[FIN] Bet'cha didn't know~

[insidiousEnigma]

Turn page, reach, grab, sluuuuuurp, set down, release, repeat.

If asked, Zacharie would say that there was no better way to spend one's time than reading curled up in a plush chair with a large container of juice.

Turn page, reach, grab, sluuuuuurp, set down, release, repeat.

Especially when one was avoiding tedious things, such as moving boxes, as he was doing at this very moment. Really, you would think that they would stop assigning him to do such things since he rarely actually got around to doing them. From what he'd heard, other grunts or trainees ended up doing the work for him so why bother telling him to do it when they could just skip a step and just tell someone else to do it first? He'd never understand what went through people's minds....and he didn't really want to either.

Turn page, reach, grab, sluuuuuurp, set down, release, repeat.

Shifting to drape his legs over the arm of the chair he'd found tucked away in what served as a library of sorts, the teen took a moment to appreciate the fact that it was people's weird way of thinking that had allowed him to be able to slip away unnoticed. Perhaps next time he'd actually do what he was supposed to....the thought made him give a little snort around his straw.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"If it isn't Grunt Zachie-chan." A quiet voice came from behind Zacharie's oh-so-comfortable plush chair. "Enjoying yourself?" If Zacharie turned around, he might have found Grunt Nakura smiling at him over the top of crossed arms. The smile was tight, however, and did not reach his eyes.

What was more was that his dark hair seemed somewhat damp and plastered to his head as if he'd been sweating a great deal, his chest rising and falling just a little faster than usual like he had only recently caught his breath. "Last I checked, no food or beverages were allowed in the library. Might get sticky residue all over those pretty paper pages."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Turn page, reach, grab, sluuuuuurp, SPIT!

"-!!" Zacharie only just managed to turn his head to avoid spitting juice all over himself, and his things, in surprise. Legs swinging back over the arm of his chair, the teen coughed and sputtered. "You idiot!" He hissed once he had the breath to do so. "Don't sneak up on people like-....oh, hello Izaya." He cut himself off mid scolding when he turned to see just who it was that had given him the fright. It'd been quite some time since he'd seen the other man and he felt himself tense slightly when he found himself at a slight loss as to what to say. "I had been." He grumbled in response to the older man's question.

He wondered just what, exactly Izaya wanted from him.

He tried to glean the information off of the other but...he had never been at that sort of thing. The only thing he could come up with was that he'd been up to something rather strenuous. "...Do you want some juice?" He asked, holding the large cup for the other to see. "I mean...you look a bit out of breath...?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The informant smirked at Zacharie's initial reaction, taking a step back in mild surprise, only to blink in even more astonishment when it seemed Zacharie hadn't realized who he'd been talking to. Just who would he have talked to like that? Who had he been expecting?

"You know that if you get caught talking to an agent like that, it'll be the brig for you, right?" he asked, his wavering smile returning. "Or a demotion. I had first-hand experience with both thanks to a particularly nasty Elite who no one warned me about."

Raising his brows at the offered jucie, he giggled lightly. "And share indirect kisses? Zachie-chan, you make me blush. But no thank you; I'll have to decline for now. You see, I've just had a very long, exhausting day cleaning out storage rooms and moving things around. And, as you might be able to tell, I'm not built for such hard labor."

Leaning on the back of Zacharie's chair, he sighed heavily and studied the fingers on the gloves of his grunt uniform before running them through his damp hair and tugging at the high neck of his shirt. "It's a funny thing, how the higher-ups don't directly punish their underlings for missing things like chores. But you know what? That's because they don't have to. It's all a part of the whole hierarchical system of the Rocket ranks." Without asking, he pulled himself a chair beside Zacharie and unceremoniously fell into it. "Do you know how it works?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Waving a hand dismissively, Zacharie gently closed his book and set it on the little table next to his chair. "If they're being an idiot they deserve to get called out on it." He muttered as he tucked his knees beneath his chin. Just because someone claimed you were important didn't mean you couldn't do idiot things. He liked to think he was humbling people, so they wouldn't get big egos.

