Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

[whiteychan.livejournal.com]

Hitsugaya woke with a start.

His entire body ached, but the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been the night before. His injuries had been tended two with clean gauze and bandages, and he found every movement wasn't agony. He wasn't in the best of shape, but thanks to the miracle of landel's strange time distortion, he had mostly recovered from the vile poison without having to waste anyone else's talents.

And in his hand, still...there was the key.

He dressed quickly, sliding the key onto the key ring from his desk drawer and stuck it into his pocket. Whether the key stood to gain them anything or not, it stood as a vital reminder that they could succeed in this place. There was hope, as insignificant as it often seemed. They could beat this place.

That small shred of hope made getting up worth it.

The nurse who escorted him to breakfast was cheerful, and commented idly about how wonderful it was to see young Tommy Winters up and about again after his unfortunate run-in with a bad case of food poisoning. He smirked slightly, knowing that any lies the institute forced into their heads were only that: lies. He wouldn't buy it for a second. And on top of that, the concept of muffins sounded almost appetizing. While he still preferred his authentic Japanese cuisine, the food here was slowly becoming more and more bearable. He would have preferred a warm bowl of sweet nattou over rice over the mufffins, but they would do. The plain yogurt and fruit, on the other hand, was excellent. He piled his plate high with fruit as usual, and got several small bowls of yogurt as well.

Finding the most convenient table to the end of the food line, he took a seat and scanned for the new arrivals. New arrivals meant people who would be lost and confused. Renji did a good job of making a bulliten post last time...he should recommend abarai-fukutaicho do the same again this time.

[Waiting for Angel]

Comments

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

Rukia opened her mouth to answer, when she was distracted by a meaty thump. She looked across the cafeteria, toward the sound, and there was River, moving faster than any human had a right to. She had already dropped one nurse, but was quickly being swarmed.

It all happened so fast. Two dark-haired men rushed to River's side to argue with the nurses and orderlies for only a moment before exploding into action. All around, others moved to go to River's aid, or simply to take out their frustrations on their captors.

Any other day, Rukia might have stayed out of the fighting. It probably wouldn't do any good; there always seemed to be an endless supply of staff to quell any disturbances. But she was fed up. Fed up with this place, with the people who were trying to control them, and with herself for being so weak and ineffective. She didn't care that she could barely walk, or that she would likely get sedated. She just wanted to fight back.

An orderly on his way to the heart of the chaos ran by Rukia and Tyler. Without so much as blinking, Rukia reached forward to pick up her tray and hurled it at the man as hard as she could. She was wounded and exhausted, but maybe there was something in the air; her anger had overwhelmed the signals from her body.

Rukia's cup of tea slid off the tray before it even reached the orderly, but the hot liquid splashed his pant leg. He cried out in surprise, and then came the tray, connecting with his shoulder in a shower of fruit and cereal.

Before the man could wipe the milk from his eyes, Rukia was out of her wheelchair and on the table, where she was only slightly taller than him. Her legs weren't much good - she would be paying for all this movement later - so she braced herself and punched him in the side of the head.

[shyboyblue.livejournal.com]

Everything went from moderate calm to madness in the blink of an eye, and Tyler only had a few seconds to stare in shock, his jaw dropping, as fights broke out all over the cafeteria. He didn't even know what had started it, other than a scuffle across the room, which seemed to trigger one everywhere else. Had this been planned, or were the other patients just taking advantage of an opportunity?

Still, when his quiet companion flung a tray at a passing orderly and then hopped from her wheelchair onto the table to fight him, Tyler knew he couldn't just sit and watch.

Leaping to his feet, he took advantage of the fact that the man was facing Rukia to deliver a kick to the back of the man's legs to take them out from underneath him, even as he brought his own tray down hard across the back of the man's head.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

The poor man took the punch with a grunt, bringing one hand up to shield his face. Rukia couldn't avoid his other hand, though, which came around to grab her arm. Before the orderly could pull her down from the table, though, Tyler was behind him. As the orderly fell backward, he started to bring Rukia with him, but the tray Tyler delivered to his head loosened the man's grip enough that Rukia was able to stay on the table.

There were even more fights breaking out all around. One man was up on a table, yelling for others to join in, and a pretty girl Rukia had never seen before was singing. Rukia didn't know the words, but she felt the power in them.

A nurse, syringe already in hand, was heading for Rukia, and another orderly had appeared behind Tyler. "Tyler, behind you!" Rukia yelled as she assessed her options. She thought to go back over to the other side of the table, but there were more staff members in that direction. Deciding that she was better off with one nurse, Rukia took a chance and jumped off the table, right into the woman.

[shyboyblue.livejournal.com]

Rukia's warning came just in time as the orderly approached him from behind, trying to restrain him. He knew there was a nurse with a needle heading for Rukia, but there was little he could do about it at the moment, since the orderly was much bigger and way more massive that he was. Small and quick he might be, but up against a male more than twice his size was quite a challenge, considering he couldn't safely Use here.

Instead, he dropped into a fighting stance, delivering a kick and several hard blows as he did his best to evade the man's grasp. He hoped Rukia would be able to hold her own until he could drop this guy and get to her.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

The impact hurt a lot; thankfully the nurse's cry drowned out Rukia's grunt of pain. Her main concern was not avoiding bodily harm at the moment. Rather, she was focused on avoiding that needle, and subduing the nurse.

They both fell to the ground, the nurse's head making a dull thud against the floor. Rukia grabbed the hand holding the needle, and pressed her other arm against the woman's throat to try and pin her. The nurse, while she had been surprised, was obviously well-trained, though. "Stop it!" she yelled as she jabbed her free hand into Rukia's arm pit.

Rukia gasped in pain, fighting to remain focused on what she had to do. Meanwhile, the orderly that she and Tyler had knocked down before was starting to get up...

[shyboyblue.livejournal.com]

While Tyler probably could have handled the one orderly he was fighting, he wasn't prepared for the second one that suddenly lunged from behind, the rather pissed male he and Rukia had taken down a few minutes before. The orderly tackled him from behind, the force behind the lunge carrying both of them to the floor, the orderly pinning him there from above.

"Freaking ape! Get off me!" Tyler cursed him, struggling frantically beneath the man's hold, trying to get free before one of the nurses could get close enough to take him out.

Desperate, he reached for his magic, uncaring at the moment if he Used in front of anyone else. What did secrets mean if he was trapped in a place like this? Caleb kick his ass later, if he got out of this place.

Intending to blast the man off his back, Tyler felt a cold wave of dread when he reached for his power - the well of magic that had always existed within him - and found that nothing happened. The shock was enough that for a moment, he stopped fighting entirely, unable to believe that somehow, his power was unreachable.

[haiiro-no-chou.livejournal.com]

Rukia's left arm - the one attached to the armpit the nurse had jabbed - was almost immobile from the pain. Added to the lingering effects of the scorpion's poison, it made the arm almost useless. Still, she tried to put as much of her weight as possible on the nurse's throat.

Recovering from the blow to her head, the nurse rolled them both over, unintentionally putting pressure on Rukia's injured knee. Rukia cried out in pain and anger, still trying to keep the syringe at bay.

She heard Renji calling her name; so he was getting in on the fight, too? Unable to catch sight of him, she could only hope that he was able to do damage worthy of a shinigami. He was strong.

Catching sight of Tyler being borne to the ground, Rukia yelled his name, but could do nothing to help the kid. This was a losing battle, and she knew it, but that didn't stop her from fighting like a cornered animal. She thrashed about and tried to head butt the nurse, but the other woman weighed more and wasn't injured.

Finally, the nurse wrenched her wrist from Rukia's grip and plunged the syringe into her neck. Rukia screamed - not in pain, but in frustration - "Why are you doing this?? Just let us go, dammit!!"

As everything turned fuzzy and faraway, Rukia's head lolled to the side. She looked at Tyler, mumbling, "Sorry I gotcha... in tr'ble."

[shyboyblue.livejournal.com]

Tyler heard Rukia scream, and his struggles turned more frantic as he turned his head and tried to get himself closer. She was injured already, dammit! Why couldn't he Use? What was going on? Panic wrestled with fury and both overwhelmed him even as he saw the nurse get Rukia with a syringe. He heard her slurred words, cursed out loud as he tried to reach her...

...and felt the jab of a needle against the back of his own neck as his orderly finally freed a hand to sedate him as well. He tried to fight it, but it was a losing battle, and Tyler felt himself slipping into unconsciousness before he could even form any words in return.