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damned_institute2011-05-08 04:43 pm
human-sponge.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2011-05-08 04:43 pm
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Day 56: Tasty Burger (Noon)
Peter didn't know if he and Firo had left on the best terms, if only because the younger man was still so confused about what was going on in this place. The change in time period had a lot to do with it, but it had also sounded like he'd had a lot going on in his life before ending up here. Then again, who hadn't? Peter had just exploded before his arrival.
It was hard to think back to that night, to the way he'd stood in Kirby Plaza while burning up with nuclear overload, when he was in this quaint snow-covered town. This was the sort of image you'd see on the Christmas card; it wasn't supposed to exist.
Still, his walk with Firo had been rather long all things considered, and so Peter finally decided to leave the teen to his devices and go warm up somewhere. The best way to do that would be by putting some hot food in his stomach, and so he ended up backtracking to the Tasty Burger. He could have gone ahead to the Twin Pines, since the food was obviously better quality there, but the walk was longer and his face was starting to get numb.
Letting out a small sigh of relief as he stepped into the lively fast food place, Peter fished the proper coupon out of his pocket and went to stand in line, eyeing the two young girls at the counter as he waited for it to be his turn. Once he'd eaten, he could really start searching the shops for what to buy.
[Claire Bennet.]
It was hard to think back to that night, to the way he'd stood in Kirby Plaza while burning up with nuclear overload, when he was in this quaint snow-covered town. This was the sort of image you'd see on the Christmas card; it wasn't supposed to exist.
Still, his walk with Firo had been rather long all things considered, and so Peter finally decided to leave the teen to his devices and go warm up somewhere. The best way to do that would be by putting some hot food in his stomach, and so he ended up backtracking to the Tasty Burger. He could have gone ahead to the Twin Pines, since the food was obviously better quality there, but the walk was longer and his face was starting to get numb.
Letting out a small sigh of relief as he stepped into the lively fast food place, Peter fished the proper coupon out of his pocket and went to stand in line, eyeing the two young girls at the counter as he waited for it to be his turn. Once he'd eaten, he could really start searching the shops for what to buy.
[Claire Bennet.]
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- Scott had more money to work with in Doyleton than he tended to have at any given time back in Toronto. ($10)
- Soldiers didn't take kindly to rude snowmen, even when they were dressed as nurses. Also, Scott knew how to kick down snowmen in a hurry when he had to.
- Kairi of Kingdom Hearts fame was in the Institute.
- LUKE
- Luke had been gal-palling it up with INDIANA
- Luke's fourth wall was in imminent danger.
- Scott was about to meet a mystery person for burgers and ice cream in order to defend the honor of said fourth wall.
Scott felt like there ought to be some kind of pithy statement to sum up the morning he'd had, but honestly, the only thing that came to mind was, "Bluuuh???"
And so, Scott now sat in the corner at Tasty Burger with his back to the front entrance and a freshly ordered grease meal in front of him. And he pondered the State of the Pilgrim while waiting for his date.
"Here's hoping you're not really a walking carpet, guy," he said to himself, taking a bite of his burger.
[For
ChewyWichita]no subject
And now she was on her way to talk to Obi-Wan Kenobi about why she needed to be more sensitive to anonymous Star Wars nerds over a bulletin board. Or something like that. Yeah, this wasn't real.
Short brown hair, tall-ish. Black shirt. Because that wasn't vague. When she first stepped into the burger joint, she immediately stopped and just smelled because damn it had been a really long time since she smelled fast food. It was weird, the things you missed after a few months of running around eating just the things you found over the counter that didn't require cooking. Greasy goodness filled her nostrils, and-
Right. She needed to just order her food and find this person before they thought she ditched them. Which normally she wouldn't care much about, but well. Being literally alone in a place you knew nothing about shifted ones priorities a bit. She gave the guy her coupon, not saying anything, though the look in her eyes made it clear that if he took another look at her terrible outfit she'd probably sock him in the face. It didn't take him long to come back with her burger.
