Day 34: Lunch

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, really?

Despite the occasional blip, talking to Sagara had been awesome. He was a fun guy; he wasn't a prude, didn't have a stick shoved so far up his ass it was poking out his eyeballs, and he'd actually had a conversation with her. One that hadn't revolved around doom, gloom or how much life sucked. If she could find other people like that and keep in touch with Sagara, maybe there was a little hope for this place.

After a quick gulp of pink lemonade, Yuffie settled to munching through her food and keeping an eye on the door.

[Waiting for Dean, I think? :x]

Comments

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

[[lunch date with Allen~]]

Sasuke arrived at lunch with damp hair, an unexpectedly large appetite, and an unusually improved mood. Maybe it was the shower. Maybe it was that someone had finally seen some sense in this place. Whatever the case, he scared his nurse away with a slightly less surly glower than usual and dug into his food with gusto.

He'd gotten the two who had been problems last night out of the way. Now he would just have to start working through the rest of his allies.

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

Allen was feeling nice and clean himself, though he still wasn't sure about that "conditioner" stuff. He filled up his tray with as much food as they'd allow, glad they were becoming a little bit used to his gluttonous ways. It wasn't until he was searching for a place to sit that he caught sight of Sasuke. It'd been a while since he'd seen the his roommate up and about.

Heavy tray in hand, he hurried over to the table, "Sasuke! Hey, are you doing ok? It's been a while." His face was creased with genuine concern. He'd heard too many horror stories about patients not remembering their friends or family.

[faceyourdoom.livejournal.com]

[[waiting for someone to come educate him on the wonders of 'cake']]

Interesting. So the Collectors actions were controlled by the Announcer, who he'd only just now noticed over the pathetic excuse for a communications system. The 'Skool' had something similar, but certainly not this frequent or as precedent. In fact, despite the many similarities, this place was extremely different from the 'Skool' in how it was run, who was in charge, and the general maggots' behavior.

Just what was this place? He hadn't actually stopped to think about it until now. All he'd been focused on was playing along with this idiotic waste of time until he had enough time alone to escape. And seeing as how the Collector was just returning him to the cafeteria again, it didn't look like that would be happening very soon.

Worse than that though was a startling realization: He was getting hungry.

Like it wasn't difficult as is to ignore this filthy body, it was now trying to force his attention onto it. It was like his squeedly spooch was being twisted and torn apart... (Did he even still hav- yes, of course he did. He HAD to!)

When indicated to do so, Zim marched himself to the front where the lunch-slaves plopped the revolting mess onto his the tray. He stared at the garbage as he walked himself to the closest table. Really, was this body going to FORCE him to actually eat this filth? It was hard enough to swallow the very IDEA, let alone actually do it.

[2cuprhubarb.livejournal.com]

The conversation before lunch had gone surprisingly well. GLaDOS was in a less murderous mood than usual as she walked into the cafeteria, but was once again greeted with a lack of cake. Having already discussed the reasons why cake should have been present at every meal, she just shuffled her reasoning and anger to the side and took her usual two plates of food.

A young and almost audibly twitchy boy was sitting as far from the food as he could manage. She paused, gave the room a once-over, and sat down across from him. Clearly, the food didn't suit his tastes. Maybe she would be able to take his, if he utterly refused.

And so GLaDOS began to eat. Having been here for a few days, she had started to develop a sort of style; eating grandly and quickly without getting a mess everywhere. She could have been confused for a professional eater were it not for the fact that if someone interrupted her, her fork was on hand for more than just eating.

[heartcrown.livejournal.com]

She had been able to speak with Naminé! Kairi couldn’t help but let out a happy sigh as she entered the cafeteria, her eyes scanning over the group of people quickly before she took her spot in the food line.

Picking up her food, the teenage princess wandered over to an empty table and took her spot, running her fingers through her still damn hair. Ick.

“I miss the Sun …” she muttered softly to herself, imagining the warm beaches back on Destiny Islands with a soft pout.

