Conner Reece (reece_con) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2013-01-06 23:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | day ten, marie, marie and reece, reece |
A Darker Welcome Wagon
Characters: Reece and Marie
Setting: outside her room, early afternoon
Reece was headed up to his room, the courtyard too muddy, complete with a rained on pile of burnt books, and it had ruined his normal spot. He’d stuck to his room or near there instead, watching the courtyard from his perch on the second floor, seeing what people were up to throughout the morning. He’d had a lunch in the kitchen, standing over the sink, and now he was going back to his spot or his new spot. What stopped him was the girl down the hall, in front of her door, with a bag that screamed ‘I’m new’ and an unfamiliar face. “Hey there,” he greeted with a smile.
Marie had been very nervous after getting off the elevator. Her fears had been alleviated a little after meeting Ryan; but now she was on her own again and it was a little nerve racking. So she felt much better when she saw someone walked towards her smiling at her. She smiled back and pushed back her red hair “Hi there! I am a Marie.” She held out her hand to him ready to shake.
“Well hey Marie,” Reece greeted, taking her hand. “New around here?” he said, even though he knew the answer. Everything about her said ‘new’.
She blushed a little as the man took her hand, she had never had anyone return her handshake, usually they just rolled their eyes and kept walking. She nodded her head still holding onto his hand “Yes, I am new here, I just stepped off the elevator. It was a little weird but its nice to be out of the county jail thats for sure.” She smiled at him all big and bright.
“You said it sister,” Reece said, holding her hand for a moment longer then letting go of it. “Welcome to Oz I suppose. I think that’s what I heard it called last.” It fit probably though; he’d always thought that movie was a little twisted. “So what’re you in for?” Maybe not the best question, but given how things had been lately? Reece was deciding it was good to know.
She blushed more, dropped her eyes and scuffed her shoes against the floor. “Robbing a jewelry store that I worked at. I shouldn’t have done it, but they had a necklace that I really wanted. Boss prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” She knew that saying frontwards and backwards she had heard it enough from her lawyer, the prosecutor and the judge. She looks up at him “What about you?”
“Damn,” Reece said. He knew a thing or two about things just going all sort of wrong. “Couple of buddies and I tried to rob a bar. Then they got shot.” And he’d gone to jail for all of it. The guilt was closer to the surface, but not as close as it had been previous days and he was able to shove it aside before it showed in his features. “They put you in here? I thought the girl who was in here moved, but I wasn’t sure until now I guess.” He patted her door, then smiled at her.
She nodded and looked at her key “Yeah I am number 15.” She unlocked the door and stepped in wrinkling her nose a little “I am sorry your friend’s got shot, that sucks a lot.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Not your fault.” He sometimes wondered if it was his too, but he wasn’t sure. That trial sure had him feeling that way. “Sure beats having a cellmate though.”
She nodded “This is my first time in jail. The county jail was horrible but this is pretty ok.” She sighed a little looking at the plain bed spread, the plain walls and just plain everything “Although this place could be a little more cheerful if it tried hard.”
“And this isn’t really jail. It’s something...but not quite jail.” Something bizarre really. “You’ll see after you’re here for a bit.” Reece nodded behind himself. “You should look around. There’s a pool, a library...really it’s not all depressing. Though after five years, things without bars and razorwire seem cheerful.”
She smiled at him “You could take me around if you wanted, I wouldn’t mind making a new friend. I already met one person so its nice to meet more.” She grinned and stood“I love to swim so the pool sounds great!”
“You’d you meet already?” Reece asked and nodding back outside again. “Sure. We’ll do a tour. Should be interesting.” She seemed excited about the pool part at least.
She nodded “I just ran into someone that was heading to lunch, Ryan I think he said his name was.” She followed him out of her room and locked her door behind her, she doesn’t have a lot of stuff in her room just yet but she doesn’t want it to be looted her first day in.
Darkness clouded Reece’s features as he looked at her, not liking that at all. “You should stay away from him,” he suggested, tone stern. He wasn’t moving until she agreed to that. “He lives over here too, but you really should stay away.”
She blinked her mismatched eyes a little and frowned “Well he seemed perfectly nice when I met him but...if it will make you feel better I will try to, but this seems to be a small world I can’t avoid him entirely.” She bither lip a little not wanting to promise because Ryan seems nice to her.
“Yeah he’s good at that, but I’m not sure he’ll stay that way. He doesn’t like ‘no’.” He shook his head a little, then took a step forward, assuming she’d follow.
She fell into step behind him and had to move a little fast to keep up with his long strides, she had to keep up with anyone really because of her SHORT SHORT SHORT stature. She hated it and wished she had her thick soled shoes. “So is there a store around here you can buy stuff? They seem to have everything else around here.”
“Not a store, though they have a request form thing and you can ask for things. I’ve gotten everything I’ve asked for so far, but I’ve only asked for one thing,” Reece explained, pulling out his pack of cigarettes to show her.
