smash_logs | "Sometimes my kindness gets the better of me..."

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"Sometimes my kindness gets the better of me..."

Characters: Conker, Lucas
What: Roomie's night in.
Where: Conker and Lucas' dorm, BE-2.
When: Later in the night. (Assume sometime this week.)
Rating: Unknown, probably not too high.

Conker sighed. He knew Lucas had a late class that night, but he still hated waiting. But he owed it to the freshman. He had been spending most of his time lately in isolation, skipping classes, neglecting his friends, and pretending that Lucas didn't exist, although he came in every night and left every morning.
I might as well stop this dumb, selfish game. Ignoring your room mate isn't very polite.
But he couldn't help it! His anniversary with Berri was not so long ago...the anticipation had made him sick, and he was just depressed afterwards, thinking about how he would never see her again....
He shook his head, angry at himself for dropping into his own depressed state again. This was supposed to be about helping out Lucas. Look at yourself...you even transformed to help things be less awkward! Time to pay attention to others for once!
He had some food in the fridge, a movie set up if the talk got too heavy, and some tissues nearby, if again, the talk got too heavy. I hope he doesn't cry. Please don't let him cry, that would be too weird.
Not to mention the beers hiding behind the freshly bought food. For him. If things got too awkward that would loosen him up a bit.
All that was left to do was wait.

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Lucas... was a little bit nervous, to be honest. He'd always been a bit shy around strangers.

...Which was ridiculous. Conker wasn't a stranger; they'd been sharing a room for a long time now. It shouldn't have been awkward at all. Still... it was a little bit intimidating for a freshman to approach a senior, especially one as timid as Lucas. For all his unease, though, he was glad Conker had extended the invitation. It was a good chance to get to know the squirrel better, and maybe... well, maybe get to be friends. Or something a bit more comfortable than what they were sitting at now, anyways.

Lucas paused outside his door for a moment. He... shouldn't have felt nervous about entering his own room. Confidence, Lucas! It was just a talk, not like they were going to fight to the death or something. With a quiet sigh, he opened the door and slipped inside.

He almost didn't recognize Conker at first. For a moment, he had the urge to freak out about a stranger in his dorm. The ears were kind of a giveaway, though. Whew. "U-um... hi, Conker. Sorry I took so long."

Conker almost jumped at Lucas opening the door, he had been so lost in thought, he somehow forgot that he was expecting the blonde.
He turned and grinned at Lucas. "Hey, no big deal, I knew you were going to be late."
He motioned to the armchair next to his own, feeling a bit like Mr. Mask or Mr. Weavle, and grinned again.
"So..."
He took a breath, not really knowing where to go next. He had heard some...things...around the halls, he wasn't going to lie, something having to do with the other blonde kid with the glasses, but it wasn't like he was going to bring it up. So, what to talk about?
"How have things been lately? I live with you and feel like I barely even know you..."

Lucas sank down into the chair, doing his best not to look too uncomfortable. It... certainly wasn't as if there was nothing going on for him to talk about. The past few days had been nothing short of exciting. His bet with Jeff, the humiliating outfit he'd had to wear and the shock of hearing his dad was in the school, the panty raid, his first kiss -- fooling around with a guy -- and the following detention, and to top it all off, finding out about the teachers and their infiltration. To think it had all come from adopting a Pikmin in Biology.

But that all seemed like a bit much to be dumping onto a guy he really didn't know very well. Conker was right -- it did feel like the two barely knew each other. "Oh... um... okay, I guess. I mean, my classes are a lot better than they were before... I had my first sparring match for Smash Fundamentals last week. That was, um... actually kind of cool. I lost pretty badly though, haha. It was... it was the first real fight I've had on my own. ...You've probably been doing that kinda stuff for years, right?"

Conker scoffed a bit, then broke out into a chuckle.
"No, actually. I was never much for the actual brawl aspect of the school...I'm not great at it.
I was about to join the tournament, but that got canceled. I was going to partner with Diddy...hehe."
That was something he could talk about.
"Yeah, I generally hang around campus with Diddy, Banjo, and Kazooie. What about you?"

That was... a little surprising, to be honest. That Conker wasn't much of a fighter. Lucas had kind of assumed everyone at Sumabura was an expert at combat. That... was probably the result of hanging around kids who had saved the world in their preteens. And also Kumatora. "Oh... yeah, I was gonna enter that tournament, too, except I was gonna be with Ness. It's... almost too bad it got canceled."

Diddy, Banjo, and Kazooie... Lucas had never heard of any of them. They were probably all seniors like Conker, though. "Me? Uh... I mostly hang out with Ness, Jeff, Paula... um, my friend Kumatora goes here, too. I've known her for longer. Uh... my brother's here, too, but he's usually pretty busy."

