Stay Gold, Pony Boy

The Dean offered me a job at the library. Three hours a day in exchange for gift certificates for...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:16:58 -0500

The Dean offered me a job at the library. Three hours a day in exchange for gift certificates for the cafeteria. Troy said I should take it because I’ll be literally paid in tacos.

Advanced Gender Studies

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:45:07 -0500

purplepenprinciple:

iambatmannow:

purplepenprinciple:

iambatmannow:

purplepenprinciple:

Okay guys, we should probably go ahead and study, right?

Studying can wait until some other time… or should I say space. Somethings shifted. There’s a good chance we’re dealing in parallel universes.

We’re getting way off focus here, guys…

The possibility of parallel universes suggests the danger of time paradoxes the likes of which could destroy the world as we know it. It’s been a reoccurring cautious tale throughout 50 years of Inspector Spacetime.

Parallel or not, I don’t want to be in a world where we all fail our midterms! Okay, five more minutes to get it all out of your systems, and then we’re buckling down and studying for real.

TO THE TIME BOOTH!

Advanced Gender Studies

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:35:23 -0500

wingercharm:

iambatmannow:

purplepenprinciple:

Okay guys, we should probably go ahead and study, right?

Studying can wait until some other time… or should I say space. Somethings shifted. There’s a good chance we’re dealing in parallel universes.

Abida, you should have a page on TV Tropes where you list every moment you’ve been “meta”

A variation on the old dictionary joke. Classic Winger.

Advanced Gender Studies

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:31:00 -0500

purplepenprinciple:

iambatmannow:

purplepenprinciple:

Okay guys, we should probably go ahead and study, right?

Studying can wait until some other time… or should I say space. Somethings shifted. There’s a good chance we’re dealing in parallel universes.

We’re getting way off focus here, guys…

The possibility of parallel universes suggests the danger of time paradoxes the likes of which could destroy the world as we know it. It’s been a reoccurring cautious tale throughout 50 years of Inspector Spacetime.

Advanced Gender Studies

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:09:09 -0500

purplepenprinciple:

Okay guys, we should probably go ahead and study, right?

Studying can wait until some other time… or should I say space. Somethings shifted. There’s a good chance we’re dealing in parallel universes.

I'm Alive! And also very very pregnant.

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:13:00 -0500

brittasbetrippin:

iambatmannow:

purplepenprinciple:

brittasbetrippin:

purplepenprinciple:

It’s not even subtext at this point

What do you mean?

Britta’s therapizing me. She’s been using terms like subtext and consensual validation. She’s gone into overdrive since Jeff returned.

I think you’d call it a coping mechanism, Britta.

First, I never used “consensual validation”. I had to Google the term, if you must know.

Second, out of curiosity, what do you think I’m coping with?

It was in your psychology book. I read them all when Troy bet me Friday night’s movie choice that fear of oddly colored cats was a real phobia.

You’re upset that the one man you thought wouldn’t fall into a traditional life, and who you saw as a free spirit like yourself, is doing exactly what you thought he wouldn’t. You’re beginning to examine your life choices. Like in every sitcom involving attractive people in their 20s and 30s, when a single character begins to doubt herself and her choices when an immature ex-boyfriend gets married.

I'm Alive! And also very very pregnant.

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:32:00 -0500

purplepenprinciple:

brittasbetrippin:

purplepenprinciple:

It’s not even subtext at this point

What do you mean?

Britta’s therapizing me. She’s been using terms like subtext and consensual validation. She’s gone into overdrive since Jeff returned.

I think you’d call it a coping mechanism, Britta.

I'm Alive! And also very very pregnant.

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:11:00 -0500

purplepenprinciple:

iambatmannow:

purplepenprinciple:

iambatmannow:

I’ve 97 percent certain that was the line you used on an elf maiden during our Fat Neil centric adventure. Annie was much more persuasive.

I'm Alive! And also very very pregnant.

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:17:00 -0500

purplepenprinciple:

iambatmannow:

wingercharm:

justaskann:

Hey everyone! I’m so, so sorry about the ridiculous amount of inactivity the past few months. Things have been crazy for me, being pregnant and planning my move here to Greendale and finalizing things at work for my maternity leave.

So yeah! I am now in Greendale with Jeff, and we’re just finishing up the nursery. Lukas is due in just barely am month, can you believe it? I sure can’t, though I’m excited to finally meet him.

