Day 66: Breakfast

[nobleman]

What Guy had seen on that scan resulted in some mixed feelings. While he had expected to find something in Claude, seeing how he was sick, it hadn't been quite the same as what they'd seen when they had scanned that other ill patient two nights ago. What did that mean? It was possible that the shape of it just looked different because of where it was in Claude's stomach, but Guy couldn't help but feel that there was a deeper meaning to it.

Yet another thing that he didn't understand, then. With a sigh, he got himself up out of bed and went searching immediately for the single leaf that he'd taken from the X-ray room last night. It was stored carefully in his possessions box, which meant that he didn't have to worry too much about that.

While he wanted to quickly sketch the leaf's general shape to post on the bulletin, Guy wasn't given that chance, as his nurse showed up before he could even grab for his journal. He had to relent and let her lead him to the cafeteria for breakfast. While Guy considered stopping by the bulletin to leave a note, that could wait until after he ate. He suspected that Anise or Luke would try to find him as soon as possible to tell him about their findings, so leaving a note for them would be redundant.

He did need to ask about the clue from last night and see if anyone else had further insight on it, but that might be something Claude wanted to do, seeing how he had a better idea of who that baptist was and what it all might signify.

After collecting a small amount of food onto a plate, Guy took a seat near the cafeteria's entrance, keeping an eye out for any of his friends so he could flag them down as they walked in.

[For Anise and Claude.]

Comments

[idolism]

_[free.]

Time and the security of night’s embrace, two things a vampire was supposed to have in abundance. A long-lived creature like himself wasn’t supposed to feel unease after sundown and cringe at the passing of every minute--it just wasn’t natural. They ruled the night, the night didn’t rule them. But Landel’s Institute had turned the tables and it was all Aidou could do to bite back his frustration at another unsatisfactory nightshift.

Aigis was sicker and ever, and now Sasuke was… who even knew! Missing, or dead, or back to napping for days on end. The basement remained a mystery and Aidou only had bits and pieces to go on where the “cure” was concerned. All in all, not a successful venture by any stretch of the imagination.

And he was hungry.

After reading over the bulletin, Aidou slunk into the cafeteria and sat down with his tray in as shadowed a corner as he could find. He was almost too tired to even be angry; mostly he was too busy trying to organize his thoughts and put the facts in their proper order.

[maverickhunterx]

X had been hoping to find a shadowy corner in which to write in his journal in peace. He hadn't had much of a chance to recount everything from last night, but with his now human mind (impeccable as his memory was), it was still a good idea to write things down. Think through things with pen and paper rather than just piecing it together through code and computer screens like he may have done normally.

He'd started in it, of course, and found a system that actually sort of worked: Each night he'd spent in this place so far would be to a corresponding line on the page; once he filled that line on one page, he'd go to the next, and then the next, and then the next. It was perhaps a bit tedious to some (and maybe seeming a bit insane), but that was the point.

Make it harder for someone who found it to read through it, in case one of the Nurses managed to find it and report it to Landel.

He'd also done other things; like replace certain words with code words, phrases and things only X would understand, to make it his own notes, and his alone. He'd had to get used to writing without typing tools, but his motor skills handled all right, and a scribbling mess was replaced with neat, almost typing font-esque handwriting.

There was so much he needed to write about. Like the location of tools. The monster. All the other things he'd learned since he was here...

Balancing his tray in one hand, and holding a journal with a pencil in the other, he made his way to a place, trying at least to buck his nurse so he could get started on his proje--

--Oh.

Just as he'd set his tray down, he noticed belatedly that there was someone there, a patient he'd never seen before.

Mumbling a quiet, polite greeting to his companion, X arranged his plate, trying his best to do what he'd remembered learning last breakfast; put food in the oral orfice, move his mouth, then clench his throat to put it down his gullet.

Unfortunately, this was a slow process, lest he end up choking (lesson learned from last night's dinner).

[idolism]

Aidou had put his head down on his forearm, but he was still watching the room intently--particularly the cafeteria door in the case that a familiar head of raven hair passed through it.

No such luck yet. Just people he didn't know or care about, and the occasional stranger who passed too close to his table.

One stranger in particular seemed to want to sit as close to him as possible, for whatever annoying reason. Aidou transferred his gaze to the small male figure for a moment, appraising him with a clinical sweep of the eyes. Human. Not a face he'd seen many times before. "Mm," was his response to the greeting. Pleasantries took too much energy.

