damned_institute | Day 27: Breakfast

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Day 27: Breakfast

Day came too soon.

Sora hadn't been able to find Rena, had instead been forced to crumple onto the grass of the recreational field and bleed all over himself, and hadn't even accomplished what he'd been sent out to do. What he'd been entrusted to do. He didn't know how he was going to be able to face Renji and the others, but he also knew he wasn't going to hide from them, either. That would just be low, after all, and he was ready to face up to the consequences.

He didn't try to make excuses for himself. Even though there had been a Special Counseling patient, they had managed to take her down by sheer numbers. The fact that he hadn't seen any sign of Rena was what had him the most worried. He hoped he could find her today.

The boy laid in his bed for a good while that morning before his nurse finally came in to collect him. She clucked over the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest and leg, and asked him if he was okay to walk.

Once Sora assured her he was fine (he didn't really want to use crutches, as that would just attract attention to himself, and he didn't need others worrying over him), they made their way to the cafeteria. Sora yawned and winced against the bright light of morning - it seemed even earlier than usual, and he realized why when they entered the cafeteria and found it empty.

The boy shuffled over to grab a chocolate chip pancake, a bowl of cereal, and a glass of milk (good for the bones, or so his mom had always told him) before settling at a table. He kept an eye on the door, hoping he would see Rena walking in soon.

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Well, this was new. While Ai was surprised, the only reaction she made was that her shoulders seemed to have jumped, more or less.

The Hell Girl looked straight at Ren, "It's breakfast time". As much as possible, she wanted to avoid the topic. It's not that it was too much for her, but she just didn't like it. Although, if she were to meet these people, it would be something different.

Despite the aggravating nature of fog, there was a certain intrigue it always held. When you couldn't see things, it made you want to see them more, to strain your eyes against the cold, white and gray mists until it yielded even the form of an object. And River rather liked mysteries sometimes, even if not being able to see the entirety of what seemed to be a normal person was somewhat bothersome.

"See lots of things, without looking you can tell. Most can. It's the way of it because it all leaks out sooner or later, you know. But I can't see all of you. Your mind is misty, maybe it's even raining a little." River spoke, deliberately not being plain with her words as she spun them into the pattern of her colors and the web of her own mystery. She offered a somewhat sad smile. "Can't flip the switch. Was made forever a long time ago. I'm missing brain parts." Though that was probably the plainest she'd been in a long time. Both sides of the coin at once. How was it possible?

Unlike his human counterparts, Mewtwo never cared much for philosophy. Of course, in light of recent events, he had been thinking more and more about his role as a Pokémon... or even if he could be considered one. But a question like the one Suigintou posed to him sounded foolish to him.

"The current world we are in. This state of being. You seemed as if you were elsewhere," Mewtwo explained, turning his head to get a better look at Suigintou. She did look very alert now, there was no question about it.

Although it really wasn't Mewtwo's business exactly 'where' Suigintou was, nor did he really care, to tell the truth.

"It does not concern me, so I understand if you do not wish to share."

Even Ashton had been hurting from his own words. The subject of his dragons seemed to be a little bit of a bruise that bothered him whenever he reminded himself that they were probably dead. There was very little that would prove to him now that they weren't dead. They had been his best friends, his confidants, his eternal tormentors, his family and his personal advice column.

And they'd been ripped from his back without a trace of a scar, almost if he'd never been possessed by them in the first place.. like what they wanted him to believe. No. No!

Ashton hated this. He hated not knowing what experiences he and his friends had all shared together. He hated not having his dragons. Sure, he'd met a lot of cool people here, and he'd made some friends he'd never have met otherwise, but it wasn't worth the grief he was clearly causing Claude, no matter how unintentionally.

He kept staring at his plate, his face burning as he took in all Claude had to say. Traveling with Ashton.. as the route Claude had chosen? Ashton couldn't believe it at first. There were so many other cool people in the party that would have more to offer Claude, with a lot less weird, moving, scaly baggage. But no, Claude had chosen him.

No one really ever did that sort of thing for Ashton!

Finally Ashton looked up from his pancakes, shyly returning Claude's smile. The pain was still there, and he still felt terribly guilty for not remembering the things he felt he should remember, but he could still look on the bright side. "It's.. it's an honor, Claude. Even though I'm a little bit of a different Ashton, I'm still honored that you'd choose me as your traveling companion. It means a lot." Unsure of what to do after that, he bowed his head momentarily. "I'll be happy to make new memories with you!"

The herbs they'd given him could numb the pain of his physical wounds, but they didn't do anything about his emotional ones.

He sighed, his smile rising for an entirely different reason. "Um.. next shift, I'm going to go talk to Dias. I was pretty bad last night, so he'll want to make sure I'm okay. Uh.. do you want me to ask him if it's okay if you go with him tonight?"

