Paul and Lu | Backdated to 10/25/15
Oct. 25th, 2015 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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om_mainWhen Lu and Paul take a break from "Hell in the Cell" to replenish the snacks, Paul finds out everything he didn't want to know about American sports and Lu gets a lesson in British Sci-Fi.
"Did you see that?" Purple Lu demanded of no one in particular, and gestured towards the TV. She was sitting to Paul's left on the couch, perched on the very edge of the seat, and, at the moment, scowling instead of cheering as she had been just minutes before. "I can't believe they let him get away with that."
"Because it's scripted? You know that," Orange pointed out practically from his other side. "But you always get all worked up anyway."
"That's because that's part of the fun." Neutral looked up at them from the floor and grinned as the show went to commercial. She turned her attention to Paul, eyes twinkling. "So, what do you think so far? Fun or not?"
"It's really interesting," Paul answered. He would not have believed that he would end up saying that about wrestling, but there you went. "In terms of its narrative, I mean. It's a bit like a soap opera - only with wrestling."
"A soap opera?" Purple stared at him. "You've got to be kidding!"
"No, he's not wrong. I mean, it's a strange analogy," Neutral gave Paul an apologetic look, "but it's pretty accurate. Everything's really contrived and it's constantly changing. And people disappear and come back a lot."
"Sometimes as new people." Orange grinned and pulled her feet up beside her on the couch. "Or with a personality change. Or multiple personalities. It's fun to see what they do next."
"It's both easy to predict at times, and completely unexpected at others," Paul confirmed with a small smile, glad that they understood what he meant, to an extent.
"Mmmm," Purple conceded, partially mollified by the explanation. She leaned back in her seat and grinned. "I always thought the big draw was guys in spandex beating each other up, personally."
"She doesn't mean it," Orange confided with a roll of her eyes and a faint, amused smile.
"Nah. If she just wanted to watch guys beating each other up, she'd have put on mixed martial arts." Neutral got to her feet. "Anyway, I'm gonna get more popcorn. Anyone else want anything?"
"I'll come and help," Paul offered, pushing up to his feet. And get a new Coke while he was at it.
"Bring me back a Sprite if there's any?" Orange asked hopefully.
"Pepsi. Or a Dr. Pepper," Purple said, turning her attention back to the TV.
"Got it." Neutral smiled and started towards the door.
Paul fell in stride with her in the hallway. "Thanks for the invite," he told Lu with a small smile. "I didn't think I'd enjoy it this much."
"I'm pretty sure wrestling is one of those things no one really expects to like, but they do anyway." Lu grinned a little. "Guilty pleasure or something. But I'm glad you could come." Not the least, admittedly, because it distracted her Purple self from hitting on Kon, but also just because Paul was fun to spend time with.
"I'm glad I said yes," Paul stated, still smiling slightly. "Did Purple get you into it, or...?"
Lu blushed a little, her grin turning sheepish. "No, that was pretty much me, actually. I'm the one responsible for the baseball addiction, too."
"I've never watched baseball," Paul admitted, a little self-consciously.
"You're kidding - oh my god, you're not kidding, are you?" Lu look of astonishment flipped over to a bright grin. "Okay, I probably can't get tickets at this point, but next spring? We are going to a baseball game. It's way more fun when you're actually there than it is to watch on TV."
"You'll have to teach me the rules," Paul warned her. He really didn't know much about it. He understood the basics, from pop culture, but that was about it.
Lu grinned. "Y'know, I can think of worse fates." She slipped her arm through his as they turned towards the kitchen. "We've got allll winter, and let's face it, there's never anything to really do in winter anyway."
Paul still wasn't used to how tactile Lu was, but he couldn't say that he minded. He gave her another small smile. "I wouldn't think you had trouble keeping busy."
"Well, it's not I'm not busy, exactly," she admitted. "I mean, I can find things to do. I just really hate going out anywhere. Snow is okay to visit, but I'm really not thrilled about it being around all the time. So, you're giving me the perfect excuse to stay inside." She grinned, her eyebrows rising. "Unless, of course, you've got other plans?"
Paul pretended to think about it. "I think I can probably fit you in some time this winter."
Lu laughed and disengaged her arm from Paul's as they reached the kitchen. "Well, definitely check your availability," she advised, trying without notable success to maintain at least a marginally serious expression. "If you've already got too much on your calendar, I understand."
"I do have a lot of social commitments," Paul agreed, headed for the fridge and unable to completely keep the smile off his lips. "I'll make it work somehow."
"I really appreciate that." Lu's mismatched eyes twinkled with amusement as she headed over to the cabinet where the microwave popcorn was kept. "But look at it this way. You can't very go to school in the US and then go back to England not understanding baseball. It'd be like going back without having had a hot dog or something."
"Do I have to understand American football, too?" he asked doubtfully. He didn't even like proper football.
"Not as far as I'm concerned." Lu turned from the cabinet with a crooked smile. "If you do, you're going to have to get someone else to explain it. I can never figure it out."