Anyway, I need to get back to settling in, Jeff and I still have a lot of baby-proofing to do around his apartment before Lukas gets here. Talk to you all soon!

Ah, my swollen, beautiful girlfriend.

How I missed you.

I’ve 97 percent certain that was the line you used on an elf maiden during our Fat Neil centric adventure. Annie was much more persuasive.

Homicide Analysis 101

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:16:18 -0500

Abed

You find a piece of notebook paper taped on the wall of your mini-dreamatorium. Written on it is a haphazardly written note in handwriting that you recognize to be…your very own.

The end is nigh for you and your lame study group. Greendale. Thursday @ 8.

Taped onto the note is a small purple pawn. You can’t help but think that this is the way that horror movies start. Well, not all of them. Actually, a strikingly small percentage. It’s hardly relevant. However, if you’re going to be trapped in some B-list horror flick with your evil counterpart, you’d better come prepared.

Thoughts of a parallel universe themed board game was enough to occupy Abed’s mind throughout his walk to Greendale. He felt very middle school doing so. Though he’d never walked to school in the dark before. It added to the ominous atmosphere, as well as provided as his only mode of transportation given that Troy had taken the car. In hindsight, he should have put more thought into the conflict in means of arrival than what pen to use. (He’d settled on the official Greendale pen. It read, “GREENDALE COMMUNITY “COLLEGE”*” on one side and, “*experience” on the other in a considerably smaller font. The pens had been “raffled off” to the Dean’s favorite students in a mid-lunch ceremony.)

By the time he’d reached his destination, Abed had decisively switched his focus on writing a board game centric horror movie. Sure it had been done before, but the young filmmaker was certain he could do better than The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond and similar Razzie fodder.

Abed entered the school through a side door, careful not to attract the attention of any of his fellow study group members that may have already arrived. Any early interference would mess with his master plan. He felt rather sinister thinking that. “Master plan.” He rubbed his hands together evilly for dramatic effect.

It was a short walk from Abed’s chosen entrance to the Communications Center; a wing of the building that for whatever reason housed the Intro to Statistics classroom. (A class that added drama given Jeff’s involvement with the teacher, and a classroom that was used for the much more popular class, Baby Talk, on Thursdays and Saturdays.)

He hadn’t gotten a chance to shut the door of classroom before he heard loud “thump” noise in the distance. Abed could only assume Jeff had found the surprise he’d laid out for him.

I'm Alive! And also very very pregnant.

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:30:30 -0500

wingercharm:

justaskann:

Hey everyone! I’m so, so sorry about the ridiculous amount of inactivity the past few months. Things have been crazy for me, being pregnant and planning my move here to Greendale and finalizing things at work for my maternity leave.

So yeah! I am now in Greendale with Jeff, and we’re just finishing up the nursery. Lukas is due in just barely am month, can you believe it? I sure can’t, though I’m excited to finally meet him.

Anyway, I need to get back to settling in, Jeff and I still have a lot of baby-proofing to do around his apartment before Lukas gets here. Talk to you all soon!

Ah, my swollen, beautiful girlfriend.

How I missed you.

I’ve 97 percent certain that was the line you used on an elf maiden during our Fat Neil centric adventure. Annie was much more persuasive.

With Troy and Abed in the Morning! on hiatus, Troy and I have decided to try to bring back The...

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:44:00 -0500

With Troy and Abed in the Morning! on hiatus, Troy and I have decided to try to bring back The Community Chronicles. This is a sneak peak of our new episode:

Entrance into Friendships, Revisited

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:55:00 -0500

wingercharm:

iambatmannow:

wingercharm:

Becoming close with the study group was hard the first time. After Ann became pregnant, Jeff was divided more from his friends, setting back a season’s (said season being spring) worth of steps forward. It hurt, knowing how far he’d go for something he loved without knowing, and someone he fell in love with, still having his group of friends he loved.

Now that Jeff was back, the only one who still liked him was Britta and no one really would trust her, knowing their past. Well, that, and she’s Britta, for God’s sake. Her name is synonymous with “screw up” and “misspelled water filter”. The most impartial one, from Jeff’s careful reasoning, was Abed. He was the best bet in having someone to say is okay again. Jeff was still working his way up to Annie; she was the boss level.

