damned_institute | Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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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]

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Of all the things he'd been called in his life, stupid, and by a little girl shaped thing was probably the most innocuous. "Clean out your ears," Renji said. "You already got told the answer to that. I don't care if you decide to live or die. I'm all in favor of just killing you before you fuck up and prove me right. The only reason you're even getting this chance is because Allen asked."

Asked wasn't the right word. Was stubborn and dumb was better. But there needed to be a united front, here. He was perfectly happy making Allen into the good cop.

Was she trying to get sympathy from him? He'd played nice, he'd turned a blind eye, but he couldn't look away from the facts. She was a danger. "He cares about whether or not innocent people here get hurt."

Allen's eyes were cool with unspoken anger, "I don't want the same things that happened in the Rewinding Town to happen to anyone here. I'm not a fool Rhode, I know what you're capable of; I watched you laughing when you destroyed that Akuma!" His voice rose in volume as he spoke, fists at his sides, shaking slightly.

"When things are already so bad, how can you want to make them worse?! I don't understand why it's so difficult for you to agree to this!"

Renji was going to get ignored now. He didn't care for her, she didn't care for him, and that was that. She had no reason to care for listening to him anymore. Now she kept her attention on Allen, also ignoring his own references to Renji. What else he said she jumped at.

"You said that before," she reminded him. Allen was repeating his words now, though they were far more stable than before. His usually calm eyes now sent angry intent her way. That anger was understandable, but only for the events of the Rewinding Town. She'd bekoned his anger forward then with every intent of gaining his disdain.

But it made no sense for him to be angry here, however far away from that place and time. None! If anyone should be angry, it should be her! And she was.

"How can I?!" she hissed, finally snapping back without a playful edge, "You tell me that, Allen! Just how do you think I can do anything without my powers?!"

This wasn't about being "good". For her, it was about her losing her position as a Noah - having to deal with humans and non-humans alike who thought they were better than her, having to be weak and useless against almost everything, having to simply be human. He couldn't even fathom just how devastating that was for her! No one could! It even hurt to be accused by him for things she hadn't done exactly because she hadn't done them!

"Did I ever say I wanted to make things worse?! It doesn't get any worse than this!" She felt the unnatural desire to cry again, but ground her teeth to keep it back.

Renji hazarded a glance at Allen; he didn't look like he was going to fall for it. That was good. He didn't really care if the girl listened to him or not; he hadn't been kidding when he said he would have preferred to just kill the girl.

Though he did have to add one thing. "It gets a lot worse," he said. "I kill you and you go to hell."

"You make it sound like that's something I ought to know. How do I know you haven't still got some of your abilities? They're limited, but I still have mine. Why wouldn't you be the same? Why should I trust anything you say?" How did Rhode have a right to be angry at all?! He was trying to help her, not hurt her! Didn't she see that?

"Your idea of worse and mine are vastly different," he said, cooling slightly. He glanced at Renji for a moment, nodding his head in silent agreement. "You think attacking that boy in the craft room was making things better? If we're going to escape, I don't have time to play as your babysitter!"

"Shut up!!" she barked at Renji, unable to ignore his bit of snark. He wasn't any part of this, so for all she cared, he could go to hell himself and butt out!

"And you should know, Allen! I told you on the first day, and on the bus too! If you don't believe that, then why don't you look at your own example for a change? You think I'd have let him go with just a scratch if I could have done more? Do you?!" Proving her sadistic nature might not have helped in the long run, but anger had clouded any of her long-term reasoning for the moment.

She couldn't see that he wanted to help. How could she with him shouting at her about being good and bad or however black and white it was supposed to be?! Cornering her as he was would not get any consent. She would just keep lashing out like any caged animal would until he backed off.

Renji's eyebrow twitched. This was obviously going nowhere, and he wasn't interested in letting this thing berate Allen into something dumb - or make the poor kid lose his temper. In one smooth motion, he stood, flipped up Rhode's messy plate of pancakes, and smooshed it down on top of her head.

And then he twisted it, just to make sure the pancake got well in to her hair.