Wichita turned away from the counter, tray in hand, not bothering to push her bangs out of her eyes as they scanned the room. For the most part, most people seemed to be chatting away with somebody already, so it wasn't too difficult to spot Obi-Wan. ..She needed to stop calling him that.
"Are you... Obi-Wan?" Cue Wichita's perfected look made up of half-charming excitement, half-nervousness. Because yes, there was a way to find the perfect balance between the two. It was how she approached most new guys when she didn't have another plan, because it almost always worked in her favor. And the only times it didn't was when said guy was already infected with the virus and decided trying to eat her was better than falling for her crap. Nevermind that her dress and stupid coat probably took away from that completely.
"I'm Chewy."
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He did eventually realize, however, and once he did, Scott turned around in his seat and holy god what was with all the really, really hot girls running into him today? At least this one was over the age of fifteen (probably?), so that was one less thing to worry about. Still! Scott had to wonder if this meant that his sausage-fest days at Landel's were finally at an end. The Institute was one of the few places Scott had ever had more guy friends than girls. Junior high, high school, parts of university - even
living independentlyleeching places to live in Toronto, it had been about half and half, gender-wise. Girls had always been a strong presence in Scott's social life. He had noticed the preponderance of guys in Landel's before, sure, but today was the first day to really bring it into stark relief.Anyway, right. Boobs were talking to him.
...Boobs in a HIDEOUS dress, too, now that he got a better look (ugh, he did not feel sorry for "Chewy" at all for that). That was besides the point, though. The point was that he had to start talking back before the boobs realized he was looking at them and not at the person they were attached to.
"Uhhh, yep! Itsa me! Obio!" Scott held up his hand in a "ta-da!" kind of way. He let the moment hang briefly before dropping the hand back down. "That was the lamest thing to lame its way into Lametown today, wasn't it?" he said with a sigh and a sheepish grin.
"So yeah, uh, sit down. Make yourself semi-comfortable," Scott offered, gesturing toward the side of the booth opposite him. "And we can... discuss the dangers of pop culture in Landel's, I guess?"
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Wichita smirked, trying hard to mask it as a pity smile for Obio, then took the seat across from him. It was really hard to not just dig right into her burger, but she resisted.
"Not the lamest, but it was pretty high up there." Her tone lacked its usual somewhat dead-pan confidence, because again, all alone here. Ugh, that sucked to think about.
"Should probably make some kinda introductions first, right? I'm Wichita." Her expression relaxed into a more genuine smile, although it didn't exactly reach her eyes. Which were still somewhat hidden behind her bangs. At least she didn't have all the dark eye make-up she usually wore at home to make her look even less friendly.
"Where're you from?" ... And now she's pick up her burger to take a few bites, making a very solid effort to hide her-- well, bliss really, although she wasn't sure it was working.
"Mm, I mean-" Better add this before he went and ruined it. Also she needed to take a second to lick the ketchup off the corner of her mouth. "-I don't do names-names. Whatever city you grew up in, that's what I'll call you." And he'd be okay with that. Damnit. She continued with her burger devouring before explaining it any further. If he wanted to know, he could ask. But she was kinda hoping he just didn't.
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Scott looked back down at his food. Maybe if he wished hard enough, it would turn into Licks' Burger, and this whole town would turn into the beach near Julie's summer cabin thing or whatever. A boy could dream, right?
In any case, it seemed "Chewy" - or rather "Wichita" now - was more interested in chowing down, coming up with new code names for each other, and, uh, more chowing down. Seriously, whoa. When Scott looked up, the girl looked as though she had found hamburger nirvana and was trying to hide that mystical secret from the rest of the fast-food-eating world. Scott gave his own burger a second look and a raised eyebrow. Was it really called "Tasty Burger" for a reason? Could this be...?!
He took a tentative bite.
Nope. Still just a crappy small town burger.
Whaaaatever, lady.
