damned_institute | Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

The cafeteria was all but empty when Zelnick got there. He was a little disappointed; he had gotten the impression that patients usually ate dinner in their rooms, so he hadn't arranged to meet anyone, and there really wasn't anyone to sit by and engage in conversation yet.

Quietly, he collected dinner and a big glass of orange juice, and chose a seat near the food-serving counters. Talking for so long had made him thirsty... and, well, fruit juice was a luxury he had missed.

[Stalk away, my dearest Admiral. <3 ]

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Naoto had enjoyed a relatively quiet day, even with all the strangeness and chaos. A shower, a bit of uninterrupted time in the library with a decent book, and now dinner--in the cafeteria instead of in their rooms. Naoya would come in soon enough, and they would likely sit together--yes, Naoto was about as pleased as he could be. He didn't mind his roommate, but he would much rather spend his time with his little brother.

He took the 'vegetarian alternative' to the barbecued meat sandwich, and sat down to one side of the room, watching the door intently for Naoya.

It wasn't usual for Naoya to sleep through the day, he had done it several times before--usually after a painful meeting with even more painful memories. What was odd, though, was that Naoya couldn't think of anything traumatic that happened the day before and-

He was scared. He wanted to see his brother, to make sure he was okay and once again he didn't know why. His brother was always okay whenever Naoya got into these kinds of states, but right now the young man didn't care. He had to see for himself, he couldn't assume that his brother wasn't hurt.

Not when he was just a bundle of nerves.

The walk to the cafeteria had taken longer than it seemed and Naoya found himself wanting to run, as if getting there sooner would fix everything. Yet he managed to, somehow, control himself and eventually his nurse escorted him into the packed room where Naoya looked around worriedly. He wanted to believe he was being paranoid, but he felt like this before and...

"Come on James, you have to get something to eat," his nurse spoke, breaking into his thoughts. Naoya turned to look at her, eyes pleading.

"Please, I need to find my brother, I just want to see if he's alright..." Miraculously, the woman didn't press the subject and merely left Naoya at the door to get him his dinner. Once gone, Naoya returned to his search, quickly locating his brother within moments before he started towards the older sibling.

Naoto's face softened as Naoya approached, then the expression of welcome turned into one of worry. Something was wrong...and with Naoya's precognition, it could be anything.

"Naoya?" Naoto stood and moved to meet his brother with a hand on his arm, guiding him to the seats Naoto had picked. "What's wrong?"

Naoto may not have been telepathic or empathic, but he could certainly read his little brother's face.

Naoya let out a relieved sigh as he examined his brother. He was okay, his brother wasn't hurt at all, though he was a little worried... But Naoya could only contribute that to how he, himself, felt. It probably wasn't helping any that Naoya was like an open book.

The young man smiled faintly in hopes to reassure his brother, yet still couldn't completely erase the worry that lingered. "I... I was worried. I woke up and it felt like..." Naoya looked down at the ground before shaking his head. "It just felt like I was running out of time."

"...running out of time? Did you have a premonition?" Naoto sat back down, pulling Naoya down with him, and kept worried gray eyes on Naoya's face. He wanted, so terribly, to take Naoya out of here--back home. He shouldn't be here.

Naoya shook his head. "No... I don't know. I didn't see anything, I was just scared." And he had to find his brother, the realization frightened Naoya more than the possible premonition could have ever done.

Running out of time, find niisan. What was he supposed to do if he didn't know what was going to happen? Naoya looked up, his smile long gone to be replaced with wide, fearful eyes. "I kept thinking that if I ran I might make it in time."

[[Bouncing over from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/299179.html?thread=24057003#t24145067), and totally not because she needs a distraction, really.]]

Hokuto dropped her tray on the table across from the boys, grinning. "Naoya-kun! You didn't tell me your brother was here!" She really was happy to meet him, and never mind the fact that her mood was starting to take another downward swing. She could avert it.

"Good evening," she added to the newcomer. "I'm Sumeragi Hokuto; this is my brother, Subaru. Nice to meet you."

She hadn't entirely missed that something was wrong, but in here... that wasn't really unusual. So, they probably needed the distraction too.

Naoto was just about to say something about how Naoya had made it in time, and he wasn't going anywhere, his mouth was opening to put voice to it--and then a tray was dropped across from him, and he jumped, caught off-guard by Hokuto's exuberant greeting.

"Um. Good evening."

Naoya could help but flinch as well, the loud clatter of the tray doing nothing to sooth the young man's frazzled nerves. Instinctively, Naoya reached out to grab a hold of his brother's sleeve before he looked over to see what had caused such a noise.

"Sumeragi-san...!" Naoya fought to calm his heart rate before straining to smile at the two. "I'm sorry... I... This is my brother, Kirihara Naoto."

