Post Office, Thursday

[intotheout]

The post office was being its usual quiet self, this week, so Tip had her notebook out and was working on her homework for her romance writing class. She ended up handwavily deciding to do a paranormal Regency period romance, sort of like those books where the author took Jane Austen and threw in zombies, but different. Because -- because she said so. Also they weren't zombies. Tip wasn't actually sure what the paranormal side of her story would be like yet; she wanted to find something really obscure that there hadn't been a million books and movies and tv shows about lately, which meant zombies, vampires, werewolves, fairies, and even selkies were out. Also ghosts. Those would send it over into gothic territory, anyway.

So while she had her heroine mostly worked out (using Elizabeth Bennett template, because someone famous had said that mature artists steal, even if the internet couldn't work out exactly who), she still hadn't decided on the love interest. Other than that it wouldn't be a boy. Heteronormativity had been done, after all. Also, boys were dumb.

Bill attempted to help by making his own suggestions, but Tip pointed out that if the love interest were a robot, it wouldn't be paranormal anymore. Robots were sci-fi, after all. Though that did have some interesting implications with regards to sexuality and the use of toys. . . .

[open!]

Comments

[thewrathofkaan]

Roscoe was hungover and needed coffee badly this morning. And when he passed the post office on the way and saw Tip, he figured he'd be kind and bring her a coffee too.

Well. A frozen hot chocolate, actually, since he didn't know if Tip liked coffee and sugary drinks were always safer.

"Post office notes, huh?" he guessed, sliding the drink across the counter to her. "Whatcha writing?"

[intotheout]

"Oh, you know, notes on the new zip code rules for outer space," Tip said, smiling. "I'm actually doing homework. While at work. I might be a nerd." She took the drink, took a curious sip, and sighed happily. Nice and cool, sweet, and not smelling like cheese. Perfect. "Thanks."

[thewrathofkaan]

Roscoe whistled. "Shit, I haven't even had homework since I got here," he said. "Even taking a class that assigns real work makes you a nerd." But he was grinning fondly, and he sipped his own coffee before he added, "But that's better than being an orange."

[intotheout]

Tip blushed furiously and dropped her head onto her arm. "Literally everything is better than being an orange."

[thewrathofkaan]

"Hey, hey, hey," Roscoe laughed, setting his own chin on the counter to try to meet her eyes. "I had to chase after the maniacal dragon-whatever with a compact mirror that I was carrying in my mouth just to get him to calm down already. We all had an embarrassing week."

[intotheout]

Tip gave him a Look. "Oh yeah, it was so embarrassing how you actually helped save the day and all. That's definitely on the same level as failing to save the day and getting turned into a giant piece of fruit. You must be mortified."

[thewrathofkaan]

Okay, maybe one was more embarrassing than the other.

"Well," Roscoe said sheepishly, seeing her point, "I didn't look so glamorous when I charged in and yelled something about wanting to take his powers away and nothing happened. It was a whole awkward thing."

[intotheout]

Tip frowned. "But it did work. He's a statue now. I've seen him."

She may have also spit on his pedestal. But she wasn't going to be telling anyone that.

[thewrathofkaan]

He waved a hand. "Yeah, but only after like ten minutes where everyone else was talking."

It turned out the sheer yelling power of one Roscoe was not enough to activate the magic of friendship.

"The point is, we all have our orange moments. And you were a cute orange anyway."

[intotheout]

"Yeah, I guess," Tip said reluctantly. "Can we now never ever talk about that again, please?"

[thewrathofkaan]

"Deal," Roscoe agreed. There was a reason he hadn't taken a lot of selfies as a pony. He was hoping it could grow more and more surreal in his memory until eventually it felt like a fucked-up dream. "So what's the homework? Anything fun? I wouldn't usually expect homework to be fun, but you know, Fandom."

[intotheout]

Tip smiled again at the change of subject. Roscoe was good at that, going with the conversational flow. "It's for my romance writing class. I'm supposed to figure out who I want my main characters to be."

[thewrathofkaan]

Romance wasn't his favorite genre, but the idea of Tip as a writer seemed very right.

"Oooh. You should base someone on me," Roscoe said immediately. "Got room for a jaded kind of genderqueer best friend who tells the hero that love isn't real just so the hero can go, no, screw you, while they're falling in love with whoever?"

[intotheout]

Tip laughed. "Sure. I haven't even worked exactly who the love interest is, I have all the room for best friends. And a genderqueer one'll fit with my whole no-heteronormativity theme."

[thewrathofkaan]

"That's the best theme!" Roscoe exclaimed. "I might actually like a romance novel for once in my life, hallelujah." He beamed at Tip. "So is writing what you actually want to do, like when you grow up?"