Watching and Waiting [TULIO]

[jessie]

Focusing on a sudoku puzzle was difficult when you kept glancing at the slowly ticking hands of your watch. It was just so darn hard not to keep checking the time, though, Jessie thought. It wasn't too much longer until she got off for the day, and when she did, it would be up to the next person to deal with the terrible smelling skates, whiny children, and snobby skating coaches. It had been pretty hectic when she had first gotten to the rink that morning, but thankfully things had calmed down as the day went on. Actually, it was pretty dead right now, which was why she was working on a sudoku puzzle instead of having to help someone complaining about their too loose or too tight skates.

Jessie made a face, erasing a number she'd put in the wrong place and closely examining the sheet in an attempt to figure out what she'd done wrong. Realizing someone was approaching the counter to get some skates, she grimaced and forced herself to smile. "What size?" she asked cheerily, quickly scribbling in a number before shutting the book and looking up.

[Deleted]

This place was insane. It was scary and weird and completely messed up and... why was he still here? It could be that he had nowhere else to go, but surely there was somewhere where strange things didn’t keep happening to him. Last year there had been the whole amnesia thing, and something strange over the summer that he was sure now had just been a dream, possibly drug induced, even if he now preferred his steak extra rare. Now this year he was apparently falling for every pretty girl he met, or at least the ones in cafes. He could claim it was a broken heard making him act that way, but that would be admitting that his feelings for Chel had been deeper than his denial had convinced him they were. Either way, he was rarely one to spout love poems and be openly honest with someone unless there was something in it for him in the way of riches, no matter how hot the girl was.

So why was he still here? Well, it wasn’t dull, that was for sure, even if he would have to avoid the theatre for a while. So instead? Skating.

“Size twelve,” Tulio replied to the skate attendant, curiously eying the book she had been scribbling in. He wasn’t sure what it was, but the name didn’t look English, even though she certainly sounded to be.

“This place always this... exciting?” he asked, glancing around. There were less than half a dozen people making use of the rink at the moment. Finally bringing his eyes back to the girl, Tulio looked at her strangely for a moment before recognition dawned. “Jessie, right?” in one of his more desperate adventurous moves he had signed up for a blind date for a dance a while back, and this cute little redhead had been the lucky girl.

[jessie]

Jessie had also not been very happy lately about being here. She had the opposite of Tulio's problem, though; for her, nothing exciting ever happened. So far, her stay at Tintagel Academy had been one long, boring routine of classes, homework, and now work. It was a good thing her horse was at the school with her, otherwise she really would have died of boredom by now, but with Belleza having hurt her leg a couple weeks ago, Jessie really felt like she was about to lose her mind, and it seemed like anytime she met anybody who could potentially be a friend, they dropped off the face of the planet, she thought grumpily.

"Twelve? Alrighty," she said, turning around to stand on tiptoe to reach the right sized skates. The dark-haired guy at the counter seemed really familiar, and it was bugging her enough that she got distracted and missed getting enough of a grip on the skates. With small yelp, she jumped back to avoid getting the skate blades imbedded in her skull.

The guy had been talking while she had tried to get herself killed. "What? Oh, be glad you weren't here earlier, you would have had to fight through a crowd of little rich kids ready to kill you for stealing their ice space," she said, a small, nervous, half fake laugh escaping as she picked up the skates and set them on the counter in front of the guy.

Finally able to get a good look at him, she realized where she knew him from, and he confirmed it with his own apparent recognition of her. "Tulio?" she asked, surprised.

[Deleted]

Tulio raised his eyebrows when the little redhead just narrowly avoided imbedding the blades of his skates in her head. That would have been horribly unpleasant; it’s hard to maintain a cool exterior when someone is bleeding all over the place.

Then it was time for ‘job ranting’ time. Tulio himself had never done an honest day’s work in his life so he didn’t really know all the annoyances of public service, but that wasn’t to say that his own ‘job’ wasn’t any less strenuous. In fact, he maintained that he had about the most stressful job in the world, even if he did enjoy the thrill of it. People never liked to lose money, and were quick to accuse him of being a cheater, so he always had to retain his cool and keep them pacified while he won all their money... by cheating. It was delicate work, and sometimes it fell through, in which case he had to be able to think fast and turn the situation around, or cause a distraction long enough for him to get away.

It was hard work but someone had to do it.

“Just because they’re rich doesn’t mean they have to act like they own everything,” Tulio sympathized with a self-depreciating air. Because, of course, as a ‘prince’, he was supposed to be rich too. He supposed he could have defended his ‘kin’ but not every rich kid had to be a jerk too, right?

Finally, though, Jessie seemed to recognize him. He felt a bit insulted that it took this long, and that she was so surprised. He had always thought himself to be quite memorable. To be fair, though, he had been off his game a bit that night (and for the past year) and it had been a masquerade ball where he had worn a rather large, face covering mask for most of the night. So he could forgive her for not recognizing him right away.

“The one and only,” he replied with a grand bow.