His brother...?
That was strange. The only kid he had ever seen that looked similar to Lucas around campus was that redhead that followed Porky around for a while. He hadn't seen him in a long time though...that couldn't be his brother, right?
"How old's your brother? That's cool that you went into this school already knowing some people, like him and Kumatora."
Jeff.
That was the kid's name. The one with the glasses. Conker wondered just what their relationship was really like.

"O-oh... Claus? He's fifteen, same as me. We're twins." Lucas shrugged, glancing off to the side. "You might recognize him if you see him. We're not identical, but... um... we do look pretty alike. I... uh... I don't think he's around very often, though. He's... he's in the army, so..." He trailed off awkwardly, silence sinking in for a moment before he tried to change the subject. "Uh... what about you, Conker? Do you have any siblings? I... haven't really seen any other squirrels around the school, but..."

As for Jeff... that was a topic Lucas was reluctant to touch. The whole thing was rather new and... a bit scary, in a way. The last thing he wanted to do was freak out his roommate by telling him that he was maybe sort of together with a guy. That... that kind of stuff wasn't exactly normal, was it?

"Me? I don't have any siblings. I'm an only child. My only family is my parents, but they're back in England."
In the army. He decided not to talk about Lucas' brother anymore, it seemed like a touchy subject.
"Uh...I'm sorry, I don't have much to talk about..."
He chuckled.
"I don't know...I just feel so bad about never talking...I mean you're my room mate..."
He sighed.
"I guess I've had a lot on my mind lately."

England? Was... was that near Eagleland or something? It sounded kind of exotic. Lucas didn't really know much of the geography beyond Nowhere Island and Final Destination City. It... was kind of embarrassing how sheltered he really was, when he thought about it.
"Um... don't worry about it, Conker. I... I shouldn't have been so shy about it, either. If we're going to share a room, then it's my job to make an effort to know you, too."
And speaking of... it was pretty obvious Conker had stuff on his mind, too. It was only fair Lucas return the favour after Conker was nice enough to invite him to talk, right? "So... uh... wanna talk about it? What's bugging you, I mean?"

"..."
Conker frowned.
"Well, I guess. I was thinking about my old girlfriend. She passed away a while ago. Our anniversary was recent. So...I've been thinking about her."
He placed his face in his hand. It wasn't so hard thinking about it when it was actually coming out of his mouth. I guess it's true that talking helps...or something stupid like that.
"That's why I've been so distant lately."

Passed... passed away...?
"C-Conker... I'm sorry..." That... that must have been hard. Losing a loved one was never easy, especially around an important time like their anniversary.
Lucas... wasn't very sure what to say. He'd never really been good with socializing, especially not when it came to something like this. He could sympathize with that kind of pain; his mother's death was still a raw and aching wound years later. But... grief was far too personal a thing for him to claim he totally understood. It wasn't his place to tell Conker to cheer up, or act like everything was okay.
"I... um... I don't blame you for being distant. Sometimes... you just need to be sad about it, I guess."

"Yeah, but...this isn't something you can hold onto forever, you know? The past is the past."
He managed a weak smile.
"I mean, I still miss her. But there's nothing I can do about it. I guess I'm glad I knew her at all. I usually take at least around this time to brood over it though. But it's not something I can carry with me, or else I'd be drunk and depressed all the time, haha."
He let out a long breath.
"Thanks for the sympathy, though."

"...You're... you're right, Conker." Lucas nodded, managing a smile. He... wasn't sure how long ago Conker's girlfriend had passed away, but he was glad that the squirrel seemed to have such a good handle on it. That kind of maturity... that was really the difference between a senior and a freshman, wasn't it?
"It's... it's nothing, really. I, um... I've lost somebody, too, but that was when I was a kid."

"...You did?"
His instinct was to just pass over it. It was hardly polite to do something like ask about something traumatic like that, but...maybe this was a step closer to clearing the awkward air about the dorm.
"...If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"...My... my mom..."

Seven years. It had been seven years.
Why did it still hurt so much?
He remembered it so vividly. Why couldn't he say it?
That horrible roar. Scales and steel. She'd... the way she'd screamed... Being pulled two different ways -- run away, come back -- and fire all around. Years later, he hadn't forgotten how his eyes stung and he couldn't breathe and--
Seven years.

Lucas pressed a hand to his chest, gripping the front of his shirt in a tense fist. "A... an accident. Forest fire." His voice was small and strained when he finally replied, eyes cast downward.

"..."
Shit.
Lucas went from mildly uncomfortable to looking like he was about to faint from the memory. But his mother....it was so close. So sad for such a young kid.
"I'm so sorry, Lucas."
A beat. Then...
"Are you ok? Do you need anything? I understand...that must have been very hard."

Lucas took a deep breath, shaking his head. "I... no, don't worry about me, I'm okay." He just... had to push those kinds of thoughts out of his head. Just don't think about it. It was hard not to dwell on it once he'd started, though.
"It... it was hard. I really didn't take it well. The year after that, I... um... yeah. I didn't take it very well," he repeated, looking uncomfortable.

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"Sometimes my kindness gets the better of me..."

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