Outside the Cafeteria

[PoeticJustice]

"I was heading to Whisper Hill to meet with Father Ashmore. I was not expecting to get found by eight large men with guns who insisted I go with them," a touch of irritation crept into the words, although the irritation did not seem to be aimed at him so much as at the situation. She carefully situated her pop tart bits and then stared at that. "Eight was too many to disagree and live," she muttered this last part, mostly to herself and then focused intently on her poptarts.

One could almost see her doing math. She would look at her poptart diagram, and then up and around, and back down to her diagram. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a sharpie. Her other hand snagged the poptart wrapper, and she began to write on the inside, pausing occasionally to look up and around.

When she felt the weight of his gaze, she looked up, internalizing the question and following his gaze to the Director's office. Her eyes narrowed to slits and she shook her head, looking back down. Her hand continued scribbling along the wrapper.

"I'm fine, although I suspect my head will hurt for awhile. I was a breath away from suggesting Fel put me in a sleeper hold, but then..." she shrugged. There was an edge to her voice, and her shoulders were rigid. She shifted in her seat before shifting and shoving the poptart wrapper towards him.

It read: late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late la White is a monster

[edseel]

JD glances down at the wrapper, and for a moment looks concerned, he cannot help but glace towards the tent were he sleeps and touches the wedding band on his left hand.

He the then smiles broadly and begins to make idle chat: “Yea, Sally and I were headed up this way for hunting. We got this idea in our head to bag as many crows as we could, get ourselves some feathers and sell them online. See we got this friend who knows a thing or two about making money online, I don’t understand a lick of it, but City Girls will pay an outrageous amount of money for a few crow feathers hot glued to a bobby-pin .”

JD takes out a bag of trail mix and while he talks separates some of the contents

“Of course we were traveling with a few other people, Ms. Gray, old friend of the family, you would like her, very disciplined. She takes such good care of Mel … “He stops abruptly, swallows hard, but keeps his voice positive

“Sally always keeps this stuff stocked up, never liked the raisins myself, just find the flavor to over powering, almost oppressive to the other flavors you know?”

He attempts to look casual as he places a few raisins in front of her, on the map, each one in the approximate place of one of the guards within view.

“Any way, once we got up here, we met all kinds of other people, with strange reasons for being up here. A lot of really nice people, once we get out of here, I may actually have a reason to look a few of them up. You know the kind of people you can trust.”

JD places a few M and M’s in a pile next to the map, placing one in the courtyard where he sat, and one near the tent were Father Ashmore was, last he knew, and three in the medical tent.

“I am sorry, here I am picking out what I don’t want. Please help yourself”

He places the bag on the table in-between the two of them and starts to shuffle his pack of cards again.

[PoeticJustice]

She pulled the foil back, scribbling out the last bit of the message and continuing to write the word 'late' repeating across it. She listened as she wrote, looking up to see his placement. She nodded absently as he spoke, her hand continuing to run across the foil.

She looks up at his abrupt stop, and one could see her making a mental note of his sharp stop. She studied his face curiously, but didn't say anything. She simply reached for the bag and picked it up, sprinkling a few more raisins down in locations where she had seen guards. Subtlety was hardly a forte of hers, but her behavior was odd enough that perhaps more strangeness would just be discounted.

"I am... not good at people, so I have never had many... friends," she confessed. "I spend a lot of time working with soup kitchens and donation centers. I was homeless for awhile, and a church took me in and helped me. I... will always remember that help and like to do what I can to return the charity. I do not have much money, so I donate time."

She absently ran her fingers over the tattoo of the candle on her lower arm, looking distant for a moment.

"A mutual acquaintance of Father Ashmore and I suggested that I could perhaps be of use to him, so I came here looking for him. I admit, I did not expect to find him here..." she picked up his M&M and popped it into her mouth. Next came the three inside the tent. And then the one in the courtyard.

"... Although, I suppose, if I am being honest, I was far more surprised to see Ondreij. Have you met the czech? Quite fond of his beer?" was that a pseudo-affectionate smile from the girl? It may have been. It quickly faded. She wordlessly set an M&M on the tent where he was staying. "He has also... helped see to it that I do not starve, for which I owe him some amount of loyalty."

"Have you known Sally a long time? He is... loud. And very good at drawing attention to himself," this was said curiously, but with some hint of approval. Attention drawn to Sally was attention that was not elsewhere.

[edseel]

“I have spoke to father Ashmore a few times, he is trying to get me to go to one of his meetings. My faith has always been … rather personal. But some of his congregation seem to be very, well informed individuals.”

