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Heyo, folkages! Free Association, Episode 24. I don't know how I keep churning them out, but it's surprisingly easy despite how much I worry! I really fret about it too much. I'm so dedicated to making sure you guys get your coon/wuff/coonwuff time! Sorry today's was a bit later in the day, been angrily fighting with my computer all yesterday and today, and SF was having issues.

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_ Wednesday. _

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"And so the electrons don't actually flow through the material, like they would in a conductor, they just shift so that the molecules become polar... are you listening to me?"

The gryphon's fingers flew over the controller's buttons, a rapid reflexive rage only vaguely correlated to what was happening on the screen. After a moment, he offered "Yes, of course! ...dammit dammit dammit! Shit."

"Sure you weren't hitting the 'suck' button by accident?" Jonathon remarked dryly, to the 'game over' screen.

"I think I need a new controller," Mitch grumbled, tossing the maligned object onto the ground from his bed. "This one the bumpers don't always register presses."

"Right. Blame the controller. Classic."

"You try it, see if I'm wrong! Or let me use yours!"

"Fat chance," the raccoon huffed. "Anyway, as I was saying..."

The door, which was ajar, banged open suddenly. "I'm back, bitches!"

"Yaaaaaaay!" Jonathon's captive audience, fleeting as it was, instantly evaporated. Or perhaps a better term was evacuated, leaping from his seat on the bed toward the doorway, where a certain feline bore a plastic bag and an already-opened box of cokes.

Jonathon rubbed the bridge of his nose with a paw, glancing for a moment out the window. The freezing rain of last night had become a hard, wicked crust over the surface of campus, their known universe. In such a state, it was difficult to conceive of anything warm or comforting, anything even remotely connected to the forgotten glow of summer, or the far-off tepid charm of spring. He wished Brad were here.

The raccoon snuffled.

Poetic melancholia aside... something smelled delicious.

With a sigh of only mild resignment, the raccoon flipped his chemistry book shut, the gesture carrying a bit of an exasperated undertone... and stood up, pausing to give a long stretch and a big yawn. "You're... aaaaaaghhhh... the best, Mandy," he said, pacing over to where the cheetah girl was distributing her cargo. From the bag emerged white styrofoam containers which were warm to the touch, their rims marked with tantalizing hints of the substances within.

There were plastic forks. There were packets of soy sauce, mustard, and the orange goo that Mitch liked. There were fortune cookies. There were even cheap wooden chopsticks, though Mandy was the only one who could use them.

"Hey, it was on the way, least I could do." She popped open a container, checking the contents, and then handed it to Mitch, who yayed. "How're the chemicals coming?"

"I think I'll do fine," Jonathon said, casting a significant look at the gryphon, who was stuffing the first bite of shrimp szechuan into his yellow beak with a truly ecstatic expression and much noisy chomping.

"Aaaah," the cheetah remarked, sharp eyes taking note of the video game that was still displaying its message of defeat in the background. "Well... Karma for trying..."

Jonathon rolled his eyes, accepting the next styrofoam container and a can of coke. "Something like that."

The cheetah sat down on the side of the other bed, facing the two males, and dug into her own something-with-lots-of-rice. Looked like moo goo. "You guys done the outline for Madison yet?"

"Yep!"

"Oh, uh... oh yeah, that... Is that due tonight?"

Mandy gave the sheepish male an incredulous look. "Haven't you even gotten started?"

Jonathon erked and dropped his fork. "Uuuuhhhh..."

"Wow, Jonathon!" Mitch exclaimed cheerfully, cracking open a soda can. "You're gonna have a looooot of work to do in the next few hours! You're supposed to put all the sources in it and everything!"

Mandy was giving him a look. One part disappointment, one part ironic amusement. The raccoon waved her off. "I already have the sources done, because unlike someone I did them last week and brought them to the optional TA review session."

"I have good sources!" The gryphon tilted his beaky nose up. "I found one from Taco Bell!"

The raccoon burst into giggles, trying to avoid spraying the entire room with little bits of cashew chicken. He must have failed, because Mandy took cover with a squawk of protest and a lunge for the napkins. "What sort of topic makes you think Taco Bell is a good source?"

"The progressive decline in health conditions of employees at minimum wage with no significant insurance coverage over the past thirty years," the gryphon said smoothly.

