Day 53: Breakfast

[thatdamnedninja]

With sigh that toed the ambiguous no-mans-land between soft and explosive, Yuffie collected a plateful of waffles with all the toppings. She was sure that, if nothing else, it'd making a pretty satisfying splat if-when?-she launched it at somebody's face, and that was all that counted

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[human_sponge]

Peter had only just made it back to his room when night had "ended" and morning had come again, bright and full of the Head Doctor's too-happy voice

[highvoltagegirl]

Another night was over, leaving another breakfast to face.

At least she didn't run into Sylar again. That was the one good thing-- the only good thing?-- she could say about the last night shift. Yukari wasn't that bad, even if she was brainwashed or … whatever happened there. And the shadow thing--

Well, it was better not to think of that at all. Elle was starting to understand how things worked in Landel's, and that seemed like the best way to cope when it came to day to day. Push it down. Don't think too hard about all of the horrible things happening to and around you. If you did, you were likely to go crazy.

Crazier. Whatever.

She was more willing to comply with the nurse this morning. The siren song of waffles really helped with that. Who didn't love waffles? As she made her way through the tables, she spotted Peter. Peter … sitting alone

[human_sponge]

Somehow he'd managed to put the perfect amount of syrup on this waffle. Not enough that it was drowning, but not so little that he could barely taste it. The food here really was phenomenal, and Peter was doing his best to enjoy it when he spotted the girl he was waiting for as she walked into the room

[highvoltagegirl]

"There isn't. As long as you don't think there's anything bad about it." She set her tray down with a decisive clunk and slid into the seat across from him. The waffle wasn't going to stay warm forever, so she stabbed it with her fork and took in a couple mouthfuls before attempting to talk again

[human_sponge]

Whether or not there this was a bad situation all depended on Elle, but at the moment it looked like she was going to play nice. Not that she'd been all that hostile with him the last time they'd spoken, but she'd definitely been resistant. Still, that was when she'd been brand new to the place and dealing with a whole lot of different things at once, so he was going to cut her some slack

[highvoltagegirl]

Yeah, Elle didn't really care about other people's problems. Peter could have been attacked by a ten-foot tall talking lobster and Elle would still be more concerned about her own problems.

But Sylar was a pretty concerning subject, honestly.

"I ran into Sylar." She stated it simply enough, jabbing into the waffle with her fork for dramatic emphasis. "I was looking for … something and we had a close encounter." Deep sigh. "I mean, it's not like he killed me, but--"

But he threatened her extensively? Mocked her with her own power? Made her question her entire existence in the institute because he kept referring to things she had no memory of?

"I don't really want to talk about it. ... But, uh, thanks for trying to warn me. I guess."

[human_sponge]

Truth be told, Peter had been suspecting that that was what had happened. It made him wonder why Sylar hadn't bothered to mention it to him as a way of gloating during their conversation the day before, but that chat also hadn't lasted very long (thankfully). Elle was being pretty scarce on the details, but he got the basic picture -- and he'd had enough confrontations with Sylar to have some idea of how it had all gone down

[highvoltagegirl]

"She told you about that?"

She told him about that. She told him about that. Shit. You really couldn't trust the cheerleader with anything, could you? Then again, that's what you get for telling your secrets to high schoolers.

"About a year ago?" She gave an evasive shrug. Elle was incredibly reluctant to get into the details of her long and colorful past with Sylar, because she was afraid Peter judging her. Or just plain getting angry with her. Why wouldn't he? It was her fault that Sylar was what he was now, and that obviously made her a monster, too.

"It-- it was an assignment from the Company. I didn't want to do it. But Bennet forced me when I tried to walk out. And I couldn't just walk out, you know?" Her forceful jabbing of the waffle had turned into light poking of the waffle remains. "The Company was all I had."

[human_sponge]

Peter hadn't realized that it was some big secret or anything, though maybe the fact that Sylar had never mentioned a past with Elle should have been a clue. He hoped he hadn't just screwed something up by admitting that Claire had told him that, but he figured that being upfront with the girl was probably the best way to get through to her. If they all kept hiding things from each other, then they weren't likely to get anywhere

[highvoltagegirl]

"Uh…" Now was a good time to chew on waffle while she thought of the best way to abridge her story in a way that put her in a positive light. "Kind of."

Yeah, there wasn't a good way to word this. She couldn't gloss over it like she did with Claire, especially not when he was being so specific.

"We were supposed to get him to kill. So we could record it. See how he did it or … whatever." She bit her lip. "I had to lie to him. Get him to trust me. He, uh, wasn't that happy about it when he found out." Wasn't that the understatement of the year.

"I didn't know he was going to go all Hannibal, okay? If I could go back and change it, I would."

[human_sponge]

It was easy to see that the girl was hesitating, but Peter did his best to be patient. When she finally got into the gritty details, though, he understood why she'd been so tight-lipped about the whole thing.

The Company hadn't even been trying to capture Sylar at that point to make sure that he wasn't a danger to others. They'd probably sacrificed someone's life (maybe multiple people, if there had been complications) just to see how Sylar worked, the same way that Sylar wanted that of his victims. Whatever had been left of Peter's appetite was completely gone upon realizing that.

No wonder Sylar had wanted Elle dead, then. Not that it excused what he'd done, but Peter could see how being toyed with would piss the guy off. He was used to messing with other people, but having to deal with that himself had probably been a serious wake-up call.

"How could you not know?" he asked, his tone sharp -- at this point, he couldn't really hold it in. "I know you said that you were forced to do it, but how could anyone have thought that

[highvoltagegirl]

There it was. He was lecturing her. Judging her. She bowed her head to look down at the table and hide the fact that tears were on the horizon.

"He seemed harmless! If you met him back then, you wouldn't have thought he'd be all … you know. And he really -- he'd only killed one guy then, and he was so guilty and sorry over it, I didn't think he was going to do it again."

And then the tears started.

"I told you, I didn't want to do it. I told Benne-- Claire's dad what I thought. And he said if I didn't do it, he was going to leave me in New York and I could find a job waiting tables." She pushed her plate away. Hunger was a long-gone dream. But she took a sip of water to recollect her thoughts. And attempt to sound like less of a mess.

"So, yeah. It's the Company's fault. They created the same monster they spent all that time hunting down." She choked back a sob. "And it's all my fault..."

[human_sponge]

The idea of Sylar being anything close to harmless was pretty much the most ridiculous thing Peter had ever heard, and yet it was clear that Elle wasn't joking. Maybe she was trying to trick him or something, but his instincts about people made him pretty sure that she was being sincere

[highvoltagegirl]

She sniffed back her runny nose as Peter started patting her shoulder. He was being nicer than she expected him to be. Maybe it wasn't that bad

[human_sponge]

Hearing Elle explain her goals in that way, they actually made some sense. She felt like she needed to prove herself while also making up for what she thought she'd done (Peter was pretty sure Sylar would have ended up killing people no matter what had happened to him, but that wasn't a thought he needed to share right now). And apparently she had this fixation on pleasing her father, which didn't make much sense from what Peter had inferred about the guy

[highvoltagegirl]

"Good." The flood had receded. For now. "There's strength in numbers, right? I mean, there's me, and you, and Pom-Pom, and … anyone else he managed to piss off while here." She considered counting Isaac, but it was a tough call. People who ran away from giant spiders weren't really heroic material.

Their plotting together had given Elle the strength to finish off her waffle and down some more water. "So, um, I'll work for you. I guess. Do you want to … shake on it or something?"