damned_institute | Day 27: Lunch

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Day 27: Lunch

Renji wasn't so certain what this grilled cheese thing was all about, but he liked the sound of some soup. Even if it was strange western soup, well... there wasn't anything bad people could do to soup, in his experience. His good mood was starting to fray at the edges, a little, from the strain of dealing with the Ichimaru issue, and even more from what had been on the bulletin board earlier.

He'd never had difficulty simply writing something before. But...

He shook his head as he entered the line. He didn't want to think about it. He wanted to hold on to the tenuous equilibrium he'd managed to find.

Renji got himself a large bowl of soup, water, and even one of those sandwiches, just to try it. Old habit, recently awakened, had him over to one side of the cafeteria, where the fewest people possible would have the chance to pass behind him. He sat there with his back toward the wall and started eating.

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Jack laughed. "If they fed us well, we'd be eating duck and caviar. They feed us APPROPRIATELY."

He took another bite out of his sandwich before adding, "Oh, did the tea drinker say anything to you about me? He still seems less than fond of my presence."

"Hn." Kougaiji looked down at his plate again. No fingers, no limbs and certainly no blood. As long as he could avoid the diet his father's castle quite often preferred, he was good.

"Tea drinker? You mean Kikyo?" He arched his brows as he looked up at John. Kikyo obviously didn't like John, that was true. "He didn't say anything. Not that I remember at least. Parts of last night... are hazy." And with that, he bowed his head again, picking up a fork and started sorting through his food.

Jack nodded. "I have some blank spots too."

Sighing, he added, "And it really SUCKS that we never even got to look for the treasure. I'm CERTAIN it was booze..."

"So," Jack decided to go the playful route once more, "Make me anything nice in arts and crafts?"

The grease he had to admit, was not very appealing. Kougaiji cut bite sized bit of the sandwich and poked it to the spikes of his fork. "Whatever it was, the price for getting there was too high," he said softly, waving the fork from one side to another.

The comment about arts and crafts made him look up again, snorting at John's tone of voice just as much as his words. "And what you'd like to have? Macaroni necklace?"

"Anything made by your loving hands would be more than enough for me," Jack smirked. At least Kou had a sense of humor. He only wished everyone else did.

Well, ok, maybe the pirate wasn't that bad either. Giving him the Tylenol had been a nice gesture and if Jack could think up something small, he'd see that the favor was returned. But first things first, he needed to figure out his plans for the night. "So, are you up for hanging out again tonight or do you think you're going to need some rest after last night?"

"That warms my heart, ya know," Kougaiji muttered with a lingering grin which turned quickly into a puzzled frown as he observed the grease drip from the piece of toast he had hanging from his fork.

"I dunno," he answered John quietly, trying to hide his annoyance into staring the bit of unappealing food in midair between the two of them. Everything was just so damn confusing at the moment, and he hurt like hell when he tried to move. But what could he gain by staying in his room? "You?" When in doubt, redirect the attention towards others, right?

Jack shrugged. "I'm going to be in my room for a little bit. I'm expecting...things."

Whether it was cigarettes, a woman, or a beating didn't particularly matter. Something was definately happening tonight, though he'd try and push for the first two. "You're welcome to join the party, though, if you want."

There was a funny thought. If Kou showed up and he was entertaining a woman, how would he react? Maybe those two lesbians would come together and Kou wouldn't be left out. Still, it probably wasn't a good idea to mention that to him- he seemed like the sort who wouldn't react particularly well to the suggestion.

"Mmn... alright." Kougaiji happily wasn't aware of John's thoughts. Would he have been it was not likely he'd been so calm as he was now, for various reasons.

"Expecting what?" he asked innocently, glancing at John through his bangs. "I dunno, I might drop by sooner or later. What was your room number again?"

"M32," the Fable arched an eyebrow and smirked as though he was trying to keep from laughing. God, it really WOULD be funny if Kou showed up in the middle of something scandalous, wouldn't it? Would he even know what to do with himself? The urge was so tempting for the trickster. "You're probably going to want to knock first." It was so hard to fight his penchant for mischief, but given his current predicament, he needed to stay in Kou's good graces.

He intentionally didn't answer what could be expected because, really, Kou didn't need to know.

Arching a pair of elegant brows at John, Kougaiji nodded and finally forced the fork towards his mouth. He'd have to eat something. And he was hungry, despite the fact that chewing would hurt and the food was nothing like appealing. If he noticed John's amusement, he did nothing to show it.

Knocking was something Kougaiji would have done whatever the case. His mother had made sure he knew his manners, his father had made sure he also wanted to abide by them and knock before walking into certain rooms.

"So you don't want to tell me what's going on?" he asked directly after swallowing and decided to let his fork rest for a while before even thinking of more.

