damned_institute | Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

After the couple glasses of water Leon managed to gulp down during breakfast, the mage felt immensely better. He was still a bit tired, but that was nothing a little lounging on one of the sofas wouldn't cure. Stretching his arms above his head, he couldn't help but wish he'd had the chance to grab one of his new doctor's coats before leaving his room that morning. Maybe they would have let him get away with wearing it. Maybe.

He grabbed an empty sofa, pulling out the journal he tried to keep on him at all times. It was nearly complete now. Just a couple more pages to go. It might not improve his spellcasting that much, but any improvement was better than none. It was getting to where it might be too dangerous for him to use spells at all, if it left him so worn out without even finishing a monster off.

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Shadow snacked on an apple as he was escorted into the Sunroom, looking around for a familiar face. He was in a good mood and he wanted to spread it around. Tonight he had a plan, or at least, he and Valyn had thought up a plan and it gave him hope that tonight wouldn't be just another useless attempt at finding information. Plus, his arm was feeling much better after his 'rest' and that was enough to make anyone smile.

Glancing around the room, Shadow noticed Reid sitting over in the corner staring intently at a notebook. Shadow sighed, remembering the mess he had caused yesterday. Well, it was time to apologize for being a grel's ass and start again. The human wasn't that bad after all. He just took some getting used to and Shadow had infinite patience. Close to infinite patience, at least.

"Hi," he greeted Reid, standing next to the table. "Something interesting about that notebook? I don't think it will start talking, unfortunately. Sing, maybe, but that's only if you quit staring at it. It's a bit shy, I suspect."

Just the expectation of finding nothing made his concentration turn brittle and crumble. Reid wasn't used to feeling hesitant. Reid wasn't used to being like this. Normally he could feel Power overflowing and waiting to be tapped--and the urge to use became stronger the more he did, and the sensation got brighter, and hotter, and more comfortable--but it wasn't there anymore. Like it had retracted and become a small, hard knot, so small he could hardly find it.

But then someone spoke, and Reid twitched slightly in uneasiness before he could help it.

He didn't even have to look at Shadow to have his blood boiling. Not bothering to hide it, the warlock glared, his tone of voice clearly telling how not impressed he was. "No, you can't sit down. And no, you can't talk. You can try and save your plucky ass by walking away, but that's about it."

Shadow ignored Reid for the moment and sat down across from him where Reid couldn't look away if he tried. "Look, about yesterday," he started, deciding that quick and fast was the best way to get his words across. "I just want to apologize. I wasn't feeling my best and I jumped to conclusions. Tyler's just your friend, I get it, and you're not interested, I get that too. Let's just pretend the whole thing didn't happen and start over again."

"We're not dating here," he snapped out at once, leaning forward with his hands clenched on the armrests. There wasn't anything to start over from. "Get fucked already! Don't make it into more than it is."

Which was another way of saying 'don't talk about me or the people I know anymore.'

Shadow did his best to hold back his laughter and held up his hands. "Fair enough," he said. "I'll drop it if you will."

He watched as Reid clung to the chair a bit puzzled by his reaction. "And I promise not to throw myself at you anymore. I can control myself. You don't need to look as though you'd like to disappear into the chair."

"Normally I might think twice about beating up a retard, but not with you." If anyone looked liked they were going to be doing some leaping, it was going to be Reid. And it wouldn’t be the good kind. "N-o," replied the warlock, sounding out each sound of the denial as though Shadow were deaf or stupid. Or both. "So don’t show your face around me anymore."

As if one hit wasn’t enough for this guy.

Shadow leaned against the table, appearing relaxed though he was more then prepared to ward off any sort of punch. Reid wasn't going to catch him off guard this time. "Why?" he asked. "If we're dropping it then you've no real reason not to like me. I'm only offering to talk to you, maybe help you out with whatever you were doing with this notebook. Seems rather silly to just refuse to talk to me when I'm offering you friendly conversation."

Reid didn’t back down.

"I’m not dropping it, because I don’t like you. Or maybe it’s because I don’t like you that I’m not dropping it.." He lifted his eyebrows. "Turning your offer down."

"Alright, so if you don't want to have a friendly conversation then we can have an unfriendly one, or rather, unfriendly on your part," Shadow continued, not at all willing to give up the conversation just yet.

"And if you're not dropping what happened then I'll assume there are reasons why you're not dropping it."

He couldn't help himself. Shadow was a natural flirt and he had given Reid the opportunity to pretend that nothing had happened.

As unhappy with the prospect of having those tranqs turned on him as he was, Reid was pissed the hell off. Right at the moment, the most annoying thing of all was having such a persistent guy on his case, rather than any of the specifics underlying their meetings.

Before Shadow even finished speaking, Reid thrust with his braced legs, kicking the table out from under Shadow.

He touched a hand to his forehead in frustration, blocking one of his eyes--having gone black as night--from view. The instinctive thought to add a dose of magic and send the table skating along the floor like a rogue pinball had been there, but the sudden crackle of Power in his chest hadn’t… added anything. Done anything.

Fuck the table, fuck the notebook, Reid couldn’t do a damn thing anymore.

Shadow had been expecting Reid to punch him again so when the table suddenly was kicked out from beneath him, he stumbled, landing on his knees as he did his best not to topple over completely. He glanced up at Reid and saw the boy's eye even as he tried to hide them. It was the most curious thing Shadow had ever seen. Pitch black, eyes that reminded him of a rabid alicorn. He didn't know what to make of it but he certainly could tell that it wasn't a normal human trait. He'd been around enough humans to know that their eyes didn't just suddenly turn black.

