Conner Reece (reece_con) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2012-10-04 22:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | day five, jae, jae and reece, reece |
Assessing the Masses
Characters: Reece and Jae
Setting: Elevators, cafeteria - noon
Reece had walked around the new cellblock, or whatever the heck he was supposed to call it, peeking in at the workshop with an approving nod. It wasn’t exactly his thing so he didn’t loiter long, but maybe it would prove to be a nice distraction at some point. He paced around it, looked at the upper floor, but there wasn’t quite a way to get there. It wasn’t bothering him just yet, but it was interesting. Drifting back to the elevator he hit the button to leave, leaning on the wall next to it while he waited for it to ding.
Jae jogged up to the elevator door just as it was starting to close, and she squeaked in just before it did. "Hey." she said, smiling as she caught her breath, even if she didn't take long in doing it. "Just get done checking out the new oh so fabulous farm?" she asked.
Reece’s guard went up when she jumped in the elevator with him, more a side effect of prison than actually being worried about this girl. He gave her a studying look, before shrugging and leaning back again. “And the workshop. Not sure why, but there they are. You new?”
"Sort of." Jae said, noting the tension, and she put both of her hands up to show she wasn't armed. Which wasn't strictly true. She'd ganked a bradawl from the tool shed, but one would have to search her pretty thoroughly to find it. "Been here a day or whatever. Who're you, Scruffy?"
Reece gave her half a smirk at the sign of her being unarmed. “Reece. And...welcome I guess.” He wasn’t quite sure that was his place to say, but what the hell. “And you are?”
"Jae." she introduced herself, giving a smile as she dropped her hands and leaned back against the elevator wall. "And thanks! Seems to be quite the weird ass place so far, I'm personally waiting for the bloodbath to ensue." she said cheerfully.
The elevator dropped down towards the basement and Reece frowned. “Usually people don’t seem so happy if they’re taking that standpoint on things.” He didn’t rule that possibility really, but if it came to that he sure as hell wasn’t going to be so damn cheerful about it.
"Yeah, well, I could always be wrong." Jae said. "Besides, what's the point in being all depressive? Shit ain't happened yet, and sure, I think it might, but whatever. If it happens, it happens, if not, then hey, I'm just a paranoid girl. Wouldn't be the only one in the world."
“I didn’t say you were wrong,” Reece said shrugging one shoulder. “Just didn’t say I’d be all peppy about it. At the same time, never said I was depressed either.” He smirked a little more, tapping his fingers on the wall behind him for something to do with his hands.
"Fine." Jae said. "You always find ways to twist words around, or is that just special for elevator conversation?" she asked.
“Special elevator conversation,” Reece said shrugging again and the nodding towards the open doorway as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. “After you.”
Jae did step out first, though it was mostly because she figured she could take the guy if she needed to. "So what sort of conversation do you have off the elevator?" she asked curiously, glancing back at him as she walked.
Reece made a face like he was thinking about that then smiled and followed after her. “Something that involves less word twisting. Maybe I let the lady decide.”
"Okaaaay..." Jae said, humming as she thought it over. "Think fast. Creamy or Chunky?"
“Creamy,” Reece said without any sort of hesitation. “Chunky is wrong, not happening.” He grinned a little headed towards the other elevator. “How do you feel about lunch?”
She smiled as she stepped into the second elevator. "I'm pretty pro lunch, really." she said, mock thoughtfully. "I mean sure, every now and then it disagrees, but generally speaking, I think pretty highly of it. Yourself?"
“Perfect time of day for it, you know if you’re keeping to a standard sort of schedule thing,” Reece said with a smile starting towards the other elevator. “So yeah, same, pretty damn fond of it.”
"Well, we're both into lunch. Should we have some?" she suggested, wondering if that had been his attempt at asking her to lunch. Okay, so they had to make it themselves, but still. She also wasn't above being forward. She was a straight forward sort of person, and she was still assessing pretty much everyone in the joint. Time to assess this dude.
