Day 33: Lunch

[tsunagari]

There was a knot in Sai's stomach as he was led back inside to the cafeteria. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and he tried to ignore it. What was it? Was he actually uncomfortable with his decision? He couldn't afford to be. This alliance with Itachi was crucial, and he'd just have to try and make sure the others saw it that way

Comments

[willhexabitch]

[Eeeeelle... come and get it.]

He'd never been so out of his mind with boredom before in his life. Reid was, after all, a man used to getting his way, barring Caleb being a self-righteous asshole. It wasn't just being forced to spend every waking minute being bored. Having no Power made him angry, nervous... and normal.

Normal and bored. And pissed off. Not good combinations.

Also not something he felt had been something worth mentioning to Tyler, because hey, Reid knew all about psychological warfare. If they thought he was less likely to bust out when out of his element, they were dead wrong. If anything, it all made him more determined to go out and get something done when out from underneath the staff's smothering supervision.

Stepping into line to get some food, he lightly banged his tray against the counter while he considered (much to the chagrin of the cafeteria worker watching him). Fish? Gross. What the hell.

[ellectriclights]

There hadn't been as much time to mess around with Claire-bear as Elle would have liked, but it was a start. And now that she seemed to have forgotten about Elle being in league with the Big Bad Company, all sorts of possibilities were available.

As long as she could avoid and/or kill Mr. Bennet. Maybe that would be a good use of Eddie's time. She'd have to talk to him about that.

She was a little distracted when she got in line for fish and chips, but she did notice Reid. He looked unhappy about something.

"Looks like I found you again," she said, sliding her tray next to his and brushing her fingers across his lower arm. "And I haven't even finished collecting my prize from last time."

[willhexabitch]

He almost jerked, not because he was unused to having guys sling their arms around his shoulders and try to horse around by "sneaking" up to him, but because the voice was neither male nor familiar. People tended to start when they were surprised, and the element of surprise was still plentiful with girls outside of his social circle singling him out.

But the voice clicked almost immediately, and he looked over (and down) to see that yes, it was definitely Elle. "And what was that again?" he asked. Elle. There was a chance he might've forgotten any other person's name in this kind of shithole, but Elle kind of... made herself stand out.

[ellectriclights]

"You don't remember our little deal, Mr. Average Blonde And Hot?" she asked, taking a piece of fish and some fries and carefully arranging them on her plate. "If I found you, I got a prize. And I never really collected it, did I?"

She headed for a table, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was following.

[willhexabitch]

Not easy to forget something like that, though granted, even if he had it would've been all because he had a lot on his mind. Missing the rush of magic over the rush of a hot girl. Was he supposed to feel guilty if it came to that? He wasn't sure.

"Nope, you didn't. You got interrupted by the rest of the day and all the night time shit," Reid detailed, also rather rhetorically. He didn't exactly want to follow suit and get what Elle got, but he did anyway, being that greens just weren't going to do it for him. Neither was the rest. Lesser of two evils, however.

Although he was sure Tyler was around somewhere, chatting up another douchebag idiot, Reid was happy with the company he'd got and didn't care about interrupting. He followed Elle to a table, half-wondering if she was going to go all grabby hands on him again.

[ellectriclights]

Oh good. He followed. Like a precious little dog. How sweet.

She set her tray down and pulled him by the elbow to the seat next to hers. Once she'd gotten herself settled, she turned to look at him, narrowing her eyes and biting her lip as she ran a finger through his hair.

She really wasn't sure what to do with him. There was no one to report to about the possibility of him recognizing her, no Daddy to reprimand her if she hurt him to badly but at the same time no way to hurt him too badly, and no real reason to keep him around except that he was pretty. She also wasn't sure what she'd like to collect as a prize.

"How 'bout we keep that as an I.O.U. for now," she suggested, smiling gently at him and still stroking his hair. It never hurt to have someone who owed her something.

"And yeah, nighttime was pretty weird. There was this thing with two heads!" She skipped the fake fear, opting not to put on the same show she'd given Eddie and Sylar last night. Reid didn't need to think she was a helpless little girl, and he didn't

[willhexabitch]

"Only because you asked," he responded in the joking tone of voice that made it seem he were making a huge sacrifice. There it was again. The touching. Again, reminded of Kira and the other less prominent gold diggers of Ipswich, but there were always differences. Like how Elle didn't know who he was, how much money he had, what he could do, and what circles he ran in--the Spenser girls had motives in mind. Elle didn't, or at least he thought not. Normally it didn't mean anything to him, but when presented with the scenario of a girl being friendly with him without already knowing he was pals with Caleb and Pogue made things a bit different.

His scalp pricked at the sensation of someone getting cozy with his shining locks, though he didn't move and instead watched her bite her lip. Like she was thinking hard about something.

"Hate to say I told you so. Expect I kinda don't," Reid continued, pulling his tray closer without looking away. He didn't mean it in as harsh a way as it sounded. "What kind of thing? What happened?"

[ellectriclights]

Elle leaned in, still playing with Reid's hair.

That sounded a bit mean, the way he said it. But then his words were all concerned, even if his tone of voice was less so. Maybe he was more White Knight-ish than she'd given him credit for.

"I found it when it was already dead," she explained. "One of its skulls had been ripped open, like somebody ate it." She cocked her head slightly, and her eyes drifted away from his, towards his hair. It was the color of wheat, just a bit darker than her own. Quite a bit darker than Adam's. So wondered - vaguely, with no real interest - if he was as good a kisser as Adam.

"Does that happen a lot around here, brains getting pulled out and eaten?"

[willhexabitch]

A "thing" with its head turned into an instant meal? Reid watched her face for a few more moments before looking down at the table with a quicksilver smile that disappeared without any real emotion behind it. "Hell if I know. Probably. If we've got some monsters, we've got to have them all, like brain-eating zombies and freaks that just find them tasty."

The fact that Reid didn't know what specifically went around cracking skulls was what bothered him more than hearing about something that could. He'd come across plenty before coming there, and plenty while being stuck there, but a complete list of the night's special friends would have been nice. It sounded infinite, right about then.

He turned his head slightly to look at her again. "You into the horror genre?"

[ellectriclights]

Aw, he smiled. And then he looked troubled. What was going on in that pretty head of his?

"Horror? You mean like movies?" Elle shrugged, shaking her head slightly. "I've seen my share of Stephen King, but I can't say I'm an enthusiast or anything." The truth was, she didn't much have the patience for those sorts of films. The blood and the gore was fun, but got tiring after a while. All of them were sort of the same after a while.

"What did you mean when you said you'd seen me on the internet or a billboard?" she asked, changing the subject. Her fingers were still gently playing with his hair, and though her eyes would occasionally meet his, she was much more interested in scrutinizing the rest of his face.

[willhexabitch]

“You seem pretty cool with the blood and guts thing. Just asking,” was his idle response. When the women of the families found out about the Power, that was one thing, but they didn’t usually go all out on the buckets of innards like here. He expected tears and fears, sort of. Elle seemed to be dealing with it, which was cool by him. “It’s right up Stephen King’s alley, though, I guess.”

But then she went off and asked a completely random question. He paused, thoughts about digging into his lunch stalled.

He quirked his lips for a moment, but was ultimately more willing to answer her more straight up. Not that he knew the answer. “… What do you mean what do I mean? I thought chicks fished more subtly. I just… meant… that it’s like I’ve seen you, but not really. You know? Like channel flipping past America’s Next Top Model.”