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

[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."

[fourstonewalls]

"Nina," Lana said, acknowledging her with a nod. "I'm not sure glad is ever the right word for it here, but I'm...pleased to see you in one piece. Do you know if Ryuuzaki is alright?"

There were subtler ways to find out if her absence had snarled their plans. And more direct ones, like outright asking, but she didn't want to presume that they'd waited, either. She wouldn't blame them if they hadn't; even if the remedy worked quickly, a sick person was still a liability.

"I'm afraid I slept through the entire night. I didn't even catch the good Doctor's latest claims and fabrications, aside from the raptures over the pancakes."

[mirrorimage]

"He's okay," Nina assured her. "He had a cure for you." One of the many reasons Nina was disappointed that Lana hadn't shown up. Not that she blamed Lana for that. Time got away from you in a place like this. Nina understood.

Something she was quick to reassure Lana of. "It's okay. I... I know how it is. Believe me."

So Lana had missed the intercom announcements, then? Nina was happy to fill her in, although it was creepy to talk about. She cut off a piece of pancake and chewed with deliberate slowness, to give herself some extra time before she had to discuss anything.

"Well..." Nina sighed. "He started talking about how we'd lost people lately. That was before the night started. He talked about portals, and letting some 'friends' of his out to run amok through the halls."

Nina shivered. She hadn't understood what he'd meant, when he said it, but she did now. Way too well.

[fourstonewalls]

I know, Lana was about to snap, but Nina was already making excuses for her. Having someone be disappointed in her stung more than...well, it stung less than waking up to find she'd gone on a murderous rampage, but it wasn't pleasant.

"He said he did. Do you know if he still has it?" She kept her tone light -- she didn't, in fact, blame him if he'd given it to someone awake and deserving. Besides, the portals sounded more interesting -- and familiar.

"He's done the thing with the portals before." People had gone home, the last time, albeit temporarily. And with everyone running to the greenhouse, it would cause mass chaos. A perfect ambush. "Was it brainwashed patients? Zombies?" She managed to say zombies with a perfectly straight face. They weren't that funny when one was confronted with them, but in the bright light of day, it was still ludicrous to be talking about them. "Or something else?"

There was really no end to the litany of dangers, though that, at least, wasn't much different. Humans, without any mumbo-jumbo, kept inventing new and different ways to kill each other. At least the zombies didn't attempt alibis.

[mirrorimage]

"He does," Nina answered, almost immediately, still without looking up yet. She took another bite of pancake, and then shoved a few more pieces around her plate.

"Something else." Nina frowned, trying to recall the night before. "It was more like a ghost." There was no surefire way to know that for sure, but that was what it had felt like, and it was the best shorthand Nina knew for how to convey her experiences to Lana.

[fourstonewalls]

Lana let a little bit of relief show; she relaxed, and managed to eat a few more bites.

Ghosts, too, weren't new, although like a ghost could mean a wide variety of things. Like the boy in the wheelchair. Or dead colleagues, back in the flesh. Anything, really.

"Was it someone you knew, or..." she asked, trying to keep the conversation less of an interrogation and more of an open discussion, even while she was scrambling for any information she could get.

[mirrorimage]

"Huh? Oh, no. It wasn't like that. It -- " Nina wished she could have been more help. She could tell Lana was groping for information and she didn't mind supplying it, except that talking about all of this was still so weird. "It wasn't anyone I knew. Or recognized. It just started off like a creepy feeling, and then..." Nina took a deep breath. She felt annoyed at herself for hesitating, but it felt so bizarre to give voice to what she was about to.

[fourstonewalls]

Nina was hesitating -- if Lana had wanted any particular outcome to the story, now would be the time; but while leading the witness was usually seen as foul play in the public courtroom, it wasn't actually a good way to get the truth. Then again, she wasn't going to get anywhere quickly without a little prompting.

Well, the truth should be safe. "The one I saw wasn't someone I recognized, but it turned out he was a patient."