Tate

They call me Tate and life has pretty much rick rolled me. Dorm 4

[tate-skander]

It’s just dinner // Tate+Alice

[alice-hassen-blog]

"Yep, Bronies. And the female fans are called Pegasisters. There’s also a fan episode that’s been made and it includes the Powerpuff Girls and stuff, it’s funny," Alice laughed softly. "Oh god, I’m a total Tumblr addict," she admitted, thinking about how many nights she’d messed up essays or forgotten to study for tests because of that website. Alice saw Tate’s expression and she sighed, “I-I… I can tell you later if you really still want me to,” she said.  Alice smiled warmly when Tate held out her chair, “Well aren’t you a gentleman,” she grinned, siting down and scooting her chair up to the table. “I’m still thinking about what I might get, but if you aren’t sure I can always recommend something, I come here a lot. Their “special of the day"s are usually fabulous."

[tate-skander]

"I'm on Tumblr a lot as well, coding and roleplaying." Tate admitted. Unlike others, he never felt shame in admitting that he did the ultimate nerd thing and roleplayed, it was fun.

"Hey, you don't need to tell me anything if you don't want too," Tate replied warmly. Whatever happened had affected her in some way and sure, Tate wanted to help but if she didn't want to talk about it then she didn't have too. It was her choice, whether or not he wanted to hear it was irrelevant. "Nope, I'm going for the Spaghetti Bologanase. It's simple, I know what it is and it tastes amazing," Tate closed his menu and placed it on the table. "So Alice, tell me about yourself."

[flippingontheclosetlight]

In the Library

[flippingontheclosetlight]

Exactly, I want to reduce, not quit. [Yes, it hasn’t even been a week and she’s already making excuses. But it’s coffee, Alison’s still tired and her essay won’t write itself. Sue her.] It’s alright. [Ali waves him off.] Technically I was the one who brought it up and there are worse things than crushing on a gay guy.

I mean, hey, at least I know it’s not my personality that he doesn’t like. [She joked, shrugging, bright smile in place once more.]

[tate-skander]

Good point. [Tate smiles. He couldnt' live without his coffee, just like his computer, it was a necessity to make it through the day.] There could be much worse things, you're right. At least you're looking at it positively, that's a step in the right direction. [Tate was never good at giving advice but that never stopped him from trying.]

[laraleftwichs-deactivated201710]

And more interesting I suppose. It’s a habit not every nice people can control, like I said before. I have that habit too.

[tate-skander]

Us nice people gotta stick together. Hey, how are things going with Nick and you? Weren't you going on a date at some point?

[bellamygrayson]

You’d be surprised at the amount of uneducated muggles at this university.

Ice cream, films, procrastination from essays… those are my favourite nights. I feel like a Harry Potter marathon is in order sometime soon. Maybe I could put posters up, get a group together or something. It’s been far too long since I’ve watched them.

Do you fancy it?

[tate-skander]

I just assume that everyone has read or at least watched Harry Potter.

Those are pretty much all of my nights, except add being on my computer to that.

That'd be awesome. I could get Nick and probably Alice to come along.

[olivelowry]

I hated that game, it always freaked me out. Scary things just generally freak me out.

[tate-skander]

I'm not too great with scary things either but that game is just awesome. I always forget just how scary it is until I play it again.

[flippingontheclosetlight]

In the Library

[flippingontheclosetlight]

Thanks. If I manage to tick off one of them, I’ll see it as a success. [When he mentions her crush, Alison falls silent for a moment. That was the one resolution she had hoped he wouldn’t pick up on.]

No… That’s not it. [Ali clears her throat then rushes out the next sentence.] He’s uh… gay. So, unless I’ve missed something, I don’t exactly stand a chance. [She smiles a little sadly and wraps her arms around her middle.]

[tate-skander]

I'm sure you will. We can go and grab tea if you want, I mean, you said you wanted to take down your caffiene intake.

[Tate watched the girl, clearly uncomfortable.] Geesh, that sucks. Sorry I brought it up. 

[tate-skander]

It’s just dinner // Tate+Alice

[alice-hassen-blog]

"Two nights?" Alice exclaimed, her blue eyes wide, "Now it’s safe to say I’m super lame.” When Tate continued the My Little Pony talk, Alice wasn’t sure if she’d ever forgive herself. “Well, it follows this group of six ponies that become best friends and there’s magic and adventures and shit. It’s probably totally lame in your point of view, but in my defense there are like 50 year old men that watch that show so I’m not that out of the norm,” Alice said in her defense, but she didn’t say it defensively. Her tone was more “matter of fact-ly”.

Aliced knit her eyebrows together and looked over at Tate, “I’d talk about it but I don’t want to be a Debbie-downer on the first date,” she said honestly. They entered the restaurant and waited for their table, the smell of italian food wafting through the air. “It does, doesn’t it? It’s my favorite part about this restaurant; the smell.”

