wasting the day away, open

[Carson Bennett]

Carson did not feel well and had been heading back to his dorm and had just kind of given up about halfway there. So now he was lying in the grass of the courtyard, using his jacket as a pillow, palms up, enjoying the shade of the tree. He had unbuttoned his vest, the pinstriped shirt under it visible and showing his breath moving his chest up and down. He had woken up with what he assumed had just been a cold, but this cold left his tired and drained, hence his submission and lying in the courtyard. Could his sister see him now, he was certain she would laugh and tell him to get his butt up and moving, but he could not be bothered. He did not have anymore classes today, and the courtyard was perfectly pleasant, a nice breeze blowing through.

He wrinkled his nose. He did have homework he could be working on, should be working on, after all, he could not afford to lose his scholarship. His mind, maybe, from the workload, but he could afford to lose his sanity before he could afford to lose his scholarship. He sighed, supposing he could get up and move, but he did not want to, so he instead settled for crossing his legs and settling back even more. He deserved a break, so that's what this was. Break time.

[Anabell Chapman]

Anabell Chapman wasn't one for dilly dallying after her last class. It wasn't as if she hated the subject. The poor class period just happened to be the last one, and it never stood a chance of being in her top favorites. She was too distracted by the freedom the rest of the day provided which always resulting in fidgeting in her chair or tapping her pencil on the table. This then resulted in the dirty glares from her teacher which she usually ignored in favor of doodling in her sketch book.

Once the bell rang, Ana was off to her dorm room promptly to change out of her Shiz uniform into one of her more eccentric dresses. Today, she chose a simple dress that appeared to be a simple black shirt connected to a flowing red skirt that reached exactly to her knees. Her usual Shiz boots were replaced with golden high heels she had found at one of the many shops in the Emerald City. After this quick change that took merely fifteen minutes at the most, she would go out to explore Shiz. There was an easy place to sneak out of the school without getting caught, and it was somewhere in the courtyard, which is where we find Ana now.

The courtyards of Shiz were perhaps her favorite place to relax on campus. It was a beautiful place, and right about now it was close to abandoned. Other students went to their dorms or even the library right about now to finish their homework so they could have time to do whatever they pleased later, but not Ana. She waited until the wee hours of the night, when she was at her best thinking wise. It was a hassle being a night person. Ana walked around, sometimes twirling or skipping at random. On one of these twirls, her eyes caught a familiar figure lying in the grass. Ana squinted, trying to make sure it was who in fact she thought it was before skipping on over to the figure and taking a seat down next to him.

"Well don't you look comfortable lying out here all alone," she commented cheerfully glancing down at Carson.

[Carson Bennett]

Carson had been dangerously close to falling asleep in the middle of the courtyard, but had managed to somehow not let it happen. He was tired, but not that tired. He hadn't moved in quite a while though, and had no intention of letting it happen anytime soon. He had heard people walk past him, most with no comment in his direction, perfectly fine with leaving the boy lying on the grass, a position he was just fine with staying in. The grass was soft, there was a nice breeze, the tree was giving off plenty of shade, he was just fine where he was.

He heard the skipping and sounds of someone in the courtyard. He did not know who it was, nor did he care, provided they did not interupt his rest. The longer he lay here, the clammier he felt. He didn't want to move, and he was pretty sure that if he did, it would feel as though the ground was lurching beneath him. Perhaps he was being a bit dramatic, but he did not care. He did not feel well, and whoever this person was, they had just better leave him alone. Of course, they didn't.

But it was Anabell, and for some reason that made a difference. He hated that it did, apparently he was one of the cliched teenaged boys he hated. He had to become infatuated with every girl he met. He listened to her speak and took a long lazy minute to respond, not opening his eyes when he did. "I am comfortable," he confirmed, still not opening his eyes, though he did hear Anabell sit down next to him. He should probably open his eyes, but he could not be bothered.

[Anabell Chapman]

Ana watched as the few people ambling around the courtyard passed them by. People watching was quite enjoyable when Ana could see different types of people. Here, all she saw were college kids in their Shiz uniforms with books and whatnot. It was hard to people watch when everyone looked the same. This made people watching at Shiz highly uninteresting and boring, which was not something she liked very much and so she returned her attention back to the seemingly sleeping Carson.

Of course, he wasn't sleeping as he responded an affirmative to her statement. Ana nodded, knowing he couldn't see the motion but insisted on it anyway. She waited a moment, trying to come up with something interesting to say but ended up deciding on, "The lying part or the alone part? Because if you were comfortable with the alone part I am deeply sorry about interrupting it." It wasn't as if she would leave him now all by himself. That would be criminal of her. Besides, he did look a little pale...

"Are you okay Carson?" Ana asked suddenly looking down on him as if she was inspecting him for any outward damage. It didn't seem anything major was wrong with him, but it didn't appear as if everything was absolutely right with him either. A piece of hair fell into her face, and she wiped it away with one hand as she pondered Carson's health at this point. He was normally...chattier? Happier? Not as sleepy looking, not that she had ever witnessed him asleep. He looked quite peaceful actually. "I bet you snore," she commented randomly hoping to get some sort of reaction from him.