"Maybe we can try and make sense of it together some day," he offered hopefully, as he pulled cans out of the fridge. For Purple, Orange, and himself. He did not care about sports, but he liked the thought anyway, because of the company. "Want anything to drink?"
"Sure, grab me a Coke?" Lu headed towards the microwave and put the bag inside, pressing the button to get it started. "And I'd like that, we really should." Turning to lean against the counter, Lu smiled. "How 'bout you, any sports you just can't miss on TV?"
"I'm not really a sports kind of person," Paul answered with a shake of his head, closing the fridge after getting her Coke.
"What do you like to watch, then? Turnabout's fair play."
"Series?" he offered. "More Doctor Who than Downton Abbey, though."
"I've never seen Doctor Who," Lu admitted, turning to take the bag out of the microwave. "Or - well, once. I couldn't figure out what was going on."
"Which episode was it?" Paul asked curiously. Honestly, there were episodes it was hard to follow even if you had seen the entire series.
Lu's forehead furrowed. "I really don't remember? There was a guy with a long scarf who kept offering people jelly babies, and a guy who kept waving some kind of wand at people and turning them into dolls." She shrugged apologetically and offered a faint smile. "I wanted to see what people were talking about, so I found it on Netflix."
"Oh, you've seen some old Who!" Paul grinned. "I haven't even seen most of them."
"Who comes in old and new versions?" Lu gave him an amused but somewhat doubtful look.
"Yeah, it was brought back to life in 2005," Paul explained. "I mean, it follows the same continuity. But it still died for a while there, after Eight, and then we got Nine." Who was kind of Nine and a Half after all, but never mind that. "Jelly babies was Four. He had this long multicoloured scarf, right? Curly hair? Crazy eyes?" Though possibly crazy eyes belonged to every single Doctor.
Lu nodded, grinning a little. "Very crazy eyes. That explains a lot, really - it didn't look like anything that had been filmed recently. I just thought it was meant to be funny." She dangled the bag of popcorn. "Ready to head back? You can explain just how there are nine different Doctors."
"I'm not sure everybody in the rec room will appreciate the explanation, but sure," Paul answered, gathering up the cans and sticking them between his forearm and his chest. He smiled up at her. "And there are twelve, actually. Well, thirteen, technically."
"Thirteen." Lu's eyebrows rose as she headed for the kitchen door, though she grinned. "Maybe we should wait until after the match. I have the feeling this is going to take a long time."
"It's not that long an explanation!" Paul protested with a chuckle as he followed her into the hallway. "Now, if you wanted me to explain about each different Doctor..."
"Did you see that?" Purple Lu demanded of no one in particular, and gestured towards the TV. She was sitting to Paul's left on the couch, perched on the very edge of the seat, and, at the moment, scowling instead of cheering as she had been just minutes before. "I can't believe they let him get away with that."
"Because it's scripted? You know that," Orange pointed out practically from his other side. "But you always get all worked up anyway."
"That's because that's part of the fun." Neutral looked up at them from the floor and grinned as the show went to commercial. She turned her attention to Paul, eyes twinkling. "So, what do you think so far? Fun or not?"
"It's really interesting," Paul answered. He would not have believed that he would end up saying that about wrestling, but there you went. "In terms of its narrative, I mean. It's a bit like a soap opera - only with wrestling."
"A soap opera?" Purple stared at him. "You've got to be kidding!"
"No, he's not wrong. I mean, it's a strange analogy," Neutral gave Paul an apologetic look, "but it's pretty accurate. Everything's really contrived and it's constantly changing. And people disappear and come back a lot."
"Sometimes as new people." Orange grinned and pulled her feet up beside her on the couch. "Or with a personality change. Or multiple personalities. It's fun to see what they do next."
"It's both easy to predict at times, and completely unexpected at others," Paul confirmed with a small smile, glad that they understood what he meant, to an extent.
"Mmmm," Purple conceded, partially mollified by the explanation. She leaned back in her seat and grinned. "I always thought the big draw was guys in spandex beating each other up, personally."
"She doesn't mean it," Orange confided with a roll of her eyes and a faint, amused smile.
"Nah. If she just wanted to watch guys beating each other up, she'd have put on mixed martial arts." Neutral got to her feet. "Anyway, I'm gonna get more popcorn. Anyone else want anything?"
"I'll come and help," Paul offered, pushing up to his feet. And get a new Coke while he was at it.
"Bring me back a Sprite if there's any?" Orange asked hopefully.
"Pepsi. Or a Dr. Pepper," Purple said, turning her attention back to the TV.
"Got it." Neutral smiled and started towards the door.
Paul fell in stride with her in the hallway. "Thanks for the invite," he told Lu with a small smile. "I didn't think I'd enjoy it this much."
"I'm pretty sure wrestling is one of those things no one really expects to like, but they do anyway." Lu grinned a little. "Guilty pleasure or something. But I'm glad you could come." Not the least, admittedly, because it distracted her Purple self from hitting on Kon, but also just because Paul was fun to spend time with.
