Finchwood Academy

Neal materializes next to Atticus, just like he has so many times before. This year opened that door up again, and Neal's taken every opportunity to step through it. He's starting to understand Atticus' reasoning for shutting him out, but it's too late to worry about.

After about five seconds of introspection, Neal decides he's sick of it.

"Did you finally quit?" Neal mimes a cigarette between his fingers, which he brings to his mouth.

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Atticus knows Neal's there when he sneaks up, but wasn't expecting more than that five seconds of silence from him anyway. Atticus glances at him sidelong, just enough to see him play-acting smoking.

"Hm. No," he says, even though he's tried a few times in recent months. He actually hasn't thought about it since the snowball fight started, which he guesses is a good thing, but now the idea is there in the back of his mind like an itch. "Just haven't had a chance to sneak off."

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"I see." Otherwise, Neal's silent, but Atticus probably knows he's making a tsking noise in his head. He'd always tried not to be judgemental about it without encouraging him, but had never quite managed to hit that note. He'd always felt like the nagging boyfriend. Now he's just a nagging regular guy.

"What about a New Year's resolution?"

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"Why wait?" he asks, putting his hands into his coat pockets so he can fidget with his lighter. "I could quit four times between now and then."

Edited Date: 2018-12-03 03:22 am (UTC)

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"It's a firm starting point that you can prepare for," Neal says sagely. "Structure can be helpful." The statement is questionable coming from Neal, who has only ever seen structure as something to climb and disassemble for his personal benefit. Put up a wall, Neal's finding a way over it, if he doesn't outright knock it down. Atticus is the one who likes efficient plans, Neal only really comes in handy on the rare occasion that Atticus' strategies go awry.

When Neal finally continues, there's something that might be mistaken for shyness that creeps into his voice. "And... I could help you."

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If there's shyness in Neal's voice, Atticus misses it. But then again, he never spends long trying to divine what Neal's emotions might be. It'd be too easy to spend every interaction they have searching for some sign of affection that hadn't ever been there. Better to just take things at face value when it comes to Neal.

But he still laughs, and there's a little warmth in it. "How are you going to do that?" he asks.

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"By being supportive, for one." Neal starts to pace, unable to sit still as half-formed ideas take root in his head.

"And not just me. Obviously." Although he does like to imagine that he could single-handedly facilitate Atticus' recovery, even Neal can see that's far-fetched. It's too cinematic to be real, but that's probably why he likes it. "You have a lot of people who'd love to help you keep on track and stop you from sneaking off," he teases, grinning like it's a game and not a dangerous habit.

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Atticus doesn't have anything to say to that. He knows that announcing his intention to quit would make it harder when he inevitably fails, which should be extra motivation to succeed. But it seems like an impossible task, so support only registers in his mind as eventual grief.

"I'll think about it," he says instead.

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Neal scrutinizes Atticus, but he cant pin down how serious he is or isn't. Last year, Neal had read articles about quitting, so that he could come into discussions armed with advice and sound reasoning.

He'd been well-intentioned.

He should just let Atticus do what he wants. And he would, really, if he weren't on his squad. "Can I say something as your leader for a second?"

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"Sure," Atticus says, because he can't really tell him not to be his squad leader. Speaking in terms of squad dynamics is probably safer than speaking in terms of friendship, anyway.

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Neal takes a deep breath, exhaling steam. He draws himself up to his full 5'5", and adopts a neutral disposition. It's his leader face, complete with the soft smile he wears while doling out tasks in Student Council, or discussing training regimens with the team. Customer service voice, people have joked, including Neal.

"The work we do in the Shadow World is physically strenuous." He lays out the fact cooly, knowing Atticus can anticipate the rest of the message. "You and Pearl might be endangering yourselves, or the squad, by continuing to do this. I don't want to... order you to quit because I'm not trying to run anyone's personal life, but that's only because it hasn't become a problem yet."

Neal & Atticus

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harmreduction - Date: 2018-12-03 09:30 pm (UTC) - Expand

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youredoinggreatsweetie

When Sully finds an untrodden patch of snow, he immediately sets about trying to write "Sup Aliens ;)" in it as big as possible. So the aliens can see.

Unfortunately he slips and falls on the 'i', but soldiers on, anyway, undaunted. He figures there are probably some Allens out there in need of a winky face to brighten their day.

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monsterseekingmonster

Water drips in a puddle at Hamsi's feet. She probably should've shaken some of the excess snow off before coming into the cafeteria, but when has she given more than a few seconds worth of thought to anything, anyway?

Her teeth chatter as she pours herself a cup of coffee. She takes a drink before she remembers she doesn't even really like coffee and with a loud "Wech!" immediately tries to pawn the cup off on her nearest schoolmate.

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deathpositive

Zinnia accepts the coffee like it was poured just for her, and without hesitating takes a sip. Her lips leave a dainty pink kiss mark on the rim. Zinnia's in head to toe black, with her hair pulled up in a ponytail and boots laced up to her knees. Getting pummeled by snowballs is no excuse to compromise on her brand.

"Have you tried adding cream and sugar? I like mine black, personally." She didn't at first, but she wanted to be one of those girls who drank black coffee and loved the taste of whiskey neat. Like Lucy or Kodi. She only succeeded at one of those goals, though, and even then can't resist a pumpkin spice latte. She's only human, alright?

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monsterseekingmonster

Hamsi, by contrast, looks like someone who cannot be bothered with human concepts like complimenting colors, all bright fabrics chosen seemingly at random and paired with truly ridiculous fur-lined boots. Like someone who picked their outfit over what was available at Goodwill, but the Goodwill in Scarsdale.

She hums thoughtfully over Zinnia's suggestion. "How do you manage that?" She asks, pouring both coffee and hot chocolate into the same cup and feeling a bit like Professor Alan Rickman from that wizards movie. "Rigorous training, I bet." She tips her cup of experimental mocha up in toast before taking a drink of this concoction. Slightly better but still lacking. "Seems like self-abnegation."

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Liam watches a group of freshmen making a snowman with quiet, unsure interest. He quirks his head to the side, squinting at their creation. That's...not a snowman.

"Is that a snow penis?" He mumbles as he nods his head in the direction of the unidentified snow sculpture. "Or, like, a shark?" Maybe they're paying homage to Richie.

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survivalof

Marty comes to stand beside Liam, crossing his arms as he also admires this work of art. "It don't look like any dick I ever seen. Unless it's got some kind of bad STD," he comments mildly.

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Liam strokes his chin, gestures at the snow creation and then, baffled, covers his mouth with his hand again before shrugging. He looks at Marty. "Have you seen the movie Teeth? Maybe it's like that."

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survivalof

"No, what's that?" Marty says, eyes wide with interest. If what they're looking at lead him to thinking of this mystery movie, maybe it's time for another movie night.

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"You haven't?" The face Liam makes is a little pained and he inhales through clenched teeth. "It's, like," he waves his hands in the air, fingers grasping for a good way to describe it, and talks himself out of it before settling on anything. "Hm. You'd have to see it." Good effort, son.

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survivalof

"C'mon. What is it?" he prods, literally and figuratively, nudging Liam in the ribs with his elbow. "You gonna watch it with me?"

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