fourteen : taken away to the dark side [video]

[everylittlegirl]

[The room is dark and Hayley's face is only vaguely visible, lit only by the glow of the console's screen. She sounds tired, posting in the middle of the night. Someone paying really, really close attention might notice the Flash pajama bottoms she's wearing or the Superman cape, courtesy of Jor-El, strung about her shoulders like a blanket.]

I don't know if someone else already said this, but in case they didn't? Bart Allen and Kon-El are both gone. Back home, not missing.

[A beat.] Will someone bring me some food? I haven't really eaten for awhile.


[ooc: Assume Hayley's been angsting avoiding everyone for a few weeks. Feel free to assume check-ins or other interactions. I was hiatused a lot and am still slow, sorry!]

Comments

[video]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Despite the hour, Tony is, as usual, awake and in the lab.]

That sucks. Bart seemed like a cool guy. [Too bad he didn't really get the chance to get to know him. Tony never met this Kon-El person, though.]

Do you want a Philly cheesesteak? Well... I guess it's more of a Keeliai approximatelycheesemysterymeat, but it tastes pretty close. I made them myself. [He sounds very proud of himself. "I made them myself" is also why he has several extra approximatelycheesemysterymeats: he miscalculated how much meat he needed to cook. He never had to cook anything for himself before arriving here and he is... still learning. Slowly.

He hasn't really picked up on to Hayley's distress, he's just stuck on a problem and looking for a distraction to give his brain a break. Also, the sort-of-cheesesteak is something of a peace offering. He still feels kind of bad about how their first conversation went.]

Re: [video]

[everylittlegirl]

Yeah, he was.

[She's quiet for a beat, then shrugs one shoulder noncommittally.] Sure.

[highprofilerichkid]

Cool. [He smiles hesitantly, surprised that she actually accepted.]

You live in the Metal Sector, right? I could drop it off on my way home. I should be finishing up here for the night anyway.

[everylittlegirl]

That's cool, yeah. Uh.. thanks.

[highprofilerichkid]

Uh, yeah. Sure. [He rubs the back of his head, looking a little lost, and then glances around at his workspace.] I guess I should clean up some stuff, but I'll be heading out pretty soon. What's your suite?

[everylittlegirl]

Building 4. I'll meet you downstairs.

video --> action

[highprofilerichkid]

Okay. Well, uh, see you soon, then. [He gives her another tentative smile, and then shuts off the feed.

A while later, he's standing outside Hayley's building, holding an insulated container under his arm.

He hesitates for a couple seconds, then reaches up and knocks quietly on the door. Hopefully not loud enough to wake up any of Hayley's roommates. He fidgets restlessly while he waits, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward.]

action

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley jerks the door open only a second or two after his knock, clearly having been waiting for him. As soon as she actually sees him there, her red jacket hanging loosely over her pajamas, she feels the awkwardness she can see in him as well.]

Hey. [A beat, then she opens the door a little more for him to enter.]

[highprofilerichkid]

Hey. [Despite the palpable awkwardness, he puts on a friendly smile. She opens the door wider, obviously expecting him to enter, which, after a moment's pause, he does. As soon as he steps inside, he holds out the box. He doesn't know if she wants him to stay, or if she wants him to just drop off the food and scram.]

Here you go. Two Keeliai cheesesteaks. I reheated them just before I left, and this should have kept them warm.

video;

[skeletonenigma]

[Skulduggery abandons his preferred method of communication - text - in the split second it takes him to decide to respond. The video feed shows a handsome man with skin and black hair for a brief instant; then Skulduggery touches his collarbone and lowers the façade, and he's a skeleton once again.]

Hayley? Are you okay? [A beat.] How long is 'awhile?'

video; action welcome if appropriate, otherwise she'll reply later

[everylittlegirl]

I'm.. [She shrugs.] Whatever.

I don't know how long. I just- [Hayley starts suddenly and looks genuinely afraid as her gaze is pulled away from the console. Then she calms and scratches at her hair as she looks back to Skullduggery.]

Apparently Solomon's here, so. [She stares awkwardly for a second, then clicks off the feed.]

text;

[skeletonenigma]

[There was a time when Skulduggery would have flown over immediately to make absolutely sure that Wreath wasn't there for anything beyond genuine help without strings attached. After his last conversation with the necromancer, however, he feels less of a pressing need to. Wreath, while still not entirely trustworthy, has at least earned himself the benefit of the doubt.

That, and their last conversation didn't exactly end on a good note.]

If he's still there when you read this, tell him there's another bottle of whiskey in the kitchen. Did he bring you something to eat?

Re: text;

[everylittlegirl]

[Some time later, Hayley comes back to this.]

You two live together?

