Chapter Three: In Which the Charries Hijack the Plot (formerly titled "Plots and Plotters")
The next morning found the group of six meeting at the table from the previous morning. Kali was the first there, as it was her customary spot. Bryan, however, took his seat next to her from yesterday and began to eat without a word. She shrugged and continued to eat as well. Kai, Spencer and Tala soon joined them, though Spencer took Tala's seat from yesterday and Kai took Spencer's. This left Tala with two choices: sit next to her or sit one seat away. He chose the seat away, then glowered at Spencer before he began to eat. Spencer merely shrugged and dug into his own breakfast.
Ian smirked as he plopped down in between Kali and Tala. "G'mornin, gryphon six."
Kali, who had just taken a sip of orange juice, began to choke before she spat it out. She scowled at the now-wet splotch on her shirt before she rose and headed for the cash register where they swiped their IDs to get in.
She returned a few minutes later, the splotch now missing the pulp at least; she stood before her chair, pointing dramatically at Ian. "You are the most evil...vile...diabolical...accursed...evil...oh, I give up." She muttered before she sank into her seat. "Well played, wyven eight, well played."
"Someone spends too much time on MLIA." Ian commented blandly; that got him a raspberry before the girl returned her attention to her food.
Spencer and Bryan ignored them; Tala rolled his eyes; Kai glanced at both, then returned his focus to his breakfast.
"Ah, but wouldn't that mean you've spent too much time on MLIA as well if you know that?" She retorted after a few moments of silence.
"I'm sorry, your snappy retort was too slow. Minus five."
"Better late than never, foo." She shot back.
"You did not just call me 'foo'." Ian growled.
"I pity da-"
"Don't you even try to finish that overused, worn out and abused-" He began but was cut off.
"FOO."
"I kill you." He squeaked out as high as his voice would go.
"Mmhm, Achmed."
"A...C...phlegm."
Both started cracking up as their tablemates made a point to move their chairs further away in case stupidity was catching. The two exchanged smirks before returning to their little world of music, internet-related funnies and various pop-culture references.
-x-x-x-x-
"You guys all good on your classes?" She questioned as she led the way down the stairs.
A chorus of nods answered her.
"Eesh, sorry I asked."
Ian snickered; the others gave her half-annoyed looks.
"Oy. I know they say communication is 93% non-verbal, but you guys-"
Tala clamped down on her arm and began to drag her off to their next class. He had discovered, to his displeasure, that they shared the majority of their classes. "Shut it and c'mon."
"Later, guys!" She waved as the redhead dragged her off.
Ian grinned, then arched an eyebrow at the other three.
"He's getting used to her..." Kai acknowledged.
"But they're only stuck with one another 'til they can switch rooms." Bryan muttered.
The shortest teen merely smiled enigmatically before darting off to class.
-x-x-x-x-
All met up in Tala and Kali's room after their classes ended. Bryan relaxed on the floor, resting on Kali's floor pillow; Spencer borrowed her beanbag chair; both had been unearthed from under her bed. Ian took his favorite spot at the end of Kali's bed; he lounged on her body pillow, his homework propped up on his lap. Kai sat in Tala's desk chair, his homework spread across the redhead's desk. Tala and his assignments were strewn across his bed; Kali and her lone assignment occupied the upper half of her bed.
Bryan's growling stomach broke the silence. "Is it one yet?"
Kali popped her cell from her pocket. "Almost." She then ruffled around under her bed and then popped back up, throwing something at Bryan as she did.
The Russian's cat-like reflexes enabled him to catch it easily. "...what's this?"
"Fruit snacks. It's not a lot, so it won't spoil your lunch, but it should distract your stomach for the time being."
"...all-natural?"
"Try it." The girl stated, her mouth quirked slightly in what Ian began to identify as her "challenge" smirk.
The lilac haired Russian snorted, but opened the package and popped a tiny square into his mouth. "...not bad."
"Yep." She grinned. "They're also almost as good as granola bars for a quick burst of energy."
"Why would you need to know that?" Tala inquired as he checked the time; it was now 12:45, so he decided it was okay to abandon his assignment for the time being.
"I don't need to..." Kali sighed. "Not right now, at least."
The redhead gave her look; she ignored it in favor of finishing her last math problem.
"Shall we?" Ian commented as he plopped his homework on an empty spot on Kali's desk.