JD nods, and seem to read deeply into her taking the M and M off the table and eating it.

“Sally and I have known each other for quite a while now. He met some friends of mine during his time in the service. When he got back stateside, he found his way to us. We have been traveling together ever since. He was a little lost, and me and mine tend to pick up strays now and again so it was a good fit.”

JD relaxes into his chair a little, stops looking around quite so frantically. He speaks of his friend with a lot of admiration.

“I have had the pleasure to meet Ondreij, he seems to be quite the jolly guy. I have to admit he is, very refreshing. Its been a long time since I have had a conversation with a man in a suit without it being all about money and the bottom line.” He chuckles to himself.

“I assume you met the Marshal already, but do you know his friend Gus?” JD places an M and M in one of the tents.

“He is a solid man, understands like you and I do, that its important to help when one can. That sometimes, people get lost along the way and that some people … are special. And need a little extra help in order to help others.”

[PoeticJustice]

"I am not religious," said the girl with scripture tattooed across her arms. "I am of the opinion that any all powerful God that might exist must be a sadist, and have no desire to offer worship to such an entity. But... The father does good work. I will be at his meetings," lightly she traced her fingers over the candle tattooed on her lower arm. "As I am reminded, one does not need to believe in the Lord to help others..." she smirked slightly, as if quoting something that had been said to her many times.

She listened to him, slowly nibbling up pieces of poptart after casually knocking them so that the layout no longer resembled a map. She studied his face and his reactions and his mannerisms. As he spoke of the lost, she looked down in her lap and frowned deeply, her brow furrowing.

She didn't speak for a long few minutes, just sat very still and stared into her lap with a furrowed brow. The silence stretched on. And on.

And then she spoke, her voice carefully level. "I met Gus. He seems... yes, solid is a good word. He is a good man..." she shuddered softly, her eyes closing. She shuddered violently, lowing her heads and squeezing her eyes shut. Where her fingers were wrapped around her arm, they tightened their grip until they were bone white.

[edseel]

JD listened to her speak with an intense curiosity, he tried to keep smiling but as she obviously became uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, his face quickly turned to one of sympathy and worry. His mind wandered while she remained silent, and began to look very sad and lost in his own memories.

As she spoke of Gus, JD let her have a moment to step back inside her own head and process what she needed to. After long moments of awkward silence, JD came back out of himself and began to smile again.

“I enjoy playing cards, Sally and I often spend evenings with a deck of cards, it’s a great way to relax. Games like poker and the like are all good and fun, but Solitaire is when I can really unwind. Just me and the cards, putting things in their place. Have you ever played?”

[PoeticJustice]

His words seem to catch her like a snare, slowly drawing her out of herself and back into the world. She looked up at him owlishly and then slowly, slowly, her grip lessened. She watched him with a soft frown, not responding as she visibly sought to unravel his words and remember what they meant.

Her hands dropped down and she exhaled, swallowing as color returned to her face although she looked visible shaken. She picked up the sharpie and the foil, now covered entirely by repetitions of the word "late" and turned it over, drawing a blocky interpretation of a sun that matched the tattoo on her upper arm.

"I do not know solitaire," she said finally, not looking at him, but sitting poised over the foil, looking at the sun.

[edseel]

JD reaches into his back pocket and takes out his wallet. Its stuffed to the brim with ATM receipts. He takes a bunch of them out and places them on the table with a smile, offering them up as extra scrap paper. He keeps two of them for himself on the table. (on close inspection, none of the receipts are from the same bank, or even belong to JD)

“Solitaire is an easy game, the goal is to get four piles, one of each suit. You start out building a few piles of cards. You place one card face up, then make your other piles face down like this …” JD continues to explain the game of solitaire, more speaking for the sake of speaking than attempting to get Alice to understand the game.

He keeps his tone soft and slow as he explains the game, he looks around once in awhile, following any guards that happen by. All other times he is very intent on watching what, if anything Alice does with the paper.

[PoeticJustice]

The crinkling of the recepits drew her eyes up from her foil and to the crinkling paper and then to him. As it was gestured to it, she slowly picked it up, turning it over to read over it, eyes running over the words. She turned it back over then, and looked at it for a few seconds.

She drew a candle, much like the one on her arm, but in the place of the flame, she drew another sun, identical to the other, but smaller. And then she began to scrawl words, absently while she glanced up, listening to his explanation. The words were not English, rather a scrawl in Latin.

She was focused on him and his explanation while her hands ran, almost automated.