Lunchtime Matinee? (Joker~)

[ilina yuliana arnaut.]

Illi had some sort of routine at this point. She at least knew where she was going within the school most of the time and she could get there in a timely manner, leaving her with some free time. Normally, that free time was used to watch her latest horror movie obsession or do something else, but she hadn’t gotten a lot of time lately. It was weird! Illi thought it was just so crazy, she thought she had so much time, but when all things were considered, she really didn’t have enough! She just didn’t know how she’d get through the day. Especially now, lunch time. This was probably her worst time. She usually bought two apples and that was her lunch. Honestly, it was a lot better than the school lunches. She tried one on day one and didn’t finish it. She was eating more for lunch that she normally would, anyway. She had lots of snacks throughout the day, that was how Illi operated. Never a big meal. Lots of little ones.

So, Illi had her two apples and her bottled water, and was looking for a place to sit. Again. This was honestly the worst time for her here. Lunch time. She had her friends, but they all sat somewhere where she couldn’t see them or with enough people to fill the tables. So, she usually sat with someone new every day. It was nice, but she was making a habit of befriending people who seemed friendless. Maybe she’d bring them all together and create her own little group! She just wished it was like her old school. People could eat outside. Well, actually, people could eat outside here, but she didn’t know anyone who sat outside. And Illi felt like being inside today. You know, just because. One of those days, you know? Yeah.

So, since people were just amazing, she ended up taking a seat at the only table with nobody at it. Oh, cool. Awesome. Literally all the seats were taken. Maybe she was missing something or a few seats here or there, but this was still really awful. She needed to get her mind off of it. And she needed something to entertain her. And what better to entertain her than horror movies, the same ones she’d been missing for a few days! Suddenly, Illi welcomed this opportunity! She took out some headphones from her bag, they weren’t sound blocking or anything but they kept the movie more to herself so she wasn’t being obnoxious, and began to watch The Exorcist. In no way was this a lunchtime movie, it was more of a midnight thing. But, hey, she needed something to do. So, she took a bit of her apple and hit play. She could still hear, kind of. It was just... She heard the movie more. She’d seen the movie before once or twice, but it was a good movie, so why not? And it was either that or Dawn of the Dead. And Dawn of the Dead was definitely not a lunch time movie. She’d probably lose her appetite a few seconds in. That wasn’t good. Illi liked apples! And horror movies. But you know what she liked more than that?

People.

And now Illi was sad. Sort of.

[thejokerlaughsatu]

Nathan leaned back against the wall and surveyed the cafeteria, his grey eyes sweeping the room as he searched for an empty seat. His search was in vain, of course. If there was one thing Nathan lacked, it was friends. Too nervous to approach people on his own, he'd taken to relying on them to start the interaction, but since he'd come to Power's Academy, people had only done things to piss him off. It wasn't like he was looking for ways to hate them; they just created them the moment he saw them. The world seemed to be conspiring to keep him alone, completely isolated, just like his father... and look at what happened to him. Locked up in an asylum, and not for the first time.

He shifted uncomfortably, and adjusted the tray in his hands. He could feel eyes on him, and turned his own gaze to the food he'd just bought. Nathan really hadn't paid any attention in the lunch line, but now he wished he had. The burger didn't look much like anything he would want to eat, and the fruit was still frozen into a can-shaped block. With a heavy sigh, he returned to searching for a seat.

Then, miraculously, one appeared. Not believing his luck, Nathan made his way over to the bench, taking care to go the long way around people to avoid any accidental brushes against them. Aside from avoiding contact, though, he was also taking the time to think of a proper request to share the table. He'd noticed that there was a person there, likely a girl from the look of things, and he would definitely have to ask before he could just sit down and share a lunch table with a complete stranger.

Finally, he reached the table. Not brave enough to look up, he stared down at the floor and mumbled, "Hey... could I sit here with you? Everywhere else is full..."

[ilina yuliana arnaut.]

She thought she heard something. Did she? Probably. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to check. She paused the movie right at a great part that made one of the actors' faces look rather odd. She always got a little kick out of that, but she didn't laugh. That would be weird. After pausing the movie, she took her earbuds out and looked up, trying to locate the source of the noise. If there was one. And there was! It was a boy, staring downward. To be honest, Illi didn't hear what he said. But, judging from the fact that he was just kinda... Standing there with a tray of something in his hands, he probably wanted a seat! Awesome, new people!

"Hi! Have a seat!" she said, patting the seat next to her. She didn't bother to minimize the movie. Heck, maybe if she was lucky, he'd actually want to watch it with her! Though, then, she'd probably have to unplug the earbuds. That could be awkward for the other people. Hey, then again, nobody could hear it except them. The cafeteria was pretty loud. But then they'd have to turn it up louder... Oh, it wouldn't be a problem. Illi was confident that she would be able to play it off if someone had a problem with her movie. Plus, who would hit a girl? Nobody. And if someone did, Illi would just gather up all that dust on the ceiling and on everything else and she'd just roll it up into a nice little ball and throw it in their face. Then run. Run really fast. Away.

However, something caught her eye. Just... The way things worked out, the way he acted, dressed, the way his hair was... She almost recognized him. Almost. And if she didn't know better, she would have thought it was that jerk in the woods! Hah, that would be weird. He would never, ever even consider sitting with her! She loved meeting new people, though, and even if it was him, which was a totally farfetched idea, she would gladly give him a second chance! After all, he was the one who asked to sit with her. This was a choice on his part. So maybe he wanted to be friends after all! Except this person wasn't him. Still, how cool would that be?

