life is strange; Indigo/Adrien {clue event 2}

life is strange; Indigo/Adrien {clue event 2} Apr 16, 2019 21:31:47 GMT -5

Post by charade on Apr 16, 2019 21:31:47 GMT -5

When their host had graciously woken them up in the middle of the night for the first challenge, Indigo had initially been rather grumpy. But he always was when he had been sleeping off a high. His head was clear, but his eyes felt crusty, and he was pretty sure he had put his shirt on backwards.

A glance downwards revealed a tag poking his chest and confirmed his suspicions. Ah well. It was late anyway. He read the instructions of the paper rapidly; he’d always been a speed reader and the paper was small.

So they had to find the damaged oil well, determine what was wrong with it and then present the most efficient solution. Simple enough. They just had to identify the correct room first. Indigo’s eyes raked over the map and then looked up at Malcolm watching them.

He gave the man a knowing nod.

In order to play the game, not only did one need to understand the rules, they needed to understand the man who had wrote them.

“Right. Follow me, Adrien! The game is on!” he said, flourishing his left hand and rubbing his eyes with his right. “We’re going to get this over with in record time so that I can get some much needed rest.” As the other ten interns broke up into pairs and headed in every conceivable direction, Indigo made a beeline for the game room.

Once inside, he ignored the air hockey and the table for playing cards and strutted to the center of the room, where the pool table stood proudly, grabbing a pool cue and holding like a cane as he leaned on the side of the table.

“Do you know why, we’re here, in this room Adrien?" he steamrolled right ahead without waiting for a response. "Because this whole thing, this entire competition is a game.” Indigo cackled and dropped to the floor to see six folders taped to the underside. One for each pair. Of course it was here. The pool table was the centerpiece.

In the midst of his euphoria, however, he misjudged the distance and smacked his head on the underside of the table. “Sometimes I amaze myself with how smart I am.” he said grumpily as he rubbed the sore spot. Within a moment he had opened it and read the information over.

“Right, output levels have been slowly dropping for the last several months. Look at this,” he said, pointing at the graph.

"It’s a perfect slope. Not choppy or sudden, which means it isn’t a mechanical failure or human error. Perfect slope.” God, this is what he was built for. The answer was elementary.

“The answer, my dear Adrien,” he crowed, waving the paper around triumphantly, “Is that the oil well is fine, it’s simply been tapped. The cheapest and quickest solution is to move the well to a different area.”

Indigo sighed happily, the mental exhilaration practically making his face glow; his eyes were alight with a fevered inspiration as he grabbed Adrien’s arm and dragged him back to the foyer where Malcom was waiting.

Their host was at the foot of the stairs, and if he was surprised at how quickly they had returned, Indigo wasn’t paying attention. He handed Malcolm the papers and then nudged Adrien with his elbow. “Well, don’t keep the man in suspense! Tell him what our dynamic duo has come up with!” Please be quick, there's a feather pillow that's calling my name...

life is strange; Indigo/Adrien {clue event 2} Apr 16, 2019 22:10:45 GMT -5

Post by umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars] on Apr 16, 2019 22:10:45 GMT -5

The first thing Adrien did when they handed him the paper was check to see who his partner was. Indigo.

Fuck yes, he thought, suppressing a grin. Both because Indigo was a genius and because Adrien had already decided he liked the kid. Strange, for sure, and likely someone to trip over a painted line. Even now, when Adrien looked over at him, he noticed Indigo's shirt was on inside out and his hair looked like it was in the process of conducting electricity.

Maybe it was, as fast as the guy's mind worked.

Just as soon as Malcolm said go, Indigo was off.

"Right. Follow me, Adrien! The game is on!"

He got the feeling it wouldn't matter much if he followed or not. For the second time in only a few seconds, Adrien had to force himself not to laugh as he trotted after his partner in a haste into the game room. He hadn't given it any real thought yet, where the correct file would be, but this seemed clever enough. It would've been a bit on the nose, but certainly not as obvious as, oh, the office, perhaps?

As the pair entered the first room, he spared a single second to see that they were the only ones headed in this direction. Shit, he thought, Maybe Indigo isn't as bright as he seems to think.

He took a quick survey of the room, with all of its neon lights, card tables, dart boards, and pin ball machines. The pool table in the center of the room was easily the most impressive, with its fine ornate carvings and a fresh red felt finish. He ran his finger along the velvety fabric, trying his best to ignore Indigo's joke about this all being a game.

He'd better have been right.

"Sometimes I amaze myself with how smart I am," he said, waving a manila folder in the air as if it were a trophy. This warranted a roll of the eye, but he couldn't be mad. Not when Indigo had found the file so quickly. He stepped in closer to have a look at the diagrams and numbers inside. It may as well have been in another language, frankly. He wasn't sure if it reaffirmed that Adrien didn't belong here, or it just put some weight in Indigo's claim of being a genius.

"Right, output levels have been slowly dropping for the last several months. Look at this,"

There was a graph with a line. It was headed in a negative direction. That was bad, he supposed, hating himself for letting his charm and the ability to see over the girl next to him's shoulder get him through his math classes all of a sudden.

He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded as if he understood anyway.

"Are we sure this is the one, though?" he offered, not because he doubted Indigo anymore, but because he felt like he had to at least try to understand. At least so he could appear to fit in for a while longer.

"It’s a perfect slope. Not choppy or sudden, which means it isn’t a mechanical failure or human error. Perfect slope."

Fair enough.

"The answer, my dear Adrien, is that the oil well is fine, it’s simply been tapped. The cheapest and quickest solution is to move the well to a different area."

He snagged the file out of Indigo's hands in mock annoyance.

"That's where I come in."

Because he was made to work in the refineries, not to run them. Because there were two gears in his pocket clinging together with each step. Because if there was one god damn thing Adrien was good at, it was getting his hands dirty and leaving something better than it was when he found it.

He walked back side by side with Indigo, trying, for a third time, not to smile when he saw the looks from the other contestants as they passed the rooms. Not everyone had gotten as lucky as him. He thought he saw two heads of red hair, one curly and one sleek, standing next to each other with teeth bared and fists clenched. And then there was his roommate and the girl who'd been late for the banquet- Whitney.

Yeah, he'd lucked out indeed.

They stopped at the mouth of the stairs, both looking up at Malcolm, who was definitely trying (and failing,) to hide his shock that Adrien was the first to arrive. He must've been impressed. Adrien would've made it a point to say it was all Indigo if it wouldn't have cast some kind of suspicion.

"Well, don’t keep the man in suspense! Tell him what our dynamic duo has come up with!"

He only realized now that this was the first time he would be speaking directly with his father. Ever.

"We, um." he cleared his throat. Looking him in the eye was impossible when there was so much he could see. Regrets he didn't have. Apologies he'd never make. He found a spot on his father's forehead and decided that would have to do.

"The well is fine. The ground is just tapped out, which means you should also keep an eye out for other wells nearby. Best solution? Uh, move it to a new location. Easy enough to use the staff you already have, which means it's cheaper as well."

Malcolm didn't seem to be having the same problem meeting Adrien's gaze. He crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"Correct."

He said simply. There was something there. Something that may have been incidental, or may have been intentional, but it set Adrien's teeth on edge. Pride. Even if it was stolen from Indigo, it didn't matter. Malcolm had no right to be proud of Adrien. Not after everything he'd missed.

He climbed the stairs, passed by him without uttering a single word, and didn't stop until his bedroom door was closed behind him.