Day 58: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of felt like she was floating and bobbing in the water.

But she was alive.

Knowing how close she came to death last night, and remembering the lengths her friends had gone to in order to save her, there was no way Anise could let a little discomfort get her down. She had to be at her best today so she wouldn't seem ungrateful to Guy and Claude. On that note, she had to remember to thank them properly, now that she was better able to express herself.

While getting ready, Anise was surprised to actually run into Claude that morning. He came to her room asking for the notebook he stored there (or maybe it was an excuse to see her cute face again), so Anise happily located it and handed it over. She was pretty tired, but the big smile she gave him was genuine. Who wouldn't be happy to see her savior so soon after a dramatic rescue?

After he left, Anise finished re-tying her pigtails into a low position so the military beret would fit on her head, and then she was ready! Even though her stomach wasn't feeling that great, she figured sitting down to a decent meal would help normalize it. And luckily for her, she was among the few who had the privilege of eating such a meal. Anise filled a plate with french toast topped with syrup and fruit, accompanied by small portions of each of the available side dishes.

It looked like she was early, which meant there weren't a lot of people around. That was okay, though. Anise could get a good head start on her meal before any company came around. She sat down at a table by herself and started on her sausage first.

[for Tolten!]

Comments

[saviored]

He hoped not. Complicate was an understatement. He wasn't referring to Zack, either (with the things that ran at night, one more zombie Fido wasn't going to make or break it); he meant Rose. Regardless of what she knew or thought or believed them to be in her little timeframe, she was, in essence, a vampire on their side. On...his side, even, if he was going to be specific. The point was, he was in a position where he could use that and it wouldn't really be the best turn of events if she spent every night rocking in a corner.

And maybe she earned a few points for making Rick dive for salvation in his bowl of melted cotton candy. Not that this was hard to do when it came to Rick, but still.

Damon leaned into Rose, all confiding-like, and said confidentially, "It's still a sensitive topic for him." He pulled away. "Though he did catch us up to current events. Unless you have anymore blanks to fill in about Elena and the big scary Klaus."

Where did Rose and Alaric line up in their stop-and-start memories, anyway? They were obviously closer in line than him or Stefan or Elena. Or, probably Elena. That might not last. How long before she remembered everything? And what the hell did everything consist of, anyway? More than what Rose remembered, even?

The thought of being behind that far didn't settle well, and especially now when Rose kept insisting on Elena being in danger...Whatever. Jumping ahead wasn't doing anyone favors. He wasn't about to bother with a blind guessing game.

[ex_rosebuds752]

Rose watched Alaric with a mixture of amusement and apology. Okay, maybe more amusement than apology. "So I see," she mused, her lips twitching faintly as she tried - and failed - to subdue a smile.

When Damon pulled back, Rose did too, finally uncurling herself from the tight little ball she'd maintained since sinking into her chair earlier. At the mention of current events, she glanced between them, a puzzled frown flitting across her lips.

"Well, I've told you all I know once, but that's a moot point now. I don't know what blanks are left at the moment," she admitted, a hint of frustration flickering in her gaze. Of all the things she disliked about this place, that grated on her the most.

She looked over at Alaric again, not wanting to look at Damon for the moment. He was too observant by far and there were things she didn't want to have to inform him of. Not yet. Maybe not ever, because really, how did one bring that up? Although she wasn't fooling herself that she could keep that hidden forever. Eventually he'd figure out she was omitting something. And even if it wasn't important to him, it was to her.

"How much do we have known?" she asked, rather pleased when she managed to sound much calmer than before. "I'll fill in what holes I can, if there's any left after what you've told him."

[deathandgin]

He had to hand it to them. Gruel was pretty nice when you were starving.

Okay, good. A topic he could wax poetics on that wasn't going to involve talking about blood donation. It wasn't that he was like, embarrassed or anything. (Christ, no.) It was just, you know. Talking about popping veins open when you were beside two probably very hungry vampires and barely having enough blood for one. And not being in love with any of them. That probably would have made it, like. Easier.

Once his mouth was empty of gruel, he pushed the bowl away from him, noting Rose's gaze. He didn't match it still. He was still pretty hesitant about meeting their eyes. Hunter paranoia.

"Most of my knowledge is from my wife's research about the sun and the moon curse. I know, uh. How you met Elena." Okay, he could sacrifice five seconds for a very pointed look at that. A look that said telling Damon about kidnapping and threatening Elena would be a bad idea. "The Lockwoods are werewolves, as well as a woman Damon and I were investigating named Jules. I haven't personally met Elijah, but... I've heard he's around."