Quickly enough he came to the conclusion the other prisoner was of no real note, so returned his attention to the door. At least until the chewing sounds started.

"Please stop eating so loud," he said, eyes still turned toward the entrance. "It's not easy keeping a headache at bay and all this noise makes it harder."

[maverickhunterx]

X had heard this in mid-swallow and tried to respond, though this proved to be a bad idea. Why? Because he started choking. Luckily for him and his companion, it was the last bite of food on his plate.

Unluckily for him, he was still choking.

...wait, what was a way to counteract--

--Ah. Yes.

Coughing hard, he managed to dislodge the piece of food from his windpipe, quickly washing it down the right tube with some juice before the strange mushy feeling of half-chewed food assaulted his mouth and made his stomach turn.

He'd learned after last night's fiasco that he wasn't too much of a fan of the way spat-up food tasted or felt in his mouth.

Coughing once, he whispered his apology:

"S-sorry about that. I'm still not used to eating human food; I'll be quiet from now on."

[idolism]

Oh, gods. Nothing like a human hacking and coughing with half-eaten food in their mouth to make a bad morning worse. Aidou cringed away at the choking sounds, disgusted despite himself.

If he sprayed Aidou with his germs... ugh, someone would pay.

Even after X got himself under control, the noble continued to lean away, looking vaguely repulsed. It was easy to forget that he was supposed to be nice and polite with others, especially when the sun was up and the weight of his failures had taken up residence on his shoulders. At the very least, he doubted the boy was infected with anything strange, not like Aigis was. There was no telltale rash, for one.

If wasn't for what X said, Aidou would have assumed he was just another human with the same human-like propensity for bad table manners. But what was that? "Human food?" he repeated skeptically. "What have you got to complain about human food for?

[maverickhunterx]

Well, at least Aidou's face reflected how X felt about the matter; human functions were fascinating and wonderful, but they also had their disgusting moments (which were also fascinating in their own right, when X thought about it. They had all of these hazards: choking, vomiting, coughing...and yet they handled it just fine. Amazing!).

X covered his mouth and coughed once.

"Before I came here, I never had the need to eat it."

It was strange how easily the words came from his mouth, even though, with his condition, it probably sounded a little crazy. In hindsight, it did seem that it was almost as though he was saying this to himself, and not fully to the stranger next to him.

"But then again, it's not like one would expect a machine to be able to eat and digest human food, regardless of how human they were meant to be."

[idolism]

Another one, huh.

After so long in the Institute, Aidou had almost stopped being surprised at finding himself surrounded by weirdos and creatures that had no right existing. It was an aspect of prison life that one had to get used to. Considering his own disposition, he didn't think the claim was crazy--merely regrettable in the sense that there was yet another person who professed to be more than they seemed.

"A machine," he repeated dully. "How many of there are you? You must be in the same club as Aigis, I suppose."

[maverickhunterx]

"Aigis?"

X had never heard that name before. There were others like him, Zero, and Harpuia in this place? Logically, that would make sense; why would Landel only take them? Surely he would have taken others to this...this...

House of Horrors, he supposed.

"I've never heard that name. Other than myself, the only...ex-machines, I guess you can say, that I know here are Harpuia and Zero."

X paused a moment, tapping his chin as he spread his journal and its contents in front of him.

"Then again, I haven't been here very long. Only two days."

[idolism]

"Ex-machines, that's a good way to put it," the noble commented. Since the spluttering and choking seemed to have stopped, he felt safer sitting back in his chair, an arm hooked over the back.

That supposedly there were other vampires afoot besides just him wasn't as bizarre a thought as the hospital filling up with sentient machines. Vampires were real. They were part of the natural order. They belonged. Talking androids and other science fiction nonsense, on the other hand, strictly belonged to the realm of the fantastical. Or they should have.

Although Aidou had seen Aigis' abilities for himself, her status as a robot remained difficult to accept; when it came to others besides her, it was easier just to shrug their claims off.

Ignorance was bliss.

"Well, I've never heard those names, either. Jeez, so many of you... What's Landel doing, enforcing a new policy where all the new prisoners he kidnaps must be robot people?" His tone was wry, and not a little disbelieving. What a thought. "Mm. Well. I'm sure the four of you would get along splendidly."