damned_institute | Day 34: Breakfast

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Day 34: Breakfast

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

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[sorry about the delay, no internet access etc.]

So there were new patients today. Perhaps another member of the Organization would arrive with the influx. Any chance of his searching for a new member was quickly denied, however, as Zexion's increasingly irritatingly happy nurse seemed to be determined that her charge socialize during the meals.

Food first, though.

"Now you did not eat either lunch or dinner yesterday, so you need to have a good healthy breakfast today!" the nurse bubbled. Zexion simply let her pile food onto his tray; he was scanning the room for any familiar faces. The Nobody had learned to breathe through his mouth during meals, so the nightmarish pounding in his skull could be kept at tolerable levels.

The nurse, satisfied that Milo had enough food to keep him healthy, then steered him to a seat across from one of the new patients. "Milo, I know that you don't like company, but Hugh Manning here is new, so perhaps you could help him get comfortable." She scurried off, leaving Zexion alone with the boy. Hugh Manning, indeed. The boy appeared to be extremely wary of the food, having barely touched any of it.

"It isn't poisoned, despite that being something one would expect of this so-called institute," the Nobody commented. He cut off a piece of his own pancake, the buttermilk smell canvassing the varying scents of the cafeteria. If the boy wanted to know more, he would have to ask; Zexion intended to spend the meal searching for newly arrived Organization members, if there were any.

He chewed the small piece slowly and carefully, as though bracing himself for something to happen. Ugh... Even the act of eating in this body was so disturbingly different from his own. He couldn't possibly have enough willpower to repress a shudder as he swallowed the garbage. As far as human food went, it wasn't bad. At the very least, it didn't cause a need to vomit. Even still, he wasn't going to force himself to continue eating much of it.

While he was pondering if anyone was even watching him long enough to warrant a second bite, one of the humans was placed in the seat right across from him, once again instructed by one of the female women. It seemed these were the ones in charge here... Perhaps it wasn't as similar to the 'Skool' as he assumed. Regardless, it was apparent he was now being watched.

He raised a brow up at the boy. Now what could possibly be the purpose of planting someone right there by him? It was almost like... like they were purposely placing someone here to watch him. He tightened his grip on his fork, terrified. No! They must have suspected something! But HOW?! Didn't they witness his unsuspicious breakfast eating?!

Of course, the filth child wasn't helping drive away any suspicions Zim had by opening its mouth. Zim stared down at the food, horrified the thought of the food being poisoned hadn't crossed his mind. WHY hadn't he considered that possibility?!

"WHAT?! Who would dare try poison ME?!" He glared at the idiot human, whose purpose was now all too clear.

Zexion simply stared at the boy across from him. When had there been any implications that someone had been trying to poison him? All the Nobody had said was that the food wasn't poisoned, a small jibe at the boy's wariness of the meal in front of him.

And now it seemed the boy was accusing him of being the mastermind behind such a conspiracy. "You ask me as if I would know," Zexion responded coolly, "something that is as much of an enigma to me as is your accusatory gaze."

"Besides," he added, "poisoning the food would ruin the staff's efforts to make the institute appear completely normal during the day. It's completely safe. It's the night time that is dangerous."

Zexion took another bite of his pancake. While his own personal experience with the night had been relatively tame, it would take an idiot to not realize the true dangers that were present.

"Safe?!" First the Earth stink plays dumb, then it tries to convince him that his poisoned food is safe?! What kind of game was it playing? This one and its fellow conspirators were fools if they thought he could be so easily swayed! They obviously had no possible idea who it was they were dealing with here.

Although what the child was saying was even more disturbing than that. First it threatened poison, then it informs him things will become worse come nightfall. Zim narrowed his eyes dangerously, very obviously suspicious of the boy's words. The boy's manner seemed to indicate he was acting as a mere messenger... YES! That was it! It knew nothing! No human would dare threaten ZIM in such a nonchalant manner. Obviously his true conspirators were too cowardly to face him themselves.

"HA!" he responded after a brief moment, unexpectedly adopting an arrogant tone to his voice. "You'll find I'm not so easily threatened by petty Earth intimidation tactics, dirt-child. But fine. Let's hear this 'mighty human threat.'"

He crossed his arms and watched the boy as though waiting to hear some kind of amusing story.

Zexion had never dealt with such a personality in all of his existence and non-existence. This boy twisted his words and came up with the most utterly ridiculous conclusions. Intimidation tactics? Mighty human threat? Dirt-child? Undoubtedly this boy belonged in an asylum.

But there were far more interesting possibilities brought up by the boy's words. Zexion had never heard of Earth; perhaps it was a world the Organization had no information about. But the way he spoke of a mighty human threat....

"I know nothing of a 'mighty human threat', though it does pique my curiosity as to why you would be concerned about such things." Unless, of course, the boy was insane, although such beliefs seemed a great stretch even for a mentally unstable person.

The Nobody folded his hands under his chin, meeting the boy's gaze with his own emotionless one. This could turn very interesting.

The reaction was instantaneous: complete fury crossed his face. His hands slammed down on the table hard as though to accentuate the audacity of the human's statement.

"ZIM?! Concerned?! You overestimate yourself, stink-beast! I laugh at your PITIFUL attempts to frighten me. HA!" He spat that laugh out loudly as though to demonstrate. "I'd dismiss you completely if it didn't amuse me so much to listen to."

And now the boy was enraged. Zexion felt no need to clarify the misinterpretation of his words as it would be a wasted effort at best, seeing how the boy was quite clearly insane.

Zexion shrugged. "Pitiful indeed, as any such attempt to frighten you exists only in your mind." He took another bite of the pancake. "Of course," he added after swallowing, "I find it difficult to believe that you are amused by this conversation, as you seem quite aggravated by it." And name-calling only solidifies that argument, Zexion thought.

To the Nobody, though, the taunt was an invitation. Sniffing the air, Zexion cringed slightly at the multiple scents, but he focused on the strongest non-food smell. The boy smelled like nothing he'd ever encountered before; whatever he was, it wasn't human in the least.

"Stink-beast, am I?" A smirk began to spread across his face. "Zim, I believe you referred to yourself as? Well, I may be a 'stink-beast', but," he was now grinning viciously, "you do not smell like any human I have ever encountered before."

Baiting the boy did have a cost in the form of the ache in his skull, but Zexion ignored it. He wanted to see how the boy would react.

Zim froze completely, staring genuinely horror-stricken at the boy. His instant reaction of yelling at the boy who dared argue with him completely vanished before he could utter a word.

H-how?! How was that even possible?! Zim obviously didn't smell... although he'd supposedly been transformed into a filthy meat body, so most probably he did. But then, wouldn't he just smell like normal human garbage? How could he possibly smell otherwise?! Unless... unless the transformation hadn't been complete after all.

...Of course! Inferior human technology couldn't possibly be capable of successfully transforming his superior Zim-flesh into this filthy meat sack! There were still possibly traces of his normal DNA within him! Yes! That made it even MORE possible to return to normal once he'd returned to the base.

That wasn't the issue here, however. The problem was HOW this human was able to determine such a thing. THE SMELL! Yes, the boy said it! It was the way he smelled! He would have to be sure to conceal his disgusting hybrid-flesh smell with normal, filthy human stenches before the others noticed.

First things first, though. He needed to divert this one's suspicions, and FAST.

"NONSENSE!!!" he yelled, a bit too loudly. "I'm a completely normal human, and there is absolutely nothing suspicious or strange about me AT ALL! I'm exactly the same as every other filth-beast in here!"

He was now leaning forward, clutching the table desperately as though trying to will his 'companion' into believing him. How could he possibly prove it further?! Practically demanding, he grit out, "...What would possibly cause you to suspect my normal boy self? What human smell do I lack?!"

