Day 64: Cafeteria (brunch)

[gald_digger]

Well, that went well! Anise had gained herself a gorgeously handsome new friend. She just hoped that weird illness didn't get either of them killed before she could get to know him any better.

... Yeah, that was morbid. It was hard not to think about, though.

Before going to the Cafeteria, Anise made a stop at her room to grab her journal, maps, and a pen. Once she finished eating, she could get a start on copying the maps for Barnaby. He was going to be so glad he met her!

With that done, Anise made her way to the Cafeteria, where she picked up an assortment of food, making sure to get some meat, vegetables, and milk on her tray. She then sat down at a table and set her notes aside while she started on her meal. It was hard not to feel self-conscious about the rash on her arm, though the makeup she used had blended the discolored part enough that it couldn't be seen from a distance. Anise just hoped no one would come specifically looking for it.

[Ilia!]

Comments

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery was feeling a little more in control of things when Landel announced food over the intercom, thanks to Sora. That faded very quickly when he realized, as his nurse guided him gently down through the Sun Room, that the strange feeling in his gut from earlier had been hunger.

He wasn't even sure if he could remember how to eat food. It seemed pretty self-explanatory, but then, so did walking. Was digestion an automatic process? God, he hoped it was. Skulduggery delayed the inevitable by leaving a message on the bulletin board Sora told him about, and then allowing his nurse to chatter away aimlessly while she picked out food for him.

When Skulduggery was alone again, he sat slowly back in the chair, trying to gage exactly how his sense of balance was different now that he had more mass. His head, Skulduggery realized, was about twice as heavy as it used to be, throwing him off a lot more than it really should have. That would be the addition of the brain. And speaking of the brain, his organs. They just sat there and were, apart from keeping him alive, utterly useless. Skulduggery had forgotten how fragile they were. He never thought he would miss the empty space in his ribcage so much.

He looked down at the food, trying to remember what his favorites had been from when he was alive. He'd always liked tea, hadn't he? Tea was probably a safe bet. Skulduggery lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip.

It wasn't bad. It wasn't hot, either, as far as he could tell, but there was something wrong with it. The liquid swished around the large and awkward tongue for a moment - bringing with it a pleasant taste Skulduggery remembered from centuries ago - before he finally understood what was wrong with that taste.

Swallowing. He'd completely forgotten how to swallow.

[Waiting on a noir detective, I believe...?]

[overlimit]

Just getting around was a pain in the ass, with all of Rita's injuries hindering her. Her dominant arm was stuck in a sling, fractured ribs made every movement painful, and she had enough bruises to ensure that no part of her body went without aches or pains. She had to keep reminding herself that it was only until that night; that once she had the opportunity, she'd get herself healed. But despite knowing that the pain was temporary, nightfall felt like it could be years away.

Wanting to post some more bulletin notes that day, Rita brought a pad of paper and a pen with her to the Cafeteria. Writing left-handed was time-consuming, so she would take whatever extra time she had in the shift to write her notes.

But today, food was going to have to come first. Rita had been unconscious for an entire day, and that equaled an entire day without food. She was starving. It looked like she was in luck for once, though: today was a buffet brunch, which meant she could select only food that was easy to eat with one hand. She settled on some hot dogs, french fries, and a fruit salad.

A nurse carried her tray to a table for her, where Rita sat and immediately began eating.

[Woody]

[complicatedliar]

Breakfast was as uninteresting a concept as ever, though Loki was actually hungry. He hunted through the buffet until he found bits of food that looked interesting and edible - definitely no sausages, what was that even, cheese didn't come in that color - and filled up a plate. It was mostly fruit, with a waffle and a bit of egg for protein.

That done, he found himself a free seat, wanting to do a bit of thinking though he had little doubt he'd be inflicted with another prisoner by one of the nurses shortly. Idly, he started picking through the fruit salad.

[Flynn!]

[lighthearted]

Sora's conversation with Skulduggery had turned out to be more interesting than he would have expected, considering that Sora was sick and Skulduggery was brand new. Not that Sora had ever been the type to value people on what they knew about Landel's, but it wasn't often these days that he was able to talk to people about their homes and backgrounds.

