Chapitre 17: Is That Allowed?
The phone games Claire showed Six involved a lot of strategy. He found them easy but also couldn't stop playing them. It was the strangest thing.
"You seem like you're having fun," she said eventually. "Do you want to break for dinner?"
Fun? He had heard some of the other agents use that word but didn't know exactly what it meant. "What is fun?"
Claire blinked at him in surprise. "You don't know what fun is? Geez, how to explain it…having fun means you're enjoying yourself or you're amused, I guess. I've never had to give a definition for it before."
Oh. Six supposed he had been having fun then. That meant he had fun when they watched that show she introduced him to as well. Interesting.
Based on her definition, it seemed that she had fun frequently while he was conducting surveillance. He wanted to experience more of that. Guarding her for the time being might allow him more chances to try new methods of fun.
"I am having fun," he informed her seriously. "But I can stop for dinner."
"Cool. We're having macaroni and cheese," Claire replied. The microwave beeped and she headed over to take a small blue Styrofoam cup out and mix in a yellow powder. She handed it to him with a timid smile. "Here. You can have mine; I'll make another."
Six accepted it. "Thank you."
He peered inside and saw some sort of noodles covered in a yellow sauce. He had never seen anything like this before but food was food. He wasn't the slightest bit picky.
After the first bite he realized this new food was rather good and shoveled the rest of it in quickly. Truthfully, he wanted seconds but knew he wasn't allowed to ask. He never had been before. He ate what he was given without question.
Claire plopped back down next to him and ate her own macaroni a few minutes later. She sighed once she was done and looked down at the empty cup. "Ugh, I'm still hungry. That wasn't filling at all. I guess those portion sizes are meant for kids. Do you want another one too?"
"Is that allowed?" Six asked curiously.
She furrowed her brows. "…do they not give you food or what?"
He repeated the words his trainer used to tell him when he was very small and complained about being hungry. "They give me enough food to get me to my next meal. No more, no less. It is a scientifically proven formula."
"That's so messed up!" Fear shone in her eyes as she clapped her hands over her mouth. A moment later she squeaked "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult you!"
Six wasn't sure why she was acting like this. He wasn't offended. After seeing some of the things the outside had to offer, he was already starting to wonder if everything the Agency taught about it was wrong.
"I'm not insulted. I simply didn't know that eating more when you wanted to was an option," he said honestly. "Since you are offering, I will take another one. Thank you."
Claire got up and made them both more macaroni without a word. As he ate, she swirled hers around listlessly with her fork.
"You had it rough, didn't you?" she asked softly after a while.
Six shrugged the question off. "I don't have a point of comparison so I can't really tell you."
"What can you tell me then? About your childhood, I mean. If you don't mind!" Claire was quick to add. "Sorry. You said that you were curious about my life before and I'm kind of curious too because yours seems a lot different than mine."
It was about as different as you could get. She had access to things he had never even dreamed of and lived without the slightest sense of caution before he came along and told her of the harsh reality of the world.
Six didn't even know where to start. His childhood primarily consisted of training.
"There isn't much to tell. All of my time was spent training. Mental training, physical training, endurance training, weapons training, combat training, stealth training…the list goes on. I'm sure your childhood was much more interesting than mine."
Claire frowned and swallowed a bite of her macaroni before asking, "Did you go to school?"
"No. We were taught only what we needed for our trade," he informed her.
"You said you were there since you were a baby…do you have any friends there? Anyone you were close to?"
Friends? The other Numbers wanted nothing to do with each other. The only time they interacted at all was during combat training. None of them even had enough emotions to experience rivalries with each other.
Six had recently learned what that meant because there were rivals in the show Claire introduced him to. He had asked her about why some of the characters seemed to constantly be trying to one-up each other despite being on the same team and she told him about the common trope of rivalries in anime.
He hadn't known was that was either and she explained that both the dragon show and the show with the shiny bubbles were anime. It was a type of animation that originated in Japan. He knew absolutely nothing about Japan aside from where it was on a map before that.
Claire knew a lot about the outside. He learned something new pretty much every time she talked. Not killing her had been the right choice; she was a fount of information to help satiate his newly awoken curiosity.
"The closest thing I have ever had to a friend is you," Six admitted.
She gave him the most incredulous look he had ever seen. "Me? Seriously?"
"Yes."
Was that really so surprising? It didn't seem like she had any friends either from all the surveillance he did. She talked to plants, after all. People probably wouldn't feel the need to talk to plants if they had friends.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone