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 Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 8:32 pm
Sparrow had walked into this Starbucks at around 11:27 AM. Ze hadn't been actually counting, of course, but that's when the receipt said, so it was probably that minus... a few minutes? Five? Three? God, it absolutely did not matter in the slightest. Ze'd gotten a latte with extra espresso (one of those trashy seasonal things that felt like more sugar than caffeine), a panini, and set zemself up at one of the tables near a window with zyr laptop to try and make some <******** goddamn progress on, well, anything.
Applications for the forum ze modded that needed to be reviewed and that ze'd already gotten pinged about: the wait period wasn't supposed to be this long. An essay analyzing usage of color and costuming in some movie or other; Sparrow had been planning to mostly Cliff's Notes it with a lot of screenshots, because ze'd been trying to watch that movie for two weeks and never quite getting around to it. Clearing up the damn sound files the director for that 10-minute play had sent zem last night, because working with those as they were offended zyr professional sensibilities.
It was 3:09 PM. Sparrow, with a look that would've soured milk, looked at zyr keyboard and considered the fact ze had managed to get absolutely none of these things done, or made any meaningful progress.
It was probably because of the missing sleep. And also all the caffeine. But if you added those together, the caffeine probably outweighed what had almost been an all-nighter. Maybe? Possibly? At this point it had been a lot of caffeine and a lot of sugar.
Maybe another drink would do the trick? It probably wouldn't. Zyr wallet could only do this so often any given month as was.
But those ******** sound files were taunting zem. All of the waiting work was. Sparrow made an undignified noise that was more growl than ze was willing to publicly admit, backspacing yet another line that hadn't had the right words.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 8:50 pm
Starbucks, perpetually, was one of Will's favorite haunts, if he was indeed out of the house as Will. Which he only was so often, but he was looking into pursuing a degree again. Will had started to become a person, and he needed to be more of one. So maybe getting a degree, getting into academia, might be good for him.
And anyway, it meant meeting people, too.
He'd already paid for his coffee when he noticed that there was a familiar face in the Starbucks, and a slightly wry grin lit across his face. He requested another drink--something noncaffienated--and once both were provided, he strode over to Sparrow's table. Set the refresher down in front of zem. Plopped into the other chair.
"No more caffeine, but you looked like you could use a drink."
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 8:59 pm
"God," Sparrow said, fervently, "******** thank you, my savior," and then took a moment, visibly processing through what Will had actually said. There was a few-second delay -- closer to seven or eight seconds, actually -- before ze blinked.
"Hey? Hey." Accusatory, though in a friendly way. "I mean -- I appreciate the free drink, but -- promise I can always handle more caffeine? My blood's fiftyish percent the stuff at this point. It's fiiine. They'll do case studies on me, that's how I'm planning to fund a Master's degree, it's a whole thing." Nevertheless, ze pulled the drink over and took a long sip.
"...Anyway. How's it going? I'm ******** dying, but enough about me."
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 9:14 pm
Will waited for it. Waited for the moment when Sparrow actually processed what he'd actually said, with wry amusement on his face the entire time. It took longer than he was expecting, really.
"Sparrow, you look like you're going to vibrate out of your skin and you didn't realize I'd said 'no more caffeine' for a ridiculous amount of time. Can you even read whatever it is you're writing?" But at least their friendship was, generally speaking, forever entertaining. "Finish that, have some actual hydration, and I'll buy you another coffee."
No, Will was not particularly good at managing his own caffeine intake. Yes, he drank more of it than he really needed, but he had a lot on his plate, all the time. And anyway, he was doing something by helping Sparrow manage zyr intake, even if it was against zyr will.
"Have a paper to get started on, and half a dozen things to read for next week, but otherwise it's not too bad. Have you considered taking a break."
Realistically, Will knew the answer, but he was going to ask anyway.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 9:24 pm
Ze pouted a little bit, which was quite frankly not all that becoming of zem, but Sparrow had a personal theory that after a certain amount of time being awake it no longer really mattered. Mm. It was definitely still mattering? "I can read it," ze said, affronted, "and I can see it <******** sucks, which is the problem here. Another two shots and maybe I'll pass the event horizon or something, you don't know." Sssssip.
