Rebellion [Zhou]

[Holly Mason]

Life was an imperfect thing.  Most people would just accept that and move on with their lives, but Holly was not most people.  She believed herself to be a revolutionary of sorts, thus any imperfection or annoyance must be crushed or fixed.  Right now, she wanted to improve her, and everyone else's, school life.  School was lead by people that have corrupted the very idea of education.  Right now it served the teachers and staff more than it did the students and that was just unacceptable.  It would be difficult to topple the entire regime, but she could take small steps to improve the current situation at least.  She decided that the first order of business would be to destroy mandatory attendance.  If people were free to come and go as they pleased then the classes that were not worthwhile would never have students and the administration would have to change the classes to suit the needs of the students.  

To accomplish this, Holly organized a mass skipping.  If enough people didn't show up to class it would be difficult to punish them all and it would make a great statement.  To make it even more desirable, she scheduled it on a Monday because no one likes Mondays.  She was sure any actual delinquents would go along with it because any excuse to skip is a good excuse to skip.  Holly's job was appealing to the students that desperately wanted more control over their own school life, but were too afraid to do anything about it.  The 'good students' who weren't satisfied with the status quo, but lacked the guts to do anything about it.  She was very careful in her movements, generally communicating through notes with several different handwritings and rumors.  The times she did speak to people in person it was normally done in disguise.  She didn't want anything leading back to her and she didn't want anyone to be able to snitch on the mastermind.

Unfortunately, nothing is ever perfect.  The student council president managed to catch wind of it somehow and, at the very least, suspected her assuming he didn't know more.  She didn't know where she messed up, but if one person figured it out more might have too.  She had to be careful.  Hopefully she had fanned the flames enough for them to turn into something beautiful without requiring any further action on her part.  Regardless, she would find out this coming Monday and she could hardly wait.

Today though, she still had to suffer through school.  She payed attention in some of her classes and just drew ovals on her 'notes' during others.  It was hard to not get distracted by the thoughts of her plan coming together.  Eventually, lunch came.

One area Holly differed from other rich people she knew is that she honestly didn't care for food.  As long as it filled her belly and kept her alive she really didn't care what was in it.  Most of the time she didn't even taste it since she rarely just ate without doing something else while eating.  Thus, she was more than fine with eating bad cafeteria food and often didn't leave school to get something better.  Today she didn't feel like taking a walk, so she just decided to pick something up the cafeteria.  Most of the time she might sit at a table with some friends or sit next to some random people and strike up a conversation, but there was something else she wanted to do today.  Walking around the outside could be difficult, so she wanted to know if she could possibly modify a car or a motorcycle to help her with her travels.  She had money to burn and access to car parts via both the abandoned car factory and legitimate stores, so it was worth a shot.  She went to the library before school and picked up a book about modifying and repairing cars.  She was no mechanic yet, but you have to start somewhere right?

So, Holly did what she always did when she was feeling antisocial at lunch: she grabbed a smaller table from somewhere in the cafeteria and a chair and dragged them both over to an empty corner.  She left the other chairs where they were; it's not like she needed another one if she intended to spend lunch alone.  It created a loud creaking noise, similar to that of nails on a chalkboard, but she didn't particularly mind the stares.  She was Holly, people were supposed to look at her anyway.  She was also moving in a straight line to her destination.  If people didn't get out of her way it was their own damn fault.  It's not like she was being quiet or was somehow completely unnoticeable.  With her little eating area set up, she set her food and her book down and plopped herself into the chair, ready for an uneventful lunch of learning to be a mechanic.  And food too she guessed.

[Zhou]

Creak...creaaak....creaaaaaaak...

The infernal, grating sound of metal table legs upon the tile flooring of the cafeteria had indeed pierced through the low hum of conversation that always seemed to permeate Mosaic East's lunchroom at noon, as many students dropped their conversations, covered their ears, and even turned to gawk at the brazen young lady whom had been so bold as to claim one of the numerous tables in the cafeteria as her own. There was a certain variation between the nature of the numerous gazes, ranging from some being simply amused, to holding the teen responsible for the interruption with utter contempt. Although the constant droning had been interrupted for a brief time, the monotonous chatter did once more fill the air of the room alongside the stench of whatever the cafeteria was attempting to pass for actual food. Mosaic East's students had displayed an alarmingly good ability at blocking out whatever was unpleasant to them, as was so frequently exhibited by some of them when speaking about the blockade that had surrounded their city...most would simply answer "I can't wait until it's lifted, I'm so bored" etc. etc. People tended to be simple like that, caring only that their daily routines were not interrupted, and that they themselves were caused no great deal of discomfort.

