Some wrecked angel
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by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Wed Dec 08, 2021 11:58 pm
Last edited by Arianna Kinsley Stuart on Fri Dec 10, 2021 2:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Thu Dec 09, 2021 12:27 am
It wasn’t every day that he woke up at five in the afternoon – or was that evening already? – but lately, he had been on quite a few benders that made him wake up so late the day was rendered completely useless afterwards. Just like every other day, he was terribly hungover. Of course, that didn’t give him any incentive to go out and be productive for once. No, Max quietly suffered through his nausea and headache, alone and in bed. There was no need to get out anyway; in this state he wasn’t up for doing anything, not even something as simple as getting something to eat. But as he watched the clock strike five on his phone, he recalled an appointment he had made a while ago. Or rather, an appointment that he had been forced to make due to his poor academic performance. He softly groaned, considering just calling Arianna up and cancelling the whole thing. Surely, she would understand. But he figured that she had already bothered to show up. If anything, she had been waiting for him for about ten minutes already. So, with an exasperated sigh, he got up, got dressed, and headed for the library. He got there, almost entirely out of breath with his shirt on backwards. She didn’t say anything, except for the keen observation that he was late. About half an hour late, to be exact. “Or you were just early,” he casually pointed out, briefly wagging his index finger at her. “But I’m here now, so let’s get started.” Not that he was in any shape to study. But he was sure he could entertain himself by staring at her for the rest of the hour. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Fri Dec 10, 2021 1:51 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sat Dec 11, 2021 11:59 am
Max hadn’t exactly wanted help with anything regarding his academic career. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn’t stupid, even if that was a common insult to be used against him. He wasn’t slow or dumb or thick, or whatever other synonym one could come up with. In fact, he was quite brilliant if he applied himself. Unfortunately, he hardly ever did so. There were simply a million other things that he found far more interesting than sitting in the library by himself, bent over a stack of history books. But he had to do something, or he might risk getting kicked out of the university altogether. He would lose his purpose in life and probably most of his friends that way, so he had to keep that from happening. Fortunately for him, one of the most beautiful girls in the entire university – one he happened to have a little crush on, even – was a history tutor. As soon as he learnt about that, he didn’t have as much trouble with getting some extra lessons. He furrowed his brows when she said that this would take them two hours. “Two hours?” he repeated incredulously. What was he supposed to eat? How could he possibly focus for two hours straight while hungry and hungover? He sighed and resigned, nodding along. Fine. He sat down at the table, placing his bag… Oh, shit. There was no bag. He’d forgotten it while hurrying to get here. Great. She started asking him some questions, which honestly sounded a little denigrating. “Technically, yes, but I’m already taking some second-year subjects,” he told her. The advantage of having suffered through two different courses already was that he could transfer some of his credits towards his third. “I changed my mind about what I wanted to do a couple of times…” he explained, so as to not seem like a complete failure to her. “My trouble isn’t so much with studying as it is with motivation, I suppose.” He could study just fine, he just… didn’t really want to most of the time. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Sat Dec 11, 2021 11:04 pm
Last edited by Arianna Kinsley Stuart on Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sun Dec 12, 2021 3:07 pm
Frankly, Max didn’t know how anyone did it. There was no way to balance academics, a social life, going out and having fun and a good night’s sleep with all the other things that students were allegedly supposed to do. It simply couldn’t be done. And, when forced to choose, Max preferred plenty of rest and a social life above good grades and other academic achievement. Money had never been a concern to him, so why should he sacrifice anything in order to chase a piece of paper that he never truly needed at all? Two hours was far more than he had hoped for, but now that he was here, he supposed he might as well try to learn something from her. She told him she was well on her way throughout her second year of history, so they would have to manage together. Max nodded, realizing that they were doing the exact same thing, even though she was younger than him and was doing another course parallel to his one. Max snorted when she wanted to figure out ‘how’ he studied. “Simple. I don’t, usually,” he answered. Sometimes, when he did find the time to try, he usually was able to pass a subject. But most of the time he just couldn’t be bothered. She then asked about the paper, which was apparently due next week. “Well… yeah, kinda,” he answered. And by starting he only meant downloading the research paper template and putting his name on the cover. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:44 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sun Dec 12, 2021 8:33 pm