Of course, he couldn't say that getting close to people here was the best idea, seeing how they kept getting taken away from him, sometimes in very violent ways. He still couldn't get the image of Daemon and Renji's bodies out of his mind. But as much as it hurt, Sora knew that he didn't regret meeting them, even if getting to know them had only led to pain in the end.

His nausea had calmed down slightly after he'd fully woken up, but that changed when he was forced back down the stairs. All he wanted to do at this point was be as still as possible, but Sora forced himself over to the bulletin, this time to write up a message for the club. He was still well enough to do that much, and he wanted to keep up with it for as long as he was able to.

With his message posted up, Sora realized that his next stop was the cafeteria. The last thing he wanted right now was to be around the smell of food, but the nurses weren't giving him any other choice. He let out a sigh and moved to the very edge of the cafeteria, as far from the food line as he could manage, and sat himself down. He rested his arms on the table top and then set his head down on top of them, staring out across the room to watch the other patients filter in.

[For Tsubaki.]

[nobleman]

While they had escaped that dog, Guy's first thought had been that they weren't in the clear quite yet, and right as he was considering how they were going to avoid the birds and make it to the building, everything blacked out and he was faced with his room's ceiling.

Guy blinked once, then twice, surprised by how rested he felt. It was only when he heard the intercom overhead talking about having a free-for-all brunch that he realized he must have slept right through the first shift.

That wasn't like him. Frowning, he sat up in bed and ran a hand through his hair. On the bright side, at least he hadn't slept through the whole day like before. Sleeping through one shift wasn't usually a sign of a larger problem, and it was possible that he'd needed it.

Well, there wasn't much to be done for it now. Guy tried to instead focus on the fact that Luke and Anise were most likely fine. He made sure to stop by the bulletin and put up a message for all of them just in case, and then moved into the cafeteria. His appetite was in full force, and so after some consideration he got himself a bagel with lox and a side of eggs.

Rather than approaching someone at random, Guy decided he'd prefer to catch up with a familiar face, and so for a moment he lingered near the cafeteria's entrance to wait for one of his friends.

[For Tear.]

[dualistic]

Harvey could have thought of better ways to have spent his first shift, but at least Murphy hadn't been a complete idiot. A little on the strange side, but it was nothing compared to some of the other people he'd met here, really. Maybe he hadn't personally benefited from the conversation, but he hadn't come out of it feeling particularly annoyed or frustrated.

Eating was something he had to think about, though. The fact that he was slowly adjusting to eating solids was both surprising in terms of how his body was slowly healing and worrying in that he'd been here for long enough that a change had taken place.

Still, it was better than having to deal with those horrific vitamin shakes. Harvey stood in line, eventually picking out some oatmeal and cut fruit to eat.

A quick glance around the room didn't show him anyone he wanted to speak with, let alone anyone familiar. Not that there were that many names on that list at this point, seeing how Jones was gone. With a sigh, Harvey went to sit down and quietly hoped that no other newcomers would decide that he was a good person to plague with their questions.

[For Niikura.]

[oyaji]

Wild Tiger was all about washing his hands! One, it set a good example for all the patients, especially the children here, that bugs were about as cool as a bank robber! Secondly, if this thing was contagious, he didn't want to accidentally pass it on to Barnaby. One of them needed to be above the influence of mother nature and her icky viruses.

The open buffet boosted his grim mood, though. His foolishly oblivious smile was certainly in place (as was his two-bit mask), but on the inside he was a thunderstorm of emotions, suspicions, and doubts. A good meal wasn't going to change anything, but it didn't hurt. The older man made himself the most perfect bagel sandwich with ham, cheese, egg, and mayonnaise, of course. There was fruit too, after his nurse gave him a look. Well, he supposed to was just another example for the kids. See, even Heroes needed to eat fruit! Maybe he would make his partner eat it; the blond was as much a Hero as he.

Through the crowd, Wild Tiger couldn't find his partner. In that moment, his hands began to sweat and his heart raced. He feared something had happened to Barnaby out on the road. It was all so irrational, but anxiety was almost never logical. There was nothing he could do to calm his heartbeat until he caught sight of the younger man's face.

Taking a seat facing the door, he waited on pins and needles until he saw his partner alive and whole.

[Rabbitfayse~!]

