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 Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:05 pm
Well, he had hoped. Carlisle was foolishly optimistic that way. But still, it wasn't entirely too outlandish for him to be disappointed. "William the Conqueror?" But that was all he knew about the name. William the First had been an early English king, that he knew, and he'd conquered England. That just about summed it all up.
(He was a boy, after all. He liked the more vibrant descriptions of the later eras, especially since Sugita seemed to read those a little more vigorously.)
"What format d'you want to use, then?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:11 pm
"Format?" This was, after all, Merroth's first report of any kind. He had thought the concept of a presentation seemed pretty straightforward. Get up and talk about your person. There were different formats? Merroth's face flushed with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. Now that he had said it like that, Carlisle would know he was unfamiliar with formats. He could have just pretended he knew and looked it up when he got home, saving himself this embarrassment. Dammit, dammit, dammit! Merroth smacked himself in the forehead and put his head on his desk, groaning at his own perceived failure and ineptitude.
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:19 pm
It occurred to him that Merroth might not have been listening. After all, he hadn't spoken before like he was going to, with the decree that Carlisle couldn't help on the project and all. The tone didn't seem quite right, but then, not much about the other boy did. Besides, Merroth was smart. He had to know what Carlisle meant by formats. "Yeah," he said, unsure why suddenly he didn't feel quite as vitriolic as he had a moment before. "We did a project a while ago and we had to have a poster or something. Only, I was sick for it, so I didn't get to help much with it at all." Being nice to Merroth made no sense, but being mean was just... mean.
"If you really don't like posters, we can do something else," said Carlisle, misinterpreting the groan. "It's just, that's what I know. We can do a slide show or something..." He thought about that for a minute, then muttered, "Only we'd have to do all the work here, my house doesn't have a computer." And somehow he thought working at it at Merroth's house would not be a good idea, or well received.
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:30 pm
Merroth sat up instantly. "No way!" he exclaimed, loud enough to draw attention from their classmates. The disruption was momentary; everyone quickly returned back to their own project discussions. "I don't use these things here. They're inadequate. Like a virgin in sex." Merroth did not realize he had said the last bit aloud. It was something he overheard Boston saying, and as usual, Merroth was a bit ignorant of the full meaning. Which was probably a good thing at his age. "We would have to use my computer."
Bad idea it might be, but if this was going to be anything like their "joint" decision of presentation topic, Merroth was going to have his way regardless of Carlisle's objections.
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:43 pm
He blinked and startled back a little, almost tipping his chair over, which probably would have drawn more attention from said classmates. Well, that was surprising, even relieving. Even with the internet connection available in class, he wouldn't even know how to start looking for pictures of William the First. "I just said that," Carlisle pointed out, a little annoyed. Did everything he said get ignored? Probably. Was it lunch time yet? He decided that was an unkind thought. And what was a virgin, anyway? Considering it had to do with sex- which he only knew resulted in babies, not much else- he decided he didn't really want to know.
"We could use a computer here at school, you know," he said. "They're pretty good. I mean, they're all updated and stuff." He paused, supposing this idea would get shot down too.
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:22 pm
Merroth made a are you dumb or do you just not listen face right back at Carlisle, and concluded Carlisle was both. The class bell rang. Merroth had to wait for it to finish before speaking. "Read. My. Lips. I do not use these things here. We are using my computer, because that is the only one I use. Do you understand me? Make some sort of noise if you understand. Any noise. Any sign of some rudimentary intelligence going on up there." He moved his hand in a circular motion, conjuring the image of gears turning in the head.
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Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 11:27 pm
"You irritate me," Carlisle said, since he couldn't actually read lips and he actually was rather annoyed. So what if he'd misunderstood the statement? Anyone could have done it. (It was his turn to look rather pink with embarrassment.) He stood up and walked back to his desk, tucking papers into his backpack. It didn't actually make any sense to do it on a home computer, not really, since then what if Merroth was absent on presentation day and he wasn't? The only email address Carlisle had was his uncle Astaroshe's work email. Once everything was packed away- he had art class next, and didn't want to think about the horrific abomination he was creating there anyway- he looked back at Merroth. "When are we going to work on this?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 12:15 am
"You can come over today, or do you need to ask permiiission?" sneered Merroth, happy to have finally gotten that blatantly annoyed reaction he so craved from Carlisle and had been shortchanged during their time at daycare. The more he could wind Carlisle up, the more satisfaction he felt. "Tomorrow is fine, or on Monday. This weekend Boston and I are going out fly-fishing in the yacht." Practiced nonchalance, as if such excursions were so commonplace as to be mundane.
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Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 12:37 am
He thought about it. "Tomorrow, then. I have chores today. And piano lessons." Not like he really thought of them as chores or lessons. Carlisle liked baby Sara, and watching her while his aunt went shopping for birthday stuff wasn't hard. Mostly all she did was coo and get hungry and, well, be a baby. Piano lessons with Sade ended up being more like games, with prizes if he got the song right without mistakes.
He paused, though, thinking. "Isn't Boston a city on Earth?" It was probably a name, he figured, maybe Merroth's dad or something. He'd heard some pretty odd names in his lifetime, but he guessed that was just where he lived. "I hope you have fun," he said genuinely, cheered because of the thought of piano. Swinging his arms through the loops in his backpack, he waited for a response from the other boy.
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Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 12:40 am
"Moron," muttered Merroth darkly, his only form of response. He glowered as he swept his papers into his canvas bag, shouldered it, and went sauntering off.
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