damned_institute | Day 26: Cafeteria, Lunch

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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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"The dance pays little attention to whether it's the right time or place, River," Daemon chuckled quietly at the expression she made. "Sometimes it chooses the wrong times and places just to lure you all the more. Then it's merely your choice to dance or not, despite the situation. Don't rule anything out before it even happens."

His expression turned curious and he fixed her with an intent golden glance. "What made you want to ask all this now? Is there someone you want to dance with?"

It was so much easier to discuss this when he could pretend they were just talking about dancing...

"You're saying it's instinctive, then." Human instinct River could understand. "An instinctive dance made proper when two individuals attempt to combine themselves to form something whole, a perfect step." It sounded a bit complicated, but perhaps she meet a partner who knew the steps. It could then come as naturally to her as it did them. Schuldig was an option; certainly not Sasuke or Dias. Perhaps she should seek to spark instinctive urges to engage in proper, romantic copulation with newer acquaintances, ones yet to be made.

River blinked twice, seeming as though the thought that the mention of subject might seem strange to someone was downright ludicrous.

"Result of a discussion with a patient via the public messaging system. Varied responses and the like, so like any able-minded being interested in unearthing some form of truth, she began to dig." The thought was there... Someone to dance with. "Most male specimens find my lack of amygdala and abnormal brain functioning to be a hindrance and thus wouldn't consider the option." It was a day to sigh. "The options in the pond are very limited."

Daemon gave another quiet chuckle and reached out to tug a lock of her hair in playful affection. "They often seem that way, but you never know when someone may surprise you. I doubt your tangled webs will not affect your dance any, River. I think you are a beautiful lady and will make a beautiful dancer."

The compliment was meant as that, and Daemon spoke truthfully. He knew many people could be shallow and not see past the outside, but some could, and it was those that would see the true worth in River.

The genuinely touched smile, not the playful one but every bit as vibrant, that River considered her nicest feature was offered in thanks to the compliment. Her appearance wasn't as prim and orderly as other's, and she wasn't nearly as gorgeous as Inara, but to be called beautiful by someone, especially when she could see an idea of what he truly considered most beautiful in his heart, well. It was more than a comfort. Perhaps she even felt a bit shy, dancing along the road she'd come to find along the way.

"Would it be too painful to ask about what she's like?" she wondered quietly, gently as a girl or a dove could land on a thin branch.

A quiet smile slipped over Daemon's lips at the question. "It is painful," he answered softly, "But not to remember her. Only the worry and the unknown is painful. What she's like... that's not unknown. She's Witch. She's... everything. I saw every type of female that was wrong in two realms. The ones that were vain and selfish and power-hungry and greedy and ignorant. I watched the ones that were good and gentle and just get Broken before they came into their own."

"She was the one dreamed into flesh to make that balance right again. But she was so much more. She would have loved this conversation. She would like you. She laughs, and it seems the whole room lights up around you. She gets this mischievous, impish look on her face when she's teasing you, even though she tries to hide behind an expression of innocence, but you can always tell by her eyes that she's up to something. And when you call her on it she gives you this exasperated look and huffs at you as if you've accused her of something she'd never even consider doing. And then she often goes and does it anyways."

"She's caring and sweet and fiery and dangerous all in one. She will set to right any wrong done to an innocent, or unjustly, and she'll not stand for bullying. Unless she's doing it, of course, but it's often done in affection, like when my father isn't taking his tonic, or Lucivar's being stubborn about something silly, or Andulvar and Mephis won't let her try out a new trick."

He stuttered to a halt, Daemon being the one looking a bit sheepish this time as he glanced over at her with a crooked smile. "And I'm babbling."

River listened quietly, smiling that knowing smile, the one she imagined Wash smiling when he would talk about Zoe. Though it was certain Wash's words would be less elegant and more, well, Wash-like, but it was of the same make. Two people created for each other. Was that what it was like? To remember small, little quirks and habits. Daemon spoke of this Witch in the sense that she was all-powerful, one destined to balance his own world.

And yet what he focused on were cute facial expressions and for-your-own-good bullying. It had been so long, especially in light of recent ripped prides and broken selves, since she'd felt such a surge of light and happiness in a person. All at once mixed with a sadness because he wasn't with her; he didn't even know where she was. At that moment, River wished the world for the ability to read other world's, things beyond what lay on the scape of his mind.

"You are. But it's okay." River drew her legs up against her chest on the bench, seated facing Daemon like a child listening to some fantastic tale. "I like listening about you, about your world. About her." The images of his mind danced again, and River's smile grew. "I know I would've liked her too."

"What about your own world?" Daemon asked, watching her curiously. He recalled the young man they'd come to rescue the night before, and the way River had curled up in his lap to comfort him. "Were you and your brother brought here together?"

"Oh, he's not blood relation," River answered casually, eyes falling as she recalled the first day she'd come here. She'd been all alone, alone without Simon, without her captain or her friends. But Dias had been there. Dias and Lust and Scar. "Got brought here a long time ago with another batch of cattle. In case you've not eyes in your head, I'm not quite right. Calmed me. He's a way with little sisters, and so he's my brother."

Talking. Oh, River was scarcely encouraged to talk, but here she'd even been asked!

