Day 23: Lunch

[part1of3]

The second the intercom sounded, while the man on the intercom was still talking, Ashton pulled himself off the couch in the Music Room and slowly made his way to the door. He walked, glided even, as if he were a ghost in a dream. The nurses had already filed up to escort the patients to the lunchroom, and one bustled over to walk Ashton those few

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[blood_and_pocky]

He despised intercoms. Simply for the fact they were loud and annoying, but only more so since it allowed the "Head Doctor" to hide behind his updates. Stupid little man. Aidou was weak, but human staff members wouldn't be a challenge to bypass, even if they managed to sedate him with everything they had in this stupid place. Unless things were specifically created to affect vampires, they rarely had any effect. Vampire physiology was vampire physiology, after all. It was what came after that that made Aidou hesitate. The man and his companions had power, power enough to bring him here, power enough to keep him. It was the only thing that tamed his impulsiveness.

The words 'new patients' caught his attention during his slow return to wakefulness, however. More "patients"? How often were these people bringing in new numbers? It was astonishing no one had gotten out yet, or at least done something more productive

[killing_suzie]

Jack was more than happy to let the nurse guide him through the lunch line. He even flirted with her as he was getting his tacos together.

Then he had to decide where to sit. It was tempting to bother Lyta some more, just because he wanted to know what her big problem was. He was curious. But then he spotted the young man from the showers, which brought up other questions...

He sat himself down across from him. "Your stalker is certainly an odd fellow," he said, conversationally.

[blood_and_pocky]

Despite spending most of his life living in Japan, Aidou had never had trouble stomaching (or mastering the art) of foreign food. The Mexican cuisine here wasn't terribly well-prepared, but it was better than the servants back home could have done.

Aidou had been multitasking between covering a yawn with one hand and folding one of his many tacos more tightly with the other, as someone sat down across him from him. He realized who it was with a stark jolt when he glanced up through his bangs. He didn't quite flush, but it was a near thing.

"Do you mean yourself, or the ugly seven foot brute?"

[killing_suzie]

Jack took a bite of his taco and gave Aidou a pleasant smile. "Well, let's see if my mere presence makes you flee," he said. "Then we'll both have an answer, eh?"

[blood_and_pocky]

If Aidou just kept his long-term goals fixed in his mind's eye, it was easy to prevent his eye roll from completing a full rotation.

Shiki had had a stalker for the longest time, and he'd gotten rid of the guy through nothing more than his complete lack of interest in anything said or done. He hadn't done more than blink impassively when the poor fool had tried to scale the outside of the modelling agency just to see him. Which was how Shiki approached life in general, but it was the idea that counted.

"I accept most stalkers with open arms. They're more interesting than the usual fan." Aidou shrugged. "Do what you want."

[killing_suzie]

Jack grinned. "Oh, you don't want me to do what I want," he said. He ate another bite of his taco. "Someone who's scared to be naked in front of other men certainly isn't ready for that leap." More taco. "So it is the Alucard guy. He is a little... loomy, isn't he. What's got him plastered so tenderly to your ass, hm?"

[blood_and_pocky]

His expression didn't change, but his cheeks reddened with a mixture of irritation and embarrassment. 'Aidou' and 'diffident' didn't belong in the same sentence, unless the word was preceded by 'was not'. Still, no one had spoken to him like that before.

"I'm not the faint-hearted type - and I'm afraid you wouldn't be ready for my fetishes," Aidou said, not missing a beat. It wouldn't be hard to tell he was speaking the truth. "You wouldn't be the first toy I wore out."

Sexual encounters with humans was certainly nothing Aidou was interested in, but it never hurt to set the record straight. And he wasn't the type to back down either.

When Alucard was brought up, however, Aidou blew out a sigh, ruffling his hair, before beginning to eat in between careful wipes of a napkin. Why did Alucard have to come up every single time someone said something, in one way or another? It was seriously pissing him off! Aidou was beginning to feel less like a Night Class representative washing his hands clean of him, and more like the neurotic Lady

[killing_suzie]

Jack smirked at Aidou's mention of fetishes. "Oh yeah? Try me." He'd slept his way around the universe, in several different time periods. He sincerely doubted that the boy would be able to come up with anything that off the wall, though it'd be fun to see him try. "If we're going to start making remarks about toys, you should tell me your name. I like to know who's talking dirty to me."