With that, Abed was invited over for the evening. The incentive was an independent film viewing, with the fancy (read: extra fattening) butter and noodles Jeff brought from the Sweetums factory. Abed accepted, sounding gracious with his “Sure” over the phone. The manic knocking fro the door was an indicator as well. Upon opening was the lanky man with big brown eyes he first met at Greendale. Nothing could’ve been better than seeing him.

“Hey, Abed,” Jeff opened the door wider to let him in, “How have you been?”

There’d been no big homecoming, no late night at Red Street (as the group had begun to refer to the bar with the much disputed name) when Jeff had arrived back in Greendale. Only Britta had been there to pick him up from the airport after his ridiculously early flight. It wasn’t so much that the study group had gotten used to functioning without Jeff, but that they’d seen his leaving as a bigger fault than it was.

Jeff was what held the group together; like their study room table when school wasn’t in session. At least unconsciously, they’d all expected their problems to disappear upon Jeff’s arrival. This wasn’t to say that Jeff’s departure wasn’t a major cause of tension between them. Abed had drawn up several charts and diagrams, but found there were too many variables to be sure of anything.

Regardless of the uncertainties, the idea that Jeff would attempt to make amends to the group individually seemed both logical and likely to Abed. Jeff inviting him over sans Troy solidified this hypothesis.

Abed accepted the invitation without hesitation. He’d arrived punctual and amiable as ever, greeted by a rather relieved looking Jeff.

“Good,” Abed replied, smiling back. “Good good good.” He handed over the heavy Tupperware container that had almost spilled several times on the car ride over. “Shirley started up potluck dinners again while you were gone. She wanted me to bring you this.”

“That’s good,” Jeff smiled, a bit too coy, “good, good.” He escorted Abed to the couch, thankful he moved the pillow that smelled vaguely like Ann and Britta’s separate perfumes to his room.

“I have Netflix, and a few DVDs in the TV stand,” Jeff explained, “Choose willingly, I’ll put the leftovers away.” Typical Shirley. What may have been a passive aggressive, we’re-fine-without-you move (like the Christmas cards Jeff and his mom used to send his father), was at least well disguised by Shirley as a kind gesture. It certainly smelled good, and deep seeded resentment certainly could.

While in the kitchen, Jeff checked on the noodles. They would be ready, if he had turned the boiler on. More angry with himself than necessary, he turned the tab to 6-7, biting his lip.

Jeff called to Abed in the other room. “The noodles might be a while. Want something to drink?”

Abed nodded, but didn’t elaborate. All of his True Grit related life experiences were comparatively uninteresting. He did still hold onto a VHS copy of the original film despite the fact that he no longer possessed a videocassette recorder.

Abed sipped at his (for once not chocolate laden) milk as Jeff cursed at the television, sensing a much longer conversation than the evening had originally planned for. He set his drink down and peered at the the dreaded “we’re having trouble playing this title right now,” error message that appeared on the screen. He knew that this was the all-important and all too difficult small talk time he’d known would be a part of Jeff’s homecoming.

“You made Annie cry,” Abed mentioned, simply and abruptly. He knew it didn’t exactly constitute small talk, but it was an event that seemed worth putting at the forefront. He made the statement almost matter-of-factly with no judgment in his tone and confusion in his eyes.

Entrance into Friendships, Revisited

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:01:59 -0500

wingercharm:

iambatmannow:

wingercharm:

Becoming close with the study group was hard the first time. After Ann became pregnant, Jeff was divided more from his friends, setting back a season’s (said season being spring) worth of steps forward. It hurt, knowing how far he’d go for something he loved without knowing, and someone he fell in love with, still having his group of friends he loved.

Now that Jeff was back, the only one who still liked him was Britta and no one really would trust her, knowing their past. Well, that, and she’s Britta, for God’s sake. Her name is synonymous with “screw up” and “misspelled water filter”. The most impartial one, from Jeff’s careful reasoning, was Abed. He was the best bet in having someone to say is okay again. Jeff was still working his way up to Annie; she was the boss level.

With that, Abed was invited over for the evening. The incentive was an independent film viewing, with the fancy (read: extra fattening) butter and noodles Jeff brought from the Sweetums factory. Abed accepted, sounding gracious with his “Sure” over the phone. The manic knocking fro the door was an indicator as well. Upon opening was the lanky man with big brown eyes he first met at Greendale. Nothing could’ve been better than seeing him.

“Hey, Abed,” Jeff opened the door wider to let him in, “How have you been?”

