damned_institute | Day 58: Cafeteria

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Day 58: Cafeteria

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of felt like she was floating and bobbing in the water.

But she was alive.

Knowing how close she came to death last night, and remembering the lengths her friends had gone to in order to save her, there was no way Anise could let a little discomfort get her down. She had to be at her best today so she wouldn't seem ungrateful to Guy and Claude. On that note, she had to remember to thank them properly, now that she was better able to express herself.

While getting ready, Anise was surprised to actually run into Claude that morning. He came to her room asking for the notebook he stored there (or maybe it was an excuse to see her cute face again), so Anise happily located it and handed it over. She was pretty tired, but the big smile she gave him was genuine. Who wouldn't be happy to see her savior so soon after a dramatic rescue?

After he left, Anise finished re-tying her pigtails into a low position so the military beret would fit on her head, and then she was ready! Even though her stomach wasn't feeling that great, she figured sitting down to a decent meal would help normalize it. And luckily for her, she was among the few who had the privilege of eating such a meal. Anise filled a plate with french toast topped with syrup and fruit, accompanied by small portions of each of the available side dishes.

It looked like she was early, which meant there weren't a lot of people around. That was okay, though. Anise could get a good head start on her meal before any company came around. She sat down at a table by herself and started on her sausage first.

[for Tolten!]

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Neku woke feeling a little queasy, but otherwise there didn't seem to be any side effects from the drug. His arm was a little itchy, from where the needle had gone, but that was normal. Maybe he'd lucked out and got one of those... what's it called, sugar-pill sort of things?

The uniforms were back again, which was enough to distract him from the medication. That meant a day with no headphones and a lame-ass hat. He grumbled to himself, but put on the clothing; Shiki'd come up with more embarrassing stuff than this, so he could suck it up and deal if he had to. He just didn't have to be happy about it.

It was the same story a little later when they escorted him to the cafeteria and handed him a bowl of pink slop. Ugh, pass. He was in no mood to eat the stuff, but he was getting really hungry. There was another annoyed grumble as he sat down, sighing at the food in front of him. There was actually a second or two that passed before he noticed his present company.

"Hey. It's... Zack, right?" he tried. They'd gotten off to a pretty lousy start last time, but he seemed like a cool enough guy. Neku picked up a spoon, stirring the pink stuff with obvious lack of enthusiasm.

The moment that Zack saw Rose walk into the room, he wanted to rush over to her, to both check and see how she was doing and to show her that he was back to his normal self. Still, everything from the look on her face to her posture made it clear that she wasn't in the mood to talk. Not to mention the fact that she was soon joined by... hey, that guy from the recreational field, right?

He didn't know if they were friends or if Damon was just taking a risk by talking to a stranger who was already in a bad mood, but Zack would just have to try and catch her later on.

Especially since he'd just been joined by someone himself, the scrawny kid who he'd talked to when he'd been forced to stand and watch everyone clean. That hadn't been his most shining moment -- and they hadn't gotten off on the best foot because Neku had been in a mood for other reasons entirely. Totally understandable after what he'd been through, of course, but...

Hopefully things would go better today.

"That's me," he responded with a properly genuine smile. It felt good to not be weighed under feelings of inadequacy. "I hope things have improved a little since the last time we talked." The boy didn't look scuffed up or anything, at least.

Zack seemed to be in a pretty good mood at least. Neku supposed his own wasn't so bad, given that they'd actually made it partway into the new area last night, so it felt like they'd gotten something done, even if it wasn't much.

"Yeah, everyone was pretty chill about... that," he shrugged, frowning slightly at the thought. It'd been a few days since, but it was still kinda raw. At least most of the people he talked to weren't pissed, except maybe that one weird acrobatic guy.

"I'm just glad we're not scrubbing floors or mopping again. Hate these stupid uniforms though," As if to address his point, he adjusted his hat, fingers brushing over- a pin? Or was that a button? He ignored it for the moment, taking a bite of the pink sludge.

It was just as Zack had guessed. While Neku had probably done some pretty bad stuff while he'd been brainwashed, the fact still stood that he'd been brainwashed. It happened often enough in this place that most people knew what the deal was by now and were prepared to forgive easily.

