originallutece | (no subject)

[There's a bit of a pause as she types and deletes, then tries again, but eventually:]

It didn't come without its drawbacks. I had no idea how to socialize.

For what it's worth, neither do any of the students I've chaperoned tonight.

At least they look the parts. Just imagine a terrified, arrogant fourteen year old in a too expensive dress, and you'll have a perfect picture of how I might have fit in.

Did you dress up?

Oh — hold on, I'll just send you a GPOY.

[Witness him.]

What precisely does that stand for?

[But oh, no, look at him. He's a fairly formal dresser by nature, but this is particularly well done; Rosalind laughs in delight as she looks him over.]

Very handsome, though. I'll be shocked if you don't have all the high schoolers swarming you by the end of the night.

"Gratuitous picture of yourself", I believe. Otherwise known as a selfie, I suppose, but that's a ridiculous term that I hate to indulge.

Believe it or not, I'm actually underdressed. There are children here in tuxedos, of all things.

Selfie > GPOY, in my opinion, but it's not as if I take many either way.

Tuxedos seem a little overdone, especially for boys whose voices haven't yet broken. Do they look as ridiculous as I imagine?

On what grounds do you base your opinion?

They do. Braces and tuxedos are a terribly awkward (and unfortunate) combination.

[It's mean, but she laughs.]

I just like the fact it's a word, not an acronym. There's far too many of those for my liking.

You're a scientist who disapproves of acronyms? Shameful.

Hardly. I have too many of those in my life; I don't want more.

JSYK, they aren't all bad IMO. No need for a HDU, lol.

I'm going to stop talking to you if you don't knock that off. You'll die in a cloud of Axe bodyspray and gangling teenage limbs and I shan't mourn you.

Please don't remind me about the clouds of Axe. I'm trying to ignore it and learning the hard way that it cannot be ignored.

Your poor sense of smell. I wouldn't be surprised if it was still stunned tomorrow.

Which, actually, might end up being a boon once we reach the arcade.

I see you've been doing your research on the typical staples of arcade environments.

And the ambient stench therein.

You're not leaving me alone tomorrow.

When have I ever abandoned you?

Simply because you never have before doesn't mean you might not. This is the first time we've socialized outside of the classroom.

...Is it really?

Of course. I hardly count fundraisers and the like; those are university related.

[And honestly, she probably oughtn't be doing this. It's not strictly against the rules, but she can't imagine any of her superiors would be particularly pleased to hear she's been socializing with her assistant.

But nor is she supposed to be on social media with him, so a trip to the arcade will hardly hurt.]

...Of course.

[There's a few beats of hesitation, then.]

You could always write an article on it. Behavioral contingencies in video games — how electronic media subconsciously trains its users. Surely there'd be at least a few journals that would pick up a work of that nature.

I'd have to go quite a few times to get a sizable sample. And as I refuse to go alone . . . are you quite certain you want to sign away your Saturdays like that?

If it would

[...What does he want to say to finish that, though? Make things academic? Allow this to be just like all the other idle (whipped, Yata had insisted) errands that get done outside of the classroom? Alleviate whatever concern he senses in the direction of her conversation, even if he can't quite put it into words on his own?]

help keep you out of the lab more often. :)

Is that why you're doing it?

[She's still hesitating, but that certainly helps things. It's still not strictly professional, but it's hardly a torrid thing. She's likely being paranoid.]

All right. Though tomorrow will simply be about teaching me how to play. We can start on planning our experiment then.