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

[astraphilia]

My man, I would love nothing more than a decent drink. I can mix a mean vodka cranberry and that's where my bartending skills end.

[limbical]

Not a bad drink, though. But yeah, I'll fix up something for you sometime.

Call me Daan.

[astraphilia]

Oh, sure. But it ain't exactly peak flairtending either if you know what I mean.

[ not that he expects flairtending out of Daan. unless Daan feels like getting a little wild, in which case Reno will whistle and clap appropriately! ]

Nice to meet ya, Daan. You been around long?

[limbical]

That's fair. I don't do any tricks, but we'll see what you think.

Hm. Longer than I'd thought I'd be here. I wanna say... maybe three months now? I should probably have been keeping track.

[astraphilia]

Well, not with that attitude. [ shameless wink. that's quitter talk, Daan! ] The time does kinda run together eventually, don't it? I've only been here—about two months, I think. Feels like way longer.

[limbical]

You'd be surprised how long even three days feel when you're doing a lot in that time. These past three months have felt like much longer, as you said.

I honestly expected shit to hit the fan sooner. Not to say we haven't dealt with some weird things, but... well, I'm not gonna get into detail, don't wanna jinx things.

[astraphilia]

Yeah, don't say that out loud, somebody might be listening.

[ he's not serious about somebody listening, but definitely don't jinx it... ]

Hell, though. I can't say I'm eager for shit to go south, but two months got me bored enough to be postin' party games, so...

[limbical]

Hey, that's fair. Personally, I've had enough shenanigans to not be bored, but I at least want a clue as to the reality of our situation. Who knows when we'll get those answers, though.