damned_institute | Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

Entry tags:

Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him, and knew how to find him. That was enough.

The thought of eating made him slightly nauseous as usual, but he knew he needed to get his strength up. He could either be weak and try to force his way through brunch without eating anything, or he could be smart and actually give himself something to eat. And there was rice. Rice and fruit. He took a heaping pile of rice, and grabbed as much watermelon as he could fit on his plate, then proceeded to an empty table. He scanned the room, watching for Momo. He wasn't exactly looking forward to their conversation, knowing how she'd acted yesterday; however, he knew he had to speak to her, and there was a good chance that she would show more restraint now that the drugs were out of her system.

Thoughtfully he consumed his rice and waited.

[free at the moment, pester if you wish]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ginji moved a chair to the side so that he could move right up to the table and put his piled plate up on it too. He grinned at the sight of all the food he had collected. "That's good I guess. Hopefully it will feel good as new by tonight, right? I'm feeling much better today actually." His expression changed to a small frown. "I don't remember much about last night." He thanked whoever for the food and started eating, though not as ravenously as he would have if Roland hadn't been watching. "Mmm this is tasty!"

His expression changes and the words were said quickly together, as if the emotions behind them and were one collected stream of thought rather than small pockets of different sensations.

That was something that Roland was both intrigued and surprised by- how ephemeral Ginji's emotions were, and how quickly he could change his thoughts in mid-stream. Roland preferred finishing his thoughts before moving on... much to the dismay of those who had to endure his expositions. But they were learning a great deal as a result, so who could hold that against him, anyway?

"My arm should be better by tonight, yeah. Just a little sore; as long as the nurses don't get it into their heads to mess around with it, I'll be fine." Which was something that Roland was rather surprised by, to be honest; he'd expected the staff to be much more hands-on with their work and with their medications. Just leaving the patients alone wasn't exactly standard procedure for psychologists. And letting the patients stay together, so what valid psychosis's or delusions would feed off each other, was also rather against what Roland would have expected. Then again, this place wasn't to make them better. Despite the light of 'God' and the greenery outside.

Finished with that thought, he turned to Ginji with an amused expression. Since when had he seen anyone so happy to eat normal food? Sure, the demon side was always happy to gorge itself on whatever living meat might be nearby, but real food? It was interesting to see, that was for sure. "At least we're fed well here," he offered in response... though he still felt a twinge of guilt. Even Indra was well-fed here. As Ginji should have remembered, had he not blanked out for some reason. Still, that worked out well in Roland's favor.

And on that topic... "I'm getting worried," he said with a tone of mixed amusement and concern, "it seems like your memory is rather fickle. But perhaps it's for the best that you don't remember."

"I've never had so much to eat in my life," Ginji said with a big grin. It was completely true. He had grown up in the worst slum imaginable and food had been sparse there and after he had left his job as a Getbacker, while fulfilling, was irregular and unlucky. Paul, the man who ran the cafe Ginji and his partner Ban used as their 'headquarters' said they just didn't have luck with money. He would sometimes let the Getbackers eat food on a tab, but always complained they would eventually eat him out of business. Despite the horrors Ginji faced at this so called "hospital" he was damn well going to enjoy eating regular meals. He would even miss it a little once he was away from this place.

Ginji frowned slightly as he thought about what Roland said about his memory. "It might be because..." he said after a moment and then frowned. "Sometimes I'm not me and I don't really remember what happens during those times." He didn't really like to talk about his other self a lot and it was clear the subject made him uncomfortable. Still, there was no reason for Raitei to have come out last night and Ginji's powers still hadn't returned from his encounter with Indra. He couldn't even muster the barest of sparks, and Raitei never appeared without some kind of power to back him up. Ginji wasn't about to get worried about it though. He was used to blank spots in his memory, he just hoped he hadn't hurt anyone.