Ashe noticed that her dining companion seemed to have fallen into a quiet state after her brief affirmation of her assumption. The hard shell the princess so often bore cracked a little as she could only imagine what things had to be like for someone from such a different culture. Most that she'd met had seemed to fit in at least a little better, even her mad roommate.

"Forgive me. I have been quite bold," Ashe said, her voice a touch softer without remaining informal. It should hopefully convey that she understood the difficulty of it all without seeming too patronizing. "It is a lot to take in at once. I myself was subject to a rather brief, halting summary of things as they are the night before last."

When she looked any of them straight in the eye like that, it became something of an order, not a request. I don't want you to speak of this. But before he could stop, there was just one more thing...

"Sorry, Ojou, but you have to know... That's not all. At night they'll take you back to your 'room' for dinner with your roommate - don't let your guard down. As soon as the sun goes down, the doors unlock and everything changes for the worse. Just like one of our illusions. Monsters. People being tortured. People getting hurt. And with both of us weakened like this, we should stay together. Do you know the number of your room? I'll come for you - I've gotten a layout of the first floor from someone."

"I haven't the energy to heal at the moment," Momo said and then tilted her head. "Fonist? I'm not familiar with that term, Peony-san. I am shinigami - a death god."

"Returned...hmm." That was odd... "So that means that they've kept everything they've taken from us... including potentially our natural bodies." ZEX looked up at HK at his sudden thought, and moved his arms in an unnatural looking way. "Not my best phrasing, but I'm sure you understand what I mean. So this all can be reversed... that's encouraging. While this form can be... fun, I vastly prefer my own. And I agree with you on the coordination, these bony things can barely grip or bend at all, and can exert no real pressure. And without a proper tip, how can one..." ZEX trailed off.

He watched HK write with open admiration. "That's quite remarkable! I'm still having a bad time of it, I'm afraid... I can barely write at all. These... fingers aren't suited to proper writing."

ZEX took the piece of paper eagerly. Anything could be helpful! And he did always have a mind for mathematical things... perhaps he could decipher this. It was something, and that was what counted. "Oh, thank you! I'm sure this will be of great use to me. If I can repay the favor someday, please let me know."

Jedi...Jedi, that sounded familiar. Wasn't... "I think I may have spoken with one of the JEDI that you mentioned. Someone named... KWI GON? Quite handsome but..." ZEX trailed off again, looking down at the paper he held between his two hands. "He had some very odd ideas as to how I got here. I didn't quite agree."

Ai didn't exactly wake up to receive any details regarding her stay here, so she didn't exactly know how to answer Ren's query. So then, it wasn't just all sweets and honey, wherever she was. The smiles the nurse made were fake then, weren't they? Ai had no idea what to think now, although she believed that she shouldn't jump into conclusions. She'll just leave any information hanging for now. Until she finds proof or something else, though.

"I do not know" was all she replied.

Peony raised his eyebrows. He'd never heard of anything like a 'death god' before. "Oh, I shoulda figured. But, uh, a Fonist is someone who utilizes the fonons around them. I'm pretty sure they call fonons different things in different worlds? One guy I talked to called them the Force... I don't know. I figure something like it exists everywhere." He shrugged. He wondered how Obi-Wan was doing, anyway? He'd have to go talk to him at some point today.

"Such heavenly beauty was dragged down to earth, mm?" He batted his eyelashes at her, then turned his head, looking around the cafeteria absently. "Or is that some kind of military epithet?"

While Peter had been preparing to respond to Logan, he was distracted when the girl slammed her tray down. He turned his attention to her, watching with a blank expression as she asserted herself.

It seemed that in a situation like this, it would be best to just go along with what she was saying rather than stir the pot further. If she wanted to believe that she was King Arthur, that was all fine and good. It wasn't going to be hurting anyone, after all.

"Hey, hey, no need for violence," he cut in quickly once he knew she was done. (She probably didn't have a sword, but she seemed the sort who would resort to her fists if she had to.) "We didn't mean to offend you or anything, Saber, so I'm sorry about that." He wanted to calm her down so they could at least fill her in. If she kept wandering around with a skewed perspective of what was going on, it could be dangerous for her, after all.

If Axel didn't think it was real, then it probably wasn't. While Sora couldn't imagine what it was like to not have a heart (his memories of his brief time as a Heartless were vague and unclear), he got the feeling that if Axel really had gotten his back, he would have known it was for real without a doubt.

At least in Sora's case, his heart filled him with so much emotion and feeling for his friends, his situation, everything. He knew that some people were able to experience things in a more muted way, but having emotions was not something that could be faked.

When Axel mentioned that his heart was metal, Sora made a face. That just wasn't right. "It's not fair for them to try and... and..." He couldn't really find the right words, and just ended up sighing.

