hugetractsofland | MCA #1, Sunday Evening

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MCA #1, Sunday Evening

Lulu had had a very productive day preparing for her first class tomorrow; she'd been ~~handwavily~~ introduced to the internet, and had used it to familiarize herself with the opinions of this world, both scholarly and casual, toward sexuality. It had been an... eye-opening experience, and she had spent equal parts being intrigued and engaged, and amused and offended. But she thought she had at least a starting grasp on what to expect, at least from those students who were from this world or one like it.

Now, however, she was familiarising herself with the modern conveniences of the kitchen; certainly, it was much easier than cooking over a fire, and even the more modern stoves they had available on Besaid paled in comparison to the appliances she had at her fingertips here. The fridge itself was a marvel to her.

She bustled around the kitchen as a kettle heated on the stove, preparing things for a pot of tea.

[OOC: Most especially for

the_merriest, would love to interact with the roomie, and if anyone else wants to drop by and meet at least one of the new tenants, the more, the merrier!]

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Rikku bounced into the apartment building - cooooooooool - and knocked on Lulu's door. Singing "Cuban Pete" a little to herself and shimmying.

Lulu strode gracefully to the door, opening it. "Rikku!" she said, pleasantly. "Come in; I've just put on some tea."

"Hiya!" Rikku bounced, resisting the urge to give Lulu another hug. Resisting. "Oooooh, tea! That sounds awesome! Whoa, this place is really nice! How are you? How have you been settling in? How do you like Fandom? Do you like it and all? I'd totally hate it if you came here and it sucked."

Lulu laughed, waving Rikku around to the seats on the opposite side of the counter as she poured the tea. "What little I've seen so far, I've enjoyed," she said. "I did spend some time today on the internet; it was very... educational."

Rikku hopped onto a seat, still shimmying slightly. "The people here are great, I promise," she said quickly. "Ooooh, the internet? Dawn was telling me about that. I guess with those computer-things you can do way more than just check your e-mail, which I always kinda forget about, but I don't have one. Should I get one? They sound all nifty."

Lulu, for one moment, considered two outcomes: Rikku, let loose on the internet, and Rikku after finding some of the things that Lulu herself had come across that day. "I think that, perhaps, that is something left for a different time," she said carefully. "Although I am curious about this... e-mail. It is a method of communication that also uses computers? A way of sending letters, from the sound of it."

Rikku nodded, enthusiastic. "Yeah! They're like letters but you don't mail 'em, you just type them up and put someone's name on it and it sends it to their computer or whatever. And then they type back. I never get any so I forget to check it. Except now and then I do. And I have a cell phone now! Have you seen the phones here? They're so, so, so much better than letters. I wish Spira had phones. You just pick it up and punch a few buttons in and you talk to whoever you want. So long as they have a phone. And they're near it or whatever, and answering. But you can leave voice messages, too. And mine's orange."

Lulu was almost amazed at how much that she was able to catch, although certainly there were a number of unfamiliar words and concepts she'd ask Jean-Paul to explain. "I'll have to look into getting one of these phones, then," she replied. "They do sound convenient, just as many other things in this world are more convenient than in Spira."

"Lots of stuff is. You know, what with actually letting people use ma--" Rikku flushed, hard. "S-sorry. I mean, yeah. It's a neat place."

She stumbled towards the first new topic she could find. "There's probably a phone hooked up in here. You just need to get voice mail set up. I can help. I'm pretty good with stuff like that. And hey, what's the class going to be like? I mean, kinda like the letters you were sending, yeah? Tell me about it."

"The class," Lulu said, "will be like the letters, yes." She smiled softly, ignoring Rikku's offers; while she didn't exactly distrust the girl's skill with machina, having had her efforts save them multiple times over, she did think that perhaps there might be a number of... mishaps in the process. "Although there will be a great deal more information as part of the class," she added.

"I'd imagine, I mean, for a whole class, it'd have to be, yeah? Although the letters were ... I wasn't expecting anything that detailed. I was kinda worried I was misunderstanding you and you'd write back like 'no, I didn't mean that, and you're a terrible person for thinking about all of this,' or something. It took me forever to write back to the first one. But I'm so glad I did, 'cause it was really helpful and made everything --" Another blush, deeper this time. "I m-mean, you know. It seemed informative or whatever," she mumbled.

Lulu laughed a little, leaning forward over the counter. "So you're saying you've not put the letter to any use at all? How unfortunate; while I wouldn't necessarily expect that you'd used it all, I do believe that Jude would appreciate some of the new knowledge."

Rikku blushed harder, staring at the countertop with a nervous giggle. "O-okay, yeah, we, uh, we kinda ..." She laughed. "Th-things kinda ... happened, yeah? Like ... I w-wasn't expecting them, and I d-don't think he was, and we'd had a bad fight - it was a total misunderstanding, like, it wasn't his fault but I thought it was and then things got sorted out? - and then I stayed over - not like that! Just, uh, we kinda like falling asleep all ... curled up, you know? - and, uh, th-things just ... kinda ... happened?"

She was even more red right now. "And ... and they were amazing and wonderful and I really love him, you know?"

Lulu smiled. "Very good," she said. "I'm glad you were able to resolve any problems you had." She took a sip of her tea. "And I certainly hope that any other questions you have will be resolved in class."

Jean-Paul wandered out into the living room at some point, looking for Lulu. "Lulu, have you seen a box of books? Because if it's not here it's at my sister's, and I'd hate to have to go to Montreal tonight."

Lulu nodded. "I think it's in my bedroom," she replied. "I remember seeing a box I didn't recognise, although I didn't take a look inside."

