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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The last thing Leon remembered was Gremio going for water. Then, that annoying voice was ringing through the air again and he was in his own bed. Sitting up wrung a surprised cry of pain out of him, and he instinctively clutched his maimed right hand to his chest; the hand was swathed in bandages, but clearly misshapen even through the padding. Not a nightmare... that thing really did... fuck.

There were pills of some sort on the bedside table along with a cup of water, but Leon didn't trust anything these people gave him unless he absolutely had to, like with food. With an angry, pained sob, Leon swept the pills and the cup off the nightstand with his good hand.

... And then he remembered his roommate, and his heart dropped into his stomach. Caught behaving this way... this place is endlessly humiliating!

Before they even got up the stairs, they were cut off. Roy found himself irritated as he 'woke up' in his bed, and some might have even considered it getting up on the wrong side of it, but he hadn't actually slept, had he? He liked to trick himself into thinking that they all did somehow get some sleep in that odd space between morning and night (that didn't even seem to really be there), but that was only so he wouldn't consider just how little rest he was getting.

At this point, he didn't think too much over it. He had become so used to getting out of bed, mumbling a few things to appease his nurse, and then being led off for the first meal of the day. The lack of productivity was of course bothersome, but he had at least squared things away with Adelheid, so there would be nothing (other than the usual weapon-making) to stop him from getting down to business next time.

Speaking of weapons, he had to get that organized first and foremost, so he scribbled a quick message for his next customer on the bulletin board on his way to the cafeteria.

Once in the mess hall, he got his breakfast (one pancake with syrup, along with some bacon and sausage) and seated himself at one of the many empty tables. Before he got to eating, he grabbed the paper Adelheid had given him the night before out of his pocket. It was more information about weapons, which was the last thing he needed, though he was glad to see that most of these he had already made note of himself. It was what was added at the bottom that interested him most. It was all rather mysterious, and he was going to need to find Fullmetal soon to discuss the details.

For now, though, he would eat his breakfast and wait for a certain Integra Hellsing to find him - incidentally, that name was also on the list Adelheid had given him. He would have to see what this patient wanted... And he had to admit he was a little curious.

[Waiting for Grumpypants-kun. ♥]

And so the day began, after a rush to grab the pillowcase of metal with a warning to Hijikata to do the same. It turned out to work, as Homura found his gathered material in his closet, along with Hijikata's case. A rather welcome start, all things considered.

Ken was sleeping soundly in his bed, and Homura debated for a moment bringing him to breakfast. But the questions weren't urgent, and dinner would leave the pair trapped together. Why take away the topic of conversation? Besides, Homura had an appointment to keep, and there was the chance that Hitsugaya wouldn't be comfortable answering them at all, much less with someone besides Homura present.

So he headed to the cafeteria with his nurse, rather pleased to find himself clean. The odor from the bathroom water could hardly be called appetizing, and he didn't need to give Hitsugaya any reason to run. He filled out a tray of the food, taking a pancake of each kind, and covering them with syrup and whipped cream.

Such interesting food they served.

His meal complete, Homura found an empty spot in view of the entrance, and waited for the short captain to arrive. He also watched out for Hijikata and Okita, both of whom were supposed to draw maps for him that day.

This place was pretty brutal about the switch from night to day. The downright unsettling feeling that time had passed and yet not knowing how much, or what had happened during it, was bad enough, but Peter had hardly gotten a chance to look over the letter (fake though it might be) before he was right back in bed again.

The first thing he did once he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes (not that he had slept, as far as he could tell) was check on Logan. It was good to see that his roommate was there, at the very least - it seemed he had survived the night, which was relieving. With the covers pulled up over the man, Peter couldn't tell if he had gotten any injuries, but he could always keep an eye out for him in the cafeteria, he figured.

All in all, the night had been pretty productive. He'd seen a good amount of the institute (unless it was bigger than he thought) and he hadn't run into any of the monsters that were apparently running around. He also knew that Eddie was all right, if probably sore from all of his injuries.

As for this upcoming day, his plan was to be better organized for the night - figure out who he was going to spend it with, and what they would be specifically be doing.

Though it was too early in the day to be quite so social, so once he got to the cafeteria and grabbed a bowl of cereal, he sat at a table on his own. He didn't really care if someone joined him, but he wasn't going to go searching out others until he had woken up a bit more.

Clark didn't remember falling asleep. There was Usopp and the others, and the threat of something in the fridge, and then...nothing. Day light streamed through the windows. It took a moment to register the fact that his eyes were open. Another to realize that there was someone else in the room with him, and that the sound they were making was...a sob?

