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 Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:36 pm
A moderately bored grunt sat at a cafeteria table sipping up the last of his apple juice from his juice box with a straw. Normally he had tea, but he didn't feel much like brewing his own in his room today. Today was a day to sit among large quantities of people and simply observe. The skinny man leaned forward with his arms crossed on the table and rested his chin on them as he sipped loudly.
So many humans... he pondered mildly. I wonder what brings them here. What keeps them here. Each has a different reason; a different story. His crimson gaze followed bodies back and forth as they moved across his line of vision. The man continued sipping away though there was practically nothing left in his juice box but air, causing the cardboard to crumple in on itself.
Wait a minute...who's that? the voyeur asked himsef, fixing his gaze on a bespectacled man not far from where he was sitting. Isn't that one of the guys from the Tech department? His brow furrowed. No...couldn't be. Did he finally come out of his cave? A slow smirk reached the corners of his lips. So this is the famous Agent Hayes. Mmm, maybe I can see why I've heard good things about him from the girls... He shifted his position to the left slightly for a better look. I'd like to learn how he's earned a reputation for handling his direct superior, though...doesn't seem like much.
Making up his mind, the skinny informant got up, hands in his parka, and threw away his box before approaching the agent. He wore a friendly smile and a warm expression, hoping to give off a good impression for his first meeting with Seth's right-hand man. Of course, as he was Seth's right-hand man, that might have already been impossible. "Salutations!" he greeted merrily. "Mind if I join you? It's getting oh-so-lonely over there by myself."
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:16 pm
The target of Izaya's attention, currently pushing a lump of slightly congealed macaroni around his plate with a fork while he tried to turn the page of a battered paperback with the thumb of the hand holding it, was enjoying the free time otherwise known as 'waiting for code to compile.' He would have been mildly surprised to know that girls talked about him, or that someone thought of him as famous; as self-descriptors went, it ranked somewhere near the bottom of his list, along with 'uptight' and 'volatile.' He also had no idea what was about to happen.
Hayes became aware that the blur of people moving about the crowded cafeteria had grown dark, and looked up to find it had turned into a parka and a friendly face. The agent's brow creased the tiniest fraction at the florid greeting - last he knew this wasn't a LARP - but shrugged it off, returning the friendly smile with a mild one of his own. "Yeah, sure," he replied, adding, "Grab a chair." People didn't usually approach him in this fashion, but every new batch of recruits brought surprises. And maybe that way of speaking was why he was lonely.
The agent set down his book, leaving it tented at his last page. "You new?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2011 3:36 pm
The newly re-appointed grunt chuckled at his good fortune. Evidently this young man had been so cooped up under whatever rock he had been hiding under that he hadn't happened to hear of Izaya's less-than-stellar first meeting with the head of the tech department. Perhaps a good first impression was possible after all.
Pulling up a chair, the man in the parka perched his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers. "Well, that depends. I'm new enough to have never met you until now, and yet not concern myself with approaching someone so clearly above my rank in such a casual manner." He flexed his fingers. "However, I haven't been here so short a time that I'm ignorant about your general Rocket identity and your status among your peers within the Tech division."
"That said," Nakura continued, extending a hand, "It's an honor to finally see you out and about, let alone meet you, Agent Hayes. I was beginning to wonder if you were something like a rumored legend among Rockets...similar to that gossip about Executive Seth having a girlfriend." He giggled giddily, as if dismissing the possibility altogether. "I'm Grunt Izaya. I don't work in the Technology department, but the work done there certainly does fascinate me."
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 3:45 am
Technically the tech department wasn't really a cave. It was more of a lair. The techs familiar with D&D had once likened it to a den housing a dragon and a pack of kobolds before the conversation had drifted toward who in the department would be what adventuring class. Not that any of this mattered.
Though he listened politely, Hayes' expression of mellow attention flickered to confusion at parts, and as the answer continued, he began to feel vaguely reminded of a theater major. When the grunt got to 'rumored legend' the tech laughed out loud in disbelief and raised his free hand to signal an end. "Whoa, whoa, okay. Take a breath."
