Anise Tatlin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gald_digger) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2011-06-26 03:01 am
gald_digger) wrote in damned_institute2011-06-26 03:01 am
Entry tags:
- alaric,
- albedo,
- allelujah,
- anise,
- battler,
- bella,
- byrne,
- carter,
- castiel,
- chise,
- claire littleton,
- claire stanfield,
- claude,
- damon,
- dean winchester,
- edgar,
- edgeworth,
- edward cullen,
- elena gilbert,
- england,
- erika,
- firo,
- grell,
- guy,
- guybrush,
- harry lockhart,
- ippo,
- izaya,
- japan,
- kirk,
- kurogane,
- l,
- lightning,
- mccoy,
- meekins,
- mikado,
- nigredo,
- okita,
- peter parker,
- peter petrelli,
- prussia,
- rapunzel,
- renamon,
- rita,
- ritsuka,
- rose (tvd),
- scott pilgrim,
- seishin,
- sonia,
- sora,
- stefan,
- tear,
- ted logan,
- the doctor,
- the scarecrow,
- tifa,
- tolten,
- trickster,
- two-face,
- utena,
- wichita,
- zack
Day 57: Cafeteria
Edgar's charming company had raised Anise's spirits enough that not even the Head Doctor's voice could bring them back down. Besides, she was feeling pretty sure that Landel wasn't actually around. To begin with, it wouldn't make sense, and secondly, his announcements sounded suspiciously like ones she'd already heard before. While Anise wasn't very familiar with Earth technology, she'd seen the little devices in the Music Room that could play recordings of people's voices. This had to be something like that.
It wasn't long before Anise was escorted to the Cafeteria, and then to the section where edible food was being served. As she filled her plate with waffles, fruit, and sausages, she looked to the other side of the counter with a look of sympathy. It was hard to enjoy her own meals while knowing what the other patients had to suffer through.
She wasn't about to refuse her meals just out of guilt, though. Anise needed her strength for tonight. There was still a bit of a nervous twist in her stomach whenever she thought about what could happen down in the basement... but she wasn't going to back down. Not after promising her friends they'd go together.
With her tray in hand, Anise seated herself at an empty table in the middle of the room. She preferred to have company while eating, but it looked like she was one of the first patients there, so there was no one to sit with. Maybe if she minded her manners and tried to look her cutest, she'd attract someone handsome! Holding her utensils delicately, she began to cut her waffles into smaller pieces.
[For Battler.]
It wasn't long before Anise was escorted to the Cafeteria, and then to the section where edible food was being served. As she filled her plate with waffles, fruit, and sausages, she looked to the other side of the counter with a look of sympathy. It was hard to enjoy her own meals while knowing what the other patients had to suffer through.
She wasn't about to refuse her meals just out of guilt, though. Anise needed her strength for tonight. There was still a bit of a nervous twist in her stomach whenever she thought about what could happen down in the basement... but she wasn't going to back down. Not after promising her friends they'd go together.
With her tray in hand, Anise seated herself at an empty table in the middle of the room. She preferred to have company while eating, but it looked like she was one of the first patients there, so there was no one to sit with. Maybe if she minded her manners and tried to look her cutest, she'd attract someone handsome! Holding her utensils delicately, she began to cut her waffles into smaller pieces.
[For Battler.]
no subject
"Ah, the word is used for men or for women. It simply denotes a level of respect. We have several that we use based on age or rank or social class...." Why was he telling him this? Carter was interested at least and his eagerness to learn about Japanese culture was somewhat encouraging. Relaxing a bit, Okita laughed and reached behind him, unclipping a pen stashed in the collar of his shirt and hidden by his hair. Next, he took a napkin and wrote out several honorifics on it in a vertical line. This he passed to Carter, still wearing a polite smile like always.
"At the top is dono, used for those you respect and are often of a higher rank than you." Unless you were Kenshin and strange. "Then san, which can be used for anyone really so long as you respect them, but especially if they are of the same age or older. And then these-" He pointed to the one labeled kun and chan. "The first is used for boys younger than you and the other is for girls. These are more familiar terms, however, so it's best to use san unless you're good friends."
no subject
"Just so I can remember it," he explained. "I never met a Japanese before I came here, so I don't know much about your culture. Back home I was on the other side of the world from Japan and we were fighting a war against your people so even if I did meet one I'd have shot him dead before we could get to talking."
Carter hesitated, realizing how awkward that sounded now that it was out of his mouth. "Not that it would have been anything personal."
no subject
The smile faltered when he kept going however.
Were all foreigners like this? He'd met several foreign looking people who didn't act like that, however, so maybe it was just Carter. Or maybe it was the effect of being at war with his country. Okita smiled again, but now it had a different meaning to it. "Oh, don't worry."