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura was about to accompany Shiina to brunch as well, but the nurse decided, citing the previous day's (not) date, that they'd spent enough time with each other. "You need to make some new friends as well!" she'd said sternly, which almost made him laugh because so far, he'd been doing a pretty good job at the exact opposite.

And so he was forced into the brunch line Shiina-less and still incredibly frustrated. With his mood swinging everywhere but satisfied, he didn't even find himself wanting to devour the entire buffet spread as usual, and ended up just taking a bowl of cornflakes and fruit. It wouldn't be enough to last him until dinner, but hopefully, he'd feel hungrier once he actually started eating. Otherwise, he'd end up grumpy and hungry by the end of the day: not good.

The other thing he needed was some company. No one he absolutely had to talk to was in the cafeteria yet, but Niikura didn't want to wait around and let his cornflakes get soggy, so he ended up just sitting down across from a guy he'd met a few days ago: Harvey. Not exactly a pick-me-up, but maybe he could get some more info out of this guy. Discrete deep breath and--

"What's up?" Although not as obnoxiously chipper as usual, the Niikura that sat down was still the opposite of the sulking teenager that had just slouched his way through the buffet line. He twirled his spoon before plunging it into his breakfast. "Pretty crazy night, huh?"

[pullstring]

As usual, he'd slept longer than he'd wanted, though at this point Woody wasn't sure whether it was a blessing or a curse. On one hand, it was frustrating and really, really worrying. But on the other, this place scared him so bad that sometimes just regular sleep felt like a huge relief.

At least he hadn't missed brunch. The aroma wafting through the cafeteria made Woody's stomach growl, and though he still hadn't entirely accepted this eating stuff, he eagerly filled his plate with pancakes, bacon and eggs.

With that taken care of, the former toy's thoughts turned toward what he'd seen last night. Within seconds, his gaze locked onto the back of Rita's head. Even though the two of them hadn't ever had the best relationship, he still hadn't liked seeing her so hurt, and the obvious signs of injury made him cringe. Woody wasn't heartless, after all, and he hadn't completely forgotten how young Rita was.

Frowning with concern, he approached her table with his tray in hand.

"Uhh, hey," he greeted, a trace of hesitance in his voice. "Are the nurses treating you okay this morning? You know...with your injuries and everything..."

[brokensmolder]

"I know you have strong...feelings for Amanda--"

"Rapunzel."

"--Amanda, Mr. Bartowski, but--"

"Rider."

"--butyouneedtospendsometimeaparttosortthroughthosefeelings," the nurse finished, rushed and clearly flustered. Eugene's protestations at being separated from Rapunzel again hadn't allowed her many words in edgewise. "Mr. Bartowski" could be very charming when he wanted to be, and very obnoxious as well.

"Now, let's grab you a plate and get some brunch."

"Brunch" turned out to be a large buffet piled high with foods Eugene had never seen before but all smelling reasonably palatable. He wasn't feeling particularly adventurous, so he stuck with things he did recognize: fruit and cheese and sausage and some funny-looking latticed bread, and set about applying himself to it with gusto, all while looking around for Rapunzel.

The table best-suited for this purpose was off to the side, a little further away from the doors than he would have liked, but still with a clear view of the rest of the room. It was already occupied by someone who looked less than thrilled with being joined, but that was all right because Eugene didn't care.

Eugene shot the man a toothy grin, plunked his tray down, and began to stuff his face.

[complicatedliar]

Loki, still picking through his much more humble plate, paused to look at the man. It was almost as bad as watching Peter Parker eat. "I'm not certain what I find more disturbing," he said after a moment of thought. "That you're eating like a starved wolf, or that you're staring at that poor woman over there as if she's your next lamb chop."

[baniichan]

Although he couldn't say he was thrilled about becoming indebted to other patients, Barnaby had already accepted that he couldn't avoid it, at least while he was adjusting to their surroundings. As Anise worked to gather the necessary materials to copy maps for him, Barnaby's nurse escorted him to the bathroom to wash his hands before leading him to the cafeteria. After gathering himself an English muffin, a cup of fruit, and some water, he scanned the cafeteria for his partner.

