[week six - monday]

[ceded]

[ As she'll do most of this week, she spends most of this day in the kitchen. Sticking with the theme of soup and soup-related items, as has been her wont, today she seems to be working on some kind of pasta. Pluto is with her, dozing curled up on the floor safely out of her way.

At least, until Percy comes wandering in. She'll look up, quietly nervous at his appearance but ready to try a smile, and then .... actually takes him in. Whatever she sees makes her expression blank out into surprise. ]

... hey, Percy. [ Gentle, with a slight furrow in her brow. ] ... why don't you sit down? I was about to make something.

Comments

[ceded]

[ A shy smile makes her lips quirk, though she doesn't look at him. She's still a little exasperated he won't sit, but she won't press any further at this point. Instead she goes back to the stove, where her pasta is still boiling away. ]

It's taken a lot of time, and a lot of Dr. Lecter's help. But it's nice to think I'm getting somewhere.

[ Having not ... been in the center of town today, she does not yet know about the discovery at the cinema. She ends up glancing at him over her shoulder, her smile gone. ]

Did anything happen today...?

[ Granted, he could still (very rightly) be upset over Harry,

but she's come to know Percy, just a little. The way he seems right now, stumbling and half-dead and too ready to go running, makes her think something else might be going on. ]

[hydrokinetics]

Yeah. Cooking's one of his specialties or something like it, so it's nice that he's teaching other people. I'm still in the "sandwiches are great and I miss microwaves" phase, but who knows? [It's nice to see her this way. Calm. Better, really, than the last few times they've spoken. It helps to settle the heartache in his chest to watch her do something so stupidly domestic, like she wasn't the girl who'd been shattered at the idea of taking a friend's life on Saturday night.

This, he thinks, is better. He knows better than to think Xion's innocent and unaffected and unchanged. But he prays to anyone listening that things will be okay. More than that, he wishes he could tell her that nothing happened. It's fine. It was all a bad dream. But that would be lying to her.]

...things always happen in this town. It's a little sad, isn't it? [He looks at the bottle cap of his juice instead.] Did you listen to Papika's testament on Saturday about the cinema?

[ceded]

He's an amazing cook! [ with some small enthusiasm. ] He's been really nice about teaching me. He's patient, and he knows so many things.

[ dr dad is still best dad especially with murder dad dead

Really, most weeks she's been able to bounce back a little after the weekend. Less and less each time, and compared to how she was at the beginning, she's still very subdued. But moving from moment to moment, day to day, she would find it harder not to smile at the little things as they come, even with the pervading sense of fear and melancholy.

Besides, if anyone needs to see her smile, it's probably Percy.

At his rhetorical question she takes her pasta off the heat so she can look at him properly, even if he's looking down. ]

... I heard her.

[ I just looked at the screen, and I needed to kill myself. ]

Did something else happen there?

[hydrokinetics]

He's very smart and I can agree with patient. Dr. Lecter likes to take time to make sure things are done right.

[Thinking about Papika and how she was on Thursday is sad, too, so he doesn't think about it. Instead, he hears Xion's movements and looks up slightly to see her looking right back.]

The bodies that Papika found in the theater are outside now. Last I heard, we were trying to figure out what to do with them. [There's really no nice way to say that anyway.]

[ceded]

[ Well. That's disturbing enough to get her to drop the first line of conversation. Her brow draws up tight, troubled, and she looks away again. She switches off the heat, and carefully grips the pot in her one free hand as she moves slowly for the sink. ]

We could burn them, [ she murmurs as she goes. ] Though... for that many, we might want to do it outside of town.

[ It's so morbid to think about. That morbid has also become the new normal is all that allows her to talk this way, while still focusing on carrying her pasta. ]

... I don't get it. Aren't there bodies in the graves, too? Where is all this coming from?

[hydrokinetics]

[He's keeping an eye on her just in case but ultimately letting her do things herself.]

I already suggested lighting the building on fire, but Mr. Barnham decided that was a bad idea in case the whole town goes up in flames. But yeah, there're bodies in the graves. And I don't know. That's just another weird mystery in this stupid place. But that's the new thing in Whole Ass.

[ceded]

[ That huff is not quite a laugh, but the idea is the same. Of course Percy would suggest just burning it down. She can't really blame him. She thinks she might actually feel the same. ]

... the new thing, huh.

[ Echoed low. She's managed to get her pot to the sink, and she drains her pasta into a coriander she had prepared in there. The pot gets set aside, and spends a moment straining the pasta. But eventually her motions slow, and she just kind of ends up staring sightlessly down into the sink. ]

Percy, I ...

[ ... ]

... I really owe you an apology. [ said low, a little ashamed. ]

[hydrokinetics]

[His gaze slides over to the sink and her back, staring for a moment while tilting his head curiously. It's not what he expected, but.]

...for what? [What would she have to be sorry for now?]

[ceded]

Everything. [ Said a little miserably. ] Arguing with you, and yelling at you the other night... I know you're trying to help me. I just get so frustrated... but that doesn't mean it's okay.

[ With a sigh she finishes straining her noodles, and she puts them back into the pot. ]

I get it now, I think. I talked to someone last week, and I had to keep some things secret from them, too. Protecting people in this place, it's ... hard, and really complicated.

[hydrokinetics]

[There's a low, low sigh but he nods.]

