Conner Reece (reece_con) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2012-10-21 17:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | day six, jason, jason and reece, reece |
Too Many Questions
Characters: Reece and Jason
Setting: Evening, Cafeteria
Reece had taken care of all of his random chores for the day then focused on dinner. Which meant he had a plate and a seat in the cafeteria with his back to the wall, one elbow on the table as he ate, watching the room around him. He didn’t think something would blow up like it had in the middle of the courtyard, but there was always a chance. Tensions were high or something. And Wu was missing, that much he noticed as well.
After making sure the woman that had been attacked was going to be okay and that the man who had dragged her away was going to stay with her, Jason had left the two of them. She had seemed far more comfortable with him anyway, and since she was going to be fine, he had felt she would probably be better off with someone she knew and taking it easy. So he swung by the cafeteria to pick up the boxes that he had been told were there then gone back to his room, holing up in there for a while. He had gone through the boxes, putting up the new clothes and grinning when he saw the handwraps and other things that he had been given. Yeah, he knew better than to think getting this now – hell, everyone getting gifts now – was anything other than an attempt to soften them to the stocks, but… That didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate them.
Eventually though, he got hungry and, after locking his room – he always locked his room, but after that woman’s threats, he double checked this time – and headed to the kitchen to find himself something to eat. It didn’t take him much time to boil some water and make himself some macaroni and cheese. It had been… a very long time since he had had any decent mac and cheese.
When he finally wandered into the cafeteria, it was relatively empty. He did however, notice the man from earlier was there, close to the back wall. It only took him a minute to make up his mind, and he made his way over, setting down his bowl a few seats down from the man. Because yeah, what had happened earlier did not mean he knew this man, and he was fairly inclined to give him space, just in case. Still, he did at least want to make an effort to talk to the man. “Thanks for earlier, man.” Because yeah, he was grateful to the guy for the help earlier. It had made things much easier and there was no telling how things would have turned out otherwise.
Reece had watch him walk in, eyes on him the whole way, even when he sat down near him. He was somewhat relieved he wasn’t the sitting right in front of him, but he also wouldn’t have been too put off the by the company, they had broken up a fight together. Shrugging one shoulder he managed half a smirk before shaking his head. “You’re the one that got there first, I just held her back,” he said shaking his head. He didn’t really need thanks for what he’d done. “The other girl alright?”
“Yeah, but you made things a lot easier to deal with. She was… Yeah, there was no telling how things would have gone otherwise, so… Thanks.” Jason didn’t care that the other man didn’t seem to think he needed the thanks. He was grateful anyway.
When asked about the other girl, Jason shrugged slightly. “She was doing fine when I left her. Took a few blows to the head, probably going to have a couple of goose eggs later, but she didn’t have any concussion or anything. Some scratches on her arms and some bruises. But she was fine.” He was glad for that, because he wasn’t sure putting her down in medical with the other girl would have been a good idea.
“Well glad I could do something,” Reece said with fuller smirk before taking another bite of his food. “Though the way it played out she might have passed out on her own anyway.” He listened to the explanation of the girl’s injuries and nodded. “Glad it wasn’t worse then. Could have been I guess.”
There was no doubt about the fact that it could have definitely been worse. He poked at his
macaroni with his spoon as he answered. “Yeah. Although I guess you definitely got it worse than I did.” Hell, this guy had gotten kicked and thrown up on. It wasn’t as bad as the poor girl that had gotten attacked but it was yet more proof that no good deed went unpunished. Finally, Jason took a bite of his mac and cheese. “My name’s Jason,” he introduced himself.
Reece shook his head a little bit. “Well only because she missed kicking you in the head.” There was a smile there before he held out his hand to shake. “Reece. Where you from?”
Sticking his spoon in his bowl, Jason shook Reece’s hand. “Depends on what you mean. I’m from Ohio, but I was incarcerated in the Florida State prison. What about you?”
“Ohio? What part?” Reece asked, nodding through the explanation. “Kentucky on both counts for me. Would figure it’d take this to get me out of the state.” Because there was no way this was Kentucky.