"I don't know. The heart is something special. It isn't right for them to try and pass off something they created as the real thing." Dr. Finkelstein had also tried that, and all it had resulted in was a monster Sora had been forced to defeat. The heart wasn't something that could be manufactured - it was more complex than that.

Out of all the possible reactions, Larxene wasn’t quite expecting this one from him. He was acting as if her lips were really full of poison. It was an amusing thought, of course, but one that wouldn’t become reality anytime soon.

"What do you think?" she quirked and eyebrow and stared at him. “I was about to show you what your stupid little cards could never do, and then some.” Toys were amusing and all, but it was the living kind (or in Luxord’s case, non-living) that made playing with them extra fun.

“Wait, don’t tell me.” The Nobody raised her hands and covered her mouth.

“Someone as handsome as you hasn't already gotten some in their non-life? Wow, this is such a shock."

That explained everything.

Sai nodded. The pancakes were odd things. And rubbery. Edible, though. "I've heard about the same." Or rather, not heard, as the case may be. "That isn't promising."

He hadn't made much attempt to escape yet, had he? More scouting may be in order for that. But for Uchiha Sasuke not to have found a way out before he'd arrived, this place must be powerfully barricaded indeed. The image of the missing-nin blowing up a good portion of Orochimaru's hideout when they'd first met flashed clear in his mind.

Leon wasn't sure when his mouth had fallen open, but he quickly snapped it shut. "Anything?" he repeated in awe. "Anything non-living? That's incredible! Even machinery?" The very thought excited him. And to do it with science! Such a concept was far more advanced than anything on Expel!

He tried not to let the fact that people with such abilities were still stuck here as much as anyone else get him down.

"But then his daughter returned home. And would hopefully liven the place up, and not even get shouted at like her brothers were...." Kaoru finished, a little less energetically. Haruhi wasn't listening.

Kaoru looked over to Ritsuka. "Eurgh. Look at him. He's gross. Who'd want an adult following them around like that, anyway?"

...

"There's something strange with it though." Axel found himself murmuring cautiously after witnessing Sora's frustration. It had already dawned him after they arrived back to his room after the rescue operation, so it was something to point out while he was still on the subject.

"It could just be a placebo effect, but I think it works... in a way." It really didn't make sense in the scientific standpoint he was accustomed to, but the redhead couldn't turn a blind eye to the fact that he didn't feel quite as empty. Axel couldn't even blame it on Roxas since the teenager was nowhere to be found.

"It obviously doesn't work like the real thing, but when I get close enough to people..."

He frowned.

"I feel something."

Larsa was a person filled regrets, a perfectionist in a way yet not as radical. So when Mion delved into more specific questions he could not help but frown amongst himself for lacking the hindsight to take more notes when able. It took him a moment to coerce the desired knowledge, nodding after he was satisfied with the answer.

"He chose to appear on the same day I've arrived. And so with other matters I was forced to attend, along with my lack of knowledge of the Institute, I was unable to bring my full attention to it. Yet... though I know not of the finer details, my assumption is that he had done so to, well, throw the other man off his high horse, really."

Larsa sighed then, slumping onto the table in a very uncharacteristic manner.

"Trust may be another, a type of reassurance to show us that he is not pulling us along by a short leash. I am still wary of it myself, and yet our options are already slim as it is."

Logan too had started to lose track of any potential conversation between himself and the web-head, but as far as he was concerned, it could wait by all means. This girl was far more interesting, in any event.

"Heh, don' worry yerself, darlin', I was just tryin' ta lighten tha mood. Please, take a seat." His manner became more formal; at least as formal as he could be. "I know a li'l somethin' 'bout honour m'self. So, I'm guessin' ya jus' got here, an' ya ain't sure what the hell is goin' on?" He paused, thinking about how just the day before, he was in the same situation. He felt like a veteran of this place, even though he'd been here barely more than 24 hours. He turned to the younger man.

"So, you wanna give 'er tha run-down, or should I?"

The pain in Ashton's eyes wasn't lost on Claude, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty about the whole affair himself. Of course none of this was easy for Ashton. He'd been locked in this place for a long time as it was, and he'd had to deal with losing his dragons in such an abrupt way, not knowing whether they were alive or not. And now Claude was going on about this close relationship they'd once had, and he didn't remember any of it because, as far as Ashton knew, none of it had even happened in the first place!

Smooth, Claude, he told himself silently. Real smooth.

Even so, the smile he gave just for Ashton didn't waver. "Of course. Maybe you're not the Ashton I once knew, or maybe you are, I don't know. But you're still Ashton Anchors, and I'm still Claude C. Kenni, and you'll always be my friend." He clasped a hand on the swordsman's arm to emphasis his point.