There’d been no big homecoming, no late night at Red Street (as the group had begun to refer to the bar with the much disputed name) when Jeff had arrived back in Greendale. Only Britta had been there to pick him up from the airport after his ridiculously early flight. It wasn’t so much that the study group had gotten used to functioning without Jeff, but that they’d seen his leaving as a bigger fault than it was.

Jeff was what held the group together; like their study room table when school wasn’t in session. At least unconsciously, they’d all expected their problems to disappear upon Jeff’s arrival. This wasn’t to say that Jeff’s departure wasn’t a major cause of tension between them. Abed had drawn up several charts and diagrams, but found there were too many variables to be sure of anything.

Regardless of the uncertainties, the idea that Jeff would attempt to make amends to the group individually seemed both logical and likely to Abed. Jeff inviting him over sans Troy solidified this hypothesis.

Abed accepted the invitation without hesitation. He’d arrived punctual and amiable as ever, greeted by a rather relieved looking Jeff.

“Good,” Abed replied, smiling back. “Good good good.” He handed over the heavy Tupperware container that had almost spilled several times on the car ride over. “Shirley started up potluck dinners again while you were gone. She wanted me to bring you this.”

“That’s good,” Jeff smiled, a bit too coy, “good, good.” He escorted Abed to the couch, thankful he moved the pillow that smelled vaguely like Ann and Britta’s separate perfumes to his room.

“I have Netflix, and a few DVDs in the TV stand,” Jeff explained, “Choose willingly, I’ll put the leftovers away.” Typical Shirley. What may have been a passive aggressive, we’re-fine-without-you move (like the Christmas cards Jeff and his mom used to send his father), was at least well disguised by Shirley as a kind gesture. It certainly smelled good, and deep seeded resentment certainly could.

While in the kitchen, Jeff checked on the noodles. They would be ready, if he had turned the boiler on. More angry with himself than necessary, he turned the tab to 6-7, biting his lip.

Jeff called to Abed in the other room. “The noodles might be a while. Want something to drink?”

Abed instinctively took the left side of the couch, used to the sagging seating of his own apartment. In contrast to Apartment 303, Jeff’s place was Annie-approved neat with meticulous, however sparse, décor. The apartment, or the living room at least, had changed little since Abed had been there.

Seeing little of interest in Jeff’s DVD collection, the filmmaker switched on the Wii and accessed Netflix. He thought amusedly of Annie’s method of recognizing people over 30 and mentally added a lack of current gaming systems. After a quick look through his friend’s queue (it appeared Jeff had been on a Quantum Leap kick), Abed decided on the 2010 version of True Grit. It seemed like it would be Jeff’s kind of Western, and he had liked the original.

“Milk,” Abed called back immediately. He linked drinks to his favorite meals, choosing carefully as if it were a fine wine. He’d never cared for fine wine. They all seemed to have subtle flavors like “smokey” or “nutty” which made no sense to add to grapes.

Entrance into Friendships, Revisited

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:27:02 -0500

wingercharm:

Becoming close with the study group was hard the first time. After Ann became pregnant, Jeff was divided more from his friends, setting back a season’s (said season being spring) worth of steps forward. It hurt, knowing how far he’d go for something he loved without knowing, and someone he fell in love with, still having his group of friends he loved.

Now that Jeff was back, the only one who still liked him was Britta and no one really would trust her, knowing their past. Well, that, and she’s Britta, for God’s sake. Her name is synonymous with “screw up” and “misspelled water filter”. The most impartial one, from Jeff’s careful reasoning, was Abed. He was the best bet in having someone to say is okay again. Jeff was still working his way up to Annie; she was the boss level.

With that, Abed was invited over for the evening. The incentive was an independent film viewing, with the fancy (read: extra fattening) butter and noodles Jeff brought from the Sweetums factory. Abed accepted, sounding gracious with his “Sure” over the phone. The manic knocking fro the door was an indicator as well. Upon opening was the lanky man with big brown eyes he first met at Greendale. Nothing could’ve been better than seeing him.

“Hey, Abed,” Jeff opened the door wider to let him in, “How have you been?”

There’d been no big homecoming, no late night at Red Street (as the group had begun to refer to the bar with the much disputed name) when Jeff had arrived back in Greendale. Only Britta had been there to pick him up from the airport after his ridiculously early flight. It wasn’t so much that the study group had gotten used to functioning without Jeff, but that they’d seen his leaving as a bigger fault than it was.

