College RP (Open)

[Quillish]

Ryan had been so sure that his first year of college would be a chance for a fresh start. He'd signed up to attend somewhere safely away from home, somewhere where the whole class didn't remember that time he'd fallen asleep in history and woken up in a puddle or that little incident where he'd gotten a bit sick in the lunchline and filled his pants. And this, he knew, was a chance to put past embarrassment behind him, to stay dry and keep clean, for once.

Which is why he was so cheery, as he hefted the last of his boxes up the stairs to his room. By now, his arms were tired from getting all of his things moved in, and he was sweating heavily. But he couldn't help but beam, when he reached his room and set the heavy luggage down to swing the door open. This was the start of a whole new age for him, after all.

With that done, he bent down, crouching and grasping at the bottom of the box. He started to heft it, straining and stretching and pressing under its weight. In his tired state, it was much harder to pick up than it had been to cart along - part of the reason that he barely noticed his stomach muscles tensing, as he lifted.

It wasn't until the last, straining push to get the box into the air sent his bowels wild, at the same time, forcing a huge, heavy load into the seat of his jeans, that he realized just what was happening.

"Oh, crap...!" he yelped aloud, looking back over his shoulder.

Literally.

[Quillish]

"I...I guess."

Ryan stammered senselessly for a few seconds, before he was able to get the words out. Prior to Noah's sudden appearance, after all, the one thing that he was thanking God for was that, with the afternoon just beginning and the dorm not yet at full occupancy, he'd managed to crap himself in an empty hallway. And, now, in the few seconds that it had taken him to realize how awful move-in day had become, his roommate had appeared behind him? God was getting all that gratitude from before retroactively revoked, and fast.

"I mean," he panted, hastening through the doorway and into the little room they got to share, "I guess we're roommates. I'm really sorry about...you know, about all of this. I think I'm coming down with a stomach thing, and..."

That was a bald-faced lie, really. He'd always just had trouble with his toileting - a bladder and bowels that were weak away from the bathroom and shy in them, impressively effective kidneys, and a really bad habit of dreaming of water slides and rivers - but stomach flu just seemed like the better explanation. In his position, with his faded jeans stuck out at the butt and his slightly long, black hair mussed and damp with sweat, anything that could possibly make him sound more normal felt necessary.

"I'm gonna run and clean up, 'kay?" Ryan sighed, ripping the top of the box open once he'd sat it down by the beds. A moment later, he was rummaging through its contents, picking out fresh clothes, shorts and briefs.

"Uh, I'm Ryan. Ryan Wellstone."

[Quillish]

"I...I don't think we need to go get medicine or anything. It'll probably pass."

Ryan gave a firm shake of the head and, in the same breath, seemed to find what he was looking for within his luggage. One arm arched back into the open (and, thanks to him, slightly odorous) air, clutching a pair of lime green briefs, and his other hand emerged right after, pulling out a pair of near-white, khaki shorts with a little drawstring across the front. Not a great outfit, a little too boyish for the first day of college, but...they had his present wardrobe beat cold, for now.

"But! Yeah! Food sounds like a really good idea. I missed lunch on the way up, and I bet it'd help settle my stomach. So, we can do that right after I get back."

The smile that got turned on Noah at his suggestion was painfully earnest and, though wavery and slightly watery, given the circumstances, terribly chipper. The other boy was actually willing to be seen with him, after meeting him like that? That had to be a good sign, right? So, he clutched his clean clothes to his chest and scampered hurriedly out of the room, vanishing.

"I'll be right back!"

[Quillish]

Noah, it turned out, was lucky - Ryan was back with almost surprising speed. Dashing like a madman to the dorm's communal bathrooms had helped shave off some time, but, more to the point, he just had more practice cleaning up from little accidents than the average eighteen year-old. And, so, his roommate hadn't quite had time to starve, when he wandered back in, shirt tugged up a little so that he could firmly tighten the knot now done up at the front of his shorts. (Thankfully, the foul smell seemed to have disappeared entirely. He'd been quite thorough.)

"Alright, back - sorry that took so long. "

A few quick steps took him back over to his luggage, and he folded his jeans over the side of the box. His underwear (ruined and disposed of, back near the toilets) were conveniently missing, but his pants, at least, hadn't gotten stained or soiled, meaning that he could just put them up and then turn back to Noah without worrying about putting them in the wash.

"Anyway, where do you want to eat? Do you know anywhere on campus, or should we just sort of wander around until we find the dining hall?"

Ryan leaned back against the wall as he asked as much, docilely watching his roommate. After all that, ah, excitement, he was eager to let Noah have the first shot at making that sort of decision, just so he knew that he wasn't going to be a huge pest all year.