"If we're lucky, they won't make us do anything like that again," he said when the whole cleaning thing was brought up. Not that Zack had done any mopping or scrubbing in the first place, but that had almost made it worse for him. He glanced around, first to the soldiers to see if they seemed to be planning anything, and then to other patients for the same reason. That food fight had been fun while it lasted, but the results and consequences hadn't been worth it in the end.

"I used to wear a uniform back home so this isn't so bad for me," Zack said with a casual smile as he took another spoonful of the gruel and forced it down. If anything, it was the buttons that bothered him, but he knew that wearing it open wouldn't be an option. "The hat's kind of a hassle to deal with, though." Maybe it was just him, but it kept feeling like it was going to topple off.

If they were lucky? Neku nodded, but really, if they were lucky, none of them would be stuck here at all. As long as no one decided to start another riot though, they'd be okay.

"What for?" he asked, in regard to the uniform. Zack didn't exactly look like a soldier to him, what with the messy hair and goofy smile he seemed so fond of flashing, but maybe he worked in maintenance. Or some kind of public safety thing. Though Zack was definitely not the only one to have issue with the hats. Why bother spiking his hair at all if it was going to end up mashed and mangled and looking like a porcupine that got its head stuck in a wall. Spikes shot out this way and that and hat hair at the end of the day was inevitable. At least headphones worked with his last cut. There was this natural groove between the spikes and-

"Not me. Back in Shibuya, trends are kind of important," he frowned a little, taking another bite. These uniforms didn't even have a brand name.

Zack had figured that it would be obvious what he meant by the comment, but apparently not. It wasn't something he was proud of anymore, which was surreal in his own way because he'd been practically glowing when he'd reached First Class. It hadn't been easy, giving up that sort of life when he'd dedicated himself to it, but his hand had more or less been forced.

"Well, back home I was part of a military organization." Not just any one, either. Shin-Ra's forces had more or less ruled all of Gaia due to the company's stranglehold on the world's energy sources. "Let's just say a lot of this is pretty nostalgic.

"But Shibuya? What's that, the place you're from?" he asked as he took another bite of the mush. He knew that there were places where following trends and being at the head of the fashion curve were important, though that was mainly on the upper levels in Midgar -- and possibly Costa del Sol. It wasn't something he'd ever cared about that much, which was likely why the uniform thing had never bothered him.

Military huh. For real? Neku tried not to let all of his skepticism show, but Zack seemed so... well... happy and well-adjusted for someone who was in the military. Maybe he'd read too many manga and just expected a certain type of person in something like that. He shrugged once.

"Nostalgic? I'd think it was more like being on the outside looking in. Or inside looking out. Even if they give us uniforms we're not... we're not like them."

And once again, there were more people who hadn't heard of Shibuya. It was such a big part of his life, such a big part of Tokyo and Japan that he had a hard time imagining that people outside of that country might not know much about it. And if they were from another world, well... at least they had an excuse. "Yeah. It's part of a big city. Crowded, noisy, never sleeps, that sorta thing. Fashion is everything to a lot of people there. I think I'm glad my friend Shiki isn't here; she'd probably try to start customizing the uniforms. Or petitioning for some she'd designed."

Neku seemed shocked to hear that he had actually been a real soldier before all this, which Zack wasn't all that surprised by himself. Despite the fact that he was muscled like someone who had combat experience, his personality didn't really fit into the rest of the image. Angeal and Sephiroth, they'd acted like real SOLDIERs. Though, judging from his fan club Zack was still more than capable of attracting attention despite his cheery personality. Or maybe because of it.

"Well, that's true," he agreed, "but that doesn't mean I'm not used to being ordered around like this. Just the whole attitude of this place reminds me a lot of home." Although once he'd gotten to a high enough rank, people had treated him much better than he was here. That did smart a little, but Zack tried not to think about it.

Hearing about this huge city was definitely an interesting change of pace, though, and Zack smiled as Neku explained. Midgar wasn't quite at that level. Wall Market never slept, but it wasn't exactly high class, was it? Zack couldn't help laughing when Neku started talking about his friend. "I have to say, I wouldn't mind seeing that. Changing up the uniforms would at least make things a little more interesting around here."

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Day 58: Cafeteria

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