you don't have a choice though," he commented lightly, still somewhat for the idea of skipping work, but he knew that Ashton wouldn't and that it'd be a bad idea anyway. He was glad that he didn't need a job, actually. "Ugh... we totally do suck, don't we," he admitted with a sigh. It was a shame that they were spending so much time out here, though -- it hadn't been that long but it'd been a little while. He figured that he knew where Ashton was going with his next question but he was a little hesitant all the same. Deciding to fuck it, though, he made up his mind and stood up. "Dude, we should definitely just --" As it transpired, he had pretty perfect timing, because it was at that second that one of their friends poked her head out of the store. "You guys! Come in, we're trying stuff on!" The look on her face indicated that she was just kidding and totally making fun of them but Pacey went what was probably beet red. "Uh. Nope. Nope! We were just heading to the food court -- right, Ashton?" he asked quickly, appealing to his bro for advice. Bro code, man. Bro code.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Sept 22, 2012 23:29:49 GMT -5
Ashton was a babbler, and in babbling he often neglected to remember that not everyone was going to understand the references he made and the things that he said. He blinked at Pacey for a moment as his train of thought was sufficiently derailed and then laughed and grinned. "Oh, geez, there I go getting ahead of myself as usual!" His friends were generally used to him going off on little enthusiastic tangents that would eventually lead to him tripping over his own words in an attempt to explain the fountain of speech. "Yeah, that!" It seemed Pacey had come up with the answer on his own when Ashton had taken a pause to duck his head and bask in the feelings of embarrassment. "I know, right? It's like... on one hand you might be awesome and end up on the other side of the city without any effort... and on the other you end up missing an arm. And we don't even have people that can fix that!" He could only imagine the disaster of trying to explain to a doctor that he'd accidentally lost a chunk of flesh in his arm because whoops, teleportation. It was a pretty grim subject but Ashton, being the cheery guy that he was, managed to view it light-heartedly without totally squicking himself out by overthinking. That was better than some, he supposed. Huffing, he said, "Seriously, though, it would be awesome to just close my eyes and... go somewhere else. Like Dorothy and her heels in the Wizard of Oz, except without tornadoes and witches and stuff." In other words, not like the Wizard of Oz at all, but whatever. Didn't matter.
He burst out laughing at the remark. "Not what I meant!" he protested, though he figured that Pacey knew that. Moving on in the conversation, he nodded his agreement. To be fair, Ashton would like to be able to do anything and everything he wanted with ample talent. Who didn't? But he had to admit that if he had to choose between skiing and boarding, he preferred the one he was good at right now. So he grinned a little and said, "Right? Boarding rocks." Skateboarding was a different matter entirely, though. He wasn't the biggest fan of that, mostly because the wheels had a habit of fucking his shit up. He also hated curbs but that was a tale for another time. "As long as you don't totally suck at it, I'm sure it'll be fun," he assured his friend optimistically. If Pacey had to stick to going down tiny ass hills that were hardly able to be classified as bumps in the landscape then it might be hard for them to stick together on a trip up the mountain slopes but if he were at least decent Ashton wouldn't have a problem with chilling with him. He looked thoughtful and confused for a moment as he tried to think of a way to explain his mother to Pacey. "She just... she does weird things, I don't know!" He flailed as he failed to explain it in an easy to understand way. "She never lets us read her writing, she talks about the characters in her books like they exist, and she goes red every time I bring up her books." Which made sense, for a moment later he answered Pacey's question with, "Oh, uh, romance! She writes romance." And what grown woman wanted to know that her son had read one of her mature, adult romance novels? Clearly not Ana. He looked sympathetic. "That sucks you don't get to see them often, though! Do you at least get to like, call often and stuff?" He could at least relate to Pacey more than one would think, for his family was not native to Maple Hollow and had only moved there in recent years when Ashton had started college. He'd once been a boarder like so many others.
Sometimes he wished he was of the braver sort that would be totally all right with calling in sick to work and hanging out with a friend for the day. Or would that be considered the stupid and irresponsible type? His parents would probably suggest the latter but a good deal of his friends skipped class and work on occasion for matters that had nothing to do with illness and more to do with laziness or the inability to give a shit. "No, shush, we're amazing," he said, though he didn't sound as convinced as he should have. He was actually halfway off the bench when Pacey started to suggest that they should—what, exactly? He never got to find out because in the next moment their friends had caught sight of them awkwardly lurking outside of the lingerie store. Why are they such trolls? He cast a helpless glance toward Pacey as if searching for advice, of which he doubted his fellow Earth would have any. Apparently Pacey was looking for the same thing. And because they were totally bros, Ashton nodded and said quickly, "U-Uh, yeah, that's actually where I was going right now! Pacey was coming too and we were going to get food and... and you guys can meet up with us later, it's totally fine, we don't mind or anything!" He stammered slightly on the opening word due to being put on the spot but despite the rapidity with which the others flowed from his mouth they managed to be coherent. There was the overwhelming urge to grab Pacey and drag him to the food court, but he refrained. "So you guys can stay and hang out and we'll go get food... and stuff." He started edging toward said food court (or at least in the general direction he thought it would be) and wondered if Pacey would follow.
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