astridxjohansen:

“And marketing and social media don’t make things any easier either.” Honestly, Valentine’s Day was one of those holidays that she wrote off as ‘straight nonsense’ when she saw memes about it. “Easter isn’t really my thing either. But I can appreciate jelly beans and stuffed rabbits. A lot of people want pastel flowers to decorate for the holidays with.” Astrid had a small, pink, stuffed sheep that she had named BaaBaa that she had begged her mom for out of the Easter clearance when they were out shopping. She had taken it everywhere with her for the rest of the month. Astrid nodded in agreement at what the other was saying. “I don’t think I’ve ever really made a resolution, much less followed through on one.”

Alysha let out a groan at the mention of social media. “I honestly just try and avoid facebook all throughout the holidays. There are too many people just rubbing their relationships in your face. We get it.” They were probably also super insecure about their relationship status anyways. “I like the idea of finding all of the hidden candy. It’s kind of like a tame and religious Halloween.” Without the costumes...well aside from the people who dressed up like the Easter bunny. Either way, she didn’t celebrate it any more, though she’d usually go to a nice dinner with her dads. “I think it takes a seriously dedicated person to follow through on one. But maybe that’s why they’re dying out? I don’t know about you, but I don’t really know many people that seriously buy into that stuff anymore. Or maybe it’s just the college bubble?”

bethsfletcher:

          “Eh, I find things to do. There’s always cables that need fixing. Luckily that’s easy enough. Though I do miss the company of others. Even a lone student that needs help with an upgrade.” Though that could also be boring at times. She didn’t mind right now because it gave her time to do other things that were more personal. “Oh! Neat.” She didn’t really know what the difference between that and a regular sketchbook was, but she carefully took the book and flipped through the pages slowly. “I wish I had the… talent? Patience? For artistic… abilities. These are awesome.” She closed the sketchbook and then handed it back. “I mean… I like them when I’m in the mood, but I just needed the energy today. I prefer a bit more sugar than what’s in this.” 

That sounded like a lot of boring busy work, in Alysha’s opinion. “I guess the work can’t always be super interesting, huh? Though I guess even during the semester you probably end up dealing with a lot of the same issues, don’t you?” She would imagine a lot of people screwed up the same things on their computers, like downloading dumb shit and getting a virus, or spilling stuff on their keyboard. A shy smile found its way onto her lips at all of the compliments that Beth provided. “Thanks. Some of my more elaborate pieces are on display at the school gallery if you ever wanted to check them out. But don’t sell yourself short. Working with technology and students takes a lot of patience and talent. I don’t know the first thing when it comes to computers outside of photoshop.” Which was very true. “I guess I like to think of it as the sugar providing an extra boost, even if it may lead to a harder crash.”

karim-beckett:

“They have an organization fair or whatever in the spring, right?” Karim asked. He had heard about one being held in the fall for freshmen or other students looking for something new. He figured he should get involved in more stuff while he was at this school. He needed some different ways to spend his time so he didn’t fall into old habits. “Medium large sounds about right. Perfect size,” he said with a small smile. “My roommate has plants everywhere. He talks to them sometimes.” He wished he had a quieter roommate, but he was happy he wasn’t stuck with one with sonic scream as their ability. He was also happy that he didn’t have a roommate with persuasion or siren song as their gift. He could just ignore his roommate as much as he wanted to.

Alsyha let out a hum in thought as she went through a mental list of events. “I think they do, since there are always a small amount of new students in the spring. It would probably be around a month after classes have started.” As far as she remembered anyways. Those details she was rather fuzzy on, but they also weren’t her responsibility. “Do they talk back to him?” she asked, attempting a deadpan for a few moments before cracking a grin.

shadowboxed:

Shiloh was quick to agree. Despite her lack of celebrations as she grew up, she knew enough about holiday specials from the old shows and movies she’d found and watched when her father was off doing unsavory things. ❝Oh? I though it was up there with the Fourth of the July… That one seems pretty big with the fireworks and all.❞ She could remember many years where she’d gone out during the Fourth of the July. It had quickly become her favorite holiday as she could at the very least see some of the celebrations of others from a distance.

