Lunchtime Lobbyism// Otto&Lou

[minie]

A L L O U E T T E

The school cafeteria smelled of processed meat and sweat. Loud chatter echoed off of the walls as the students filled in their friends on the latest gossip. It was a living nightmare for Lou, everything she hated found in one place. The girls who spent too much time looking in the mirror giggling away and pointing at whoever was their latest victim. The boys who never had paid her the slightest bit of attention unless their monkey sized brains needed her in order to pass a class. Lou was invisible in the masses, a single individual that faded into the background of the busy hallways and crowded tables.

Usually, Lou would have taken her meal outside, somewhere in a quiet corner. A place forgotten by the most where she would sit and eat bites of the mass-produced food whilst flipping through the pages of a book. The solitude had grown on her, and she no longer felt a burning desire for friends. It would have been nice, but it was not a necessary. Her mind was enough for her to entertain herself with. The characters from her books made themselves at home in her head so she never was truly alone.

Today Lou stood at the edge of the cafeteria as her eyes scanned the room looking for a particular person. Since she joined the nightwings under the false pretenses of a book club, she slowly became more inclined to her new friends…if she could call them that. Having the option to sit with someone or even say hello in the hallways was a new experience, one she was not too sure how to approach yet.

She spotted Otto sitting at a table not to far from the entrance she was standing at. Her grip tightened on her tray that carried her lame excuse for a lunch. Like most days, she was served some kind of unrecognizable slob of meat and vegetables that had obviously seen better days. Despite knowing that she was welcomed amongst the members of the club, she still hesitated to socialize with them outside of the cabin. It was not that she did not want to but more that she had found routine and comfort in her isolation. After years of eating alone, it felt foreign to join someone else for a meal.

After one last deep breath, she slowly started to warm her way through the crowded cafeteria. Venturing into the inner workings of the social affaire that was lunch time. Upon reaching the table, Lou hovered in front of it for what felt like it was an eternity waiting to see if Otto would realize that she was just standing there. Her mind wandered around the room again until she noticed a few confused glances from the others. Was it strange that she was just standing there with her tray in her hand? Lou came to the conclusion that it probably was a very strange site indeed and slowly lowered herself into the seat opposite of Otto.

”We need books”, Lou announced stoically. The club had promoted itself as book club and she was very well aware that that was not the case, Lou was determined to make the club a place of enrichment whether that was in their true intentions or in the academic sense. ”If we are going to pretend to be a book club, we might as well have some books”, this time there was a sense of conviction in the girl’s voice.

She reached into her left pocket and pulled out a crumbled-up piece of paper. There was not much Otto could say no to if she had already come prepared. That morning, instead of paying attention to her classes, she had scribbled down a list of what she had considered essential reading. Books that have been on her to-read list for a while now but lacked the funds to acquire.

”Here, I wrote a list”, she slid the piece of paper over to him. For someone who prided herself on her way with words…her abilities seemed limited to the fiction and poetry she wrote. Finding the words for a social conversation proved to be more challenging than she had expected.

Nightwing Book List

-Tales of the Moonlight Forest
-Cursed kingdoms
-101 demons and how to slay them
-Feywild Chronicles
-Immortal Secrets
-Deaths embrace
-Botany for beginners
-Encyclopedia of the dark and twisted
-Forgotten Fairytales: An anthology
-Ink & Echoes
-Nightmare’s Voice
-Anatomy of the Supernatural

ELEGANT

[MATTIO]

O T T O.

As time passes on in Otto's life, his appetite around this time has faded. Every day, he packs the same lunch from home: a peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich along with a bottle of water taken from the well outside of the cottage. The characters in his favorite pieces of literature became accustomed to a sleep schedule flipped on its axis, but Otto was late for first period and slept through second and third in the back of the janitor's closet. By the fourth, English & Literature, he's attentive enough to pay attention to his favorite class. The way his teacher speaks about characters and their motivations as if they're at the front of the room themselves always piques his curiosity.

Lunch is midway through the day. Just as he was told to by Kirill, Otto has chosen the table furthest in the back to sit. Only members of the Nightwing Club, or those interested in joining, are allowed a seat. He sticks his bag on the seat to his left and his legs on the right. He tolerates everyone in the club, once again per his father's request. "We need to prove we're worthy of obtaining the serum and its secrets." Otto hides his discomfort by scratching and rubbing at his face. His sandwich has just enough sustenance to hold him over until later. It's barely noon now, and he won't eat again until six or seven o'clock, probably. The bloated sensation from his hunger subsides as the sandwich is gone within the first five minutes of the period. Eating is a chore here, something he just wants to get over with. Watching everyone else eat the food pyramid's sloppy mixture is something he could live without, as well. While the club members around him eat, Otto takes one of his father's novel drafts and rushes through the pages, the uncoated sheets bristling against his fingertips.