Jonathon wiped his mouth. "Oh. Oh, yeah, I suppose that is a good source, then."

Mitch gave him a big, not entirely oblivious grin. "Yep... it is!"

"What is yours, anyway, Jonathon?" Mandy blinked when he hesitated, raising an eyebrow. "You do have one, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, just trying to remember it..." the raccoon murmured dismissively. "Let's see, the broad topic I drew was... transportation safety, that's right." He took a bite of chicken. "And I decided I wanted to do it about elevators, because everyone's heard all sorts of crap about car crashes and the TSA and all that."

Mitch giggled. "Elevators aren't transportation!"

"Sure they are. I cleared it with Madison anyway, he said it was fine. I mean, haven't you ever gotten into a creaky old elevator and just thought about what if this is its last trip?" Jonathon shrugged. "Turns out there are some pretty gruesome horror stories about people killed in elevator malfunctions - there are a lot of safety measures to keep them from falling, but there's tons of other stuff that can go wrong besides just a 40-story plummet."

"Like... like what?" Mitch asked, looking a little pale.

"Well, a lot of people just fall down the shaft or something, but I'm mostly skipping over that one since it's typically the victim's fault. Plenty of other things are safety issues; for instance, a number of cabled elevators have had the motor detach from the top of the elevator shaft, causing the car to fall to the bottom and a moment later the motor comes crashing down on top of it." The raccoon made a smashing gesture with his fist. "Huge motors, thousands of pounds. And then getting into and out of the elevator seems to be particularly dangerous; there have been instances either of the doors not realizing someone is in the way when they close, or of the car moving suddenly up or down with someone in the - "

"Eeeeeeep!"

"I think we get the picture," Mandy remarked. "You'll be a lot prettier if you take the stairs. In several ways."

Jonathon grinned a little, tone faintly apologetic at the gryphon's squeamish, reproachful expression. "It's quite unusual, though. You're actually more likely to die from falling down the stairs than in an elevator." He chuckled a bit. "Or, you know, in a car accident. Something like 60 people are killed by elevators every year in the US; for fatal car accidents the number's more like 35,000. Funny how people don't think about that when they drive places; I worry about elevators more."

"Well, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine today?" The cheetah nabbed a snow pea with her chopsticks and masticated.

Jonathon shrugged. "You did ask what my topic was. So yeah, I'm going over the various safety issues with the major technologies, and then I'm going to cover the safety standards that elevators are currently built to, which significantly reduce the risks. It'll be a good topic, I think." He made a face. "Good thing you reminded me about that outline, though."

"You can buy a girl a drink later."

"Any girl?" The raccoon gave his friend a wry smirk.

Mandy tossed her long, loose curls, flinging a toxic look his way with the gesture as she took a scornful sip of her coke.

There was a sudden, persistent beeping. Everyone glanced at everyone else.

"Mine's on vibrate," Mandy said, licking her nose (the sip had been a bit too exuberant).

"Mine makes a different noise," Jonathon mumbled around his chicken.

Grumbling, Mitch set his food down and stuffed a paw into his pocket, fished out his phone, and tapped a button. "Heyo." His feather-furs were still standing a bit on end from the elevator story, Jonathon noticed.

"Oh hi! Yup, you? Mhmm. Not much, just hanging out with some friends!" The gryphon lay back on his bed, grinning cheerfully. Just then, the door opened.

"Hey, Bill," Jonathon said, smiling at the enormous black-furred panther who ducked into the room. The feline was a couple inches too tall to fit through any of the doors in the dorms, it seemed, no matter which building you stuck him in. His shoulders weren't quite wide enough to cause horizontal problems, but they were at least wide enough that he tended to sidle through doorways with a slightly sideways motion.

Mitch's roommate gave him a grin and a thumbs-up. "Hey, haven't seen you in a while! How come you didn't go to the expo with us? It was a great time!" He glanced to the cheetah girl sitting on his bed. "Hello, Mandy."

She smiled at him, and hopped up. Jonathon could almost see the brownie points Bill got for remembering her name. "I'll get off your bed."

"You're fine," he rumbled, voice an appreciative purr. He paced over to the desk in the corner and dropped his backpack atop it. Mandy sat down beside the raccoon, tail flicking. Jonathon wondered if she was also attempting to avoid staring at the panther's immaculately sculpted posterior, like he was.

