art that's hard to teach | ricky

Ras wasn't actually important, but he thought he was, if that counted. Instead of a confrontational reply, he got a yes. Though he put on a show of being unphased by negativity, Rasmus was slightly pleased he wouldn't have to go through the hassle of justifying himself. Not that he'd admit that.

"The buttons no longer work. I need it for homework." Rasmus explained. "Can you turn the keyboard back into a keyboard?" When Ricky told him to lay it on the desk, he hesitated, his eyes traveling from Ricky to the mentioned desk. This felt a little like a medical drama now. Maybe he was more tired than he thought.

"I don't really want to reset the whole thing." Rasmus added, as if that were a default possibility in situations like this. By "reset" he meant wipe to factory settings, though the fact was, his keyboard functionality would return to normal if he had simply restarted the machine. Or, googled, but his impatience would have taken over well before he struggled through the mountain of tabs he'd have to open to troubleshoot. Oh well, he was here now.

The teen couldn't stomach the idea of shutting down InDesign unnecessarily- it constantly lurked in the background, sapping his ram, just in case inspiration hit and he thought of a new poster or template design. If Ricky got curious and pulled open the currently running window, he'd find a poster design that encouraged fellow students to sign up for an art class. With digital design work making up the background of the image, the futuristic fontface brought it all together in an eighteen by twelve frame.

And in the next tab over, there was a book being compiled. He was still fussing with a few pesky linebreaks, but it appeared to be a combination of stories, poetry, and art by other people. Among them was his sister, but otherwise, there weren't particularly noteworthy names. It was the only thing still actively running, aside from the hidden background programs that he hadn't bothered to close.

Ras glanced at the HP x360, considering his options. Did he dare risk this stranger poking around? On the other hand, what good was a keyboardless laptop? Resigned to his fate, Ras closed the distance between himself and the desk, setting the gray computer onto the clear surface.

"You can do this, right? I mean, you're not going to start taking stuff apart on me, are you?" Ras prompted, turniing his attention back to Ricky. Leave it to him to start evaluating the consequences now, rather than before he knocked on the door.

Weasle. But, it wasn't like he had any other options. The wise choice was to assert the price he was willing to pay, but, it was early morning, and Rasmus wasn't quick enough on his feet for that. He was going to have to relinquish some control in this situation. It wasn't that he minded paying, he just hated this. Right now. This knowing that the other guy held the cards.

Impatience was going to kill him yet.

"What are you out to get?" Rasmus quizzed, wisely biting back an insult about what he imagined the other teenager needed. "Essay written or something? Editing advice?" Why Ras didn't assume money would be just as effective, well... Who knew. But he really wouldn't mind writing the computer nerd a paper, or doing another assignment.

If the other teenager was wise, he'd stay in the realm of language arts, but Ras probably wouldn't argue if the request was for science or math. He could handle tedium. If the kid wasn't looking for an academic price, well... He could always pretend he had other options, besides Ricky.

"Or, what? Need your latest book in publishable format? Looking to plagiarize the school newspaper?" Ras had resisted looking over toward the roommate's side of the dorm up until then, but now his eyes wandered there, toying with the idea of a threat. What sort of threat could he level? He didn't know the roommate any better than he knew Ricky.

---