An uneasy breath grabs the attention of his ears. Lou stands over the table, looming with a tray in her hands. His eyes track up to her short-cut blonde hair. It's not that hard, he thinks, darting over to the seat across from him. Just sit down. Lou is an official member of the Nightwing Club, more by accident than anything. She believed Otto when he told her the first time they met that it was a book club. Like him, she has an interest in writing and novels but takes a poetic approach more than lengthy written works. He perks up with a smile after a few more seconds of waiting, amused by her ridiculousness. He was in her shoes once, unsure whether he had a place at any lunch table, but now he's been put 'in charge' of one of his own. Once upon a time, it felt elitist for people to pick and choose who can or can't sit at a table, but it makes sense now. He wouldn't want the idiot lumberjack teens with fully grown beards sitting at a table for people with a purpose such as theirs. Lou's dedication to the club, as well as her maintaining its secrets, has given her all the permission she needs to sit here.

Otto's thumb covers his lips as Lou talks about needing more books to keep up the cover of the true intentions of the club. Other than his personal library of books, to which he lets nobody, not even the most trusted members of the club, touch, she is right. Books are slim. People like Lestat and his band prefer their music to draw people in. Otto nods with exhausted eyes already tired after his nap three periods ago. She slides a ball of paper in his direction, offering up a list of books to him as suggestions. He notices that she seems proud of herself for speaking up with the suggestion. Otto unfolds the piece of paper, going line by line on her suggestions.

"I've read a lot of these already. 101 Demons and How to Slay Them, Nightmare's Voice, probably skips." He pulls a red pen from the side of his bag, circling some and outlining others. It's not until he's halfway down the list when he realizes that his words may have been dismissive toward Lou, who broke through her shyness to offer some light reading. "There are some fine pieces of literature in here. I'm sure we can find some enjoyable reads for the club." Mentally, he takes note of which pieces are worth advertising and which are passable.

Otto flips the paper back in Lou's direction, his finger pointed at Ink & Echoes. "This one is fine to start with." He covers his mouth to hide a yawn after. Being at school is so unnecessary, why bother? If the Capitol can make a serum that mutates kids into werewolves and vampires, can't they offer infinite intelligence? He scratches the corner of his eye. Perhaps getting his hands on the serum might mean that someday he'll never need to work for a penny. Vampires in literature have consistently possessed compulsion powers to get what they want. Surely the Gamemakers included that in their injections?

"Have you read it, Lou?" He asks a question but continues on before she even gets the chance to answer. "I have my own copy, of course, annotated already. But if you'd like Kirill to see if he can get his hands on more, we can provide everyone with their own book." His referral to his father comes naturally. Everything Otto does is in some way per the request or under the guidance of his father. But it dawns on him that the other club members have rapport and association with Kirill through him, most too shy or too dissociated to talk to him privately. "My father tends to give the final word on approval for things like this. Have you spoken to him at all?" He knows the answer is no, but he asks anyway out of some obligation to the Katzenagen name. New members of the club are commonly accepted but rarely trusted to begin. Otto offers her a test of loyalty to his father.

After all, Kirill knows best. He knows how to give Otto what he desires most.

[minie]

A L L O U E T T E

Lou’s eyes widen with embarrassment as Otto almost seemingly dismisses her proposal with the most nonchalant attitude the girl could have imagined. When talking herself up in her mind she had thought for a lot of different situations that could have arisen. Never would she have thought that any of her suggestions would have been considered not worthy, boring or a skip. Yet how was she to know, these were all books that she had not gotten the chance to even flip through their pages yet.

Her parents voice repeating the words that money did not grow on trees would play in her mind as she would enter bookstores. At first the owners of the stores would tolerate her presence, allow her to browse and sit down to read the books. It was soon enough though that they would come to realize that the blond headed girl was never really going to purchase anything. Maybe once in a blue moon on an occasion like her birthday passing by. So now, she would be booted out from stores if she could not make purchases and thus went the days she would use the shops as her own personal library. Here she was just trying to find another way to gain access to the world of literature. Lou had hoped that Otto would be the one to understand her pleas.