Max didn’t always understand why some of his friends never seemed to have time for him, but now he was reminded why that was. Apparently, some people needed to study, write papers, and then also have two-hour tutoring meetings on top of that in order to get ahead in life. What a miserable existence that had to be. One he certainly wasn’t planning on adopting for himself, even if he probably was going to have to if he wanted to stay at QCL. Arianna pointed out the same to him, but it was something he had been told over and over again, by his parents, friends, and himself. One more person tuning in wasn’t going to change his mind. “I know,” he muttered, still quite disinterested. Maybe he needed to switch courses again to throw everyone off. That way, people would just assume he hadn’t felt passionately about his major, instead of thinking that he was too stupid or too unmotivated to finish anything. Then, she asked him about his take on his non-existent paper. Max took in a deep breath. “Well, I’m supposed to-“ He cut himself off, reminding him that he’d supposedly already started. “I’m writing about the increase in per capita income and urbanization rate in Europe in the late middle-ages…” His topic had been selected beforehand, but since he didn’t have much more than that, he was going to have to make something up. “I’m arguing that productivity growth can only explain a small proportion of that increase, so I’m looking at population dynamics to make up the difference.” Or something like that. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Sun Dec 12, 2021 9:33 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sun Dec 12, 2021 10:05 pm
Max could easily bullshit his way through most conversations when it came to his area of study, but as soon as it came to execution, everything went south. He wasn’t sure whether he had ever turned in a paper in time, which probably meant that he hadn’t. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to putting in any work right now. He was tired, slowly getting hungry, and he knew a few of his mates would be going out for drinks tonight at a local pub. He didn’t want to be stuck in here for the rest of the night. Most helpfully, Arianna offered him a few pointers from where he could start writing his paper, even though he had no intention of doing so. His eyes widened when she actually went on and put him to work. She wanted him to write an entire outline? Tonight? Max briefly bit his lip and nodded. “It shouldn’t be,” he agreed, after which he realized that he had a pretty solid excuse. “But I’m afraid I left my laptop at home, so I can’t really do much of anything right now.” He didn’t even have pen and paper with him. Hopefully, she wouldn’t think to point him towards those horribly slow library computers. That would make him have to stay here even longer. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Sun Dec 12, 2021 10:37 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:00 pm
Max could see his entire night flash before him as she kept urging him towards the inevitable. Staying here and working on that bullshit paper that a lecturer would probably only glance at before slapping a grade on it. So much effort for so little pay-off, but he supposed that it needed to be done if he wanted to stay at the university. Even if he really didn’t want to do it. An obnoxious smile appeared on Arianna’s face as he offered her his excuse. His laptop – or rather, his lack thereof – wasn’t a problem to her. Max sighed, already preparing to go sit behind one of those slow computers. But she gave him an alternative that was even worse than that. He raised his brows in disbelief when she pulled out a bloody notebook, along with a silver pen. He frowned and picked it up. “Seriously? You want me to write it down?” What was this? 1956? He inspected the damn pen as if he’d never seen one before in his life. His annoyance was now clearly showing. “I’m gonna spend most of those two hours on trying to find books. What’s the point in that?” There was none, except for wasting his time in the most efficient way possible. She couldn’t be serious about this, could she? | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Tue Dec 14, 2021 11:37 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Thu Dec 16, 2021 11:25 am
