Day 69: Breakfast

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar scowled, both relieved and angry that he had woken up once again in his own bed. That lanky man who had become his new roommate on the night of his death was sound asleep one bed over.

This was coming to be the new "normal." It was infuriating.

As always, he begrudgingly followed his nurse into the cafeteria and took a seat. He preferred to file in with the majority of the patients in order to avoid sticking out, but no such luck this morning.

Scar stared at his food rather than starting in on it, despite the newly found appetite that had been lost thanks to that blasted sickness. He had a lot to think about. He hadn't managed to find Frank last night. The damn intercom had beaten him to it. And judging by Tsubaki's reaction to him, he had been out for at least a day's time. How many had noticed? Cared? It couldn't have been many.

But it was the few who did whose detection Scar was desperate to avoid.

[Eddyyyy!]

Comments

[knightspirit]

Somehow, I think that they're beyond your reach now.

That was something Kyousuke didn't need to be told twice. The trip to the morgue had ended in failure, which was about what he'd been expecting, but the process itself had been both more draining and more gentle than he'd anticipated. It was a relief he hadn't had to contend with the scene of Sora's death again, but the process of opening those containers, not knowing what they might contain... Now that he was alone and Kratos wasn't here to see it, he allowed himself to cringe.

In hindsight, he almost wondered why he agreed to it; rooting through bodies was just going too far, no matter how he thought about it. Maybe he should have been more insistent the man stop instead of making sure he didn't have to deal with it alone. ... But only in hindsight. It was a pointless worry now, especially since in the end, there wasn't anything to disturb. Letting a completely hypothetical situation weigh on his conscience wasn't going to do him any good. All he could do was once again remind himself, never again, and leave it at that.

Once the nurse arrived, she removed the bandages one his arms and left them. There were still several gashes down both, but the stitches had already dissolved, and they'd reached a point where it was fine to let them air out and finishing healing on their own. His chest, however, was another story; it seemed he'd still have a tough time getting around for a while. As usual, he ignored it, and followed the nurse to the cafeteria to grab some fruit and pancakes, before hefting himself into a seat an empty table.

[ freeeeee as the wind ]

[gald_digger]

For how annoying last night's adventures were, Anise hadn't incurred any new injuries, so that was something to be glad about. Actually, she'd been pretty lucky lately, as far as that went. Her friends had been staying relatively safe, too. Hopefully that lucky streak was going to continue for a long time.

And in other good news, she didn't sleep in today! She'd been a little worried after yesterday, but maybe that was just a fluke. Anise hoped Luke and Claude had gotten over whatever was making them oversleep, too. As she entered the cafeteria, she looked around, but there was no sign of either of them. Guy was there, at least. Anise was glad to have one friend she didn't need to worry about.

Upon reaching the counter, Anise picked up a couple pancakes, added syrup, and piled a small mountain of strawberries on top. Perfect!

Now she just had to find a place to sit. Guy was free, but they'd just spent the whole night together, so maybe it was better to give him a little space. Absence made the heart grow fonder, after all! Everyone else looked kind of busy, so that left... some kid she didn't know! She was pretty sure she'd seen him around, but he wasn't exactly a veteran or anything. Well, in any case, it wouldn't hurt to go over and introduce herself!

"Hi! Mind if I sit here?" Anise cheerfully asked the stranger as she approached his table, gesturing at the seat across from him.

[knightspirit]

It didn't take long for someone to approach him. Kyousuke looked up to see a young girl with her hair tied into two ribbons, and while he couldn't be certain how old she was, they seemed closer in age than most of the people he'd met here. There was some kind of stuffed animal on her back, too, which he eyed curiously, but refrained from commenting on.

"Sure, go ahead," he nodded. It seemed rare to find someone so upbeat here, so it could be a nice change of pace. He started to pick at some of the fruit on his tray, not sure if he was up for anything heavy quite yet.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed woke up with the sound of the intercom, disoriented. One moment, he was with Al, Lloyd, and Murphy, the next not, and he had no idea how he ended up in bed.

The nurse entered the room to get him. "I see you're awake. Come on and get your breakfast."

"Lemme wake up properly, first," he said crankily as he dug the heel of his hand into his eyes in an effort to help wake up. He was soon up and moving.