He'd caught a glimpse of him retreating from the chapel at the end of the shift, but was still quietly pleased to find Kotetsu, who, judging by his expressive face, seemed just as relieved to find him. Without any hesitation, Barnaby approached him and sat his tray down across from the man. As he moved, he did his best to mask the slight tremors plaguing his arms and hands, and to draw little attention to the rash crawling up his skin.

"I take it you suddenly blacked out last night as well, then," he murmured in way of greeting.

[brokensmolder]

...his next lamb chop?

Eugene had to mentally repeat what his companion had just said a couple of times before it made sense. "My next...what, Rapunzel?" He laughed. "No, she's my..." His what, exactly? His new dream, certainly; the one he wanted to leave his life of crime for, even spend the rest of his life with...but how to phrase it without losing face? "...girlfriend. The perky redhead over there decided we're spending too much time together." Grinning, he added cockily, "Maybe she's jealous."

And why wouldn't she be? He was an excellent (and modest!) specimen of manhood, if he did say so himself. (And he did.)

He took another bite of sausage and chewed, a little more slowly this time. "The name's Flynn, by the way. Flynn Rider."

[complicatedliar]

Loki glanced at the nurse. "Somehow I doubt that," he said, tone very dry. He was forced to wonder if this Rapunzel really was the man's girlfriend, or if there was some sort of creepy, psychopathic situation occurring. Well, if the fellow across the table became completely unhinged, Loki did have a few pens stowed in his pockets; that would be enough for defense. A pointy object in the eye tended to slow even the most psychotic down. "So yes. Your girlfriend. Which compels you to stare at her... why? Or are you still in that disgusting honeymoon phase?"

"Lingormr," he said. After a moment of thought, he added, "I'm a viking." Since it seemed a good idea to throw that bit out into the conversation early to forestall some of the more awkward questions.

[dualistic]

It was this kid again. Harvey glanced up. He hadn't yet managed to work up the energy to spoon some of the oatmeal into his mouth, especially since part of him still remembered that pink goop. Not that this stuff was anything approaching that, but the consistency was similar.

Either way, he was a little bit surprised that Niikura wanted to talk to him again. Not that their first conversation had been particularly hostile, but they hadn't seen eye-to-eye on most things. Then again, Niikura struck Harvey as someone who was laidback about most things (or at least put on airs of being that way), so it wasn't so shocking that he was willing to chat with him again.

Or maybe this had to do with Shiina. Not that Harvey had any investment in that, but the girl had seemed out of sorts yesterday.

"Yeah," he said in response to the kid's remark. "Looks like you made it out all right." There wasn't any obvious sign that Niikura was hurt, at least. Harvey was still curious about why those birds had targeted only specific people, but he wasn't going to bring it up now. "Who were you with?" It was a way to ask after Shiina without actually saying her name.

[brokensmolder]

"Yes, we're madly in love," Eugene deadpanned, fighting snark with snark. "There was even a love song. And I'm not staring." To prove the point, he stopped staring. For a while.

If his new brunch buddy was expecting him to be impressed by this pronouncement, he was going to be disappointed. Eugene, as a marginally good citizen of Corona (there was still that price on his head to worry about), had never heard of vikings.

"Gesundheit," he said instead. That wasn't a name; it was a random collection of syllables! "I'm a thief."

[complicatedliar]

"Oh yes. Not staring at all." Loki pretended to check a watch he wasn't actually wearing. "I shall time the not-staring to see how impressive it becomes, shall I?" Love songs? Ridiculous.

His eyes narrowed at the mockery of his chosen false name. This man was certainly not impressing him in the slightest.

Oh, a thief. Well. That explained things.

"I'm a scholar."

[oneman_onekill]

Yeah, he'd made it out all right, kind of. He wasn't going to talk about the consequences of last night that much. Certain appearances needed to be maintained, and if he started talking about...that stuff, they were all going to be thrown out the window.

"Eh, just Naga--" Niikura made a brief face as he corrected himself. "Shiina." He wasn't sure if Harvey remembered Shiina's surname, and Westerners usually referred to each other by their given names anyway. "We made it out of the bus no sweat, but outside was the, uh, hard part." He ate a spoonful of his cereal. "For obvious reasons."

He was doing pretty well at this keeping it casual thing so far. No weird veins popping out anywhere, no eye twitches, no sudden urges to flip tables...at least, as far as he could tell. Good training or something. Couldn't sound too flippant, though. That was suspicious.