It was easier to help someone who was merely struggling with a statistics course than to tackle someone’s entire life philosophy in a single tutoring session. Max’s motivation concerning his studies – or rather, his lack thereof – would not be solved in the course of two hours. For years, he had told himself that nothing he did would matter much, since his parents would always be there to catch him financially whenever he fell. It did not make a difference whether he failed or succeeded, and since the former was far easier to do, he kept on doing it that way. No matter how terribly he fucked up, the consequences would always be mild at most. Arianna was the first person in a while who actually tried to get him to do something. She suggested that he use the computers instead if writing would take too long, and he tried his hardest to refrain from whining about that again. She asked him to solve his own problem, to which he let out a defeated sigh. “Fine, I’ll use the computer,” he muttered. He got up and walked on over to the nearest desk that had one, turning it on and waiting an excruciating amount of time for it to start. Then, he went online and logged into his student account and downloaded and opened the template that he was now seeing for the first time in a while. “An outline, you said?” he asked, first filling in the easy details, such as his own name, the date, and the name of his supervisor. Then, he created a standard outline, putting up some meaningless titles without content. An introduction, a section for his literature analysis, and a discussion. “All done! he cheerfully said, a little too loud so that he earned quite a few angry looks from his fellow students. Now, he could go, right? | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Thu Dec 16, 2021 8:07 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Fri Dec 17, 2021 11:54 am
Max could understand why some people felt so passionately about university. He could imagine that if you studied something you were thoroughly interested in, it could most definitely be a fun time in your life. But he himself was far more intrigued by all the activities surrounding academic life. The societies, the parties, the excessive drinking, the frat boy culture that was often criticized for being both elitist and downright toxically masculine. Those were his favourite parts of life, and trying his best at university would mean he would have to depart from that life far too prematurely. Quickly, he wrote up an ‘outline’, which was nothing more than ten words scattered across a few pages. He doubted she would accept it, and she didn’t. Max tried his hardest to look proud when she inspected his ‘work’. A fortunate development, however, was that she was now seated on the corner of his desk, which offered him an extraordinary view of her legs. Of course, he was now distracted. She reminded him of what an outline was supposed to be, but all the words just passed him by. “Oh, yeah, that’ll definitely help,” he said, somewhat absentmindedly as he forced himself to look back at her face instead. “And I would love a cup, yeah.” Last night had been rough, so caffeine was more than welcome. In fact, the two of them should grab coffee together sometimes, away from all these papers and books and whatnot. But he decided to ask her once he got the feeling she disliked him a little less. For now, he waited for her to go get coffee as he tried to make a little more of his ‘outline’. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Fri Dec 17, 2021 3:57 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sun Dec 19, 2021 1:54 pm
Max knew that he could probably write an acceptable paper if he made an effort to apply himself, but starting was always the worst part of it. Obliviously staring at a blank Word document for hours on end, with nothing to show for all that time and the end of it. He rarely ever got past that phase to begin with, but when he did, he sometimes wrote something actually worth reading. “Just a black coffee,” he asked her before she went on her coffee run. He needed something to keep him going for the next two hours, after all. With a sigh, he watched her walk off, after which he kept staring at the document for a few more minutes. Then, he noticed the e-mail she had sent him. Max opened it, stared at it for a little longer, but eventually got to work. And, lo and behold, something actually came out of it for once. Arianna stayed away for quite some time, which offered him ample opportunity to actually get something on paper. He had formulated a research question, found some articles that he wanted to reference, and had gathered some interesting background information that her certainly wanted to put in there. He had made an overview of the lay-out of his paper, deciding to start with a problem definition and following that up with a cause-effect analysis. He wasn’t entirely sure what to follow that up with, though, and his conclusion would simply have to wait until he had delved into the actual research. Eventually, Arianna came back, asking him the obvious question. “It’s going, I think,” he answered, showing her his outline. It still was a little messy, but he was glad to say that it made sense to him at least. “There’s just so much literature that I’m having trouble making sense of it.” Demonstrated by the tens of tabs he currently had opened on his internet browser. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Sun Dec 19, 2021 3:03 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Mon Dec 20, 2021 9:14 pm
