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 Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 3:36 pm
Leaning against the outside of the HQ, Taym absently wondered if he was supposed to be smoking here. To Taym, anywhere that qualified as outdoors qualified as a place to smoke (as did his own bedroom and be damned those who'd try and stop him), but he was dimly aware that the non-smoking populace did not always share these views. Waiting to meet someone was always accompanied by skin-crawling self consciousness, and a cigarette was a welcome thing to do with his hands, an outlet for his nervous energy. He remembered the first time he'd snuck a cigarette out of his uncle's coat pocket, and wondered now, as he had frequently, how much of it had been because he'd wanted to look cool and how much of it had been because his uncle had always seemed to know what to do with his hands, and never seemed to be restless. He'd assumed it was the smoking. Stupid assumption to make, even for a thirteen-year-old. (There was a part of him, even now, that suspected maybe he still hoped he looked cool. He didn't like thinking about it.) Looking like he needed about twelve hours of sleep and a shave, he huddled against the wall, receding into the collar of his coat like it was cold outside despite the island heat, and smoked, and wondered what the hell Ami looked like and why he hadn't thought to get that information before arranging to meet her. Another day, another dry tour. Another face and name to memorize. Taym watched the fog and the occasional passer-by with leery, nervous, stray-dog eyes. He practically reeked of "newbie" as much as he reeked of cigarettes.
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Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 3:51 pm
Unlike the poor smoky sap that sat outside the Headquarters, Ami had been well briefed upon their meeting. A little trainee file, a little face on a cut out picture followed by the destructive two words that ruined her day: tour duty.
If there was one thing Ami hated more than talking to people, it was forcibly talking to people in situations she couldn't hope to outrun. Considering it was a duty, she would have no choice but to lead around yet another dewy eyed chick that had no idea what it was getting into. Ironically, this chick was more of a duckling really, but to Ami he still stank of idiocies long past.
"Look alive, Mr. Thompson. I'll kindly ask you to discard the cigarette, as it is against Deus Ex policy to impede personal health." Her voice rang rather sharply in the small group of people, none of whom bothered to pay attention to them. "Though it does beg the question of how you managed to swindle a pack considering you haven't been granted access off the island nor a steady flow of pay." Shrugging she looked at him expectantly, tapping her little clipboard and looking like the very image of impatience.
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Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 3:59 pm
First impressions made: he looked at her flatly, and then looked with significant disdain at her clipboard, the symbol, he felt, of everything wrong in the world, and then back at her with a defiant empty stare. He looked at people too much, like he was missing whatever little gauge normal people had that said "OK, time to avert your eyes now." Slowly and deliberately, he took a long final hit and exhaled it with an exaggerated turn of his head away from her. "It's against policy to impede personal health but they'll tranq you for losing at Jenga and allow you the--I have to say unparalleled--personal growth activity of experiencing your own death in repeated, spectacular fashion?" His voice was thinner, softer than it should have been with that face. "To say nothing of the, you know, literal dragon-slaying." Maybe a little bitterness there. Definitely a little bitterness there. It was none of her business how he'd gotten them, either. He wasn't about to throw Peyton under the bus.
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Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:26 pm
Ami only rolled her eyes at the trainee. "Pretty words and logic deficiencies will get you nowhere with me, Mr. Taym, though I admire the critical thinking around our exercises." She wouldn't hold back a compliment when it was due. It really was an excellent hole in the island's logic.
With a pointed flick of her wrist, she snatched the cigarette and with the stomp of her expensive little boots it was gone. Seeing that he was rather obvious with his attitude on policy, Ami began a story. "Imagine you're trying to sneak past said dragon- who is presumably eighty, maybe one hundred times your size, which you have no conceivable chance of fighting on your own- with a group of hunters. All is going well behind the rocks, everyone is acting according to plan. Even the imbecile Bobby is keeping in line. You cough due to smoker's lung, through no intention of your own. The dragon arises from its slumber and eats not only you, but your entire squad. You've put not only your life on the line, but ten, twenty. The entire squadron. All lost because you couldn't put a wad of paper and ash down. What then, Mr. Taym? What do I tell their graves, hm?" She eyed him up and down, taking note of his posture and disposition towards the entire tour.
"Are we clear, then?" It was a test. A test of his character and his ability to recognize both authority and instruction, even in such a small amount as this. One that she'd given both Lex, Jason and many others. She didn't expect him to up and quit there and then, but recognition of position was important. Very important.
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Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 4:47 pm
He stared at her. She just... she just took his cigarette. Jesus. It's a good thing he was done with it. He felt his fingers curling into fists, and stopped them. He visibly mastered himself. "Funny thing," he said finally, his voice tight as he fought down rage, "but I've barely coughed since I came here, and I used to cough all the time. Must be one of those perks they mentioned when they talked me into signing my life away. Which I did, you know. Sign my life away. Have you ever tried to function in the thick of a nicotine craving? I'm going to guess you haven't. When a superior in my own division tells me to stop instead of standing outside on the step with me without reprimand, waiting for me to finish my cigarette--that also happened, by the way--I'll consider putting my 'paper and ash' down. Ma'am," he added, thickly sarcastic, accompanying a baring of teeth that almost managed to pass for a grin. "Maybe he was just too distracted helping me get my bearings and commending me on my ******** bright-eyed, bushy-tailed zeal for work," he finished, " ma'am, to snap at me for having a bad habit." He wondered for a split second where she'd gotten his nickname from. It put him out of power for a second. ******** Twitter.
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Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:54 pm
Ami sighed as the man continued to prattle on about nicotine addictions and delirium. She wanted very much to point out the hole in that logic- the fact that if one doesn't attempt to rid themselves of the nicotine delirium, it never goes away, and it didn't look like he was attempting any time soon- but there were bigger fish to fry. Getting him out of her hair, for one, completely the tour for two and moving his trainwrecked self closer to death for three.
"Your answer is so very disappointing, Mr. Thompson," she said coldly, dropping the nickname altogether. It had been, too. She'd expected more than a slightly crazed reliance on addiction. Ami could see intelligence behind his dark eyes- he was better than this. "Let's simply continue this tour as coincidental acquaintances. I shall prattle on about details you most likely don't care about, and you can be one step closer to smoking yourself and others away."
Finding that deal satisfactory enough, Ami pivoted on her feet, walking towards the lab. They still had a little ways of a walk there, and there was no sense in being silent about such important issues. "Additionally, I am well versed with your superiors. I have saved Gale, Otto, Wilson and many others on countless occasion, and I wouldn't be so haughty to omit their rescues either." She was running her mouth quite a bit today, actually. Normally Ami didn't say more than a few words to people. "But know this, Mr. Thompson. Everyone on this island who is a full hunter is your superior. Whether you fight it or not." Sighing, she did add, "Fortunately for you, some are more apt to look out for you."
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Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 6:18 pm
"It's not your authority I question," he said, less smugly deferential than he might otherwise have been solely because her taking his cigarette had stoked his rage so effectively, "it's your judgment. Ma'am." a*****e. He fell into step with his hands in his pockets, galled by walking behind her, already determined to go out of his way to hate her even if she did have the most gorgeous hair he had ever seen on a woman's head. And of course he'd already done his fair share of poking around and monopolizing the computer lab and exploring the library, but he hadn't gotten the formal tour yet. And to think he'd been almost looking forward to it. "I just feel such a reluctance to burden you with the task of being my babysitter. I'm sure everyone else you mentioned has got me well in hand without your help."
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