Anyway, right. Names. Or lack of them. "Wait, what? Why don't you do names-names? It's not like there are any big conspiracies in the patient body or anything." That Scott knew of. Hmmm... "But if you really want, uh, let's see... Can I just say 'Toronto' and make things easier?" Never mind that the name of his hometown was a secret to everyone, but it sounded much less cool as a nickname. If he was going to go by the name of a city, he wanted to go with the one with a giant spiky spear in its skyline, too. The CN Tower was badass, and no one was going to tell him otherwise, goddammit.
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It was possible, by some weird twist of fate, that Canada hadn't even heard about it. After her meeting with that girl her first night in the institution, the one who seemed completely shocked by the news, she wouldn't be all that surprised if she wasn't the only clueless one.
And it was bullshit, but what could she do? It's not like she wished that on anybody. She actually still felt kinda bad for even bringing it up. Wichita never felt jaded towards the virus, getting bit scared her more than she'd ever admit, but the way the girl reacted... it was like she brought on a whole new world of worry for her. But it still felt like a bad idea not to mention it. The more people that knew, the better. That way they could prepare.
... Not that Wichita cared much either way, who exactly survived and who didn't. But the fewer infected people there were, the fewer things she had to run from. And more targets to use, if she needed to. Not like it mattered much, since this place (which, now that she took a second to think about it, maybe she didn't want to hang out here for too long. too crowded) was clean of it.
Well! All that said, there was only one way to find out.
"So, Canada. Is it true the virus hit the moose first? I heard they all went crazy and attacking everything and nobody could figure out why until it started spreading to the humans. Messed up stuff," A lie, but she sold it well. Moose zombies, though... That was pretty funny. She'd have to tell it to Little Rock when she got back. "But then I also heard that Dan Aykroyd had found a way to control the sick moose into doing his bidding, so I'm not sure how much weight there is to that rumor. He always seemed so cool. A really normal dude, y'know? Why would he get moose to attack anyone?" She couldn't look more serious. "Heard anything about that?"
1/2
"I'm sorry - what?"
2/2
"No, no I did not hear about that. Whatever 'that' is," Scott answered, raising the big eyebrow of judgment at Wichita. "Are you messing with me? Because I will not be messed with!" he declared with a purposefully over-dramatic point of his finger upward. "This is the face of a guy with whom messing is not an option."
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Which clearly just meant the few people she had managed to strike a conversation with were all brainwashed.
Eventually she just shook her head, sitting up again. Right, moving on.
"So, anyway." Best way to move the conversation along. She just hoped he would go along with it, despite her apparent jab at his ego or whatever it was that made him believe she was taking some kind of crack at him. "Why exactly can't I make a joke about somebody's choice of nicknames? Are people really that sensitive here?"
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Someplace where the threat of fourth wall breakage wasn't a known problem, apparently. Okay, so that narrowed it down by approximately no percents.
"H'ooooookay. How to explain this without coming off like a for-real mental patient." Or without simultaneously giving Wichita the same revelation he was trying to save Luke from. Scott pushed his fingers through the front of his hair, thinking for a moment before starting with: "I guess the simplest way to put it is... Not everyone uses nicknames here."
He raised a finger again, clarifying: "Some do! Of course some do. But, uhhhh... Let's just say that if someone is using a pretty high-profile-sounding nickname around here. They're. Uh. They're usually not joking."
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It sounded so bogus. As far as she had learned about this place, it was all about taking people from their homes and convincing them that their lives weren't real. But then, how could a fictional character from her world, be here, undergoing the same ..treatment? Not that she had any treatment. Ugh, brain.
"So, okay. I get that running around saying 'I know you from a movie!' is bad news now, but, how are they even here? And how are we supposed to even know who is actually who they're saying they are? They could be lying." ..Wow that was a jumbled question. Her expression even shifted, like she was thinking it through to make sure it came out right.
"Although I don't think it matters either way, here. There's no leverage that can be gained by pretending to be Clark Kent or something. We're all in the same crappy boat, right?"