[Carson Bennett]

Carson was quite content to lay on the ground quietly, Ana off to his side somewhere. He was not sure exactly where she was in relation to him, but it didn't really matter. He was lying on the ground and she was somewhere within the vicinity, that was all that mattered. He was tired and relaxing on the grass was almost as good as sleeping, which he would be doing had he been bothered to make it all the way to his dorm room instead of just giving up halfway there and collapsing on the ground essentially as he had done here. Though he had picked his spot quite well. It was comfortable, no painful roots or knots sticking up out of of the ground.

He flicked open one eye when she asked which part of her statement about looking peaceful lying here alone he had been referring to. "It was the lying part, no worries," he said as lazily as he had made the first statement, before closing his eyes again. He was not sure if he was being lazy and using his cold as an excuse not to move or if he simply was not willing to move, but regardless, unless prodded, he was perfectly content to just lay there until he could will himself to move, which could prove to be quite a while.

He did not open his eyes when she asked him if he was alright. He was not really sure how to answer. He did not feel particularly well, no, but he did not feel particularly bad either. He just felt tired and as though his bill of health was leaning closer to not well than well. "Just a little sick," he provided finally. "I was on my way to my dorm to sleep.... and I just kind of gave up," he confessed, holding his palms open once more as though that would clarify. He snorted at the snoring comment. "Actually, I don't." He did not know what train of though led to that statement, nor did he particularly care.

[Anabell Chapman]

Anabell noticed Carson opening a single eye at her inquiry and had to hold back giggles at how silly he had looked just then. Instead of giggling, she settled for a smile as he responded that it was, indeed, the lying part that he had been comfortable with. "Good cause I wasn't leaving you alone even if you had been comfortable," she stated with the confidence of a five year old that had gotten its way. The looking like a five year old was emphasized even more as Ana crossed her arms over her chest and nodded as if repeating the affirmation to herself in her head. For once, she felt she was acting ridiculous for no reason. Not that she minded acting ridiculous for no reason because she did that enough on her own to not care at this point in her life.

"Awww, poor Carson!" Ana replied after Carson had explained his dilemma of not making it to his dorm room. She had always had a love hate relationship with sicknesses. When she had been sick as a child, she had gotten attention from her mother which made being sick worth the effort. The actual being sick part was sometimes not appreciated but it couldn't be avoided in such situations. She briefly remembered the days in bed, cuddled up with her favorite story books and soup. 'Those were the days,' Ana briefly thought before placing her hand upon Carson's forehead to see if he was running a fever. It wasn't as if she was motherly naturally, but she felt it was something she could do. Perhaps she could eventually help him get back to his dorm without collapsing half way there.

"How bad do you feel on a scale of one to ten. One being you feel like running a marathon and ten feeling like you're on the brink of death. If ten is the case I'm sure the nurse wouldn't mind treating you out here. After all, it must be a lot cheerier outside then inside that bleak nurses room with all those sick people." Anabell was rambling now, a fact which might happen to deal with her hand on Carson's forehead. Like many things in her life though, she pushed such thoughts aside in favor of a more fun state of mind that didn't involve that kind of thinking. This resulted in her childishly responding to his snoring comment, "Says who? I don't believe you can hear yourself sleep."

[Carson Bennett]

Carson noted Anabell's giggling but was not particularly insulted by it. She seemed to giggle at a lot of things, so the idea that she was giggling at him wasn't particularly surprising or interesting. Well, the giggling itself wasn't interesting. Why she had been giggling might have been interesting, but he wasn't really willing to put in the effort to figure out why she had giggled. It was too peaceful to worry about such things today. "For some reason, that doesn't surprise me," said Carson dryly, once again not opening his eyes. Usually he considered eye contact pretty important as a part of communication and friendship, but today he was just fine with keeping his eyes closed for the sake of his own concert.

He wasn't patronized by the response of Anabell to his explanation of his failed expedition to his dorm room. He normally didn't mind being sick, and he wasn't particularly sick, but for some reason the level of sickness didn't really matter. When he was sick, he was sick and he was completely drained as he was now. He didn't have any effort or energy left to move or be insulted. He felt her hand on his forehead but he still didn't move. He honestly had no idea if he had a fever. He felt a little flushed, but for him it had always been impossible to discern if he had a fever or not.

He thought about her question for a long moment, still laying out lazily on the grass, still unwilling to move. "A five," he finally said noncommittally. He didn't feel all that great, but he didn't feel all that terrible either. He figured that eventually he would feel better and would be able to make it back to his dorm without giving up halfway there, but right now he wasn't willing to put the effort into it. "And yes, I'm sure it's cheerier outside," he said. that was part of the reason he was out here and not inside somewhere. "I know because I'm pretty sure my roommate would kill me if I did," he concluded.