reverie⚡inbox

[striketwice]

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

( code from supersuits )

Comments

[striketwice]

This is a delicate operation, okay?

[ but FINE he'll answer your STUPID QUESTION. ]

No, I'm not gonna do all my cooking at 3 am.

[vecna]

I thought eggs were easy.

[Always has to have the last word, this one.]

In broad daylight, the others will expect to be fed, too.

[striketwice]

Thank you, Captain Obvious. That doesn't mean I have to actually bend over and make everyone's breakfast on a whim.

[vecna]

You really don’t care who you rub the wrong way, do you?

[striketwice]

Sure don't.

[ Chop chop chop chop. Alec is definitely using that knife with an efficiency that makes normal people fearful for their fingers. Veggies go in the bowl. ]

Besides, we're all adults here. Or adult enough. Everyone else can take care of themselves.

[vecna]

Don’t just assume some people have been given the chance to be as capable as you.

[Wry. Nods down at that frighteningly effective way of chopping veggies.]

I couldn’t dream of doing that, for example.

[striketwice]

[ Whether intentional or not, that little remark seems to strike something, though the only evidence is a slight, slight pause in his chopping. Really, it's hard to tell just what it's a reaction to, if anything. ]

What, cutting up peppers?

[vecna]

[That slight pause is noted, because Henry misses very little when he’s paying proper attention—and what else is he going to pay attention to right now, anyhow?—and while curious, he can’t be sure what to attribute it to.]

That. Cracking eggs without getting shells in them. How high to heat the stove, and for how long. Any of it.

[Small things to some, unattainable to others.]

Those in-charge at the lab didn’t care about teaching anyone to cook. Priorities were elsewhere.

[striketwice]

I bet they were.

[ Speaking of cracking eggs, he does that easily too. One-handed even. Not like he's trying to show off, it's almost automatic, the way he does it. ]

... I did a lot of the cooking growing up. Now I do it to unwind. I guess I have had a long time to practice.

[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.