[bond-off-lame.livejournal.com]

(Oh god I suck so bad aksdjf)

"Well here comes the closest thing you'll get to it," Came a sudden voice before said person dropped his tray across from Kairi. Axel gave a sigh himself, not all that amused by the fact that he woke up in the middle of the day, and was thus completely famished by the time lunch rolled around. This was probably why he stacked as much on his plate as he could before making his stunning entrance before the other redhead, grinning down at her as he finally sat down.

"So what's my favorite princess up to?"

[whirlingwinds.livejournal.com]

[because I forgot to say this the first time -- waiting for Sai and Jiraiya.]

Naruto's stomach was still grumbling loudly when he was shoved towards a table to sit. So loudly in fact that he hadn't really thought about much else than what he'd be having for lunch, and if there would be ramen. His mind was a little fuzzy, when he tried to really think -- nothing made sense, and he'd shrugged it off as a mistake, thinking he'd settle things once and for all. After he'd had a good meal.

And a good meal it definitely was. He dug into his food enthusiastically, his nurse squeezing his shoulder gently before walking away.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

The tray was easy enough to carry in two hands now. Sai's injured arm ached from the use, but it was healing. He could do minor tasks with it and this was good. He might even be able to grasp a weapon in it come nightshift, not the the force behind strikes would be very great.

His search for an empty seat unexpectedly drew his attention to a mop of blond hair, and the ninja stopped dead in his tracks. Blinking, he could only stare at what was unquestionably his teammate. But his doctor had said he was released. He had the boy's file as proof of this. Had there been some sort of mistake?

There was something he should do in this situation, he thought as he made his way slowly towards the table. What did friends do when they hadn't seen each other for a while? He knew his readings had covered this.

An image of a man and a woman running towards each other popped into his mind, and while his pace didn't quicken, as he came up behind the other boy he set his tray down on the table and wrapped both arms around his shoulders, smiling. "Naruto! You're all right! It's good to see you."

[ellectriclights.livejournal.com]

Short, brunette, sitting by the door. No one here by that description yet.

Elle took a few chicken strips and some soup, and made her way to the table by the door to the courtyard. She hated this, eating meals in a noisy crowded room, like she was a high school kid or a pig feeding at a trough. She was so much better than this, than all these people who thought they were special just because they had powers.

This was wrong. She shouldn't be here. Feeling restless and miserable, Elle tried to generate electricity, and couldn't, so she stood up, then realized there was no point in that so she sat back down again. God, she hated it here!

[for Peter Parker]

[a-spider-can.livejournal.com]

The upcoming lunch meeting had him apprehensive. The fact that whoever it was knew his name was bad enough, but that he or she hadn't been willing to tell him anything about them, not even a physical description, had Peter on his toes.

Still, he couldn't refuse the request if whoever it was really needed help. He figured that since this would be going on during the day, he shouldn't have too much to worry about. Then again, after this, whoever it was would know exactly what he looked like...

So it was a good thing he looked completely different at night.

Trying to build up his confidence (come on, he handled New York's scum on a daily basis, what did he have to be scared of?), Peter made his way through the lunch line and then searched out a seat by the door to wait. Maybe if he was lucky, whoever it was would flake on him. For now, he just ate his food and kept an eye out.

[rubbermancan.livejournal.com]

[For Rock I MEAN BROCK.]

Well, showers had been a lot of fun! Since they only had them a couple of times a week, it was a nice break from the other, normal stuff they did during the day. He was pretty hungry, though, and it didn't take him long at all to get through the line and get his food. Actually, the Cat Ladies had to remind him to keep from shoving other patients, but at least they didn't try poking him with needles again.

Luffy was so eager to get started on his food that he didn't bother taking much time to pick a place to sit. In fact, he grabbed the closest empty chair he could find and started digging in.

"Mmm, this is great!" he said to himself between a mouthful of chicken. Not that it compared to Sanji's cooking, but a meal was a meal! If it was one thing he could count on in Landel's, it was free food.

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

Well, he hadn't expected getting some liplock with Elle. But she'd decided it was a good idea to kiss him full-on and Brock wasn't ashamed to say he hadn't exactly fought back. It'd been way too long since he'd kissed anyone.