"Well," Jonathon posited, trying to come up with a good excuse that didn't involve mentioning his gay date. "I would have gone, but I had plans already. I heard you guys did some of the tournaments?"

"Yeah, it was good!" The enormous football lineman snapped his fingers habitually, energetic. "We did the Forza one and the COD one. I didn't do too well in the first one, hahah, but Mike and that fella got into the finals!" He indicated his roommate, who was still on the phone. "None of us did too great in the other one, but I got further than everybody else." He gave the raccoon one of those plaintive, narrow-eyed looks he had. "We sure missed you though. You never hang out with us anymore."

Jonathon chuckled apologetically. "Yeah, sorry... I've been really busy this semester."

"Can't find the time to hang out with your old friends?" The look continued. Jonathon wasn't sure whether that comment was supposed to be understanding or accusatory. Or both. Bill was a hard one to read.

"Well, classes and stuff," he mumbled. "I'm trying to hang out more and not be lame..."

"Heh. School comes first." Bill seemed to let him off the hook, then, and sat down in the space Mandy had occupied a moment before.

"Right - erk!" Jonathon flinched as something landed atop his fluffy tail; he jerked it toward himself and glanced back reproachfully.

Mitch had flung his free arm out to the side unthinkingly. He glanced at the raccoon, then at his arm, and mouthed 'Sorry!'

Jonathon stuck his tongue out, wrapping his tail around so it sat in his lap, where he could keep an eye on it. Gotta keep the tail safe!

"You guys studying?"

"Yeah... well, eating now," Jonathon said, browsing through his noms for cashew bits. "Mandy was awesome and brought us food. I should have texted you and asked if you wanted anything, sorry, I think Mitch was... distracted."

"No big." The panther flicked his little ears and folded his arms. "I already ate lunch anyway. While you're here..." He scratched the side of his head, blushing a little. "Uh, would you mind... maybe goin' over some of my homework? I've already done it all, I just... kinda want somebody a bit smarter to look at it..." He gave a nervous chuckle.

Jonathon smiled. "Sure, no problem!" The panther was in pre-chem, like the other two males, but was a freshman, and thus was not in the same classes as the older two.

Although if Mitch didn't watch out, they were gonna be in the same classes next semester. Jonathon chuckled a bit at that thought.

"...yeah, but it's next week, so I wasn't sure if... okay. Well okay. Good. Looking forward to it." The gryphon was still on his phone, completely tuning everyone else out.

"Thanks." Bill gave him a big smile, tail flicking. "Saved my bacon there. I mean, I think most of it is right, but I... haven't really been getting awesome grades and stuff."

Faintly bemused at how much he was beginning to resemble a tutor - what with the usual saving-Mitch's-grade-ism, and possible boyfriend-tutelage, and now this hunky jock guy - Jonathon stuffed some rice into his little muzzle. "No prob."

Beep beep!

Well, now, that was the right noise! Surprised, the raccoon set his food down and rustled about for his phone, observing a moment later the screen that was now flashing at him. 'You have received a message from Greyson Durkheim!'

Hm, now, what was this? Jonathon tick-tacked his way into the message screen. Beside him, his friend was engrossed in his conversation, and his other friend struck up a conversation of her own, with the buff panther sitting across the way.

The last message he'd exchanged with the rat had been a few hours before, while sitting in class bored out of his raccoony skull: 'yeah but i don't think it's really relevant whether he's stuck his dick anyplace'

The raccoon glanced around a bit, recalling that that conversation had been about a certain teenage celebrity who had gotten a bit too candid about his non-virginal status on a talk show recently, and was now taking heat for it. Greyson didn't seem to be continuing the conversation, however.

'Did you watch the election stuff last night?'

Oh yeaaaaah.

'nope i was out with a friend totally forgot about it. i checked who won in a buncha things this morning though'

Mmmmm, chicken! Jonathon got up to obtain a packet of soy sauce, and returned, dumping it onto his rice.

"I'm pre-law," Mandy was purring, "but I'm not sure if I want to do criminal litigation or transactional."

"Do you prefer sitting behind a desk or in a courtroom?" came the somewhat wry reply.

Beepy-beep!

'You did vote, though, right?'