Her eyes followed his hand as he drew circles and lines around the names she had listed. Lou held her breath hoping that there would be at least one title he found would be worth their time or hadn’t read. With fleeting moments filled with the scratching of the pen against the parchment, Otto stops at a title. His finger replaced the pen and Lou felt a slight wave of relief wash over her. ”Ink and Echoes”. Whilst the novel would have not been her first choice, it was one she was glad had made the cut of Otto’s impending pen of crushed hopes. When the club’s leader had asked if she had read it before, Lou could only bring herself to slightly shake her head. Strands of hair from her blond cut falling out of place cover her eyes as she hastily brushed them aside.

Otto seems to not even let her give a quick response if she had been able to muster up the courage. Lou had never deemed herself to be a timid person, she had gained a reputation for being someone who thought highly of themselves. This she did, Lou truly believed she was better than the majority of the lumber for brains kids that terrorized the halls of their school. However, when it came to the club’s leader, it felt like Lou really was inferior for the first time. Otto held himself with a sense of authority that Lou could never imagine herself inhabiting, he had obviously read more books than she has. He even goes on to boast about his annotated copy of ”Ink and Echoes”. He really was the first person to make Lou lose her sense of untouchability. He knew more than her, he had read more than her, he was ahead of her. All of this made it hard for to talk to him, it was a situation she was not accustomed to.

What shocked the girl even more than the rejections and skinny bone Otto had thrown her way, was his question if she had run her ideas by his father. If Lou was hardly capable of talking to Otto, she could not fathom why he would think that she had talked to his father. Despite Lou spending most of her hours outside of school in the clubhouse, her interactions with their ultimate leader, the one even Otto answered to was limited. Actually, it was more like nonexistent.

She was aware that he had the final say in all things nightwing. It was one of the first terms and conditions she was presented with when joining. Once again she begins to shake her head with her grey eyes open wide with concern. ”No…well yes it would be great idea to get everyone their own books…but no, I have not spoken with your father” she states the obvious unsure of how to respond the conundrum right in front of her. ”I…I…thought that be your department” she slowly spoke in a hushed tone. Quickly Lou grabbed her fork and hastily took a bite of the slob that was her lunch in an attempt to do anything other than have to speak again before properly weighing her options.

ELEGANT

[MATTIO]

O T T O.

He's a line of confrontation the size of a skyscraper when it comes to members of the club questions. Otto defers to anyone he can but most often to Kirill. He sinks down at the sight of Lou's shocked expression as if anyone but him speaking to his father is some broken line of their social contract. The truth is that he'd instead wish to teach the club a valuable lesson: they're no longer kids. Long gone are the days where a child asks their friend to ask their parent if they can sleep over tonight. Most members of the club are seventeen or eighteen years old. Practically adults, and seen as that by Kirill.

But no, Lou continues (much to Otto's frustration) about how it's his job to speak to his father on behalf of her. He blows exhausted air out his nose. He opens his mouth ready to breathe it back in, but he holds it open, still in thought. "......Okay." It's a concession he doesn't want to make, but he gives his word to keep her anxiety from flaring. Otto knows the reality of the situation: it is not as though people are itching to join this club. More or less, the people sitting at the table around him are mismatched pieces of the school's darkest crypts. Shy kids who once sat at the desks with no adjacent students, dark and heavy metal performers who receive conflicted stares from those perplexed by their 'art,' and kids too secretive to have friends and too anonymous to be pegged as loners. Being their leader, even by default, is like holding a puppet upright by its strings. For someone who would much rather pull everything apart and have it be just him and his father, Otto does his best to show a Herculean restraint from agitating the club members.

He speaks with a costly tone, "I'll handle it for you." Otto pauses the conversation for a few minutes after, letting Lou continue to eat as the logistics of the book-reading brew in his mind. Of course, studying novels is a part of the club description, but it is a formality for the most part. Kirill has bookcases filled tight with novels in every room, but there's no code or schedule. He promised them a thrilling future, and the books work as a stepping stone to help the club find their individuality once the second state is reached. How will Ink and Echoes fare when everyone is aspiring to be the same character? He'll take priority. Or, at least, that's what he presumes will happen. If he is second in command as members like Lou see it, then he should get first pick on whatever power and perks there are to come.

"My father doesn't bite, you know." Otto breaks the quiet chewing with praise for his father. "Without him, all this would be nothing. He's a visionary. No one can comprehend it except us, and that's because we know the secret." He refers to the letters that Kirill receives in the mail from an enigmatic woman. Tasks and objectives are attached, and they must be fulfilled if the Nightwings want what she's promised: access to the serums of the 92nd Hunger Games that are now locked up in some top-secret Capitol lab. Not for long if the group is smart and gets the job done. They can be vampires if everyone plays their part. "If you're looking to be brave, I can take you to him and be there while you give your pitch. We're having a meeting at midnight tonight, in case you forgot." He speaks to both Lou and the entire club. From what Kirill told Otto this morning, it appears as though there might be a new task for the group tonight. One that will separate the leaders from the followers.