The blond set his fork down and looked at Izaya, a funny little half-quirk to the corner of his mouth. "I don't know what you've been heard, but that's a little .." He sought for an appropriate word and finding none, shrugged. "I just code stuff." Speculation about Seth's girlfriend passed without comment.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 7:39 pm
The brunette, who evidently liked to hear himself talk, laughed along with Hayes as the blonde agent held up a hand. "Humble too? That's not one of the things I've heard about, but I guess it's a trait best discovered in person."'Just code stuff'," he repeated musingly, shaking his head. "What a way to simplify things. I'm sure you're very much aware that not everyone can 'just code stuff'."
Now that he had Hayes' attention, Izaya scooted a little closer, his proximity bordering the margins of appropriate. "So, Agent Hayes, what kind of 'stuff', exactly, do you code?" he ventured. "Better yet, what brought you to Team Rocket? When did you start and how long have you been here?" He sat attentively like an obsessed fan girl, ready to listen to every detail of her idol's life.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:13 pm
Just to hear him talk - an opportunity not in short supply at the moment - this guy seemed determined to make him into some sort of idol. There was a faintly puzzled crease to Hayes' brow that smoothed out as he grinned lopsidedly and twitched his glasses in place, shifting slightly in his chair as he laid an elbow on the table. "Okay, but it doesn't make me some kind of superhero. Relax." He did; it didn't look like he was getting out of this for a bit.
He waited for the barrage of questions to subside and paused briefly to consider them. "Good question." The blond glanced up as a passing agent with a tray said "Hey man." "Hey," Hayes returned with a quick smile and raised hand, then looked back to Izaya. "I like the work? It's been about.. two years, and it's pretty much whatever gets thrown at me." He shrugged, not really sure what the grunt was looking for.
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Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2011 10:40 pm
Watching the most minute changes in Hayes' expression, the information broker carefully took note. He also made sure to take such changes into account when attempting to read the directions of the man's thoughts. His questions weren't answered in elaborate detail, so either Hayes didn't care to share or didn't think highly enough of such detail to elaborate on it.
He didn't seem secretive, so Izaya didn't think it was the former. Likely it was the latter, since humble Hayes seemed so determined to downplay whatever reputation he assumed he had - the reputation this random grunt had presented to him. The degree of which said reputation was true did not matter; all that mattered to Izaya was how the agent reacted to it.
Crossing his legs over his chair, the grunt feigned pensivity. "Hmmm..." A brief frown rippled his 'pensive' features as he watched Hayes greet a fellow agent. He cleared his throat impatiently and re-folded his hands over his crossed knees. "'Thrown at you'?" Orihara repeated, tilting his head slightly. "Is that a metaphorical term in this case, or literal?" He thought he'd let Hayes take that question however he would, though if he really did work as closely with Seth as it was said, Izaya trusted he would catch the reference right away.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:32 pm
The last time Hayes had been so intensely scrutinized was during his thesis defense in graduate school, and the purpose had been largely the same - uncover any and every weakness in his presentation. Then it had been a PowerPoint on his work in artificial intelligence; now it was himself.
The agent lifted his brows a fraction at the direction the conversation - interview, more like - had gone, before the faint grin reappeared. "I'm gonna take half a guess and say you mean Seth." If he'd noticed the grunt's displeasure at his greeting a passerby, he didn't react to it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:58 pm
"Yes, yes, Seth-sama," Izaya verified, almost spitting out the honorific as if it were an insult instead. "I hear you work with him. How does that go for you?" More like, 'how is that possible', but I suppose with a nature as subdued as yours, even he would tire of yelling with you around.
Under the table, the shorter man took his pointer and middle finger and walked them across his own leg and onto Hayes'. He continued to smile pleasantly, propping his free arm up onto the table by his elbow and resting his cheek against his palm. "Do you have some special way of pacifying him? Or do you simply do everything so perfectly in the first place that he never has a chance to get upset at you?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:26 pm
Hayes shrugged, as if he'd been asked something like 'So, I hear you have two arms. How is that?' "Goes all right? It's busy," he tossed out, to pacify the grunt's apparently unquenchable thirst for knowledge, "but that's pretty normal."
