Dark as the Night

14

After walking through the front door of the food hall, Odessa happily scanned her card. She spent a little longer than strictly necessary staring at her photo and information when they popped up on the screen in front of her. She was still classified as underweight, but the ill/injured class had been removed. Her concussion seemed to have healed, or at least wasn't causing her any more problems, and Leila'd had to remove the stitches from her neck because that injury had healed more quickly than they could dissolve. There had been no need to keep the 'D' classification.

She greeted the morning server, who chuckled and teased her about not needing body guards anymore. He served her a cup of sweet potato hash and two fried eggs, but only one sausage link instead of the usual three. She realized, thankfully, that no longer having 'injured' status meant she got a bit less food - she was tired of stuffing herself so much every meal. She moved down the line to the next station, where Janie, the server, offered her a bagel and fruit, or a raspberry bran muffin. She chose the muffin and claimed a table by the window.

Odessa was picking at her eggs and hash while contemplating the emergence of garlic mustard and the most efficient way to harvest it from around the camp when she heard a loud snort behind her. It was followed by a grumpy, "Here she is, staring off into space, oblivious to the fact that we went out of our way to pick her up for breakfast, only for her to not be there."

She turned to smile with sarcastic sweetness at the source of the complaint. James was standing behind her in his school uniform of white button down shirt, black pants, and black blazer with white piping. He wore a red and black striped tie loosely around his neck and his blazer and the top button on his shirt were undone. Considering the clothing seemed to stretch slightly on his bulky frame, she imagined it was probably necessary for him to skip a few buttons. Tai stood behind him, tie loosened but otherwise properly dressed.

"Well it certainly seems the cool air did nothing for your hot head..." Odessa mused as the boys sat down across from her. "Good morning, by the way."

Tai smiled ruefully. "Good morning. We went by the medical center to pick you up but Leila said you had come straight here from Town Hall."

James glared. "You're a pain, you know that?"

"It's not my fault you forgot that I told you on the phone last night that I'd meet you here for breakfast. Communication is a two way street and I walked down my side of it," she said with a scowl.

James glared again. "I..." he closed his mouth, realizing she was right. Then he squinted at her. "You look different today. Less hideous than usual."

Odessa's mouth turned up in an teasing grin. "It's called 'having a good hair day.' Jealous?"

Before James could say anything else, Tai shoved a fork-full of hash in his mouth to preemptively shut him up. "Believe it or not, that's his idiotic way of complimenting you. You look really nice today."

"Well thank you!" she batted her eyelashes melodramatically. "Leila has initiated me into the magical world of makeup."

James returned her wicked grin. "I was wondering why you looked like a clow-"

Tai shoved a huge chunk of muffin in his mouth. "You shouldn't talk with your mouth full," he deadpanned. "It's rude." Odessa's mouth twitched with amusement as she watched the charade. "So what are your plans for today?" he asked her.

She paused to finish her sausage then answered, "After this I'm taking my things to my new apartment then going back to the medical center to work."

"I bet Liam's glad to be rid of those clothes," James chimed in. "He's been nagging Leila to get rid of them for a while now. They're from when she was in college and she hasn't worn them in years."

Odessa nodded thoughtfully. "That's right; she told me she got her pre-med degree years ago. I wonder why she didn't go all the way to medical school?"

"Because she's the only person the camp as an entity has ever sent to college. The council gave her a scholarship for a pre-med degree at a university pretty far away from here but couldn't afford to pay for more than that. She chose to come back and take over the medical center as soon as she got her Bachelor's Degree instead of put herself through med school." Tai explained.

"She had a good reason though, right?"

"Oh yeah, the previous healer was pretty old and was having trouble keeping up with everything on her own. Besides, that was the year Liam had been voted in as leader, and she chose to be here to help and support him."

"I see," Odessa murmured while nibbling on her muffin. "So why did she still have her old clothes?"

James answered her this time. "I suspect because it irritated my brother" he said before putting a whole sausage link in his mouth.

Odessa grimaced at his lack of manners. "Why would she intentionally irritate him? She seems to love him a lot."

Tai answered again, scraping up the last of his food from his plate. "It's because she loves him. She is always doing things to make him angry simply because he gets angry so easily. You probably haven't seen it yet, but his temper actually puts this one's to shame." He motioned to James. "Liam's much worse. Leila does what she does to keep him constantly on his toes. It takes a lot of effort for him not to blow up at everything, and it's her way of training him to let stupid things go."

Odessa swallowed the last of her muffin with wide eyes. "Seriously? He's that bad??"

James grunted. "Yeah, have you ever heard of the old story, 'The Hulk'? That's him. He can seem so mild-mannered, but when he gets angry, he goes ballistic. Fortunately, that hasn't happened in a long time. When I was a kid, it happened a lot." His eyes darkened at the memory. Tai glanced at him sympathetically. He knew how Liam's past behavior had permanently affected his relationship with James. There had been forgiveness and there had been healing, but they would never have a typical brotherly relationship.

Odessa stared into space, trying to picture it, having no idea what a 'hulk' was. James scowled again and stood abruptly. "We have to get to school. When do you take your proficiency tests?" She blinked at the sudden change in topic and stood as well.

"On Monday. They said they wanted to give me a few days to move all my belongings - because I have so many," she said with an eye roll then continued sarcastically, "and to settle into the job I've already been doing for the last couple days."

"They probably just wanted to start at the beginning of the week instead of having to stop in the middle for the weekend" James said, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's what I think, too" Odessa agreed. All three put their trays up then walked out into the sunshine together. "Have fun in school!" she said cheerfully as they walked to the next building over. "Don't hurt yourself too much," she said to James. "I know thinking is a painful process for you." She smiled innocently at his narrowed eyes.

"Not as painful as having to listen to you," he muttered. "Besides, I happen to have the highest grades in class." His smug smile was full of teeth.

"Sadly," Tai sighed, "It's true. I don't know how he manages it." Odessa giggled and waved them off. Tai returned it with a warm smile and James turned away with a half-hearted wave. They walked in the front door and she continued down the path to the medical center.

**********
A/N: I wonder how many current cultural references will be lost or only known by a few people 100 years from now.

What little bits of modern culture do you think will survive? Will the digital age allow humans to hold on to music and movies and such in a way that was harder before modern technology?

F.Y.I. James is kind of a history nerd. He likes really old (from our era) music and stories. His favorite story: Iron Man. Favorite song: Hotel California.