Jack didn't know quite how to address that. So he responded, "You don't wanna know."

That probably would only frustrate the demon prince more, but Jack was good at word play and wasn't particularly concerned.

Flash of temper in narrowing crimson eyes, Kougaiji did not voice his frustration, however. He rather threw his fork on the plate and leaned his elbows to the table, locking hands in front of himself and let his chin rest against them, lips pulling into a tight line behind his interlocked fingers.

"Wouldn't I be the judge of that?" he asked silently.

Well, that certainly set Kougaiji off. Maybe he DID want to know. Jack pondered for a moment, then said:

"A gynecologist is giving an examination of a college student when he notices a "Y" mark deeply branded into her torso. Curious, he asks her about it and she responds that she has a boyfriend at Yale who loves his school so much that he insists to keep his school jacket on when they make love and that must have left the mark.

The next patient the doctor sees is another college student, this time with an "H" mark on her. Again, he asks what the nature of the injury was and she responds that her boyfriend goes to Harvard and he loves the school so much that he doesn't take off his jacket when they make love either.

His last patient comes in and he notices that she has a "W" on her body. Thinking he has caught on to the trend, he casually asks her, 'So, boyfriend at Wisconsin, huh?'

She looks at him and says, 'No, girlfriend at Michigan.'"

Finishing with his tale, the Fable casually leaned back and took a sip of his drink.

Gynecologist? Yale? Harvard? Kougaiji blinked in confusion as John went on. What was this weird crap? He did catch the hook, line and sinker too, but the embarrassed amusement he felt was laced with puzzlement over everything he couldn't quite figure out. The mental images the joke invoked were slightly baffling to say the least, and he found himself rubbing his neck carefully around the bandages and frowning darkly.

"So what the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked finally. "And what the hell is Gynecologist?"

Jack gauged Kougaiji's reaction.

"It means," said the Fable, taking another bite from his sandwich, "That you don't want to know what's going on."

He swallowed the food down and took another mouthful before adding, "A gynecologist is a doctor who looks at a woman's-..." He stopped himself, not wishing to offend his friend further at the moment. "It's a doctor of 'woman parts'."

Sighing, Kougaiji turned back to his food. Maybe he didn't want to know. Not this much. "Whatever," was his simple answer, tired of the fruitless argument.

He cut a bit of the toast again and fell silent while munching on it. A doctor for 'woman parts' got as much reaction out of him as a quirk of brow and another snort. He had never heard of such.

Jack sighed, noting the change in mood. "Alright, fine. Look, I said some things that have probably earned me a beating tonight and then I'm expecting some smokes and perhaps some company of the female persuation. It really isn't something you need to worry about and it doesn't concern you, so I didn't think you'd care so much."

The last thing Jack needed was the injured demon prince to do anything drastic for his sake. He kind of liked having someone he could trust around.

It was a surprise to Kougaiji that John decided to give in. He looked up at the other man with an annoyed frown pulling his brows, his fork pushed deep into the sandwich and paused there.

"Beating?" Kougaiji sighed, listening to all what John had to say and finding himself a bit offended by the careless air about this big idiot. He said words like 'please' and 'sorry' on so rare occasion that it was hard to remember the last time. And yet he had found himself pleading last night. And here he was going 'I didn't think you'd care so much'.

Maybe he shouldn't care. They were just casual acquaintances, right?

"Right..." He cut another bit of his sandwich and popped the food into his mouth unceremoniously.

"People just don't understand me," The fable kidded, trying to lighten the mood some. "So I'd hate for them to think you're anything similiar. Y'know, I'm doing you a favor.

He popped a fry into his mouth. "Unless you're really itching to make yourself some enemies."

And the idiot didn't seem to know when it was time to drop the matter completely. Kougaiji frowned, his temper flaring before he could rein it in.

"Just shut up already, okay?" The snap was rolling from his tongue before he could even realize he was saying anything. He stared at the blond with narrowing crimson eyes at the aftertaste of adrenalin streaming through his veins, his fork pointed towards John in accusing manner, a slice of cucumber hanging from the spikes.

Jack stared back at Kou with half lidded eyes, as though unimpressed by the emotional outburst. Putting another fry in his mouth, he casually stood up and collected his tray, despite the intense pain that shot through his torso. Sure, he was still injured, but he had to look cool in his exit.

"Later, then."

With that, he turned to walk off.

Kougaiji forced himself to bit together his teeth and just suck in a long breath. Then he stabbed the plastic fork back to the vegetables and came up with a bigger pile of them.

He didn't care, right? And John would have to come back if he wanted his key. Not that Kougaiji wanted that. Whatever.

"Idiot," he muttered under his breath before popping the fork into his mouth.

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Day 27: Lunch

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