However, in stark contrast to the situation that had occurred at the cafeteria, a slightly short boy with messy hair, and an oddly well maintained uniform had found himself incredibly late for the lunch bell. Sitting upon the stage within the auditorium, he bore upon his face a smile, whilst directing two of the taller students where to place a lighting rig, for the next school performance to be held. "Alright, see the stage manager wanted us to put it up a little further ahead, but what I tried telling him is that the cables just won't support 'em, y'know?" one of the taller students said while securing a few metal cables to a rigging system at about the middle of the stage. "Oh, I know, right? That's Kenjiro's problem! He always has these great visions, tries to push us all towards them, but he doesn't realize limits! He's not a playwright or an actor, he doesn't understand the limits of the stage, so why did they give him the job?!" All of this said with a smile, and his eyes closed...the messy haired boy was chatting away with the two that had volunteered to stay behind, but sadly, he had to eat, and stood up off of the stage. "I've got to go guys, take care now, and make sure not to let him give you any lip, alright?" The two stage hands waved goodbye to the boy, as he made his way towards the hall, clutching a satchel that he had tossed across his back. 

Typically, he wasn't the sort to be late to almost any outing, but the boy simply had to help out the poor lads setting up the lighting rig, after all, Kenjiro had managed to screw up everything for them, so it was only fair he tell them to put it back where they though it would go best...right? The smile began to wear off as the short boy traversed the halls however, turning into a blank look that was somewhat strange...the silence of the halls could do that at times to anyone though. As he made his way into the cafeteria? That smile came right the hell back, as he laid eyes on the many students that were already seated every which way...along with the girl in the corner, enjoying her food alone. "Hello miss Ishimaru!" the boy exclaimed to one of the lunchladies whilst standing  out front with his tray placed down like a proper student...after a bit of friendly conversation with the old woman, in addition to his meal, the asian boy was also granted something a bit special, though he was told to hide it...a cup of orange sherbert. Upon seeing the sweet snack, his eyes lit up in absolute joy, as he hurriedly spoke to the woman, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, I'll pay you back for this miss Ishimaru!"

Exuding that same jovial air, he looked about at the various tables, but found that they were utterly devoid of sitting space, though he did stop to converse what what would have to be a few familiar faces scattered throughout them, especially those whom waved him over...but, it became readily apparent, the only table that could seat more people at it was right across from him, in the corner. Grasping one of the chairs that had been left behind by way of the young teen dragging the table it belonged to away, a few eyes set upon the boy with an almost pitied look, as he pulled the chair up to the table, and put his tray down calmly. "I hope I'm not bothering you or anything..." he said in the same gentle tone he had taken with those whom he had spoken with throughout the day, following it up with "I just need a place to sit, and I...umm..." he scratched the back of his head, apparently realizing the conversation was going to be fruitless as he ignored the peas and whatnot for a moment, delving into the sugary sherbert itself with a smile.

[Holly Mason]

Lunch was passing by uneventfully as it tended to when she was eating alone.  Holly was making decent progress in her book, but she knew she was going to have to read parts of it multiple times.  Cars were really complicated.  Without looking at what she was eating, she nibbled on a few forkfuls of food. Given what the cafeteria food looked like, it was better not to look.

Time passed, and her reading was interrupted by...someone.  She looked up for a moment before returning to her book.  It was rare for anyone to bother her when she went out of her way to make a spot in the antisocial corner.  Considering he grabbed one of the remaining chairs she left behind he had to know that the table didn't actually belong here.  He sounded nervous for some reason as well.  Well, that meant he must have had some guts, and it's not like she'd shoo away lunch company even if she was busy for some definition of the word.

"You're not bothering me," she shrugged.  "You can sit wherever you want, I'm not going to stop you."

She spoke without looking up from her reading.  Manners never did stop her from doing what she felt like doing after all.