Alysha shook her head. “No, Fourth of July isn’t really a stressful holiday for everyone. Everyone typically just has a barbecue and drinks while shooting off fireworks. So, like people don’t spend money on decorations like they do for Halloween or Christmas, which makes it not the most marketable holiday for businesses and all...” she paused as she drifted off in thought. “Man, how did I become such a cynic about the holidays? I’m just going off and lecturing people about capitalism and marketing shit.”

perrylewis:

Perry could see where the woman was coming from, he had his own battles for inclusiveness he’d fight, but he didn’t really care much about the politics of inclusive advertisement, so he just shrugged and refrained from commenting. Or maybe he was just easy to sell candy to… He did, however, let out a mock offended scoff as she suggested that he’d buy anything less than good quality chocolates. “If I wanted shitty chocolate, I’d buy a Hershey’s bar. Valentine’s ‘candy is only available once a year, of course I got something higher quality.” He smiled as he spoke so she’d know he was only kidding. He offered the box out again, open this time. There was a lot to be said about Perry, but no one could say he’d never been taught to share. 

Alysha couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the comment. “With a Hershey’s bar, you at least know what you’re getting into. With some of those assorted candies, it’s a surprise every time, and not always a good kind.” Noticing that the box was offered her direction, Alysha raised a brow. She figured it was a silent offer so she took a chocolate but still shot him a hesitant look before taking a bite. “Mmm, this is pretty good. Which kind did you get? I’ll have to keep a look out for it on discounted chocolate day.”

bethsfletcher:

          Although she knew she shouldn’t be so irresponsible, sometimes it felt good to just let loose. It was a testament to her feeling safe, which wasn’t a bad thing. Losing control hadn’t been something she could do for a long time and she didn’t feel like she necessarily had to be that way anymore. Beth did like that feeling. “Yeah, well. It’s weird not having anything to do.” In regards to work, she’d mainly just been keeping busy with some small repairs that needed to be done on campus. Clearly nothing important and very basic work. “Sketches of what?” Bethany was always interested in seeing artists at work. She never had much talent in the creative arts and it was always amazing to see people with that talent see the world in a completely different way. “Unless… you don’t want to show me. I’d understand if that were the case.” She glanced at the cup. “Honestly, I’m not sure what this is. Something with a lot of caffeine and not a lot of sugar. Coffee, black. I think.” 

“Oh, right, I bet it’s pretty quiet without all us students around, huh?” She couldn’t imagine being faculty at a college campus during the winter or summer when no one was around. Actually, she could. Boring. That was the answer. “I don’t mind. This is my practice sketch book.” Alysha answered. At least not the ones she was working on right now. Her personal sketches were in another book and were private. However, the pieces in this book were just common objects she was sketching. Most recently, she’d been sketching some of the people around the cafe, so she slid the sketch book over for Bethany to take a look. Alysha snickered at the answer. “Not a big fan of ‘dressed up’ coffee drinks?” Alysha didn’t like super sweet coffee drinks but she rarely did black coffee. It was too bitter.

karim-beckett:

“I didn’t know grad students could still be a part of student organizations,” Karim said. His advisor told him he should be part of student organizations, but he hadn’t been able to find anything he liked in particular. “My schedule is a little too unpredictable to have a dog right now,” Karim said. “I think most college students have unpredictable schedules so it makes sense why college students are the worst pet owners…other than fish maybe.” He shrugged his shoulders when asked what kind of dog he wanted. He hadn’t really thought of it, but he knew he liked larger dogs. “Probably something large. I’m not into the smaller dogs. But I wouldn’t want one too large like a Great Dane or anything. Do you have any pets?”

“Most student organizations. Some are for just undergraduates, but that’s the minority of organizations.” A lot of graduate students also just did not have the time for student organizations, but Alysha tried to make the time. After all, there were some great opportunities provided. “Unpredictable schedules and trying to figure out how to take care of themselves for the first time in a lot of cases.” Both of those combined made for a poor pet owner. Like her neighbor and their barking dog. “So like a medium large dog? And not really. I have a fish tank and some plants, but nothing other than that. It’d be nice to have a cat or two, but I don’t really have the time.” 

bethsfletcher:

          Although she had been trying to avoid students and Skybourne staff alike, but she wasn’t going to be rude. She took a seat in front of Alysha and took a sip of her coffee. Bethany felt like a mess. More of a mess than normal, if she was being honest. Usually she wasn’t nervous to talk to other women outside of a club, but it was a little more intimidating when remembering the night before was difficult. She probably didn’t do anything stupid, but still. “Oh gosh, yes. All I remember was drinking and dancing, but that’s it,” Bethany chuckled. “But the coffee is helping. Am I interrupting your art…ing?” 

