Codemonkey [open]

[Tommy Goodman]

{{By Jonathan Coulton. About his experiences as a software designer. Tommy doesn't know how to use a computer, however. If you choose to read this, be warned, there is a lot of guitar drivel in there.}}

There were days when reading or training just weren't good enough. Not that they weren't good enough really, it's just that a hundred years is a long time, and the repititious pattern of drills and books could easily drive one insane over such a long period of time. Tommy had these days more and more often, though he assumed (thinking back) that he'd always had many, otherwise he truly was a very boring person.

Tommy had taken to finding interesting things to do - he had gone fishing, he had gone into town and shopped (which was much needed, and he swore to enver let his clothes get holes in them again). He had gone flying, just for fun. He'd tried sailing, cooking, which actually was a pasttime he enjoyed, and finally he had taken up playing the guitar.

The choice of the guitar was rather simple for Tommy. He wanted an instrument that he could play with ease, sitting, standing or whatever. he didn't want to waste a load of breath, so brass and woodwind instruments were out. Cellos, and double basses were too awkward, and harder to play melodically.

Originally he had tried the violin, but after three disgraceful notes, he decided upon the guitar. Maybe it hadn't been so easy after all. But at the time, it wasn't a popular instrument - that was before rock'n'roll, before any of the things and genres there were now. In many ways he had been ahead of his time - he learned chords, and put lyrics to them. However it wasn't genius - he could not fingerpick for the life of him, his hands obviously slightly disfunctional due to reading so much. So it was the easiest, and best-sounding, thing he could do.

Nowadays, however, this was the norm, and he was nothing special, but he was quite fast - faster than the avarage guitarist. His chord transition was quick, and clean, and he had learned almost every chord in existence, even the strange crossover chords Hendrix seemed to favour.

So today, he simply sat in an alcove in the near-vacant space of the research area in the academy, strumming away. The few there didn't seem to mind, as he played song after song, adding his own soft voice to the mix.

He sighed and stopped playing. No-one would actually miss it, not really. it was just another sound on another normal day, where he had no more books to read, and wanted to do something more peaceful than fighting or whatever. He had spent so long alone, that most people knew him by face but not name, and tended to leave him alone. He was, however, a very social creature at heart, but didn't want to beg for attention. That was pathetic, and he was not pathetic.

He smiled to himself and scratched the back of his head. It wasn't all bad. At least if he didn't know anyone, he couldn't know people he didn't like. But it DID leave him feeling rather vacant and lonely.Maybe it was time for him to go home to his folks. But dragon politics annoyed him. Everyone was either simple, or decrepid. All of his childhood friends had either been killed or wounded beyond recognition through fighting. It was too bad he didn't know any silver dragons.

He sighed and went back to his guitaring, for lack of anything better to do.

[Eve Stone]

She was wandering around the school looking for the main office to get papers. After finding the office and getting her papers she decided to take a walk around. It had been ages since she'd walked these halls and she wanted to go down memory lane. Though she hadn't attended school there all that long the place still had left a mark on her. She'd taken classes online and had taken a test to get her GED while on tour with Rae which hadn't been all that easy. But now that she had it and had taken the necessary standardized tests she was on her way to university. While in New York she wasn't going to sit around and wait all day for Rae to get done doing whatever.

Room after room passed by as she wandered the halls trying to remember where everything was and failing miserably. Course it wouldn't surprise her if things had shifted considerably. Though she was still able to find certain rooms like the weight lifting area and the huge library she couldn't find classrooms she'd sat in or even the girl's dormitory. Not that she really wanted to go to that last one but you'd think she'd be able to at least find that.

Whilst wondering she heard someone singing at first it was far off but she followed that sound. The closer she got the more she realized that there was more to it than just singing there was music along with it. The song was an odd one and certainly not one she'd heard before as she got closer she finally found the room in which it was coming from. Edging along the door she entered the room finding it to be the research center. Hadn't she been here earlier? Maybe the person hadn't been.

Gravitating toward the sound of a guitar being well played she found the source and her eyes popped. He was sexy as hell. She told herself that she was taken and she knew nothing about him but dang was he eye candy. Struck into silence by his amazing looks she simply stood there listening to him sing and staring. Classy, very classy.