Back in secondary school, he had been at the top of his class. Max supposed that that was why had made it to QCL in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, he hadn’t ridden in on a horse made out of his daddy’s charity. He had been pretty bright, even without ever really trying his hardest. Everything just had gone kind of wrong when he had moved away from home, attended university, and especially once he had joined ITHACA. It was so bad that he almost felt a little strange doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing: studying. But after a little while, he actually got going a little bit. Truth be told, he noticed that he was getting into somewhat of a flow, which was interrupted a little bit once Arianna came back. Not that he minded; he was doing all of this in the hopes of impressing her at least a little bit anyway. He brightly smiled when she said that his outline looked ‘decent enough’. She asked him a question, which made him redirect his gaze towards the screen again. “The consequences, I suppose,” he thoughtfully replied. Unless there should be something in between there. She advised him not to read the entire article, but instead just read the introduction and the conclusion. “Right, my bibliography,” he muttered, scrolling all the way down to create one of those. He typed out the header, noticing that she was pretty close to him once he faced her again. “Thanks…” he said, almost a little enchanted. “And thanks for the coffee.” All of a sudden, he felt a weird tension in the pit of his stomach. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:48 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sat Dec 25, 2021 2:13 pm
Max hadn’t received much praise as of late. Not that he blamed anyone for that, though. There were only few things he did that were worthy of praise these days. Still, it was nice to hear someone tell him he was doing a good job at something for once. It made him want to try a little harder, or even try at all. That was new for him, too. He nodded when she suggested putting in another section for the solutions to the problem. “Good idea,” he commended her, putting in a few spaces before adding the temporary heading to his outline. Max was surprised to notice that he actually had somewhat of a structure going on for himself. He was almost… proud, even if he still did have a long way to go. He awkwardly chuckled when she commented on his hangover. “It’s that obvious, huh?” He had tried to hide it at least a little bit, but he supposed he was looking a little tired. “Will do,” he then said with a firm nod when she headed back to her own desk, leaving him to work on his paper once again. While sipping the coffee she had brought him, he continued on with his paper. Slowly but surely, it was taking some actual shape. Before he knew it, an hour had passed and he had somewhat of an introduction going already. Letting out a deep breath, he stretched out, got up on his feet, and walked over to Arianna. “You up for a break?” he asked. Those were important too, after all. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Sat Dec 25, 2021 5:42 pm
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
by Max Rutherford Sat Dec 25, 2021 9:32 pm
Who knew? Maybe he could get into this after all. While his head was most definitely throbbing because of all the hard liquor he’d devoured last night, this wasn’t so bad. He was sure that if he was feeling better physically, he could actually spend quite a few hours in the library before truly getting bored. Not that writing this paper was riveting by any means, but he had noticed that he had been getting into a little bit of a flow as he typed. Not to mention that Arianna being here made it that much easier. She told him that she knew there had been a party last night, and she pointed out that he was wearing his shirt the wrong way ‘round. His eyes widened a little in sudden embarrassment as he looked down, noticing that his shirt was on backwards indeed. “Shit…” he muttered. So much for good impressions. Not that he believed he had made one of those anyway. Well, he was already embarrassed, so what was the use in putting it on correctly? Before he would incorporate any more of her suggestions, however, he needed a little bit of a break again. More caffeine too, maybe. He asked her for a break. “I could use another cuppa coffee,” he admitted. He would probably sleep terribly because of it tonight, but he had significant trouble keeping his eyes open right now. Then, she said she had come across one of her conquests. Charlotte was her name, but Max had no idea whom she was talking about. “Charlotte?” he repeated, before it started to dawn on him. “Oh, yes, of course, Charlotte! Oh, yeah, she’s lovely, isn’t she?” He still wasn’t sure who she was, but he didn’t want to come across like some asshole. | |||
code made by kahlua of caution |
Max Rutherford
IC posts : 35
Occupation : Student [History]
Quote : I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw.
by Arianna Kinsley Stuart Mon Dec 27, 2021 1:06 am
Arianna Kinsley Stuart
IC posts : 27
Occupation : Student [history & political science]
Quote : the flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all
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