5th Floor Common Room, Sunday Morning

[flickofthewrist]

Jude hadn't visited last night. And waking up with that knowledge left Flick shaken and worried that his brother wasn't going to be able to find him in this new place. It wasn't like he'd had a chance to tell his dead brother that he hallucinated that he was leaving Mandel Academy. But, his brother had found him in different places before so he was going to give it a few days and hope for the best.

Other than that, his first night hadn't been awful. He'd slept off and on and woken up tired and hungry and still in the same clothes he'd worn yesterday. He was really going to have to do something about that quick. Getting a job would be the honest way to go about it but Flick wasn't honest and he didn't want to wait. Later on, after he found food, he'd go out, find a sucker or two and lift a fancy phone, a wallet or, if he was lucky, a laptop or two. Anything like that would suit him for awhile.

He'd found some fruit in the common room and yeah, it wasn't his, but he was going to take it anyway. He could pay the person back once he got himself a little more settled. Flick took a seat on one of the couches and ate the apple silently. He left the television off. Probably should have turned it on because now he was just going to think and he didn't want to do that.

So, he reached for the remote and turned it on. Mindless distraction time.

[Open]

Comments

[flickofthewrist]

It looked like someone else was in search of food. He watched her head for the refrigerator and kept his eyes on her while she rooted around in said fridge.

He hadn't even thought of cereal for breakfast and now he kind of wanted something more than apple. But, he just kept glancing over quietly to see what she'd come up with.

Stealing food was going to be a thing this morning, apparently.

[shippedtomaine]

If people were stupid enough to leave their food in a communal area without putting their names on it, it wasn't stealing, it was natural selection in action. Survival of the smartest.

She checked the date on the milk before opening it, then sniffed it to be sure. Still good.

After she finished pouring, she held up the bottle. "You want some?"

[flickofthewrist]

"Read my mind," Flick said, giving her a nod. "Does a body good and all. I guess I should start my day off with a well balanced meal."

Because that's what this was, yeah.

"Yeah, I'd like some. Thanks for the offer."

[shippedtomaine]

Having breakfast at all was a step up from yesterday, so Emma was hardly going to judge.

"Knock yourself out," she said, passing him the bottle as she went to sit on a different couch, pulling her feet up and balancing her bowl on her knees. "I saw juice in there as well." But that would have been too many containers to juggle right that moment.

[flickofthewrist]

"Cheers," he said, saluting her with the bottle before taking a few long gulps of milk. Hadn't had that in awhile and he found he'd kind of missed the taste.

So, for no reason other than he could, he finished the bottle. He wasn't all that sorry. Actually, he wasn't sorry at all.

"Was this yours?" Flick thought to ask once the bottle was empty. Did he have to apologize and offer to get her a new one now?

[shippedtomaine]

"Nope," Emma replied through a mouthful of delicious sugary cereal. She knew better than to hand over food if she actually wanted any of it back.

Though if he randomly wanted to get her more, she wasn't going to object. She wasn't exactly flush with cash here.

[flickofthewrist]

"Good, then I don't have to fake apologize to you," he said, leaning forward to put the bottle on the table.

They could be broke together. He wasn't rolling in the greenbacks either. And probably never would be.

"And I wouldn't wanna start off the morning with a lie, sympathetic as it might be. I'm better than that."

He wasn't.

[shippedtomaine]

They'd be poor but pretty. Which people were less suspicious of then poor and not pretty.

Emma gave him a properly sceptical eyeroll. "If you wanted me to believe that, you wouldn't have mentioned the fake apology first." Not that she was going to hold it against him.

[flickofthewrist]

"So, I should have apologized and not meant before I told you I was a good person?"

Flick nodded in consideration. "I'll remember that for next time. Wouldn't want everyone to go getting the wrong impression of me."

He actually didn't care. "Besides, if I'd had to apologize, would you have accepted it?"

[shippedtomaine]

"I could have given your fake apology, a fake acceptance," Emma said, more than familiar with both. "I might have really wanted that milk."

[flickofthewrist]

"And if you'd fake accepted my apology, I would have kindly offered to buy you more milk and than I wouldn't have done it."

