reverie⚡inbox

[striketwice]

REVERIE INBOX "THIS IS ALEC. MAKE IT QUICK." ⚡ voice . text . action ↳ OVERFLOW | REGISTRY

( code from supersuits )

Comments

[vecna]

[Cracking an egg with one hand? Not even spilling a little? That’s a true sign of someone who’s been cooking for a long time, surely.]

So it’s stress relief for you. Did you cook for your father a lot?

[striketwice]

A little. I wasn't much good at it back then.

[ He skirts over to the fridge, grabbing a small container of milk from inside. ]

You ever think about learning some of that mundane, everyday stuff now that you're a free bird? Well, "free" relatively speaking.

[vecna]

[There wouldn’t be much point to it, if they ever find a way back “home” — to the same location and time in which they left. What use would mundane things to him be?]

Here? I’ve already re-learned how to make coffee. They did allow that at the lab.

[Another little shrug, this time his eyes looking at what Alec has already prepared, the stove, any pots or pans out.]

For anything else, I’d need someone to teach me.

[striketwice]

[ Well, he's not going to actively teach Henry anything, because that's far too much far too soon even for him, but he won't try to hide what he's doing either. Which right now is adding some milk to the eggs and whipping them up. ]

Golly, Henry, they let you have coffee? Sounds like a real fun place.

[vecna]

[He didn't expect Alec to jump at the chance to teach him much of anything. But he's at least continuing to pay keen attention.]

How else was anyone supposed to get going in the morning? The schedule was strict. Not a minute wasted.

[striketwice]

Time is money, after all, right?

[ Just assume omelet making is happening while they're talking. ]

[vecna]

[No, I expect you to write out every single little detail.

A scoff.]

Unfortunately. Time's a lot of things, and none of them were very good there.

[striketwice]

[ WELL I'M NOT GONNA. ]

Just a hunch I have, but did they treat you guys like lab rats there?

[vecna]

For the children? Every day was testing, so yes. After I became an orderly, I received less of the lab rat treatment, though.

[striketwice]

And more of the "make coffee and mop floors" treatment?

[vecna]

[Makes a face.]

Mopping the floors was only sometimes. Mostly, my job revolved around helping set up some of the activities for the kids, or help record some of the results. Or being moral support when they were struggling, that kind of thing.

[striketwice]

Suddenly, seeing "actually terrible with kids" on your registry makes a whole lot more sense.

[vecna]

[Wow? Excuse you.]

And what makes you say that? I was good with the children.

[striketwice]

Clearly the Warden didn't think so.

[vecna]

[Smiles serenely.]

The Warden also thinks you're an "ungrateful little shit."

[striketwice]

[ The Warden isn't wrong on that, as far as Alec is concerned, but it still touches a nerve. He very, very carefully keeps it from showing, shrugging in that nonchalant way of his. ]

Just because some of mine are fake doesn't mean they all are. Doesn't mean all yours are, either.

[vecna]

So you’re admitting to being an ungrateful little shit?

[He seems more amused than anything else, Henry’s demeanor rarely changing.]

I never said mine were all fake, or even exaggerated. I just disagree about the part with the kids, is all.

[striketwice]

Maybe when I was a kid. I'm still not sure how that counts as a crime.

[ Another shrug ]

Maybe you and the kids saw it differently.

[vecna]

Maybe just more of an annoyance to those getting to know you.

And now you’ve got me second-guessing myself. Here I thought they liked me and trusted me.

[striketwice]

Come on, buddy, be honest. Did you like or trust anybody in that lab?

[vecna]

Any of the adults? No.

[—he supposes that might be how the children saw it, too, but.]

But I understood what those kids were going through, more than anyone else there.

[striketwice]

[ Casually, as he folds his omelet over in the pan, ]

I really hate to break it to you, but you're an adult too.

[vecna]

Please don’t lump me in with the other adults there.

[striketwice]

I'm not. I'm just saying a frightened twelve-year-old might.

[vecna]

You’re not going to let me have this one, are you? I did what I could, with what I had to work with.