video ; @thundaga

[astraphilia]

[ hello and welcome to Boredom Hours, sponsored by one too many midafternoon beers and a perpetual inability to not immediately make his ennui everyone else's problem. today's host is... Reno!

when the video starts, it's to a shockingly decently framed shot of Reno doing the hooligan squat on the front stoop of his apartment building. he's got a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth, and once he's sure that the video is rolling he takes a long drag of it before he speaks. ]

Sup. I'm Reno. Some of ya may know me from my colorful past as "guy who got yanked into pool by tentacle monster."

[ probably nobody knows him that way but it's fine. we are not concerned with strict veracity here. Reno blows a neat smoke ring and grins the kind of grin that means he knows he's being a pain in the ass. ]

I was thinkin', y'know, there's only so many of us. Probably ain't a bad idea to get to know each other, right? [ he gestures with his cigarette as he speaks as if to underscore his words. ] We need some conversation starters. Some icebreakers, y'know? Everybody's favorite highlight from their corporate bonding retreats.

So! [ he holds up a hand to count on.

one finger. ] Two truths and a lie. Post 'em, let other people guess. I'll leave mine too. Shoutout to the blond girlie who had that party a couple months back for this one.

[ two fingers. ] Hot or not. Or smash or pass, whatever you wanna call it. Post yourself and let people vote, if you're brave. Or post your friends if you want to fuck around. You can all see my face right now so count that as my submission.

[ three fingers. ] Creativity exercise, open prompt. You can go anywhere, be anybody, do anything you want. The world ain't ending and there's no war or whatever the hell going on. Who are you and what are you doing? [ brief smoke break, and then Reno stubs the butt out on the cement, exhaling as he says, ] Me, I wanna make mediocre coffee for minimum wage and not worry about shit except makin' rent.

[ and lastly, four fingers. ] "Reno, this is fuckin' stupid and I don't want to do it." Okay, nobody's got a gun to your head. We ain't even got guns here. Do what you want.

[ his four fingers curl in so he can offer a cheerful, if a bit manic, thumbs-up before he reaches out to turn off the video.

just before he touches the button, though, he pauses as if something just occurred to him— ] Oh, shit—also, drop map pins for your favorite restaurant in this place. I'm in the market for new eats, bonus points if it's spicy.

[ okay, now he's gone. ]

Comments

video; un: netzach

[abstractart]

Corporate.... what? Is that supposed to be a thing?

[he does not think to volunteer himself for ratings but like, for the record. he's in the middle of painting so the view here is like so, minus the funky background.]

video ;

[astraphilia]

First: hot.

[ smash! Reno grins. hello, fellow ponytail. ]

This is the part where I admit I ain't been on any corporate retreats either. But what I hear is that you play games like this and then spend the rest of the time talkin' about how you can earn the company more money.

[ the Turks certainly did not do this but some of the other ShinRa teams definitely did! ]

[abstractart]

Uh- thanks?

[faintly bewildered-- it's an unexpected answer, okay.]

I can't really imagine any of the places I worked for doing that, either... they'd probably figure it was more productive if we didn't stop working to go on one.

[astraphilia]

Oh, was that not your submission for the hot or not game? [ an absolutely shameless wink. ] Coulda fooled me.

[ so sorry about him. ]

Never made much sense to me either. Like if ya wanna make money, ain't the way to do that... not takin' half the department on a trip somewhere? [ a shrug. blessed to avoid this by having a four-person department. ] But y'know how the corporate types are. All key performance indicators this, market share that.

[abstractart]

I guess it is now?

[he'll go with it, at least...

but boy, the tired expression on his face at the rest gives away exactly how familiar he is.]

Tell me about it. 'Netzach, your department's behind in energy production, Netzach, where are your reports, we have a meeting to go over incident metrics...'

[astraphilia]

[ the look of absolute exhaustion that crosses Netzach's face makes Reno laugh out loud, not unsympathetically. ]

I see you know the type, eh? I guess I better count my blessings that I only hear the lingo but never have to speak it...

Are you in energy? [ fellow power company employee? ]

TEXT ♡ username: fearnie

[fauned]

( hiiiiiiiiii. does she know this isn't meant to be an entry? yes. is she counting it? also yes. )

smash
and not only because i have a bias for green hair

[abstractart]

[oh, hi fearne.]

you're still biased, you decorated it before

[fauned]

i can have more than one thought at a time! i can think 'wow! his hair is pretty' AND 'that's a face i'd kiss' at the same time

( among others. keeping it pg13 though. )

[abstractart]

are there faces you wouldn't, though

[fauned]

( that's soooo fair, but )

hey! there's a few i wouldn't!!
it's not MY fault the people i have to work with both here and outside of here are hot

video, @DONQUIXOT3

[icanfixer]

[ is it awkward to call your friend you kissed to wake up attractive. no more awkward than to kiss the woman who rejected you not last month to wake her she guesses. reno is handling the. thing she also does not know so it's fine-- ]

Thou'rt very pretty.

[ yeah that's fine ]

[abstractart]

[is it awkward? MAYBE. definitely.]

...you are too, you know.

[icanfixer]

[ nevermind this was a mistake she's going to slowly pull her blankets around herself bashfully. if she was smart she would take this off video but she is such a video girl. ]

Yes, I am... I am aware! I have been told mine eyes would fetch quite the price in the Backstreets, so to hear myself be called pretty is simply stating fact.

[ yeah. let confidence carry her through this. ]

[abstractart]

[why is that cute too. girl Help. stop using video it's fucking dangerous.

it's also at odds with that confident statement, but he'll give her a break and not point it out. instead he just says-]

You should let me paint you sometime.

["why hasn't he already if they're friends" well, you see, (slaps don) you can fit so much inability to hold still in this bad boy]

[icanfixer]

[ l

let confidence carry

wings she hopes badou isn't the type to spy on other people he's the last person she wants to hear anything from right now. all it rattles in her head is the words kaveh had told her once, about taking a piece of the world and making it his, how she carried that and put it to practice with pieces of the world she'd like to put to certain memory (her friends, things that made her happy, abnormalities she found cute) and

don's gaze shoots away, wondering how seven words could concoct such a flurry of feelings. it's not so different than when... she doesn't want to compare it and so she won't. it's better if she doesn't.

anyway she seems really good at holding still right now. ]

... Okay.

[ help what happened to confidence why did it come out so quiet-- ]

Ehm, rather, I would not mind if thee did! I can sit still for a time so long as I am spoken to, if that would not interrupt thy painting process. Or, if it would, I wouldn't be offended if thee did so while I slept.

text; un: hythlodaeus

[nomoresharks]

Hot. And purposeful or no, that angle is doing you quite a few favors.

[abstractart]

is it...? definitely wasn't purposeful, no.

[nomoresharks]

I assure you it is. Mayhap it helps that you're in the midst of doing something you enjoy?

[abstractart]

you might have a point. i wasn't really paying attention to how it looked before i said anything...

[nomoresharks]

Have you ever thought of adding the portraits you can make with the phone to your repertoire? While not the same as creating with pen or paint in hand, you appear to be a natural at it.

not here | 1/2

[badfeyth]

[LOOKS DISRESPECTFULLY]

this one is though

[badfeyth]

It's just a game. Don't you want to play?

[abstractart]

i feel like i'm playing whether i want to or not at this point

[badfeyth]

Such are the dangers of sticking your neck out.

I'll give you two of my own truths and a lie, if you want an easy one to get your feet wet with.