Day 48: Lunch

[zack_fair]

Even with the nasty weather, Zack still felt refreshed after going outside. Humidity would have reminded him of Gongaga, but he wasn't sure he needed that. Not now, not when he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to get back home and see his parents again. Not that he should have the chance at all, but it was hard to think about nonetheless. Seeing

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[human_sponge]

That conversation with Heat hadn't exactly helped Peter's mood much (if anything, he felt worse now), but at least he didn't feel like he was bursting at the seams with questions anymore. He had a long list of things he wanted to ask Sam about, though. It wasn't going to make for a particularly fun dinner, but had they really had one of those thus far? Sam wasn't exactly the cheery type.

All that talk about what more or less amounted to cannibalism hadn't done much for Peter's appetite, and yet he knew that he couldn't skip another meal. All of his medical training more or less forbid him from depriving himself of food for too long, and so with a sigh he let himself be led to the line where one of the cafeteria workers made up a plate for him. The wedge fries looked good, at least.

He sat down by himself and started to munch on one of them as he stared off at nothing in particular. To think he'd been speaking to Roland that whole time without having any idea of what he really was. While this new knowledge didn't necessarily change his opinion of the man (he still thought he was a good person), it did paint him in a new light.

Maybe, if they'd had more time, Roland would have trusted him enough to tell him. It was wrong that he'd found out the way he had, but there was no way to fix that now. Peter lifted his free hand and touched it lightly against his arm -- not enough to hurt, but more as a way to keep remembering. What he'd seen last night hadn't been the real Roland, and yet he wanted to believe he would have been able to accept it if he'd been given the chance.

It wasn't as if Roland was like Sylar. Though just thinking of that psycho caused Peter to pick up a chicken tender and take an angry bite out of it.

But then it reminded him of the night before, and he dropped it just as quickly. Maybe this eating thing wasn't going to work out as well as he'd expected.

[Tyki! Strict reserve, I think.]

[tyki_pon]

Tyki's own second shift had been decidedly less eventful, but the now-hobo didn't really mind. Lazying around on his own was something he enjoyed on occasion anyway, and the sun room had been pretty much perfect for that. Better than the colder courtyard, at least.

After getting his lunch, the Noah looked around for a place to sit before spotting a familiar face at one of the tables. Peter didn't look like he was in the best mood, but that hardly stopped Tyki Mikk. He approached the other man anyway and claimed the seat across him without invitation.

"Hey there," he greeted with a grin. "It's been a while, no?"

[human_sponge]

Strange, how just when he'd been thinking about Sylar, someone who was connected to the man showed up. Peter had told Tyki a fair share of information about the killer, after all, and it sounded like he'd taken the matter into his own hands. Peter honestly hadn't expected all that, even if Sylar thought otherwise. Like he really cared what that man believed.

The whole thing had him feeling slightly ambivalent about Tyki, though. While he'd gotten along with him well enough so far, he'd beaten up Sylar pretty badly. And there was nothing wrong with that, but the guy hadn't even talked to him about it first. Maybe he'd thought he'd be doing him a favor (and he had, in a way), but Peter still would have preferred a heads-up.

It also seemed like Tyki was way more dangerous than he'd realized. Just how far did that extend?

Well, they'd get to that soon enough. As the man sat down, Peter nodded back, though he didn't return the grin. "It has," he agreed. "Have you been doing all right? For the sounds of it, you've been kind of busy." There -- a subtle mention. Tyki could make of it what he wanted, but Peter was going to cut to the chase soon enough. He'd been meaning to talk this out for a while.

[tyki_pon]

"Heh, guess you could say that," Tyki said with a shrug. He knew very well what Peter was talking about; Sylar's loss had been pretty obvious after all. Too bad he hadn't been able to finish it.

"Things have been pretty quiet since then, though. Guess that counts as 'all right'." Okay, he had gone ahead and taunted a few people, but that hadn't caused any bloodshed. Yet. But he was his white self, wasn't he? Just a normal hobo here. If Peter thought questioning would be easy, he was in for a disappointment. Well, he guessed he could always see how far the other man was able to get. As long as black and white weren't going to end up as a boring shade of grey, the Noah could mess around as much as he'd like.

He took a bite from his chicken. "So how 'bout you?"

[human_sponge]

It wasn't much of a response, but Tyki hadn't gone and denied anything, either. Not that it would have done him much good if he had, considering Peter had seen Sylar's wounds for himself. In the end, the killer hadn't had much reason to lie about who had done that to him.

Despite Peter's uncertainty about Tyki, he was still glad to hear that things had been quiet since then. Then again, while that meant that he hadn't been put through anything too trying, it also probably implied that he hadn't made much progress with whatever his goals were. Peter knew the feeling very well, as much as he hated to admit it.

When the question was turned onto him, Peter felt put on the spot for a moment. What did he tell him? He'd gotten along well enough with Tyki until now, but now he felt as if he had to be careful with his words. "Not as good as you, I don't think," he said. "Got into a scrape last night, and someone I'm close to is missing." There -- details, but without the important parts added in.

He needed to get the conversation back to Sylar, though. Peter looked away from the other man for a moment and let out a sigh. "You didn't have to go after him, you know." It was his job. Even if Tyki had clearly been the winner of whatever fight they'd gotten into, Peter still didn't want him getting involved with someone so dangerous.

[tyki_pon]

"A scrape, huh?" Tyki repeated, titling his head. He definitely implied he was curious about that, but in the end he didn't push the matter. Or the thing about the person that was missing. Partly because the conversation was already going back to being about Sylar already, unsurprisingly.

The Noah smirked. "Figured you'd wanna talk 'bout that 'lil game," he said, as if he was talking about some sort of card game rather than a fight to the death. To Tyki, the two were hardly a difference, even if one was decidedly more innocent than the other. It was at least a good way to refer to nighttime events, as if he had just played an innocent little game.

"Why? Because he's such a sore loser?"

[human_sponge]

Glad that Tyki wasn't getting caught up on those other issues he had mentioned (he'd talked enough about them already), Peter glanced back to the man when he referred to what had happened between him and Sylar as a game. Was that really how he thought of it, or was that just his way of staying under the radar? None of the nurses were too close to them at the moment, so it wasn't like it was all that necessary.

If Tyki meant it, then that put his way if thinking a little too close to Sylar's for comfort. Still, Peter didn't want to start accusing him of anything. He hadn't killed Sylar, after all.

And yet if he had, that would have taken a huge weight off of Peter's shoulders. He couldn't deny that.

Peter couldn't stop himself from laughing about the sore loser comment, though. If his experience with Sylar was anything to go by, then that was completely true. "It's not that, but... now he thinks that I asked you to attack him for me when it's not like that at all. He's my problem, so I don't want you to feel like you've gotta take care of him for me." It felt odd to be telling someone to not hurt Sylar, but Peter honestly didn't want to drag unconnected people into the rivalry that had sparked between him and the murderer.

[tyki_pon]

"Oi, it's nothin' like that," Tyki said, and he smiled. "I ain't that nice. I'm someone with sticky fingers, remember? If you want heroics or justice, you're lookin' at the wrong guy." He sure as hell hadn't done it to help out Peter, or at least not directly. The Noah had to wonder if it was a particularly harsh thing to admit, but whatever. Sylar only seemed like an excellent source of entertainment, and he still had a bit of a score to settle with him anyway. Not that the Noah held a real grudge for being thrown into a tree back then, but it probably had at least something to do with it.

After swallowing another bite of his chicken, he raised his index finger. "Besides, you warned me not to play, right? I bet he read that too."

[human_sponge]

In other words, Tyki was a homeless guy who both stole from people (at least somewhat understandable, if he had nothing to eat) and attacked people? It wasn't exactly the easiest connection to make, and Peter had to wonder what there was about the other man that he still didn't know. A whole lot, apparently. The fact that he seemed to change between night and day was also pretty weird, and Peter couldn't help feeling slightly uncomfortable around the man.

"I know," he said when Tyki brought up the bulletin board, "but he only believes what he wants to. Or what he thinks will annoy everyone else the most." On one hand, Peter realized that it was his fault for letting it get to him in the first place, but how could he not? Sylar first opened the wound and then came back to keep rubbing salt into it. It was pretty tough to ignore.

"I guess what I'm trying to say," Peter continued after a pause, "is that you don't need to waste your time going after him. I'll deal with him." He tried to say it with as much conviction as he could muster, but that was easier said than done. While it was clear by now that Sylar was much weaker in this place, that went for Peter, too. If he was going to take Sylar down for real, he needed to be better equipped to do it. And with so much else to worry about, it was hard to keep that as his top priority.

[tyki_pon]

If the Noah had noticed Peter's slight discomfort, he showed no outward reaction to it.

"Well, who cares what he believes, right?" Tyki said with a shrug. He could always go and make the situation more clear to Mr. Human next time they met.

Anyway, it looked like Peter wanted him to leave Sylar alone right now though.

"Ya know, I think it's a lil' bit late for that," Tyki pointed out, brushing a hand through his messy black hair. "He's a sore loser, right? I know the type pretty well. I have a lotta card games to thank for that," a chuckle, "you'd be pretty surprised how people can get when they've just gambled away all their assets. Yer pretty much guaranteed to get involved in a riot." And that was an obvious card game reference for once, but the comparison was a valid one. And one he could get away with while he was his white self.

"Thing is, humans don't like it when their pride's trampled upon, and they're vengeful like that," he said. "I don't think he appreciates losin' that little game so badly, so ya really think he's gonna leave it at this?"

There was no sort of desperation in his voice, just amusement that seemed rather out-of-place considering he was talking about a sadistic murderer that would probably want to repay the favor. Instead, it still seemed as if he was talking about someone who had indeed lost a card game and simply wanted a rematch.

[human_sponge]

The man had a good point. Peter didn't care, necessarily, but it was harder to keep that up when Sylar was in his face and taunting him. The killer was good at picking at each and every thing that bothered him, which was why their conversations (when he had to be subjected to them) usually ended with his blood boiling.

As Tyki continued to talk, Peter had to do his best to listen without pulling a face. Was he really relating what he did to Sylar to a card game? While Peter remembered that the man was fond of cards (and of gambling people out of their money and then some, apparently), it was still a pretty weird analogy to make. Not that he thought any real weight should be put on Sylar's safety, but...

The man had a point nonetheless. Sylar definitely seemed like the sort who held a grudge, seeing how he was still trying to make Peter pay for what had happened back in the courtyard when both of them had been running on full powers. That was when Tyki had gotten dragged into all of this, too, right?

"I'll do my best to keep him distracted so that he doesn't go after you, then," Peter said decisively. "Just... stay out of his way as much as possible, okay?" He felt like he'd had to say that to a lot of people since arriving here, but he figured it was par for the course when he and Sylar were stuck in some place with a bunch of other people.

[tyki_pon]

"You need to stop worryin'. You're gonna get wrinkles at this rate," Tyki said, easily waving Peter's words off. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna avoid him. That'd be pretty lame, with me bein' the one that started it, ya know? And besides, I knew what I was gettin' myself into. With certain games, there's always a 'lil risk."

It was pretty nice of Peter to try warning him off, but things didn't work that way. As a Noah, he had a fairly dangerous personality after all, which may have been difficult to comprehend as he took another few bites of his lunch.

He offered a smile, one that was genuine. "So even when our game gets a 'lil out of hand, it's not any of your responsibility, right?"

Okay, so maybe his white self could be pretty nice.

[human_sponge]

Watching Tyki eat reminded Peter that he had his own meal to take care of. Even though he hadn't talked about anything even approaching savory all day, he knew that he had to get some food in him now. Sighing, he started to cut up a piece of chicken and take small bites of it.

It didn't seem like his words were getting through to the other man at all, though. Either he wanted to keep up this grudge he had with Sylar (which didn't seem like a good idea by any means) or he enjoyed messing around with the psychopath. Which Peter couldn't exactly fault him for, but it wasn't like he could just stop worrying.

"It's hard for me to see it that way, I guess," he said as he picked up another piece of chicken between his fingers and placed it into his mouth. It looked like he'd just have to stick with his plan of keeping Sylar distracted, then. After all, there was always the chance that Tyki wouldn't be as lucky the second time around.

"You've seen how powerful he is, so just... be careful," he finished, not knowing if there was anything more he could do to deter the other man.