Day 41: Lunch

May 19, 2009 05:31

Just as von Karma started to enter the doorway leading to the Courtyard to look around for anyone remotely resembling his daughter, that pretentious lunatic's voice rang out over the Intercom, heralding the approach of lunch time. Right away, the damned nurse practically dragged him back into the cafeteria and towards the serving tables, telling ( Read more... )

s.t., klavier, kagura, batman, tenzen, tsubaki, kamiya kaoru, snake, leonard, teisel, ken amada, sam winchester, indiana jones, kaku, utena, dess, tk-622, asch, demyx, miku, zex, suzaku, taura, franziska, kinomoto sakura, misa, peter parker, luxord, artemis, raphael, kanji, lugnut, brainiac 5, the flash, james bond, takasugi, megatron, albedo, blue beetle, tsukasa, eileen, lord recluse, peter petrelli, mele, two-face, akihiko, yuffie, ritsuka, youko, faize, the scarecrow, mori, honey, okita, takaya, otacon, daphne, haku, lockdown, tyki, kratos, hijikata (gintama), yukari yakumo, haseo, bridget, tony stark, ronixis, endrance, obi-wan kenobi, kenshin, senna, adelheid, dias, dahlia, hanatarou, chidori, sora, enki, jason, evangeline, luffy, renamon, claude, keman, haruno sakura, edgeworth, joshua, javert, roland, harley, beyond birthday, celes, tim drake, hk-47, sho, grell, von karma, ren, hanekoma, kenren, argilla, guy, kio, armand, depth charge, nigredo, kibitoshin, allelujah, naomi, wesker, frey, lelouch, chise, fai, leon magnus, sylar, schuldig, sasuke, yue, aidou, ophelia, rangiku, gin, scar (tlk), subaru, sanzo

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littlestrawdoll May 19 2009, 15:58:45 UTC
[free and limitless~ like the horizons of the sky! dur]

The doll hoped everyone else was doing their part in not letting the Head Doctor’s overdone cheer get under their skin; he sure was. He came out of the courtyard obediently at his nurse’s assistance, changed slippers, and strolled into the cafeteria with one hand ruffling his hair.

Ren wasn’t one of the hungry--breakfast felt too fresh in his mind and stomach--but he took a tray and put some fries and chicken strips on his plate. And an apple, for good measure. The mac and cheese, though, that was very down-to-earth, and the servant left it alone, opting instead to take what he had and sit.

Cafeteria hadn’t filled up much yet; he was ahead of the crowd. He took a seat on his own, noting Javert and the familiar faces, and nibbled the end off a chicken strip in inspection. Not that bad…

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for_marian May 20 2009, 00:16:12 UTC
It wasn't that Leon wanted to talk to Ren, but the other man had helped him out with his errand and not gotten anything out of it, so it felt like Leon owed him at least a little bit. The aid with the bird creature had been unasked for and unwanted, however it had turned out in the end, but these past two nights that they'd been working together had been in the understanding that it was to mutual benefit--and Ren hadn't benefited.

And now there was the complication of Stahn's arrival. If the blond moron found out Leon was "friends" with Ren, he'd no doubt run off at the mouth at the first opportunity. "Ren."

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littlestrawdoll May 20 2009, 00:47:04 UTC
The lyrics of the song he’d been murmuring to himself earlier came back to him while he was taking a drink of milk to help wash down his food, and he ran them through his mind while he sat, watching the others. Not the last recorded words--those had been added in later--but the originals as he remembered them, making it a strange song to ever sing in front of a group of historical Japanese figures from Earth…

He had one arm propped up on the back of the chair when Leon came over, slouched comfortably, any residual signs of his talk with Maki long gone. It was the sound of his “first name” that really got his attention--and one would think it wouldn’t, considering how many people had uttered it at one time or another while he was in disguise--but somehow coming from Leon it felt almost… suspect.

“Hey,” the doll acknowledged, dropping the strip of chicken to his plate. “What’s up?”

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for_marian May 20 2009, 02:44:49 UTC
Leon ignored Ren's attitude of repose and continued on talking like he hadn't interrupted anything or ruined Ren's apparent good mood--not that Leon could ever really tell what Ren was actually thinking. "Someone from my world arrived today."

For more than two weeks, Leon had been here alone. Blessedly alone. And now, of all people, Stahn had arrived. He'd known that things had been going too smoothly lately, but this was a bit much!

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littlestrawdoll May 20 2009, 03:29:04 UTC
He blinked wonderingly at that, not immediately clear on why Leon would want to announce that to him. “A new patient,” he thought aloud, and then asked, “Good or bad?”

Not everyone who showed up from the same place was a friend… if it was a rival or something, was that a reason to tell the doll? Then again, it didn’t help to make assumptions, so he waited. Maybe Leon was just being talkative. There was still a chance of that… Leon didn’t seem like he was staying long, though, when he was just standing there.

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for_marian May 20 2009, 04:11:08 UTC
Maybe Leon was overreacting, and Stahn wouldn't track down all of Leon's 'friends' and check them out and spill details Leon really didn't want spilled. Maybe. But Leon just couldn't take that chance. So, he sat down and put his tray on the table, preparing to explain things he really didn't want to explain. To anyone. Ever. "... He fancies himself my friend. And he was there for... most of certain major events in my life. And he might decide to talk about them." With everyone.