And this, technically, was true. Seth in an absolutely foul mood piling unreasonable demands on his underlings was pretty par for the course, as were insults about one's parentage and intelligence. (Hayes had started keeping a loose tally of how many times his immediate supervisor had called him an incompetent moron, then handed him a project he wouldn't entrust to anyone else.) You learned to make normality out of it, somewhat like living next to a bullhorn testing range.
The agent's expression flickered as he became aware of something moving past his knee, and then realized what it was. With a firm grip under the table and direct eye contact above, he moved Izaya's hand back to the grunt's own knee with a friendly half-smile and a polite "Yeah, sorry. I'm straight."
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:08 am
"Busy. Right," he giggled. "Are you suggesting the other departments aren't? You don't seem especially passionate about your work. Is it just something you do to pass the time? Something to make a living off of? Did you join Team Rocket simply because they were the first to hire you?" Prying for more information, it was as if the grunt was waiting for the programmer to reach his limits in the invasion of his privacy. He suspected Hayes had a more interesting opinion about his boss than what he expressed, but maybe he was just more tactful about what he said.
Izaya's grin broadened as his hand was grasped under the table and returned to his own knee. Direct eye-contact...interesting. Not easily flustered. Friendly smile - probably wasn't offended. Polite...was that a normality for him, or a show he put on for strangers? No one could be polite all the time, could they? In Team Rocket, it seemed especially unlikely, but Nakura supposed that didn't make it impossible.
"Straight?" he repeated with a chuckle. "You seem pretty certain of yourself, Hayes-san. Was there already someone you had in mind? Haha, not to seem intrusive," he added, though contradictory scooted and leaned closer to the agent until their shoulders were practically touching, "but I find that most 'straight' men can be bent. There are two exceptions to that, though. Those who have already tried playing for the other team and realized they didn't like it can be credited for experiencing new things before dismissing them. The other exception, of course, are those who already have someone in mind, because they have no need to be open-minded with a predetermined target. So, which is it?" Crimson eyes continued to maintain eye-contact with Hayes' hasel gaze. "If, that is, you're certain I can't persuade you otherwise."
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 12:57 pm
Another shrug encompassed all the questions with an unspoken 'I don't know.' "I got asked if I wanted to work here and said okay. It's a good job." Hayes gave the grunt a lopsided smile and brief, bemused lift of his brows. "I don't really know what you're looking for here." If he was a man of passion, it wasn't on a very regular basis.
The physical contact didn't linger; as soon as Izaya's hand was out of his personal space it was released, and Hayes was bringing his arm above the table again. In response to the grunt getting right up in his face (both literally and figuratively,) the blond canted his head and leaned in a fraction, still with the mild smile that seemed to be his default expression, and gave the red gaze trying to bore into his own apparently serious consideration. "Hm."
Then he sat back all of a sudden. "Nope," the tech laughed, all traces of calculation gone. "Not into you."
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:34 pm
"Who said I was looking for anything?" Izaya laughed, leaning back and holding out his hands to his sides inquiringly. "Just making friendly conversation, is all, since you really don't seem prone to striking up much of a talk yourself."
Grinning uncontrollably, Nakura studied that mild smile and scrutinized it with all his understanding of human displays of emotions. Nothing hidden here, it seemed. Would this man really not have reacted any different had he been talking to any other grunt? It was almost disappointing for Izaya to think so.
Raising his brows as Hayes announced his decision, he wondered if he himself had been being scrutinized at the same time. He hadn't honestly expected the agent to consider him as a potential...'partner'. "Okay, that's sensible. We've just met. We hardly know each other. I don't believe that was my question, however..."