And then he'd seen that message on the bulletin. The poster had signed it with "J.C", which could only be one person: Jonathan Crane. It had to be him. So was he back? Why was he using the bulletin board to reply? Who cares, he thought (at least, he thought it was him, it could easily be his Other), let's find out where he's hiding and teach him why it's a bad idea to cross us. Crane didn't seem to understand how much deep shit he was in, at least judging from the post, which would work for them by giving them an element of surprise. Brock rushed his way through the lunch line, stopping short of shouldering another patient aside in his impatience.

Striding down the aisles of chairs and tables, he saw a familiar head with that ratty straw hat. Brock practically charged at Luffy and sat down heavily across from the kid, plunking his tray down with a cursory "hi".

"We need to talk," he said. His smile was almost feral in its triumph. "About two things. It's damn important."

[clockmongler.livejournal.com]

[Waiting to be von Karma'd]

That was not so horrible. Spending time with someone who did not feel nothing for him, that is. And with Tyche, of course. It was enough to keep his mind from wandering back to the fact that he silently did away with II as anything more than a co-worker (this did not make him recall any unpleasant emotions, mind you. Merely an apathetic "well that's done, anyhow").

And there was chicken. Lovely, luscious chicken. It was not fried chicken, but it would serve its purpose of being devoured by a chicken-deprived Nobody. He would eat it oh so slowly, savoring each perfect little spice on its delicate surface, the dulcet crunch from its orgasmic texture.

Was this... was this what bliss felt like?

He was tempted to whisper a "never leave me again" to his meal, but that would have been deemed too insane, even for a member of Organization XIII.

[lawful_perfect]

By the time he arrived at the cafeteria, it was already crowded. It appeared that the only available places to sit were next to other people. He grumbled inwardly at this prospect because he was not in the mood to deal with anyone right now. He still needed to process and think about his... recent arrival to this facility and what had transpired earlier, and it would be quite difficult to do so with so many noisy people nearby.

He was even less pleased at the fare they were serving for lunch: frivolous and unhealthy "finger foods," such as potato chips and these "chicken tenders." No matter, for he was not really hungry anyway. He placed a bowl of soup and a glass of water on his tray, regarding the rest of the food with disdain.

He scanned the tables for the nearest unoccupied seat and found one next to a young blond man with a goatee. The man seemed to be intently focused on his meal and was likely not to try to engage him in meaningless chatter. As quietly as possible so as not to draw attention to himself, von Karma set his tray on the table and sat down next to the man.

Absently spooning up his soup, he watched in disgust as the man feasted on slabs of chicken with shameless gusto. Having completely lost his appetite and being too distracted to think, he put down the spoon and snapped in a low voice, "I have never seen anyone with such a penchant for meat of inferior quality. Have the standards of your palate been so reduced from the length of your stay at this institute?"

[i-dont-paint.livejournal.com]

Tony wasn't certain whether he should have been relieved or annoyed at being unceremoniously ushered out of the courtyard and back inside. On the one hand, it got him away from the kid who seemed to need to specify the planet they'd been standing on, as though there had been any other rational option. On the other hand, obvious delusions aside, he'd seemed more in mind to be talkative than the hospital's staff. Not that the nurse had been closed-lipped, but it had sounded canned, rehearsed, designed more to stop questions than to answer them.

He filled his tray with absent disinterest and picked his way to an unoccupied seat. Once settled, he promptly ignored the food in favor of considering his new and thoroughly annoying predicament. If he could say one thing for the brief encounter in the courtyard, it was that it had made it clear this was some sort of mental institution in truth. Not a high-security one, he assumed, given how freely the patients seemed to mingle and how few seemed to be drugged. And yet his demands to be allowed to make a phone call had been thoroughly, if pityingly, rebuffed, which only served to leave him in a darker mood. He wanted to talk to his PA. If anyone would know what the hell was going on, it was Pepper.

All told, he was left with almost no information and barely more in the way of a plan. Find out what he was in for. Find a phone. Get out. It lacked specifics, but it was a start. As he glanced up to note the staff he added an amendment: train his nurse to use the right damn name.

[ol-canucklehead.livejournal.com]

His nurse had come to collect Logan just after he'd shaken the other man's hand. His thoughts were racing, and, as usual, they were very dark. Gabriel. Yeah. An' I'm Michael. Jus' a pair o' archangels goin' abou' their business. He'd given up on religion a long time ago, but was still familiar with the references. That guy had certainly seemed like the shady type, and the mutant had a pretty strong hunch that he hadn't been speaking a word of truth throughout their entire conversation. He'd be sure to mention the man to Cole the first time he got the chance.

Moving once again into the cafeteria, Logan caught the tail end of the intercom announcement, but missed what was on the menu. It didn't really matter, he wasn't exactly hungry, but he'd eat all the same. Surprised and somewhat pleased at the selection on offer, he filled a plate with tenders, chips, and, thinking about the heavy meal he'd had for breakfast, added a small side of salad to the mix. Taking a tall glass of water also, he looked around, deciding where to sit. And almost dropped his tray in the process.

Wha'? Tha's? Surely no'...? He did a double-take as he caught sight of the mustachioed, thoughtful-looking gentleman sitting alone at one of the tables. No way. Sure, he looked a little different, but Logan was almost immediately convinced the man was who he thought he was.

Swiftly winding his way through the rows of tables, suddenly ignoring all of the other patients in the room, his focus intent on the man, Logan came up across from him and planted his tray down before he did actually drop it out of sheer surprise.

"Stark? Tony Stark? Wha' tha hell're you doin' here?!?"

[zeus-incarnate.livejournal.com]

[Wanted: one red headed speedster]

Well, Ghost Widow was here, and that definitely was to Stefan's advantage. Right now there were more people that Marcus felt fairly confident would stand against him. As short a time as they'd known one another, he felt confident he could trust Logan to watch his back.

There were still more patients being brought in, and he already had one promising looking reply to his notice on the bulletin board. But thankfully no one from his own world, as much as Marcus found himself missing his team he was glad they weren't here.

So, for the time being, he'd just have do his best to organize all the heroes that showed up that weren't from his world, and find a way to take Landel down. Something easier said than done, but he did feel like they were making progress now that they could get outside.

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

Wally was more than a little glad to get away from Kal, the questions had been getting a little difficult to evade, not to mention the fact that Kal had been convinced he was Clark Kent in spite of how obvious it was that that just couldn't be true. He wondered if he should look into that further; at least try and find out why Clark, of all people. And how Kal seemed to know so much about things like kryptonite but didn't know about the Justice League.

Remembering something Max had mentioned earlier, Wally took a quick detour into the Sun Room to take a look at the Bulletin Board. It was easy enough to find - a few other patients were also reading it over, occasionally adding notes to existing ones. Speed-reading was something he was used to - he grinned at that - so it didn't take him long to skim over a multitude of notes before the words 'masks and costumes' and 'fought against crime' jumped out at him. His eyebrow lifted as he read the note at a slower speed, and the smile faded. Blue stars, huh? Maybe I should check this guy out.

After leaving a message of his own on the board, Wally headed back into the cafeteria and casually scanned the crowd of patients as he absent-mindedly loaded his tray with a sizeable mound of chicken tenders, chips and cole slaw, adding a bowl of soup on the side.

There. He could see a couple of blue stars drawn on the shoulders of a patient who, by the looks of him, would be able to benchpress the Javelin then snap Wally in half. If it weren't for the fact he was confident that he'd be able to get the hell out of there should there be any trouble, Wally would have been seriously reconsidering talking to the guy. As it was, he didn't consider it that much, just made his way over and plonked his tray down, grinning hugely.

"This spot taken?"

[osakapwnzu.livejournal.com]

(Freeee~ Like his Saturday nights. :<)

Heiji sat down with a plate of chicken and carrots in front of him, wishing dearly that it was something edible. Like okonomiyake. Or takoyaki. Something that he actually wanted to eat. He was getting more and more homesick by the day.

He spotted Okita and Kaito talking, and he almost joined them. But the look on Kaito's face suggested that this conversation was a private one. How long had it been since he and Kaito spoke, anyway? And Okita... there was something wrong. He'd been taken the night before, hadn't he? MOMO had mentioned that he'd needed rescuing, so he had obviously been taken for experimentation.

