Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hayden nodded, noting that fact. That was a strange allergy...he'd never heard of that one at least. Unusual.

"Send over a nice selection of foods, please. No peppers whatsoever. Also, some ice water, juices, and soda."

Turning the intercom off just before the irritated grumbling could start on the other end, Hayden grinned at Kira. "Might as well take advantage of it, right?" He laughed a bit, leaning back in his chair. Now what? Awkward silence until the food arrived? Great.

Hayden laughed, a slight strain of nervousness in the sound. He had no idea what he would want to know from Kira, but he couldn't out and out refuse. That'd be a bit suspicious, wouldn't it? "Err...I suppose so." He'd have to be careful about what he asked her in return. No questions that might lead her train of thought to questions he didn't want her asking. Half-smiling, he related as much as he was comfortable explaining.

"I've had a number of odd jobs over the years. I'm afraid I was a bit of an irresponsible teenager...that lasted until long after my teen years had passed by." Chuckling softly, he shook his head at some of the memories passing through his mind. "I couldn't manage to keep a job for very long. In fact, I've probably been here longer than any of my other jobs before. I wasn't the brightest kid. Money burnt a hole in my pocket, if you catch my drift."

Realizing he was talking a bit much, he shrugged, deciding to skip some of the more personal details. "Anyway, they offered me a job here that would help me clear up my debts and start over with a clean slate."

'...yeah, 'clean slate.' Bullsh--'

"So, enough about me," he interrupted his own thoughts. "What about you? It's my turn to ask a question, if I'm not mistaken." Smirking mysteriously, he turned his gaze back to Kira.

"You a Pokemon trainer?"

Wow. While he wasn't a trainer either, nor ever had been, even Hayden considered that view a little extreme. More extreme than his view at least. While he didn't believe in capturing or battling Pokemon, he didn't believe in complete isolation either. Afterall, he wasn't sure how he'd have ever survived his early childhood without his friend, Kuro...

"Craziest thing I've ever done? Oh dear...let me think about this for a minute..." Hayden chuckled, shaking his head. So many foolish decisions in his life...but how many made for amusing stories? That number was significantly smaller...

"Okay, I had this friend," he started with a smirk, elbows resting on his knees comfortably. "One night, a bunch of us got together and started making dares. You know how young boys are. We were all about fourteen or so. Now, my friend, he had the strangest obsession with pineapples..."

An impatient knock on the door interrupted Hayden's story. "Err...hold on a second." He stood, crossing the room to open the door and take the tray from the guard outside. Before the man outside could say a word, Hayden happily slammed the door in his face and turned back to Kira. "Alright! Let's see what sort of food they sent down!"

He set the tray on the small table by the bed, letting Kira pick through to take what she wanted. "Hope you don't mind," he smirked, picking up one of the cans of soda. "I could really use a drink at this point," he chuckled.

...he didn't mean soda.

Hayden shot Kira an odd look. In fact, he stared at her strangely for some time before speaking again.

"...sounds good, though I'd even settle for a Boilermaker at this point." He smirked mischieviously. "Nothing like a shot of whiskey chased by a mug of beer to help you relax. Or fall off a barstool. Whatever." He shrugged nonchalantly, leaving it up to Kira to decide which option referred to himself.

Leaning back, he took a deep swig of the soda, then resumed watching Kira with barely concealed amusement. "My, you were hungry, weren't you? Just take care you don't make yourself sick. I know you haven't been here long, but I'm assuming it's been a while since your stomach had any solid food in it."

Hayden chuckled, shaking his head. "Eh...believe what you will..." He trailed off, taking another drink of his soda. The honest truth was that both scenarios could apply to him. Just depended on how much he'd already had to drink and when...

The guard had been listening quietly while enjoying his soda, when the monitor's soft beeping suddenly increased in frequency. He'd been ignoring it all this time, but the change made almost made it seem as if the volume had been cranked up as well.

"K-Kira?" He coughed, practically choking on his drink. "Kira? Are you alright? What's wrong?" Concerned, he had shoved his soda can aside and gripped Kira's shoulders tightly. "Are you in pain? What's wrong?" He studied her eyes carefully, looking for some sign of what the trouble could be. His eyes darted towards the door, then back to the young woman in distress. If something was wrong, wouldn't they have seen it and come in by now?

Suddenly, it all made sense now...the worried glances towards the ocean, her question about crossing any rivers, the way her skin had paled and she'd gone quiet...

"Kira...I had no idea..." Without thinking, Hayden leaned in and hugged the young woman. He wasn't thinking about anything except how terrified she must have been while lost on the ocean and how he wished he could comfort her more than this. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that..."

Suddenly, he realized how this might look and he hurried to separate himself from her, blushing deeply. "Err...I'm sorry about that too. I didn't mean anything by it."

'Why did I do that?'

"I just...I don't know. Sorry..." he trailed off weakly. What if someone had been watching the security camera just then? What would they make of that?

...what would Kira make of it? He desperately hoped she wouldn't misinterpret his intentions. He meant nothing more than to comfort a fellow human being in distress.

He didn't even register her other question. Not that he could have answered it anyway.

For a moment, it was all Hayden could do to stare at her and keep his jaw from dropping open. Everytime he thought he had things figured out...a new surprise.

"Wow...you are an observant one, aren't you?" he finally muttered in disbelief. Chuckling nervously, he shook his head and looked down at the floor in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for assuming. It's just, I know a lot of people might have misinterpretted that for something else. It's a relief to know that you didn't."

He finally glanced up with a small smile of his own. "Thanks for understanding. As I said, most people wouldn't."

He squeezed her hand gently. It was nice to have a simple human connection again. It was something he desperately needed. Without it, he might lose himself completely in the despair that lurked silently in the back of his mind. Despite all the horrible things he had done, he still believed that somewhere deep inside...he was still human. He had to be. He held onto that belief with all his strength of will. Even if they didn't know the truth about him, he needed Kira's and Karen's acceptance of him. Perhaps later on, they would find out the truth and most likely, they'd want nothing more to do with him. He couldn't think about that now, however. He'd simply deal with it as it came.