Jeff was what held the group together; like their study room table when school wasn’t in session. At least unconsciously, they’d all expected their problems to disappear upon Jeff’s arrival. This wasn’t to say that Jeff’s departure wasn’t a major cause of tension between them. Abed had drawn up several charts and diagrams, but found there were too many variables to be sure of anything.

Regardless of the uncertainties, the idea that Jeff would attempt to make amends to the group individually seemed both logical and likely to Abed. Jeff inviting him over sans Troy solidified this hypothesis.

Abed accepted the invitation without hesitation. He’d arrived punctual and amiable as ever, greeted by a rather relieved looking Jeff.

“Good,” Abed replied, smiling back. “Good good good.” He handed over the heavy Tupperware container that had almost spilled several times on the car ride over. “Shirley started up potluck dinners again while you were gone. She wanted me to bring you this.”

Send me a word and I will write a drabble with our characters:

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:00:35 -0500

squirreltastic:

Cheiloproclitic - Being attracted to someones lips.
Quidnunc - One who always has to know what is going on.
Ultracrepidarian - Of one who speaks or offers opinions on matters beyond their knowledge.
Apodyopis - The act of mentally undressing someone.
Gymnophoria - The sensation that someone is mentally undressing you.
Tarantism - The urge to overcome melancholy by dancing.
Autolatry - The worship of one’s self.
Cagamosis - An unhappy marriage.
Gargalesthesia - The sensation caused my tickling.
Capernoited - Slightly intoxicated or tipsy.
Lalochezia - The use of abusive language to relieve stress or ease pain.
Cataglottism - Kissing with tongue.
Basorexia - An overwhelming desire to kiss.
Brontide - The low rumbling of distant thunder.
Grapholagnia - The urge to stare at obscene pictures.
Agelast - A person who never laughs.
Wanweird - An unhappy fate.
Dystopia - Am imaginary place of total misery. A metaphor for hell.
Petrichor - The smell of dry rain on the ground.
Anagapesis - The feeling when one no longer loves someone they once did.
Malapert - Clever in manners of speech.
Duende - Unusual power to attract or charm.
Concilliabule - A secret meeting of people who are hatching a plot.
Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”.
Lygerastia - The condition of one who is only amorous when the lights are out. 
Ayurnamat - The philosophy that there is no point in worrying about events that cannot be changed.
Sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads no where.
Baisemain - A kiss on the hand.
Druxy - Something which looks good on the outside, but is actually rotten inside.
Mamihlapinatapei - The look between two people in which each loves the other but is too afraid to make the first move.

nbcooc: Again, probably not an actual murder, but they don’t...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:49:20 -0500

I don't even know how to explain myself on this slide.

I imagine it would be something they would keep to themselves? (Troy being told it's something for air conditioning repair brings his tools, a wary Annie brings her gun, ect?)

Pierce: "But Shirley can't be Mrs. /White/--"

Actually has nothing to do with timelines but I thought it would be fitting? Maybe Jeff was the designated victim for the game--the die.

They meet up in an abandoned mansion??? A warehouse??? Somewhere Clue-esque?

They find the Dean pretending to be dead in the center-- some freaking out occurs!

Until they realize he isn't actually dead. When Jeff realizes this is just another ridiculous Greendale antic, well....

I don't think he would take it too well? He's been under a lot of stress! And he'd been used to the more subtle style of Pawnee for the past few months! "This is stupid!"

Make of that what you wil?

PLOT TWIST

nbcooc:

Again, probably not an actual murder, but they don’t know that! (Britta Britta’d the pulse?) This causes for SERIOUS measures. Screw the police. They have to get to the bottom of this

He would though. This isn’t a kiddie game anymore. This is serious business, and he cares about the safety of his friends!

AWWWW YISSSS.

Again, probably something the “victim” inflicted on themselves accidentally. But people brought things that could be used as weapons with them, so… IT COULD BE ANYONE. ~MYSTERIES~

And then things are finally fine!? I want to think that maybe Abed set everything up (he knows everyone THAT well,) to restore the group’s normal balance. (I think it would go well with the Abed/Jeff thread you guys had mentioned where Jeff tries to get back in the group? Maybe this is how Abed helps (without Jeff realizing?)