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littlestrawdoll May 20 2009, 05:09:41 UTC
This was… a pretty strange conversation already, and there’d only been a handful of sentences.

So Leon had met a person from his home and was bothered that this not-friend knew personal stuff about his life while having a tongue to talk about it? That sounded about right. Saying ‘oh’ in response probably wasn’t going to cut it for either of them.

“And you don’t want him to?”

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for_marian May 20 2009, 06:05:10 UTC
Leon was very good at making relatively few words count for a lot. Usually they were insulting words, mind. Not that he was being terribly kind to Stahn at the moment.

He did give Ren a rather withering look, though. Stupid question. "Obviously I would prefer my private life remain private."

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littlestrawdoll May 20 2009, 16:17:43 UTC
“Okay…” was his response. It’d been hard to keep the wryness out of the single word.

If Leon was expecting that look to get his point across any quicker, he’d been going through life the completely wrong way. The doll got it, Leon wouldn’t want to ‘fess up to his past through any conventional means like smalltalk, but how exactly Ren figured into the equation was still blurry. Unless he was trying to say ‘You’re forbidden from speaking to this person’, which was a plan with some problems.

“So you’re looking for a way to keep him from talking about you?” he continued.

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for_marian May 21 2009, 04:39:33 UTC
Starting to feel silly for even bringing this up, Leon looked around the room for Stahn, just to see what he was up to. And there the idiot was... talking to Kratos. Leon almost banged his head against the table in sheer frustrated shock. How, of all people, could Stahn have zeroed in on Leon's closest contact here? Clearly, Leon was not being paranoid--Stahn was a menace.

"... If we're to complete your errand tonight, he'll likely be with us. I need to keep an eye on the hayseed." All Leon needed was for something to happen to Stahn on his watch, and then have the others show up and find out about it. He'd done enough damage to them at home, they'd never forgive him for doing more here.

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littlestrawdoll May 21 2009, 22:53:52 UTC
Still without clear illumination on the subject, the doll started to follow Leon’s gaze, brow beginning to furrow in a genuine look of bemusement--

But the boy’s reply drew his stare back like a magnet. Hold on, what…

“My what? Tonight?” he said aloud, his one eye widening the slightest bit in confusion while he tried to process what he’d missed here. Mention of the doll’s “errand” had successfully caught him off guard. Considering neither him or the kid spent much time communicating over the bulletin board, the silence had seemed straightforward to him: Leon had managed to keep his coat, and was probably ready to move on to the next conquest, hopefully while giving those injuries of his a break. The doll had been contentedly musing over his own solo act. Their partnership, if that was what it was, had seemed pretty well… over.

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for_marian May 23 2009, 02:22:20 UTC
[quick backthread just to figure out if they're hanging out tonight or not?]

Leon scowled even more darkly and snorted. Throwing his sense of fairness back in his face was no way to encourage it. He was giving this one more try at explaining, and then he was giving up and Ren could just go hang for all Leon cared. "We travelled together because we both had goals in that hallway. You did not reach your goal, wheras I did reach mine. That seems to go against the spirit of our agreement, to me."

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littlestrawdoll May 23 2009, 03:42:04 UTC
[Yep!]

He made an effort to cool his expression, since it wasn’t doing the spirit of the conversation much good ( ... )

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for_marian May 23 2009, 23:30:06 UTC
Leon couldn't deny that Ren was not exactly his favourite out of the people he'd worked with at Landel's. But he wasn't the worst, either--at least Ren had never grabbed Leon and yanked him off balance while an enemy approached them. Shrugging lightly, Leon replied honestly, "I've only really clicked with one person here, in terms of working with them on a regular basis, and I haven't seen her around for a while." Seiya was probably gone, like almost everyone else Leon had ever worked with here. Even Clark was gone, now. Dead, rather than just disappeared, but gone just the same. He'd have a new roommate tonight. Ugh.

"If you don't want my help tonight, that's fine by me. I made the offer." Leon considered his duty done--he wasn't going to go out of his way to force his help on Ren.

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littlestrawdoll May 24 2009, 20:59:37 UTC
That was a non-answer to both implied questions if Ren had ever heard one. Nice and open-ended.

He considered the boy carefully, a little amusedly deep down, done with his own feelings on the subject so that his attention returned to the person across from him and began picking apart theirs. Yeah, you did. And now what? The doll definitely wasn’t interested in having some kind of reverse ball-and-chain situation, where he gave in to their company but was really dragging them down. Not that he was about to feel sorry for Leon and his friend when it was the kid’s choice.

Truth was, he was still considering going again, with the intent to nab whatever supplies looked best, but he didn’t need an armed escort with the sole purpose of pandering to him to come with. Oh, and he was sure Leon would be very fine with a refusal. Had Leon popped up on a normal case, Ren probably would’ve been the last choice to work up a face and story that would jive with the kid ( ... )

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for_marian May 25 2009, 03:55:50 UTC
It was true that Stahn would need some sort of weapon as soon as possible. Leon wasn't sure, though, whether it would be better to try for the pipes in the Janitor's closet, or the bats in the sports shed. Both seemed to be popular destinations, but the sports shed was closer and they might be able to get to it faster. He would have to ask Stahn if he had any sort of preference in terms of blunt weapons, too. The open-ended nature of Ren's answer made things much simpler--they'd go wherever Leon decided was best, with no obligations to tie him down. "I'll keep that in mind."

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