[Quillish]

"Alright. Wandering around, then."

The black-haired teen bobbed his head low in a quick nod and took a second to retrieve his wallet from the pocket of the jeans he'd been wearing. After tucking it into his shorts, he spared a glance that was hanging over the wall between their beds, brushed his hair into a slightly neater look, and then headed back out the door. He hovered around the doorway, and, when Noah came out, he fell into step beside him, keeping strive.

"So, er...where're you from? I can't remember if they sent us anything about who we were going to be rooming about, but...if they did, I guess I forgot."

His cheeks flashed cherry-red, right as he turned a corner and started to head down the stairs towards the entrance of the dorm room. The poor boy couldn't help but want to seem serious and calm, after the earlier incident, but the whole affair had left him with a fixedly skittish air around Noah. He couldn't help but feel a tiny bit like he was dealing with an honorary upperclassmen or something, now, since he was the only one in the room who'd actually pooped his jeans.

"I'm from a little town, down state," he tacked onto the end of his murmured question, trying to look helpful.

[Quillish]

Noah was a little rough to keep up with - at least for Ryan, who was more used to strolling lazily along. And, every now and then, as they left the dorm and started along the sidewalk, he had to jog after him a few steps to stay along side of him. (Which made him blush just a bit, since Noah was actually just a little bit shorter than him. Getting outpaced wasn't what he'd been expecting!)

"Yeah...if we don't run into the dining hall, there'll have to be a restaurant around here, somewhere," he puffed, in between one of his jogging spurts.

"I think the hall might've been over in that direction, though." A pale-ish hand pointed off in the distance to a trio of buildings, mostly obscured by the trees and bushes planted between here and there.

"We could check off, over there?"

[Quillish]

"Cafeteria it is, then."

Ryan turned his path firmly in that direction, strolling (and occasionally scampering to keep up) in that direction. His own voice was touched with a Southern accent - not a particularly pronounced one, but a slight drawl here and there at the end of words, clashing slightly with his softspoken, hesitant tone. But he went quiet for a little while, as they bustled along off towards the rest of the buildings, kept busy by keeping up with Noah.

After a little while, though, they got past a line of pine trees, and big smile slid onto his face. He suddenly pointed one arm out, directing Noah's line of sight off toward a big building on the far left - specifically, up to the sign over the building's front door, one reading "University Dining Hall."

"We found it!" he chirped with childish enthusiasm, hurrying along almost at Noah's speed, now - he hadn't realized just how hungry he was, before.

[Quillish]

"Yeah!"

Ryan held the door open for Noah as they headed inside, more from nervousness over how he looked than from any naturally good set of manners. From there, it wasn't a long walk through the entryway into the cafeteria, and, after flashing his college ID to the worker near the front, he grabbed a tray and started loading up with food. Fortunately for the two, the dining hall was sparsely populated, at the moment - there was barely anyone in line ahead of them.

"Well, this is nice," the black-haired boy murmured to himself, once he'd pushed his tray through the rest of the food line, a nice-sized lunch in front of him. He paused in front of a soda dispenser, then, starting to pour what looked to be Coke into a large, plastic cup. Soft drinks were just one of those things that he couldn't help having a sweet-tooth for, even if they were bad for him...and not exactly easy on some of his other, little problems.

But, with that done, he was free to head over to a little table across the way, looking back behind him to see if Noah would follow, once he'd gotten his things.

[Quillish]

"Yeah! If the food's good, anyway."

Ryan had already dug into the stuff on his tray, munching into a chicken sandwich with evident relish and swilling a big gulp of soda after every few bites. After all of the excitement so far, today, he really needed the extra energy! In fact, Ryan didn't even bother chatting for a little while, just downing enough of his food that he could feel a basic level of energy returning to him.

"So," he finally declared, once he felt full enough to talk, "I guess we have to unpack everything, when we get back, huh?"

And hopefully my pants will have aired out, by then, he added silently. Even without getting messy, they hadn't exactly smelled fresh, when he'd folded them up, and he didn't want to have to do emergency laundry already.

"Though, it looked like you only brought a few bags. I was dumb and brought a big pair of boxes."

[Quillish]

"I bet that was a good idea. It'll probably just end up saving you a lot of time, yeah? I mean, if you end up not having something, it's not like they don't have stores, here."

Ryan laughed and then went back to his food, idly nibbling at a french fry. He'd broken himself away from munching eagerly, now, though, just slowly alternating his attention between his meal, his drink, and Noah, now.

"But...my parents really insisted that I bring a bunch of stuff, just in case, you know? Lots of extra clothes and a first aid kit and a lot of other things. I guess they haven't exactly figured out that I'm old enough to take care of myself, yet."

Funny thing, that.