Kali hopped off the bed to collect her ID and key. "Sure." While the others got their things ready, she automatically stretched and flexed her arms. "...I've really gotta quit doin' that."
"Why? Nothing wrong with stretchin' your arms." Ian commented as he led the way to Taranis.
"Normally that particular stretch is better done after a workout; if I'm not careful, I'll pull something...and pulled muscles just plain suck..." She grumbled as she fell into step with him.
"You know from experience?" Tala asked as he kept pace with Kai; Bryan fell in with Spencer, who brought up the rear.
"Unfortunately, yes." She shuddered. "Never again."
Bryan frowned. "Sling?"
"Urgh, yeah. Damn thing was nuisance..." Kali grumbled. "Anyways, less go!" She took off; Ian chased after her.
Bryan and Spencer passed Tala and Kai effortlessly; the two who had been left behind exchanged glances, then decided it wasn't worth it.
-x-x-x-x-
"How long are the rooming assignments frozen?" Tala questioned as he took the only remaining seat, which was one right next to Kali.
She looked at him for a moment, frowning slightly; she then sighed before shaking her head. "Eh, about two weeks, give or take a day."
Ian mentally headdesked and hit Tala with an anvil at the same time; Bryan shrugged at him before spearing a piece of his waffle with his fork.
The lilac haired teen chewed thoughtfully. "Kai, did I ever explain about Edward?"
The redhead's expression hardened. "I am not a stalker-fairy."
Kai looked at Tala, looked at what he was eating and promptly pushed the eggs on his plate towards the edge. Kali snorted before cracking up and half choking on her french toast stick. Spencer did his best to pretend he knew none of them but continued to observe.
The dual-haired teen then turned to Bryan.
"Look up Twilight in your spare time."
Kai shrugged and resumed eating everything but his eggs, which caused Kali to start snickering again. Ian, still tempted to throw and/or drop something on Tala, shook his head.
The redhead's left eye twitched once before he turned to the still-snickering girl. "That means I only have to deal with you for another week and five days."
Grey eyes met his for a moment, their gaze measuring; their owner then shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat, Ivanov."
Ian winced as the others tensed. "Let's stick to first names, shall we?"
"How 'bout a compromise?" The devilish smirk on her face almost made Ian want to echo it.
"I'm listening."
Her smirk only grew wider. "Nicknames." She replied in a sing-song voice.
Ian barely managed to keep a straight face. "What did you have in mind for Tala?"
"Well, I think 'fire crotch' would be taking it a bit too far-" She broke off to gape at Tala, who was now lightly coated with milk. Bryan had, in his shock, spat his gulp back out. "...but I was thinking Reds wouldn't be quite so...bad..." She trailed off as murderous purplish-blue eyes came to rest on her. "Um...sorry?"
"No, you're not." He stated coldly. With that he stood with his still-full plate of food and promptly upended it over her head. "Now you are."
She blinked at him for a full minute, then stood without a word; her glass full of soda became intimately acquainted with his face and clothes before she stormed off.
Ian slammed his head down on the table. "So much for inviting her to go to the mall with us to get our cellphones this weekend..."
-x-x-x-x-
Tala left lunch not long after that; he knew once the milk and soda dried he would be a sticky and smelly mess. The thought of that, plus the fact that the milk had already been inside someone's mouth, rid him of any desire he had to eat. After glancing at the clock in his dorm room, he determined he had just enough time to shower before class. His icy mask was cracked slightly by a victorious smirk; he knew Kali well enough by now to know there was no way she could shower before class and still be there on time.
-x-x-x-x-
"That went well." Ian muttered to no one in particular as the other three stared after the long-departed combatants.
"No one'll ever be able to deal with him as he is, Ian." Kai stated flatly. "Which is why the sooner she gets a new roommate, the better off she'll be." The irritated half Russian stood and left; Bryan and Spencer soon followed.
Ian ran a hand through his hair. "...I'm beginning to think you're right, actually..." He sat at the table for a long time, lost in thought. The sound of dishes hitting the floor snapped him out of his stupor and he realized he was late for his next class. Swearing, he rose and raced off, deciding to put his mind to the problem of Tala and Kali's inability to get along later.
-x-x-x-x-
The smug Russian entered class with time to spare and claimed a seat in the area he was sure Kali would sit. He wanted to see her sit through an entire class with food in her hair; then he'd consider them even and deign to speak with her again. (1)
He scowled when the class began without a sign of her but took the required notes. "I hope she doesn't think she's getting the notes off me."