So Alucard was the one that had hit the boy. Jack filed that away as a fact of note. "He's really not my type," Jack said. Which wasn't actually true. Most everything was his type. But he'd been more interested in flirting with Wesker.

[blood_and_pocky]

"Don't tempt me. I might take you up on it," Aidou returned, smiling impishly. Although what was going through Jack's mind and what was going through Aidou's mind might have differentiated somewhere between bedroom antics and general food. Propping his head against his hand, he went back to eating. He was too sleepy to be annoyed at having to introduce himself all the time. "My name is Aidou Hanabusa, and I don't speak dirty, just honestly. I would be on the top and that's final."

With clothes on, the topic of sex was more amusing than anything else.

Glancing back up, he replied, "Sure. And I bet you had an overly dull conversation in the showers too." He could only imagine what had happened had Alucard opened his mouth. Things that should be kept confidential seemed to flow of his tongue like water, the bastard.

[killing_suzie]

Jack shrugged. "I'm a man that likes variety." He nodded. Sounded like a Japanese name, so, stick with the family name. "Aidou, then."

"I guess you could count it as interesting. Wasn't anything new to me," he said.

[blood_and_pocky]

It was hard to eat and talk at the same - mostly because Aidou refused to speak around food. In the end, he had nothing to say that wouldn't be insignificant drivel. Small talk was like that.

What he did do was reach out and take Jack's right hand, turning it palm up. (Not that Aidou ever completely understood why he was scolded so often about touching other humans - it wasn't like he was doing something shady. Most of the time.) He didn't touch heavily, just enough to examine the rough contours; the pad of his finger met Jack's pulse point. It was nice and strong to Aidou's senses. And it wasn't misplaced attitude this one wore. When he finally let go, he said, "Mmm. Perhaps. I'm not entirely convinced

[killing_suzie]

Jack seemed entirely unbothered by Aidou taking his hand. He simply continued eating his taco with the other hand for that brief time. "Well, if you ever feel like being convinced, I'm sure you can find me." He shrugged.

"No real reason other than my own curiousity," Jack said. "You scurried pretty quick when Alucard decided to loom in your general vicinity. He mentioned some stuff that's of mild interest to me - a hobby, really - so I'm wondering what it might have to do with you." He smirked. "Or did he just corner you and touch you in your bathing suit region?"

[blood_and_pocky]

Aidou had immediately become wary at Jack's words, but at the jest he stiffened, eyes flashing. "I left because I would have killed him otherwise," he hissed, not at all pleased by the insinuation. It disgusted him beyond words. He quickly turned his face away and anchored his gaze to the wall until he could speak without snarling. "If you want to talk, don't talk about him." After a moment, he looked back at Jack. He hesitated, then: "I... I would appreciate it. Got it?"

With luck that would be enough to keep Jack silenced on the matter. There were always other ways to go about it, but didn't want to resort to them.

[killing_suzie]

Jack filed Aidou's reaction away under moments of interest, as well as his claim that he could kill Alucard. He seemed pretty sure of himself.

Well, time to see what reaction this got.

He ticked off points on his fingers. "So, lethargic during the daytime. I'd guess mildly photosensitive too. You are eating solid food, which narrows the field. And you have some beef with Mr. 'I'm part of a secret organization that hunts vampires.' Off the top of my head, I can think of about five different species that meet those criteria and lay claim to the moniker, so I'm just kind of wondering which you are."

[blood_and_pocky]

Jack was very quick and decisive when it came to his conclusions, and inwardly it caught Aidou unprepared. He hadn't thought Jack had been watching him. Not closely enough to be stringing these verdicts together without knowing that Aidou was a -

He bit the inside of his cheek. Unless Jack had known the entire time. Could he have really overlooked something like that? Aidou was intelligent, but young. Inexperienced to a degree. It wasn't implausible he had screwed up something without noticing - he'd slipped up with some facts, he knew. But things weren't fitting. Jack had hit two facts on the mark, but was still asking as if he wasn't sure. Someone who understood the truth behind vampire myth would have understood why Aidou was at odds with Alucard, only making it seem more like Jack knew. But solid food? 'Five species'? A 'secret' hunters' organization that Alucard was part of? What the hell did that mean

[killing_suzie]

Jack watched Aidou curiously, more interested in his reaction than to anything else. Still, he wasn't certain if the boy's apparent confusion was feigned or not.

"Vampire." Jack said. "You're a vampire of some sort. Which particular kind?"