Jonathon inserted a mouthful of rice. 'yeah of course, filed my absentee ballot weeks ago. technically still live in my parent's house lol'

"Yeah," Mitch said, beside him. "Well, I'll see you on Tuesday, then. Yup. Alright. Bye." He pulled the phone away from his ear and tapped the screen.

"Who wazzat?" Jonathon asked, through his food.

Mitch glanced over at him. "Somebody I met at the expo last week; he was the one who beat me in Forza. We hung around some; he lives here in town, so we're gonna hang out over thanksgiving since I won't have anything to do."

"Cool," Jonathon replied, anointing his remaining rice with mustard. "I guess I'm probably going home for thanksgiving..."

"You guess?" Mitch gave him a look.

"Well, I mean, I am." Jonathon shrugged. "Dunno really why, it's not like it's going to be much fun, but you know. I'd almost rather stay here and hang out with you guys, but what would I tell my parents?"

Mitch shrugged. "Bill and Mike are both going home. Dunno about Jason, haven't asked him. I'm pretty much gonna be here by myself anyway, nothing interesting going on."

"How come you never go home for breaks?" Jonathon asked, inquisitively.

Mitch made a face. "Long story. I'm much happier playing video games alone, believe me."

Jonathon mmphed at that. He supposed he could understand the sentiment.

Beepy!

'Oh yeah, you live in the dorms and all, that's right. Well the coverage was pretty good. The races were a lot closer than last year.'

Jonathon made a face. 'yeah the way the media talks about it you'd think it was a football game or american idol or something'

Now, he'd remembered something, a moment before... That's right.

"Hey, Mandy," he said, butting into the conversation the two attractive felines were having for a moment. "You still have that ride for me next week, right?"

The cheetah girl flicked her ears and nodded. "Yup! I'll be by... oh, probably like twoish? Your last class is done by then, right?"

"Yeah, all my Tuesday-Thursday classes are early,"the raccoon replied. "Thanks."

"Absolutely, honey. Only makes sense, after all; you live down the street from me." She gave him a shoulderpat, and then a slight glare. "Be sure you're packed and ready to go. I'm not waiting for you."

"Yes'm!"

She chuckled at that.

"Heh, you don't sound like a country girl," Bill remarked, to the cheetah. Jonathon was the only one of their group of friends who wasn't from the suburbs, at least, as far as the coon knew himself.

"That's because I'm a well-educated country girl," she retorted, a bit cattily, but her tail was flicking with amusement. "You can sometimes get Jonathon to do some of it when he gets flustered, it's the funniest thing."

The raccoon grinned wryly. "'Pon m'onor, I ain't done nothin'a deserve ya a-faultin' me, dag nab it!"

Mandy rolled her eyes, while Bill started cackling. "It's not the same when you do it on purpose."

"Just channeling my grandfather," the raccoon said with a chuckle. "And for your information, you get a bit of the accent when you get mad. It is also 'the funniest thing'."

Beep beep!

"Hush, you, before I feed you that phone." The cheetah resumed picking at her moo goo, while Bill chuckled and engaged her in conversation again. Jonathon checked his phone. That's weird, Greyson hadn't said anything new...

Oh! 'You have received a message from Bradley Wilson!'

Face breaking into a huge grin, Jonathon flicked over to the other conversation he'd been having in class earlier.

'hey i wanna see you tonight are you free'

Jonathon's smile fell a little. Dammit! Awww... he wanted to say yes...

'gonna hafta give you a rain check :( i have a huge chem test tonight and then right after it is english and i don't have my homework done :/'

Dag nab it! No fuzzy wuffs times for hims todays... :(

For some reason, that demoralizing development served to put the raccoon in a morose state. To his left, one of his friends was flirting with another of his friends, chatting easily and happily; Jonathon could tell from Mandy's behavior that Bill was doing an okay job. The cheetah was never swept off her feet... but she was at least not shutting him down, and Mandy wasted absolutely no time shutting down guys who weren't in her league.

Well... except for that one time. She'd spent weeks with that one stupid scrawny nerd who didn't even kiss her. But after a while, Jonathon had accepted that even a sympathy relationship, with a great friend, who also happened to be one of the hottest girls in his high school... wasn't enough to turn him straight.