[Zhou]

Though it was undoubtedly delicious, going by the way the young man dug into it, the sherbert in the small cup did not seem to last long enough, and soon the boy found himself staring down the various bits of pureed slush that at one time had to have been some processed product of questionable origin. Looking up at the curious young lass before him, the boy began to speak, retaining the same overall tone of nervousness from his first utterance. "Oh, thank you..." Rather even try to place his plastic spork to the food, which would vaguely remind one of soylent green, he instead looked carefully at the front of her book. Occasionally flitting back and forth between the temptation to try the horrid concoction on his plate, and thinking of engaging in conversation, it appeared as if the teen had finally made up his mind when he spoke again. "The only reason that I...uh...thought so, was because you're over here...so I just...never mind, sorry."  Looking back down, there was only the faintest hint of what appeared to be a nervous smile on his lips, as it was apparent that he had almost no clue what to say to her. A general awkwardness seemed to be right there, kind of clouding things in a strange way...but, the boy did certainly seem to be going out of his way to keep from agitating her, like he was a beaten dog, he kept his head bowed, his voice was soft and quiet.

[Holly Mason]

Holly momentarily looked up from her book and raised her eyebrows at her new tablemate.  What the hell was he so nervous about?  She was just sitting here reading, it's not like she was going to break his nose.  She supposed she had that affect on people though.  Talking with someone obviously superior must have been difficult on some level.

"Yes, I am over here, very good observation," she said flatly without lowering her eyebrows.  "Look, if you want to say something just stay it.  Don't stutter, it just makes you look stupid."

Holly took another bite of the mystery food and looked back at her book.  People were so weird sometimes.

[Zhou]

As the young lass spoke to the boy about how his stammering made him appear less and less intelligent, the young man across from her closed his eyes, sunk his head a bit lower, and then responded to her with utmost care, almost as if he was forcing himself not to stammer. "Sorry, it's a habit...and I just meant that you were over here alone. I inferred that you likely wouldn't want me over here." Now going by the way that she was acting, to the casual observer it would appear as if he had guessed correctly. With caution, he picked up his spork and began to slowly eat, not once looking up at the woman across from him. Once he had finished one niche of the tray, he looked down at the rest, only lifting his head up once to speak in the same voice as before, as if straining himself trying not to stammer in her presence. "I don't think I've ever seen you here before, or maybe I've just kind of been off on my own way...I'm sure I would've noticed you before." There wasn't an ounce of anything resembling  the boy coming onto her, merely stating things as a matter of fact while attempting to pay proper respects, and introduce himself, in a way.

[Holly Mason]

Holly was starting to get the feeling that rather than having genuine guts that this guy was one of those people that was always uncomfortable and therefore doing things outside of their comfort zone was no big deal.  If someone is always uncomfortable then they are always doing something out of their comfort zone even if they didn't want to.  She froze for a moment, resisting the urge to just shake her head.

"Calm down.  If I wanted you to leave I would have told you to leave.  I'm not the type to say that people can stay in my presence in order to protect their precious feelings."

She shrugged and didn't bother to look up from her reading this time.  The table was silent once more for a time save for the occasional sound of a fork scraping against a plate or the turn of a page.  Some people might have found it awkward, but Holly didn't really care.  She had nothing to say, so why would saying nothing bother her?  It seemed he still couldn't handle it.

"I guess I still have a long way to go," she smirked.  "I'm not surprised.  I don't remember seeing you around either.  There's a lot of people here, it's only natural to not know all of them.  Especially if you don't share any common activities or classes."

[Zhou]

With the explanation given to him that the young lady across from him wasn't exactly despising his company, the boy seemed to regain quite a bit in the way of composure, even starting to bear a nervous, yet still jovial grin that reflected the fact that he was utterly relieved by that fact. However with that in mind, it seemed as if he had made up his mind to refrain from bothering her, eating quietly so as to not disturb the young woman at the table, for whom he was but a guest. After all, if she had the determination to endure the gazes of her peers in the pursuit of having a table to herself, the table should rightfully be called her own. There was a sort of air to his tone that suggested that he more or less had been attempting to show respect to her, but, perhaps it was breakdown in communication, perhaps he was nervous about meeting new people, or maybe the chinese teen across from her was just being a bit self conscious due to her presence. Whichever of these held true, he remained quiet in what seemed to be an effort to allow her all the time she required to study...the silence didn't seem awkward to the boy, rather an understanding had been made without the need to make it vocal. With a bit more pep in his voice, after a while had passed, and most of the slop that had resided upon his plate had been half eaten, he began to speak in a humble tone, but quiet enough as to hopefully not break her focus. "Yeah...that's true. Then again, it's not about knowing just anyone, it's about knowing interesting people." Her quip had seemed to indeed serve it's purpose in making him calm down, as he pecked away at the food...well, certainly she was interesting. It wasn't every day a student took it upon themselves to claim a table for their own despite the social consequences. "And well, if the student council had their way, there wouldn't be any interesting people left."