I'm sorry, too. I know what it's like to have people keep all kinds of important information from you, but...you're right. It's hard and really complicated. We have to be able to trust each other even while keeping some secrets.

Whoever you talked to...do you trust them less than you normally do even though you kept secrets from them?

[ceded]

Of course not, [ she kinda mumbles, looking up at him with a very guilty and somewhat sad smile. ] Percy... I never should have said that. I'm really sorry. I know you trust me. I trust you, too.

[ A breath as she takes her noodles back to the stove. She needs to add sauce, garlic... ]

[hydrokinetics]

[He watches her with the noodles for a moment before he moves to take a seat at the table in the kitchen rather than using the fridge to support himself. He sinks into a seat, elbows on the table and hands supporting his head with the bottle between his elbows on the tabletop. But he's still pleased to hear that.]

I've said a lot of stuff I don't mean either. It's just what people do. [Sometimes. Percy sometimes takes it too far but he's fine, whatever.] The trust part is the most important thing here, don't you think? Especially lately.

[ceded]

[ She works on her pasta, tossing in all the little things that will make the sauce actually taste good. She's gotten great at following recipes; she could never figure this stuff out on her own, but following a recipe, she's found, is a lot like following orders. Just pay attention to the instructions, carry them out, and you'll be fine. Just don't mess it up.

He gets a quiet hum for his thoughts. ]

Yeah. It is. A lot of people here that I trusted turned out to be...

[ She thinks of Chane, and Seizaburo, Sara and Russell, and what they all turned out to be. What they'd all, one way or another, done. ]

... not what I expected, [ is her soft conclusion. ] It's given me a lot to think about. Like what it really means to believe in your friends.

[hydrokinetics]

[He's mostly focused on his breathing, keeping himself calm and awake and alert enough to keep talking. This is too important for him to leave alone, he thinks.]

...it's a skill you have to learn after a while. Deciding who to trust, I mean. Annabeth used to get on my case about trusting too easily, but--[His words catch in his throat suddenly. 'But the one she trusted the most turned out to be the enemy.'

No. That isn't what Xion wants to hear.] What kind of conclusion did you come to with that? Call me curious.

[ceded]

[ His complete fatigue is not going unnoticed. It is part of why she is still making this pasta.

He should eat. If she fails to take good care of herself, she can't imagine what Percy's like.

For a long moment his question gets no response. She just keeps building her pasta right in the pot, sauce and all. Which she shouldn't do, but it's a little easier this way. ]

Actually, I talked to Noctis about it. He kind of got on my case about it. [ With a faint, fond sort of sheepishness. ] I decided... I'd keep believing in my friends, no matter what. If we don't trust each other, we won't have anything left. Besides, I've always thought from the very beginning...

[ She starts stirring her pot. Mixing all the ingredients together, letting the heat of the pasta soften anything still fresh. It smells pretty good. ]

... that we were all forced into this. Nothing that's happened is really justice. So, even if it's one of my friends doing something horrible... we aren't being given much of a choice. It doesn't really make things better, but it does help me remember whose fault it really is.

[hydrokinetics]

[Maybe if he just...closes his eyes. Pretends he's at home. Pretends it's Sally in the kitchen making dinner. He's home from school. He didn't get kicked out yet. Paul will be home soon.

It's a nice dream, anyway.]

Noctis sometimes does that. [There's a smirk at the faint memory of Noctis having a somewhat similar conversation with him.] Pretty sure you and me feel the same way about that. I'd rather keep my friends than push them away because I wasn't sure I could trust them.

[The pasta does smell good, he'll admit. But he's quiet.] ...you heard what Sara said, didn't you? Hal didn't really give her a choice. It doesn't make things better, but being able to trust and forgive in some instances is going to be what keeps us from going insane. Not that this place isn't designed for that, but who says we're going to let it win?

[ceded]

Yeah. I heard her.

[ ... ]

It's like ... maybe he's run out of people who really will do it for fun, so he's started blackmailing us into doing what he wants. [ so, so bitter. ] We won't let him win, Percy. There's no way that'll happen.

[ The pasta, she is done. Using a towel to grab the pot, Xion carries it over to the counter, then sets it down atop that towel. Then she'll hobble off to get some bowls, because she said she didn't want his help, darnit, and she ain't taking it. ]

[hydrokinetics]

I'm thinking the same thing. But you're right. We won't let him win. It's why we really have to stick close and start figuring out a back-up plan if one of us is chosen as a Bandit. [He hates this conversation. Part of him still wants to help, but she told him not to. So he stays.]

Any ideas?

[ceded]

... we can win without killing, can't we?

[ She's brought the bowls back. Using her spoon, she doles out some pasta into each one. Just one she'll pick up, and move towards Percy to hand it to him. ]

If one of us gets chosen, I think we'll have to work really quickly to figure out who the other bandit is, and convince them not to kill. If we can get through a weekend without killing... if everyone refuses...

[ It's a long shot with so little preparation, but it's the best she's got. ]

[hydrokinetics]

I think so. [The bowl's taken with a nod of thanks...but it also sits between his elbows on the table. His stomach turns again, but it's a nice gesture.]

You don't think Hal chooses Bandits together? I've always wondered about that. The only problem is the independent parties, too. We'd have to keep everybody together to make sure nobody kills on Thursdays.