"I didn’t like it or not like it," the pink hair girl had told him, "I just didn’t know if it’s ironic." Leaving the table his mind still struggled to read through her line. She hadn't lifted her eyes from her plate, wasn't making eye contact. He kept pausing between mouthfuls, expectant. On his sides she and the one Wanderloo thought of as Captain Rollup felt a bit like gargoyles. They would talk movies without lifting their eyes and ask politely if he had watched this or that.
He walked through the other writers finishing another complimentary dinner at the villa. Evening drew close and the light in the cellar-like space was getting soft and white. All around him alternative types, alternative dreams, alternative hair. They weren't easy to shorten the berth. But he'd get there: they were after all, all chosen. The workshop was filled with promise: it was backed by one of the biggest brand names in the video game business: the organizers were even clever enough to only tease who it was at promotion. And the diners were all chosen.
Discreetly, his eyes searched for his crush. There were only two women on his team and the other one was cute, hot, smart, nice. And he was taken. He had clear signals at which he softly pushed back, though his sense was not everyone around was taking their partner back home as seriously as they did the summertime and the overall fortuitous mingling scenario. Ah, but he liked to pine. And she shared a name with the slightly standoffish pink hair girl. Wasn't that something?
Rain was pattering on at the villa grounds just outside. How nice. He spotted Cap with his nautical cap at the mouth of the gate. Wanderloo stood by him and a woman who often seemed melancholic. Cap had rolled one up out of his fanny pack and was now letting his eyes drifting easy and unselfconscious across the drizzle and the grove, as if he were inspecting melancholy itself.
He told the woman: "I heard there is a document where they have graded our applications."
"That won't be good for my self-esteem," she chuckled.
Cap kept looking on. Wanderloo kept listening.
the Budafoki amended 