Day 54: Breakfast

[arc_wrench]

For once, HK was working very hard to hide a giddy facial expression as he met his nurse at the door. He'd already hidden his scalpels in his clothing. The wonderful, sharp implements of doom would be needed today. “Statement: Despite my reticence towards all processed meat and plant products, I am experiencing intolerable levels of hunger,” he

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[moral_liberty]

"Kaworu. Kaworu Nagisa." He didn't flinch when the adult leaned in. Almost imperceptibly, Kaworu mimicked the gesture, shifting his weight forward with interest. He met the man's eyes, and tried to construct what thoughts might be behind them. Even the act of asking for a name was met with hostility, although it was subdued. It lacked hate, but reflected distrust and the frustration that Kaworu had seen when the nurse first led him here.

The circumstances that created an individual fascinated Kaworu. Perhaps it was in part because they were so easily obscured. Events beyond the control of the individual could come to control them. The actions of someone outside themselves changed their lives. When Shinji had told him, without reservation, without being asked, Kaworu had opened to him in turn. But that was unique. Depth Charge would not be forthcoming, Kaworu knew. He would not tell him what had brought him here.

Not discouraged, Kaworu smiled vaguely and lifted his arms onto the table, folding them on the surface in front of his meal. As usual, it held little interest, although he knew there were consequences to not eating. They seemed less pressing now, as they always did.

"It's nice to meet you," he added, repeating what he had once been told to say, but it was not insincere. "You didn't want company though, did you?"

dsdahj reposted /o\

[scalyfishman]

Definitely not a 'con or a Pred, with a name like that, so no surprises there. To be honest, he'd have had to hunt Lugnut down personally if it turned out the Decepticon army had been recruiting sparklings. Still, while Kaworu hadn’t set off any major alarms, the fact that the very next thing out of the kid's mouth managed to throw him off wasn't a good sign.

There was a short pause while Depth Charge tried to work out just what the slag that was supposed to mean. Was he supposed to be offended? Agree with him? Trouble was, there hadn't been a single trace of irony in there- Kaworu might as well have been asking him to pass the salt, not to mention he'd sounded perfectly sincere just a second earlier. Anyway, it was true. As a general rule, he and company got on about as well as a Inferno and self control, and they got on like... well. A house on fire. Which was precisely the problem.

When his logic circuits kicked in a nanoklik or two later to remind him that inane silence wasn't exactly the intelligent reaction here, he made himself pick a reaction and stick with it. In this case? Low-level defensiveness. Always a classic.

"Me? Not want company? What was your first clue?" On went the sarcasm, and immediately he felt better. Geeze. This place was making him even cagier than usual- and when he could admit to being cagey... Depth Charge quirked an eyebrow. "Well, you said it first."

Re: dsdahj reposted /o\

[moral_liberty]

Kaworu's smile broadened, just barely. A faint increase in the angle of his mouth. It was, perhaps, the closest thing to a confession that the man believed he could give to Kaworu. This was someone who was entirely outside of himself. It was natural to hide one's own depths from those who weren't trusted. To those who were unknown. To trust was to open oneself up to pain, rejection, frustration, shame, but also companionship and love. It couldn't bother Kaworu that he wasn't trusted, because it was understandable. Depth Charge didn't need to know anything about Kaworu to want to protect himself. He didn't need to know what Kaworu was, or what he had done.

A stranger who knew nothing of him showed Kaworu more hostility than Shinji. There was no point in wishing that he had acted differently, because there was no way to change what he was. He would have liked things to have been different, but they weren't. He wanted to believe that Shinji understood this. However, Kaworu knew Shinji he yearned for their bond so deeply that the pain was a tolerable aspect of their relationship.

"It's alright," Kaworu assured him. "I understand. There is risk and discomfort in the company of someone unknown. This exposure is necessary, although in this case, it's also decided on by outside forces. We wouldn't have met if they didn't arrange it. But that was also by chance."