I DON’T KNOW BUT NOW I MUST GO. THIS WILL PROBABLY MAKE NO SENSE TO ME ANYONE ONCE I GET HOME SORRY SORRY SORRY.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS!! XD And I think maybe Chang should be “victim” who they think is dead. But really he’s just Chang and probably inhaled something noxious or something?

Crisis Intervention and Therapeutic Communication

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:20:45 -0400

littleannieadderall:

Annie was about to say something to cut through the silence when she felt his arms around her. Of course, the natural instinct was to hug him back, but this was Abed. Abed never really was a hugger, aside from a few awkward, loose, one-armed gestures that couldn’t exactly be classified as a hug. Annie had hugged him before, plenty of times. But it always received kind of a passive smile, or a light touch on the back. Getting past the initial surprise, Annie’s arms hesitantly found their way around him. She wasn’t sure if he liked being hugged, but hugging someone was usually an invitation to be hugged back. She rested her chin on his shoulder and let her fingers lace around him for a bit, until she felt her shoulders shake in a quiet little sob.

It was almost as unexpected as the hug. After all, Annie could have sworn she was all cried out after her dangerously tense phone conversation with Jeff. But she could feel the tears falling down her face, and that all-too-familiar lump in her throat; and there was nothing she could do to stop it. So Annie let her hair fall over Abed’s shoulder and quietly cried into him, holding on to him like their lives depended on it. As if she needed him to stay afloat, because it certainly felt like she was drowning.

It felt like an hour, but it couldn’t have been nearly that long. Because Annie could faintly hear that Ferris had found a solution to his friend’s problem from the near-by TV.

“Thanks, Abed.” The words got lost somewhere, muffled by his shoulder and the shirt resting over it. She pulled away from the hug to wipe her eyes—feeling smaller than ever, but somehow relieved. She really was cried out now. All of the frustrations of the past week: Jeff’s anger, being stuck in bed, having a ridiculous hospital bill—it was finally, for the most part, out of her system. So far, a single hug had done more for her than all of Britta’s bi-hourly therapy mini-sessions and Troy’s home-cooked comfort food combined. At least it felt that way.

Still, Annie didn’t like feeling so small; and Abed’s opinion of her was important. Especially given how observant he was. Nearly everyone looked to him for opinions on people and their actions. She didn’t want his response on Annie Edison to be: “She cries a lot. She talks during movies and falls apart in emotion-fueled situations.”

“Sorry,” Annie recovered, trying not to sound as weak as she felt. She folded her hands against her lap, only to see that they were still shaking, much to her frustration. The movie was lost to her, now only serving as a fuzzy background noise to keep the silence at bay. Annie fumbled her trembling fingers together nervously and looked back up to Abed for the first time in what felt like hours—for once hoping for his usual, indifferent demeanor.

Abed could hear Annie’s breathing, sharp and staccato as she fought back tears, more clearly than any of the considerable noise from the TV. The beloved film was background noise now. He could feel the pressure of his friend’s head on his shoulder and the warm of her hands, even through his sleeves. Annie’s hair pressed between her neck and his cheeks left him with the sweet, fruity smell of her discount shampoo.

Abed hadn’t felt so singularly aware of a person since he’d met George Takei in high school. It was almost as frightening as it was enthralling. He flinched when Annie’s grip tightened, but didn’t move away; deciding that he enjoyed being close to her more than he disliked being clung to.

Annie was the one who eventually put distance between them. She looked up at, appearing slightly embarrassed about her emotional display, but otherwise in better shape. Abed stared back at her, unsure of the protocol for such situations, and whether or not ignoring it was ideal. He settled on a faint not; a reaction he heavily relied on when other’s failed him.

“Do you want to go back?” Abed asked finally, offering her the remote. “We missed the scene with Charlie Sheen.”

Crisis Intervention and Therapeutic Communication

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 21:10:04 -0400

littleannieadderall:

“Yeah, well that’s what I thought.” Annie strayed from her impassive front just enough to let her face twinge in frustration. The fact of the matter was, Jeff didn’t seem to care about any of them very much anymore. At least that’s what it felt like. And it wasn’t like Abed would know—he wasn’t there to hear the anger in his voice.

“I guess I just…” Annie paused, trying to collect her thoughts.

“He didn’t even ask how I was doing.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but it may as well been. Right after she told Jeff that she was getting better, he started asking about everyone else. As if he hadn’t spoken to them since he’d left. And once he had started asking about her, he just started berating her for staying out of contact and acting like a child.

