forsworn: (i'll play the penitent to you)
Kratos Aurion ([personal profile] forsworn) wrote in [community profile] damned_institute2012-11-10 11:35 pm

Day 67: Sun Room (Second Shift)

After that miserable breakfast, Kratos was truly ready to go hide himself away in some dark corner of a room and refuse to speak to anyone for the rest of the day. It was utterly pathetic that he was actually giving that kind of behavior serious thought, but somehow, in the wake of Sora's death, everything, from company to even eating, seemed too loud or too exhaustive; his energy seemed to slip away the instant he gained it.

Ironically, this behavior was not previously unknown to him; it was just that the last time he'd fallen into this kind of slump, his circumstances were such that engaging in extreme antisocial behavior and refusing to eat did not carry severe consequences like they--that was also pathetic, that he'd just entertained the idea that the days following Anna's death could have been more bearable than now. Could he possibly frustrate himself even more? The paradoxical part was that he enjoyed doing it in a strange, perverse way.

He wrote out a few listless, largely formulaic responses over the board to some notes he'd pinned up right before breakfast, and then wandered over to a nearby couch, where he sat down, stared at the coffee table for a moment, and then slumped back against the couch, one hand draped across his eyes, with a sigh. For a few seconds, he stayed that way, letting the wave of emotion wash over him--it was simply too much; he had reached the point where he was willing to give up and acknowledge that--and then, as if a switch had been flicked, Kratos straightened up, everything once again carefully masked. He exhaled, slow and steady, and looked down just in time to see a cat pass by, meowing for his attention.

He wasn't particularly fond of animals, as he'd once told Lloyd, but right now, all he wanted was something to distract him, and a cat was much preferred to a person; after all, the cat didn't talk, nor did it require him to talk. Kratos reached down to scratch it between the ears and then paused as it leaped onto the couch to curl up next to him. It was a stretch to think that he might be able to spend an entire shift petting a cat (also pathetic, but in a different way), but he would do it for however long it held his attention, or vice versa.

[Flora!]
toxicspiderman: A brightly-colored photo of the lake in Boston Common. (colors seem brighter when you're high)

[personal profile] toxicspiderman 2012-11-13 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
He'd missed breakfast, but watching someone bleed out all over the raw ingredients meant it was no big deal. Even if it might be more temporary than was usual for comic-book characters, it still wasn't S.T.'s favorite way to spend a night. Or think about, the morning after. His eyes still felt full of grit, and he kept moving his arms enough that the cut along his ribs hurt. He was getting too old to do this on a bi-weekly basis. Once a month, tops, with the accelerated healing plan.

The bulletin was cheery. Bunch of people had found an all-natural, non-surgical cure for the creeping monsteritis. Shit tasted like bitter dirt, but it sounded like it only took one dose. Maybe later he'd go see if any seedlings needed any TLC. For now, he took over a couch, threw his feet up on a table and a pillow on his head, and pretended to go back to sleep.

[Snow]