“That was the direction I was hoping this would go,” he said with a grin. And the direction sort of had an air of a date, but really, he wasn’t doing much in the way of dating being stuck in a box. No one probably was. As cute as this girl was, because she was, he didn’t need things going down the Susanna route again. Though lunch, lunch he could do.
"That's what I thought." Jae said, smirking. "Next time you're going to ask a girl to lunch, don't let her beat you to the punch, Scruffy." she told him, amused. She headed for the kitchen, not sure what she wanted, exactly. "So what's your assessment of this place?" she asked. "People, situations, all that noise. What have you amassed as important information?"
“I brought up the idea first. Put it in your head and all that,” Reece said, but he smiled with it. He certainly didn’t mind that she was phrasing it the way she was. Not with that cute little smirk. “Still deciding. Quite the cast of characters, not sure why we’re here, or what to expect. Trying to stay on my toes as best I can.” Which wasn’t his original plan but it was working for him now. “As for important information, don’t piss anyone off or you’ll have to do chores.”
"No, you just asked me how I felt about it." Jae said, tsking as she shook her head. "And while that might have put the subject out there, it most certainly wasn't manning up and asking a total stranger to lunch." she added. Then she listened to what he had to say, looking through the cupboards when they reached the kitchen. "Yeah, caught the 'you're grounded!' bit." she said. "Tell me about colorful characters." she invited.
Reece rolled his eyes, chuckling a little. “Alright, alright. Next time I’ll ask you outright,” he said opening the fridge to stare in it for a minute. There were leftovers here and there but nothing sounded all that appealing. Digging in a drawer he found cheese, tossing that on the counter. “Met a kid today that I don’t think would have lived six weeks in jail but apparently he survived four years. And we’ve got our regular own Mr. Miyagi, Wu.”
Jae started getting out stuff for a sandwich, listening to what Reece had to say. "Tell me about the kid, first." Jae said, deciding to go that route first. Though the name 'Wu' seemed to spark something in her mind, though she couldn't even begin to think of what that was.
“Matt, met him this morning. Tiny thing. Tall, but most of that seemed to be hair.” Reece found butter and bread then a pan to make his grilled cheese. “Looked a little skittish, but I don’t blame him.”
"What's he in for?" Jae asked, starting to assemble a pb n j for herself. "And skittish in general?" she asked, wanting any insight Reece could provide, even if he seemed to be sparing on the details. But guys did that a lot. They sort of just didn't ask questions or didn't think about the answers.
“Didn’t ask,” Reece said as he started into making his lunch. “There’s a post online somewhere, about what people did, might be there. And yeah in general. Kept his distance, backed up if I moved forward, usual stuff. You’ll see him, the kid with the hair and the camera.”
Jae made a mental note of the description, even if she was disappointed with the lack of information. She didn't show it, however. "Okay, what about Mr. Miyagi?"
“Wu. Older asian dude, but I’d not get on his bad side. Think he’s a little more than he looks.” Reece’s tone shifted from the mild bit of impressed at Matt’s survival to something slightly more impressed. He liked Wu and if he was in a place where he would, he’d look up to Wu. “Has a habit of telling me not to be a lazy ass.”
"Not being a lazy ass is usually a good way to go." Jae told him, laughing slightly. "But okay. Anything else I should know about him?" she asked.
“I spent five years in prison having every waking moment scheduled. I decided I’d earned a few days or sleeping in, enjoying myself and being outside when I wanted to not when someone told me I could. I did better about being lazy today.” It was a step in the right direction in his eyes. “Good cook too.”
Jae arched a brow. "Woah, slow down there, cowboy. No need to get defensive." she said, at his big ole blurt out there that sounded bitter to her. Like he didn't need to explain himself, or shouldn't have the first time, or something.
“Not a cowboy,” Reece said shaking his head. “He has on a hat. And him I don’t trust.” He glanced over at her and smiled. “Just still getting used to the real world, or Wonderland or whatever this place is.”
"I said 'Neverland' earlier. Basically it's 'fill in the blank to whatever children's story alterna-world you want' around here." Jae said. "What about anyone else?"