“Spent my whole life in Columbus,” Jason answered. Given what he had said, it sounded like Reece had spent his whole life in Kentucky, so he guessed they both knew what that was like. “And it sure as hell isn’t Florida either. It’s too cool here and nowhere near humid enough.”
“Same here only Lexington,” Reece said with a nod. “You just get put in Florida for kicks or something else?” he asked taking another bite of his food and watching Jason.
Jason huffed out a slightly deprecating laugh. “Nah. It was more along the lines of a vacation that didn’t end very well.” It definitely hadn’t been what he had had in mind when he was visiting his cousin. Of course, he supposed most people didn’t really have going to prison in mind when they set out to do anything.
“Damn really? Sorry to hear that,” Reece said making a face. “Can’t imagine how shitty that must have been.” It might even rival his situation as a whole.
“I can honestly say it was the low point of the vacation,” Jason said, grinning. It had been almost three years since then; he had gotten to the point where it was easier to laugh about the whole thing than to dwell on it otherwise.
Reece dropped his hand towards the table making a bit of a face. “I’m gonna go with rock bottom.” He smiled with it though, laughing and shaking his head. “Had about the same sort of day. How long were you in for?”
“Been in almost three years and have about thirty-two years left.” Jason took another bite of his macaroni, using it to give himself time to consider what he was going to say next. Sometimes, he didn’t ask, but… Well, Reece had asked first. He had to have figured that asking would lead to the same question being turned on him as well. “What about you?”
“Five years,” Reece said with a nod. “Another fifteen to go.” Which was probably better than Jason’s grand total of thirty-five years, but it still seemed too long. Of course, there was always a chance he could get out of here earlier, but at the same time, he wasn’t banking on it.
Reece had already been in five years? Shit, sometimes making it to the five year mark seemed like trying to climb Everest. And twenty years was less than his own sentence, but still a long time. Jason didn’t envy the man, not really. Still, he didn’t really know what to say, so he stuck to a little bit of dark humor. “Fifteen years, huh? Hell, you’re almost home free.”
Reece stabbed at the food on his plate, even if that did little to get it on his fork. “That’s what I keep telling myself. Light at the end of the tunnel. Though at this rate it’s starting to look like a train.” He leaned back in his chair, letting the fork drop to the table. “So what do you make of this place?”
Really, Jason couldn’t say he was surprised when Reece asked his opinion on this place. He figured that, especially after today, most everyone was asking the same thing. “I don’t know. At first, I figured I was being paranoid about… everything, but after today? Now, I really don’t know. I mean, I’ve been here…” He did a quick mental count. “I’ve been here three days, and I still really don’t know what to think about everything.”
Running a hand over his hair, Reece let out a breath.”Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Sort of watched everything from the second floor, got locked in my room this morning because I forgot to do my homework, so I was late and it just looked like a trainwreck. Can’t say I’m against doing something, but I don’t know.” He certainly didn’t trust Ryan, but he had like Caroline. “Makes me wonder how long we’ll be here.”
Jason snorted softly, again pushing at his dinner with his spoon. It was good, but he wasn’t terribly hungry. Plus, his mind wasn’t exactly on food at the moment. “Trainwreck is one way to put it. What bothers me is the fact that there is no way the people running this thing could have realistically expecting this to turn out any other way.” He paused before shrugging. “And who knows? I mean, I know they said they’ll help us get out early but… There’s no telling what early means with them. Or what they’ll want us to do in exchange.”
“Maybe that was the idea. They are watching,” Reece said waving towards the ceiling. He shrugged a little himself then smiled. “Getting out of here in fourteen years is still me getting out early right?”
That was… probably one of the more optimistic views he had heard in this place. Or well, not really optimistic, he guessed, but positive. “Good point,” he agreed with a laugh. He grinned then. “I know I’d take fourteen years. Gladly.”
Reece leaned forward again, taking his fork. “And at least, at this rate, the food is a hell of a lot better.” It was better than he’d eaten before prison as well, unless his mother was making him something.