Ah, so that was how it was? Roland could understand that; years of fighting against the Karma Society, especially with the surface rendered barren and completely uninhabitable, had meant that food was sometimes an extremely rare, extremely valuable commodity. And Roland had had to feed what few survivors of humanity had managed to make it out, too; food was a much more important thing than some people realized. And getting to enjoy normal human food wasn't bad, either. "That is one good thing," Roland allowed, "regular square meals. I can't say I know why so many people seem to complain about it on the board."

Of course, there were regular square meals for Indra as well, but Roland didn't want to think about that at the moment.

So instead the man listened as Ginji tried to explain the gaps in his memory. Sounded like multiple personalities, which tallied with what Roland had experienced when fighting with Ginji before. Suddenly the man had seemed... well, much more capable than before. Anyone who could survive against Indra for any length of time, especially when fighting with Indra's own element and while being weakened, was quite different from the young man who stood before him now. Though it was clear that the subject was an uncomfortable one, and so Roland shrugged to show that he was fine with letting it go. For now, anyway. "Sorry; if it's something you'd rather not talk about, that's fine. I'm just used to people who aren't quite themselves, so it's hard to restrain my curiosity at times."

Ginji shook his head and then sighed. He paused in his meal to fully explain this. He felt as if he owed it to Roland since he had been the one to explain to Ginji how he had gotten hurt.

"Where I come from... people get hurt a lot everyday. It's a lot like this place actually, with the stronger people hurting the ones who aren't as strong. When it got to be too much for me, I guess you can say that a part of me learned how to be as strong as possible. When I'm ... like that...I usually have nearly unlimited control of electricity and lightening and an almost instant healing rate, but I guess this place messed it up or something. The wounds I have should have been healed with some of my power, but right now I feel like I couldn't match the shock you get from rubbing your socks on carpet. There's nothing left inside of me. It's like fighting that demon or monster or whatever you were telling me about made me use up all the power I had left. That's why I've been spending all my nights in my room. I'm no use like this." He didn't want to dwell on those words. It made him feel so sad and miserable. If he realized he probably shouldn't be sharing his weakened state with anyone it didn't show. He trusted Roland, and probably would still trust him even if he ever found out that Roland was Indra. That was just the way that Ginji was.

"Anyway, the way that I am when I'm like that has a name I guess. They call me Raitei when it happens. It means 'Thunder Emperor' so if you need to talk about it." His frown deepened. "I never really liked the name. It sounds so over the top, you know?"

Roland was quiet, listening carefully and attentively to what Ginji was saying. So, a protector personality had been formed in response to external trauma? It made sense, and it explained how Ginji could now be so, well, like he was, yet when danger threatened... 'Raitei' showed up. Though Roland had to wince when he heard that last part, about how fighting against Indra had apparently drained every bit of power out of the young man. Great, so he'd maimed and crippled someone? All he needed to know now was that he'd actually shoved someone down his throat, and his life would be just perfect.

"I do know that most powers are limited here, from what I've heard," Roland mused out loud as Ginji finished, "so you're in the majority there. But... at the same time, it's not like powers alone are what can make a person valuable. In my world, normal people had to fight against flesh-eating demons with magic powers... and pardon my pride, but we managed to hold them off for years. Sometimes, a little cunning and determination can make up for the difference in power."

Roland smiled a bit as he finished that, hoping that Ginji would take that little bit of hope and at least consider it. Raitei, if that was his name, had definitely had determination. Surely Ginji would have something similar to that? It was a hope, anyway, and Roland knew that they would need as many hands as they could get to make it out of the Institute alive. Still... he did have to chuckle quietly. "As for the name... just from what I saw, I'd say that 'Thunder Emperor' is more fitting than over the top. It could be worse- some of the people from my world took to calling themselves after gods."

Ginji listened to Roland and couldn't help but think of the 'gods' of Babylon City. The people who had created Mugenjou and who controlled all the lives of those who could not live anywhere else.

"Our worlds sound a lot alike," he said. "Well, at least your world sounds a lot alike the place in my world where I grew up." He didn't comment about the name anymore. He really didn't want to talk about Raitei.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject