Day 55: Cafeteria

[tightsofmight]

A night spent inside his room had done nothing to ease his jitters. Peter couldn't stop worrying. Over Brainy, what he thought of him now that he knew about what he'd done to Grell, and where he was going for the night. If he'd be safe. If Indy and the others would be safe, trucking on down to the basement. (Not frigging likely, considering 'basement' was synonymous for 'giant ass doom pit'.) If that ominous intercom announcement had meant anything. Peter had spent hours staring into the dark after that, his stomach churning his supper into butter over the horrific possibilities. Whatever punishment that arose for the food fight was a mystery. It didn't seem to infect him, unless it was a particularly trying case of insomnia. No matter how badly Peter tried, he couldn't find the will to sleep. Much of the night had been spent making notations and doodles in his journal by flashlight, peppered with long stretches of staring at the dark.

Honestly, he'd rather be taking another crack at the Hall of Hallucinations instead of rolling around in his bed. Paranoia was his only company the whole night.

Morning felt like a blessing by the time it came. He wasn't sure when sleep had finally overtaken him, but as he blinked his way into life he couldn't help feeling a bit...off.

It was really quiet. Peter's face scrunched under the light, and he stretched underneath the covers. There was a zip of cotton on cotton, and his shirt half dragged itself out from under the belt.

His eyes shot open. Belt? The covers flipped back, and Peter gaped down at his form on the bed. ...Belt?!

What the frigging hell was this? Peter jolted to his feet, patting himself down. He looked like some kind of air cadet. There were freaking epaulettes on his shoulders (was that even what they were called?), boots on his feet and a beret on the dresser. A single pin was nestled into the front, looking freshly polished as it glinted in the light. Peter snatched the hat up and stared. Two letters were inscribed on the pin. Nothing more, nothing less.

"SC..."

Special Counseling? Peter's expression took a turn for the frantic. What else could it stand for? He tried to run through a few candidates, but nothing stuck. Nothing applied so neatly without being ridiculous, because it clearly didn't stand for Super Cuckoo or Spider Cadet. Was he supposed to wear this like some stupid badge of honour? God, just brand it across his forehead, why don't you? My name is Peter Parker and I totally snapped a guy's arm for Mother Landel's. Hail the Smiley!

Peter pressed the beret against his face and groaned into the fabric. This was it. They weren't playing games anymore. They were finally turning this into death match boot camp and sending them off to war. Shit. Shit he was going to be in the frigging army in some messed up alternate universe, and he didn't even know what the frick they were fighting against or why they were fighting. If they were pulling magical whatsits out of every book and TV show known to man, then who knew what wacky threat they were up against. Aliens? If it was aliens, he was quitting. He was going to curl up on the ground hugging a grenade and pull the pin. Just no. No. This was not happening. This could not be frigging happening.

Except that it was. The person who whipped open the door that morning wasn't the affably sour Nurse Rachel, but a hulking, thickly built man who looked like he consumed a toddler a meal solely to fuel his pecs. Peter couldn't even find the breath to argue as he was told to tuck in his shirt and put on his boots and come to the cafeteria. He left just as another soldier brushed past them to collect Brainy, and Peter abruptly realized that in his confusion he'd forgotten to check if the boy was okay.

Too late for that now. Peter tried to match pace with the burly man, fumbling to put his snazzy new beret on and watching with wary eyes as other patients were dragged by. Things seemed even bleaker as they hit the cafeteria. The buffet was empty. The scent of food was lacking. Soldiers packed along the borders of the room so neatly you would think they were part of a particularly tacky wall paper. And worst of all? Buckets. Mops and rags and brooms, all piled in the center of the room.

The lady officer's speech was entirely unnecessary at that point. Peter withered where he stood as she told them their duty. It was like a scolding from Aunt May, if someone gave her a gun and a license to use it. Except the joke only made things worse - now he just wanted his Aunt. The force of his loneliness bowled him over like a wrecking ball. He might never see Aunt May again. Peter's gaze fell to the floor and he clenched his fists.