He tilted his head slightly to one side, still smiling widely. "In my time, we are at war within my country on the different methods of how to dispel your people from our shores. So, to be honest, I would have stabbed one of your people through the head before we could get to talking, too. I don't take it personally."
Unlike Carter, Okita didn't seem at all awkward with what he'd just said and ate another strawberry before speaking again. "But that was a long time ago for most people here, so I suppose it doesn't matter. Anyway, you wanted to speak about the History Club, yes?"
no subject
Oh, right, official stuff. Carter sat up a bit straighter in his seat so he could deliver his resume. "I was a sergeant in World War II. I worked with this secret underground group that did espionage and sabotage work, along with a bunch of other stuff. My specialty's in making bombs. I used to be able to make them with stolen German equipment or chemicals, but there's nothing here I can really put to good use. I did blow up the Twin Pines with a molotov cocktail, but they built it right back up again so you can't even tell I did anything." He sounded vaguely disappointed about this.
no subject
Well, whatever it was, Carter wasn't from Okita's era. The words he used - sergeant, World War II, bombs, German, chemicals - were still foreign to Okita's ears and he had no idea what they were supposed to mean. Bombs he understood. A world war? Could the entire world go to war? That was a frightening prospect.
"That tends to happen. We watched several buildings burn and yet they were rebuilt with little damage. The same happens here." Which was both annoying and helpful at the same time. However, that didn't matter. What did matter was that Carter could make things explode. He could possibly help create things that could kill the soldiers upstairs so the room became more readily available. "What would you need in order to create bombs or at least something like what you used in Doyleton to ignite the Twin Pines? There is a room my group wishes to get to, but it is heavily guarded by guns and modern equipment that we are not used to seeing in the 1860s."
no subject
Of course it was always troublesome trying to make an incendiary grocery list. Bombmaking to Carter came so intuitively that he had trouble explaining the process to other people. "Well, a molotov's relatively simple. You get a glass bottle and you put something flammable in it, like gasoline or turpentine. Then you stuff some cloth in the top, light it on fire, and throw it. When it smashes the flame sets all the liquid on fire and it makes a pretty neat fireball. I used strong alcohol at the Twin Pines because that's all that was there, but I only had about half a minute and one hand to put the thing together so it wasn't very good in the first place." A small shudder ran through Carter as he thought back to that horrible night when he'd desperately tried to cobble together an explosive with shattered fingers and his own shadow lazily but unstoppably coming to kill him.
Right. Bombs. Happy things. Carter shook off his gloom again and refastened his bright smile. "Anyway, it's pretty crude and not that great at blowing up tanks--I mean, at big horseless wagons with armor on them, but it's pretty good with setting things on fire. Or people. What kind of equipment did you see?"
no subject
Carter leaned forward on the table and Okita watched him, continuing with his meal as the man spoke. A glass bottle and flammable liquids like oils or something similar was called a molotov - difficult name, but simple construction. Where one could find 'gasoline' or 'turpentine,' Souji wasn't sure, but he knew someone who might know. Asuka, Taura or even Yomi might be able to help with that. Or Yuffie if she were still around. She'd yet to speak up on the bulletin.
He watched as Carter fell prey to unpleasant memories only to grin like a boy again a moment later and wondered if there was something more to him than met the eye. That was fairly normal for most people, of course, but Okita couldn't help but ponder over just how similar he might be to other people. Did they ever guess what he was thinking behind his pleasant, unfaltering smile? Or did they simply take it at face value? He hoped for the latter. It made dealing with them so much easier.
"I believe we can find some of those things around the Institute," he said, following up Carter's explanation. He didn't know what a horseless armored wagon was supposed to be, but he assumed it was something like the metal deathtrap buses they had to ride in once a week. Setting people on fire, however? He understood that and could definitely get behind it. "They used guns, of course, but also this bomb that made a large noise and bright lights like magic. It didn't burn, however, and only made it very difficult to fight after that."
He'd still managed to stab the man in the head, however. He remembered that with more than just a small amount of pride. "Do you have any way of combating such a thing?"
My google history is very interesting right now.
This requires a lot of thought. Improvisation was his specialty, and he'd made bombs before with chemicals stolen from the camp supplies, but it was at his best when they could get in some outside supplies. "TNT's really my favorite, though you usually have to plant it and then explode it from a distance with wires, or put it on a timer--that's like a little clock on it that tells it went to blow up." They had clocks back then, right? Carter hoped so.
Carter perked up suddenly, looking to Okita (Okita-san, remember it) with glee. "What about gunpowder? If I can get my hands on a bunch of that I can still make a pretty good bomb. I'm not used to targets that can see us coming, most of my work's with bridges and factories, but I'm sure I can work up a proper shell."
It wasn't just the bombs. He wanted desperately, achingly to be useful. That hug Claire had given him...he wanted more of that. People here could be cruel and rude, but there were ones who actually respected him. Even in the future, that was pretty amazing.