So far, Illi had had a good track record when it came to new people. She didn't keep track of the wins because they were rather numerous, but there was one loss. The kid in the woods. It bothered her from time to time, but most of the time she could get it off her mind. That was good. When she was thinking about it, however, it drove her absolutely crazy! She just couldn't figure out why he was so hostile to her. Oh well. She just wanted to watch her movie. Or talk to this guy. She thought she'd do the latter!

"So, what's your name?" she asked, shifting a bit to cross her legs. She kind of hoped he liked horror movies. She liked people who liked horror movies, so it would work out rather well for everyone.

[thejokerlaughsatu]

When the girl looked up, Nathan froze. Wait. No. No way. That was impossible... completely impossible. There was no way in hell that she was that lunatic girl from the woods, the ghost hunter who'd tried to kick him. No, the world couldn't hate him enough for that, could it? But, upon closer examination, he realized that it could and it did. Well, this was just great... but he couldn't leave. He'd already asked her if he could sit there, and from her expression, she hadn't yet recognized him. Good. It had been dark out there; maybe she'd forgotten about him completely, or at least didn't know his face well enough to find him again. And what did he have to lose? He needed somewhere to sit, and he couldn't go back to his dorm, not with Kaiser to deal with.

"Thanks..." He took a seat, but sat across from her instead of next to her, like she'd indicated. He wasn't about to sit next to somebody like her, especially not when she seemed so chipper and friendly. Nathan wanted to make friends, he really did, but this ghost girl would be far too much for him to handle... not to mention that she seemed like the hugging type. If there was one thing Nathan hated, it was being touched, and he didn't want to be friends with somebody who would make it their business to wrap their arms around him every time they saw him.

He set his tray of food down on the table and slid his backpack into the seat next to him. The girl was watching some sort of movie, but that was none of his business. It was her movie, and he probably didn't want any part of it anyhow. Nathan preferred to watch movies alone, so he could pause the scene and try to draw it whenever he wanted to. Movie-watching partners always got fed up with that, except for his father, who' d encouraged his son's art, but now he was in an asylum somewhere, and Nathan was left to watch movies alone.

The girl was talking to him again. Great. "I'm Nathan," he said reluctantly, and turned back to his food. He had to eat something for lunch... even if it did look like that.

[ilina yuliana arnaut.]

He didn't sit next to her. Awkward. She supposed he was a bit ashamed of having to sit at this table. After all, there really wasn't anyone here besides Illi and she was watching a movie. He probably wasn't the most talkative, but then again, Illi wasn't either. Well, when watching a movie she wasn't. Otherwise, she was actually a chatterbox, but that's completely beside the point! In any case, this guy was probably a little bit weird. Maybe he doesn't have many friends, or few really good friends. Illi shared his pain. All of the seats with her friends were usually taken up, so she normally just met someone new every day. Or she sat alone. Which, on this day, was what she thought she was going to do. But then Nathan came along, and she got all excited for no reason... Ugh. Lunches. Never really fun! Maybe she'd eat outside one day, some people do that. And she had already ventured outside the walls, so it wasn't like she was scared of everything.

It was certainly odd, the way they kept all the students in. It wasn't like they were just going to tell the world about their powers and Power's. Hah. Powers and Power's. That was nifty. But, still, nobody was going to let the cat out of the bag. That would be just stupid. Or would it? Would it really be that big of a deal? The whole premise of this academy was based on an assumption and... And... Illi lost her train of thought. Too much honors kid showing through at once! She needed to tone it down. And watch more movie.

But rather than watching the movie, she simply stared at the screen and thought of this guy. His voice sounded so oddly familiar, but she just couldn't place it. A little reasoning and remembering should do that trick. The day before, she did... Well, nothing. Illi continued to recall every single thing she had done that involved a boy. And then her stomach dropped. She almost felt physically ill, but then she remembered that she really couldn't ever be ill, so she managed to keep her breakfast in. This boy was that guy. The guy who hated her for no reason at all. In the woods! Oh crap. And now, the air was filled with an absolutely awful mix of awkward and tension. Mostly tension. Oh God did Illi get tense. Well, mentally. Physically, nothing had changed. She was relieved that she had her acting skills. Nothing else was going to get her out of this one. Not until the bell rang and she hauled out of there.

For now, she had to do something. She couldn't just stare at the movie the entire time, she had to say something. She examined what she knew about this guy. She had to say something good real quick, because the more Illi said, the more he hated her. Maybe if this didn't work out, she just wouldn't talk. Simple! And then she could actually focus on the movie... Right. She would be thinking back to how to make him not hate her until she turned blue in the face. Not literally, because she wasn't holding her breath, but darnit it felt like it! What could she say? She had thought quickly. Illi figured just a little bit of something that didn't require a response would be good.

"Nathan... I like that name. It's nice," she said with a little smile. She found herself saying how she liked names and names and names, and there wasn't a time yet when she disliked one. She was just waiting to meet the poor guy named George. Or the girl named Mary. Illi didn't like terribly common names, or names like George or Mary. She couldn't picture a teenager with those names. Only old people. Old people and... Royalty. Also really old. Being old was like a requirement to be a king or queen. She wondered if there were any teenaged monarchs. Probably not. They'd be all 'Get me this!' and 'Get me that!' Of course, unless they were Illi. She wouldn't know what to do with all the power. She'd probably just enjoy the bubble baths.

(SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO sorry it's so late! Life's been crazy. But it's saturday so... Yay .-. Again, so sorry! D8)