The teen gave Izaya a curious look before dropping his gaze to his juice. "...An indirect kiss?" He repeated, eyebrows furrowed. "...It's just pineapple mango." He added under his breath before he shrugged it off. He was already aware that Izaya was a bit odd. "You do know that drinking lots of fluids with no sugar, or least without artificial sugar, is good for you when you've exerted yourself, right?" He said knowledgeably, motioning to the cup with his head. "It's fresh juice, I made it myself, so it'd be good for you. Though I don't think it'd really help with your...build. You'd need proteins for that. I could make you a protein supplement if you wanted, it'd be relatively simple." He prattled on, picking at the ties of his boots.

"Hm?" He didn't much care for hierarchies. Just a group of people with constraints and ridiculous rules designed to control those in the lower rungs. "No, I can't say that I know much about how the hierarchy works here....other than. 'Better not let an Agent or Elite see/hear you do that or you'll get tossed in the brig or demoted!' heaven forbid I get demoted to trainee. It's not like they ever tell me to do anything besides clean anyway." He groused. "So I've taken it upon myself to stay out of their way."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Who? An agent?" Nakura laughed. "I'm not sure if sneaking up on people qualifies as an 'idiot thing'; in fact, the better you are at it, the more people respect you for it here. But if you don't believe me, feel free to find out for yourself. I think you'll learn fairly quickly that your opinion of what others 'deserve' means less than nothing here." He knew he had.

"Yes, an exchange of bodily fluids. Saliva, to be exact," the grunt answered Zacharie dully when he realized the teen didn't get it. "Nevermind. Since when did you start caring about what was good for me? I know if you had, you would have shown up instead of leaving me to do your share of work." He wondered how this one would have gotten along with Elite Agent Seth. "You're so literal. Really. Just like Frosty-chan. It's unbelievable."

He smirked. "If you get demoted to trainee, you'll be forced to run laps, get through obstacle courses, and sit through the same lectures all over again. But until then, let me help you out." Nakura scooted his chair closer to Zacharie's - perhaps a little closer than necessary, since he did so until their chairs touched - and grinned like a mad man. "The system works on a principle of psychology. People don't like being left to do others' work. That makes them mad because the higher-ups allow others to get away with it."

As he spoke, Nakura leaned in closer. "It might work for the first couple times, but after that, people start to notice who's skipping. By 'people', I mean us - your peers. Fellow grunts," he explained. "The higher-ups depend on that anger and notice of our missing peers because then they can trust that we'll take care of you. And by 'take care of you', I mean discipline. They know they can trust us to discipline you into working as hard as the rest of us because the alternative is just not something we would allow." He made a ridiculous giggle. "Understand, slacker?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

"It's stupid." Zacharie muttered, though didn't say anymore on the matter.

He wasn't aware that exchanging saliva would be considered anything other than completely repulsive. Why did Izaya think that they would be exchanging saliva, it's not as if he had slobbered all over the straw or anything...but now that the older man brought it up, he wasn't too keen on ingesting anyone else's germs. Leaning over, the teen dug around in his bag and produced a small handful of straws. "It's not as if I care about you personally." He huffed setting a wrapped straw beside the juice and nudging them towards Izaya. "I'm going to work in the medical department some day, so why not get a head start on taking care of people?" Only as he was stuffing the rest of the straws back into his bag did he realize how bad that sounded. "I...I didn't mean for that to come out as rudely as it did..." He stuttered, though he didn't apologize.

Though his vaguely apologetic expression dropped into one of extreme disdain at the mention of running and obstacle courses. He wasn't even sure how he had managed to get through them the first time! It seemed that while he was lost in his thoughts the other grunt had taken it upon himself to scoot closer, causing the purple haired male to jump slightly. That...smile was a bit unnerving but he managed not to let it freak him out enough to make him lean away. That's probably what Izaya wanted!

Zacharie did, in fact, understand.
He understood completely.