She could get her own milk. He had to fend for himself and if he got milk, he was gonna drink it.

"I'd have left you desiring more milk and I wouldn't have felt bad about it either. Sorry?"

[shippedtomaine]

"Promising milk and not delivering? You, sir, are no gentleman."

Whereas she was perfectly ladylike, with her feet up on the furniture and talking with her mouth full.

[flickofthewrist]

Flick's smile might have been a little smug because it was nice to be insulted (mild though it was) without sensing a more sinister ulterior motive.

"And you're not giving off much of a ladylike aura," Flick pointed out, gesturing to her posture with his hand. "I don't think you've got a leg to stand on."

[shippedtomaine]

Hey, having a roomie who probably wasn't going to try to steal your things, if only because Cordelia already had much nicer stuff, would put a girl in a good, bantery mood.

...not that that'd stopped her finding somewhere to stash her bag before leaving the room.

Emma made a show of looking at her legs. "Oh, no, you caught me out."

[flickofthewrist]

Flick snickered briefly before finishing off his apple and getting up to throw it and the empty milk bottle away.

"I have been called a detective a time or two in my young life," he threw over his shoulder. He stuck his head inside the refrigerator to see if there was anything else worth taking.

"People need to get better food," he mumbled to himself, reaching for some of the juice she'd mentioned earlier. He came back over and sat down.

"So, now that we've established that you're not a lady," he started after drinking some of the juice, "do you have a name or should I make one up?"

[shippedtomaine]

"You should set up an agency," Emma agreed. Completely seriously. Really.

"Emma," she said. "What should I call you?"

[flickofthewrist]

"Flick."

See, he was a great detective. He'd gotten her name and hadn't even broken a sweat. He really did need to open up an agency or something. Of course, he'd given information up in return so maybe not a great detective.

"You new too? Enjoying your second day on an island with a castle?"

[shippedtomaine]

"Got it in one." Now they both knew they were new. They were regular fonts of information. "It's different. Never been in one before."

It wasn't a lie if Emma didn't know it wasn't actually true.

[flickofthewrist]

Mandel Academy was probably as big as a castle but Lucian Mandel had missed out on it being an actual castle. Too bad for him.

"Yeah, me either," he replied with a glance around the common room. "What do you think of it?"

He was going to try and get information rather than give at every single opportunity. It'd give him the chance to size people up, see how they worked.

[shippedtomaine]

"The food's good." Food was always a safe fallback topic for Emma. "Half the people seem too earnest to be real."

She doubted she was giving away anything with that statement he couldn't guess by how worn in her clothes were for someone going to school in a castle, not when he looked like he'd been sleeping in his.

[flickofthewrist]

He looked it because he had so that was a good observation. He hoped to change that today but he didn't know how good targets would be on this island for someone of his skill set.

"Earnest. Good word for it," he said, chuckling lightly. "Yeah, I stepped foot onto this island and immediately got a roommate, a big sibling and a picnic with enough food to feed a small army. I don't know whether to be grateful or suspicious."

Suspicious, most definitely.

[shippedtomaine]

"I'm a fan of cynical." The system didn't need to be malicious to screw you over, just petty and indifferent. "Not hard to be earnest when enrolling the odd charity case brings in good publicity and tax breaks."

[flickofthewrist]

Flick tilted his head at that statement. He wasn't sure if it was a generalization or something specific about herself. Curious. He took a sip of the juice.

"That what you are? A charity case?" Well, she'd brought it up even if he was the one sleeping in his clothes.

[shippedtomaine]

She wasn't supposed to be here at all, so she'd say paperwork error. "I look like someone whose parents'd pay for this place?"

Again, nothing he couldn't already guess by taking a good, hard look at her.

[flickofthewrist]

"Charity doesn't necessarily mean your parents paid for this place," Flick felt compelled to point out. Though, now he was wondering how much money his father had forked over and how much that would come back to hurt in the long run.

Great. He shook it off. Nothing to do about it now. "Maybe someone took up a collection around the internet for you. Heard there's a lot of those type of websites these days, full of people wanting money to do things."