She nodded “Do you think they would let me have a new pair of shoes? I...I have issues with my height and I like thick soles to make me taller.
He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m not sure. Maybe they would. Couldn’t hurt to ask. But you’re not the only pixie floating around. There’s a blond one too. I could use her for an arm rest.”
She smiled glad she is not the only one “Ummm well good to know about that. I hate being the only short one in sight.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’m not entirely tall either, at least not for a guy.” He smiled a little then led the way down the stairs, turning towards the pool, thinking they’d start there.
Her eyes light up at the sight of the pool and she moved closer to get a better look. It is very well kept and seemed very pretty to her “Oh you’re plenty tall for a guy, I have seen shorter. There was a friend of my.....well I guess he is the ex now but he was called the Anklebiter.” She kneeled down and dipped her fingers into the water, its warm “Thats nice they keep it heated.”
“I like the lights,” he said pointing towards the daylight lights. “It is nice. Sort of a relaxing thing.” Though his only stint in the pool had been with Mojo and that had been far from innocent.
She smiled up at him and stood up. “Its a beautiful pool, I am glad I actually brought a bathing suit with me.” She moved towards him and smiled again “Shall we move on to the next stage of the tour?”
Reece nodded and led the way out of the pool, down towards the kitchen. “Kitchen’s there,” he said pointing ahead of himself. “Pretty big space, one of those giant ones, and the cafeteria and bar I’m guessing you saw when you showed up since that seems where they dump people.”
She nodded again “I saw it, it looked huge which is going to be a little bit of an issue, I am not much of a people person. Well I am, but not with a whole lot at one time.” She blushed a little and looked down at her feet “Um next?”
“Well, Carmel, she cooks dinner most nights, but if you time it right you can get in either before everyone shows up or as they leave, or you cook for yourself. Though meal times are nothing like the crowd in prison. Definitely a different breed.” He led the way through the cafeteria to the elevator and pushed the down button. “Up next would be the basement.”
She smiled bigger now, she liked basements. When she was younger she had made the basement into her play area basically. People tended to get a little freaked out in basements but not her. She stepped into the elevator “This feels a little weird getting into this thing and not being blind folded. Are we allowed down there?”
“Really glad I didn’t have to go through that,” Reece said shaking his head. “We’re allowed in the basement, but from what I’ve heard it goes lower, which we can’t get to,” he said pointing to the buttons for different floors. He hit the one to send them down then leaned against the wall as the metal box dropped. Besides laundry and dropping off dead or fucked up girls at the clinic, he really didn’t spend a lot of time down here, or the other block, but since he was giving a tour...well it only made sense. The doors opened and he waved for her to step out first.
She stepped out into the basement and was surprised to find that it was very well lighted and very welcoming. The washing machines and the driers hummed loudly “Wow....I don’t think I have ever seen this many washers in one place since I went to the laundromat back home.”
He looked into the laundry room and nodded a little. “It’s a good set up. Though, not as ideal as it could be.” There were still lingering mess, from when the area had been flooded, but it didn’t look all that bad. “Clinic’s over there,” he said gesturing to another door. “Cal’s the acting doc, and there’s two nurses I think. Violet and Becka I think is a nurse as well. If you have a problem, someone gets hurt, or...worse.” He started down the hall towards the other elevator, opposite the first, assuming she’d follow him.
She followed right behind him not getting too far away a little worried that someone is going to reach out and grab her. Well not really, but it was always a good idea to stick close to someone that could protect you in the end. “Has anyone ever been seriously hurt here?” She asked him as they walked.
Reece wasn’t sure at first how to answer the question, pushing the button on the elevator and waiting for the doors to open. “A woman died a couple days ago,” he finally said.
She bit her lip a little and looked back towards where the clinic was “Did she...was she....” She shook her head “Sorry.”
The doors to the elevator opened and Reece walked inside, leaning against the wall again. Talking about Caroline was hard, bringing bad feelings right to the surface with minimal effort. An image of blood on his hands flashed across his eyes and he had to remind himself that it wasn’t her blood. It was someone else’s. “She fell. Trying to escape over the roof.” He shook his head and hit the button to go up. “Not your fault.”
She sighed softly and stepped into the elevator “I can still say I am sorry. I mean, just because its not my fault doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings.”
He raised an eyebrow at her, surprised at that. “I didn’t mean to say you didn’t. Just didn’t really want you to feel bad for it.”
She rolled her eyes heavenward and just shook her head “Really its fine. So is there anything else to see or do we conclude our tour?”
The doors opened to an empty room and he pointed towards the door. “There’s more to see if you want to take a look out there. I’m still trying to get my head around it.”
She smiled at him and shook his hand “Well thank you for the tour you gave Reece. I am going to head back to my room and attempt to make sense of all of this.”
He nodded a little and shrugged. “Good luck. You’ll be able to find me if you need it. I’m usually around.”
She shook his hand again and headed off to her room.