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[verynormalturnipseller]

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[verynormalturnipseller]

"That's different, then," he agrees as neutrally as he can. He drifts a little nearer, ready to back up of Chase seems to feel crowded. "I had no idea what to do at first, either. I was scared of everyone. And you know how long it took us to get out together." He's becoming disturbingly good at this trap. Chase (probably) won't want to call him a bad warden for these pretty common failings.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"I'm not scared of anyone, I just don't know how to relate," Chase counters irritably, not falling for it this time. "You at least like people, even if you're afraid. I like-- two people. Not counting my parents."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"Liking people is nice if you can manage it." He's got Wen Ning there. Liking people does indeed come very easily to him. If someone is passably decent in his direction for thirty seconds, Wen Ning is already fond. "But I think it's more what you do than what you feel. Try feeding people who are cranky about it."

[fifthofthecovenant]

Chase gives him a look that's half annoyed and half bemused. "I don't cook, Wen Ning. So unless you want to start making me lunch boxes to deliver to people, that's not really going to work."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"Well, I will if you like, but." Sometimes, this child... "Recommend books to people. Offer swimming lessons."

[fifthofthecovenant]

Well, if you're trying to suggest someone play to their strengths, you gotta say that, buddy. "Nobody wants swimming lessons from me," Chase snorts at him, anyway. He might try the book thing, but that also requires-- talking to people. Just for the hell of it. He kind of wants to curl in on himself like a pillbug at the very thought. "Maybe I'll just hope that magically I get the perfect inmate who thinks I'm actually cool and not a complete nerd."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"Inmate assignments usually don't go anywhere. That's not anyone's fault, and it's true much more often than it's not." Wen Ning isn't even a very good judge of when his went badly. So far as he knows, he and Pyotr are still friendly acquaintances at worst.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"Yeah, I mean, almost none of my temps talked to me beyond introducing themselves, if they even did that. Even the guy who had to bring me back from the dead one time didn't even say hi afterwards." Not that Chase is bitter about that or anything. "So I guess I know that much. Check on the person you bring back from death."

[verynormalturnipseller]

Having never been an inmate doesn't make that seem any less sensible. "I don't think there's any excuse not to do that. Even if most of them will just tell you to leave." Often much more rudely than that.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"They might. I mean, I didn't, but I didn't really care, either," Chase admits. He puts his head down in his hands, elbows resting on his knees now. "Be honest. Do you think I can... do this? Graduate somebody?"

[verynormalturnipseller]

While he is of the opinion that if he did it, anybody could, Chase seems to think Wen Ning was to some degree good at this, so that won't work. "It'll probably take a while." He's always a bit jealous when he sees a pair announced for someone who just arrived. "But you'll find the person you can help."

[fifthofthecovenant]

Well, he thinks Wen Ning gets along with people better than he does, and clearly cares about them more than he does. Being introverted is something they both kind of share, and Chase is only not weird and awkward because he has tried very hard to learn not to be, so he gets that, too. But Wen Ning still did help.

"I hope so," he says, though he sounds more despondent than actually hopeful. Maybe when it's not ten minutes out from the event he'll get more optimistic. (Maybe not, though.) "God, I hope Yelena doesn't decide she hates me for graduating before her. She's not crazy about wardens."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"She's always been polite to me," says Wen Ning. News to him. But not noticing people holding him in contempt is pretty normal.

Not-impolite is clearly not what Chase would want from his friend, though. "Well, you aren't so different from yesterday, and she liked you then. Even if you're pretty different from when you first got here."

[fifthofthecovenant]

That brings him up short in confusion. He doesn't feel different. Except maybe for the wanting to see his parents more than wanting to die, thing. "I am? How am I different?"

[verynormalturnipseller]

The very simple answer, you graduated, is too circular. Though it's tempting to Wen Ning's very dry sense of humor. "Initiative. You don't hide out anymore. You try things. You explore. You try to fix things that go wrong."

[fifthofthecovenant]

"I definitely still hide out," Chase counters. He spends a good 75% of his time in the library or his room. But he does have... friends, he supposes. Two friends. If your warden can really count as a friend when he kind of has to spend time with you. "And maybe I fixed things before...." That's a bit of a stretch. He knew how to, you know, magically fix broken glass, but he's learned how to expand that to people. And he did, he has to admit, try to fix his spider explosion.

[verynormalturnipseller]

"You've been changing all along. And not into someone else." Chase is never going to be friendly any more than Wen Ning is ever going to be confident. "Or what'd be the point?"

[fifthofthecovenant]

"I don't even know," Chase sighs. "I don't feel different. Maybe it was just so gradual I didn't notice. Or maybe I'm just as much of a brat as I was before, but deciding I wasn't going to die all over again is good enough for the Admiral."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"That is a big one. It's... probably both," he says, deciding that prodding too directly at Chase's conclusions can't help right now. He may have escaped, but it's easy to feel cornered when you're used to it. "And it isn't as though you're done. I wasn't an inmate, but I've changed here, too."

[fifthofthecovenant]

Yeah, he got a boyfriend. ... and started wearing colors sometimes, Chase supposes. He's happier, Chase can see that. Is Chase happier? ... he has no idea.

"I guess," he says reluctantly. He doesn't want to admit, out loud, that he's going to have to still work on who he is as a person. He already feels overwhelmed enough by all this. Instead, he pivots a little. "If I do get an inmate... will you help?"

[verynormalturnipseller]

"I'll sneak you all the bribe snacks you might need," he promises. "And I'll... Try? If you need advice. I didn't really feel like I knew how to help you a lot of the time." He just kept turning up, and some of that, maybe, did the trick?

[fifthofthecovenant]

"Well, you did something right, because here I am." Chase isn't even sure he's good at showing up. If he doesn't like a person, he's not going out of his way to interact with them. Ugh. He reaches for one of his cookies to munch on, as much out of stress as any real desire to eat.

He heaves a sigh, swallows his bite of cookie, then looks back up at Wen Ning. "Thanks. For sticking with me, and all."

[verynormalturnipseller]

"You act like it was a trial. But. You're welcome." It wasn't the least bit of trouble. After all this time, he still thinks he's particularly difficult? "Aside from the spiders, you never even caused yourself any damage." And he's pretty sure that was mainly a long nap.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"I mean, I did fight with your boyfriend that one time," Chase reminds him, and very purposefully uses the word boyfriend again. "But the time I died and killed the guy who killed me was before we were paired, so I guess it doesn't count." He has, in fact, been a pretty laid back inmate. Just occasionally grouchy and stubborn.

[verynormalturnipseller]

Oh, the thing they've never properly talked about? Now is the time he wants to bring that up? The needling at least makes it clear Chase is firmly still himself, and Wen Ning gives him a flatly sour look for it that he'd have tried harder to hide before this morning. "I don't think that had much to do with being an inmate," he says as primly as he can.