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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"Which begs the question," Luxord replied, fingers tapping against his chin and head canted in an oddly innocent gesture, "why are you not watching them now?" At the last word, his eyes went to glancing over the cafeteria, one minute to gaze at a certain silver-haired boy conversing with II, the next to take note of the Princess of Heart happily playing with VIII. "For ones so close… you are dreadfully distant."

Curiouser and curiouser. One would think that with all their time apart, nothing could separate them now. But the proof only lay right in front of him; hearts were not as linked as he imagined, it seemed.

How depressing.

The Nobody fixated Sora with a smirk of that of a Cards Dealer, of a Ringmaster, and held his hands to the boy. As before, the cards slid from his sleeves, and he placed them in a pile between them, despite their distance. "Let's play a game," he said, voice inviting, yet oddly sinister, as he placed his hands onto the face-down tower. In a blink, his hands moved, separated, and in their wake lie three groups of six cards, faces hidden and aligned in vertical rows.

"I truly question what cards Fortuna has concealed for you and your friends, if you are as connected together as you claim."

It wasn't like Sora didn't have an idea of where his friends were. As for Kairi, Sora knew that Axel wasn't going to do anything to her. Sure, he had been the one to take her before, but it was the rest of the Organization who had locked her up. And Riku? Well, Sora knew that he could handle himself. If he went over and tried to act all protective, his friend would probably just get irritated.

"Distant? Nope! We were all together last shift, so..." Looks like this time around, the Organization wanted to bother all of them. It almost felt planned, except that he knew Axel didn't work with the rest of them any longer. "It's not like we have to be together all the time, you know! So long as I know they're close." Everyone needed their space from time to time, after all.

As for the game, Sora wasn't so sold on that. He eyed the cards that had been set down and then glanced up at the gambler. He was in enough of a mood that he was able to reply with a decidedly bratty, "Why should I?" This was just going to be used to make him feel bad about something else, so he saw no reason why he should go along with it.

~~Besides, he didn't want to get turned into a card or die again.~~

If Sora would not rise to the bait this very moment, it was fine with Luxord. After all, mere suggestion was a powerful thing indeed. He'd let it go for now, so long as the idea had been implanted…

At Sora's snappish answer however, Luxord only chuckled. He gestured to the cards with one hand, a perverse grin on his face. "Because, dear boy. They know something you do not." He folded his hands back into his lap. "Aren't you curious?"

Usually, Sora would have been all over playing some sort of game. After all, games were supposed to be fun, and who was he to say no to something like that? He'd gotten to play lots of stuff during his journeys and really enjoyed some of it. Like sliding down the trees with Tarzan!

But this just seemed like he was being lured into a trap. "It's not like that stuff means anything. I'm not gonna listen to what it says, anyway." There was usually one thing he fell back on and listened to when he was unsure of something, and that was his heart. And right now, he got the feeling that playing along wouldn't do him any good.

Why, that loathsome little… How dare he insinuate…!

Hmph. Seems the brat held more in common with his Nobody than the Gambler took notice.

Although his eyes held a menacing glare, his mouth kept the grin. In one, swift motion, the cards were back into Luxord's palm, only to slide down into that long sleeve of the Landel's-issue coat. "They mean more than you know," he shot back icily.

It looked like Luxord wasn't going to push it. That was good. Maybe he would have been more inclined to play along if the Nobody hadn't put him in such a bad mood beforehand. But it didn't really matter, since the shift was ending, anyway.

Luxord's comment didn't seem to have much weight to it, but Sora had been enough of a brat for now, so he didn't toss back an obnoxious response. "I'll... see you around," he said, though he didn't sound too happy about that fact.

Now, showers. Augh.

Day 26: Cafeteria, Lunch

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