Was this it? Was his life really over? Escape never seemed so far away.

There was no protest from him as they were sent to work. Ashen and queasy, Peter stumbled towards the cleaning supplies and selected a bucket and a rag. He couldn't even bemoan his lack of breakfast. His nerves were making it impossible to even think about food.

They needed to get out tonight. Everyone. Somehow...

[Lion!]

Comments

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

He turned around and did as he was told and Franziska felt a bit of her own control coming back. The soldiers were infinitely more difficult to boss around and so much more sure of themselves which was admittedly a little intimidating for her. She was, after all, still considered a child in the eyes of the law, even if she was a feared prosecutor and a terror on the battlefield. The soldiers here had no inkling of who she was and a journal or even a whip was ineffectual when confronted with a pistol or rifle. And though Franziska hated to admit it, she was still afraid of being shot. After all this time, the sight of one still made her blood run cold.

Which was why having someone obey her so thoroughly made her smile spread a little further. She cared little if it looked cold to anyone else. The simple act of having Kibitoshin on his knees and doing as she told him while she remained standing was enough to make her day just that little bit better. "As you can see, there is nothing to worry about where I am concerned." Franziska usually remained relatively unharmed because of her long ranged weapon, but also because she knew better than to stand around and fight when she was not a fighter herself. "But you?"

Now that he was sitting up, Franziska could see the extent of the bandages. They disappeared into his sleeves, but the way he winced when he moved was enough of an indication. He was in pain and he was still on the floors cleaning like an idiot. He was going to make his injuries worse like this. "You apparently need someone to look after you."

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

That was definitely a relief, one that made the smile come a little more easily to him. It was true that Franziska didn't seem to be injured at all, but even so it felt better to have asked; who knew if she'd had a bad experience or not last night, or if she had bandages under her uniform? But though Kibitoshin would have been all too happy to explain himself on the matter, telling her he couldn't see under her clothes was almost definitely the fast way to a beating, even with all those soldiers around.

Fortunately she was already talking again before he could get a word in edgeways- and, of course, it was with the reminder that he could barely take care of himself. Ahh, and they'd done so well in the conversation up until then!

He put on a wounded look, the sort he would have called a fair expression of his feelings on the matter and his Ancestor a pout. It wasn't a pout, though. Really. "Actually, I managed to beat a lot of monsters last night, and I healed someone," he explained. Admittedly, they wouldn't have needed to fight or be healed if they hadn't run straight into the little things, but Franziska didn't need to know that. Nor did she need to know that he'd actually kind of enjoyed it, in a strange way. "I don't think that's too bad, if you ask me."

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

Franziska wondered why men thought looking ineffectual and weak would work against her. So many times she'd come up against men (sometimes women) who would pout or sulk at her words, thinking it would make her feel some shred of sympathy for them. The fools were incapable of realizing that von Karmas did not feel sympathy unless duly earned. And kicked puppy looks did not earn sympathy.

Raising an eyebrow at Kibitoshin's protest, Franziska wondered what he'd been up to at night. If he was indeed a 'healer' of some sort, then why did he have bandages everywhere? She felt like pointing that out, but it was far too obvious a point to make. He could counter with that selfless attitude of his as well, breaking her argument. Kibitoshin struck her as the sort to heal others while he bled out himself which was stupid and foolish, but was exactly why he had so many people relying on him.

"You apparently forgot to heal yourself, however," she said, taking a stab at the argument anyway. He should be taking care of himself or he wouldn't be able to care for anyone. If he were to get seriously injured or die, then what of those who looked to him for protection?

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, that was true. Kibitoshin gave a terse little laugh, trying not to seem quite so bothered as he actually was by the fact that she was arguing with him about being helpful. She would have complained that he'd been selfish if he'd tried to heal himself first. Really, was there anything he could do right, or did something suddenly become wrong simply because he was the one to do it? Ahh, it was just so circular!

At any rate, the safest bet seemed to be to play innocent and brush it off, same as always. "Right," he agreed, "I ran out of energy and fell asleep before I could get to my injuries. They're not so bad, really, mostly just flesh wounds." Uncomfortably tender flesh wounds, but when you'd stared death in the face (well, less 'stared' than 'been unable to look away from') a little bit of discomfort hardly seemed to matter in the long run.

He paused. "Though I guess you're going to say I shouldn't have gotten hurt at all, huh?" There was another, slightly nervous laugh to go with that, but even so he couldn't quite stop himself from sounding a touch rueful. Not that he'd been expecting sympathy or anything like that, but even so, a scolding for being careless wasn't exactly the first thing he needed to hear today. Not that Franziska was trying to be mean, of course, but...

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

Was he being uppity? Franziska glanced down at the man next to her and her frown deepened. This was unexpected. He was taking shots back at her and predicting what she was going to say. No one did that to her, least of all someone who wasn't even in the legal field. She would need to shake up her routine if she wanted to keep the upper hand without revealing any weaknesses. Because, if last night proved anything, she had to remain strong. Her father was gone, Battler was insane, and there were giant scorpions and giant rats lurking around every turn of the hall. She was the only one she could really rely upon.

"Do not take that tone with me, Kibitoshin," she snapped, pointing a finger at him as a warning. "And if you already know what I am going to say, then you should just follow that advice. You should not have gotten hurt. What would people do if you were such a fool as to incur greater injuries? They would be worried and likely put themselves in harms way to save you."

Drawing her hand back, Franziska turned her face away and folded her arms. She doubted Kibitoshin would get what she was trying to say, but that was the closest she could come. She wasn't the best with expressing herself, or even close to anything approaching human when it came to telling people she cared, but she had her ways. The only problem being that she couldn't let herself remain too open to attack and so, just to be sure Kibitoshin didn't get the wrong idea, she added in, "Idiot."

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

Kibitoshin flinched as though he'd taken a jab to the gut. He'd heard that snap in her voice before and seen her point at him like that dozens of times already, so why was it that this one hurt as much as it did? This wasn't thr first time she'd spoken to him like that, and he'd just let it roll off of him before, and it wasn't as though she was wrong, was it? So why was this time different?

Slowly, it dawned on him. Maybe it hurt exactly because she was right.

After all, who was he to prance around playing the hero, like it really meant anything? Franziska was totally right. What if Sechs had done something stupid last night and tried to rescue him instead of protecting himself? What if he'd been so badly hurt he couldn't help him? And what if he'd died? It wasn't as though he was the only healer in the Institute, but there would always be more injured than there were people who could help them. The realisation was stinging. How could he have been such an-

Idiot?

Kibitoshin stopped. Maybe it was because he was already in a bad mood, or maybe he'd given his own pride enough of a beating. Maybe it was the embarrassment he could feel flushing his face to a guilty red, or the fact that he'd managed to prove to himself that he wasn't as pathetic as he thought he was last night.

Whatever the reason for it, something broke.

The sponge hit the ground so hard it bounced, and before he could help himself he was staring Franziska right in the eye. “What is wrong with you?! Why do you always treat me like I'm stupid?!" The sound of his own voice was terrifying, yet irresistible; he was off again before he could stop himself. "Y-you know what? It's not fair! Because I didn't do a bad job last night! I didn't! And- and I don't have to take any of this!"

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

The silence wasn't something unusual and Franziska felt a certain kind of satisfaction in having made the so-called Guardian of the Universe fall quiet. Maybe he had understood what she was trying to say and now he would be more careful. Seeing him injured and her without any way of preventing it was difficult enough, but the way Kibitoshin was, he'd likely go out and do it again tonight. She couldn't follow after him to make sure he didn't get eaten by a gruel or whatever it was American nerds called those things.