[Tommy Goodman]

Tommy was about to call it a day, and go for a cup of tea, and maybe something delicious to eat, when he could see someone coming. He quickly finished with a perfect cadence, and was about to introduce himself, and say hello, when he saw the girl's eyes go wide. He raised an eyebrow slightly. What sort of a reaction was this? Did she need to sneeze? Was that it? He didn't want to appear nervous in the face of a stranger, so he just smiled casually, and strummed a few more chords on his guitar. He played F to F7M, his faveourite chord transition, however, he doubted this girl would know about that sort of thing.

Another thing about her struck him as slightly odd. She was a dragon, and he hadn't had a proper meeting with a dragon in a very very long time. The fact that he was once again able to meet someone of his race made him feel warm inside. He wasn't quite sure why ebfore the stark realization that he was lonely. He had had no real contact with anyone, human, or otherwise. Maybe this was a chance to make up for that.

Despite his initial confusion at her glance, he decided that he felt quite comfortable in her prescence, and that he wasn't going to mess anything up. He had always been a little shy around the opposite gender, when his own species was concerned. However, he generally thought of people as just being people, instead of dividing them into any specific categories.

That ahving been said, she had very nice hair, and an awfully cute nose. He blushed slightly, and looked down, concentrating on some crazy trills he had been working on. It was a great distraction, but he realized that he'd left her standing there for about half a minute now, and that it was probably polite to talk to her.

"Hello...erm... I'm Tommy. Tommy Goodman, royal dragon at your service." He smiled. The decleration at his title was in no way big headed or egotistical. it was simply a statement of fact, and he wanted to know what kind of dragon this girl was. From that, and her age, he might be able to gleam who she was, in relation to himself in the world of dragons. He himself was just a noble with a slight blood relation to the current leader, who's name he had forgotten, however he had never used his position in society to any effect. or, not to his knowledge. However, he realized that it might jsut have earned him respect. But he liked to also think that his respect had been earned, not just that he had been born into it.

Exiting his musings, he stared at the girl and simply smiled, holding his hand out for her to shake.

[Eve Stone]

That was a rather interesting way to introduce one self, though they were in a special school where one didn't need to hide such things. She coughed a bit shifting to relax and not look so idiotic. Hands slipping into her back pockets she leaned against a table staring at him. "The name is Eve, Eve Stone." She didn't have a clue what he meant by royal dragon. She'd never heard of that type before. "I'm a war dragon...um what type are you? I've never heard of royal dragons before."

Her eyes flicked to the guitar recognizing the shift of notes but not remembering what those notes were. Rae would probably know but she didn't know that much about music. She used to play the drums but ever since they went on tour she didn't find it necessary. Instead she focused on training and school on the road. What was she doing here again? Oh right just wandering and got lured by the song. Now what?

"Sorry for staring earlier. Don't know what came over me." Eve tapped the heel of her shoe on the floor not knowing what else to say or do. Was he a teacher here? She'd never seen him before but she had been gone for a while, plus it wasn't like she'd taken a whole lot of classes. "So are you a teacher here? Or do you just work here?"

Her eyes scanned the room figuring the place was so empty because most of the students were probably in class. Another reason why she had come at this time so she could avoid being seen. Course avoiding being only worked if she didn't go after random music. Grinning sheepishly to herself she pushed off of the table to stand closer to him. "So how long have you been playing the guitar?"

[Tommy Goodman]

Tommy tried to read her body language, and realized that she was probably either lost, or interested in either himself, of his guitar. But he wasn't sure. He had read about body language and he used to instinctively follow it before he became massively studious, however, he found that it would be much simpler to just make conversation, instead of tyring to suss the girl out.

Eve Stone... She didn't seem familir, and she didn't know what a royal dragon was? Hmm. He dfinantly wouldn't know her or her family. or maybe she was an exile. No, her family were in exile. Or, maybe she hadn't grown up anywhere near any politics? That's all he was bred to be. A leader. However, technically, he was a vagaboud, an exile. He may have been a runaway, but he was a clever runaway.

"Royal Dragons... We're supposedly bred to be rulers, or politicians, or something of the sort. I'm a vagabound, anyway. Back home, I have a large estate, but my parents live there, and I make my own wealth, because power in the dragon world counts for nothing here, as you probably know." He smiled and chuckled a little, stretching his arms out and yawning. Ahh warm weather. it was so pleasant, even here, in the research centre. He crossed his legs, and patted the space next to him on the curved alcove space, an ivitation for her to sit down.

