xp_logs | Artie and Maddie: Homework and movies

Artie and Maddie had fallen into the habit of doing their homework together a couple of nights a week: Korvus was, in Artie's opinion, just plain weird and Matt, when they weren't fighting, needed to much quiet to really be a decent person to work with. With Maddie, you have the laptops out, play music and just talk - she was even getting better at sign.

Artie had his books out but stacked neatly in a pile to one side of his laptop while he idly clicked through cracked.com articles, skimming over the text.

"Aurgh. Dammit." Maddie pressed a key on her laptop, sending her device to sleep, and quickly closed it. "Fuck you Madagascar. Fuck you and fuck all those lemurs. Why won't you let me kill you off?" She groaned and slumped back onto the sofa, glaring at her computer as if it were her mortal enemy. Which, in a way, it kinda was, at least for the moment. Stupid island nations.

Artie grinned at her. "You still can't kill Madegascar?" He subtitled that bit as he signed.

Her death glare was redirected at him. "Yes. Them and Argentina. Which makes no sense because there is no way to make sure that border is completely sealed off." She sighed and wrinkled her nose.

"I hate this game."

"So play something else. Duh."

"But it combines my two favorite things: taking over the world and incurable, lethal diseases."

"You're a little creepy sometimes," Artie replied. "Fine, we'll do something else."

Maddie crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him. "Whatever. You love it. Admit it." She preened, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Her eyes locked on his, daring him to defy her statement. "And are you suggesting we actually do our homework?"

"No. I don't want to do my homework," Artie said, refusing to blink. "I have to but it's not due till like, Thursday."

Because any other answer would have been a lie, Maddie knew, judging by the untouched books beside him. She had homework too, some math problems and reading to do. But she could do those later. After she killed off everyone in the world. "So what do you suggest we do then?"

"It's cold! I don't know, but nothing outside."

Eyeroll. It wasn't that cold out. But she couldn't say she didn't agree about wanting to do something indoors. "Movie? It's student night and they have a Valentine's Day horror movie."

Artie paused. "Is it going to end up being some chick flick, all about

some crazy sparkle vampire? I don't think I could manage that." It always paid to ask with Maddie.

Maddie glared and projectile threw a throw pillow at his head and Artie flailed, knocking it onto the floor. "So no sparkle vampires?" he asked, keeping his signing slow enough for her to understand.

"Have you met me? Do I seem like a girl who likes sparkly vampires?"

Artie shrugged. "You could have a secret thing for them. I don't know."

"I prefer my vampires as unsparkly as possible." She fought the urge to lob another pillow at him. Sparkly vampires, as if. "So what do you say?"

"Sounds like a plan."