“Oh God, yes. The food in the state prison was horrible.” That was definitely one thing Jason was not going to complain about. There were a few others as well. “I’ve got to say, the rooms here are better than the cells there too.” If nothing else, having a room to himself made it hard to hate this place.
“It’s a room. With a private bathroom. It’s beyond better it’s like...heaven. I don’t even think I had my own bathroom before I went to prison. Or ever.” Reece chuckled a little before taking another bite.
Jason had never had that problem. He was an only child, so honestly, his two years at college and then his time in prison had been the only times in his life when he had had to share a room or a bathroom. But still, he had to agree. Having a private bathroom here was… Yeah, he liked that one perk of this place. “Yeah, the bathroom is nice. And the beds. Or at least, the bed here is better than the ones in the state prison. Those were almost as bad as the food.”
“Mine was worse than the food. I swear it was stuffed with straw,” he said shaking his head. Reece smiled more, taking another bite of food with a laugh. “So all in all, minus whatever the fuck that went down this morning, I’m not really eager to leave.”
Jason had to agree with Reece. Mostly, at least. There had been moments before that morning where he had wondered about whether this place was worth it, whether being here was better than prison, but in general, the answer to that question had been yes. After this morning, he wasn’t so sure, but he also wasn’t sure he wanted to give up the perks of this place. Which he was sure was the point. “I’m pretty sure that’s what they intended. It doesn’t change that I agree with you; I just know that’s probably the point of why they gave us… all of this.”
That reminded Reece of what Wu had said, about taking away what had been given and he’d guess that Wu would agree with what Jason said only far more eloquently than the nod that Reece gave him. “Rope us in and keep us happy to do what they want,” he managed, though he doubted it really explained how he was feeling about that aspect of things.
“Yeah, pretty much. I mean, can you imagine them doing what they did today without all of the perks?” He was pretty sure there would have been a riot. At the very least, Jason figured there would be several people requesting a transfer back to their old prisons. Granted, the people in charge wouldn’t have had to grant those requests, but he was fairly sure most everyone here would have wanted out of… whatever this was.
“No. Probably wouldn’t have happened. Or would have ended in more than one fight,’ Reece said shaking his head. “I’m guessing it could have been a lot worse even with the perks. Everyone wants to know what they did, which I get, but what difference would it make. Neither of said they were innocent.”
That was an interesting point. “Yeah, probably. And I know a lot of people were yelling about punishing those two without knowing what they did, but then again… Depending on what they did, I’m sure there would have been more problems with people trying to take advantage of their vulnerable state than there were today,” Jason said. He hadn’t really thought about that before, but what Reece had said had made him think of it.
“I know more that if given a good reason I might wind up punching Ryan. If only just to do that much.” Reece would probably enjoy it too, and that showed in his eyes for a moment. “I’m not a fan of people not suffering the consequences of their actions. You make the bed, you lie in it.”
That was a slightly different point of view than most he heard in prison. A lot of people is prison hadn’t been big fans of the whole consequences for your actions thing. And he hadn’t met Ryan yet, had only seen him put in the stocks this morning, so he couldn’t really judge how he felt about Reece’s comment. But really, he did agree with the rest of it. But instead of saying that, he asked something else, because he was curious and figured, given the events of the day, he should probably know. “Who are they? The ones in the stocks. I mean… I know their names, that was in the message from earlier, but… I’ve only been here a few days and haven’t run into either of them before this morning. So who are they?”
Reece thought about, it how he’d describe both of them. “Ryan’s... well from what I can tell he’s your typical pretty good ole boy. We had a few like him back where I was from but I mostly avoided the ones that were related to me. Probably dated the homecoming queen. Outside of that, all I know is he throws a nice spiral.” Which was as close to a compliment that Reece was going to get. “Caroline...doesn’t talk about herself much. She’s cute though, but I think a little higher class than you and I, no offense.”
Jason shrugged, unbothered by Reece’s comment. He held no illusions about himself, and the observation about her being higher class certainly wasn’t going to bother him. Anyway, it was everything else that interested him. It was always interesting to hear how other people perceived people, although since he hadn’t met either of them, he was going to have to take Reece’s assessment until he did. Although… “It does make me wonder what they did. But, I figure if they didn’t tell us when we were told to put them in the stocks, they probably aren’t going to.”