[tate-skander]

Tate shrugged his shoulders as if to say meh. Honestly, he was just grateful that she believed him. He listened as she spoke, the show did sound kind of cool..maybe he and Nick could make a night of it at some point. "They're called Bronies right? Yeah I've heard of them, been around since like 2000 right? I'm pretty sure they, like most fandoms, started out on Tumblr and 4chan."

"Fair enough," Tate replied. She obviously didn't want to talk about it so he wasn't going to push her. Approaching their table, Tate pulled out Alice's chair and waited for her to sit down. "I know, if my house smelled like this all the time I'd be very happy. And hungry." He laughed, sitting down opposite her. "So, know what you're going to get? My shout."

[alexanderpond]

Sure thing. Coming right up.

[tate-skander]

So how's things?

[lionbaker-deactivated20160501]

What? Does Katie tell men to cross dress often?

[tate-skander]

No, at least I don't think she does, it's just a very Katie thing to say.

[tate-skander]

Life lesson for you: never played Slender at two in the morning with no lights on. Not only will you wake up the whole dorm but you'll freak yourself out.

[laraleftwichs-deactivated201710]

Computer is science, Tate. I forgot you kissed Coral, but yeah, Katie has a point.

[tate-skander]

But much less confusing than actual science. I know, both of you do but it's not really something I can help, I like being nice.

[flippingontheclosetlight]

In the Library

[flippingontheclosetlight]

[Alison easily falls into step with him and begins to count her resolutions off on her fingers.] Well, apart from the one I already told you…

I want to learn how to swim. I’ve been told that I need to eat better, so that has been added to the list. I need to get over a crush. I plan on reducing my coffee intake to an amount that can be seen as reasonable. And… I want to become more organized. [Stuffing her hands into her skirt’s pockets, she glaces at the boy beside her.] That’s it really. 

[tate-skander]

[Tate's eyes widen when she rattles off her list] That's it? Well I wish you the best of luck. Learning to swim will be easy and "get over a crush" don't you like the guy anymore or something? 

[laraleftwichs-deactivated201710]

There isn’t anything entirely wrong with being nice, but you can’t easily maintain the levels of kindness like temperature, there’s always an optimum level. You exceed the optimum like enzymes, enzymes denature, something is bound to go wrong. That’s what I personally think… sorry – I’m babbling again. You were saying something about Coral and Katie?

[tate-skander]

I think you lost me at enzymes. I do computers, not science. Yeah, I just said that Katie said the same thing, in much less words, when Coral kissed me.

[alexanderpond]

How do you take it?

[tate-skander]

Black, two sugars please.

[laraleftwichs-deactivated201710]

I don’t see anything wrong with it, apart from people taking advantage of you being nice, or getting the wrong message – which, in this case, happened for you.

[tate-skander]

Good point. You know, Katie said the same thing a while ago when the whole Coral drama happened.

[tate-skander]

It’s just dinner // Tate+Alice

[alice-hassen-blog]

"I had nightmares for a month and a half," Alice whispered, "Does that count as surviving?" She twitched her mouth to the side, wondering why she had said that to Tate about a kids television show, "Look… it’s lame. Really. I don’t think you’d like it. I can be very childish at times and that’s just a getaway of mine I guess. It makes me less stressed and I dunno… I don’t think it would be something that would interest you," she rambled awkwardly, mentally kicking herself for mentioning My Little Pony on her first date with a really sweet guy. Alice listened to him intently, watching him from the corner of her eye. She turned to him after he finished speaking, “It’s not your fault. Really. I swear,” she said honestly, “I just… I guess there’s… something that happened and its really been affecting me,” Alice confessed, twisting and untwisting her fingers together. She smiled at Tate’s enthusiasm, “To the Italian Restaurant we go!” she linked arms with Tate, without even realizing it.

[tate-skander]

"I didn't sleep for two nights," Tate lied smoothly. In his defence, the episode hadn't been scary at all but he didn't want to make her feel more awkward than she already felt, one little white lie wouldn't hurt. "It's not lame at all, it actually does sound kind of cool. You'll have to show it to me sometimes. Everyone has different things to destress, mine is playing Slender and killing everything I can on Assassin Creed. We're all different." She was certainly much easier to talk than Lucy, and easier to read.

He almost breathed a sigh of relief when she confirmed it wasn't him. "Something that happened?" He asked, glancing at her, "do you need to talk about it?" When she linked arms with him, Tate held back a smile and acted as though nothing had changed. Walking up to the restaurant, Tate ordered a table and waited for the waiter to escort them. "So, we're here!" Tate said, breaking the silence. "God, the food smells amazing."

[laraleftwichs-deactivated201710]

It’s probably because you’re nice, maybe too nice to some people.

[tate-skander]

 What's wrong with being nice?