And what had Heiji been doing? Futzing around downstairs while his team leader vanished.

He set his tray down, trying to maintain control of himself. But it was very, very difficult. If something didn't happen soon, he was going to lose it.

[lighthearted]

Sora entered the cafeteria with his hair still damp from his shower, but feeling refreshed. Showers always helped him to wake up, which he needed when he got so little sleep in this place. Maybe he could catch a few winks in the courtyard after lunch, because while showering woke him up, eating a big meal made him sleepy.

That didn't stop him from gathering the amount of food one would expect a growing boy to need before searching out a place to sit. There weren't many people who were on their own today, strangely enough, but Sora was still able to find someone amongst the crowd.

The boy he moved over to join looked only a little older than him. He wasn't new, but Sora had never spoken to him before. What better time than now? He approached the stranger and sent him a bright smile. "Is it all right if I sit here?"

[darwinism]

[ Creepy boogeyman is freeee~ >:D ]

Sylar was relieved, to say the least, when the intercom announced the shift change and he was given an excuse to get away from the overly perceptive "Logan." Sylar resolved never to sit with him again; such a situation was far too dangerous, even if the man's mannerisms and reactions might have been amusing to watch under better circumstances.

For the moment, Sylar's primary concern was figuring out what the hell those symbols meant and why the hell they were causing him so much pain. He'd left a very difficult-to-draw sketch on the bulletin board but so far had only received sarcastic comments or information on the man rather than the symbols themselves. He supposed he'd have to keep trying even if the fact that his triumph had been turned into a travesty sent his mind raging every time he thought about it. What could he do now? Would the cheerleader's blood fix something as bizarre and wrong as this? Perhaps if he took her brain from the get-go... but what if that simply incapacitated him even further?

No. He couldn't think like that. He was the ultimate being–he was superior to others and he would take all of their evolutionary capacity into himself when the time came. He wouldn't allow himself to stay insignificant; it was simply a question of work and time.

Not wanting a repeat of his encounter with Logan, Sylar picked a spot that wasn't near anyone else. He began eating and tried to focus on the flavor of the food rather than the pain in his head, but so far, it wasn't working too well. The headache had been very gradually lessening in intensity, but the process of his brain adjusting itself to the new ability seemed to be a very long and arduous one.

[givemeoblivion.livejournal.com]

This whole being led around by annoying, chatty women thing? Very tiring. Very quickly. At the very least, Callisto was away from the even more annoying woman who's spoken to her in the courtyard. There had been some sense in what she'd been saying, but only some. Otherwise she wasn't going to take any of that information for granted.

Lunch was... She didn't even know what lunch was. It was food, at least. Thankfully, the drugs were wearing off now. She might be able to get some actual answers out of someone, just as long as that someone spoke sense. She was beginning to believe that was in short supply here, (and was quite aware of the irony in her searching for it.)

The nurse guided her to another man, and she didn't bother to argue. She just sighed and glared before pointing at the man with her plass-tick utensil. "You. I need answers."

[human-sponge.livejournal.com]

Even with some time to talk to others and get his mind off of it, Peter wasn't feeling much better. As nice as it was to know that Nathan wasn't here and being put in danger anymore, it wasn't much of a relief when he knew his brother's mind had been messed with. Nathan wouldn't have wanted this to happen; he wouldn't have wanted Peter to be on his own here.

Not that he was really alone, but he hadn't been able to see much of Claire or Bennet. Right now, Claire was already busy with something and he hadn't seen any sign of her father all day. With the way his mood was, it made him wonder if something similar had happened to the man, but he wasn't about to plant those sorts of thoughts in Claire's head unless he was certain.

Then again, the moment he told her about Nathan she would probably start to wonder.

Despite not having much of an appetite even now, Peter got a small portion of chicken tenders at a nurse's insistence. He couldn't stop eating just because of this. Now he needed to be even more determined to get out and find Nathan in whatever "real life" he might be living. Just thinking about it made him ill.

Peter found a place to sit, taking a moment to stare off as he tried once more to sort through his feelings on the matter. He could barely think about the possibility that he might not be able to bring Nathan back to normal.