"I'll just tell my professor you said I can skip the essay," Sparrow said, with no real bite to it, "that'll go over real well -- I could put it off to tomorrow, but I've got work, so. No? And the other stuff was due," ze clicked zyr tongue, getting numbers and words and calendars in order, "yesterday, or this weekend, but that needs to be done tomorrow, we've got dress? If I take a break I'm going to just do this, but worse, is what I'm saying." Sip. Sip.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 9:48 pm
Will sighed. Nodded. It made sense--deadlines liked to find a way to pile themselves up. Loved, in fact, to do that very thing. He had less demanding hobbies than Sparrow, which meant that he generally had less of them, but still.
"Alright, alright, fair enough," he said, and he took a sip of his coffee. Pondered for a moment. Glanced over at the line.
At least it wasn't too busy.
He pulled out his laptop, casually setting it up on the table.
"Mind if I work here, then? Keep each other on task, and whatnot." Not that it would make it easier to dig into this essay, but at least having someone else to b***h to might make it less of a slog. Possibly. And Sparrow was very good for bitching to, not least because ze always had equally entertaining complaints.
Something something, weird but ideal friendships. Will took what he could get, especially from people who didn't mind that he was deeply reticent aobut5 his personal life, family history, and similar. (Primarily because he did not have any of those things.)
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:06 pm
"Sure," Sparrow said (tried to say), halfway through a sip and therefore butchering the syllable in ways it probably should not have been butchered, before giving him a profoundly awkward thumbs up to try and clarify whatever incoherent sound ze'd actually managed to make.
Ze did then look at zyr hand with a look like ze wanted to wither into nothingness and ashes on the spot, but if that was the cringiest thing ze did today, ze'd be ******** peachy.
"...Hey, you haven't seen Moulin Rouge, right?" Sparrow did generally like Will, which meant ze was not going to attempt to explain the third deadline ze was trying to wrangle right now (mostly because Sparrow was fairly sure that if ze tried to explain the intricacies of people roleplaying on the internet as anime characters and also characters from extremely obscure web novels to him, ze would immediately shrivel away to bones and perish, for approximately fifty reasons, number one being we are in ******** public). It did not mean ze was unwilling to use him as an academic resource, if the stars so aligned.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:16 pm
Will snorted, in the sort of fondly amused way one did when a friend was ridiculous. At least the message got across.
The question made him shake his head, admittedly not without a moment of thought. "I haven't, no, why?" It was sort of on his list of things to watch, since he'd tripped over Strictly Ballroom and decided that he absolutely loved Baz Luhrmann's directorial style, but...there were a lot of things on his list of things to watch.
(Including, ironically enough, Les Miserables.)
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:31 pm
"I'm supposed to be writing a paper on its symbolic use of color, especially in costuming?" Ze paused. "Which is a problem when I haven't watched the movie since I was sixteen or something, is the thing."
Not that Sparrow watched a lot of movies in the first place. The temptation of becoming a film snob was always about three decisions away, and sometimes one had to make the smart choice and decide it wasn't worth it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2023 10:49 pm
Will nodded. "Luhrmann does a lot with color, so there's probably a deep well there. Not one I can help you with, but I believe in your ability to bullshit." He smiled, wryly. It was an important skill in academia in general, after all.
Will leaned back in his seat, stared at the open document for his paper, and sighed. "Meanwhile, I have to write around some of this data analysis in a way that says 'the science says to move forward on UBI, but every ancient b*****d in government refuses to move on it for bullshit reasons.'" He rolled his eyes. "'Ancient bastards' absolutely including Dr. Crafthall, who I think just wants to see me fail."
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2023 8:55 am
Sparrow snorted. "I'm honored. Really. Same for you, though -- I've a deep belief in your ability to bullshit in a way the old fogey thinks is brilliant." He'd done it before, ze was fairly certain, and could and would do it again if appropriately determined. "Spite's the best motivator, isn't it?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:56 am
"Appreciate your returned faith," Will said dryly. He held up his coffee, making a gesture like he was cheers'ing.
"To spite," he said, and he took a sip, and turned his attention to his paper.
Always more work to do.
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