She was quite certain of her infallible position up until she heard the sponge snap against the ground so hard it rebounded. A moment later and Kibitoshin was far too close for comfort and shouting at her. The reality in front of her eyes took a second to register, but when it did, she took a faltering half step back and grabbed her right shoulder. Kibitoshin was shouting at her. No one shouted at her! Except in court when they were yelling their pitiful objections and then she usually overrode them with better ones.

But he was shouting.

The meek, pseudo-alien was shouting about what was wrong with her and how she was being unfair. This was why she didn't make attempts at talking to people. It always blew up in her face. She'd been trying to express her own somewhat convoluted worry and it had...well, she could have chosen better words, but... Her father would never have stood for it. Franziska von Karma relying on people? Asking for friends? Ha! Only a fool did that. And he would have rejected her immediately.

Realizing that his rant had ended and she had yet to say anything in return, Franziska lowered her hand and tried to catch her mind up to what was happening in front of her. He was uncomfortably close and Franziska took another step back, trying to seem bigger than she actually was. "....." Damn. She couldn't get her voice to work. "........." And now she had no idea what to say.

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

The silence that followed was almost defeaning to the Kaioshin. For a moment he found himself faintly confused, unsure of what he'd said aloud and kept inside of his head; he'd been thinking a lot of it for so long now that it seemed downright wrong to hear it spoken, as though he were breaking some sort of unwritten law. He wasn't really supposed to talk about how he was feeling if it didn't matter, was he?

He was breathing a little more shallowly than normal, too, though that was probably down to the fact that he'd been speaking pretty loudly. He looked across to Franziska: she seemed just as shell-shocked as he was, but doubtless she was already preparing some sort of counter-attack that would make him wish he'd kept his mouth shut. Maybe if she tried to hit him he could deflect it or grab her wrist before it hit.

But nothing happened. Franziska took a second step backwards, but the silence remained unbroken. Kibitoshin stared for a moment, thrown- and then he breathed in again, slowly and deeply. This kind of opportunity didn't come around all too often, and he needed a level head to make the most of it. He could manage that, right?

"... okay?" he said eventually, letting his shoulders drop; he hadn't realised they'd been clenched until now. His expression had softened a touch, but he didn't stop looking at her. Not yet. "No more hitting or calling me stupid or anything like that. I won't take it from now on, not like I have before." He sighed. "I just don't understand you at all, Franziska."

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

Understand her? This fool didn't need to understand her and she didn't need to understand him! He should just follow orders and listen to her superior wisdom and things should be simple like that! Only...Franziska knew that wasn't going to fly here. He had gained the upper hand and now she would never recover it without losing face. There was only one way to repair this relationship, but a von Karma apologizing? Giving in to demands? Acting buddy-buddy because someone said pretty please?

Never.

Now that he wasn't shouting anymore, Franziska felt the freeze on her brain begin to melt as her indignant rage boiled up from beneath the surface. How dare he speak to her like that? Certainly she'd said some harsh things in the past and she was being a tad bit rude here, but still! She was merely expressing concern as much as she could for him. Admittedly, it wasn't the way any other normal person would do it, but von Karmas were extraordinary people and so they had to do things against the norm. To do otherwise just wasn't in their genes.

So rather than apologize, rather than agree to what he said, rather than do anything a normal person would do when confronted with someone who was upset, Franziska dropped her hands to her side with such a force that the shirt cuffs bounced. A moment later and she pointed a single finger at Kibitoshin like this was a court room and he was the accused. "Fools needn't try to understand the perfection that is a von Karma because they never will!" she snapped. "If you wish to be left alone, so be it! But don't look to me if you get yourself hurt again! I won't be the one worrying over a fool like you anymore!"

In one swift movement, Franziska scooped the bucket and the sponge she'd been assigned up from the floor. Then she pivoted on her heels and stalked off, trying to get as far from the guardian as possible.