"Unfortunately, there is no possible way for you to be 'exactly the same' as everyone here. Even if you were a human, that could not be possible." Zexion folded his arms. "After all, there are several non-humans present already. You are not unique."

He laughed dryly. "Your very behavior contradicts your statement about your normality. Your actions in themselves are definitely strange, as are the derogatory terms you use to describe humans in general."

Xigbar would enjoy this, the Nobody thought as he continued. "What human scent do you lack... that would be the scent that all humans possess, regardless of the world they come from."

Zexion's expression turned thoughtful. "Of course, your scent is unlike any other I've ever encountered," he mused, half to himself. "You are not human, nor are you a Heartless. And you most certainly aren't a Nobody like myself, as your emotional displays alone are enough to eliminate that possibility. What are you...?"

'You are not human.' There was no need to even hear the rest of its pointless blather as soon as that statement came out. It was said with such certainty and conviction, there wasn't a doubt in Zim's mind. The pig-monkey wasn't just suspicious, it knew. IT KNEW!

How?! Yes, there was the 'stink' explanation, which would certainly need addressing, but if that were all there was to it, the other humans would have been suspicious as well. According to Zim's masterful observational abilities, none of the other beasts seemed to suspect anything... yet. That would all change if this one opened its mouth.

As for the rest of the explanation, it was easy enough to figure out. The human had just said it! It said there were other 'non-humans' here. Such a claim would of course require Zim's own investigation. (This idiot human was certainly free with its information.) Whether that was true or a mere bluff would have to be confirmed, but it verified exactly what this one was: A DIB!

Somehow or other, there were simply certain humans who were able to see through his brilliant human ruse. This one seemed to be such a human, and such garbage was a threat.

"Don't be RIDICULOUS!" Zim narrowed his eyes dangerously at the boy. The way Zim was speaking now seemed to indicate it was for the sake of whoever might be suspiciously listening in rather than the maggot. "I am offended by your attempts to insult my typical human self with this slanderous... SLANDER!"

He quickly made a mental note about this one's appearance. There was so much filth in this building, the last thing he wanted was to forget what this one looked like later. And he would find this one later. It needed to be silenced, and soon. If only there weren't so many suspicious human eyes on them at the moment...

He held one hand up dramatically. "Don't you dare try spreading these HORRENDOUS lies! Should you do so, I will find you and make you RUE the day you underestimated ZIM!"

Zexion couldn't help himself. "Yes, I suppose slander normally is slanderous. Though it is mystifying to me that you can be offended by attempted insults. Insults are usually considered successful if the target takes offense." He shook his head, almost as if he were astounded by such a contradiction.

"However, I don't believe I have ever insulted you in the least. Unless you are disgusted by what you are, and are offended by being reminded of it, in which case the offense was unintentional." There was no sincerity in the Nobody's voice; he could not care if the boy had been insulted.

It was partly because he did not take the boy seriously, and partly because he could not feel the threat's intimidation, that Zexion failed to realize the danger behind the boy's final words. "I will not rue the day. You cannot scare me with idle threats."

Zexion had one final attack garnered from the threat. "Even if I were to spread the word, it would be quite a waste. It would take a true idiot to be unable to tell that there is something unusual about you, given the manner in which you act."

Of all the things the boy had said which could have been taken insultingly, there was only one comment that truly stuck out as priority in Zim's mind.

"'Idle' threats? INSOLENT FOOL!" he yelled out suddenly. "You have no possible idea who you are dealing with! None! At! ALL! I look forward to witnessing you tremble in terror once you've realized the EXTENT of your folly! And then you will wish you had BEGGED my forgiveness while I still cared to listen to your squealy noises! And, ohhh, how you will beg... Relish your brief moments of peace while you can, pig-beast! They will be the last peaceful moments you will ever know again!!"

Coming in from the side of the cafeteria were several nurses. Obviously, they had noticed things were beginning to get rowdy at the table. Breakfast time was almost over, so it was about time they came to collect their patients anyway. If they could separate the two now before any rough housing occurred, all the better.

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Day 34: Breakfast

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