A small smile appeared on Alysha’s lips at the answer. She’d had nights like that before, but they were definitely few and far between since her undergraduate days. “You definitely seemed out of it, but I will say, you’re much more composed than most people at that level,” like herself. Alysha tended to either get emotional or extremely flirty when she was very drunk, which was why she didn’t get to that point these days. “No, not really. I like to start the morning off with a few sketches, but I wasn’t getting very far. What’s your hangover cure for the morning?” she asked, gesturing to the cup.

astridxjohansen:

“I would rather be shown love and attention every other day of the year, the only get big shows of affection on Valentine’s Day. Small presents spread out over a period of time are more meaningful too. I would rather a few packages of my favorite snack when my partner gets back from shopping then some overpriced piece of jewelry given to me at a fancy restaurant with tiny portions that barely even fill you and cost an absurd amount.” Astrid had given a lot of thought to love, and how she felt that it was best expressed. Again it was the result of working with flowers and seeing everyone’s last minute scrambles. “Easter marketing kicks in in March. I think the only safe time is in July, after the Fourth has passed. Then it’s all just back to school.”

“Exactly. Valentine’s Day just makes it feel forced. Like is this gift forced by social norms, or actually genuine? Affection any other day of the year feels far more romantic,” she agreed. Even if Alysha wasn’t much of a romantic, she still had her own ideals about romantic gestures and such. “Fair, but I don’t celebrate Easter, and I don’t really view it as a stress because there’s not the economic stress that goes with other holidays. Or feeling like you have to be dating someone. Though I guess with lent or whatever, there’s that whole concept of making yourself better again like with New Years.” Alysha found herself rolling her eyes again. “I also find it annoying how resolutions are always targeted at loosing weight, too. Even with lent. There are so many other better uses of time.”

bethsfletcher:

          She felt like absolute crap. Usually Bethany didn’t stay out very late. She liked to get a good night of rest. She’d woken up with a massive hangover and barely remembered what happened the night before. All she remembered was that she’d gone to Hurricane and gotten really drunk. If she did anything stupid, that was a blur. Not that Bethany usually did anything stupid when she drank. She probably just danced and had a good time with someone – though who was a mystery to her. She’d been to the Hurricane a lot more during the break because she didn’t have as much to do. Of course she recognized Alysha as she made her way into The Hideout. She might not have known what happened last night, but she did occasionally talk to the other woman. Hopefully nothing had happened last night… because she didn’t remember. “Hey,” Bethany smiled, awkwardly. 

Alysha moved a few of her art supplies out of the way in form of a silent offer for the other to join her once she had her coffee. Seeing how Beth looked almost as disheveled as herself, Alysha felt a tad less embarrassed. It had been a wild night for the both of them so it made sense that they both looked like a hot mess. “Are you feeling as shitty as I am right now? Cause my head is pounding right now,” she lightly started. Normally when they spoke at least one of them was inebriated or on their way. Talking outside of a club was a lot more intimidating.

karim-beckett:

“Difficult getting out of that one when you run the club,” Karim replied. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked next to Alysha. He figured he’d stop by Myriam’s apartment before heading off to his dorm. “I was able to visit him for a while, but eventually they moved to California so I wasn’t able to see him anymore. I got a lot of pictures though which was nice to see. Kinda sucked being able to see the dog without ever being able to actually have a dog. Maybe in the future I’ll get one for myself after college.”

Alysha nodded at that. “Yep, but now I’m just a member of the art society. Don’t have to deal with the responsibility of being an officer.” If she wanted to help make decorations, she had the option to volunteer, rather than the obligation. It was nice and made the volunteer work more enjoyable. “That’s smart. So many students seem to think they can handle classes, being a pseudo-adult, and a dog and they are so wrong. Most college students are the worst dog owners. What kind of dog would you want to get?”

perrylewis:

Perry loved the holiday season. Well, his sweet tooth loved the holiday season. Particularly Valentine’s Day, because that was when all of the best chocolates were easiest to find. He was stopped outside of the store, head haloed by a giant red heart, as he dug out his candy from his bag when he heard the sigh. Looking up, he thought he recognized the woman who had spoken. Maybe she’d TA’ed in one of his classes? Still trying to place her, Perry decided to speak up. “’S not so bad,” he shook the box of chocolates lightly in her direction. “They could force us to watch all the couples in love without offering chocolate to make it bearable.”