"I'm glad I said yes," Paul stated, still smiling slightly. "Did Purple get you into it, or...?"
Lu blushed a little, her grin turning sheepish. "No, that was pretty much me, actually. I'm the one responsible for the baseball addiction, too."
"I've never watched baseball," Paul admitted, a little self-consciously.
"You're kidding - oh my god, you're not kidding, are you?" Lu look of astonishment flipped over to a bright grin. "Okay, I probably can't get tickets at this point, but next spring? We are going to a baseball game. It's way more fun when you're actually there than it is to watch on TV."
"You'll have to teach me the rules," Paul warned her. He really didn't know much about it. He understood the basics, from pop culture, but that was about it.
Lu grinned. "Y'know, I can think of worse fates." She slipped her arm through his as they turned towards the kitchen. "We've got allll winter, and let's face it, there's never anything to really do in winter anyway."
Paul still wasn't used to how tactile Lu was, but he couldn't say that he minded. He gave her another small smile. "I wouldn't think you had trouble keeping busy."
"Well, it's not I'm not busy, exactly," she admitted. "I mean, I can find things to do. I just really hate going out anywhere. Snow is okay to visit, but I'm really not thrilled about it being around all the time. So, you're giving me the perfect excuse to stay inside." She grinned, her eyebrows rising. "Unless, of course, you've got other plans?"
Paul pretended to think about it. "I think I can probably fit you in some time this winter."
Lu laughed and disengaged her arm from Paul's as they reached the kitchen. "Well, definitely check your availability," she advised, trying without notable success to maintain at least a marginally serious expression. "If you've already got too much on your calendar, I understand."
"I do have a lot of social commitments," Paul agreed, headed for the fridge and unable to completely keep the smile off his lips. "I'll make it work somehow."
"I really appreciate that." Lu's mismatched eyes twinkled with amusement as she headed over to the cabinet where the microwave popcorn was kept. "But look at it this way. You can't very go to school in the US and then go back to England not understanding baseball. It'd be like going back without having had a hot dog or something."
"Do I have to understand American football, too?" he asked doubtfully. He didn't even like proper football.
"Not as far as I'm concerned." Lu turned from the cabinet with a crooked smile. "If you do, you're going to have to get someone else to explain it. I can never figure it out."
"Maybe we can try and make sense of it together some day," he offered hopefully, as he pulled cans out of the fridge. For Purple, Orange, and himself. He did not care about sports, but he liked the thought anyway, because of the company. "Want anything to drink?"
"Sure, grab me a Coke?" Lu headed towards the microwave and put the bag inside, pressing the button to get it started. "And I'd like that, we really should." Turning to lean against the counter, Lu smiled. "How 'bout you, any sports you just can't miss on TV?"
"I'm not really a sports kind of person," Paul answered with a shake of his head, closing the fridge after getting her Coke.
"What do you like to watch, then? Turnabout's fair play."
"Series?" he offered. "More Doctor Who than Downton Abbey, though."
"I've never seen Doctor Who," Lu admitted, turning to take the bag out of the microwave. "Or - well, once. I couldn't figure out what was going on."
"Which episode was it?" Paul asked curiously. Honestly, there were episodes it was hard to follow even if you had seen the entire series.
Lu's forehead furrowed. "I really don't remember? There was a guy with a long scarf who kept offering people jelly babies, and a guy who kept waving some kind of wand at people and turning them into dolls." She shrugged apologetically and offered a faint smile. "I wanted to see what people were talking about, so I found it on Netflix."
"Oh, you've seen some old Who!" Paul grinned. "I haven't even seen most of them."
"Who comes in old and new versions?" Lu gave him an amused but somewhat doubtful look.
"Yeah, it was brought back to life in 2005," Paul explained. "I mean, it follows the same continuity. But it still died for a while there, after Eight, and then we got Nine." Who was kind of Nine and a Half after all, but never mind that. "Jelly babies was Four. He had this long multicoloured scarf, right? Curly hair? Crazy eyes?" Though possibly crazy eyes belonged to every single Doctor.
Lu nodded, grinning a little. "Very crazy eyes. That explains a lot, really - it didn't look like anything that had been filmed recently. I just thought it was meant to be funny." She dangled the bag of popcorn. "Ready to head back? You can explain just how there are nine different Doctors."
"I'm not sure everybody in the rec room will appreciate the explanation, but sure," Paul answered, gathering up the cans and sticking them between his forearm and his chest. He smiled up at her. "And there are twelve, actually. Well, thirteen, technically."
"Thirteen." Lu's eyebrows rose as she headed for the kitchen door, though she grinned. "Maybe we should wait until after the match. I have the feeling this is going to take a long time."
"It's not that long an explanation!" Paul protested with a chuckle as he followed her into the hallway. "Now, if you wanted me to explain about each different Doctor..."