[scalyfishman]

The smile had just skirted under the creepiness radar the first time but it was amazing how much difference one little twitch could make when it came to stage two, and that just about pushed it into Unsettling territory. Not exactly take-to-the-hills stuff- and he knew that, far better than he'd have liked to admit- but not exactly someone he'd want to be stuck in a two-man shuttle with on a long journey.

Or a long breakfast, come to think of it. Depth Charge was getting the distinct impression that Kaworu wasn't through yet; some people had long-distance optics, like they were running a full scan on you every time they looked. The kid was one of them and had that look aimed at him right that second- along with that weirdly encouraging edge that made the Maximal feel like he was being given a pep talk of some sort to go with his psyche-out. It was just so slagging earnest.

Not that being earnest made it any less strange when Kaworu spoke that a teenage human was apparently giving him a rundown of his state of processor like it was any of his business. He couldn’t help but flare a little at that, narrowing his eyes. Oh, I see. An expert. Like he hadn’t been informed of how he was feeling enough times over the last few years. “Thanks for the professional opinion, junior. Got a diagnosis to go with that?” He paused, thinking that over again- and then quickly waved a hand. "… don’t answer that." The look was less irritable than bemused this time; something told him being annoyed in this situation would be about as productive as running into a steel wall. "Anyone ever told you you're a weird kid?"

[moral_liberty]

The smile faded, but not entirely. He had noticed before, the way Lilim were at times reluctant with him in ways they were not with one another. Even now, he could hear them, laughing together, speaking, smiling so easily. They didn't show that side of themselves to him. There was wariness, or sometimes hostility and disgust. Some leaned in kindly and used soft words, and laughed in a strange way when he spoke. It was not cruel, but it was not comfortable.

Yousuke and Kanji, had they said he was unusual? Had Soryu? She had said many things, he had felt the emotions behind those words. There was no doubt of his otherness in the eyes of Soryu. Kaworu's hand tightened and then relaxed again around one of the utensils. He wasn't one of them, so it was not unexpected. Still, Kaworu's gaze wandered past Depth Charge to a pair whose mutual affection and happiness was undeniable. Happiness to be with another, to exchange emotions and thoughts, and to believe they were accepted by the other. Kaworu felt that as well for some Lilim, but it never looked like these humans did.

"Yes," he finally decided. If no one had told him with words, they had still let him know in other ways. Kaworu didn't need an explanation of why he was separated from the culture of Lilim, even if he loved it. "I can't change what I am."

[scalyfishman]

That stopped him. The smile flickered almost straight away and the answer was almost wistful. And there it was again, that honesty from before; Depth Charge got the feeling Kaworu was the type who didn't lie a lot, or, if he did, made it pretty obvious for anyone involved.

Which was probably why he couldn't help but feel a little twinge of guilt for that one. Really, what he'd done was take a cheap shot at a kid half his age and that just didn't sit entirely right with him- couldn't take any pride in putting someone in their place when they were probably two heads shorter than him and their biggest crime was being weird. Kind of hypocritical to boot. It wasn't like he was Cheetor or anyone who really deserved to get kicked around every now and then.

Or maybe he was just going soft. Depth Charge's expression froze for a moment, but when he spoke it lapsed into a faint, tired blank. "Not gonna argue with you there." He clicked his tongue, leaning back in his chair. "Been called crazy a couple of times, too."

Then he heard HK's voice, and, quite suddenly, he found himself learning just how aerodynamic a bread roll could be. It bounced off of his temple and onto the table like a little yeasty torpedo- though it took him a couple of seconds to register it at all. "... was that a bread roll?"

[moral_liberty]

They were all accused of having a break from reality here, but Kaworu felt that there was something more Depth Charge was referring to. The specifics were not clear, but there were some nuances. The defensiveness in his voice had been abandoned, and in its place there was an emotion that was harder to read. It was elusive, and Kaworu could not label what he didn't understand. His thoughts edged towards the answer, which was not regret, but perhaps similar.

The chance to bring it into focus was lost when something struck Depth Charge.