He continued building the chords until he had a nice exchange going on, with a strumming pattern similar to that of Mr. Greene, or some such guitarist. He found that if he kept his rhythm steady, he could speak at an independant pace, seperating his arms and his mind. He continued to strum away softly as he answered her question.

"I'm not a teacher, and I don't work here. I guess, I'm just a book worm. I've spent... a while in pretty much isolation. Well, let me just say - this is the longest conversation I've had in a century." He didn't want to appear sad, but he didn't want to lie either. "If you life for as long as us, eventually you get bored, and you need to find something to do." He finished with a trilled lick, and placed the guitar down, and folded his hands ontop of his crossed legs.

"I've been playing for a while. I get bored of reading sometimes, and like to do things. A hundred years is a long time." He smiled, and cracked his knuckles, wincing as he did. "I think I've finally decided to get a life now, though. It is a pleasure to meet you, Eve Stone."

[Eve Stone]

Frowning a bit she wondered why she had never heard of Royal dragons before. Her family wasn't exactly poor and she thought that they were relatively well known in the war dragon sector. The Stone family were like the well respected blue blood families of the real world. Upstanding people with old heritage of riches, respect, and of course marrying into the right families. She'd never heard of any royalty though some people in her community tended to treat her family as though they were. When you had that much money people tended to notice.

"Hmm, I'll have to speak with my parents." Maybe there was a reason as to why they hid this information from her. "And my parents keep their dragon wealth balanced with the real world wealth. We've never hidden our riches. So I don't really get what you mean about that part." Sure she sounded a bit gruff but she didn't like running into a stranger to find out some very critical information about the dragon world had been left out of her upbringing.

He was over a century old? Eyes wide her appeal in him did indeed drop at this admission. Being that old she was no where near worth flirting. Sighing she scuffed her shoe on the floor flicking her gaze to the guitar strings. "That's a long time to spend alone." She glanced up at the mentioning of her name and gave a small smile. "Pleasure to meet you too."

He'd patted the seat a while ago but she didn't feel comfortable getting that up close and personal with a perfect stranger. Sure he seemed nice enough, but a lot of serial killers looked nice and friendly. Instead she hook a foot on a chair leg and pulled it out to sit in it. With a leg on each side and her head resting on her crossed arms over the back of the chair she stared at him.

"So a royal dragon named Tommy. So what does Tommy stand for? Surely if you are from such high stock you parents didn't name you Tommy." She grinned at him almost meanly hooking her feet around the chair legs. "If you don't feel comfortable sharing that's alright. Understandable if you are what you say you are, a vagabond."

[Tommy Goodman]

He laughed at her dismay. He wondered what she'd say if she knew he was three hundred years old. Actually, maybe she should find out...

"Yeah, my age probably would seem a little off-putting. I'm actually three hundred and forty nine. So, just past a third of the way through my life. I guess you'd say I was twenty seven or so in human years." He smiled and winked. He did not want to be one of those ancient sage dragons that gave "wise" advice and kept asking people riddles that no-one cared about. He was a man of fact, rather than stupid word games.

He decided to try and see if his abilities of persuasion still worked. He had been amazed as a child to find that, in dragon and human form, he had powers to persuade other people to do or believe him. His parents had told him that only royal dragons could do it, and that it was like a charisma, more than anything else.

However, he realized that in human form it would probably be less effective. he hoped he was charismatic to get his message across anyway. He thought, he might as well try it;

"I'm more young at heart than old, and twenty seven isn't bad by human standards. And, isn't it better to measure experience rather than age? I don't have all that much experience. Just books."

Indeed, he probably knew more about nineteenth century chemistry, and the people behind it than anyone else on the globe. This, he was proud of, but eh felt that he should keep it to himself. Instead, he turned to the matter of Eve not knowing what a royal dragon was. This was strange to him, however, he had not known what a forest dragon was until he was sixty.

"I think you may have me wrong..." he said, at her comment about him being "high stock". As far as he knew, royal dragons were just another type of dragon, just like war dragons and silver dragons. And Forest dragons... But, he didn't exactly know what she had to worry about.

"I don't come from high stock. Royal dragons are just another race, like silver or frost dragons. Sure, we were put in high positions, but I think the whole race/leadership thing is flawed anyway. Why should we get to rule just because we were born into a race with "royal" in the name? I'm Tommy by birth, my parents just liked the name. My mother is Anthea, and my father is Brian." He smiled warmly and pulled out a handkerchief before sneezing into it, and stuffing it back in his pocket.