"You got stuck with my work." He stated, his lips twitching in a barely contained smirk. "...Sucks for you." He hummed, turning to put his book into his bag to hide his growing smirk.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Somehow I can't picture you helping them in the conventional way people imagine being helped by the medical department," Nakura commented, looking over the straws that Zacharie had retrieved from his bag. Why in Arceus' name did he carry around so many? Surely juice boxes came with their own straws...

"You seem like the sort who would use the opportunity of a patient entrusting themselves to you for your own benefit rather than out of pure, good will. Shinra was like that, too. Well, mostly. Would have been if it weren't for his creepy obsession..."

"Your sort never do," the older grunt answered Zacharie's voiced self-appraisal, smiling brightly as he pat the young man's purple hair. "But don't take it personally. You can't help saying what you really think, after all, can you?"

At the teenager's cheeky words, Nakura's manic grin wavered and faded into his usual, emotionless smile. He was silent for a time and it was only when Zacharie turned to put his book away that the crimson-eyed grunt spoke again.

"It's interesting... Of all the places you could have wandered off to, you chose the library. Generally that indicates a desire to learn. But clearly you don't believe in learning 'the hard way'. Seems like you don't believe in discipline." He crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat, lacing his fingers together as he laid them across his lap and scrutinized his addressee. "So let me help you learn. I'm an informant. I can give you more valuable information than anything you could find in any of these books. Why?"

He lowered his voice and leaned even closer so that Zacharie may have even been able to feel Nakura's breath on the back of his neck. "Because I know things that apply directly to you and your past. Things that no one else on base know - not even you."  

[insidiousEnigma]

This wasn't the first time someone had implied that he wanted to use his medical knowledge for something other than wanting to help people. He knew that he had a jaded outlook on humans, had known for quite some time, but...that certainly didn't mean he didn't genuinely want to help them. In his opinion, you didn't need to be friendly and sociable to want to help someone's well-being. He wanted people to be of optimum health...he just didn't want to deal with their multifaceted natures. "I'm sure what you think I want to do and what I know I want to do are two totally different things, Izaya." He said, choosing to leave it at that. Anything else could be twisted and warped into something else entirely and he really did not feel like arguing his morals.

"I like libraries, they're quiet and, generally, no one is around to bother you." He muttered, obviously implying that he had been quite content before Izaya had come along and ruined the quiet. The older man's comment that he 'didn't believe in discipline' made him snort in amusement. It seemed that the other was right about something at least.

His amusement was short lived though.

The teen tensed as warm breath fanned across the back of his neck and his fingers tightened around the strap of his bag until his knuckles turned white. "My..." He cleared his throat and shifted to put some space between them. "My past is hardly a secret." He said. It was spoken as a means to wave the subject off but also an attempt to calm the intense anxiety he suddenly felt. There wasn't anything that someone looking back into his records would find...common knowledge. Unless...unless Izaya had somehow managed to find out about him poisoning his old tormentor! But no, there had never been any proof to lay the blame on him. In fact, no one had even questioned him. Then maybe...maybe he'd found out about how his father had given him these scars! No, no, no, that couldn't be it...the only person that knew the real cause were his parents, Jerome, Jabari, Bro, and him and he highly doubted Izaya found out from any of them. Just what did Izaya know?! He wracked his brain for anything that might be considered a secret but continued to draw blanks.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

As someone whose favorite hobby was observing humans, Nakura knew better than to focus his attention on Zacharie's words over his actions. His minor hesitation and subtle shift away from him were far from unnoticed.

"Oh, really?" he asked, feigning surprise. "Pardon me, then; I must be losing my touch as an info broker. So I guess everyone knows about how much your parents loved you and just how popular you were in high school, ne? So much so that you decided you couldn't take all that popularity and eventually dropped out of school."

He giggled to himself. "Ah, and I'll bet you attracted a lot of admirers with that hobby of yours playing 'Dr. Frankenstein' with dug-up body bits~ They must have a ton of fan sites dedicated to your passionate research and findings!"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie flinched at the mention of his parents but otherwise remained perfectly still. "...Not everyone." He conceded softly as he searched for the quickest escape route. "Though I think that's because they don't bother to look rather than having a hard time gaining access to the information." Which stung briefly, but he had long ago accepted that no one truly cared about him.

