damned_institute | Day 26: Cafeteria, Lunch

Scar felt cold and sick, though more the latter than the former. As he rose from his bed, he didn't quite know which way was up, and the artificial light coming from overhead seemed as hot and as blinding as the Ishbal sun.

His head hurt, but that was nothing new. After all, the last thing he remembered from the night before was fighting a homunculus off of Lust and then having a conversation about events best left forgotten. The man hadn't been his brother. He just hadn't. And if what Lust had said they'd done to her was true...

Scar stood with shakiness that he wanted to attribute more to a bizarrely weakened physical state than a mental one. Had he been knocked out by some kind of lurking monster before the morning had come? He felt as if he had been out for days, being a veteran of such circumstances, though as he took the practiced role of being an obedient follower behind the nurse and orderlies that came for him, it didn't seem as if much had changed.

This place was probably just playing tricks on him again, and he was tired of being the man left out of the loop. He grabbed some food he didn't really care for and sat down, not seeing anyone he knew already seated. On one hand, he wished he had someone to talk to, and on the other, it scared him that he was no longer used to being alone.

He dug his fork into his food and tried to block out any related thought.

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Omi seemed to have consistently wonderful timing when it came to Aya. He'd halfway dozed off in the game room and so arrived in the cafeteria just in time to see Aya punch someone.

The day just kept becoming more and more confusing.

He filled his tray quickly and made a beeline for Aya's table. He didn't bother with the pleasantries as he sat down. "What just happened?" Which was when he noticed that Aya looked more like someone who'd been receiving punches rather than delivering them. He blinked. "And what happened to you?"

As Omi sat down, Aya glanced at him through his bangs, and then continued to eat silently. If there was one moment he'd rather just crawl under the table and not face the world straight on, it'd be right now. Would this have been anyone else, literally anyone, he would have told them to get lost.

Idly he wondered for a moment if it was such a bad idea after all. If he'd just bark out 'fuck you' right away, it'd spare them both few moments before Aya would anger Omi too.

"Nn..." He twisted his fork in the pasta, pushing it over the plate until the whole surface was covered in sticky red. "An old acquaintance." He knew he'd have to tell them about Kikyo one of these days. Possible danger, information he couldn't withhold. But not right now, not when any less control would throw him over the edge and punch out a nervous breakdown. "And a talk with Ken," he muttered before grabbing the ice pack like an afterthought and pressed it against his bruising face.

Like Omi would listen, anyway. He was pretty good at not taking hints, or in this case flashing neon signals, when someone he cared about seemed to have done something stupid.

Stupider than normal.

He figured there was something else behind Aya punching 'an old acquaintance,' but if Aya didn't want to say any more, Omi wouldn't pry as long as it looked like it probably wouldn't become a problem. Aya's second answer just got rolled eyes. Sadly, 'a talk with Ken' was a perfectly valid excuse. "I'll have to talk to him. This place isn't really the right place to be getting into fights with his teammates."

Well, now that the unpleasantness was handled to Omi's satisfaction, he turned to his own food. "You'll have to stop by my room after the doors unlock to pick up the bat we got for you. Did you two find anything?"

Unfortunate for Omi, Aya was not done with the mentioned unpleasantries. He flinched visibly at the mentions of last night, knowing he'd have to take responsibility for the total uselessness that had ensued.

"I hit him," he said as calmly as he could, a hint of wild tremor in his voice. "He just hit back." Unusual as it was for Aya to defend Ken, it had been mostly Aya's fault.

"As for last night, no, we did not find anything." Except that Aya was good in shoving his feet into his mouth. Maybe also that either of them wasn't so intent in getting out of this place as they should have been. For different reasons perhaps. "Noted. I'll be there."

His eyes narrowed in concern at the flinch, only to widen slightly when the confession followed it. Who were these people and what had they done with his team?

He sighed, watching Aya closely. "...Alright. I won't say anything to Ken, then, but I trust it won't happen again?" He hoped it wouldn't, anyway. While Ken might punch someone just because he felt like it, Aya... well, Aya might, but it usually took a bit more to get to that point.

Or, it had used to. Yet another reminder of how little Omi knew about these three.

With Yohji or Ken, he might have pressed for more details of the night before, but he trusted Aya to figure out if something was important to mention. "I guess that's not surprising, really. As much as people have already combed over this place, if there was something to find, you'd think they'd have found it."

"The hell if I know." Aya frowned, finally giving up on the fork he had been filling with the pasta and letting it rest on the plate. He and Ken had started out like this, punches instead of pleasantries. Why would it change to anything else along the years?

Well, it had changed. They both had become better in dodging each other.

"We won't be unable to do our job because of few punches," he snapped, violet of his eyes cold as ice as he directed his gaze heavily on Omi. He had lived, slept and breathed violence for the last seven years of his life. He murdered for living, for money as one of the reasons. Having someone scold at him for a punch or two sounded ridiculous. "I'd suggest not butting in where it's not needed."

Ah, yes. A simple 'fuck you' would have been easier if Aya wanted to quarrel with all his teammates.

At least a half dozen replies flashed through Omi's mind. No, punches wouldn't make them unable to do their job, but a grudge or anger on both sides might. It was his job to butt in, and Aya knew it. He...

No.

All three had made it abundantly clear that they didn't need him. Fine. He took a deep breath, then another one when the first didn't make him any less likely to say something he was going to probably regret. Wasn't going to help, anyway. Not that he was any too sure anything was going to help right now. He met Aya's cold glare evenly. "You're right. I won't waste my time on something unnecessary. Don't forget to pick up your bat."

He had to bite his lip to keep from saying anything else as he stiffly pushed his chair back and picked up his tray, turning his back on Aya and heading off through the crowd of tables. He forced himself to avoid tables near any familiar faces. The last thing he needed was a repeat of what happened with Aya.

Day 26: Cafeteria, Lunch

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