Day 62: Breakfast

[baniichan]

A misplaced sense of familiarity met Barnaby the moment he opened his eyes, and the sight of the blank, white ceiling from yesterday morning greeted him. After rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, Barnaby sat up and felt around for his glasses. Had he blacked out again and wasted an entire night? Where was Kotetsu? And what had become of the man who had seemingly vanished before his very eyes at the end of dinner?

Once Barnaby slipped his frames onto his face, the world came into clearer focus, even if he didn’t get any answers out of it. He was in his room, and someone had apparently stripped him out of his street clothes in favor of the hideous hospital pajamas. Barnaby wasn't sure what he found more offensive -- that someone here had once again touched his things without his permission, or that he’d been undressed while unconscious for the second time since his arrival.

The thought made his skin crawl.

Just as he looked over to find a lump in the bed next to him, though, his assigned nurse came to retrieve him. He would have to confirm Klavier Gavin's whereabouts later. For now, he had no choice but to allow the nurse to escort him into the cafeteria. Strangely, she seemed to be under the impression that he and the other patients had slept soundly the whole night. While he might have assumed it was an act, Barnaby got the feeling that she genuinely believed what she was saying.

Regardless of her intentions, he knew she wasn't going to be any help. Instead of trying to ask her anymore questions, Barnaby left a note on the bulletin board concerning his roommate. If his observations from yesterday were any indication, he'd get some responses, at least. While he could have taken the time to leave something for Kotetsu, Barnaby didn't feel inclined to do so, especially when he knew he probably wouldn't check the board anyway.

He had no appetite this morning, but his nurse wouldn't leave him alone until she'd assembled a tray of fresh, fluffy pancakes for him. Honestly, Barnaby didn't see why some people felt the need to butt into his personal choices like this. At least there wasn't anyone forcing him to eat -- for now, at any rate. He sat down at an empty table close to the wall after setting his food down, privately hoping that she wouldn't try to find a "friend" for him to eat with this morning. He was tucked out of the way, so maybe she would forget about him for a few minutes as long as he didn't draw any unnecessary attention to himself.

Hands neatly clasped on the table, Barnaby didn't look at anyone in particular as patients filtered into the cafeteria for their morning meal. There were too many questions buzzing in his mind for him to focus on the names and faces of people he didn't care about. If Kotetsu wanted to find him, he could. It wasn't like Barnaby was going anywhere.

[For Kotetsu.]

Comments

[cpt_minnow]

Worse than usual? Called it. Sure, every night was a real piece of work, but if everyone let it get to them all the time the Institute would've been filled up with walking ghosts by day three. No, after a while you developed a second set of plating for all of the average woes and disasters this place threw at you: creepy crawlies, dark hallways, even the way people vanished left, right and center.

So when you got a guy who looked like he'd been kicked around the place a few dozen times the night before? It was pretty safe to assume that they were either a particularly sensitive newbie or fresh back from the Pit- and Byrne definitely hadn't only just woken up.

But that was Byrne's business, not his. He wasn't about to hold hands and put together a hug circle or something over it.

Instead, he gave a flat, unhappy smile. At least Byrne had the guts to ask it straight up. "Uploaded and upgraded on Planet Cybertron. Guess I'm what you types'd just call a 'robot', to keep things nice and simple. Take it that means you're an Earthling?"

[corvus_veritas]

Aha. Knew it. A non-Earth dwelling guy and a non-human, though this was the first time Byrne had ever spoken with someone who claimed to be a robot. (Unless Renamon's being a self aware computer program counted as being close to a robot? Hmm.) Depth Charge didn't seem to move super stiffly like typical robots did. Guess he was some kind of advanced model. Or he'd just become used to being human?

...Or maybe it was better to not think too hard about this and the whole 'non human' thing in general. Just accept it as it is and nod your head, Faraday. That headache doesn't need to get worse than it already is.

"Yep, just a regular sack of meat n' bones." Byrne's smile was becoming a little more natural rather than forced now - this change of subject was a good idea after all. It was starting to lift his mood, if only by a slight amount, and if only because it prevented him from thinking about last night. "I'm still trying to get used to the fact that there are other worlds and non-humans around here, so bear with me," he said with a small chuckle.

[cpt_minnow]

"That's one way of putting it," Depth Charge commented, resisting the impulse to wince. He could still hear HK-47 and Lugnut if he tried hard enough to, complaining about squishies and meatbags, and those were two voices he'd never wanted to hear again if he could help it. "Feels a lot more secure in steel."

Slag. How long had it been, anyway? Weeks? Felt more like cycles in this place. Even the Decepticon's face seemed to be fading a little around the edges in his memory circuits: the impression of a squared, blocky, serious face, as big and unwieldy as the 'con himself.

Getting sentimental there, DC... and about a Decepticon, too, he scolded himself silently. Watch yourself. Better sentimental than reminding himself that he'd spent all of last night getting reacquainted with old metal, though, and he managed a shrug. "All the dregs of the universe in one tidy pile. Makes for more interesting conversation, at least." He gave a short laugh. "Who'd have guessed that magic existed, huh?"

[corvus_veritas]

Byrne couldn't really agree nor disagree with Depth Charge's opinions on having a metal body rather than a 'fleshy' one; he could only imagine what the whole experience must be like, after all, so who was he to judge. But he could definitely agree with the second point. All the interesting people he'd met around here - Renamon, Zex, et cetera - certainly did make for some interesting conversations now that the prosecutor was more accepting of the idea that other worlds were out there. Weird conversations, but interesting nonetheless.

"Not me, that's for sure," he replied, shaking his head. "But how else can you explain half the things that go on around here? Unless everyone's just on drugs or something, which is highly doubtful at this point." Wouldn't that be nice, to still be able to blame everything on drugs. Hah!

It was too easy to simply blame every single thing that happened here on the uncontrollable or the unexplained. The information Renamon had given Byrne yesterday, Renamon's powers, the monsters - all proof that there was something else at play, reasons for the things that happened around here. Drugs didn't create giant scorpions that could actually harm you. (Although, what happened last night specifically might be thanks to drugs...but Byrne wanted to quit thinking about that nightmare for now.)