“The cowboy,” Reece said again shaking his head. “And Susanna. She’s probably of little interest to you. And the doc.” He flipped the sandwich, watching it for a moment before looking back at her. “You gonna tell me about you?”
"Okay, now why would you say Susanna would be 'of little interest'?" Jae asked, wondering just what criteria he thought he was working with on her behalf. She wasn't sure it wasn't about to get insulting in here or not, so she waited to see what excuse he might hand out.
“Because she doesn’t seem interested in other women,” Reece offered. “As for the men...she’s far too interested.” Which he still wasn’t upset about, but at the same time he was upset about. “Outside of that I don’t know that much about her. Not sure I will.”
Jae set the jar of peanut butter down and eyed Reece. "...do you really think I'm asking for assessments of people here because I'm cruising for a hook up?" she asked, tone neutral.
“No I doubt that’s what you’re after at all, or lunch would have been more interesting. But Susanna seems to have made that her priority.” He didn’t look up though he could sense her staring at him.
"Okay well that would say why Susanna wouldn't have any interest in me, but not why you think that I'd have no interest in knowing anything about her." Jae pointed out. "Knowing she's a big slutbag is just as important to know as knowing Matt's skittish. Just wondering why you made the judgment call on my end of things."
“Because you didn’t seem the type who was interested in who was sleeping with who else.” Reece said with a smirk, reaching for a plate and dumping his sandwich out of the pan. “Why is it so important?”
Jae was pretty sure that Reece was talking out of his ass. It didn't even quite make sense, what he just said. Plus she was wondering if he was one of those men who just thought all women were sluts or something. She'd definitely run into them before. Either way, she was unimpressed, even if she didn't show it. "Because I've been placed in a closed environment with no checks and balances in place, and I want to know who I've been locked up in here with." she told him. “Maybe other people are playing in the kiddie end of the pool here, and treating this like a vacation but I’m thinking that’s about the stupidest move anyone could make.”
He leaned against the counter and took a bite out of his sandwich watching her. “Alright then, she’s gotten around already,” Reece explained. “For all your questions you didn’t ask about me.”
"Around, as in multiple people?" she asked. "And if you think I'm not making my own assessments already, you haven't been paying attention. Besides. I'm having lunch with you. I'll get there." she added.
“Multiple people.” One being himself. He took another bite of his sandwich and waited for a moment. “So are you going to tell me what you think of me or do I have to guess?”
"Haven't finished my assessment." Jae told him. "Tell me about the cowboy." she requested, picking up her sandwich and taking a bite. She leaned her hip against the counter, watching him.
“Well that’s hardly reassuring.” Reece said, rolling his eyes a little. “I don’t trust him. He’s one of those pretty ones who thinks he can smile and everything fixes itself. I’ve met guys like him; they’re all full of shit and think it doesn’t stink.”
"So your distrust is just instinctual?" Jae asked. "Just due to his personality? He give you the heebies or something?" she asked, thinking this was an important one to get a read on. Even if all of the information she gathered was jaded by personal views, they were still important to get. Jae valued people's points of view.
“Something like that. Just...don’t like the guy. It happens.” Reece shrugged and focused on his sandwich instead of her.
Jae watched him, and how he turned his attention. "Have you talked much with him?" she asked. "Or is this anecdotal?" she asked. Because that made a difference. Of course, it could also just be he'd nailed Slutpants and maybe so had the cowboy dude, and he didn't like someone else dipping their wick in the same pot. But that was all speculation.
“Had a conversation with him,” Reece said. “Threw the football around a little. Got enough of an impression.” At least for him, especially when it was combined with the little show he put on with Susanna. More than enough to get an idea of how much he didn’t like Ryan.
Nodding, Jae accepted that. "Now, how about the doc?" she asked. "He good people? Or a creepy creepy mad doctor type?"
He tilted his head from side to side. “Seems decent. Doing the doc thing and I talked to him. Didn’t seem to be anything more than positive.” Which was fine enough. It had been the first day and almost everyone was just relieved to not be in jail.
"Good to know." Jae said. "Any last minute assessments of anyone else you've met you want to hand over?" she asked.
