Alma Wade will not give up (its_my_nature) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-05-18 20:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alma wade, roy harper (red arrow) ii |
"If you need any kind of help, I know people."
Who: Roy and Alma
What: Alma has learned some things and run away!
Where: A fast food joint
When: Last night!
Rating: PG
Status: complete!
Roy had moved on from being pissed at the situation to finding it really, really weird. For whatever reason, he kept finding himself drawn back to staying at Talon Ridge, where he could annoy the crap out of Oliver. Even when he left work he was thinking about heading back there for the night, but first he was going to go ahead and go pick up something to eat so he didn't have to do that at "home" and give Oliver the satisfaction of seeing him give in. Fucking Chili.
Alma had tried to put some distance between herself and the laboratory, but she needed to eat, and even if she knew what was in it, she still walked in. They had some sort of salad. That would have to do. On a lark, she also ordered fries. She sat at a booth and munched on a fry dejectedly.
Roy stared at the menu a while, then picked up a thing of chicken nuggets and fries and went to fill up his drink cup. Good. Mountain Dew. he could use that after his day at the ranch. Sweet caffiene and refined sugar. Awesome.
She looked up, wincing at his choice, "They use a derivitave not unlike butane to coat nuggets in."
Alma had tried to put some distance between herself and the laboratory, but she needed to eat, and even if she knew what was in it, she still walked in. They had some sort of salad. That would have to do. On a lark, she also ordered fries. She sat at a booth and munched on a fry dejectedly.
Roy stared at the menu a while, then picked up a thing of chicken nuggets and fries and went to fill up his drink cup. Good. Mountain Dew. he could use that after his day at the ranch. Sweet caffiene and refined sugar. Awesome.
She looked up, wincing at his choice, "They use a derivative not unlike butane to coat nuggets in.
"Yeah," Roy had to agree with that. "And isn't it processed from like...bits of the chicken they trimmed off? I read that somewhere. Then again, there's the whole pink slime deal."
"It is much worse than that," She replied, solemnly. "It is getting harder to avoid these things." She was aware a lot of people just couldn't afford to.
"Well, it's this or go home to a thirtieth creative variant of chili." Roy shook his head and decided to join her, then dunked one of his nuggets into the sweet and sour sauce. "I mean, yeah, I've seen supersize me and that's scary shit."
"It does not even tell half of the story." She smiled at him, blushing slightly, "Have a seat. You should not have to stand." Her eyes were sunken in, and there were bags beneath them.
There were plenty of empty booths and tables, all of them near her, as though people were giving her a wide berth.
"No?" Roy asked, and then he got a closer look at her. She looked like, well, when new kids came into the ranch was what she looked like. Or like he probably had during that time he'd been out on the streets. Homeless then? Time to go into Red Arrow mode, he figured, and settled into the booth, then leaned forward. "Hey uh. this is going to sound rude, but are you okay?"
She lifted her eyes to meet his. For a moment they seemed dark, and empty, then life swirled into them again, "I will be, I think."
"If you need any kind of help, I know people." Roy explained. "Who'd keep it all on the downlow, get you any legal services you might need to use...I mean if you need somewhere to go, I can help with that." Little smile.
"You think I am a runaway." She replied, blinking rapidly, "I suppose I am, but it is only a temporary state." They would find her eventually. There was no place in the world she could hide forever from her father, "It is complicated."
"I was kinda there myself a year or so ago." Roy explained. "I guess I've got an eye or something maybe. It's probably rude to go asking all personal questions and assuming but..." He nodded at the last pat. "Complicated I can get. Want to talk about it or is it the kind of complicated you want to yourself?"
If I tell you too much they will kill you. But she didn't like to lie. She poked at her salad, analyzing the situation, "I am a scientist. I have been having..disturbing dreams lately, that are beyond the purvue of science. I am beginning to..doubt the people I work with, including my father."
THERE was something Roy immediately got. In fact, he jerked up, a little violently at the word 'dreams' there. "I've...been having dreams like that too. Down to the...in the worst I've had so far, my godfather is trying to kill me. Hunting me down like an animal." he shuddered.
She looked at him, without blinking, and suddenly seeming older and more desparate. Her voice remains even, "I dream I have horrific, all consuming power. A lot of people go mad, or die."
"Geez." Roy said, and here, he might have even veered for the sympathetic. "I know in mine I've done something horrible I have to fix but...not really beyond that. I mean...that's got to...I'd avoid people too." He WAS currently avoiding people, but didn't add that.
"Yes." She took a breath, "They are just dreams. Dreams mean nothing. I am not giving birth to something that will destroy the world. It is scientifically...infeasible." She'd said too much, and looked shocked, and horrified.
