Who: Hannah and Ian What: Breakfast When: Morning, May 24, 2019 Where: Military Barracks Mess Hall Rating: Low Status: Complete
Hannah usually avoided the mess hall, and the barracks, whenever possible. But since it was where she lived, it was hard not to be there sometimes. She’d just gotten off a ridiculously long 72 hour shift in the Facility monitoring room, and she was drained. So instead of going to the Marketplace to grab something to eat, she shuffled like a zombie into the mess hall. Picking up a tray, she fell into line with the predominantly male population. Debating between coffee or just something small, Hannah wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to try to get some sleep while everyone else here was awake. That made her feel like a sitting duck.
His own tray was filled with what was appropriate to maintain himself. His physique called for more than starches, Ian had gotten a bit of what he felt was appropriate. Waiting in line was tough but there weren’t many before him. To his left was a woman.
“You look like you could use a coffee,” he murmured, glancing around, “How do you take it?” There were limited supplies but guards seemed to have plenty. Sugar, cream. Even a syrup or two when things were fruitful.
A step to the right and he shook his head at the offer for pancakes, nodding at the addition of eggs which were scrambled, and all of the protein that they would allow.
“Coffee is life.” Hannah glanced to the guy who spoke, a little surprised at the polite tone. That wasn’t usually how they spoke to her around here, if at all. “I take it however I can get it.” It might have been said in a more joking manner, if she had the energy to try that.
Sliding along, she too refused pancakes and went with a little bit of eggs. She wasn’t a fan, but it was something to eat that maybe wouldn’t settle like a rock in her stomach.
His eyebrows would lift but Ian nodded. “Find a place to sit and I’ll handle coffee.” It was an easy enough order that both of them seemed beneficiary to. He had taken his own beverage black for as long as he could remember.
A nod would come to the person serving and Ian turned, offering the woman his tray. “Please,” would come, and then with a careful twist of his legs he was off to fetch coffee. Both would be black except hers had a bit of syrup, cream and sugar. He doubted she got that small luxury out there.
And then he would settle at the table she had chosen, sliding her beverage toward her, pulling his own tray back. It took a measure of trust but he’d extended it.
Hannah gave him the side eye at the direction, but she followed it. She learned early on that not doing as she was told always ended badly. She was trying to stay out of trouble, not get into it again.
Moving to the nearest free table, settled down into it once the trays were set down in the proper places. However, her eyes stayed on him, doing her best to see what he’d done with the coffee. She wouldn’t put it past a guard to drug her, but she was pretty sure they didn’t have access to things like that. Which wasn’t to say certain things weren’t available, you just needed to know the right people.
When he joined her, she just stared at him for a moment before reluctantly taking the coffee. “Thanks.”
A shrug of a shoulder. A sip from his coffee was taken and it warmed him. The bitterness was a learned thing - the island didn’t have the best brew but he’d learned to deal with it. His eyes lifted and he looked at her plainly. “Sure. Food will get cold if you don’t eat.” Same thing his mother told him when he was younger and loafing around at the table.
Fork was lifted. He pronged at the food when the cup was set down. “You’re…?” He couldn’t recall her name just then but he knew her face — started with an H, maybe?
Hannah stared at him a moment longer before dropping her gaze to her food. Lifting her fork, she dug in slowly. She wasn’t starving, but she knew she needed to eat, and rest, or she’d get burned out.
She ate in silence for a few moments before he spoke again. Blinking, she looked up to him, not sure if he was asking for her name or something else. She figured name would be a good start. “Hannah. Um, Ryers. Hannah Ryers. Yeah, I didn’t need to say my name a million times just now. Sorry.”
As she began to eat he did also in kind. Fork plunged into eggs and meat, as much as he could in a single forkful without choking. The woman seemed to be starving. Or maybe he was imagining things. A sip of his coffee was carefully taken.
Nodding at her, Ian set his mug down. “Ma’am, I am Sergeant Marsh, but Ian will do. Pleasure to meet you,”
Hannah. That sounded familiar. During briefing they’d been warned against this one and yet here he was dining with her.
“Don’t apologize. Don’t worry.”
Hannah studied him a moment before going back to her breakfast. “Nice to meet you too. But I don’t think they really want you sitting and talking with me, Sergeant.” She knew it as a fact, but since he was being nice to her she was trying to return it. She didn’t want him to get in trouble if he wasn’t aware of it.