After getting his food, he found an out of the way spot away from the main crowd that was blocking his view and sat down to dig into breakfast. He had more pancakes than the nurse was happy with, but he had pointed out that he was still a teenager and needed a lot of food.

He tried to survey the crowd for his brother and soon gave it up as a bad job and concentrated on his food instead of anything else going on.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar glanced up from his food as more people began filing in. He took careful note of each additional patient, looking for his allies for no other reason to make sure that they were still alive after the day he had been gone.

He hadn't even heard whatever had killed him sneaking up behind him. Had it ventured farther into the Institute? Killed more people?

Scar's stormy thoughts were cut off as he saw a stocky blond boy shuffle in with the other patients. Clearly he was seeing things. It couldn't be...

It took the Ishbalan several moments of staring to make sure. By the time he stood up to approach the Fullmetal Alchemist, the boy had already sat down with his food. He swallowed as he approached the table. How would Edward react? How much did he remember? Lust had come here from after Scar's death, yet Scar himself had arrived after she had. What did that mean for Edward?

"They've taken you, too?" What else was he supposed to say? They had never been on good terms.

Not that Scar had ever been on good terms with anyone from back home.

[fullmetalheart]

That was not a voice Ed ever expected to hear again and he sucked in a breath that unfortunately coincided with trying to swallow his food, resulting in him choking for a minute.

Airway cleared, he spun around to stare at Scar with wide eyes. "You're alive," he heard his voice say, not remembering making a conscious decision to say anything.

[dividedby]

With the way his night had ended, Zero probably should have considered himself lucky to hear Landel's grating voice tell him to 'get his lazy bones out of bed'. Yet the only thing he could think with clarity in those first few moments awake was how much he wanted to shut that voice up for good.

Everything else was quite like the end of that night. A confusing, painful fog.

His arm reacted less to having pressure applied to it, which was good, but his injured right leg was a different story entirely - one he didn't learn until he tried to stand on it much too quickly. Big mistake. That action only rewarded him with sharp, burning pain that spread like a wildfire up his leg and into his lower body. Immediately he fell back down to the edge of his bed, wincing and gritting his teeth as he waited for the pain to die back down to a dull throbbing where the cut was. Now it was his frail human body who was taking the brunt of his internal anger.

The nurse was going to be next, for no other reason other than showing up and smiling in that condescending way. Pretending to be concerned like usual, huh? Or if not that, then still happily brainwashed? Whatever. Just let the day be over with already...

Unfortunately, thanks to his leg, walking wasn't going to be so simple. The nurse figured this was going to be the case and came prepared with a pair of crutches. Zero had seen humans and even a few Resistance soldiers use these before, but he'd never had a reason to use them himself before now...guess it was his turn at last. Lucky him. The crutches were awkward and uncomfortable, but he tolerated them only for the fact that it was far more uncomfortable trying to walk on his injured leg. What he could not tolerate was how his nurse now had more of a reason to hound him everywhere he went, even to the breakfast tables. Not that it didn't make sense - he wouldn't have been able to carry his tray himself with these crutches - but he hated having to be around her more than necessary.

For once, he was actually hoping that some other prisoner would pester him with mundane conversation. Anything was better than listening to her talk on and on and on about his health and the weather and everything he couldn't care less about...

[X!]

[maverickhunterx]

X, conversely, had a completely different sort of night.

He'd found himself not in bed, but under it, clutching his flashlight tightly to him in a way that could only be described as a deathgrip. His nurse had been the one to wake him up, nudging him with the end of a broom as though he was a cat stuck in the storm drain. With a blink of his eyes, he'd woken up, making some excuse about how he'd heard something outside and he'd gotten scared, and while the Nurse had hardly believed him...

It was enough to get her to get off his back, allowing X to tune her chattering out as his mind had wandered back to last night.

...

That sickness had come again. That craving for blood, the need to smell the sickeningly sweet scent of flesh, and his leg had cramped more than ever before. He hadn't even thought twice before staying in his room, closing himself in the moment his roommate dashed out into the hallway. He'd rolled under his bed, flashlight in hand, ready to flash it in unsuspecting patients' faces to scare them off if they'd bothered to wander in.