[arrogantflame.livejournal.com]

[Hope a slightly moody Mazoku is okay?]

The showers hadn't been as great as Wolfram would have hoped, and he hadn't spent too much time lingering there. Once clean (and that was something he was thankful for, public display or not), he'd gone off on his own into the sun room and attempted to nap. Although that only succeeded in causing dreams that he'd much as soon forget about, so it wasn't as nice as he'd been hoping.

The quiet had done his head wonders though, and he didn't try and seek out anyone he knew in the cafeteria, setting down his plate at the nicest first open seat.

It just so happened that the person closest to him looked rather depressed. Not that he was very good at cheering anyone up, especially in this place, but he supposed he could be polite.

"Rough night?"

[bewarethecute.livejournal.com]

[Reserved]

Ururu had seen the nurses coming, and woken Fai-san from his nap so they could get lunch. The nurses didn't keep them together though, so Ururu got a tray of food and found a seat by herself. Having helped Fai-san made Ururu feel good. Also strange, but mostly good, and for the first time in quite awhile, there was a ghost of a smile on the girl's mouth as she began to eat. She didn't even mind so much that no one was sitting with her yet.

Though company would be nice too.

[dawn-rune.livejournal.com]

Out of the corner of his eye Frey caught a flash of a tiny, dark-haired form. Startled and, for a moment, terrified, he whirled to get a better look. The Prince sighed in relief when he saw that while it was, indeed, a dark-haired little girl, it wasn't Lym. An instant later he felt terribly guilty for his relief--whether or not the girl was his sister, she was still someone's daughter or sister, and she was trapped in this terrible place.

After hurriedly gathering some food, Frey went over to where the girl sat--alone, poor thing--and approached carefully, trying his best to seem harmless and 'big brotherly'. "Hello there, miss. Do you want some company?"

[light-wicca.livejournal.com]

[completely free!]

All things considered, Willow was a little relieved when the shift changed, ending her conversation with Trevelyan. As cool as it was to actually talk to him, he had been evil in the Bond movie he was in, and he made Willow slightly uncomfortable spending too much time around him. Like he was judging her, calculating her or something.

She was probably just imagining things, though.

Willow wasn't really that hungry yet, but the nurse wouldn't hear of going without lunch and insisted that she take some food, no matter how small the amount. Sighing, Willow obeyed and found a seat by herself, content to use the shift to think. There really was a lot to puzzle out.

[metamollusk.livejournal.com]

[So just how much a computer geek is Willow, anyway? ;)]

At least his hunam handler - for Fwiffo certainly wasn't any more steady on his legs than he'd been this morning - wasn't cruel enough to force him to face the long line past the food counter. Fwiffo was certain his joints would have given out within seconds, no doubt depositing him facefirst in some boiling concoction. Instead the hunam made him sit on yet another bench lining one of the eating room's long tables, this time facing an entirely new hunam with bright red hair. Fwiffo gave her a tentative blink, as the large hunam departed for a long moment, then returned with a plate of food of rather dubious appearance before leaving once more.

What was this stuff, anyway? Did hunams deliberately design their food so as to be as confusing as possible? Trying to put off the moment when he'd have to attack this new and bizarre puzzle for just a moment longer, Fwiffo decided to greet his table-mate. "Um...hello..."

[queencrimea.livejournal.com]

Elincia only listened with half an ear to everything her nurse was saying. She only followed her silently to the… the ‘cafeteria’ as she had called it. There were other things to think about, mainly everything she had been told already. After giving it all careful thought, she had decided that it was all even more impossible than she’d first thought. If the people in charge had wanted her to believe such a story then they’d failed at it. It was difficult to believe such a poorly fabricated story.

Her family wouldn’t have taken her to the Institute. Her family couldn’t have taken her to the Institute. Even if, while they had been alive, her parents had wanted to take her to such a place, she doubted they would have been able to. There would have been those who disapproved of it… Lucia and Geoffrey wouldn’t have let it happen either. She was sure of it. There was also the fact that a place called Landel’s Institute didn’t even exist on Tellius. She would have heard of it by now if it did.