When the class finally ended, Tala no longer cared about what that bitch was doing. All he wanted was some food to quiet the snarling beast in his stomach.
-x-x-x-x-
Ian entered the room that was Tala and Kali's carefully; Bryan, Spencer, Kai and Tala were all already there. He had a feeling all were pissed at him and he had the faintest inkling that it might have had something to do with the fact that the girl he had told them to give a chance had not gone along with their little 'code'.
He wordlessly passed the four, who blatantly ignored him; a silent sigh of relief escaped him as he saw that both his work and Kali's were not tampered with. After a moment of contemplation, he gathered his stuff and turned to leave. He paused a moment, about to speak, then thought better of it.
"They won't listen to me now...if they ever do again...never mind that she doesn't know jack about they Abbey, let alone the stupid code they all still adhere to despite the fact that we're finally FREE." He stopped again, his anger coming to a boil, and turned to face them, ignoring that they were ignoring him. "Yanno what? Fuck you all. I've been patient, more than patient, waiting for you guys to realize we're done with the Abbey and all the stupid things we did while we were there. We can finally live the way we wanna, do whatever the fuck we wanna and what do you guys still do? Cling to some pathetic version of getting even with someone for humiliating you when this person didn't even mean to. I've moved on, I've adjusted, I've changed. If you guys wanna cling to the past, fine. Go ahead and do it...but I'm not gonna anymore."
All four stared at him as he turned back around.
"I-Ian, you got our attention, okay?" Tala called.
"Don't care."
The redhead was beside the door in a moment. "C'mon, joke's over. We're-"
"I told you: I'm done. I waited for you guys to try to adapt to not having to deal with the Abbey and it's influences. I waited for five. Fucking. Years. Come talk to me again when you're done living like we're still in that shithole." Ian told him without a hint of hesitation.
"Ian..."
The purple haired teen ignored the soft whisper and the panicked look on Tala's face. He knew damn well what was going through the redhead's mind and if that's what it took to snap him out of the rut he and the others had been in for the past five years then...so be it.
-x-x-x-x-
Kali entered her room cat-quiet to find four extremely subdued Russians in various spots in the room. Kai sat on her bed; the work he had been doing was strewn across the floor in front of him but it appeared he had yet to notice. Tala sat on the floor; he was surrounded by his work but it looked more like he had thrown it there. Bryan and Spencer both sat on the floor in between the two desks and their gazes were locked on the floor; their work, thankfully, remained on their laps.
She felt like she had just entered a funeral parlor in the middle of a viewing; any of the anger that had remained from sitting through class with a hat on to cover the food in her hair evaporated. Her teeth scraped her lower lip again, but she decided that she'd done enough damage for one day and silently began to pack so she could take a quick shower.
"Leaving too?"
The question was so soft she could have sworn she imagined it; however, when she turned to look, she found Tala's gaze focused on her.
"...just for a quick shower, actually..."
His gaze returned to the floor. "...he's right...you didn't know..."
"Know what?" The mystified girl quickly looked at the other three; she then noted that they seemed unsure of what to do.
"About the code."
"Code...?" She facepalmed as all the pieces fell together. "...you guys have some sort of way to deal with embarrassing situations and...I screwed it up 'cuz I didn't know it?"
Tala nodded.
She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Sorry."
"S'okay."
Kali hesitated, then hurriedly finished getting her shower things ready. She snuck her change of clothes and a pair of sneakers in there as well; she had a purple-haired Russian to find once she was done.
-x-x-x-x-
Water dripped from her hair onto her shirt as she raced up the main street of campus. "Dammit, where could Ian have gone?" Her eyes furiously scanned the surrounding area; a shock of purple hair peeked out from behind the thicket of bushes that normally hid her backpack. "Gotcha!" She called, pouncing.
Ian yelped and threw her over his shoulder to the ground; his eyes widened in shock. "Shit, you okay?"
"Fine." She wheezed when she got some air to re-enter her lungs. "Note to self: do not pounce on Ian."
That drew a weak chuckle from the boy as he helped her to her feet. "What brings you out here?"
"You. There's a mini-Russian army of gloom that has taken up residence in my room and I had the feeling that asking what happened wouldn't help matters..."
He smiled bitterly. "They just finally got the message I've been trying to get across for five years, is all."