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"Exactly, and that's kinda how you know they're not lying. They have nothing to gain, and they honestly have no clue what you're talking about if you do happen to bring up knowing about the movie or comic book or whatever. So clear they're not faking it's not even funny." Especially not when he had the ultimate proof of the no fakery thing now that he knew the name of his own freaking franchise. "And there's, like, no question when you look at them, either. I mean, have you seen that young Harrison Ford running around? Because you totally will. I will introduce you to Indy myself if I have to."
Scott suspected Indy would not appreciate having to deal with yet another wise-cracking young person. But hey, details, right?
"Anyway, as for how?" Scott shook his head and threw up his hands briefly. "No clue. 'Altverses' have something to do with it. That's all I got when the previous head of this place got ousted the other day. Some of those altverses just happen to be fictional universes, I guess."
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"You do realize this is beyond messed up, right? Like, making me start to consider that this is all actually just some long-term effect of smoking Bill Murray weed? And-- Whoa, hey, time out. Did you just say Harrison Ford is here? I mean, Indie. He's not just crazy Harrison Ford, is he?" Her last question was only mildly serious, but she was definitely interested in getting to know that man. Hello, crushes from middle school. Still super fine? She's assumed so.
What interested her the most though was that Toronto seemed pretty cool about explaining it all. The kind of cool that only came with experience. She'd follow up on that once he explained the Indiana Jones situation, though. "And you're friends with the guy?" This was very important.
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"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am," Scott said with a grin, swelling with a small burst of self-confidence. "He's the real deal, complete with the hat, the skills, and the not knowing about anything beyond, like, the 1920's. And I can totally get you in with him sometime if you want."
If Indy wasn't groaning somewhere already, he ought to have been.
"But yeah, point being that you're right, this is beyond messed up. Believe me, I know messed up where I come from, and this is some kind of, like, nirvana of messed-ness we're approaching with this whole situation." Scott took another bite of his burger, nearly done it now. "The whole fictional characters thing, that's just the start of it."
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She took a breath, just sort of watching him, and there's really no easy way to shift the conversation towards the things she's really curious about, worried even. But he had answers, and experience here, not to mention the fact that Wichita didn't feel like relying on too many people to get the straight on this place.
"We didn't have 'weird' where I'm from, not really. Well." Zombies were weird. But it's not like they returned from the dead to eat brains, they were physically and mentally ill very-much-alive humans. Complicated. "Not action-movie-heroes-wandering-around weird, anyway. And the fact that you just got a little cryptic with me gives me reason to worry."
But only because there was something very different about this place than how she had things back home. Well, a lot of things, but one very important thing. "Be honest, am I dead here if I don't have a gun? Because I gotta tell you, showing up here out of nowhere by myself is one thing, but they took my gun and I didn't realize how attached to it I was until like, right now. What are we dealing with here?"
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...Wait.
"Or. Toronto. ...Pilgrim."
Whatever. Moving on.
"Guns are cool, but hard to find. You can make do decently with blunt objects and swords and stuff if you can't find one. Like, there are baseball bats out in the activities shed. Those'll do if you can't find anything else," Scott advised. "And if you can find someone with an extra sword, go for that. Swords rock at cutting things, believe it or don't."
He paused, then clarified: "I mean, like, cutting monsters and such. Have you seen any of the monsters yet?"
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Right, yeah. Moving on.
"You say that like somebody's more likely to have a spare sword than a spare bat." Her eyebrows were lifting up again, although he was right - she wanted a sword. If she couldn't get a gun, anyway. But 'hard to find' meant they did in fact have them around somewhere, and that was enough for her. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.
"Monsters? No. I'm guessing you have though, unless you managed to just piss off the wrong cat." A tasteless joke, she knew. The cuts on his cheek were obviously not from a cat, but it was easier to make jokes than consider that maybe there were things, like the zombies, that she'd have to learn to fight here too.
She sighed. One of those long sighs, complete with an eye roll. "I need a weapon, then." Her eyes were on the table now. "I was starting to think I actually got away from that kinda crap."
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"Yeah, you kinda do. And thankfully, Swords you can kinda find around here. I think some people used to make them? I don't know if they still do, but I know at least one person with more than one, anyway." Knew, he corrected to himself, unable to hide a very slight wince.