"Definitely something I could've done without."

[fonichymn]

For once, all of her nightly questions had been answered by daylight, but unlike most times, progress came as detrimental to the one named Tear Grants. Not only had Dr. Landel concluded the night on a rather suspicious note, but an incident had placed every Doyleton visitor at risk or possibly worse. Judging by the reactions on the bulletin board, one individual had let his heroism get ahead of himself, and while Tear was more than willing to write a diatribe in regards to his behavior, she had people to seek out.

In truth, the Melodist also felt the fluttering signs of anxiety over her unusual sleep schedule. Though Renamon had assured her some time ago that the signs were not necessarily a definitive path to being released, Tear could not help the emotion. One never enjoyed the idea of losing one's identity, after all.

Tear could, however, stifle it in favor of duty. By the time she had caught the sight of a familiar blond at the cafeteria entrance, she had donned on her serious face. Any evidence of uncertainty were wiped clean from her expression.

"Thank goodness," she breathed. "Is everyone all right?"

[thecamellia]

Tsubaki knew she should eat--and knew she could eat, despite the pall that hung over her memories of last night--but somehow it seemed… unfair to go about eating a Sunday meal as if nothing was amiss. The Institute’s innocent façade might have been necessary, but it wasn’t something she wanted to uphold at the cost of sincerity.

She knew trying to subvert their normal routine was more childish than helpful, but she couldn’t bring herself to care about maintaining appearances. Rather than collect her meal like she normally did, once she entered the cafeteria she stopped to take in the room. Kurogane’s tall frame wasn’t easy to miss, but she couldn’t spot him anywhere. In contrast, she almost missed Sora until she looked again and saw him hunched over a table on the very edge of the room.

Oh, poor Sora. If she could have done something to change last night’s outcome, she would’ve done so in a heartbeat.

Quickly, before a nurse could intercept her and foist brunch on her, she went over to Sora’s table. “Hey,” she said softly, reaching out to put her hand on his shoulder. “Can I sit with you?”

[tasteoftruth]

Heh. Saint Kojak. That had not been the most mature deception he'd ever pulled off but one had to savor the little things. Badd picked a random assortment of food items, loading heavy on the sweets, and went to look for someone else he could hold a bearable conversation with. Let's see if we can't bat two for two today.

The man he sat next to seemed to be having a problem with his food. He was drinking the tea so slowly Badd almost felt like giving him verbal instructions on how to continue consuming it. It wasn't a face Badd recognized, either.

"It's not poisoned," he put in. "At least we don't think so." But give it long enough here, brother, you'll wish it was.

[dividedby]

It was hard to tell whether things were finally looking up or not, judging from last night's...unexpected events and the calmness of this morning. Zero woke up without a cast on his arm or bandages around his neck for the first time in days, and although the night before had been a disaster (no thanks to the man who had caused that bus to crash), it hadn't been a complete waste of time. The situation was bad, but it could be worse. Much worse.

...Though Landel's multiple statements about the illness in the patient body were less than comforting, and they reminded Zero of what he'd promised to do yesterday: go the medical wing and gather medicine to distribute to the ill. Hopefully it wouldn't be too late to go tonight...and hopefully nothing unexpected would happen that would prevent him from doing so once again.

But as for the morning. The chapel hadn't sounded like something worth visiting, so Zero had spent the entirety of first shift practically camped out on a couch in front of the bulletin board, going back and forth between writing and reading. Most of his board activity had to do with leaving a number of irritated notes about that patient from yesterday who'd decided rioting would be a good idea (Snow Villers, someone on the board revealed). It wasn't that Zero was blindly pissed off about the whole thing, exactly - although the incident did leave him with bitter feelings - but he simply wanted to let that guy know that what he'd done yesterday was unacceptable. Especially when he was going around the board acting like nothing had happened. Nothing had happened? Did this guy have any clue...

(That exact transcript of what was said prior to the crash was quite impressive, on a related note. Wonder who left that...)

It wasn't long before Zero was forced to become separated from the board, his chatty nurse appearing to take him to brunch. Not that he was really annoyed by it, though. He could always note swap later. For now, it would be good to get some energy back in his body for the rest of the day. The once-Reploid separated himself from his nurse as quickly as he could, filled a plate with an assortment of food, then seated himself alone, considering his plans for the rest of the day and later on.

