if i think i can figure things out, is that curiosity or arrogance?

The hallway was pretty quiet this early in the morning, but not deserted. There were two teenagers in their pajamas standing outside a friend's door, bearing gifts.

They were givers like that. Just exemplary human beings.

No, really.

"Do you think he even does Christmas?" Topher wondered, moving to the side to let Kenzi knock.

( The fact that they might be waking him up had nothing to do with anything. Nope. )

[[Preplayed with regretiz4suckas and lockestheway, because timezones suck and we wanted A Very Black Hat Trio Christmas, dammit. NFI, OOC welcome, and all good for broadcast except for the talk of Karla, which is NFB.]]

Okay. The world was maybe almost over. Topher was more than a little freaked.

So out came the dice and the cape, and after making a quick annoucement, he set up at a toadstool with some character sheets for some pre-apocalyptic Dungeons and Dragons.

Kid had priorities.

[[OCD is up! Yep, idea stolen from Buffy 7x22, "Chosen." Anyone can play, and if you want to ICly be talked into it, lemme know and I'll have Topher get naggy. I have an AIM chat for this if you wanna pop in -- rpwithinanrpyegods. Have fun!

OH, and a million thanks to glacial_witch, brat_intraining, harpy_daughter and most especially not_a_parakeet for humoring me and teaching me how this works. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST AND I LOVE YOU.]]

Topher's parents wanted him dead. That was the only explanation.

Well, there could be others. Maybe they just wanted him attacked by something big and scary that made chittering noises. Or they just wanted him to be hit by a train and live.

But he was guessing dead for now. Because that portal that was supposed to take him and Kenzi first-class, direct to LA? Had taken him here. Where it was dark. And cold. And wet. And there were chittering noises and train tracks and he had rat fear, okay? And the dark freaked him out. Which was why he was clinging to Kenzi's shirt and making tiny, high-pitched noises.

"I don't like this," he whimpered. "I don't like this I don't like this I don't like this..."

( And there was just so much to like! )

[[nfb, nfi, ooc-okay, we think we're funny.]]

On his way back from that stupid tent yesterday, Topher had stolen cushions from various couches in the dorm building, which meant that there were now several dozen pillows piled up in his bed. (Some were always there. Most of them, not so much.) You could barely even see the Space Battles sheets underneath all of them!

However, he was no longer eating ice cream. That was because ice cream tended to melt if he sat and ate a whole tub all in one go, which was really the only way he wanted to do it. So instead, he had moved on to cake. A cake that had come pre-frosted from the grocery store, sure, but now it had Funfetti on it too.

SHUT UP. HE WAS HUNGRY.

[[Closed door, open post! Was supposed to be up early enough to beat timezone suck, BUT SOMEONE BEAT ME. Whatevs.]]

Topher, ladies and gentlemen, was not having a great morning.

His morning (or afternoon, really) started out with a loud groan of protest against just about everything. Then, before his eyes could even open but just as the events of last night started to come back to him, he shrieked.

And then his ankle throbbed and he shrieked again.

Ohhhh, god. Oh god oh god oh god. Today was THE WORST EVER. He thought about getting up and taking something to get rid of that horrible headache of his, not to mention the severe ankle pain, but... didn't. He just rolled over onto his stomach and whimpered quietly into the pillow.

[[Post is as open as open can be! Door is closed but unlocked.]]

For all the complaints that people were making about the weather, there were at least two Fandom students who seemed oblivious to the snow on this particular Saturday.

Of course, they weren’t quite aware that they were Fandom students at this particular moment, because they were far too busy battling pythons and alligators.

“What, are you stupid? Hit its jaws with the thing!” yelled Dr. Nikki Riley, gesturing to an invisible (but very menacing) alligator snapping at her cohort’s feet. At the same time, Nikki whacked a large python with what appeared to be a large woolly mammoth bone she’d found in the snow. The python hissed and slithered off.

The invisible, invisible python.

Park Ranger Terry O'Hara knew this entire mess was Riley's overly blond fault and wasn't about to let her make things worse! She had a duty to uphold. A duty to the parks. Sure, she'd given alligators some steroids, but that was all in the course of her duty!

"This is all your fault!" Terry let her know. Because it needed to be done.

[[Oh god, so open. And horrible.]]