"And I haven't..." Roy paused, trying to think of what he'd picked up. "Haven't infected everyone I care about with some kind of mind control...thing. I mean...it isn't possible, right?" he looked disturbed but not the rest of it. "yours sounds worse, by the way." he added.
"Yours is still awful," She replied, trying to give him a smile, but it came off as more awkward. "I did not mean to compete."
Roy tried to smile too. "Oh I know. It's just...it's good to find somebody who doesn't think it's totally crazy, you know?" He shook his head. "I can't...be around some people right now cause of this."
"I understand." Very much so. Her father took away her baby. The other baby. One of the ones that was coming for her in the other dream.
"It's just kind of...good to know that." Roy was melting a little, he thought, sort of like he'd been with Dr. Linus that time. It felt safe to let somebody in on stuff here. "Oh. I'm Roy, by the way."
"Alma. Alma Wade." She took a bite of her salad and grimaced. It was completely flavorless. The fries tasted better and that was saying a lot.
"Good to meet you." Roy dunked another nugget, amused at her expression. "Evil salad?" he asked. "It looks a little..suspect."
"It tastes terrible." Still, she smiled at him.
"Oh too bad." And then Roy came across a little hard and sort of chewy spot in his nugget and groaned. "Oh ew bone piece." That happened sometimes and it was always nasty.
"That is why you should not eat chicken nuggets," Almsa said, giving him a little grin.
"Probably not." Roy laughed. "Next time it's a burger preserved with pink slime." Much better really.
"I am starting to miss organic products," Alma replied, ruefully.
"Organic, huh." Roy shrugged at that. "They work out well then?"
"Yes. We grow our own. We even have a place for meat and milk. It is entirely self-sufficient."
"Okay, that's awesome. Not really the kind of thing I've ever tried, but sounds like that works out." Roy sort of wondered why Oliver had never gotten into the whole organic thing, but then, he'd generally only been interested in that kind of thing when PETA had featured naked models without fur on bilboards so...
"It does." He probably didn't want to know about the sort of animal experimentation she performed. If there was a better way, she was all ears.
Yeah, probably not. Roy ate meat and everything, obviously, and wasn't opposed to wearing leather, but there were some things that were too disturbing to really know.
Alma and Disturbing things went hand in hand! She reached over and patted his hand, "Thank you."
"For?" Roy asked, confused. "It seems like all I've really done is rant about my own problems at you."
"It helps put things in perspective," Alma replied. She was starting to notice he was cute, but had no idea what to do with that knowledge.
Was he? Roy wasn't really aware of stuff like that himself. He'd just tended to tune it out through most of being a teenager, what with other things to focus on and all. He'd probably be surprised if someone told him, especially because he'd always tended to be on the fairly skinny side of things. Sure, his arms were well defined, and more lately, since he'd been working with Clint, but, yeah. Not really a thing. "It kinda does" he admitted. "I feel better too. Knowing, I don't know, I'm not the only one who can't be around some people right now."
Alma nodded her head, "It is too easy to feel alone. But sometimes that would be nice." She was always watched, studied. She tried to contribute and she felt like she was more or less the test subject and not the one doing the studying. And what she'd found on Caroline's computer had confirmed that.
"Sometimes, yeah." Roy agreed with a little sigh. "I mean, there are times I want people to pay attention but others, I don't know. I can't think right around them." He wondered if that made sense or not. "I guess alone we kind of...well, I actually get a chance to think. That what it's like for you?"
"I am rarely alone. But I think I understand. A rare moment to sit and think without the pressure."
"Exactly." Roy nodded immediately. "ANd that's too bad, you don't really get the chance."
"The environment I live and work in, doesn't allow for much in the way of privacy."
"Ahh right, You said you do organic stuff." Roy nodded. "So like a lab thing. I can't imagine you get a lot of time alone, no."
"A lab, yes." She nodded, and started to fidget a little bit.
"Hey, sorry. Didn't mean to make you nervous." Roy said quickly.
"I'm.. I am not nervous." She glanced around, as if expecting someone to show up, fear crossing her face, "Maybe I should not stay here much longer."
"You mean because of stuff?" Roy quickly grabbed a napkin and scrawled down an address. "You can get some help hiding here." he said. "If you want to take it I mean. They won't make you give out your real name or anything."
She took the napkin and looked at it, memorizing the address, "I will consider it. Thank you." She offered the napkin back, "I should not keep it. I will remember the address."
"That...makes sense yeah." Roy agreed with a firm nod. "And uh. I go by Red Arrow out on the streets so if you need help at any point, you can ask and somebody'll probably know." It felt a little stupid, using that name, now that he was older but...
"Thank you." She got up, got a refill of water...then came back and kissed his cheek. And then she fled.
Roy blinked as she left and made a mental note to try to find her again, however it was possible. He was sort of invested now.