[Free!]

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery glanced up as the stranger sat down next to him, but wouldn't have responded even if he didn't have a mouthful of tea. He knew the food wouldn't be poisoned, partly because Sora confirmed that everything was as normal as possible during the day and partly because there was very little point in holding a large group of people prisoner if you were just going to poison the food they ate. Poison hadn't been why Skulduggery was hesitant about eating it. Of course, he hadn't really given much thought to swallowing, either.

Professor Grouse used to force unconscious people to swallow by holding their breath and massaging their throat. After a slight pause, Skulduggery tipped his head back and tried that himself. To his surprise, it worked, but had the unfortunate side effect of going down the wrong way and sending him into a coughing fit. Good god, coughing fits hurt.

"Sorry about that," he said once he managed to stop. "I haven't had to swallow for a while. I don't suppose there's an easy way to explain how it works?" With everyone here in the same boat, Skulduggery didn't see any point in trying to hide who he once was anymore; people would either believe him or believe he was crazy, and honestly, what else was new?

[overlimit]

Rita was halfway through her first hot dog when the man approached. This time, it wasn't as much of a surprise as it was the previous night, and she merely watched him disinterestedly for a few moments as she chewed the large bite she'd just taken, then swallowed. She didn't care if Woody joined her at the table, though she wasn't in the mood to be pleasant. Then again, she rarely was.

"If anything, they've been too nice," she replied dryly, her gaze drifting to the staff that monitored the Cafeteria. "It's annoying. I know how to handle my injuries." She gave a small hmph as she took another bite of the hot dog. It wasn't her first time suffering an injury so severe as to threaten her life, but she hoped it would be the last. At least for the year. She'd had way too many close calls in such a short amount of time.

[corvus_veritas]

This was it. Monsters attacking them from everywhere, forcing him to run back to the place they were trying to escape from just to find shelter, and then to run across that bloody scene upon getting there? It was over. Run around all they pleased, but it was useless. They were going to die. All of them. No way out.

No! No no no! What am I saying? What would Kay think if she heard me saying that? C'mon! Byrne squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get a hold of himself, then...it was just dark, and all was quiet. Then a woman's voice called out to him from seemingly nowhere. Who-?

"Mr. Sullivan, wake up! You've slept long enough. Get up before you miss brunch, too!"

Byrne sat up from his bed and rubbed his eyes, frowning, not really believing his nurse until she repeated herself over and over again. Wait. He was--morning? Missed what shift? Crap, was it really-? How long had he slept in? Uuugh. Morning.

Yeah, this meant that nightmare was over now, thank god, but he'd missed a shift and his body was just hurting all over. Ow. Aches and pains. Couldn't he stay in bed all day?

...Guess not. Sigh. Might as well hope that moving around a bit would help with these body cramps.

Of course, the first thing Byrne aimed for once he got out of bed was the bulletin board, which his nurse kindly allowed him to visit on the way to the cafeteria. There were a lot of notes up already, of course - huh, so it was one of the patients that caused that bus to crash yesterday? How stupid - but one note in particular gave the prosecutor pause. Namely, the one that said Lunge had been released. Lunge was the guy who'd given Badd a copy of those torture session notes. Didn't even get a chance to meet him after what happened between us and Badd...

Byrne forced himself not to get too caught up in thinking about it, though. He didn't know Lunge personally, which helped, and honestly? Death notices on the board were starting to hit him with less and less power each time he saw another one, they were so damn common. As long as it wasn't for someone like Renamon, Badd, Gren, or Rei, then...

L-let's not think about that, Faraday.

So Byrne tore himself away from the board (partly because of his nurse's insistence) and moved to the cafeteria, trying to think of other things instead. He ended up sitting by himself after getting his food, as he saw no one he recognized right away, but he didn't start eating yet. For some reason, he was feeling more nervous than usual, and that was getting in the way of actually having an appetite. Was it that release notice for Lunge, bothering him more than he was wanting it to? Hopefully not. C'mon, focus! Things won't be so bad! Just eat something already, okay?

... Sigh. Personal pep talks only worked so well.

[Ippo!]