“I guess it was selfish to think he’d actually come down here, but he just…” Annie frowned and fidgeted in her spot on the bed. She could feel defeat creeping in her voice, and she didn’t like it one bit. This new factor in the group’s dynamic was doing her absolutely no favors in a way she wasn’t entirely able to explain. Annie had gotten used to being important to Jeff— or at least being told that. It was kind of a special title. Jeff wasn’t quick to show people that he cared about them, so to be consistently assured that he cared about her made Annie feel…important, somehow. She hadn’t expected to have that ripped away from her so quickly, so easily—like a car crash.

And Annie knew Abed didn’t want to talk about this. Not really. Abed dealt with an admirable assortment of situations efficiently and easily, but ones fueled by emotional conflict wasn’t one of them. He had yet to say anything, so Annie resolved to keep quiet and try one last time to focus on the film that he’d picked for them to watch together.

The conversation dwindled as quickly as Cameron’s hopes of ever restoring his father’s car. The unnatural hush, both on screen and off, made Abed truly appreciate the phrase ‘awkward silence.’ Despite what were his sincerest efforts, the filmmaker found himself failing to come up with a way to successfully assure his friend of a fact he himself was less than sure of.

The way Abed saw it, friends didn’t just outright lie to friends. The dangers of such falsehoods between friends were clearly outlined in the show with that very name. Not to mention nearly every sitcom ever created. Unfortunately, he had yet to fully understand he comparative usefulness of white lies.

Abed’s mental cross-reference of his most practiced and most appropriate characters for the situation, which had been running around like white noise to fill the silence, stopped briefly at Don Draper. The Madison man was no doubt a skilled liar. A few confident words from Don would have any woman willing to trade in her worries for him. So why did this seem like a tremendously bad idea to Abed?

Combining what he’d supposed in the last couple minutes into a last ditch effort, he wrapped his arms around Annie and hugged her tightly. Or at least tightly compared to Abed’s usual light, limp armed embraces. He couldn’t turn his head far enough to see her expression, but hoped for the cathartic effect illustrated in movies; where shoulders slumped, and sighs of relief were breathed, and a sense of comfort spread through both the characters and audience.

Crisis Intervention and Therapeutic Communication

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:55:55 -0400

littleannieadderall:

“Well, hopefully I won’t be needing that.” Annie cracked a smile at the extremely Troy and Abed-esque gesture. She tried to focus back on the film for awhile, though only a couple of minutes passed before she opened her mouth again.

“Did you know Jeff was coming back here for school?” Annie asked even though she wasn’t even sure if he was anymore, though she’d just found out minutes earlier. Ferris’ antics were almost completely drowned out now, and experience had taught Annie that Abed wouldn’t be too pleased with that. Still, it was impossible to pay attention to what was happening on screen with that one thought gnawing at the back of her mind.

“I mean, it’s not crazy for me to have thought he’d just stay in Indiana, right?” Especially when he didn’t come down to at least check up on how things were, considering what had happened. Not that he even bothered to know, or probably even care. Since when had he stopped caring about her well-being anyway? Plane tickets are expensive, sure. Annie could almost understand him not coming back if he wasn’t coming for school. But would it really kill him to come back just a week or two early to make sure everything was okay? And maybe not yelled at and insulted her over the phone instead? After only a microscopic interval of silence, Annie interrupted her train of thought.

“Nevermind, it’s not important.” Annie shook her head, setting herself straight, and turned her now unfaltering attention to the small television screen in front of them. She didn’t need two friends mad at her for being some childish, clingy mess.

Abed watched as Lucy Goosey was rapidly raveled by nerves and replaced by the familiar model of anxious Annie.

“Jeff’s driving goal of being unlike his deadbeat father made it unclear whether he was staying or coming back,” he commented, coming the closest he could to an assurance. The arrival of Ann and impending arrival of Lukas had changed Jeff, and subsequently the central dynamic of the group. Everything had shifted, leaving Annie displaced and Abed unsure of his observations.

It was hard to tell Annie’s expression given her determinedly stoic gaze at the screen, but nothing about her seemed at all comforted by his words.

“It’s doubtful that he’ll ever be gone for long,” Abed added. “It’s as unlikely Jeff would abandon the group as he would his son.” He knew that wasn’t what Annie wanted to hear. Not exactly, anyway. What she really wanted was to be sure Jeff would always come back to her.