That, or simply huddle under the bed, silent, lost in his own thoughts as he tried to stave off the hunger that made his stomach growl, his nose twitch, and his mind whirl.

If he left his room, it would have very well been a repeat of the incident with Zero. He could have hurt someone, bit into their skin without thinking, chewing on flesh, savoring that sweetness that he'd only barely managed to give himself--

X held his mouth at the thought, barely able to keep himself from vomiting.

He just needed food. Real food. Something that tasted like something an organic would eat, rather than...the cravings he'd had the night before, as he'd ground his teeth, clutched the floor, and kept himself from leaping out whenever that unmistakeable scent of meat fluttered by.

"You know, the floor isn't a comfortable place to be sleeping, Alex--"

Oh, the nurse was still talking, even as he went into the cafeteria. Even as he grabbed his tray, she was still talking small talk, but X wasn't paying attention. He was just looking for a place to sit. A familiar face, someone, anyone--

Wait. Who was that...? That familiar face, blonde hair, sitting at a table with his nurse nearby...

"Zero!"

He sat down next to him, setting his tray down. He didn't notice the nearby crutches, so relieved was he on finding someone he knew, and someone he was already worried about, at that...

[dividedby]

Of all the prisoners who could have sat down and tried to strike up conversation, it was very fortunately X - someone Zero liked and was relieved to see in one piece - who ended up actually doing so. He was considering himself lucky for that. However--

"Oh, it's your friend Alex!" the nurse chimed in before Zero could say a word. "Why don't you two have a nice breakfast together?"

...That's what I'm going to do if you'll just be quiet, he wanted to say, but he held his tongue; no need to give her another reason to keep yapping. Instead, he ignored her by turning his full attention to X. (Of course, the irritation his expression had held while interacting with the nurse was noticeably absent now.)

"X. Are you okay?" The younger former Reploid seemed to be in good health, but looks could be deceiving. What had happened to him last night, while Zero had been off getting himself injured in a foolish way? Hopefully X hadn't put himself into any dangerous situations...

[his_legacy]

Link awoke with an ache in his back and a tired feeling in his head. Thanks to that beast in the kitchen, they had failed to get particularly far. At least everyone was alive and relatively healthy. No severe injuries.

He followed his nurse into the cafeteria, staring intently at the entrance to the kitchen as he settled with his food. He had to force away the thought of making a break for it. But there would be too many people- nurses and orderlies and staff cooking.

Link would simply have to wait until tonight. For now, he kept an eye out for his allies.

[Free]

[impudentsongbird]

Snapping awake instantly was not comfortable. It wasn't comfortable at all. Especially not with the adrenaline still pounding his heart and veins, his breathing still ragged with the fear of the darkness and the monster. For several minutes Gabe could only stare at the ceiling and wait for the tingle in his limbs to ebb.

When Rachel came to collect him, Gabriel went with her quietly. They hadn't even reached the storage room. He still didn't have a torch. Tonight, he'd have to face the darkness without light--again.

The thought filled him with terror. His eyes were hollow, his mouth was drawn to a tight line, but his being radiated prayers. Would his Master answer?

He didn't know. The Lord didn't always.

The Archangel was tired enough, distracted enough, that while trying to wind his way through the tables and chairs, he misjudged a step. His foot caught on the edge of a seat nearby where a man sat, and with a yelp Gabriel stumbled, trying to save his food and his balance at once.

[his_legacy]

Link jumped up out of his chair the moment he felt the other man trip, taking gentle hold of his shoulders to make sure he didn't lose his balance completely.

"Are you alright?"

[freewill]

The last image Castiel had burned into his mind was Lust choking on water, drowning while on solid ground, and while it wasn't out of the ordinary for a ghost to do such a thing, watching it when he had no way of stopping it was something else entirely. He sat up in bed suddenly, on the move, and it was only the yank of pain from his abdomen that stopped him.

Not that there was anything that could be done about it now. Whatever had been done to Lust, that had probably been hours ago now, even though it only felt like a few seconds. Castiel let out a breath and dragged a hand through his hair (had it been growing? how strange), looking around the quiet room.

The intercom came on with Landel's usual pointless words, although Castiel was surprised when he felt the pull of hunger as the breakfast meal was described. Was he finally well enough to eat something without feeling like he was going to throw it back up the next minute?

Castiel remembered the flower that Lust had given him and moved out of his bed as quickly as he could. He found that overall, the pain he was in was much more manageable, and so he was able to kneel down and pull the metal box out from under his bed, digging inside until he found the unassuming yellow flower. Now if he could only find Aigis today...

His nurse came in, smiling as usual, and Castiel stood up and moved over to her, completely obedient. The last thing he needed was to be found out now. He stopped by the bulletin to leave a brief message for Lust and then entered the cafeteria. After standing in line, he headed to a table with a plate of food loaded up with fruit and buttermilk pancakes. Castiel took a seat and kept an eye on the cafeteria doors, looking out for Aigis.

[Aigis.]

[no_dont_go]

The android girl woke with a start. Again, sleeping through most of the night with little regard for anything else. Sechs had come by, but she hadn't gone out after that. Another night, wasted in her room.

At least she hadn't turned. She contented herself with that knowledge, moving as her nurse instructed to dress in a clean institute garb then headed out to the cafeteria. Pancakes were not her favorite, she decided as she stepped through the large doors. However, there would be a nice selection of fruit available if past experiences could be trusted. Voicing her desire to skip the main entree, her nurse led her to the line where she selected some bananas and oranges as well as a few slices of toast.

Tray in hand, Aigis glanced around, trying to decide where to sit today. A few of her friends were already out but most had found tablemates already. She blinked around, still a little bleary from a nearly full night of sleep.

[nobleman]

Normally, if Guy had woken up and the last thing he remembered was being made to play a life-sized board game run by a flamboyant man with long blond hair, he would have assumed that it was some kind of bizarre dream. Unfortunately, at Landel's it didn't work that way. Whatever he and Anise had gone through, it had been genuine.

So it was a good thing that it hadn't led to either one of them being hurt. Guy was frustrated that they hadn't accomplished much, but in the end it had been preferable to getting into some kind of battle and waking up with a bunch of wounds.

The night had more or less been a bust from the start since Claude and Luke hadn't been around anyway. Though with that thought in mind, Guy quickly got ready for the day and followed his nurse into the Sun Room, where he left a note for his two friends. Once that was done he stepped into the cafeteria and immediately looked for Leanne.

Still no sign of her. Guy really hoped that she was all right. He'd gotten that flower for her, but was it possible that it'd been too late?

Well, there wasn't much he could do about that now, so Guy got himself a plate of food and went to sit down.

[Free!]

[asteroidbelt]

Miketsukami and Gabe were here, Ryusei thought as he sat down, finishing his survey of the room. But Ryuugamine wasn't. That didn't mean anything; Ryusei's memory might be faulty right now but there were a number of reasons someone wouldn't show up. Sick, maybe.... Maybe.

He couldn't remember if he'd ever seen Miketsukami, or Gabe, or Ryuugamine before he'd talked to them. But if he couldn't remember that, then he couldn't have dreamed them up, put them in his little nighttime delusions, could he? Ryusei wasn't that kind of person. But he'd been confused all day yesterday, and all night, and maybe there was something about being restless and anxious that made him see things. If he couldn't depend on his memory, he needed something to ground him, make the prospect of a confused mind less terrifying—

"Uh— Hello!" he said, once he finally remembered that he'd taken a seat opposite someone. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I'm... a little distracted. Can I ask you something?"

[armoredsoul]

Al 'awoke' with a start, gripping the sheets under his hands as the intercomm rattled on. For a moment he hoped the memories of last night were little more than a dream, but the twinge of tended cuts quickly cut that short.

It was humiliating, that he'd been caught so off-guard by that damned cat last night. In retrospect was obvious the thing was drawing the monster to them, and his naivete had put him, his brother, and Lloyd into a deadly tangle. Something about how they had finally gotten away didn't feel right, but Al couldn't pinpoint anything in his memory as to why. Shrugging the nagging thought off as nervous paranoia, he hauled himself out of bed to get dressed and head to breakfast.

Once he'd filed in and gotten his meal, he looked around for any familiar faces.

[Lust!]

[a_sin_for_him]

The last thing she remembered before waking was that feeling of water welling up inside of her lungs and throat. She woke coughing, her hands going to her throat but of course there was nothing. Lust fell back into her narrow bed, shaking. This stupid, half-human body was beginning to drive her mad. And she had wanted this?

When the nurse came the daily routine began again. She waited to see if she felt any better today, but found she only felt worse. Nothing had been done last night, her friends were still dead, and she had made it barely further than the first main hallways.

At breakfast she sat with her try and ignored it. She wasn't hungry again - or rather, she didn't feel like she could eat. She stared at the food morosely, hands limp in her lap.

Nor did she bother checking the dining hall for those she knew - she couldn't take the absence of anyone she ought to see this morning. She knew there were those she needed to check on - Lingormr, the Elrics, Castiel - but she couldn't bring herself to. What if all she found were more death announcements?

How did humans deal with this sort of numbing, crippling emotion?

[complicatedliar]

Well, it was better than nothing. He'd seen the beginning of the mysterious basement now, and as long as he stuck with Soma - which Loki intended to do - he'd be able to get down to it much more easily this time.

And, really, Link and the Once-ler had made decent meat shields, though not up to Thor's standards. Then again, he also didn't want to stab them nearly as much as he wanted to stab Thor, so it was a decent trade-off.

Loki's skin still felt rather tender, though it wasn't bandaged. The nurse that picked him up smeared some white cream on it before escorting him away, which he had to admit made things feel a little better.

He made a plate of fruit and toast, as was beginning to be his habit, then cast around for somewhere to sit. There were a few people he wished to speak with today, at least.

[Soushi!]

[ever_loyal_dog]

The passing of night to day was a bit jarring, he was coming to realize, as the third day dawned. He couldn't remember falling asleep or passing out, but between one breath and the next he was lying down in his bed, staring up at the same blank ceiling. The only telltale signs that the night had been anything more than a dream were the tools still in his hands. Soushi quickly stowed the bat and his light and tried to make sense of it.

The form in the hallway had definitely been some kind of demon or yurei, from what he could tell. But would it be there again tonight? Would it help or hinder him? Searching for his old phone was becoming more and more a fool's errand, unless he also managed to find a way to charge it. The only other lead he had was to take a closer look at these monsters that supposedly roamed the halls at night.

It wasn't long before his nurse arrived, escorting him from his room and watching him closely as he made his way through the line to pick up his breakfast. He didn't much care for the overly sweet pancakes, opting instead for the bland cereal, plain toast, and a bowl of fresh fruit.

The room wasn't terribly full by the time he exited the line and the nurse suggested he find a friend to sit with. Most of the patients were either still waiting for their food, or otherwise engaged in conversation. The only other patient still standing was-

Lingormr. Just his luck.

Soushi kept his head down and took the closest seat, careful not to make eye-contact with the man. While he couldn't be sure he'd be recognized (several were too slow to make the connection), Lingormr seemed fairly sharp. How would he take to having been deceived? Then again, the man had shared some reasonably valuable information with him, a name, a contact, at least a small bit of hope, whether he knew it or not.

Pushing that thought aside, he stirred his cereal for a few moments and took a sip of his water.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana's eyes had no sooner fluttered open than they narrowed into a glare. The ceiling tiles themselves were innocent, but what they represented...damnit. She'd slept through another night, this one in its entirety.

One of the nurses bustled in -- an unfamiliar one, with bouncing blonde curls and a matching demeanor. Lana raised her eyebrows at the woman, without even standing up. This was apparently enough to open the conversational floodgates, as she was immediately regaled with a reiteration of the breakfast menu, two separate opinions on the effect of the rain on the emotional state of the patients (it would, apparently, both depress them and give them hope, a contradiction that could only get worse if examined in detail). She outwaited the torrent of words, stood up, and sneezed.

"And a good night's sleep, doesn't you feel better, Shirley?" she added, eyes wide and guileless. Lana stared back, and then, intentionally, blinked first.

"I can think of worse things I could have done," she admitted. And don't call me Shirley. She could, too -- while she had intended to solve the issue of her illness, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't have overtaken her, and sleep was a safer option.

That did seem to be enough of an answer for the nurse, who herded her out into the hallway and down into the cafeteria without a chance to stop at the bulletin board. She took a short stack of pancakes, and looked around. Everyone who'd arrived had sorted themselves out into groups already, so she claimed the end of a table and started idly picking chocolate chips out of her pancakes and eating them.

[Free!]

[mirrorimage]

Lana hadn't met the rest of the group the night before, and Nina was worried. She knew how easy it was to sleep through the night, having it done it herself, but that didn't do anything to untie the knots forming in the pit of her stomach. When she saw Lana sitting at breakfast alone, though, she perked up visibly, enough to draw the nurse's attention. Pointing, she asked to go sit by Lana. The nurse, apparently happy enough that she was making a friend, guided Nina over.

When the woman departed, Nina sat down with her own pancakes, carefully to set the tray down gently and not let it slam into the table. "Lana," she said, genially enough, but sounding as if she was hedging a little bit. "Hey."

[redcladidealist]

The pancakes had bits of chocolate mixed into them. That was such a novel thing for Lloyd that it almost distracted him from his memories of the night before. All it took was one swallow, though, to remind him, painfully, of the near-disaster he'd woken abruptly from. His hand went to his bandaged throat with a wince.

"Oh Nigel. You really should be more careful with scissors. I hope in the future you'll remember not to run with them in your hands."

Scissors? Really? But he'd been completely unsuccessful in trying to convince his nurse that it had been anything more than that. He'd doggedly tried to explain the monster, but had been told bluntly that he'd just had a nightmare. When his stomach growled, he'd given up, letting the nurse bring him out to breakfast. Breakfast with chocolate in his pancakes.

Okay, he wasn't shallow enough to forgive the Institute just because he was given good food, but there wasn't any point in not appreciating it, was there? He might as well make the most of what good things he did manage to get. He gingerly took a smaller bite than the first, but savored it no less as he chewed. As he ate, he scanned the room.

There. He was pretty sure he saw Ed over there, and he thought he saw a flash of Al's blond hair. Something anxious eased up inside Lloyd's chest, and he swallowed. Good. They were okay. They also seemed to be talking to other people, so Lloyd decided not to approach them just yet. Instead, he continued to eat, scanning the room for any of his other friends.

[Free.]

[avengingfists]

Ilia woke groggily, then sat up with a jolt. Morning again. How could she have slept in two nights in a row? She was losing her touch. Or possibly... possibly falling into Landel's hands.

She shivered at the thought as she moved to her feet. Anise or someone else had mentioned that before. People usually started sleeping more often before they were deemed "healthy" and "sent home." But that wouldn't happen to her, she decided and pulled on some new clothing from her drawers. She was seeing this through until the end; whatever that may be.

Her nurse arrived shortly after she had brushed down her hair and they were off to the cafeteria. Ilia knew she was going to have to start doing all she could to keep healthy so she could complete any more tasks the underground cavern held. While she hadn't heard from Seishin lately, she figured it was for the best that they had relaxed a few days. Maybe even tonight she would relax again. Starting up the bar wouldn't be a bad idea...

She piled her plate high with pancakes, eggs and a banana, then sat as she contemplated what to do when night fell. Perhaps she would leave a message on the bulletin and see what others thought of the idea...

[Kratos~]

[forsworn]

They had found no sign of Sora in the morgue. Unless he erred on the side of optimism (he didn't), Kratos would have to, for once, agree with Landel: the boy was beyond their reach. He felt like he owed it to Sora to keep searching, but he honestly had no leads left, not even rumor to give him something to chase after. It was thoroughly unsatisfying, even though he'd been diligent in his investigation and could with a clear conscience give Tsubaki a complete report.

He finished the matter with a short note on the bulletin before heading into breakfast, half-wishing, as he did most days now, that he could spend the entire shift punching something into senseless oblivion, as opposed to sitting for a near-eternity trying to eat when food was probably one of the last things on his mind. Unfortunately, being human demanded it, so Kratos took what seemed an acceptable amount of pancakes and fruit to last him until lunch and went out to find a seat.

There were plenty of empty seats left, but one of the nurses chose instead to nudge him toward an already-occupied table; rather than waste time with a pointless argument, Kratos wordlessly complied and sat down across from the only other patient there, a blonde woman whose name took him a few seconds to recall. He made sure he had it right in his head before greeting her.

"Good morning, Ilia. It's been a while." It was hardly a good morning, but it had certainly been a while - and not because Kratos had been trying, either.