"Are you alright?" Shadow asked softly, concerned for Reid. There wasn't any teasing left in his voice. He was genuinely worried for him. "You look as though you're about to be sick."

"Bets are on the company," came the biting response.

A flicker, and his eyes were back to normal, the dark lick of flame bleeding out of them as quickly as it had come on. Reid enjoyed the burn of his magic, he had no reason to deny that, but it only infuriated him more to have it boiling with no outlet. He'd never felt anything so debilitating before. There was nothing like it, and that was what made him sick.

Reid pushed to his feet, all laze and feigned indifference, and stepped around his chair to go somewhere else. Wasn't like there'd been anything to see, anyway. Nothing but the confetti, and no show.

Shadow stood up quickly and followed Reid, worried that the young man was having an episode. Did humans have episodes of kyshein like elves did? Shadow wasn't sure but he was fairly certain that the blinding headaches were purely an elven trait. Still, Reid wasn't from his world so perhaps it was something that he was familiar with.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Shadow asked softly, walking next to Reid. "Maybe you should sit down and take it easy some place quiet."

"Are you completely stupid or something? I'm fine!"

He was less concerned with Shadow's non-reaction to seeing something weird, and more with the fact that Reid couldn't seem to shake him off in any way that made sense to normal people. Maybe he really would have to start a smackdown right here in the middle of the Landel's Institute freakshow.

And acting like Reid was all pale and shaky like some delicate flower. What the fuck was that about.

Making a beeline for the busy end of the room, with people hovering around the stupid bulletin board, Reid pretended to be okay with his current situation. He felt fit to burst. Seeing Tyler nearby didn't exactly relieve him, either.

"I don't think you're fine," Shadow replied, frowning as he kept up. He kept his voice down the moment they neared the other people in the room. Perhaps Reid didn't want others to know about his condition, whatever it was.

"I know you don't want my help," he murmured, keeping close to Reid. "But if you need it it's there. Why do you insist on maintaining you're fine when it's obvious you're not?"

"If I need it, it’s there?" Reid turned around to face Shadow head on, not lowering his voice in the slightest. "Dude. Get me. We’re not pals, or anywhere close. I don’t know what’s going through your head, but I think you belong in a funny farm, the way you go at it. I’m not spitting up fluffy bunnies because I’m not a fucking freak."

Jesus fucking Christ, it was like those people you saw on TV, the ones with the clingy mental condition.

Shadow smiled sheepishly at anyone who turned their heads to look at them. It was embarrassing to be causing such a scene. "Not a freak?" he said, raising an eyebrow as he leaned close, keeping his voice low. "Then I suppose it's normal for your eyes to turn black in your world? All humans can do that neat little trick, eh? I don't want you to suddenly turn into my best pal but for some unknown reason I feel the need to speak to you. Probably because you're isolating yourself and that will end up with you getting killed. You might think you need no one but yourself but you're sadly mistaken. Let me help you. You won't be any less of a man. If anything, you'd be using me for your own means."

Reid turned his cheek, not wanting Shadow to come any closer, but not being the type to physically step back. "Keep your urges to yourself, you fucking shitbag! You’re making me want to ralph here, and I’ll give you credit for that. Stop acting like a horny cat--I wouldn‘t want to use you for a punching bag, just because I‘m starting to feel bad for your sorry ass. That‘s how sad you are. I don‘t want anything from you, not a damn thing."

Like he wasn’t going to talk about anything personal like the covenant and his Power, or hell, anything personal at all, with this guy. Reid didn’t even want to exchange names. He didn’t want to know this guy. He didn’t want to listen to any of this.

"If you want to be used, at least get paid for it. Go find a corner to work, ‘kay?"

Shadow frowned. This was starting to get ridiculous. "For the record you brought up any sort of reference to sex," Shadow pointed out. "When I said help I meant having a group to join once night falls. Apparently, every time I open my mouth you seem to think I'm talking about something sexual. If you ask me, that's your problem, not mine. If anyone has any frustration to work out it's you."

"No, you did!" he argued, waving his hand viciously at the chair Reid had previously been occupying. "And you keep doing it! Because that’s just apparently how you are! Exactly what part of yourself don’t you think is over the top, and too nagging? Huh? Look in the mirror, because you need a fucking reality check, you crazy shit. Most people take the first three ‘no’s and shove off. Otherwise, they're fucked in the head somewhere."

"Or, I just have more patience and I don't scare easily," Shadow said calmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"When are you going to realize that violence, yelling, and calling me names isn't going to make me abandon you? You've been trying very hard to get me to give up. Just accept that I'm not going to. I have my own reasons and trust me, not a single one of them has anything to do with sex. Of course, if you want to believe that I'm unable to resist your charms, go ahead. I would hate to be the one to ruin your fantasy world."

Reid turned around and shoved away, sick of even pretending to listen as soon as the words ‘abandon you’ came out. Fuck that. He wasn’t a baby that needed coddling, and he wasn’t so down that he needed complete fucking strangers to start going all protective on him. He practically owned the world, damn it. Even like this, he wasn’t any worse off than anyone else.

"Come near me again, and you’ll seriously regret it." The words were quieter and more dark than anything he’d said before.

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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