itstopped | Re-Entry 14: Spam/Video/Spam

[Spam for the Lab]

[It's not unusual for Felix to stay in the lab all night if the wardens let him. He insists that he doesn't need much sleep -- so far, this has actually seemed to prove true -- and he tends to get on tears with things that interest him enough. This particular evening, something on Iris's bioreader has him absorbed, and he just doesn't make it back before it's too late to be worth going anyway. In the wee hours of the morning, he winds up drifting off at his station.

He doesn't wake up when the flood rolls in, but a little while later, a young boy -- 11 or so -- wakes to find himself, not in bed, but surrounded by a veritable sea of shining scientific equipment. His eyes widen.]

Cool!

[Video]

[He found two keys in his pocket and he's not sure which is the right one, but going to this one felt more normal, somehow, so it's Dean's room in the background. Felix settles the camera carefully on the desk, fiddles with it for a second, then settles, sitting conscientiously straight-backed.]

Okay, um... [He hesitates, reaches over to fiddle with the camera again, then nods in satisfaction and sits back again. He smiles, but sort of politely.] Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. I'm having a good time at camp. [Or... whatever.] I'll be back in a few days. I saw a bioluminescent bacterium and something called a bat flower. [What? It was cool.]

So... have a good weekend, I guess. [His polite surety fades a little. He shrugs awkwardly, then waves again and switches off the feed.]

[Open spam throughout the flood]

[He's heard that this place is a prison, but it's certainly not like any prison he's ever heard of. Not like the ones in the movies, anyway. He'll be busily exploring throughout the flood, poking his nose into just about any place that will let him in, up to and including the infirmary, the CES, the pool... and of course the library.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

But I'm the one that's borrowing it. I'm the one that will get in trouble if you do something. [It's starting to occur to him that she may not, you know, care about that. Not to mention the fact that it's a bald lie.]

Don't worry! I'll take the blame. I'm likely to get in trouble for at least two other things before the day is out, so they'd believe me if I said I did something else wrong.

[Okay, that's kind of funny, and not in the same way as Morgana where he doesn't get her jokes at all. He smiles uncertainly.] Why do you want to see?

[She looks at him like maybe he's a little dim.]

Because I'm curious.

[The dim one here is you, okay, weird stranger.] You must be curious about something, though.

I'm curious about everything. I'm curious about this because you like it. If someone likes something, that means either I'll look at it and like it too or look at it and realize they're an idiot.

[Which is, of course, the problem.] Well, I'm not an idiot. Here, you can look at this. [He hands her another book, one of the medical ones.]

[She takes it, flips through it, dumps it on the table impatiently.]

But that's not what you were looking at. Not just now.

[He frowns, folding his skinny arms on top of the book.] It proves that I'm not an idiot.

No, it proves that you like some things that are complicated. What you're doing now proves you're a coward. You're hiding what you're really doing! Which means either you think you can fool me or distract me, which you can't, or you assume you know how I define 'idiot', which you don't. Give it up.

[He grits his teeth, voice sharpening.] I'm not a coward. You're just a bully. You're just waiting for me to move so you can take it away and make fun of it!

Yes. I am. [A bully, that is; no point denying it.] But I don't want to make fun, I just want to see.

Besides, you can't stay here forever.

[He grits his teeth and looks away, angry, jaw set stubbornly. After a second, though, he stands up, revealing the book in question.] Fine. I don't care. I'm going to the CES. Do you even know what that is?

[She looks down at Extraordinary Tales! and she smiles - the first genuine smile she's had since the flood started, probably. She flips through it and decides that Felix is not an idiot.]

I know where it is. I have a key.

Well, good for you. [He hasn't had time, yet, for the acid in his voice to really develop, but he certainly sounds irritated enough. He turns to leave.]

I'm coming.

[She says this like it's obvious and he shouldn't dare argue.]

[Oh, but argue he will.] Just leave me alone.

I don't see any reason why I should.

I don't know. Maybe someone else actually wants you around.

But I want to be around you. I liked your stories. Your tales.

[If he hadn't had to deal with this already in his life, the frustration would be absolutely overwhelming. As it is, his fists clench tight at his sides, and his eyes grow hot for a second, but he keeps it together and starts walking quickly. He knows what he's supposed to do here: do not engage. Ignore the problem until it goes away.]

[Conversely, Mal is used to people not wanting her around, so she isn't bothered. Mostly. Instead she trails after him intently.]

I don't see why you were reading them if you didn't like them.

[Nope.]

Maybe you're ashamed of them.

I liked them. What's wrong with them?

[she is just going to keep going in this vein unfortunately.]

[Now I really don't like them, he thinks, even though it's completely false. He draws in a deep breath and lets it out, keeps walking, speeding up a little now, even though that doesn't seem to stop her from following. It's the frustration, again, that finally makes him boil back over enough to speak, his tanned cheeks flushing indignantly.]

If I said I did like it, you'd just pick on that. Do you think I'm stupid? You're just trying to-- trying to-- [To get him to do exactly this, he realizes with a surge of disappointment, and again his eyes grow hot.]

Edited 2013-08-14 14:10 (UTC)

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