...And then the conversation inevitably turned back to Dias, and Claude suppressed a sigh. "Yeah, if you could ask him, that'd be great," the blond replied. "Although I don't know if he'll let me come. We'll see, I guess."

He certainly had an earful for the blue-haired man if he did see him tonight, though. That much was for certain.

Okita only smiled at Hijikata when his scowl deepened. Sleep was indeed a good thing, but Okita prefered to wake early and get as much done as possible before anyone could catch him. Sometimes, he got to see some extremely interesting things because of that particular habit.

His eyes followed the pen as it found its way to the vice-commander's mouth and he couldn't help but frown a little. Work was always at the forefront of Hijikata's mind, but Okita couldn't help but worry about his actual health. Still, he knew that any conversation on that topic would be a dead end. Hijikata was far too stubborn about certain things.

Standing up, Okita moved around the table and began gently massaging Hijikata's shoulders. He was careful to put a little less pressure on his injured shoulder, but still put his strength into the motions to help break the tension that had settled on him. Quietly, he reported what he had learned to Hijikata, dipping his mouth close to his ear. "So far, I've discovered only the one former Choushu. No one else from our time is here, but many people seem to know about us - to an uncanny degree. I'm still trying to gather as much information as I can, but it seems if we aren't careful..."

Okita trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid. He didn't want to put more stress on his commander, but these were things that needed to be said. He had to be warned, even if the source of his information was the rebel himself.

Phibrizzo kept on grinning. "It does! Thanks for clearing it up, Mister! That makes much more sense than what my mom used to tell me!"

He gave a sideways glance to Gin. "Won't having a baby hurt, Miss? You're very skinny. Your...vagina can't be very big, can it?"

Sounds like these fonon things were just another way of referring to reiatsu. "I use my spiritual essence," Momo said, "but I suppose my reiatsu and your fonons could be similar."

She couldn't tell if Peony was continuing to flirt with her or if he was making fun of her. She supposed not everyone would be as easily accepting as Signum had been of her position as a death god, but this man not believing her, with all his bizarreness? Her face darkened a little in annoyance before she spoke.

"No, Peony-sama, it is not something military-related nor divine. I am a spiritual being trapped in this body of flesh and my duty is to usher the souls of the recently departed onto the afterlife if they are unable to do so themselves. More importantly, I destroy the corrupt souls that have turned into spiritual essence eating monsters that prey on humanity," she informed him.

"There are several other shinigami trapped here, Emperor," she added on, not-so-subtly reminding him that there were things about his story one could have a hard time believing and thus it might be best for him to not disbelieve others.

Momo cast a look around the cafeteria herself, checking on the other shinigami, when she saw Gin. For a very brief moment, the essence of what she was - death - flashed in her eyes before she turned her gaze back to her current table, simply looking as miserable as she'd been instead of desirous of death. She coughed again and pulled the pens out of her pocket, taking a moment to re-pull the coat around her.

She picked a pen up to examine, slowly disassembling the writing implement into its various parts. "I sincerely doubt your version of heaven is anything close to what the reality of the afterlife is," she said absently.

As these prior acquaintances caught up on their own business, Kikyo sat quietly, sipping from his water glass. His calm eyes wandered briefly around the cafeteria, but they didn't spot the redhead he would recognize anywhere. Did people disappear from here as suddenly as they seemed to appear? This thought disturbed him, though it didn't show much in his features, except for a slight furrow in his brow.

He turned when he was addressed once more, this time setting his gaze upon the blonde youth who looked about Heero's age.

"No indeed," he replied, smiling. "I have been here for a few days. Not much longer than yourself."

"Well," Urahara sighed lightly, looking a little downcast at being ousted, "the cat's out of the bag already--quite literally, if Yoruichi is up there--so it wouldn't do much good at this point. Still, no big deal!"

Urahara absentmindedly continued with eating as he took this new development into account. If Urahara and Ururu had gotten kidnapped, it was likely that Yoruichi, Tessai, and Jinta would be showing up in this place too, in which case the poster might make for a practical rallying sign. As far as being ousted, however, it wasn't even the nurses and powers at work that Urahara was worried about, as they probably knew his identity already; it was his fellow shinigami. Had he been in charge of the current circumstances, he would liked to stay somewhat incognito until he'd scoped out the situation enough to be on even footing with the Sereitei crowd, and besides, Urahara had a sneaking suspicion that the Soul Society fellows wouldn't be happy once they realized that it was probably the shopkeeper's own power-draining gigai (and possibly the portal to Hueco Mundo) that was at least partly responsible for putting them all in such grave danger.

Still, how had Aizen gotten ahold of the specifications? And as far as grave danger, what was the point of this whole mental institution thing in the first place?

Unless...

Urahara's eyes narrowed as his hand tensed around his fork.

Kyouka Suigetsu.

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Day 27: Breakfast

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