[Holly Mason]

That seemed to be enough to get him to relax at least.  Even if she didn't think honesty was always a virtue, this one was instance where she saw no reason to be dishonest.  Hiding feelings to be socially acceptable or polite would just cause more problems down the line, as demonstrated here.  If people were more willing to tell people to fuck off when they didn't want them around this wouldn't have happened in the first place.  She could understand him wanting to be polite, but she said he could sit here and that he wasn't bothering her.  To her, that alone should have been enough.

Silence once again passed over the table, and once again it didn't bother her in the slightest.  Holly was pretty content to do whatever she felt like, as shown by the fact that she was rearranging the furniture in the cafeteria, so if she had nothing to say she would say nothing.  As she finished off the food, she was having to glance over at it more and more often.  It looked about as unappetizing as she expected.  She started sipping her water, and that was when he spoke again.  She froze for an instant.  Her expression didn't change, she didn't choke on her water, she didn't even leave the bottle at her mouth for more than half a second longer than she would have otherwise.  There was just a moment of surprise and it took her body a fraction of a second to be able to respond properly again.  She was sure most people would miss it, but most people wouldn't try to talk to her after she made an effort to be alone.

Holly wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but she had been in enough high pressure situations that it didn't phase her much.  The statement just came out of nowhere, and given her current situation she couldn't help but be a little suspicious.  Sending a random guy after her didn't seem like the student council president's style though, so perhaps he was actually an ally?  Why did he want to talk to her about it then?  For that matter, what did he want to talk to her about really?  Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Of course, but I'm not so cynical as to believe that I'm the only interesting person in the world.  That would make for a terribly boring world for me.  The interesting people are likely a minority, but they're a high enough percentage of the population that there are probably more interesting people in this school than you could hope to talk to.  I agree with your last statement though.  Conformity, order and unspoken social rules is a good way to take all the interesting out of a person."

[Zhou]

An off-handed comment seemingly had ripped the young lady across from the boy's attention directly from her plate, and her book, with surprising speed. Gazing up from his own meal for but a moment after uttering the phrase to her, the man gave a look that seemed to betray that he was a bit surprised by the reaction of his fellow student, yet it did seem to slowly fade as he gave her the same nervous grin. The boy had looked up at the most opportune time, seeing that she had paused for but a moment, like he had just pressed the remote by accident. Perhaps he had offended her in some way, or perhaps he realized the faux pas he had just committed that had drawn her attention away, but the young boy did seem a bit concerned by her reaction to what he had said.

Apparently unable to discern what had just evoked the young woman's curiosity at first, he simply smiled, and began to reply to her in a gentle, humbled tone before his superior. "I..." once more he calmed himself down apparently, continuing on in an effort to control his stammering. "I'm a fervent believer that it's not necessarily the implementation of order that does that, but...I think it's the gradual forcing of routine behavior's on a person." Putting a hand to the back of his neck seemed to be somewhat of a twitch, but he had now forced himself into a corner wherein he would have to speak, and overcome whatever nervousness had possessed him. "And...well yeah, it would suck to be the last interesting person in school. I mean...it's hard to imagine for me."

One could only imagine the boy before her's mind going off in all different directions in an effort to try and explain the aforementioned belief, but, perhaps it was for the better that he didn't. Looking off towards the right, he seemed to be collecting himself...oh lord, he was going to explain. With a deep sigh, he began to speak, as if compelled to explain...seemed as if the last thing he wanted was for the lady to think he was a weirdo. "By that first bit...well, what I meant was kind of simple." Looking over towards her in order to not appear like some paranoid conspiracy theorist like that one former governor from the United States, he started to explain. "You're right about the unspoken rules, social things...how they get you is by presenting a punishment. By putting a punishment out there, conformity is encouraged. In conforming with the rules, you form a pattern around them. Being creatures of habit, eventually following those rules becomes second nature, a routine we usually can't break because by then it's hardwired into us...plus, most people get upset when what they consider the norm is broken."

Scratching the back of his head and closing his eyes, the boy seemingly awaited chastisement, but...he did say a few last things. "I must sound so crazy...but that's how I think it works. I mean, it lasts forever for some people. They get older, dream of breaking the habit of following unspoken rules, guidelines, trying to just be free for a bit, but they always go back to it, because it's in their comfort zone." With all of that out in the open, the asian boy before her seemed fully prepared to hear the backlash, or maybe the X-files theme music play...it really did seem like he had heard a thousand other people tell him what he was saying was utter garbage, or just out of the blue.