Sitting up, Clark looked around, for a second confused. This was the second time he'd blanked out, with no memory of how he'd gotten back or how to account for the missing hours, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't starting to get a little freaked out. Getting freaked out's gonna have to wait, Clark thought, just noticing the state of his roommate. Leon's face was ghostly white, which would've been a big heads-up even if Clark hadn't then noticed the hand.

Leon's hand was bandaged. But he didn't need x-ray vision to see that he was missing fingers.

Clark jumped to his feet. "What happened?" he demanded.

The last thing Brock remembered was trying not to doze off, sitting as he was slumped in a chair and overall feeling pretty crappy. Parker had been dicking around with the file cabinets and checking out the fake letters, the flickering lights giving the other man this weird, washed out look, like some kind of freaky-ass dream.

The next thing he remembered was feeling still pretty damn crappy. No change there.

Groaning, Brock sat up, movements stiff and sluggish. Jesus H Christ, he felt like shit: his back was killing him, it still hurt to take deep breaths, and his face - he didn't want to think about his face, because he was sure it looked as shitty as he felt, no thanks to Kasady. That fucking brat. Thinking he could get away with intruding on his territory, his property! He was the reason they were like this...and that brought Brock to the second problem. For almost two months he'd been used to feeling a part of something bigger, something so much smarter and just better, that to think to himself and realize he suddenly felt alone...well, it felt pretty weird to think me instead of us.

Brock felt dirty.

Like wake up in a church and find yourself naked for no goddamn reason dirty.

Not that that hadn't happened before, but that was besides the point.

As far as he could tell, he was still infected (gifted, linked, diseased, whatever you called it), but there was no Other voice, just a deafening silence inside his skull. All the heightened senses he'd taken for granted by now were almost entirely gone. How Parker ever got used to being like this, being normal, was beyond him. It left him with the feeling like something was just out of his range of vision, like something - or someone - was behind him, just waiting for him to turn around and find that there was no one else and that maybe he was crazy after all even though he was pretty sure he wasn't. It was as close to being human as Brock had been for a long time and he didn't like it.

The blond was withdrawn as he was led to the cafeteria. Throwing himself into a good sulk looked fun, but it wasn't helped by the fact that he was starving - it made sense, seeing as he had to eat for two, maybe three (Christ, he didn't even want to think about that now), but when he actually looked at food on his plate, he had to fight the urge not to hurl. Not that there was anything to hurl in the first place, but he definitely felt nauseous as he sat down and stared at the mountain of pancakes.

His stomach was growling, but after his injuries from last night, Brock wasn't sure how much he could even swallow down. Eventually he'd be forced to try, but right now all he could do was poke at the syrup-drenched pancakes and try not to gag on it.

Yeah, he was definitely going to kill Kasady.

If there was anything worse than playing at being his Spider's buddy, it was that asshole making him this almost-human freak.

Leon glared poisonously at his roommate. "Obviously a monster happened. Or have you still not figured that out about this place?" Lashing out didn't really make him feel any better, but the only other option was feeling sorry for himself, and that was completely unacceptable.

Careful not to step on the mess he'd made knocking everything off the bedside table, Leon got out of bed slowly, giving his battered body a few moments to adjust to being upright before he tried to walk. He was a bit lightheaded, and the pain in his hand was a constant throbbing, but it wasn't as bad as drowning. Or being a zombie, slave to someone else's will. Or dying from a sword thrust after being a zombie. He could deal with this. And he would.

A nurse might appear soon and might try to force him to take the pills he'd thrown aside, so Leon made for the door. "I'm going for breakfast. You do whatever you want." Escape. Definitely had to escape.

Of course, a nurse showed up anyway. Leon tried to stare her down, but had a feeling that wasn't going to work. Well, then. Different tactic. "... Take him to breakfast first," he pointed vaguely in the direction of his roommate, "I need a few more minutes to rest." Cooperative smile. Big eyes. Sit back down on the bed like a good boy. See? No reason to make a fuss.

Leon had been about to bring himself to his fee next to Lust when suddenly he was in his bed again. He sat up with a start, looking about as though Ashton might still be on the floor beside him, but there was no one else but his roommate.

At least he felt better. The weariness from his pitiful spell was gone, as though he'd gotten the rest he knew he hadn't, and as he moved his hand came in contact with something solid near his waste. It was the tool kit, and he was grateful that he'd gone through the effort of keeping it so close to him. He had just enough time to stash it in one of the drawers before the nurse came to get him.