"S-So I think that perhaps you wasting your time in uhm...whatever you're doing." He stuttered as he snatched his bag up off the floor and all put fell out of his chair in his haste to put some space between them. "I...I don't know why you bothered looking into all of that but it's in the past where I would prefer it stay." There were reasons he didn't like to talk about everything that had happened to him. It made him feel anxious, trapped, like his skin was crawling...all unpleasant things that he really did not want to feel.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"It's true," the older grunt agreed. "A lot of info is easier to find than many people realize it is. Most aren't even aware of how accessible they make their own facts. But you're a smart guy. You know what's easily available on you and what's not." He stared intently at the back of Zacharie's head.

"Unlike a great deal of other info brokers, I don't do what I do just for money. I do it because I enjoy it. I love human beings, Zachie-chan, and that happens to include you." Resting his elbows on his knees, he leaned forward and placed his head in his hands. "I looked you up and learned everything I could learn about you because I love you. But again, as someone in my field of expertise, I like to think I have a few more sources of info and fascinating facts than anyone else with a connection to the internet."

"See...Zachie-chan, I'm sure you know as well as I do that the past has a way of creeping back up to haunt us. And when I said I know things that you don't, I meant it. That's because, unlike you, I'm not adverse to digging up history - if not corpses - to stay current with aspects of your past life that you've long since tried to stop thinking about. Like your family, for instance. Aren't curious about how they're getting along, huh?" Resting his chin on one of his palms, he reached across the table with his other hand to play with the wrapped straw that still lay untouched on its surface.

Picking up the paper-sealed plastic cylinder, he examined it up close as he continued to speak. "Oh, by the way...that's a cute hair cut. Shows those pretty eyes and those scars make you look edgy. I'm not sure my absol will share the same opinion, though. He has this thing about asymmetry and he just so happens to be waiting at the library entrance."  

[insidiousEnigma]

Zacharie froze, his gaze darting over towards the entrance of the library as he weighed his options. He could make a run for it and pray that he'd run into someone that could save him from a possibly deranged Absol...or he could sit and wait out whatever Izaya had to tell him...

The second choice seemed less likely to bring him physical harm, so he slowly lowered himself back into his chair.

"Well that's...really creepy actually." He muttered, clutching his bag to his chest for some form of protection. "And it also seems like a pretty stupid reason to look me up. I don't buy it." He said with a scowl, eyeing Izaya suspiciously. "What do you want? Now that you know my family has money you want me to introduce you or something?" He asked bitterly. "Well it won't work because they obviously want nothing to do with me and I could care less what they're doing." He'd been through this before. More times than he cared for if he were perfectly honest.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Hidoi! How meeeean~!" Nakura cried, launching the straw at Zacharie's face with a pout. "Are you questioning my undying love and passion for the human race? I'm offended!"

Crossing his arms atop one another on his lap, he leaned forward on them with a small chuckle. "Seriously? You think I'm interested in money? Zachie-chan must really have a low opinion of me." His eyes narrowed critically as he regarded Zacharie closer. "...You really don't believe me, do you?"

Taking a deep breath, he waited until the purple-haired teen was finished before sitting up straighter and speaking again in serious tones. "Your parents are dead, Zachie-chan," he said. "Could you still care less? Or couldn't you?"  

[insidiousEnigma]

Swatting away the straw, Zacharie continued to scowl at the dark haired male. "Why should I believe you?" He returned, pulling his knees to his chest. "It's not like you've done anything to gain my trust." It was actually quite the opposite. As far as he knew, Izaya couldn't really be trusted at all.

Wait...what?

"...What?" He asked slowly, eyes searching the others face for some sign of deception. Dead? They were dead? Their cells bursting, muscles contracted in rigor mortis, white and cold and buried deep in the ground to decompose...."Dead?" He all but gasped, suddenly finding himself short of breath. "But they..." They'd been fine when he left. Terrifying in their fury but fine in health, "...they were fine." He finished weakly, his grip on his bag tightening.