Just to help him out, she motioned to her ID badge. It was different from the other residents, but not at all like the ones the guards wore. It designated her as different. And in this case, it was not a positive designation. “You know that I’m one of the prisoners, right?” There weren’t many here like her, but she was not the only mutant sentenced to the island to work for the government because their abilities were too risky, or dangerous, or destructive to be kept unmonitored for any amount of time.
“Nobody’s said anything yet, Hannah,” he replied, taking a bite of bacon. Those who knew him didn’t try to screw with him, he’d seen a lot of combat and held more medals than a lot of the rookie soldiers could dream of. “I know.” His eyes flashed to the ID card to survey it. Only a moment and he was back to his eggs.
Whatever she was capable of she was still a human. Abilities or not.
A sip of the coffee was taken. “You okay here?”
Hannah glanced around to see if anyone else was watching them. Other than the usual glares or creepy stares, nothing seemed different. Looking back to him, she furrowed her brow a little, confused by his kindness.
She went back to her food again. She wasn’t sure what else to say. Conversations were difficult, especially around the guards. At his question, she stopped to think before responding. “Yeah, I guess.”
As good as she could be, he suspected. The question was posed in a way to be vague - some of the residents went through things unspeakable. He didn’t think that behavior went on here but he’d been wrong before. Hannah was a nice looking woman, after all.
“Good,” he murmured, taking another sip from his coffee. “You’d tell me if anything outrageous was happening, right?”
Light eyes would rise and focus on her.
Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up to him again but then looked away. A single shoulder shrug was all he got in response. Shifting from her food to the coffee, she lifted the mug to her face, hiding her lips so no one could see her speaking to him. But he could hear her voice, and anyone who was purposely trying to listen in.
“I deal with worse when I’m ‘working’ than anything these guys could try to do to me.” Maybe that was a bit of an overstatement, but in her mind it was the truth.
The tines of his fork pronged into the mountain of eggs. Pushing them about here and there at her soft words Ian finally managed a few bites, hearty scoops that any soldier would be proud of and normal to the lifestyle. Swallowing after chewing, his fork dove again at something else, taking a moment or two to wrestle with the cut.
He did his best to find encouragement in her comment. “Sure. I hope that’s always the case.” A sip of his coffee would be taken. His plate was nearly empty which meant the conversation wouldn’t linger much longer. It wasn’t like him to dally around when there was daylight and work to be done.
Hannah couldn’t help but smirk at the comment. She didn’t know if it was a bad joke or not, but either way it struck her as morbidly funny. Even the nice guys didn’t really know what it felt like to be on the ‘other side.’ She sort of envied that. She sometimes wished she could go back to believing that most people were good and decent and the government was just trying to protect the citizens. All of their citizens.
Sipping her coffee, she wasn’t sure if he always ate this fast, or if he was just shoveling it in now to get the hell away from her. Either way, she said nothing about it and returned to her food in silence.
The longer they were seen together the more speculation arose. There were places aplenty for conversation which weren’t as heavily populated or monitored. He valued his role and didn’t want to be compromised when doing good in a world that needed it was more important than himself. JD would take up the mantle if something happened to him, but Ian never wanted to put that on his former Staff Sargeant’s shoulders.
The plate was pushed away once it was clean, gently, but Ian took his time with his coffee. It was warm, strong.
“Can’t stay long,” he murmured into the cup, “but if you need anything let me know.”
“You mean, other than to get the hell out of here?” She figured he was just being nice again, so she joked. But it felt like the dry humor fell flat somehow. She understood that he couldn’t just sit and chat all day, even if he had the time, none of the guards really wanted to be around her longer than necessary. She didn’t blame them.
“Thanks again for the coffee, though.” Once her food was finished, she too returned to the drink but kept her eyes on the liquid.
“You won’t fit into my suitcase,” Ian quipped softy. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to be around her. There were a lot of things on his plate that were of sensitive nature and taking liberties with someone who posed a risk to that wasn’t ideal. In another world he would have stayed to chat as long as she would have him. But this was not that world.
A nod would come. He blew into the cup to cool it more before a sip was taken.
When it was finished and the cup was empty, Ian began to gather their empty things.
“Until next time. Thanks for having breakfast with me.” Words were murmured as he twisted and stood carefully, carrying his empty tray, any trash, and the mug away.