Breakfast wasn't much different than it had been the previous day. Slightly different main course, but that was all. He took his pancakes plain and grabbed a glass of orange juice. Right color, but a poor substitute.

It seemed he was early, so he took his place at am empty table and kept his eyes on the door. If Ashton had still been alive when they'd been brought back to their rooms, then he was hopefully still alive now. He couldn't be completely reassured until he saw him.

And another night had ended. Waking up with a bag of flour in his lap was an odd experience, but Sai took it in stride. At least he'd given Usopp the fruit. He could run the rest to the pirates room that coming night.

The frying pans laid at his side. He picked both up and turned them around in his hands a few times. They could do for blunt weaponry, he supposed. He'd have to make sure to return them as well. All the items could be stashed away in the closet for now. The nurses didn't seem to be interested in thorough checks of their patients' rooms.

When his nurse arrived, he found himself under her gentle scrutiny. The bandages for his bites, he noticed, had been removed. She commented on how well he was healing up before leading him out.

As he took a seat at one of the tables, plate forcefully piled with more than he cared for by his nurse, he began to wonder what role the day staff actually played in the grand scheme of this place. It was such an unusual predicament for everyone involved. ROOT would have taken great interest.

It was a moment's peace, warmth, tenderness. Under his fingertips, silken soft strands of endless red. The boy stirred no more, curled into his lap to keep still from the pain.

A voice come on over the intercom. It had been so silent for so long he'd forgotten where he was. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered that with this voice, the morning would come.

He fingered the locks under his touch, willing for the night to stretch on, to no avail. Kikyo came to in his room, like he did the day before. A blinding light that seemed to suck all memories away. He sat up, turning his gaze across the room.

Kougaiji slept, still. Kikyo rose to his feet, walking to his roommate's bedside and setting his cool touch upon his forehead. This was how the nurse found him when she finally came to escort 'Mr. Ōhara' to breakfast. His fingertips lingered on Kougaiji's skin.

He turned and left, passing through his door behind the woman.

Not hungry, again, but today perhaps he'll have more than just water. He took a seat at an empty table with a glass of water and a small bowl filled with fruit.

The bruise on his face was still there. A lasting reminder upon his pale skin.

MOMO awoke with a gasp, clutching tightly to the sheets. A dream... yes, that's all it was. She had fallen asleep as soon as she was lead back to her room for dinner, and she had slept through the nightshift. It was just a very, very horrible nightmare, and--

"Oww..!" The intense throbbing in her head interrupted her thoughts, causing her to press a hand to her forehead. It was just a coincidence... right? Yes, yes, of course it was! She was just worrying too much over a dream. Nothing had happened after dinner. She hadn't been woken up at all. She had slept through the night, and--

Again, her thoughts were cut short; this time as she drew in a sharp breath as an aching pain shot through her once she managed to sit up. That was only because... It wasn't... The realian's eyes widened. She couldn't think of an excuse, and there was no reason for her to be that sore! Unless... Had that really happened? Had she really attacked those people..? By all accounts she had, but she wanted to hold onto that last bit of hope even as she closed her eyes and felt underneath the collar of her shirt.

That hope, however, was shattered once she discovered a bandage covering the area where the scalpel had cut into her.

She was so absorbed in trying to figure out a reasonable explantion for the injury (though it was much too clear what had really happened) that she didn't even hear her nurse enter the room. Only when the woman laid a hand on her shoulder (effectively causing the pink-haired girl to jump and let out a startled cry) did she realize that. The nurse quickly gestured for her to be quiet, motioning to her still sleeping roommate in the process, before helping the younger-looking girl out into the hallway.

The trek to the cafeteria was silent for the most part. The nurse asked a few times if she was feeling all right, and though it wasn't the least bit true, MOMO had managed a slight nod each time. Though the woman frowned, she let the conversation drop until they reached the doors to the cafeteria. There, she turned to the girl and said, "Now, you be sure to eat a good breakfast, okay?"

Again, the Prototype merely nodded, despite knowing full well that she wasn't going to eat anything. Once the nurse had gone off to see to other patients, she took a quick look around the room. It didn't take her long to spot one of the people she had... seen during the night but she immediately ducked her head and retreated to a table near the back of the room.

She wanted to go home. Now more then ever. But that, unfortunately, wasn't an option, so MOMO merely laid her head on the table and closed her eyes.

Oh, that twice blasted, infernal machine! Celes frowned as she was ~~herded like a chocobo~~ led to the cafeteria. It hardly seemed fair to awaken Mion after such an unproductive night.