"Excellent," Jean-Paul said, and, taking this as permission, ducked into her room to retrieve his box. A moment later he was back, box in hands. He balanced it on the back of the couch and asked her, "Are you settling in well, then?"

Rikku looked between the two of them nervously. "Uh, hiya?" she offered. "I'm, uh, a friend of Lulu's." Apparently, so was he? Wow. The stuff she missed.

Lulu laughed. "Rikku, meet Jean-Paul Beaubier; he and I are sharing the apartment."

"Bonjour," Jean-Paul said to Rikku. Oh, look, a teenager. That had been quick.

Rikku looked between the two of them. "Okay, yeah. Uh. Hi there. It's nice to meet you. Any, uh, any friend of Lulu's ..."

How had Lulu left out 'plus there's this guy'?!

Lulu was a little amused. "Jean-Paul, Rikku is a friend of mine from back home; Rikku, Jean-Paul was kind enough to share the apartment with me so as to save on... rent?" She hesitated a moment, checking her memory to make certain she had the right term. "Yes. Rent. He's also teaching at the school this term."

Jean-Paul connected the dots very quickly. "Is this is the girl involved with someone from Toronto, then?" he asked Lulu. Then he remembered that 'manners' thing. "Pleased to met you, Rikku."

"Oh!" Rikku blushed quickly. "I'm sorry, I thought, uh. I mean. I didn't think that ... never mind. It's nice to meet you, too, are you new here? I don't think I've met you. And, uh, yeah, I just got back from Toronto. A visit, I mean, like, a trip, so I could meet his family and stuff? Jude's. His name's Jude. Hi."

Why could she never shut up!?

Because if she did, she would no longer be Rikku, and that would be a terrible loss to the world.

"It's all right, Rikku," Lulu said, chuckling softly. "I should have informed you that I had a companion in the apartment."

She gestured at the teapot. "Would you like some tea, Jean-Paul?"

Jean-Paul told Rikku, "Yes, I'm new here. We haven't met. And I'm so sorry you had to go to Toronto."

Jean-Paul eyed the teapot warily. "Is it caffeinated? Caffeine and I don't mix anymore, I'm afraid."

"Caffeine?" Lulu asked. "It's made with some leaves from my home; I find it quite soothing."

"It's a drug," Jean-Paul explained. "A stimulant. It's found in coffee and some teas and soft drinks. There are trace amounts in other foods, like chocolate. It's perfectly fine for most people, unless you take a ridiculous amount of it. My heart beats very fast already, though, so it could, well, kill me. The small amounts in chocolate can make me very hyper, although possibly that's the sugar. But if you find the tea soothing it should be fine."

"Oh!" Lulu exclaimed, nodding. "No, certainly, it's not a stimulant. I do have teas with that property, but this is not one of them. Would you like a cup, then?"

"Yes, please," Jean-Paul said. "A cup of tea would be very nice."

"I'm not supposed to have caffeine, either," Rikku put in - having sat silently and politely to let them talk for a couple of minutes, which was about her maximum before she needed to run her mouth again - "but that's 'cause I get superhyper and it scares people. Wait, why are you sorry I was in Toronto? It's a pretty neat place. We took over the mall."

"Toronto is not--" Jean-Paul stopped himself from saying something mean about a teenager's vacation. "I'm sure the mall was much improved by your coup," he said instead.

Rikku blinked, but decided not to ask. "It was. We stole Ron's keys and kinda ended up on the Jumbotron with Jude by accident and that was way embarassing but I set Fluffypants loose to blow some things up. And I think Jude's parents think I'm weird but I'm really used to that by now. And his friends are cool. Have you been to Toronto, too?"

Lulu 'stepped in' smoothly to the conversation. "Jean-Paul is also from Canada, Rikku, although he was born in a different part of the country; I imagine that he's been to Toronto, yes."

Jean-Paul told them both, "Actually, I have spent a great deal of time in Toronto. But I'm afraid it's not my favorite city."

"Oooh, okay," Rikku nodded. "Don't tell Jude that, he'll be sad. It seemed like a nice city to me, but I'm not really from here or anything. And Deadpool's from Canada, too, but I don't know where. OH. And he warned me that you shouldn't work for the Canadian military Weapon X something or other, even if they offer you lots of money. So be careful, if they talk to you, okay?"

Jean-Paul visibly twitched as his features settled into a scowl. "No. Definitely never work for Weapon X. I knew that already. Although," he added, "they don't exactly give everyone a choice."

"No?" Lulu asked. "I think I may ask you to tell me more of this later, if you're willing." Not that she was trying to cut off the line of conversation at all.

"So, Rikku," she continued, "tell me of the other classes you're taking."

"I, uh." Rikku blushed, then nodded. "I'm taking something about Tactics, with Kerrigan, who I don't know, and Interdisciplinary something-or-other with Squall, who I met once and probably thinks I'm crazy. He, uh, he had Hi-Potions, so I thought maybe he was from Spira? But I guess they just have Hi-Potions where he's from, too. It's some place I've never heard of." She shrugged. "I wanted to take Deadpool's class on Feminism, too, but I ran out of room."

Jean-Paul looked alarmed by that. "You wanted to take Deadpool's class? Why, in the name of God?"

"He's my mentor!" Rikku chirped happily. "He calls me his Li'l Minion. He's really protective of me and we do sparring and he's awesome. Do you know him?!"

"He is rather...notorious," Jean-Paul settled on, "where I come from. So yes. I do know him. You poor child."

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MCA #1, Sunday Evening

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