Reece took another bite and chewed it slowly, then shook his head. “Nope, that’s most of it. Anyone you’ve come across in your short time with us?”
"A few. One being a newbie who showed up and immediately started hard drinking." she said with a shrug, eating her own sandwich. "Mostly I'm just trying to find my way around, trying to figure out what the score is around here."
“Probably for the best the bar wasn’t here when I got here and I might have done the same thing. If only for the change of pace.” Reece smirked at her a little. “How are you finding things so far?”
"Not sure yet. Still making my assessments." Jae admitted, shrugging. "Guess I'll just keep at that. So, what brings you here? What you in for?" she asked, turning the topic onto him.
“Guess you’ll have to let me know when you figure it out,” Reece said. “Armed robbery and negligent homicide.” There was no use in not answering, no use in sugar coating it either. That was what he’d found guilty of and that was why he was here.
Jae made a wince face when he said 'negligent homicide'. "What happened with the homicide?" she asked. "And why armed robbery? You just that hard up for money? You in a gang and it was how you proved yourself? Clowns made you do it?"
“Hard up for cash I guess,” Reece said, though at this point he didn’t really remember. “NRA gun freaks shoot back. My friends died and someone got get put down for it.” He didn’t seem too bothered by it, mostly because it had happened and that was that. Now it was time to do something about it.
"You guess?" Jae asked, thinking holy shit, that was some hardcore distance from something where people died. Especially if they'd been friends. So, Jae was thinking Reece was definitely a man who needed to be avoided at all costs. That was some stone cold shit right there. However, she didn't show even a slight bit of her reaction. She was just as relaxed as she had been a moment before, looking at him with the attention she'd been paying him the whole time. Just listening, letting him talk.
“It’s been five years,” Reece said. “I honestly can’t remember why we did it in the first place. Not our best moment.” Something else flicked across his features, just briefly, but it lingered below the surface for a lot longer. He hated the well of guilt that shot up at the thought of his friends, one dead on a dirty bar floor, the other under his hands.
Jae was pretty sure she remembered what she was up to five years ago. And that she would rather vividly remember what had prompted an endeavor that wound up with dead friends at the end of it. But clearly this guy didn't, so she was now assessing things at 'holy shitsnacks psycho'. She saw the flicker, but wasn't sure she even wanted to know what prompted it. "I guess so." she said lightly, just enough to give him whatever space he needed to get through the moment.
Reece rubbed at the stubble on his chin and shrugged. “It happens. Can’t take it back, can’t do anything but take my punishment and hope I don’t do something so stupid again.” Reece didn’t want pity, he didn’t deserve it. He’d made a choice to go in there and he didn’t talk his friends out of it. The lawyers had been right, he could have stopped them.
Jae nodded, finishing up her sandwich. Her assessment remained the same. 'Shit happens' as a philosophy she could usually get behind, but when attached to dead buddies, she was pretty sure it was just a little too flippant for her tastes. But, like she'd been hiding everything else, she hid that too. "And now you're here."
“Suppose that’s what it is,” Reece said, nodding a little and finishing off his own sandwich. “We’ll see. Keep waiting, like you said, for the bloodbath.”
Jae smirked. "That's pretty much it." she told him. "Guess we'll see how the shit hits the fan then." she shook her head. "Hopefully it'll be a while, though. I'd rather get a little proper sleep in before that starts up."
“Oh the sleep is the best part. The very best part.” Reece grinned a little at that, pushing away the guilt. “Maybe it won’t be a bloodbath, but a nice community with homegrown vegetables.” Probably not, but maybe he could be optimistic.
She laughed at that. "Yeah, maybe." she said. "One can hope, right?" she posed. "But I should get going. It was nice to meet you, though. And thanks for lunch, much better than eating alone."
“Yeah of course. Always makes it better. And if you ever want a meal again, let me know.” Reece wouldn’t mind the company that much was sure.
"I will, Scruffy." Jae said, winking at him on her way out. She was thinking she wouldn't be eating with someone who seemed to be a disconnected, emotionless psycho when it came to the death of people close to him, but she didn't let on about that. She even waved to him with a grin on her way out the door.