chas. (chastes) wrote in theinvincibles, @ 2015-09-25 14:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, alice liu, chas tersarik |
WHO: Chas Tesarik, Alice Liu.
WHAT: The Great Library Slowdown of 2015 - Chas and Alice are both working, and neither of them have anything better to do than talk to each other.
WHEN: Thursday, 24 September, 2015.
WHERE: Library.
WARNINGS: None.
STATUS: Complete.
Alice dropped her chin into her hands, exhaling heavily. Normally, she appreciated slow days at work for the opportunity to catch up on her homework or even just play games on her phone, but she'd just read over the last paragraph in her textbook for the fourth time and still couldn't tell if it had contained any important information. The hush of the library felt almost oppressive. "How do you deal with it?" she whined the RS agent stationed near the checkout counter. "It's so boring here, and you can't even, like, read. You just have to stand there." "I count my blessings, young alpha," Chas returned, momentarily surprised he was being referred to. "I could be in here with The Kid. This is, like, the first peaceful moment I've had all week." But who was he kidding? He was bored out of his mind, and Alice here was just asking to be entertained. His way. "At least my job isn't a metaphor for my life, right?" he added. "You mean that I'm stuck behind a desk?" Alice asked. She didn't ask who The Kid was because it seemed like something that she should know, when she already knew so much of the gossip around the Lock. "I guess, but it'd really be a metaphor for my life if first they told me that I was, like, the best at shelving books before they assigned me to the checkout counter." "Or if they told you that, but there wasn't even any books around to shelve or checkout." "Oh my god, then it would be even more boring in here," Alice groaned. With her free hand, she flipped the hardcover of her textbook closed and pushed it away. She liked her classes, generally, but sometimes it could be difficult to avoid thinking about how pointless they were for her (what was she going to do with a degree?). The Agent's teasing didn't help. "And then you'd just have to watch us, like, twiddling our thumbs. Or I guess maybe we'd get fed up and start another riot, and then you'd have something to do." "And then you'd all just end up in SHU," he replied with a light shrug - there was no menace in his tone, just the inevitable reality of DMS procedures. "And then you'd really be bored. At least you've got me around this time." "Or the infirmary with a concussion." Alice slid her hand back until her fingers found the patch on her scalp that still felt tender, even weeks later. She still couldn't remember just how it had happened. "That was so stupid. I guess this is better than head trauma." Chas frowned slightly at the memory of the riot. "Don't remind me. Your lot nearly took each other's heads off. Great job there." "I know. If Andy hadn't helped me get out, I might have, like, died." She was being melodramatic, as usual. "And afterwards, everything was like, ugh. Worse than --" Alice stopped. It didn't feel right to be complaining about conditions to an Agent, even one as casual and chatty as Chas Tesarik. After all, he was one of the people who'd attacked her fellow metahumans and put them in solitary. She cleared her throat. "I mean, like, what did they think was going to happen?" "Well, you know how it is. People don't think, blah, blah." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, fishing around for something else to talk about. Riots were so old news. "Believe me, if there was any real logic to be found, my colleagues would have dissected it by now. Anyway, you actually ever had any power training? Don't want to get a transfer to Hawaii or Mordor or whatever?" "Umm, yes, of course I want to transfer to Hawaii. It's my dream facility. Like, not only do they have volcanoes, but they have a private beach that even Alphas like me can use. Who wouldn't want that?" The words came spilling out like a geyser. "Every time Dalia brings up what things were like there, I get so jealous that I just want to slap her, except, like, it'd be pointless. Because she's invulnerable." It was hard to forget it, with how often Dalia liked to remind people of her powers. Chas snorted. "You're talking about the blonde princessy one, right? I still don't remember why she ended up transferring out here, actually." "I think it was to be with Paul," Alice said, her voice suddenly quieter as she remembered the pain of the betrayal. "Stonewall, I mean. I don't remember all the details, but she, like, knew him -- or I guess she thought she did." "Awkward…" he said, making a face at Alice, trying to lighten the mood. "Who else are you not friends with? I'll let you know next time I catch them doing something embarrassing on the security cameras." Who cared if that was an invasion of their privacy, right? He certainly didn't. "Oh my god, I never said I didn't like her!" Alice exclaimed, even though Chas hadn't said that either. She sounded affronted as she continued, "That's so creepy and, like, kinda mean." After a moment's pause, she added, "But Evelyn and Mindee think they're so cool and badass, and it would be so funny if they actually, like, bought My Little Ponies from the toy aisle at the C-store." He wasn't entirely sure who Mindee was - he was pretty sure Evelyn was someone he'd at least talked to in passing on the network, but he figured he could easily watch out for the weird things people were buying at the C-store. "I have to do something to entertain myself, you know. I only comment on the haps in public areas," he clarified, trying to assert some kind of moral line in there - not that he had a very strong one. "Security cams are worse than checking out library books when there's no one in the library." Alice didn't speak for a moment as she considered the implications of what the Agent had said, perhaps without even knowing. If he only commented on what happened in public, then did that imply that he could see things on the security cameras that were meant to be private? The possible revelation that she was living under even more of a microscope than she thought didn't surprise Alice as much as she suspected it should have. "Uhh… yeah," she agreed. "At least here, there's a possibility that someone might come along to talk to you." "And you can text someone, check twitter, whatever it is you kids do these days." "Snapchat and Insta," Alice said. "Duh." Chas frowned. "I have no idea what you just said. Are those real words?" "Maybe they're part of a secret metahuman language." She reached for her phone. That sounded like just the distraction she needed. "Or they're just apps. I'm gonna Snap this actually: 'My comrade in the Great Library Slowdown of 2015.'" Holding up her phone's camera, she grinned. "Smile!" He didn't smile. He very deliberately stared blankly into the camera lens as Alice took the shot. "Remind me to never buy my daughter a smartphone." |