If the girl accompanied her again, Celes would be sure to find an appropriate weapon; holding and delighting in Noah's had quite simply whetted her appetite. The fare was plebeian, she'd expected so, though it did not stop her from partaking of a light meal. The young general sat down by herself, in an area where she could easily be noticed by the flow of people coming in.

Celes didn't feel a particular need to discuss last night's spectacular failure of an excursion, but perhaps she'd find someone to politely while away the time with her.

(God Court, not online when I need you. >:( SO USELESS I hope you don't mind if I step in since you didn't say anyone was joining Sora in advance.)

Sleep clung to him like a poor woman on the streets when his nurse escorted him into the Cafeteria, coaxing him into the line so he could gather his food. At the moment Axel didn't care much about organization, throwing a chocolate chip pancake on his plate before laying some tater tots on top, repeating the process two more times before he was satisfied with the size.

As usual, the Cafeteria was nearly empty at this time in the morning, but he was used to it by now. Instead, he occupied himself by glancing around for a place to sit. Green eyes meandered about for a minute before the redhead caught sight of that familiar shade of brunet sitting not so far away.

"Hey you, it's been a while." For a moment it almost sounded as if he was being sincere, but Axel would later blame it on exhaustion. "Mind if I sit here?"

[ Pfft, nah, I don't mind - Sora didn't have any set plans. ]

Still no sign of Rena, but Sora had noticed Axel and therefore wasn't surprised when the redhead dropped by to join him. He did notice how the man's tone was friendlier than usual, but Axel always had been the Organization member (or ex-member, whatever) who seemed the least like a Nobody.

Maybe he was just a better actor than the others. Sora didn't want to think about it.

The boy eyed Axel's plate first - it looked like a pancake and tater tot sandwich, which was just a little weird. Maybe he was wrong, but those things didn't mix very well together, did they? Still, that was the wrong thing to be focusing on right now.

"Yeah!" he affirmed. "Err, I mean, no, I don't mind!" He was about to fall quiet then, until he remembered what Axel had supposedly been up to the night before. "Hey!" he continued. "Is Kairi okay? What did you guys do last night?"

Xemnas considered the previous nightshift a rather unproductive one. He hadn't gone much further than 'investigating' two rooms in total, which would be a disappointing result if only the Nobody could feel disappointed. At least he had learned to avoid children that lacked any sort of corporeal form, but he would make sure the next nightshift would yield more useful results.

He hardly listened to the rather cheery announcement of the head doctor, not interested in his little facade during the day. The nurse that escorted him to the cafeteria was disregarded all the same.

Upon entering the cafeteria, he noticed not many patients had arrived thus far. He spotted both the Keyblade Master and the traitor among them, but chose to disregard them for now. Instead, he took a seat at a random table and began to eat his meal in silence.

It was a good thing that Urahara's middle name was "polite," right after "bargain" and "opportunity." The shopkeeper's muted senses were on red alert after he'd been unceremoniously dropped off in what was obviously a cafeteria, and though the food on his plate looked delicious, he found himself decidedly less interested in it than he was in his fellow prisoners.

"Ah, excuse me, miss," he asked the patient closest to him, gesturing towards the chair opposite her. If he was lucky, she wouldn't be part of the emerging conspiracy. "Would you mind if I joined you? I'm a bit lost..."

Max cursed under her breath all the way to the cafeteria. She was not amused. Her injuries from the cat the night before were bandaged - Keman's makeshift ones were gone - although she still felt grimy from the fight, both the one with the cat and the one to save Valyn later.

Was he alright? Was he still alive? And Keman?

Feeling frustrated and worried, she glanced around the cafeteria intently but spotted neither of them. That doing nothing to improve her mood, she shook of her nurse and headed for the food bar, mindlessly filling her plate with breakfast before finding an empty spot at a table and sinking down to watch the door.

(Yeah, unlike Mr. Flamer a few threads above this. >:( *killed*)

Axel waited for the latter's answer, but he easily caught the brunet's puzzled expression towards his food of which he retorted with a 'Don’t judge me just because I'm the most beautiful woman ever' look of his own. Though when Sora asked about his little escapades that previous night he quickly slipped into his chair and into his usual charade.

"Well, other than avoiding the Sun Room like the plague, we managed to get into the Kitchen by taking a few detours." It seemed like a believable enough situation since that part of the story was true, but Axel didn't bother to tell Sora about how they got attacked or that he didn’t know if Kairi managed to escape without getting injured.