[minie]

A L L O U E T T E

Lou was not brave; she never has been but joining the club was her first step out of her cowardly isolation. Day and night she told herself if she does not speak to anyone and only looks down upon them, then they could not hurt her. The nights of weeping in solitude and loneliness were because once upon a time she was brave…or maybe just naïve. Lou truly believed that if she just spoke to someone, then they would have to be nice to her. Even now, when speaking to Otto, she was able to detect his annoyed tone. The people she considered her friends were still turning the dial up on her anxiety she had tried so hard to mask through silence.

Imagine her relief when Otto had finally agreed to talk to Kirill for her. She thanked him with a fleeting smile as she returned her attention to whatever edible bits of the cafeteria lunch there were. Lou, convinced that her obligatory social interactions for the day were over, raised her head slowly as Otto began to talk again. He had agreed to handle it…in her mind that could only mean end of story. She could feel the anxiety build up in her chest almost as quickly as it had dispersed as the groups leader proposes that she talks to Kirill with him present.

Lou could argue that it could have been a lot worse.

Otto was not forcing her to talk to Kirill and he was definitely not forcing her to do it alone. She thought of the girl so desperate for a place to fit in that she had gotten up on a stage and read out some of her deepest darkest thoughts. That moment of bravery which had led her to a seat at a lunch table. A small glimmer of what she could be if she were to just open up her mouth and speak all the things that rushed through the curious little mind of hers. All Lou had to do was channel that same glimpse of confidence she had at the poetry stand.

Maybe then she would not just be able to talk to Otto without her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would jump right out of her chest. Maybe then she would also be able to pitch her idea to the man that ran the show.

Lou began to nod slowly as her mind raced to build up her confidence. When it came to books, she knew her material. All the time she had spent with the stories instead of people meant that she would know what she was talking about and if not, well then Otto would be right there. If anyone knew more about books than Lou, it would have to be him. She resented him for it, it felt as if someone was robbing the very essence that made her herself. However she could not argue that it was not nice to have someone around that understood her passion even if she believed they were fundamentally two complete opposite beings.

”Yeah, we could do that. Just promise you won’t leave me alone?” Her voice a little louder now, a little bit more confidence was visible in her posture.

In that moment, the bell rang signifying that lunch was over.

ELEGANT

[MATTIO]

O T T O.

Otto dusts the bread crumbs onto his napkin as Lou takes his offer into consideration. Perhaps secretly, he hopes that she'll muster up the courage to do it on her own. Allouette would be smart and capable enough to be a leader if she didn't get in her own way with hesitance and caution. For all intents and purposes, Kirill Katzenagen is a teacher. They deal with six or seven teachers a day, so how hard can it be? Sometimes, Otto wonders if these children, too shy to talk to someone they should trust, want to be in the Nightwing Club at all.

Is Lou loyal, or is she just eager for someone to give a damn?

Are Lestat and his boys interested, or are they just looking to amp up their alternative style?

Does Otto want to be a vampire as the stories suggest, or is he just hoping it solves the problems poking holes through his chest and his father's spirit?

"Yeah, we could do that. Just promise you won't leave me alone?" It's a toss-up in Otto's mind which trope Lou actually is: need for attachment or fear of abandonment. His eyes turn upward to the clock, about fifteen seconds away from ringing for the end of the period. Anticipating the bell, Otto looks down and covers his ears. The sound the lunch bell makes has irritated him for years, but thankfully, it's a problem he's solved by adopting a habit. Circadian Rhythm. His body feels a tightness toward the end of the period, perhaps subconsciously understanding that an unpleasant sound occurs. With more time that passes during lunch, Otto anticipates it more and more until his body is ready to reject it.

When the bell concludes, Otto rolls his bag up and tosses it toward the nearby recycling. It misses the opening, floating like a feather until it lands gracefully on the ground. He stares at it for a few moments before swinging his bag behind him. Close enough. One by one, the things he had unpacked during lunch fall back into place. Water bottle in the left sleeve, pens and pencils in the right. He rises, stretching his arms behind him before turning to the exit.

Otto pauses at the archway, recalling the question Lou asked that he never answered. Promise you won't leave me alone? Alone: a condition Otto Katzenagen most desired at this moment. He stays silent on the subject, knowing better than to make a promise he doesn't care about keeping.

"See you all tonight. Midnight. Don't be late– and don't be too early." He waves lazily toward them before heading to algebra class.