"Quit your whining," he growled. "You got a warning, and that's more'n most get. Reap what you sow, bitch. C'mon Allen." His annoyed tone perhaps made it clear that if Allen didn't come, he would be dragged.

Renji turned to go.

Was Rhode trying to make a better case for herself? Because her reasoning was only making him feel a greater fool for not turning his back on her sooner. Hearing from her own mouth that if she had more of her power, she'd have used it on the other patients already was not a comfort, not by any means.

All thoughts came crashing to a halt, however, when Renji reacted by squishing the leftover pile of pancakes into Rhode's hair. Allen's eyes widened, his expression baffled. "Wh-what?" he managed. Between the Rhode and Renji, he was feeling terribly confused. He'd been upset by the girl, yes, but how was wasting food and making her even more angry going to help anything at all?

She should have expected that Renji would do something stupid. He was pretty dumb so far as she was concerned what with being there and not caring, so it came as only a timing surprise when he made a move that was sure to get the nurses' attention.

Food fights were pretty common for her back at home, and she'd been decked a time or two (not with her real body present, but it was always the thought that counted). Renji was now the first to catch her off guard with the first attack though. She could blame having been upset at Allen over that. Still, the twins would be upset if they ever found out. Renji had taken their glory!

She squeaked a bit at the first slap of pancakes to her head, then louder when Renji twisted down - he was easily stronger that her. "Hey!!" she shouted, grabbing the table quickly so as not to fall over backwards. Now she was just a little amused from him making the first move and then trying to leave, which was bad when added to her already annoyed mood. That's not how a foodfight worked anyway; you didn't just attack and leave! At least he was making himself an easy target!

For once she was happy she had only finished off the syrup she'd had on the pancakes. That left her with a lot of ammo. She grabbed a mess of the soggy bread and flung it right at his easily targetted skull. "You started it!!"

Hadn't he just said "reap what you sow"?

Renji had pretty much been expecting either that, or an outright attack, as retaliation. He wasn't going to be caught so easily, not after centuries spent avoiding far nastier things than some soggy, sticky pancake. He moved his head to the side, letting Rhode's missile sail past and splat on the floor, then reached over and grabbed the back of Allen's shirt, hauling the boy out of his seat one-armed.

"It's a waste of time," he said, keeping an eye on Rhode now. She'd no doubt be throwing more at him, and he wasn't all that interested in getting pancake in his hair.

Allen could see the beginnings of a very messy and wasteful fight, but before he could so much as get a word out, Renji grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him out of his seat. He was getting a little bit tired of being pulled around like an over-sized kitten, but with how strong Renji was and how... small... he was, there wasn't a whole lot he could do to stop him.

It took a few moments to regain his balance and walk upright, not to mention keeping a wary eye out for any food that happened to be lobbed in his direction.

Things had certainly not gone as he'd hoped.

Rhode didn't care that she had missed and continued with her barrage, throwing everything from the clumps of pancakes to the plate Renji's way. She hoped for something to at least strike him, and if not him, then the exorcist he'd decided to drag away. Allen wasn't in the clear either - she was mad at the both of them!

Had they honestly expected her to cooperate after that?! Threatening her like they had some kind of right to do so?!

"Come back when you want to be fair, Allen!" she shouted angrily. Renji wasn't invited back - she didn't like him, and she never would! So far as she was concerned this was all his fault!

Now that Allen was on his feet and likely to keep going, Renji let go of him and continued dodging Rhode's missiles, his movements reasonably graceful considering how creaky he felt. He wasn't interested in sticking around longer; the girl had gotten her warning, and he had little doubt that she'd do something stupid just to spite them at this point, so she'd end up dead. It wasn't a thought that bothered him in the slightest.

Though he did snort when she said something about being fair. She still didn't get it, and he doubted that she ever would. It made him wonder, that this was the sort of thing Allen put up with. The kid needed to grow a spine.

Allen did what he could to get out of the way of the coming sticky mess, steering clear of the better part of it. There were a few small stains on his shirt, but at least it wasn't in his hair like the meatball from a few days ago. That had been quite a bother. He hurried out of range and back to their table.

[[back to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/264448.html?thread=20241920#t20241920)]]

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Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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