Alysha let out a hum of consideration noticing that the other had already bought himself chocolate in lieu of the holidays. He also looked the vaguest bit familiar to her. They went to the same school, so she could’ve run into him at some point or another. “I mean that’s a fair point. But it would be nice of the whole holiday was a little less...hetero-normative. Like, c’mon it’s 2018, stop showing almost exclusively straight couples on all of your advertising.” Her eyes fell back to the chocolates. “What kind did you get? Those weird assorted ones or something higher quality?”

shadowboxed:

Shiloh stood beside her and furrowed her brows. ❝But then, how will they sell us things?❞ She sighed, knowing well that she would likely not experience what most seemed to want on Valentine’s Day. ❝If people don’t have something to celebrate they might realize how pointless everything is.❞ She shrugged. ❝I saw some St. Patrick’s hats yesterday.❞

Alysha let out a hum in consideration to the others point. “I think in some sense, having holidays helps with keeping optimism alive but the way holidays are over commercialized can put pressure on to waste money on gifts that people feel obligated to get,” she countered. Not that there weren’t parts of the holidays she enjoyed. “Well, I guess that’s not quite as terrible as having Christmas decorations starting in July, but really? I don’t even know that many people that celebrate St. Patrick’s.”

astridxjohansen:

“Valentine’s Day really creeps up on you. January gets off to a slow start, with a lot of people taking the first few days off. Then you’ve got all the after Christmas sales and suddenly the month is halfway over and you’re staring Valentine’s Day in the face and you’re woefully underprepared. Not that I’m a huge fan of Valentine’s Day.” Astrid said, smile growing sheepish as she realized that she had gone on a bit of a tangent. Working where she did though, she had had to deal with a lot of last minute bouquet orders and if it took forcing holiday’s before the previous one was over the avoid rush orders she would gladly take it.

She nodded in agreement. “It feels like there’s rarely a time of year where some holiday or another isn’t being shoved down our throats.” It wasn’t that she hated holidays, but some of them were unnecessary, all for more big businesses to make a profit with unnecessary decorations and other such purchases. “The idea behind Valentine’s is kind of sweet but it’s so forced on everyone and so pressure filled that the holiday stress isn’t over until, like, March.”

karim-beckett:

“That sounds absolutely awful and appalling,” Karim said with a laugh. “Why would they make you do that? Did everyone at least appreciate your hard work?” He was glad that he’d never been asked to do something like that…not that he’d do it, especially not high school Karim. He took out the keys and locked the doors once they got outside. “We did when we were younger. We got a dog and had him for a few months but then we found out our mom was allergic. Fortunately, a family friend took the dog so we didn’t have to take him back to the shelter.”

Alysha gave a shrug at the question. “It was some tradition the art club always did and I was the vice president, so a lot of the work got shirked off onto me. Our faculty sponsor or whatever really appreciated.” The rest of the school, probably not so much. Once the gym was locked, Alysha began walking towards the direction of her apartment. She figured they’d probably pass Karim’s apartment along the way. “That’s good that you were able to find him a home and with a family friend. Were you both able to visit him often? I feel like I’d be heartbroken if I had to give a pet away and couldn’t visit at least once a week.”

emmaxsoren:

Emma let out a snort, despite herself. “Preach. If I never see another giant teddy bear again, it’d probably be too soon.” She shrugged, wrinkling her nose. She always thought those giant stuffed animals were awfully creepy. “The only good thing is that the chocolate around this time is super high quality.”

“Really, though. Most of those teddy bears have the creepiest.” How people found them endearing was beyond Alysha. And once Valentine’s was over, it’d just be St. Patrick’s Day decor everywhere - a holiday she never understood. “High quality, but expensive. I always like to hit up the grocery stores the day after Valentines when all chocolate and strawberries are marked down. Now that day is a magical day.”