"H-Hokuto-chan!" Subaru barely had time to grab his cane as Hokuto suddenly dragged him off towards another table. Granted, it wasn't unusual for Hokuto to suddenly decide they had to go do something and haul him with her, but it was a bit of a different experience with his knee injured. His back was protesting the tugging, as well, but fortunately none of his wounds actually started bleeding again--he could tell Hokuto was being careful, though it wouldn't look that way to anyone who didn't know her.

Sitting down in the chair next to the one Hokuto had claimed, Subaru managed not to wince visibly, though his knee was aching a bit. It was his own fault, anyway--he'd deliberately downplayed how much it hurt when he'd told Hokuto about the injury, so that she wouldn't worry too much. "G-good evening. Pleased to meet you."

"It's been too long since we talked," Hokuto explained, giving Subaru his tray back. To Naoto, "When did you get here? Naoya-kun's told me a lot about you." Every time they talked about dearly missed friends and family. She was very glad that her friend had been reunited with his brother, as well.

...Hopefully it hadn't been as traumatic as when he had the misfortune to be touching her when she first saw Subaru. It might also be for the better if Naoto hadn't heard about that one!

"...a few days ago," Naoto replied carefully, not quite sure how to respond to such excitement. His hand slipped around Naoya's waist in a gesture meant to be calming and comforting. Naoya was far too nervous for his liking.

Something was wrong. Or was going to be wrong.

"It's nice to meet you both."

The gesture had the effect Naoto had been hoping for, to an extent. Naoya's shoulders relaxed somewhat, yet the young man didn't release his brother's sleeve, a childish part of him hoping that the small act would keep his brother from going anywhere.

Even if nothing was going to happen, he didn't want to take chances. The near panic was almost tangible and until he could figure out what was causing it... He fought back a worried frown as he moved closer to his brother before turning his attention back to Hokuto and Subaru.

"I'm sorry, Sumeragi-san, I didn't mean to forget you... How have you both been?"

"You must have arrived shortly after I did, then, Naoto-san." Hopefully Naoto hadn't spent a night and most of the next day out cold in his room like Subaru had. He probably had more experience with the nighttime monsters than Subaru did, even, since Subaru had missed his first night. Speaking of which... "Ah, I apologise, Naoya-san, but I don't remember much of our first meeting, since I got feverish later and ended up sick in bed."

Hokuto slipped an arm around Subaru's and leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment. She'd worried so much when she only knew he was probably still here... after a moment, though, she said "You need to gain some weight." She knew just by looking at him that he was too thin to be healthy, but in areas that were bony anyway it was even more pronounced.

They didn't know how much time together they would have, but that wasn't going to stop her from... anything. She needed to get Subaru to take better care of himself, without prompting, but as long as she was with him, she had no problem getting right back into her old role.

She smiled at Naoya and sat up, reaching for her plate again. "I'm doing well. This place has a lot of interesting people; I met this girl..."

Right as she said it, she thought she felt something odd... uh-oh. She touched her nose cautiously, and her fingers came away with blood on them. Hokuto flinched and grabbed a napkin; after a moment, she said sheepishly, "And I fell down in the shower today."

Naoya gave Subaru a small, almost sheepish smile. He didn't want to worry anyone with the details of their meeting, but at the same time, he didn't want the other man to feel bad for forgetting.

"That's alright, there wasn't much to remember on my part." He had spent most of the time unconscious on the floor. Naoya glanced at his brother, slighter calmer at the constant reassuring contact at his side. Nothing was going to happen. He was just worrying and it was eating up his insides, twisting around like a bunch of snakes.

And suddenly Hokuto was bleeding. Naoya's eyes widened frantically at the sight and the young man leaned forward abruptly. "Sumeragi-san?! Your nose...! Are you alright?!"

Subaru reddened a little, at being scolded about his weight in front of relative strangers. It was true, though, he tended to forget to eat when he was working, without someone to remind him. "I'll be okay. Meals are scheduled here, so I can't forget." But it would take time for a year's worth of under-eating to reverse itself. Not that he'd ever been anything but skinny.

Sighing a little at Hokuto, Subaru offered her a fresh napkin, in case the one she had wasn't enough to quell the nosebleed. "Hokuto-chan... maybe you should stay in tonight. The blood could attract monsters."

Ah, so much going on at once. Subaru nodded to Naoya, smiling a little in return. "In any case, I'm pleased to meet you again under slightly better circumstances." No circumstances around here were good, of course, but this was much better than the first time they'd met, at least.

Hokuto waved Subaru off sheepishly; she'd known this might happen and had extra napkins for a reason. "I'll be fine," she assured. "Tonight's mission doesn't involve any treasure-hunting, and that's when the really tough monsters tend to show up." Usually. Mapping out the basement didn't sound too bad in itself... until you realized it meant going through previously unexplored areas, which amounted to going in blindly. Therefore, she was keeping as quiet as possible on what they were doing.

"What about you two?" Oh, man, her voice sounded even worse when she was trying to talk to someone more than a foot away...

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

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