"Came from a large 'verse, lots of worlds inhabitable. Governed by the Alliance, a group that fought in the war to end all wars, fought for what they liked to call 'unification'." River laughed, a bit sarcastically. "But that's not the truth of it. Dictatorship. Did all manner of unsightly things to folk just because they thought they could. They're looking for me, looking to take me back. My brother, my blood brother, Simon saved me from the smelly, white rooms. We've been running forever. Since we found a home. Serenity. Mid-bulk Transport. Standard Radion Accelerator core. Class code 03-K64--Firefly. Found a home there. Found a family." It was a pleasure to talk about home, but also a bit of a trouble. The secrets, the memories... "What they do to some folk here..." River's voice trailed off and a deep breath of air was taken in.

"Not unlike what the Alliance did to me when they took me away."

Daemon listened avidly, hearing tales of another world. It seemed unreal, but he didn't doubt her words.

"I'm not sure if it is a comforting or disappointing thought that despite all worlds being so different, their problems all still seem the same," he finally spoke in reply, a thoughtful expression on his face. "The woman who owned me was like your Alliance. She wanted to rule where she had no right, and she destroyed any who opposed her. Tried to use me as a weapon to do it for her, but I refused and I was too important to her to destroy. She did horrible things as well. Different from what they do here," he started to say, then paused, remembering Renji.

"Well. Maybe not so different."

"And yet there's nothing in the 'verse. Nothing in the 'verse or the worlds can stop us if we want it enough." River's tone went from somewhat dejected to hopeful and bright all in a moment. "Been there and back. We'll win it in the end, missing brain parts or dark corners of the mind be damned."

However, with that word, River's head jerked up, gazing over to a small group as something dawned on her. A duty. A welcoming and a wagging of the finger all at once. Past in hand, the girl bolted to her feet and tapped Daemon on the nose with her free.

"Wait a spell. She's to deliver a package."

Daemon blinked in surprise at the abrupt change, laughing quietly when she leaned in and tapped his nose.

"I'll be here," he called after her in bemused affection, turning back to his pasta while she delivered whatever it was she had.

Quite pleased with what she'd decided to do with the remainder of her lunch, River promptly trotted back to her seat next to Daemon, the widest, brattiest grin on her face that she could spare.

"It was rude of her. Her conduct needs a bit of work. But he deserved it." Referring of course to the dinner Scar new wore on his head, and he did so deserve it. In River's world, anyhow.

Daemon's eyes were even wider now as he stared at the mess River had left behind her.

"Dare I ask what he did to deserve that?" he finally asked, his voice strained from the effort it took to restrain a mixture of laughter and astonishment. "At least so I can remember not to do it and avoid the same fate?"

"Passed the time by in the nothing. Not sure, but he's unharmed." River sniffed the air and huffed dramatically. She'd always had a flare for it, even if it was mainly just for fun. "Even the day when the skies were clear. Was a family outing, and he stayed indoors to play with the rats." The girl took a sip of her water, and thought for a moment.

"If you could utilize some of your illogical effects to alter the structure of reality and manifest some pudding, you'd be granted a free pass."

"Pudding?" Daemon echoed, laughing for real this time at the unexpected request. "I'll see what I can do. Although I'm afraid that would require more physical ingredients than magical ones. Chocolate?"

"Well, I don't suppose the witches would be inclined to allow me ingredients for pudding. Might be a dangerous weapons in the hands of the criminally insane." River rolled her eyes. It was fun to play with the words this way, fun not to worry about the comings and stories to be told. The chapter was a long one. There was so much more to be written, it ought to be divided into more.

"But chocolate is a favorite. If you happen to come across any in your travels. Come nightfall, the prince might have more to worry about then fetching treats." River smiled at him reassuringly. "Don't worry. The princess will be understanding about the delay."

"I'm sure pudding could be dangerous in anyone's hands," Daemon chuckled at the concept. "But having seen what you're capable of with spaghetti, that wouldn't surprise me."

"The Prince will do his best to see the Princess gets her sweets," he added with a charming grin, taking her hand and lifting it to his lips to press a kiss to the warm skin, a teasing light in golden eyes.

All smiles this lunch, wasn't she? River couldn't help but feel her cheeks color a bit at the gesture, for even in a harmless manner it was far more gallant than any she'd received in the past. It was strange to be treated like a real girl after living so many years as a broken doll. Didn't change color of the sky or the make of a man, but the feeling was a nice one regardless.

"She knows all manner of intent, all the games and the words. But still there's a redness to her cheek. Maybe there's a girl somewhere after all," she said quietly, almost shyly. Almost. River wasn't known for her modesty, after all, but perhaps that was a due result of considering herself less a person and more a thing for so long. There was little time for contemplation, as regularly scheduled cleaning had to be seen to. She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue in disgust, a childlike display of a thought process clearly superior to the Head Doctor's.

"He wants us to be clean, and then he lets us run out and play in the mud. Even throws some at us himself. Contradictory." River smiled again as she stood up, nurse coming to escort "Miranda" away, lamenting that she hadn't let her pretty up her hair this morning. "But it was a pleasant moment in a measurement of the whole. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Daemon answered with a quiet smile, watching her rise and the nurse approach - though he spared her no welcome. "If I don't see you before, be careful tonight. Will you be alright?"

"I always look where I step, so you should be sure to do so yourself. Quite a few holes in the foundation here when the dark comes," River replied in her typically cryptic fashion. "Was going to flit about the darkness, see if I can dance with it. If you need someone to take care of you, just let me know. Pudding's enough of a payment for the services."

And with that, and the nurse's urging that she needed to stop delaying her cleansing, River was whisked away.

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Day 26: Cafeteria, Lunch

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