And.. well, sort of. I kind of want a coffee and brownie though.

[It's a single invitation to hang out, if he wants. Skullduggery seems like low key company. Certainly more than Solomon is.]

text;

[skeletonenigma]

Unfortunately, yes.

Would you like a coffee and brownie right now?

video;

[everylittlegirl]

..Okay.

text; moving to action

[skeletonenigma]

I'll be right there.

[It's a bit of a generous estimate, given that it actually takes about ten minutes. But at least when Skulduggery does knock on the door, he's actually carrying a strong coffee in a tall cup and a fudge brownie in a small paper bag, rather than the brownie stuffed in a tall cup and the coffee nowhere to be seen.]

action

[everylittlegirl]

[It's surprising to Hayley when she opens the door to find him with items in hand. Some part of her expected him to force her out of the house. The effort brings a small smile of relief to her lips.]

Hey.

[She stares at him for a beat before remembering the situation. Taking a step back, she opens the door wider to give him plenty of room and lifts one hand to gesture ambiguously within, a silent invitation ]

action;

[peacefullywreathed]

[Solomon doesn't bother to actually answer the broadcast. Instead he steps out of the shadows into her room, glancing around at its state and holding a tray of food, including a bowl of porridge (at least it has sweetener) and toast. Nothing fancy for young ladies who have been neglecting their stomach.]

I did hear about the teenage years, but I never quite had the opportunity to observe them to this degree.

[His words are dry as he steps out to find a place to put down the tray.]

Re: action;

[everylittlegirl]

[Hayley jumps when she first catches sight of the movement in her peripheral vision. When she recognizes Solomon, her heart rate slows and she reaches up a hand to scratch at her hair. Her attention returns to the console.]

Apparently Solomon's here, so. [She watches Skullduggery another moment, debating saying more before she reaches forward to turn off the feed. Then she turns to look at her uninvited guest, wrapping Jor-El's cape more tightly about her shoulders.

Her room is actually quite clean, though some things are scattered about her room. Items of note include Kon's goggles on her bed beside her pillow and her red jacket sprawled on the ground. She looks downtrodden, bordering on depressed, but not necessarily unhealthy.]

What are you doing here? Do I need to sign some official document to quit being your student or do you just like bothering defenseless teenage girls?

[Perhaps most telling of her current mood is that her curiosity doesn't get the better of her and she doesn't ask about being a teenager.]

action;

[peacefullywreathed]

[The cleanliness, while a surprise, is also a relief. Solomon hadn't been looking forward to potentially stepping through a teenage girl's undone laundry. Although it is, once or twice, something he had unfortunately done before. He raises an eyebrow at her.]

You requested food, did you not?

[There are places to put the tray down, but none of them are near enough to Hayley for his comfort, so he summons a small shadowy desk next to her and puts it down there.]

Eat.

Re: action;

[everylittlegirl]

Not from someone just barging in. [She frowns. The words sound petulant and she knows it. It's partially intentional, knowing that her determination and maturity drew his attention in the first place. Now she's trying to push him away and distance herself again.

She glances down to the food. Unsurprisingly, it looks entirely unappetizing and probably good for her.] I want a hamburger or something, not.. that.

[The girl runs her fingers gently over the desk's edge, a subtle hint of her normal self peeking through the teenage angst.]

[peacefullywreathed]

[He takes off his coat and hangs it on the back of a chair.]

Certainly, you may have a hamburger. When you're willing to go out and get it yourself.

[And on her own head if it makes her sick. He takes that seat he just 'claimed', sitting easily and regarding her. He'd like to say he doesn't have much patience for sentimentality--but truthfully, it's just because most of the time it hurts too much. And he definitely isn't going to play therapist.]

Whatever have you been doing with yourself these past few weeks?

[everylittlegirl]

Then I'll go get it myself. [She replies dramatically, pushing his tray of food away a few inches to the opposite side of the shadow desk. Hayley pulls her legs up onto her chair, sitting cross-legged in the small space and shifting slightly to look at him. The company's kind of nice, even if she won't admit it.]

Hanging out, reading.. Totally normal teenage activities. And what is it that's been keeping you busy, Solomon?

[peacefullywreathed]

Research. I take it that you've made extensive progress on your sphere, in that case? After all, you've had plenty of time.

[If she was going to dance around the issue, he was going to take her straight. Grief was a drowning thing. It never paid to give it attention, and in spite of the cleanliness of the room, Hayley's isolation proved she had already done so far too often.]

[everylittlegirl]

It's not responding to me.

[Hayley turned to pull the sphere from behind her console screen, where she often kept it tucked away. It was meant to both keep the item hidden and allow it to remain nearby for idle practice. Without warning, the girl lightly tossed it his way.]