[Holly Mason]

This time she actually decided to look up from her book.  It was suddenly less interesting than this conversation was.  Her lunch was close enough to gone that she didn't care enough to finish it off, even she even remembered it was there at all.  Holly put her elbows on her open book, and rested her head on her intertwined fingers.  He had her attention.

"Perhaps I should have said social order.  I'll admit, a degree of organization is necessary to get anything done.  Habits are...bad, there's no denying that, but I don't think they necessarily drain the interesting out of a person.  The people that do the same thing every day probably aren't all that interesting to begin with, it's the people that want to do something else but, for whatever reason, feel like they can't.  The biggest enemy is fear and humankind's natural desire to be good.  Even if no punishment exists, people are still easily controlled by the idea that they'd be a bad person, or that they'd be screwing up their lives or the lives of others if they acted in a certain way.  With a little willpower, or enough of a push from someone else, habits can be broken and punishments can be questioned.  It's harder to sway people if they think they'll be hurting people or that they'll be evil or that they'll create an even worse situation of they act.  It's the kind of feeling that, in my experience, can get people to deny all other feelings.  If they're simply conforming without realizing it, those ideas can be challenged much more easily.

"...Though I will not deny the existence of the kinds of lazy people you are describing.  They're just not people I'd find interesting in the first place, so I wouldn't say anything of value was lost."

[Zhou]

Whatever pretenses to nervousness that were still held in the young man across from her's demeanor, they seemed to fade upon noticing that his host had taken somewhat of an interest in what he had stated previously. This was the very moment wherein if the boy across from her had happened to be a dog, his tail would've started wagging, judging by the way his demeanor perked right up. Listening intently, he moved his food tray to the side after having eaten whatever seemed to be able to be vaguely edible on it's plastic surface, the boy put his hands together beneath his chin, listening intently as he heard the hostess of his table speak of her own personal beliefs on the ritualistic behaviors of human beings, along with  her idea that it was the fear of causing harm, of doing something outside of undefined moral by-laws that inhibited those held to that pattern laden behavior that were most likely the more interesting specimens. Waiting for her to finish speaking, he followed suit with his own speech on the matter.

"Whilst we differ on our opinions in regards to the development of habits being a major factor, I do strongly agree that it's an abject fear of breaking societal norms in regards to what is moral and what is amoral that impedes the progress of the individual. That probably seems like the mad-scientist way of talking about it, but that's what I'm gathering. People fear that they're going to be ostracized, or harm others in the process of developing themselves as individuals...I must sound like I'm talking out of my rear."

It returned, yet not as fierce, his rather nervous behavior, that was. Perhaps it was self doubt, as if he didn't seem like he knew what he was talking about. He certainly did seem to know what he was talking about however, so perhaps much like those that the young lass had spoken of before, he was merely afraid to make his opinion known. As if to interrupt the annoying silence that hung in the air between his apparent self doubt, he spoke aloud. "Feels awkward to be discussing this, especially without giving you my name...I'm Zhou Yuan." Reinvigorated to a degree about this, he continued onwards. "I'm an individualist at heart I suppose, I believe that one must focus on developing one's own internal set of rules, stipulations based off of what is unique to them, before conforming to a larger societal set."

[Holly Mason]

"Holly," she nodded slightly.  "You're pretty jittery for someone claiming to be an individualist.  Fortunately, the first step to actually becoming one is to want to be one," a small, nearly inaudible chuckle escaped her lips.  "I do hope that your final set of rules for yourself don't include being paranoid that you're bothering people by merely existing near them and talking as though you believe you have no idea what you're talking about.  It's not very healthy or flattering.  That aside, it is important to develop such a rule set.  The entire purpose of ignoring the rules society thrusts upon you is to never lose yourself.  Doing whatever sounds nice at the time, or breaking society's rules for the sake of breaking them is equally as likely to deny your true self as going along with the rules is."

Holly still wasn't quite sure what he was after, but he was likely trying to appeal to her emotions on some level given how weirdly happy he seemed every time she approved of him in some way.  She still wasn't particularly suspicious though, as this was a fairly natural reaction in her eyes.  The only weird part was that he was saying things that didn't match up with his current attitude.  Did he honestly believe he was an individualist and was just blind to how he was actually acting?  If that were the case she would be happy to open his eyes so he could actually venture down the path that would allow him to become a real individualist.  Was he just saying stuff to get her to like him?  She still doubted he was a spy for the student council as he himself didn't seem the type and the student council president still didn't strike her as someone that would pull something like this.  The disciplinary committee never really hesitated to contact her directly either.  He was weird, but she didn't exactly find him suspicious.  Any suspicious feelings were likely just a result of her own personal paranoia from the discussion from the president a few days ago.

