Day 26: Cafeteria, Lunch

[right-handed.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[moon-brained.livejournal.com]

After a quick stop at the bulletin board for Anthy Usagi finally got to eat. Piling on as much pasta and meatballs as she could on one plate she chose an empty table, a slightly difficult task now that the room was packed with people.

Once seated Usagi shoved two meatballs and a large amount of pasta into the gaping black hole that was her mouth. "Anyfingh," she struggled to swallow and then started over, "anything else you want to know about this place?" There was still a lot she was dying to ask Ami about, but it could wait until they had all the information they needed from Usagi.

[icy-pole.livejournal.com]

Ami followed Usagi from the bulletin board, which she glanced over briefly, to the cafeteria, grabbing only a small plate of pasta with bolognaise sauce and a caesar salad. She took a seat opposite Usagi, watching in amusement as she wolfed down the pasta as fast as humanly possible.

Ami picked at her food, pondering Usagi's question. There were so many things to ask. However there were two things Ami wanted to know.

"Are any of the...our other friends in here?" After seeing Usagi's relieved expression when she spotted Ami, Ami had a feeling she knew what Usagi's answer would be. The question regarding Usagi's moon crystal could wait until later.

[iamyourflower.livejournal.com]

Anthy contemplated. She wasn't certain that there was anything she was yearning to know about this place that could be answered by an average patient. The fact that she kept on interchanging the words 'patient' and 'student' in her mind said a lot about what her gut instinct told her this place was.

She twirled her spaghetti delicately, a difficulty with the plastic spoons and forks provided, and piped up gently as her turn to speak came.

"Does anybody ever... graduate?"

That was the only way she could think to put it. How else did one call the act of being dismissed from a correctional facility?

[moon-brained.livejournal.com]

Usagi shook her head at Ami's question. "We're the only ones but... strangers keep coming up to me knowing exactly who I am! They say they've seen a TV show about us!!" The senshi let out a sigh. "Was everything in our world normal before you got taken?" If Ami came with bad news Usagi didn't know what she would do. The only opening to escape seemed to be during the night, but seeing how much progress she made the last two nights...

Usagi stuffed some more pasta in her mouth and contemplated Anthy's question. "Not that I know of. I've heard of people just disappearing out of the blue and never coming back. I had a roommate when I first got here and I haven't seen her since..."

[icy-pole.livejournal.com]

A TV show? That was definitely unexpected. From what Ami had learnt about people coming in from different places, her theory about different timelines and dimensions seemed to be becoming more accurate. "It sounds like an alternate dimension where instead of being being...us...in real life, we are characters in a television show," she said slowly as she thought about the situation. "Have you told anyone who you really are?" Ami doubted Usagi would do that, particularly in this kind of situation. "If not, we can just pretend like we're fans of the television series."

Ami was more concerned, however, about Usagi's question regarding what was happening in their world before Ami was taken. She had a horrible inkling that perhaps this wasn't the Usagi she knew, but another one, and that telling her what was happening could well change the future of both their dimensions. "Things weren't exactly normal," Ami said cautiously. "Do you know of Queen Nehelenia?"

Ami realised the conversation must have sounded strange to Anthy, and turned to her to apologise when the intercom clicked on again, and the head doctor's voice rolled out over the cafeteria. Ami sighed. It was difficult to talk about what was happening when they were continuously shunted from place to place. She could see her nurse beckoning her.

"Well, looks like I'm off to the showers now," she said to Anthy and Usagi, standing up. "Usagi, about tonight, I've spoken to someone who has asked me to join them. I'll post on the bulletin board to see if it's okay with them if you can come as well, since it's probably better that we stick together, although we may be able to cover more ground if we separate." She could see her nurse coming over and said hurridly, "I guess I'll see both of you in the showers." Waving as she left, Ami allowed the nurse to herd her towards the women's shower block.