Born to die ~Indigo/Fiora~ {clue}

Deep breaths.

The mansion was in front of him now, that gilded palace of dreams and promises. The stage was set, and now to meet the players. He’d sobered up for this, though he was already regretting it. He had dressed his best, shined his shoes and had a satchel filled with several items slung over his shoulder. They filed into the courtyard and Indigo kept count, wondering if any of them had brought anything. And if they'd be allowed to keep it.

One, three, eight, eleven.

Twelve.

Quite the number vying for the prize. A true competition; judging by the way some of them carried themselves it was going to be cutthroat as well. Indigo’s eyes flicked over the interns as they milled about, doing his best to read their body language. The redhead drew his gaze first, if only because she was walking like she didn’t want to stand out.

It was curious, as in order to be the best one here, you’d kind of need to do the opposite. Then there was the boy with the determined face and the chip on his shoulder. Not to be confused with the one that Indigo was fairly certain had bruised knuckles. There was a girl that he had seen around, maybe in the local library.

She was a tutor of some sort, though how anyone could learn something without getting lost in her eyes was a mystery. After a moment he blinked and tore his eyes away from her. Wouldn’t do to get caught staring. Although he also had to try hard not to gape at the girl that was walking like she already owned the place. Hell in high heels, as the saying went.

Then his eyes narrowed as his gaze alighted on another boy. Had he bought a couple ounces off of that dude once or twice? It would appear that Mr. Nox has an interesting concept of standards. Ah, well. Indigo shook his head and clapped his hands together. He had plenty of time to read the rest of them.

“Yes! So! Mansion. Right. Love what he’s done with the place.” He murmured under his breath. It was certainly big enough to house the twelve of them. Several steps later, he spun on his heel with his thumb and index finger on his chin, walking in the opposite direction. Talking to people was the worst, and there were just so many of them. What to say? How did regular people break the ice?

“Hmm. Eh…” he dug into his bag and pulled out a box of chocolate chip cookies.

“Snacks?” he wondered, raising his voice and holding the sugary package aloft. “Anyone? We have to live together, might as well get off on the right f- “

Indigo made a strangled noise of surprise and then fell over into the courtyard fountain with a splash. For a moment, he lay face-down in the water wondering what cruel deity he’d managed to piss off, but upon remembering that he had yet to evolve gills he stirred himself, flailing about and then popping up with a gasp. As he blinked the water out of his eyes, he reminded himself this was why he didn’t talk to people.

Freshman year all over again.

Luckily, the box had not fallen into the water with him, but was just outside it on the ground. And it hadn’t even opened. Excellent. Who liked soggy pastry? Indigo got to his feet and climbed out of the fountain, smoothing out his jacket and picking up the box.

“-oot.” he continued, hoping that if he ignored what had just happened, the rest of them would too. “Chocolate chip? Who doesn’t like a good chocolate chip cookie?” In short order, he’d opened it, held one halfway in his mouth and offered the box to the intern nearest him.