"I ran away from my family... rather, everyone else, when I was young. It's because they were all boring and stupid. Usually, you can't find a very intelligent dragon unless he, or she, is wise, or sage, or ancient. I just wanted someone to teach me the ways of the world. I guess I found that in these people and their books. But, I'm trying to integrate back in with people. A hundred years is a long time alone." He stopped and sighed. A hundred and nine years of loneliness, or, thereabouts. He had always thought that books had managed to replace the vacancy in his heart where loved ones should be, but no. He used to think so, but now he seemed so hollow, and vacant. Like a vacuum with nothing in it, not even stars.

He wasn't sure Eve was the person that would fill that gap. He was almost certain that she wasn't. She was a young dragon, he could tell by her mannerisms and way of thinking and acting. But did the people he wanted to love, did they need to be young or old? He didn't know what he wanted.

Eve was making him think of such strange things. He guessed that that's what happened when you met one of your own kind for the first time in a long time. Though the sudden realization had hit him that she had killed all of her siblings dawned on him, and he tried to hide the shock, probably quite successfully.

[Eve Stone]

He was freaking old. Twenty seven in human years her butt anyone over a hundred to her sounded flipping old considering she was only twenty something in real years. Course when a race lived as long as they did or fae did then judging solely on age wasn’t exactly fair. It was almost a form a prejudice sort of, or not she didn’t know, but she did know it wasn’t very fair. Playing with her hair a bit she stared at him for a moment trying to figure out how many years older he was than her. It was around three hundred and thirty years. That was just plain ridiculous.

After a minute or two he started talking again and had an odd inflection in his voice when he talked. She narrowed her eyes at him trying to figure out what he was getting at but ended up shrugging. “I know what you mean. Some people cram a whole lifetime in ten years while others can spend a lifetime and never end up doing anything.”

Stretching she stretched her arms by pulling on one elbow down behind her back then the other, then settled back down with her head on her arms. She listened intently as he explained royal dragons to her, along with his name, and even some of his background. Boy was this guy talkative, but that was just fine with her. She much preferred to sit and listen to people than try to come up with something to say. Besides if he’d been alone for so long then he probably had things he wanted to say, and she wasn’t going to interrupt him.

“Okay, now I understand. I wonder why I’ve never heard of royal dragons before. And I jumped the gun on the high stock thing cuz you did say your family had a large estate and that royals were supposed to be leaders and stuff.” Bringing up a leg she placed a foot on the chair’s cross bar and grabbed her knee placing her chin on it. She fell into silence searching for something to say but she was just plain horrible at making conversation. “So if you search for knowledge why not become a teacher? Surely over all those years you’ve learned enough to teach.”

Like before stated, not good with conversations.

[Tommy Goodman]

He looked at her blankly and laughed.

"Me, a teacher? I wouldn''t know the first thing about teaching anything. And I'm terrible with people. People, like you, would be put-off at my age. No, I'd much rather live in the world of books, or just be a regular person. Unfortunately, that doesn't come easy. I mean, it's not axactly the easyest thing, finding friends at my age. And the only people I could really be with are other dragons, demons or Fae. Now..." he stopped and looked at her blankly. Jesus, he liked the sound of own voice. He wouldn't shut up. That was... annoying. He looked at her again, and furrowed his brow and frowned.

"Sorry, I won't subject you to my drivel. Short thing is - I don't find friends easily." He flashed her a smile. Someone had once told him that he had a nice healthy smile. He had treasured that comment forever. it was from the person that he had connected most with, Levi.

That was so long ago. And Tommy felt his heart ache, for he knew that the demonw as so close. He'd lost his memories, he was sure. However, he was going around the academy in a frightful state. And there was two of him.

None the less, he turned back to Eva. Smiling.

"I'm terribly sorry. I got lost in my musings. What brings you to the academy? You look like a university first year, rather than an academy student. Not that you look old! You seem to be maturer, as all. Y..your features. You're not a pretty girl - but more a beautiful woman, if you understand me." He winced. "That comment may have been a little inappropriate. I apologize, but I won't take it back." He smiled warmly once again.

"I'm so... awkward." he said after a short pause. "It's what I get after being alone for so ong." He winced at his own statement, not designed to draw pity, but designed as an apology for his terrible reactions and company.