He innocently rubbed the back of his warm neck with a cool hand, casually considering how to word his next sentences. "I didn't ask if you 'were into me'. While I understand that you're certain I can't be the one to persuade you, I'm still curious as to which reason answers my question of 'why'."
"Is it just me you're not into, or all men? How do you know? For all you or I know, you might be unconsiously attracted to the head of your department with how understanding you seem to be of him. You may not be attracted to me, but what about another guy in general? I didn't take you to be the picky sort, because for all you've expressed, you go with the flow. On the other hand, the fact that you're seriously convinced that you're straight has altered that assessment of mine. So! Which is it?" he repeated.
He held up one finger. "You didn't like playing for the other team?" He held up a second finger. "Or do you have someone else in mind?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:08 pm
"Well," the agent pointed out (not unkindly) as he adjusted his glasses, "that's kind of a two-way street. It might help if you told me something about yourself." The weight on the last word gave it the unspoken inflection: in addition to everything you want to know about me.
The tech settled back in his chair, one arm draped over the backrest as he listened to Izaya's careful analysis with a faint grin on his face. When he presented his dichotomy, the corner of the blond's mouth tugged back, by all appearances amused by the amount of effort his new acquaintance was putting into understanding the contours of his psyche. "Or three-" Hayes had a sip of soda and tilted the can at Izaya for emphasis, "'You're thinking about this way more than I do.'"
"So," he glanced at the clock on the far wall and continued, in a similarly friendly fashion, "by your own explanation you're either one of three things: into guys, tried them and didn't like it, or you've got someone in mind. Which is it?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:26 pm
"Myself? Ah, but you didn't ask," the grunt countered. "Wouldn't it be rude to go about spewing out information about myself to people who aren't even interested in knowing?" Not that it was any less rude to go up to people and interrogate them to the 9th degree about themselves, but Izaya decided to conveniently ignore that fact for the time being. He chuckled at the implications of the weight on the last word. Maybe this Rocket was deeper than just his outside appearance after all.
That would have put the grunt at ease a great deal more, considering that he believed that to be human, one had to have several different faces or masks they exposed to different people or just kept to themselves, and the concept that this young man did not was just befuddling. It seemed that perhaps he was just better at keeping to himself at most; he didn't seem to leave many hints or clues toward his true innermost thoughts and feelings. He would take some time to get to know. Definitely not one to be read like a book upon the first meeting.
"Oh, I know I think about this way more than you do," the black-haired man sneered playfully. "From my personal experience, I'd say you've got the air of someone who's more interested in reading your e-mail than meeting a date at a restaurant. If you believe I may be reading too much into your tastes of other human beings, though, feel free to correct me."
Following Hayes' gaze to the clock, he wondered idly if the man thought he was wasting his time. His next comment and questions pleasantly surprised him, however. Trying to turn the tables on him, was he? "Ehhh? And where do things like bi- and pan-sexuality fit into those options, Agent Hayes-san?" the informer giggled. "Those last two options were merely asked of you because, as I said before, you seemed pretty quick to establish your heterosexuality, leading me to believe that you were pretty secure about your sexual orientation."
He leaned further on the table and rested his chin on his arms. "But since you seem so reluctant to divulge information about yourself, I'll agree to a fair trade. That much, at least, I understand - being an ex-information broker taught me no information of any significant value is easily obtained." Izaya paused for a minute, looking pensive.
"Someone in mind...mmm, yes, I've got someone in mind." He laughed aloud, slapping the table suddenly as he sat up. "Humans. I love them all. They're all so interesting and infinitely fun to watch..." His gaze trailed across Hayes' body before he continued teasingly, "I love human beings as a whole race, though, you must understand. Not any one single individual personally. There are a few exceptions to this rule of my love for humans, but that's because despite their appearances I refuse to acknowledge them as being human at all. Namely, Shizu-chan and my twin sisters Mairu and Kururi." Nakura's eyes narrowed a moment as he distantly stared straight ahead, picturing their faces in his mind.
In an instant, though, he was back to his jolly, smiling self as he turned back to Hayes. "Your turn~"
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