For all her consolation upon their breakup... Mandy had admitted, afterward, that she'd known what was going on from the beginning. If she hadn't suspected her friend needed a bit of self-discovery time, she would have said 'Let's just be friends.' But what was a few weeks of hanging out a bit more, if it helped Jonathon figure out what he wanted?

And now she had moved on with her life, far beyond, had dated a sizeable set of guys, and had slept with a smaller set that was not entirely a subset of the first. And what had Jonathon done?

Pined over Greyson, mostly. Moped a bit. Well, all right, there had been that guy, the rabbit, that he'd slept with in senior year, and the chinchilla fellow a year before... But, really, a paltry experience, nearly devoid of proper romance. Hell, he couldn't even remember their names; he had no idea where they were now. Mandy always had a guy who'd take her on a date, if she wanted, even back early in high school, when she'd deigned to give the awkward little raccoon a chance.

And what about Mitch? Jonathon looked to his right, at the tiny avian munching his shrimp with an elated expression. He hadn't been with anyone that Jonathon knew about, but despite the fact that Mitch was probably his best friend that he'd met in college, he knew remarkably little about the gryphony guy. The extent of their overlap was video games and chemistry homework, as it was with quite a few of Jonathon's friends. Some he shared even less with. Hell, Mitch could be in a happy relationship with some happy girl from wherever-he-was-from-again, and Jonathon wouldn't have the faintest clue about it.

Just like Mitch didn't have a clue that Jonathon had to turn down a gay date - or whatever Brad had been about to propose - in the name of school, procrastination, and plain old Life.

Sad smiley face.

And then Mitch was going to have himself a delightful old time with friends Jonathon hadn't met, due to being busy with that same gay fellow, while the raccoon would likely be lazing around at home doing nothing and wishing he could go back to school so he could see Brad. Doing nothing important, at least. Not seeing anybody or hanging out. Maybe he'd hang out with Mandy, but her family was always really busy at holidays, and he could see her at school any time he liked, pretty much. Greyson, of course, was here now, and his other friends from high school... He couldn't think of any he particularly wanted to get in touch with again.

Yup. Just moping in his room and wandering the internet, an awkward family dinner and the usual from the parents. It got so tedious.

Jonathon felt like the most wasteful oxygen-sucker in the room, right about then. He didn't want his life to be boring and lonely.

It had been that way for too long, anyway.

The raccoon chewed some rice. Thumbed his phone to wake it up. His message to Brad was still on the screen, no reply.

'hey how bout we hang out tomorrow night though? i wanna see you too'

There. Operation Let's-Not-Be-Mopey was a-go. Jonathon flicked his phone off and stuffed it back in his pocket, and then looked to Mitch. "Alright. We have an hour and a half until lecture, then there's time for supper, and then the test. Wanna go over this crap one more time, or would you rather just flunk?"

The gryphon made a sad meeping noise. "I'm gonna fail anywaaaaay!"

"That's the attitude of a champion!" Bill hyped, leaping up. "Come on, Mitch! Let's fail that test! I wanna see what you can do, let's get to it, let's go!" He lifted the gryphon clear off the bed easily; it looked like a forklift picking up a box of granola bars.

Mitch whined, still holding his chinese food and eating it, 'sitting' crosslegged in midair. "Stoppiiiiit!"

"No, you're going to be a champion! We can't stop now! Show me those failing skills!!!" Bill carried the gryphon over to the discarded chemistry book and plunked him down in front of it. Throwing Jonathon a glance, he dropped his maniacal grin for a moment and gestured with an eyeroll, and the raccoon chuckled and turned to face the other two chemistry students.

"Alright, alright... Let's see how terribly we can butcher this subject."

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I quite liked this episode. I feel like random bite-sized narratives like this can either go really good or really bad, so I hope this episode goes over well, it was a lot of fun to write. The plot development is quite subtle, but I hope you all spotted it peeking out here and there. I think you'll see in the next few episodes, if you didn't.

Also, new character! Well, Bill was mentioned in Episodes 4 and 14, iirc... oh, holy crap. 4, 14, and 24. How very sneaky of the fella! I like Bill. I don't think his role in the story will be too major, much like the other roommates (with the possible exception of Marty), but he definitely has a role and will be important. More than just as black-furred eye candy. I promise. Why would I lie about these things? :333

See you guys next week!