{OOC: I had a lot of fun writing this. I love Tommy for the simple fact that he seems truly awesome in every respect but he has very little people skills. xD}}

[Eve Stone]

She shrugged leaning back in her chair to stare at the ceiling for a moment. "If you were a teacher they wouldn't give a crap about your age. All you have to do as a teacher is relay the information to the children. Give assignments. That sort of thing. You don't have to be good with people. Believe me I've had some teachers who hated people, but that didn't make them bad teachers."

Eve tilted the chair back until it flipped out from under her but she flipped back in return catching herself on her hands. Her feet shot out to catch the chair as she did her little handstand she set the chair back down. Pushing off with her hands she jumped back to her feet. Bored? Maybe but she was easily bored when she wasn't doing something physically active. It wasn't that she was trying to show off she was just entertaining herself kind of like how some people might text, pick their nails, or play a guitar.

Again she shrugged at his comment about making friends. She didn't make them all that easily either but it didn't bug her at all. More of a solitary person herself she was content to do her own thing. If it so happened that she ran across a person and they became friends then awesome. If not she wasn't going to curl up in a ball and cry about it. Course she also hadn't been alone for nearly two hundred years. But she also believed that she would never let it get that bad. If she did then it was probably by her own choice so she wouldn't have the right to complain about it.

His apology started off alright but then it just kept going and she stood there awkwardly lost as to what to do. She stood there for a good while until she was quite sure he was done talking. "Um, I'm here to get some paper work so I can start classes at the school. I'm actually a little older than most first years. Took some time off school. And I think...thanks?" She was thanking him for the somewhat compliment of her looking more mature and being a beautiful woman. At first she felt a twinge at the 'you're not a pretty girl' part but that quickly went away.

She never thought of herself at some beauty, period, so to hear even a remote compliment on that subject made her uncomfortable. It wasn't that she was self conscious she knew she had a good body. She worked darn hard to make sure she did. But beautiful? No. She had rock hard muscles not beauty.

[Tommy Goodman]

Tommy tilted his head as she did some strange acrobatic manouver that he couldn't quite follow. He laughed as she finished and clapped his hands once or twice. She was obviously bored - of his constant blathering, no doubt. So long without talking to anyone had crippled him severely, it seemed.

He ran his fingers through his hair and frowned. It was getting quite warm and his jacket was getting quite uncomfortable. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, ruffling the collar slightly, and he also rolled the sleeves up, revealing his smooth, powerful forearms.

He picked up his guitar and started playing some song he had learnt from some strange-looking girl he had heard listening to music. He just about managed to hit every note in the complicated intoduction, before he stopped, panting for breath slightly.

"First rule of guitaring - don't forget to breathe while guitaring. Do you play?" He asked, actually intrigued if this lady did play. He sighed and started on another flowing melody, silently waiting her reply.

[Eve Stone]

She darted her eyes away when he unbuttoned the shirt a little reminding herself that for one the dude was old. And another thing she wasn't single. In her usual worn jeans and equally worn tee shirt she had gone for laid back in her attire that day. Some days she actually tried because well living with a rock star tended to rub off of you eventually.

Running both hands through her short hair she stared off into the distance gripping the ends of the strands. It hadn't always been so incredibly short it had once fallen well beyond her shoulders. One day she'd just up and cut it off that's why it wasn't exactly even but it kind of suited her rough style. And she was pretty sure Rae thought it was sexy. She shook her head to get out of her mind wanderings and turned back to him when he asked her a question.

"I try to but I'm not very good at it." With a shrug she wandered around the room eyes wandering. "I'm better at the drums, but gave that up once I went on tour with my girl friend."

Eyes wandering to his skilled fingers along the treads she couldn't remember when she'd seen such smooth playing on a guitar before. She returned to her seat peacefully watching him play. It was almost like listening to Rae sing but with Rae she usually wanted to jump up and down or hit something with her music. But she loved it all the same.

[Tommy Goodman]

Tommy raised his eyebrow. "Girlfriend"? He wasn't one to judge, but she was the last person he expected to be... like that. He smiled quickly, so as not to seem off-put, otherwise she'd think that he was trying to hit on her. Which, he wasn't. If only because he had absolutely no idea how. How was he going to find someone at his age, though? Seeing as how put-off she was. He wasn't picky, either. He just wanted to find someone that wasn't totally dull.

"I see. You seem the type to listen to music slightly different to the kind I play. I don't really listen to music, though, so I wouldn't really know." He shrugged, and ran his fingers through his hair. A look of exhaustion appeared on his usually flawless face for a moment, and he quickly regained his usual jolly cheer.

