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"No injuries. Besides we've had worse." Of course they'd had worse, flirting with death. "I just don't like this," he kept his voice quiet, hiding it beneath Callen's meaningless cover conversation. The tone was somber "We're expected to simply disappear, now not just at your father's behest but Clive's too. We're leaving these people here in possible danger. We can't just sneak out, people have to know. We have no right to keep quiet, no matter what these people ordering us about think." He lent back, sighing again, aware of how intense he had gotten. He had to just leave it alone, otherwise he would probably breakdown. A cautionary glance back to his food and he began to eat again.
"I have enough of an appetite. Who knows when we'll get a proper meal again." He glanced at Callen as she mentioned calls, a strange expression crossed his face. Regret, sadness, surrender. He looked back at Anna, family didn't matter to him anymore. It hadn't for a long time, not since he decided his own future. A decision he stuck to. "Whatever happens, I promised. So expect me to be with you whatever happens." He returned to consuming more of his meal. Pretty much ignoring the banter between Viktor and Theo, although he did pick up a few things. Mostly just how opposite the pair seemed, he could fully see Viktor picking apart the insecure kid. He didn't mind them, he had no one to call.
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She looked at Timothy with a piercing glance. She wasn't trying to intimidate or manipulate or anything along those things, it was just difficult to look calm. "Tell him you've been through the kitchens, snooping about and it's collective punishment for everybody, tell him about Clive, and that's going to be an even bigger problem. He is, you know, actually a infiltrator. In house Hellsang that is punished by getting starved to death in the basement... Hence why we don't get infiltrators that much."
It was reassuring to hear the promise that he would go with them no matter what.
"We've only just sat down for dinner, it shouldn't even be eight yet." Callen said, in response to the matter of time. "There should be plenty of time to call when we're done here." Of all the three, she seemed the less anxious to call home. It wasn't that she didn't worry or miss them, she just knew how isolated the village was. They'd be safe for a little more time.
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There was a crazy girl who acted like she was his older sister, a maimed girl who hated him for his (he guessed?) dickish compliment, which was actually an insult in girl-talk, a Russian that seemed rather eager to see him physically hurt, another older, larger man that he knew little about, a giant force of evildoers ready to kill him, a very pissed off quasi-god with the power to cheat death at-will, and an airplane ride waiting for him to send him to somewhere he'd never been before to face the majority of his aforementioned fears. The food was great, but his stomach was churning like a washing machine.
Viktor sat more stoically. "Thank you," he mumbled, the fire in him dying as he knew he would have to wait to speak to his sister. I have not heard her voice in so long... He picked at his food, only eating every three or four stabs he took at his meal. "Still, though, to pass the time, are cards not a good idea?"
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He considered who to actually contact, the members of the group who accompanied him down. If anything, in that trip they had certainly grown to trust each other. Even with no prior history. He was confident that they would listen. Of course the problem was most of them were almost as bad as he was and had no cheats to get them up and running. So far he only knew that Michel was allowed outside the medical wing. Looking around the elder soldier found it odd that he couldn't catch the French boy among the tables. He was rather certain that he had spotted Michel earlier and in fact the table he thought the kid was sitting at had a free seat didn't get missed. Uncertain, Timothy left it for later, he couldn't relax but at least he could try for now.
"Theo, you said something about a board game earlier." Arden glanced from the younger boy next to him to the opposite seat. The offer was directed towards Anna. Though Timothy was in two minds he wouldn't want to intrude. Yet he prefered the option of a board and dice over card games. "I'm not keen on card games, never played them much." He did neglect that this was due to the fact his poker face was quite good, so moat people didn't keep playing with him. The whole reason he didn't want to play was he had spent far too much time being dragged into them during his childhood. Calls or cards, both brought back the none to brilliant reminders of his family.
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This girl had, in her lifetime, not played many games. Growing up alone gave her the unfortunate opinion that she ought to be the center of attention and receive praise no matter what. A messy divorce had soon revealed that this wasn't so. It's a common belief that children are capable of blaming themselves for every flaw in the family, that they can always come to think that they are at fault. This was not the case for Anna. The divorce had left her as a very angry and hateful child. The meeting with Callen had changed this.
A part of her now thought that the fact that the two of them had become friends wasn't a coincidence. It was fate. Clive had said that the two girls had known each other in every single other life, and they'd always been by each other's side. That explained that curious emotion she'd felt when she first saw the redhaired girl, who then had an accent so thick that people gave up talking to her, because they didn't understand her. It had never been pity, moreso it was two words shouting out to her in her own mind.
"You must."
She wondered if Clive had planted those words there. She hadn't stopped eating at all, and even though her bites had been small and calm, she had emptied her plate. Her body had calmed, but she could still feel how everything was hard at work, patching her up.
"I'm with Tim on the boards," Callen stated, lazily leaning over the table, in the process managing to dip her elbow in a saucepuddle on her plate.
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Theo smiled slowly and looked at Viktor. My idea was better, he thought rather smugly. Viktor just shrugged. "I don't know where we'd find a pack of cards, anyway... or for that matter, any boardgames. It's not like Mr. Helsang keeps a room full of Candylands, though, right? How are we going to get a game?"
Theo's smile faded and he looked at Anna. "Uh... I don't know. Do you?" The two boys went back to eating to give her a chance to respond. They both finished at about the same time and did not ask for more; they pushed their plates aside for the servants to take them. "Not that my vote is for Candyland, by the way," Viktor added rather hastily. "It's not incredibly becoming of a crack-squad of Witch Hunters."
"I beg to differ. You know Sherlock Homes spent his early days doing as childish a thing as any of us. George Washington liked playing Sticks."
"Fair enough." Last time I played "Candyland," Isabel put all the stickers on wrong. Ruined the board. A waste of money, that was. Could have gotten dinner, but no, it looked like so much fun, she said.
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"There will be some in my old room," Anna said, her head tilted to one side. "I never opened them, but there's some in the cupboard. We can pick them up when we make the calls. The phone is in the same room."
"That's terribly convenient," Callen remarked, wondering why Anna would have such things, when she had no siblings. It wasn't easy finding a board game one could play alone. Then again, that was probably why they hadn't been unwrapped.
The other girl for a moment carried a sly smile, before muttering to herself "Such is my life."
Callen looked around, a brow raised. "People are finishing up, those guys are leaving," she pointed to a group moving for the door, obviously with bellies full. "Are you done yet? I don't want to be here any more."
Anna was the first to rise from the table, a calm but unsettled look in her eyes. "Follow me, please. Try not to look suspicious."