"You didn't sit here because it was the only open spot did you?"

[Zhou]

"You didn't sit here because it was the only open spot, did you?"

For a moment the nervous boy across from her took a deep breath and let it out as an elongated sigh, propping his head up with his left hand whilst staring down at one of the two trays that now laid barren upon the lunch table. Tracing his finger along the outline of the slot meant for utensils, he did not make eye contact with her, though from the way things were, it didn't seem as if Holly was a stickler for the trappings of what was considered polite in normal society. After a moment of what appeared to be internal debate as to what to say, he took his head off of his hand and began to speak, the nervousness replaced by something more similar to a tone associated with shame. "I should've known better than to come over here pretending to be something I'm not...well, I didn't come over here just because it was the only spot left, you're right." Looking up at her for a moment with a bit of concern in his eye as to what the rebellious teenager would say unto him, perhaps chastisement as it appeared as if he was used to according to his actions beforehand, Zhou spoke to her without his usual nervous twitch, putting a hand to the back of his own neck. "This'll sound so weird...but, well, it can't get any worse than it already is." Whilst the nervousness still was present in his tone, there was more shame, as if he had just been caught stealing from someone's purse, and he put both of his hands to the table. If he was going to confess something, it looked as if he really wanted to get it out.

"You said that the first step is actually wanting to be one...well, I do. I really do." For a moment he turned his head up to look over at Holly, not as much pathetic as ashamed, the twinges of nervousness still plucking on his vocal chords. "I follow the same pattern every day. I act as part of the drama club, I listen to them say how everything I do could be tweaked with a smile, I laugh with them, I joke with them. When it comes to class I'm quiet, when it comes to lunch I chat up the same people...I guess I came over here for a break I suppose. Something different. Anything to just kind of...do something new." It was readily apparent that the boy had seemingly been talking about himself when it came to his spiel on routines, though he now seemed to be hiding it behind whatever thin layer what semblance of pride allowed him to keep it under. One could easily assume that maybe he was talking about having lost himself to the routine, which would definitely explain his rather sheepish behavior around the first honest to goodness stranger he had interacted with. "Nihil Novi, really. Sorry." There was a moment wherein he pulled his tray closer in order to have something to mess with as part of what could've been considered another little habit. Maybe that was why the whole thing seemed so damn flimsy, his joy behind her expressing interest was just a way of kindling a bit of a flame wherein whatever was once there had long gone out. A sense of self seemed lost, for this one.

"Eh...sorry, miss. Shouldn't really be saying all this to a stranger."

[Holly Mason]

His reaction to her question gave him away immediately, but she was willing to wait for him to speak and did nothing to try to hurry him along.  Her gaze didn't falter for a moment, and neither did her slight grin.  Holly simply waited with her chin resting on her hands.  Even when he did speak she didn't even flinch.  She understood that it would likely make him feel even more awkward, but she didn't care.  It wasn't her job to make him comfortable.  If anything, it sounded like he needed to be a little more uncomfortable in some ways.  Once he finished speaking, she continued to wait just a little longer just to make sure he wasn't awkwardly pausing or something.  The table was silent once again for a good twenty seconds because of that.  Once she was sure he was done, she closed her eyes and nodded slightly.

"Hmph, you had me worried I was wrong for a second there."

She leaned a little closer, but she was still nowhere near invading his personal space.  She slowly opened her eyes, but her expression wasn't exactly a reassuring one.  Holly was planning something and made no effort to hide it.  Her lips curled into a mischievous, almost devilish, smile and she stared directly into his eyes.  Even if he tried to look away she would continue to stare at him where his eyes would be when he inevitably looked back.  Not looking at people when speaking to them was rude after all, and he seemed sensitive to such things still.  She was sure there would no way he could avoid her gaze forever.

"It takes guts to just admit you have a problem.  You've taken a step beyond that and have at least attempted to do something to change it.  Very good.  However, I am curious.  Why is it wrong to talk to anyone about what you want to talk about, especially when they are not stopping you or telling you to stop, especially when they are listening, and especially when they asked you to discuss said topic?"