Who: Hannah and Tess What: Conversation When: Evening, Saturday, June 1, 2019 Where: Dinner in the Marketplace Rating: Low Status: Complete
Seated in a booth in the far corner, Hannah had two laptops open in front of her as she was scrolling through something on her cell phone. She hadn’t ordered anything to eat yet, but it felt better to be here than the little ‘cage’ they usually made her work in. She must have been doing well lately for this tiny taste of freedom. Or as free as a working dinner she had to pay for could be.
When the waitress dropped by, the brunette looked up and through dark, messy curls. She offered an awkward smile before placing an order for some food and drink. Eyes wandered the room slowly, checking out who else was around tonight.
Tess had worked the morning, taking a look at the engines of the island government’s vehicles in their garages. It felt so good to roll under one of them and get her hands dirty. For the last few hours, she had gone home, showered, napped, and was going out of a small meal.
Stepping into the diner, she scanned the room for anyone she knew and for a place to sit. Tess then saw Hannah sitting in that far booth with two laptops. She smiled and made her way over, waving as she came to a slow stop at the edge of the table.
“Hey ya, Hannah.”
Hannah arched a brow slowly as Tess approached. She didn’t have anything against the woman, but she certainly wasn’t anything close to a ‘friend’ either. Not that Hannah felt like she had friends. Well, maybe more. Nope. No. That was awkward. Stop thinking, Hannah.
Clearing her throat, she set her phone aside for now. “Hi, Tess. How are you today?”
Tess didn’t actively use her telepathic ability to spy on someone’s thoughts. It was mostly used to sort out lying or riff raff at Josie’s. So she didn’t even have it going. But she knew Hannah kept to herself, but hey...might as well make the most of their captive time on the island.
“I’m doing okay. Already got some enjoyable work in. Are you working? Did I interrupt….?”
“Enjoyable work? They have that around here?’ Sliding one of the laptops out of the way, Hannah motioned for Tess to join her at the table. Now there was room in case she ordered food or something too.
“I’m always working, so no. No interruption.”
Tess smirked at Hannah’s questions and then sat down at the offered space at the table. She motioned for the waitress.
“Okay, good. I know how it is to get into that ‘zone’ and get terribly annoyed when interrupted.” She nodded. The waitress came over and took the blond-haired woman’s order - an ice cream sundae.
Hannah just watched her curiously as she made herself comfortable. Furrowing her brow, she looked back to each of her screens briefly, and paused to type in a few codes. “Right. I guess this is sort of like that. But… all the time? Anyway. Yeah. Hi. How are you? Wait, I already asked that. What do you wa- so… ice cream. Cool.”
She shook her head at herself. People usually didn’t want to talk to her. At least not those who knew how awkward she was. And that she worked security. But for some reason Tess was here now and Hannah was trying hard not to send her running away from an uncomfortable situation.
“Yeah, ice cream. Might as well enjoy the time here.” Tess scrunched up her eyebrows at Hannah. It was interesting and puzzling how strange the other woman was even with that slightly imposing exterior.
She didn’t worry about Hannah working security. She didn’t have anything to hide or at least she didn’t think so. The government already knew the ability she developed due to the radiation exposure. “Feel free to tell me to ‘Shoo!”.”
Hannah never felt very imposing at all. Sometimes she wished she could read minds, to know how people really saw her. And maybe to tell them the things she couldn’t say out loud or send in a text or email. Big brother, and all.
Shaking her head, she pushed her hair back out of her eyes to better see the other woman. “Nah, it’s cool. I don’t usually get much company. Maybe that explains why I have no clue how to have a conversation anymore. Too much time around screens I guess.”
Tess had little aid or instruction from the government in regards to her telepathic ability. She got a handle on it on her own. The madness of the thoughts of everyone around her first priority.
“Oh okay. Well, I think you’re doing pretty good.”
Hannah smirked and shook her head. “Now you’re just being nice. But I’ll take it.”
Hannah studied the woman carefully, her eyes briefly glancing to her ID badge. Telepath. Shit. Hopefully she wasn’t listening in constantly, or not only did Hannah seem even more weird, she’d probably get in trouble somehow. This was why she didn’t socialize much. Too risky.
“Ehh. There’s this tall giraffe of a guy that makes you seem like you’re talking non-stop.”
Tess watched Hannah’s eyes. She had seen that move to her ID badge a thousand times over the years. She didn’t need to read her mind to know what she was thinking in that moment. “Yup. Oooo, scary mind reader!” she piped up and gestured with her hands, her fingers bent like claws. Then she lowered her voice. “Pfft! Don’t worry.”
Hannah was curious about who she meant. Maybe she’d feel less uncomfortable around someone who wasn’t so into conversation.
Caught red handed, Hannah shrugged and looked down to her own badge. She knew that since it designated her as a government employee, she got similar looks from people. She felt kind of like a hypocrite now. “Sorry. It’s not you I’m worried about, honestly. It’s what The Man will do if they think I’m slipping you secrets or something.”
Lowering her hands, Tess nodded. “No problem. No secrets being slipped by here. I am careful with what I do...mostly just call people on the shit.” The waitress came by with the sundae, sat it down in front of Tess, and was soon gone. “Sure you don’t want a bite. I’ll give you the first dip,” the blond-haired woman offered.
Hannah shook her head no as she eyed the ice cream. “I’m good, thanks.” It was only a few seconds later that the waitress brought by her meal, a cheeseburger and fries and a coke. Pretty basic, but it would never compare to the food back home. Everything here just tasted...off. Or maybe that was just her being paranoid.
“So.. uh.. What kind of enjoyable work were you talking about before?”
“Okay,” she nodded as she gently picked up her spoon. Then Tess blinked as she saw Hannah’s meal. Quite healthy one. She hardly noticed any off taste to the food, only ever so often when it seemed old ingredients may have been used.
“Engine mechanics!” Tess beamed. “I used to be a mechanic before coming here,” she explained and gestured - twirling her right index finger in a circle.
The food at the diner was a lot better than what she got in the mess hall. She wouldn’t be surprised if they were poisoning her there, the guards hated her guts and would be happy to see her gone.
Digging into her food, she watched Tess curiously as she spoke. Finishing a bite before speaking again, Hannah nodded. “Cool. Must be nice to get back to it.” Hannah knew she’d never get the same chance.
“It is. Weirdly enough I thought I wouldn’t get back to it here on the island,” she nodded and dug into her ice cream sundae. After eating a big bite, Tess continued, “I’m anxious to see the engines.
Hannah nodded, taking a bite of a French fry. “What kind of place did you used to work in, before here?” She was curious, Hannah was sure that her life wasn’t the only one that was completely different before coming to this shitshow of an island.
“I worked in a bike shop mostly, but also worked in auto repair.” Tess offered as she scooped up another spoonful of syrup-covered ice cream.
Hannah arched a brow. She had no idea what a mechanic should look like, stereotypes and all, but hearing that Tess had been one was surprising, in a good way. After all, Hannah’d been one of few women in her job too. “That’s cool, how’d you get into that.”
Eating the spoonful of ice cream, Tess caught that eyebrow arch. Licking her lips, she nodded. “My father was a mechanical engineer. So I often got into some of his home projects and he sometimes took me to work with him. Since then, I’ve loved engines. I’ve worked on them since I was sixteen.”
Hannah listened, nodding. It made sense. “My dad was… is an electrician. I didn’t really intend to follow in his footsteps, but I guess I sort of did without realizing it. I don’t think he’s too proud of that, all things considered.” She smirked at herself, focusing on her food.
Tess smiled. “My uncle wanted me to become an engineer, get a job with the military.” She shrugged as she swirled a bit of the chocolate syrup with the cherry syrup.
Glancing up to her for a moment, Hannah just nodded with a little smirk. “Wonder how you’d be dealing now that had happened. Maybe you’d be on the other side of things.”
She hadn’t talked about her family in a while. Wrinkling her nose. Tess sat her spoon down as she looked over st Hannah. “I don’t think so. I wasn’t much for authority. I’d still be a grease monkey happy to build a Frankenstein bike out of spare parts.”
Hannah laughed a little, finishing off the rest of her food. “Same. About the authority stuff, I mean. But that’s what got me here so, probably not a shocker.” As opposed to the majority of residents, Hannah had been under the government’s thumb for a while before they shipped her here. Despite that, she still didn’t really regret what she’d done to get arrested.
Tess nodded and stared at the half-eaten sundae. “And I think I’ve settled down a bit since being here. Just going about sleeping a good bit and working at a bar until now.”
“Is that a good thing?” Pushing aside her empty plate, she took another sip from her drink and watched her curiously. Maybe getting to sleep in and do what you liked was kind of living the dream. Even on a shithole like this.
“I think so. Just missing the getting my hands greasy and concentrating on engine parts.” She frowned. “There are definite downsides, but I take things as they come.” The young woman was tempted to use her telepathy to continue the conversation, but she didn’t want to unnerve or annoy any more than she probably had.
Hannah nodded, but couldn’t think of much to say in response. Briefly, her eyes glanced to the screens she’d ignored thus far. Nothing was new, not surprisingly, but she still paused to type in some code first. Then she checked her phone before looking back to the woman. “How’s the ice cream?”
Tess shrugged, “It’s okay. Tastes a little like soft serve.” Underneath the bluster, she was feeling a tiny bit down after talking about her father and her uncle. She missed Seattle. But she had made some friends here and she wouldn’t trade that for anything. “Am I keeping you for some important ones and zeroes?” she asked as she watched Hannah’s eyes.
Hannah was down more often than not, so it was hard to pick up on it in others. But she knew when to stop asking questions, so that was something. “Nope. And even if you were, I can do it in my sleep. Literally. So, a little conversation doesn’t get in the way.”
“Oh, okay,” Tess nodded as she reached into her pocket and brought out some money. “I think I’m conversationed out for now. But it was fun talking to you.” She smiled.
Hannah frowned a little, but didn’t try to stop her. She wasn’t sure how much conversation she’d had. She really just listened, and asked questions. But then again, it had been a while since she got to have a conversation with anyone, so she could be wrong. “Yeah, ditto. Have a good one.”