"You know, I think I saw you sometime earlier." Axel addressed, carefully coaxing the conversation into another direction. "How was your night?"

Albel felt a shock go through his body for the second time since his stay here, and could only he glare daggers at the stupid maggot as he was once again paralyzed. If looks could kill, there would be nothing left of that worm.

By the time he could move, he was back in his room. Albel immediately reached for his throat. He realized Yuber was no longer in sight, meaning he couldn't slam his head into the closest wall. Instead, he slammed his only fist against the wall to unleash his frustration. That stupid maggot with his stupid thunder spells...how could he have let it happen?! How could he have been so weak?! As if on cue, his eyes caught the tattoos still on his arm, inflicted by that ghostly wench. They only served as a reminder, a reminder of his own weakness.

Someone was going to pay dearly for this!!

With a growl, he tossed his blanket from his body and stomped off to the closet to store his items away before another wench came and bothered him. He had barely closed the door and an incredibly cheerful nurse came in, her smile clashing horribly with the warrior's foul mood. He resisted the urge to smack it from her face, as such a foolish action would only result in sedatives. No, he'd save the smacking for some other maggot.

It was only after he had entered the cafeteria, retrieved his meal that and took a seat he noticed the tattoo had disappeared.

Since Axel didn't mention anything drastic like Kairi somehow getting injured or him losing track of her, Sora didn't press the subject any further. After all, if he kept just asking about her, Axel would probably make some comment about how he didn't care about him or... something weird and silly like that.

Instead, he just decided to answer the question. He didn't really want to talk about it, but he knew Axel wasn't going to judge him for it. He took a gulp of his milk (and then wiped off the offending mustache) before speaking up.

"I was supposed to go get stuff from the activity shed with Rena, but there was a special counseling patient on the field, so I helped knock her out, but after that I couldn't find Rena then and I was kind of out of it 'cause I was bleeding a lot, so..." He trailed off then, figuring Axel would be able to infer the rest.

Celes's eyes flickered up from her private reverie. She inclined her head, "By all means, sir. Please be seated, I do not mind." It wasn't as though she were expecting anyone to pop out of the woodwork.

Edgar was still away without leave, his presence only hinted at on the bulletin. He didn't even have the nerve to reply himself! She gripped her fork until her knuckles turned white, but kept her facial expression calm and polite. If he was dead she would pluck a Phoenix Down herself and revive him.

And then she would kill him again. Assuming, of course, he could be found. "I'll be happy to aid you as I best I may. I'm afraid I've only resided here a day and a half, however." Better to set her limits now, then to get his hopes up.

Cid's night had been decidedly less productive than his roommate's, having slept through the whole thing like some anemic loser. He wasn't sure why he'd been so damn tired lately, though he had enough presence of mind to finally lock onto the figure of his roommate as he exited the room and follow him into the cafeteria. He'd been seeing bits and pieces of the guy for days now, and though by now the pilot's life had taught him that silver hair spelled trouble, he couldn't help being really fucking curious about who the hell he was bunking with.

The pilot grabbed a plate of food and unceremoniously dropped it down at the same table as the weirdo.

"Yo," he said, not really making eye contact as he shoved a fork into his pancakes. "'Bout time we introduced our damn selves."

Even though Axel was listening to every word Sora said, he couldn't help but glare at the tanned figure that strode into the Cafeteria with that ever pompous attitude. The redhead murmured something along the lines of 'Useless bastard who does nothing more than make moves on Saïx's ass' before stabbing his fork right into the middle of his pancakes.

"You look pretty good for someone who almost bled to death." The redhead commented with a grin, tearing his eyes away from the source of overwhelming hatred and back towards the brunet sitting across from him.

"So that's what all the commotion in the field was? I guess I should be thankful since we didn't have a problem with hopping the wall."

Apparently, Urahara's formalities had been bested by this woman's. He nodded with a smile as he sat down in the chair, appearing to busy himself with eating his food when in actuality he was sizing his new companion up. Her body language gave away what her formal speech didn't; she was the kind to be cool, controlled, but tense as hell beneath the surface, somewhat like Kuchiki in her worse moments. It occurred to him that she spoke more like a shinigami noble than an average human, and though he wondered about the implications of that, he kept his contemplations to himself.

"My name is Urahara Kisuke, and I'm a lowly shopkeeper," he said amiably. He raised his eyes towards the woman; she was elegant in a warrior princess kind of way. "May I ask your name and profession?"

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Day 27: Breakfast

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