[saviored]

He couldn't see the look Rose gave Alaric, but he could see the look Alaric gave Rose. Or at least, that there was a look given, which basically amounted to the same thing. Either way, his eyes narrowed sharply for a brief second.

How Rose met Elena. See, here was what happened when you didn't coordinate your half-truths: one person decided to mention the half where Rose wound up in Mystic Falls because she was helping break a curse, and someone else decided to mention the other half where the key to breaking the curse involved Elena's blood. It raised some interesting questions. And if Rose had ever come across like someone capable of masterminding an evil plan to break this curse instead of coming across as more easily spooked than anything, and if they hadn't had more pressing matters like being here, things would be...less peaceable.

As it was, there was no point in invoking the conversation now. It'd be a waste when he could wait to put it to better use. Besides, he'd rather have it when Rick wasn't around. Third party interference was always inconvenient.

(There was also the fact that he suspected that at some point, he must've let it go, or she wouldn't have been alive long enough to help out the way Elena had described. He was far less interested in how or why this even happened. Neither Rose's memories nor Elena's were his. He didn't see why they should've held any bearing to him.)

"Mm, Jules. Guess she was the one that bit you, huh." The remark was both flippant and not all at once.

It wasn't like he'd meant to set the wolf girl on her. Probably. He couldn't remember it, but why the hell would he ever do that? That would be like poking a bear and hoping it ate the right person instead of you. There were easier ways to kill a vampire.

[ex_rosebuds752]

Aaaand that was it. The last straw. After spending the night scared out of her wits and accompanied by a giant rotting canine-thing, being called stupid, and everything else that had been snowballing over the past few days, Rose had had enough. Having a flippant remark about the cause of her almost-death a few days before was just the icing on the cake and her normally mild temper exploded.

Impressive, really. It had taken Trevor almost a decade to piss her off this badly.

Maybe it was the unexpectedness of the emotion that had her reacting without thought, a need to vent all the frustration and fear and anger of the past week. More than likely, it was just that tone of his voice that had grated on her last nerve. Her fingers were curling into a fist even as she stood up and then her fist was swinging in a close arc directly for his face, faster than a human eye could follow.

She might hit like a girl, but at least she had enough strength to make up for it. Even if she did feel an ache of pain flare across her knuckles as her fist connected with his jaw. In her opinion, the pain was worth it. So was the look on his face that she relished for half a second.

"You," she stated succinctly, "are an ass."

Still fuming, she turned and cast a glance at Alaric, looking not at all remorseful over her flare of temper. "Enjoy the rest of your breakfast," she said, her voice sharp and short as she picked up her tray.

She cast one last scathing glance at Damon before stalking off towards the door

[deathandgin]

Bit you? Oh. Oh, shit. Rose? Rose had been - but she looked fine. She wasn't dead. Was the legend not-so-true?

Not that he had a lot of time to think all that over - or, you know, do the reasonable thing and ask what had happened afterward - before Rose was slugging Damon in the jaw in a moment pretty reminiscent of one of his own little conversations with the guy. He stared at Rose with raised eyebrows, giving a thoughtless little nod at her look. He forgot to say, "thanks."

When she was gone, his chest pitched forward a little, a smile coming to one side of his face. He didn't mean to laugh. Promise. Rose being pissed wasn't funny, werewolves in general weren't funny especially considering their bite, and this whole situation in general wasn't funny. It just... kind of happened. Alaric let the laughing roll out, turning back to Damon with a smug grin and a clap on his back.

"Sorry buddy, but, uh. You deserved that."

[saviored]

What, ow. What did he even do this time? And you know, with their healing (or lack of it) these days, that was gonna leave a mark. He could actually feel his lip starting to swell a little, which was just not supposed to be something he ever felt. It got to him more than the fact that she'd hit him at all.

Clearly, she was still sensitive about the biting incident. How was he supposed to know? She'd spent the past few days acting like they were close friends which in her mind, apparently they were. Despite the whole, oops, I got you eaten factor.

Then again, Rick had gotten over it, too. Mostly. He figured as much, anyway. Damon generally didn't give it a lot of thought because it wasn't his problem how people dealt with his attempt on their life, successful or otherwise. Unless they tried to kill him in return. That usually made it his problem.

And of course the teacher would rediscover his sense of humor now.

Damon shot him an annoyed look and picked up Rose's discarded cup out of habit before he remembered nothing was in it. He put it back down. Alaric wasn't exactly wrong, but that wasn't the point. "Shut up."

Oh, sue him for not being inventive.