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 Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:46 pm
This was always the worst part about being an intermediate. The worst part about being experience over those who were not. Newbie tours. Pod duty. Anything involving something that took effort and time when she could be studying or reading or doing anything more productive with her time.
A sigh escaped her mouth as she checked her phone. Just because she was weaponless and weaker didn't mean her patience had increased. It was 12:05, and he had until 12:10 to get here, or she was leaving. He could find all of this on his own for all she cared.
She leaned against the heavy doors of the infirmary, undoing her braid and fixing it again. Her hair was getting long again, her bangs hanging too far into her eyes. Not enough to be unattractive, but too long for her liking. Maybe her hair just felt different without the heavy fish clip weighing it down.
"I told him 12:10," Ami mumbled, scribbling into her notebook, detailing and depicting the bush in front of her. "Why are they never on time?" Of course, "on time" to Ami meant showing up at least 15 minutes early. "It's not that difficult, right?" She realized as an after thought that no one was going to answer her.
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:15 pm
Lex had already gone through his daily routine. 7AM wake up. 7:15 shower, brush teeth and hair. By 7:30 he'd had breakfast, put on his coat and scarf, and taken to the practice fields. He'd been yelled at by Regal for at least an hour on how to handle him properly, and eventually just gave up.
Because apparently there was more to firing a gun than just cocking back the hammer and pulling a trigger. You had to treat this gun with care and don't you dare leave grease marks on the hilt and yadda yadda blah blah blah Regal was an annoying little b*****d.
<< I heard that. >>
< You were meant to. >
And so, in the course of time, Lex would up in the Life labs by 12:09, thumbs in his pockets, a teensy frown in his eyes, and smelling slightly of the outdoors. There was a short blonde, only a few inches taller than Solia, there waiting for him, looking slightly peeved.
"Hey, Ami, right? I'm....pretty sure I got here on the dot." He checked his phone while talking with a playful voice. "Yup, 12:10 exactly."
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:28 pm
Ami looked up from her writing, clicking the pen closed and snapping the book shut in the same motion. The tiny book was slipped into a pocket of her jacket, never to be seen- not by Lex's eyes anyways.
"It's rude to assume one's name before giving your own," Ami said. Well it was. "But yes, I'm Ami." Now that she'd actually paused to look at her "tour group" she couldn't say she wasn't impressed. Most boys here dressed like they hadn't quite woken up out of bed. Well he was at least earning bonus points in the appearance category. "I like your boots. Bass?" she asked.
Without a moment to waste, Ami turned around and walked into the labs. Whether or not Lex was following behind wasn't her problem.
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:43 pm
"Ah, excuse my poor manners, then." His tone was apologetic, if not a little jovial. He fell into step behind her, having to constantly flick his eyes downward to make sure he didn't trip over her, or run the poor girl over. "Yes, actually. And by the looks of your flats, I'd say... Target?" He allowed a slight pause, a smirk, a chuckle. "Actually, they look more like Burberry. Am I right?"
When they did get into the labs, Lex's eyes got a little wider. There were computers, which he could understand, and...well, that was about it. This...would be interesting. "I'm just going to guess that Microsoft Word isn't a program on those computers."
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:55 pm
A scowl up- quite a ways up- at Lex and then, "Have you seen Target shoes? They may make good clothing, but their shoes are hideous." She caught the smile on his face and realized he was messing with her. "Oh," was all she quietly added after that.
They walked some ways down the hall, past all of the open lounges and free spaces. She simply hoped that Lex was intelligent to understand the use of those areas. As she walked, she said, "Actually, they do. We don't write on stone tablets, you know." It would have been a joke if Ami wasn't so deadpan serious about everything ALL the time.
They finally made it to the first stop on this boring, scheduled, scripted tour. "These are the labs," Ami said, gesturing behind her. "All archives, research materials, references, specimens and experiments are here. If you keep walking down this hallway-" she gestured to her right, "Minipet labs. Minipets are small creatures made of FEAR blahblahblah I don't have time to baby you through all of this." You could really tell Ami wasn't putting her all into this. She just really hated newbies.
"Questions?" she asked in a sweet tone, but her eyes were shooting daggers that said "if you have questions, I'll kill you."
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Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:04 pm
"Oh, good to know about the computers. I was afraid I'd have to learn what these runes meant and learn some weird sort of computer codes just to send an email." His tone was slightly more serious as he gave the desktops a look that bred mild curiosity and slight apprehension. He was savvy when it came to Word, Excel, Google Chrome, and E*Trade, but that was it. "I'll make sure to not bring up Target again, then." Because obviously Ami had a hatred for the store that ran pretty deep.