"I probably seem very strange to you." He thought about himself from her perspective. "I am very old, in comparison to you. I am a different sub-species to you. The likes of which you have never previously heard of. I am a hundred years well-read. I am also one of the most socially retarded people on the planet." He noted, wistfully. He had no Idea why he was saying this - he'd have to improvise.

"But you don't seem all that strange to me."He continued, beginning to play a soft melody. He sang the next words;

"Just a material world,
You're just a girl,
Living in this fucked up world,
Because they sell you this,
And they sell you that.
Who wants any of that fucking crap?"

"You're on tour with your girlfriend, who can play guitar and has a support drummer. You're trying to cram some sort of learning... a qualification? You don't seem to be the kind of person that jsut does one thing." He winked, hoping greatly that his assumptions were right. She could hardly sit still, and she seemed to be occupied on a whole load of other things. She had been to fetch papers. She was too flightly to sit there as her girlfriend went on tour and played instruments or did whatever it was she did. No, Eve Stone, of the Stone family was doing something on the side. As she was in a school, it was only fair to assume that she was doing something school based.

[Eve Stone]

At the look and questioning about the girl friend thing she sighed and nodded she tended to get that a lot, especially once she told them who it was. But not everyone knew the notorious Raelena St. John. Which was actually a good thing a lot of times because it kept people from asking her a million questions about the rock star, which she hated but that was the life with Rae. She stood again and wandered some more as she listened to him how a person could live so long and not really listen to music. If he played music then he had to listen to it didn’t he? That was just plain odd, but everyone had their quirks. She wasn’t exactly a huge music person to begin with, but to not listen at all? Odd.

As he described how he must seem strange she stopped and stared at him. Sure he might be those things but it didn’t necessarily make him strange. There was plenty of other things that made people strange. “Just because you’re older than me and have more experience doesn’t make you strange. It makes you well, experienced. And you also don’t seem all that socially awkward to me.” Shrugging she sat down again crossing her arms and sitting her chin on them to stare at him. His next statement made her smile slightly because she wasn’t all that strange, she was kind of boring to be honest.

Her eyes drifted down to the guitar again as he started playing once more. She had nothing as amazing and beautiful a talent as he did or many other people she knew. The only talent she had was causing people pain when she fought them. Mind calming down when he started singing her eyes drifted half shut as she fell into the song. But the song didn’t seem to last all that long before he started talking again which slowly brought her out of her dazed state. Once out of it her muscles began to itch for movement once again, so again she started to wander the room. Half listening she just caught then end of it and turned to give him a slightly perplexed look.

“Yeah, I just like being busy is all. Lots of energy, don’t like to sit still kind of thing. And the learning thing is my GED. I just got it so I’m gonna go to the university.” She waved in a random direction to indicate the school. Man this guy was good, but if she’d been alive this long she might be able to read people well too. But probably not she didn’t tend to pay much attention to that kind of stuff just not her thing.
((sorry i took so long...))

[Tommy Goodman]

Tommy smiled at the compliment. Or, he thought it was a compliment. Maybe it wasn't. He frowned sharply. No, it was definantly a compliment. he blushed. However, maybe it wasn't requited. he knew he was socialy awkward. He knew it. He had never been able to fit in. He had even had troubles with Sophie, and she was really nice.

He gazed at her theatrics. He guessed that he could manage that, too. If he really tried. But he didn't exactly want to. It would probably be showing off. Or he'd break something. He looked at Eve again. Oh, his god.

He was talking to a pretty young dragon. He'd not talked to a pretty young dragon, or a pretty, young dragon in a long time. Ever, if he remembered correctly. Apparently he was still in his prime, according to the proffessor he'd spoken to. So his... "drive" was still strong. Jesus christ, it was strong. he blushed and glanced away quickly. He was determined to come over this. She was taken, and she didn't find his considerable age a redeeming feature, either.

"So... Eve. What are you going to do at Uni? Hopefully nothing with exams, they might disqualify you if you do acrobatics there." He joked. "And hopefully not physics. I know too much physics. Terribly boring. I met Newton, you know." He winked. THis was true, however, their meeting was breif. Tommy had met him before he "discovered" that which he had been made famous for, and he had discussed with him several previous theories. Tommy liked to feel that he helped the great mind on his way, however, this is unlikely.

He swung back and forth, plucking away slowly at whatever pattern he felt like, occasionally making a mental note of a change, so that he could re=play it later, and build on it.