Then a light switched on in Scott's brain. "Wait, what are you used to carrying a weapon for? You look kinda young to be a secret agent or a cop or an assassin or whatever." Maybe she was a ninja? Wouldn't have been the first girl ninja Scott had ever met. So far he was at one and a half and counting.
heyyy i'm gonna try not butchering canon this time... HEH.
"Anyway, no. Uhm." This was so weird to try and explain. Now that she knew that this wasn't how it was for everyone, it felt... wrong, talking about it. But he asked. "In the, uh, altverse where I'm from, most of the human population's been taken out by a virus. It makes you crazy, makes you- Well, it's." She took a breath. "Zombieland. Earth, where I'm from, is called Zombieland, because that's all there is. As far as I know there's only a handful of people that haven't been infected, and the rest are zombies trying to change that. It's been that way for weeks now. Actually it's probably been about three months."
She looked somber for a second, because it was hard thinking about her being here while her sister was back there. She shook it off soon after, though. "That's why I asked you all that stuff about zombie moose. To see if you had any idea. And you didn't, and that's fine. It's just weird thinking I might be the only one from there that got to escape it."
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Moving on.
The conversation was taking a turn for the nasty and potentially depressing, then. Uh oh. Was Wichita from some kind of Romero movie? He couldn't remember the name of the planet being changed in those movies, but who knew? Maybe she, like Guybrush, was from some future instalment of the series that he hadn't seen yet. If so, then Scott couldn't wait for the day he could see a zombie movie with a character as hot as okay he shouldn't be thinking down this road, bad Scott, bad.
"Wow... Sucky," Scott said after a moment, not sure how else to respond. "Have to wonder if Landel's is better or worse than that. I mean, Landel's is pretty bad, but then, who wants to go back to a zombie apocalypse, right?" he asked, awkwardly picking at the last of his fries.
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"Better. Hands down. The alive to dead ratio makes that clear right off the bat. I've only been here for a day and I'd give anything to get my sister here too. 'Cause I mean, being shoved around like cattle blows, and having all my possessions taken away blows, but at least there's people to talk to? Even though, if I'm being honest, the whole being in a crowded room thing is a little nerve-racking. Oh, and even just being here is kind of a huge deal for me. Being able to eat disgusting fast food without the fear of it containing the virus is... kind of surreal." Speaking of which, yes, Wichita thought it was perfectly acceptable to steal one of his fries while she rambled. She smiled after though, like that made up for not asking first. Also no, Wichita had no sense of personal space when she was divulging in her fast food craving, so she stayed leaned over the table a little, ideal positioning for more fry stealing, if she wanted.
"But it's whatever, I guess. I'm gonna get home eventually, or I'll find a way to get my sister here. That's that." ..Damnit. But that was enough about her. "Tell me about Toronto? Or anything, I can't handle much more me talk."
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Scott couldn't help it. He was already having visions of Wichita sprucing up one of the patient rooms with nice furniture, a welcome mat, a shotgun by the bedside, and a framed crochet on the wall that said "There's no place like Landel's." The idea of the Institute being homier than home was just too bizarre to pass up.
"Toronto?" he parroted back after a moment. What exactly could he say that would be interesting to someone who had survived a zombie apocalypse (eat your heart out Max Brooks)? "It's, uh. Got the CN Tower? And an awesome castle?" He shook his head. "I dunno, what do you want to hear? Stories about my gay ex-roommate? My crappy band? The time I cut a half-ninja lesbian in two? What?"
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"But nevermind, if that's a tricky question. I wouldn't mind hearing more about the gritty parts of the institute." She could already tell this guy thought she was all kinds of weird, but there was really no fixing that. Living in Zombieland did make her a little weird. Plus, the remark about coming back here at night caught her interest, and she wasn't going to let it slide this time. "I mean, you seem to know a lot for someone that's only been here for two weeks." Maybe some mild buttering-up would get him to look past the fact that she couldn't seem to pick a subject to stick to for more than a minute at a time.