"Alright, cool. Research and animals and 'blahblahblah'." He made air quotes. "You really hate this job, don't you?" He shot her a smile, completely ignoring the daggers coming from her eyes. Women really never intimidated the man, and it wasn't about to happen now.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:40 am
Ami liked Target quite a bit, thank you very much.
Just not their shoes.
"You will have to learn runes," Ami said abruptly as they walked. Just to assure Lex that this wouldn't be easy. In fact it was difficult as hell. Ami still was on the basics of Atlantean, Greek and number sets. Not having Junpei to help her with the Atlantean was really stunting the process.
She opened her mouth to affirm that yes, yes she did hate this job, but then thought better of it. Marcus and H's words echoed in her head. If she proved useless, it'd be the pods for her. No second chance- she was on her last one already. "No, no it's fine. It's just ah ..." This was supposed to be Junpei's part to pitch in a nice comment. Now she'd have to think them up on her own? "Takes up time when I could be working!" she said quickly. As soon as it was out of her mouth, she was mentally slamming her head against the wall. She was really out of practice being nice with people.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:40 pm
Lex's smile faded quickly, eyes narrowing. Runes, he really had to learn them? Augh; he hadn't even made it through Spanish class, and he was supposed to learn a bunch of dead languages? Screw him sideways.
<< Wow, you are an idiot, whelp. Obviously I can teach you ruins. >>
< Your mythology is from England, what kind of runes do you know? >
<< Oh my Jack, you are the biggest idiot. >>
"Just shut up already, would you." Lex's voice was not how it usually was, a different tone than Ami had ever heard coming from his lips. It was irate and foul, like burnt eggs. "You're just so up on your damned high horse, I swear to God if I didn't have to work with you I'd strangle you."
It seemed Lex had forgotten about mental speech.
<< Hey, whelp. Good job on making me nearly piss myself with laughter. Look at the short one. >>
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:57 pm
Ami had continued walking, simply hoping that Lex had ignored the comment, when Lex went on his little tangent with Regal. Except she didn't know it was for Regal.
Fantastic. Here she thought she'd found a semi-polite man with excellent fashion tastes, but no. He was an a*****e, like everyone else. She sent him a glare to tell him he should really stop now if he wanted to live, but he didn't take the hint. Too busy telling her about her attitude. Like everyone else always was.
She sighed and rolled her eyes like this was a run of the mill procedure. In one quick movement she'd pivoted, knocking Lex's legs from under him. In the same motion she'd drawn both guns from her conveniently located hip holsters (ingeniously hidden by her hunter's coat) and had them both pointed at his face from different angles.
"Now I know it's against the rules to hurt fellow hunters, but you're making it real damn hard," she spat, blank slate frown returning to her face. Nope, Lex hadn't been a friend, just another newbie. "I really hate to threaten you like this, but you have to understand the meaning of superior." Ami pressed a boot down on his chest, and while it didn't provide much weight, the threat was in the motion. "Rule number one here at Deus Ex is listen to your superiors, quickly followed by don't get killed." Ami's version of tough love; inherently teaching him something while putting him in his place at the same time.
Ami stepped off him and put the guns back in their holsters, giving Lex an opportunity to breathe. "Now I can drag you through this with my gun pointed at your head or we can calmly walk without fruitless threats to strangle me. It's your choice, and believe me, I've done it both ways." She pulled out a tiny mirror from her pocket and cursed. "Aaaand now my hair's messed up. You're not earning many points today, sir."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:16 pm
<< AHAHAHA, WHELP. YOU JUST GOT YOUR SORRY KEESTER HANDED TO YOU BY THAT PETITE GHOUL. BWAHAHAHA. >>
Regal was rolling in Lex's mindspace, unlike his Hunter, who was still in shock by the fact that a five foot girl had put him on the ground because of a misunderstanding. He really wanted to toss her off of him; it would have been simple, really. Toss and roll, then run like hell. But no, Lex was not that guy. Lex would be polite, apologize, and try to make everything better.
When she got off him, Lex slowly put himself upright, brushing his coat and scarf off. He composed his voice, making sure it was an even tone, filled with notes of regret and honesty - because he honestly regretted forgetting he could have conversations inside his head, and that he'd offended Ami.
"Sorry, Ma'am, I wasn't talking to you. My...partner, you could call him, was saying some rather foul things, so I was talking to him." His lips tugged down into a slight frown, brow bending to a somber angle. "It seems I forgot in my frustration that I can communicate with him mentally. Please, forgive me." A slight bow, and then he returned to his full upright posture.
