damned_institute | 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.]

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Yeah, Rapunzel could think of one other person who had kept something from her because she "didn't want to worry" her, so to speak.

But even as that thought came to Rapunzel's mind, she scrunched her eyes shut and forced herself to quash it. She wasn't doing herself any favours by comparing Soma to her. Scarecrow was right — it wasn't necessarily a bad thing that Soma might have tried to spare her the stress. All she had to do was... Rapunzel breathed in through her nose slowly. All she had to do was explain to the girl next time they met that she wanted to be told about things like that next time. Then maybe they would understand each other a little bit better.

Rapunzel opened her eyes again, looking back to Scarecrow. "Well how can I avoid running into things like that, then?" she asked, a shakiness in her tone, but also a willingness to make the most of this new information. "If there is any way at all to keep myself and my friends safer at night, I want to know about it."

"I'm not sure there is any way to really avoid running into them, to be honest," the Scarecrow said, trying not to make the situation sound so hopeless. He could understand her feelings, especially the desire to keep those dear to her safe at night. The inability to actually do so was terribly frustrating, but maybe not as much as the thought that he was the one who was being worried about so often. He sighed to himself: he owed Depth Charge an apology for the way he'd acted last night.

"Even if you can't avoid them altogether, it's best just to not travel alone, just in case." He gave her an encouraging smile. "Go in numbers wherever you go, so should you run into trouble, you can watch each other's back. Even a guy like me with only half a brain can do that much. You're just going to have to trust that your friends can take care of themselves in the way they trust you can take care of yourself."

Now if only he could take his own advice! He'd learned his lesson the previous night- going alone just wasn't a good idea, no matter how close to his room the wall to the outside was. The part about trusting his friends to take care of themselves... well, he'd work on that.

Rapunzel winced at the inevitable "you can't avoid them" answer, but was receptive to the advice that followed, at least. "Yeah, I'm definitely starting to see why people shouldn't travel by themselves," said Rapunzel with a shake of her head, remembered all too well just how easily Ippo had mistaken her hair for a monster and then tripped over his own feel while travelling on his own. She was sure that Ippo could take care of himself to some degree, even if he did travel alone, but something told her that a presence at his side probably helped at least a little. Probably the same went for her, too.

"Do you know any people in particular that are good to travel with?" she asked, hoping to jot down some names to chase up on in the future.

The Scarecrow put a finger to his head, thinking. He'd recommend some of the people he'd befriended, but he had to say that some- notably Mele and Depth Charge- were not the warmest individuals. Others who were helpful were ones he'd not seen in some time: Remy, Sergeant Carter, Kibitoshin. Sangamon took some getting used to, but he wasn't so bad, either.

Perhaps rather than rattle off a list of names, he thought, something else might be a simpler solution. "Well, you can always check the bulletin board for folks lookin' for help at night," he said. "That might be a good place to start, if you've not already. And if you're really in need, you're always welcome to come with me, though I'm not much help at night, I'm afraid. Still, there's something to be said about safety in numbers, and I always enjoy the company."

Day 57: Cafeteria

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