Reece nodded, sticking his fork into his food but not eating it. “You and me both. I can’t help but wonder. I doubt we’ll know, unless one of them decides they want to fess up to it, which I don’t really see either doing.”
For some reason, he doubted that as well. “Yeah. Probably won’t be the only time we don’t get answers either. I mean, yeah, the stocks are going to be a deterrent to most people, and most are going to confess over the journals in hopes of staying out of them, but… You know some people aren’t going to admit to shit. No matter what the consequences are.” And that, he figured, was just going to lead to suspicion. The people in charge here didn’t necessarily seem to be that good at building the “community” they kept talking about.
“No, but maybe it’s best that someone’s trying to keep them in check. Making people pay for their actions. Thinking we wouldn’t have to pay for them is what got most of us in this place right?” It was what got him there, thinking for a moment that it was a good idea, that there wouldn’t be a blow back, no matter how much he knew that was wrong.
It wasn’t really how he had ended up here, but Jason knew plenty of people that it did apply to. “True. Hopefully, it’ll mean most of us won’t do it in the first place this time around, but for some reason, I sort of doubt that.” The events of the day sort of supported that.
Reece snorted and shook his head. “Yeah I’d like to think that, but obviously not so much.” Which he supposed was inevitable, but he knew he was going to do his damnedest to stay in line.
Jason let out a short laugh. “Yeah, well no one ever said we were good at learning from our mistakes. Humans as a whole don’t seem to be very good at that.”
That got a small laugh out Reece as well, shaking his head with a little nod. “True. I sure as hell never learned with women. What makes me think I’m going to figure out the rest?”
Really, Jason couldn’t resist that. “Women are complicated. I’m not sure they’re the best thing to compare against, because I think figuring them out is kind of a lost cause.”
That made Reece laugh and nod. “Truer words man, truer words.” He grinned a little more. Yeah, he liked this guy, he seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders, and Reece could appreciate that.
It was one of the reasons that, sometimes, Jason found dating men to be easier. It wasn’t the reason he dated them, but it was something he could appreciate. However, he wasn’t going to say that; prison had made him more cautious in that respect. He took a bite of his macaroni, taking the opportunity to think before he spoke. “Honestly, I was surprised to see that they made this place co-ed. I mean, I’m certainly not going to complain, but it seems like it certainly opens things up to more than a few problems we wouldn’t have otherwise.”
Reece ran his tongue over his teeth and smiled more. “True. Definitely makes things more complicated. Though at the same time...might get bored hanging out with a bunch of dudes. Already did that for five years.”
Jason shrugged at that; he wasn’t going to argue. He might not have hit five years yet, but almost three was still enough to certainly understand where Reece was coming from. “I guess it’s one of those mixed blessings. They seem to like that here.” Like the seeming complete freedom; it was nice to be out of the standard prison setting, to be sure, and he loved having the freedom to do what he wanted most days, but, especially given the events of the day, it was easy to see where giving that freedom to a bunch of convicts could be a problem.
“Just adds to the project, the experiment,” Reece said with a nod. “Which just makes me come up with more questions I don’t have answers to.”
As far as Jason was concerned, there were more of those here than anything else. “I hear you. There are enough unanswered questions about this whole place to drive a person nuts.” But then again, maybe that was still part of the plan: see how they would react to the unknown.
Reece nodded, taking another bite of food before carrying on his thoughts. “Way I figure? Might as well just hold out to see what tomorrow brings.” He’d never been good at answering questions anyway.
Jason shrugged as he finished up his macaroni and cheese. “Not really many other choices. Or at least, not any good ones.” He rolled his shoulders, stretching, before he stood and grabbed his bowl and spoon. “I’ve got to get these back to the kitchen. I’ll see you later?”
“I’m hard to miss,” Reece said with a nod, seeming interested in seeing Jason again, giving him a smile. “See you around.”