"Also, I realize that's a pretty crappy excuse, but it's what really happened." He still gave her a confident look, even though his lips were in an apologetic frown. He'd realized what he'd done, but he wasn't going to grovel about it.
<< Oh, whelp. You think you know women so well. >>
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:21 pm
Ami studied his face, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth. The color drained from her face as he blamed it on his weapon, a sore reminder that she lacked her own to talk to. A dark expression covered her face, one that was unreadable to most.
She turned around to hide her sullen face, but gently said, "You should be kinder to your weapon. You only get one." God knows she wished she had been nicer to hers.
The tap-tap-tap of her tiny footsteps resumed as she walked down the halls. "We're almost at the infirmary," she insisted. "Don't make this worse than it already is."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:29 pm
<< Whelp. >>
"Yes'm." He followed in pace, not sure of how to react to what just happened. She'd gone from angry to gentle in three seconds flat. No more threats of guns, no more talking to him like he was scum - no more talking, really. Was it something he said? He... would just shut up about weapons for now.
<< Whelp! >>
His hands went to his pockets, and he began to chew his lower lip as he looked around. More lounges, more technical things, more people. They were probably rehearsed in runes pretty well, and funky computer languages.
<< WHELP. >>
< What?! >
<< If you ever thought of bedding this one, whelp, you've blown it! >> A harsh cackle followed, and then some feather rustling. << You can't possibly make this any better. >>
< Can it, bird brain. >
<< A bloo bloo, my feelings are so hurt by your idiotic insults. >>
Another roll of the eyes, and Lex realized he'd fallen out of pace. Oops.
"Ah, Ami...what kind of runes are you learning? Or, maybe I should say mastered; you seem like the type to learn things quickly, am I right?" Another smile, though his hands stayed in his pockets. Touching her was a big no right now, not when she was so...volatile.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:39 pm
Well this had turned into a big old mess in less than half the distance of the labs. She blamed it on herself, and his stupidity. Why her superiors thought giving her tour duty and pod duty all week was beyond her. She'd only recently been released from the hospital, still having nightmares every night and waking up with about 2 hours of sleep. In other words, she was in no shape to handle human interaction.
She sighed. Junpei would've told her to be nice. Entertain him. Given her tips on when to smile, how to act. He was always the friendly of their duo. Now she had to do it on her own, and it really wasn't working with her character. "Atlantean mostly, Greek, some number systems, a strange one we call hisstonic, and- unfortunately- biblical." She listed them off quickly, like they were right in front of her. "Master of none," she added.
Somewhat hesitantly, and without looking at him, she also added, "I'm ... sorry for snapping at you. I haven't been in the right mind lately." Was there really a way to say "I've been tortured" in a lighter manner?
"You ... still haven't given your name." An attempt to change the subject was probably best for now.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:49 pm
"Greek? I used to study some Greek in Sunday schoo-" Oops, nope, don't say that, she just said studying biblical runes was unfortunate. That statement was unfortunate, but...he wouldn't go there. He'd come into this program knowing there would be all different sorts of people, so...yeah. Not gonna bring it up.
"Apology accepted, Ma'am. I probably can't imagine what kinds of crap you guys get put through on a daily basis, if the entry test was as terrible as it was." Dealing with ghosts and demons and spirits had to be far worse than killing faceless human beings who wanted you dead.
<< Excuse you, whelp? Spirits and Ghosts are the same thing. >>
Yup, dealing with Halloween things was far worse than killing each other.
"Alexei Jamil." He took his hands out of his pockets, and gave her a small salute. "If you don't mind, just call me Lex. It's easier to remember."
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:01 pm
"A shame," Ami said, "Alexei sounds much nicer." A sort of backhanded compliment to his name, Ami would stick to calling him Lex. "Lex it is though. I don't like it when people call me Amalie."
They'd almost arrived at the infirmary, and Ami said, "You don't know the half of it." A fourth of it. A thirty-second of it. The island was such a hazy memory to her. None of it impacted her as much as killing a person should have. Besides, it was all fake. None of it was real. None of it affected you from day to day.
"Infirmary," Ami said, gesturing to the door behind her. "Emergencies down this hallway, basic health this way, pharmaceuticals here..." She looked up at Lex and said, "I don't know where the nooks and crannies are though. I'm a lab technician, not a medic." Sure she could tell him where each reference room was, the best labs for work, the quietest places to study, but ask her where the patients' rooms were and she couldn't tell you a single thing. "Be careful though. Sometimes the medics like to ... 'test' cures on people. On the other hand, you don't really have a choice. There's no one better on the island than the medics."
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