[jessie]

Jessie giggled slightly at his bow, recalling his similar actions when first meeting him at the winter ball. "Of course," she said. It really shouldn't have taken her that long to realize it was him, though, she thought, frowning inwardly. "You know, it was harder to recognize you without the, uh, nose," she joked, using a hand motion as a reminder of the giant nose that had been on his mask at the dance. "Plus I don't think I've ever seen you around at the school. How are things??"

Jessie shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, I guess it's not even the kids' fault really, it's more parents' for not teaching them any better. That and their skating coaches encourage them." It was cool of him to sympathize with her like that.. Or at least act like he did, whatever.

Then she remembered the skates. "Oh, right, skates," she said sheepishly, opening one of the counter drawers and rummaging through it briefly. "You did want a student pass, right? It's like half as much as the normal adult one, which would be your other option.. Unless you have a coupon?" she asked, waving a couple of the sticker pass options in the air. "Oh, I almost forgot, I'm supposed to ask you, would you be interested in signing up for our Frequent Skaters Pass? You can get all sorts of good deals with it." Jessie smiled brightly.

[Deleted]

Ah ha! So it was the mask. Alright, that he could forgive. You weren’t really supposed to recognise your partner at a Masquerade ball anyway, that was kind of the point. “It really was a shame to cover it. My nose is one of my best features, after all. My real nose, that is,” Tulio replied, striking a bit of a pose and turning his head to the side so she could get a good look at him in profile.

How were things? Now there was a question... one he wasn’t sure how to answer. Well, he had found out his best friend hadn’t abandoned him, so that was certainly a good thing, but then there had been the whole incident in the theatre that he was still unclear about, among so many other things. There was really just a lot going on in his head, to be honest. “Oh, things are fine. I’ve been around, I guess we just don’t move in the same circles. Perhaps I should get involved in more... social... club... things.”

The school had plenty of them to get involved in, that was for sure, and it wasn’t really a bad idea. Get to know more people, figure out who were the easy targets, set up some wagers, some games... not a bad idea at all...

Lost in his own thoughts, Tulio completely missed Jessie lamenting about the spoiled little rich brats she had to deal with, and only snapped back to attention when she started rooting around behind the counter, going on about different type of passes and waving some colourful sticker things under his aforementioned well distinguished nose. At least she had a nice smile, even if she was trying to sell him something he didn’t need.

“Maybe I should try it out once first before deciding if I want to make a habit of it,” he said, scrutinizing the various passes she was holding up, looking for the right one.

[jessie]

Trying to keep herself from laughing, Jessie grinned as Tulio went on about his nose and how awful it was to have had to cover it. "True," she said, playing a long. "A nose is a terrible thing to have to hide, but, alas, sometimes necessary. Back home we'd always have to wear a bandana to avoid getting dust in our mouths and noses when dealing with the cattle."

She nodded understandingly. "Ah, yeah, I'm pretty bad about getting out and doing social things either. I don't really have any sort of circle. I mean, sure, I signed up for the softball team, but hey, that's not much help if there isn't anybody else that signed up. And you know, for all the odd people at the school, you'd think there would more people interested in Equestrian Arts classes, but apparently not," Jessie finished, her voice turning wistful.

"What kind of stuff do you like doing? I mean, I bet there's some random club for something you enjoy.. Although I guess the real question would be how active the club actually is."

Then she realized he was still looking at the passes with a baffled expression on his face. "Agh, sorry. No frequent pass? Alrighty," She looked around for minute before leaning forward and continuing in a lower tone. "To be honest, I think it's kinda silly to pretty much throw stuff at people when they haven't been here before, but my boss is always telling me to push those sorts of sales. Anyway, what you'll want today is the student one-day pass; that way you'll get the five dollar price instead of ten."

[Deleted]

Huh. Well, Tulio didn’t know what to say to that. The closest he’d come to having to deal with cattle was a bull, and dust wasn’t really his worry then. Then he’d had to worry about the bull sticking its horn in him, and that wasn’t a euphemism.

But then the girl was on about softball and equestrian arts and Tulio really had no interest in either so had little to add. He wasn’t interest in sports or livestock or fashion or whatever else the people here decided to start clubs for. All he was truly interested in was gold, and while he could probably start a club about the best ways to earn it, he wouldn’t want to just give away his trade secrets. Besides, if everyone knew how to get gold then there wouldn’t be as much for him.

“I don’t know, I don’t really like doing anything in particular, or anything at all. Lying on a beach, drink in hand, and just wasting away the hours... now that’s the life for me.”

He certainly couldn’t tell her that he enjoyed gambling (but only when he could cheat) and conning people, now could he? He hadn’t lied, that was the life he wanted once he made his fortune.

“One day pass. Yup, that’s for me. And if I don’t break my leg then... well, then I should probably count myself as lucky and quit while I’m ahead instead of chancing it again.” He grinned widely. Bit of an awkward conversation, but he could always count on his charm and good looks to help him through.