"Yes," Kaworu agreed after a pause. It was, as he said, only a roll, but it was jarring. Kaworu's thoughts were scattered. He followed the direction the roll had come from, and saw that it was not the only piece of food that had been thrown. The Lilim were standing, each attempting to hit the other. It was a fight, and it did not lack aggression, but there was little malice. Again, just as his mind began to grasp his surroundings and the events that were unfolding, he was forced to abandon it due to the growing chaos. The actions seemed to be infectious, and the wave was nearing where he was sitting at an alarming rate.

"What are they doing?" he asked, turning to Depth Charge suddenly. He could not explain the situation, but another Lilim could.

[scalyfishman]

"Right." So that was definitely a bread roll. Depth Charge frowned slightly. "Right."

Rather more definitively, he picked the roll up from where it had landed next to his tray and stood up. Then he wound back and pitched it straight back in the direction it had come from, so hard that when it finally made contact with its target- not HK, as it turned out, but a nurse hurrying towards her patients with a look of unmitigated horror- it knocked the glasses off of her face completely. Not what he'd had in mind, given that he'd been aiming to knock some sense into HK's stupid, bolts-for-brains head for starting this whole thing off, but he wasn't going to complain. Now that was fate.

That done, he glanced back to Kaworu, neatly knocking away an indeterminate wad of food with his hand as he did so. He looked bewildered, which wasn't too odd given how quickly this place had erupted, but the question was what threw Depth Charge a little. "Dancing. What does it look like they're doing?" Then again, Kaworu had struck him as being more space cadet than average kid. It probably wasn't too much of a stretch to say he genuinely had no idea what was going on, all things considered.

He shook his head. "Food fight. Get under the table." It was probably the best place for him- out of harm's way, particularly from the soldiers gradually filing into the room to help. Kaworu didn't look like he could throw a punch, never mind stand up to one of those guys. "Unless you wanna run for the exit."

[moral_liberty]

"No, I don't." Kaworu looked over at Depth Charge for a moment. Leaving might have been the most reasonable choice, and yet it wasn't what Kaworu wanted. Not yet. Finally, he listened to Depth Charge's suggestion and slid under the table, but even from there he could watch the Lilim as the 'fight' expanded and intensified. The nurses tried to intervene. The Lilim in military uniforms joined their efforts and shared their goal, but operated separately from the others. They sought peace and order, but through control.

And then a guard struck one of them.

Kaworu could recall seeing the patient, his equivalent but not, being the one who first changed the nature of the fight. It was the sharp strike of a weapon. Not lethal, but violent. It was too far away to hear, but Kaworu's brain almost attempted to provide the sound. However, he had never heard a weapon connecting with a Lilim's skull before. He was glad that he didn't need to imagine it much further.

"It's too late," he addressed his companion. One long skinny arm emerged from under the table and pointed in the direction of the violence.

[scalyfishman]

Fair play to him, if Kaworu wanted to stay put under the table. There were people sneaking out here and there, but every time Depth Charge looked up there seemed to be yet another soldier in the way, wrestling with some patient or another. And, well, they wouldn't exactly be inconspicuous- a tall, blue-haired man with a creepy white-haired kid.

As he glanced around to follow the line of Kaworu's point a glass of milk exploded onto the far edge of the table, splattering his shirt with milk, but he didn't react, other than shouting out a sharp "Watch it, there're civilians down here!" in the direction it came from. Far more immediate was the soldiers closing in on HK-47 across the room, the lash of movement from one of them, and then suddenly he was lost behind a cluster of uniforms.

Depth Charge shook his head, somewhat torn between pity for the tackling and disdain that the 'bot ever thought it would work. "HK, you stupid son-of-an-eight-track..." With a loose sigh- like he was seriously going to risk being sedated for someone who called himself a 'con (Lugnut doesn't count)- he ducked under the table next to Kaworu. "Hope you don't mind small spaces, junior, 'cause it looks like we're stuck for now."