"...wha?"
He shook his head. "Never mind. It's-" The purple haired teen trailed off when he saw the look on her face. "What?"
"Before I start, I know it's none of my business, that this isn't my place and that I've got a better chance of makin' things worse than I do of fixin' it."
That drew a weak, though real, grin from her conversation partner.
"Anyway, what happened?"
"It's...just give it up...this probably isn't gonna be easily fixed..."
"So?"
He looked up to find the hazy-eyed dreamer gone; the girl who stood before him retained her previous calm, but there was a determined gleam in her eyes.
"Who gives a crap if it's easy or not?" She stated. "I'm always up for a challenge and if you lot are this upset over it, it obviously needs dealing with."
Ruby eyes considered her; this was more the girl he had gotten to know, though he did enjoy the space-case demeanour. "...they...haven't changed much...since the Abbey...I've been trying to adjust, to learn more about being 'normal'..."
"During the time you were on your own?"
He nodded.
"There's your problem right there, Ian."
"What?"
"You were on your own. They've always stuck together to the point where there's always been at least three of 'em. They don't know what it was like for you while you were alone...though, they probably do wanna try being normal for once..."
"They don't know how..."
Kali smirked. "Who better to teach them than the Queen of Weird and their former comrade-in-arms?"
"...that makes no sense."
The smile he got in reply seemed to say "that's the point". He sighed, then followed her back to the dorm.
-x-x-x-x-
"Ello, poppets." Kali greeted as she opened the door.
Tala scowled. "That was a long shower."
"That's because she went to get me afterwards." Ian commented blandly as he followed her in. "And I have a proposition for you-all four of you."
The redhead rolled his eyes. "What, we bend over backwards and you come back if we do?"
Ian ignored the bait and merely raised his eyebrows, his face perfectly neutral; when he glanced at Kali, hers was also neutral.
"What is it?" Kai asked after it became evident that Tala was too busy glowering to deal with the two.
"Simple." Kali replied.
"I'll try to be more patient with you lot learning more about being 'normal'-but if and only if you guys try new things, which include actually being friends with Kali."
The four who were given the option knew from the surprised squawk that that condition had not been discussed beforehand.
"Nuh-uh, no way, I object!" She cried once she found her tongue. "And before you even think about going all condescending on me, I'll tell you why: if I'm friends with people, I'd prefer they be that way of their own accord, not 'cuz it's part of some deal!"
"Fine. Which includes trying to befriend with others, though the preferred-"
"Ian."
The purple haired teen flinched. "Howinell did you master the scolding tone?"
"Back home, I have a cousin who's essentially my age; he tends to pull wordplay tricks often. Anyway, the point is, Ian just wants you guys to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while...yanno, try new things, meet new people...that whole rigmarole."
"Do you count as 'new'?" Bryan questioned.
"Considering that aside from Ian, you lot've only known me for two days, I'd say yah."
Tala smirked. "Then I'd say we're off to a good start, wouldn't you?"
-x-x-x-x-
(1) - After being humiliated, one is to humiliate their tormentor to a degree that is equal to what they first experienced.
Yanno, this'd be easier to write this if the charries would stop hijacking my story lines D:
I had NO plans for any sort of food-fight-EVER-and then all of a sudden Bryan spitting out milk on Tala 'cuz of something Kali said came to mind...and then said vengeful Russian had to get her back...and THEN Kali, while generally not one to strike back, is also not one to take something like that lying down...oy. DAMN YOU, TALA AND KALI ::glares at them:: _;;
...you too, Ian. Damn it DX
...whew. Nine and a half. Fricken. Pages. OHMYWORD. Frick you evil charries, you never get control again D:
Inside the Box: ...say what? _;; Yaye, I'm glad Ian went up in your esteem~ Though, he might've gone up more this chapter xD ...depends on if you see him as trying to help or just bein' bitchy. Your call~ Ahem XD Kali is...weird. Like, she sees them. She definitely sees them as attractive. And she knows they're famous...but, she doesn't really care...that's not to say she's no one's fangirl, buuuut...that's for later on ;D
Niriane: why yes, yes she is XD heheh...you ain't seen nothing yet, though. ::evilgrin::
TwinPhoenixOfDark: Thanks ^^...I shall do my best to, as college is nuts D:...then again, college being nuts will prolly give me ideas :'D yaye college?