Once in the cafeteria, she had to stop to look at all of the people inside. She hadn’t expected there to be so many. Had they also been brought here against their will? Shaking her head, she left her nurse behind and picked up some food, not paying much attention to what she took. Food was food, after all. She looked for a place to sit after, deciding on an empty area far from the crowd. She had much to think about.

[Free as a bird~ …Er. Free, yes.]

[ham_fisted]

That was as good a nightly expedition as they could've hoped for! No one had got hurt, no one had got lost, but most importantly, someone had achieved something! Mr. Edgeworth had grabbed a few things from that doctor's office, and while Gumshoe didn't understand what significance a video game console could be to the prosecutor, he wasn't about to question his superior!

All in all, the detective found himself in high spirits this morning! Or, well... this afternoon, more like. His face coloured as the nurse reprimanded him for sleeping in again.

"It's better this way!" he insisted. "What's the point of getting up early when you're gonna be half-asleep?"

Man, he was starving! He sure was glad to be woken up for lunch! Collecting a bit of everything that was available (he had to show his appreciation somehow!), Gumshoe glided toward an empty table and... completely froze in his steps when he noticed the kinda lost-looking girl sitting by herself. Out of concern or out of simply wanting some company, he stalked over to her and sat without introduction.

"Hey, pal!" He greeted, grinning across the table at her. Whoa! She- ... She was stunning! Course he already knew that, having seen her from a distance, it was just that close up, her looks were really hard to miss! "So, um. How're you?"

[heavens-too-far.livejournal.com]

[Free to anyone~]

'Chicken' had been pretty much all Dias needed to hear when the announcement was made. His nurse had practically needed to trot to keep up with him on the way to the cafeteria - having a long stride carried considerable speed advantages - and he'd been one of the first in line. While it wasn't chicken skewers, it was good enough for the moment, and Dias had soon acquired a mound of chicken tenders and a seat to set his precariously balanced tower down in front of.

Other people might make an effort to socialize during mealtimes, but as far as Dias was concerned, mealtimes were serious business and treated accordingly.

[thehellismycar.livejournal.com]

He felt like crap.

Dean could barely keep his eyes open as he forced himself up for lunch. It was only because Landel had mentioned a new batch of patients, which could mean possible news on the missing ones.

Ugh. Couldn't they install shutters on the windows or something? He was going blind here. At least he was out of that wheelchair. He'd ditch the crutches first chance he got. And he had considered using the painkillers, but, well, he could survive without them. Better to save them for someone who depended on relief.

After selecting his meal without the usual fuss of creating a queue, he scanned the mess hall for two faces; one he'd never stop looking for, the other being Diva's. For the first time that day, his eyes were wide open. He didn't wanna think about how he wouldn't know what to do if they didn't show up again. Something to interrupt the brewing anxiety was a face he honestly hadn't expected to see. A face he'd thought as gone until now.

"Hey," he greeted tiredly, a perplexed expression making it seem as though he'd just asked a question. He put his tray down and shook his head, setting his crutches against the table and staying on his feet as he studied her with blank curiosity. "Haven't seen you in a while."

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

"And I haven't seen you," Yuffie replied, equally perplexed, "Ever."

Evidently, the her that had been running around in this place before hadn't wasted time in creating her own little social network. Not really surprising- she herself was doing the same thing. But damn, it was hella confusing!

She pushed a chair away from the table with her foot; the guy was on crutches, and talking to him could be interesting. Confusing, brain-hurty interesting, but interesting was interesting, and Yuffie? Well, she was interested.

She grinned. "So, who're you?"

[forgot-it-all.livejournal.com]

[waiting for Aidou]

Well, the showers had been...interesting. Ritsuka hadn't spent much time in them before running out again, but washing up with gashes still in one's back and arms made things difficult. His nurse had helped him out, but in the end, he'd given up halfway through and left for the Sun Room where he slept the shift off. Soubi was probably off doing things and, well, Ritsuka had told him to make friends. Without him.

The boy sighed as his nurse loaded his tray again with food he'd likely not eat and wondered if he was doing the right thing. Making sure everyone else had someone left him terribly alone at the end of the day. But wasn't that the best thing anyway? He used to think that, but after meeting Yuiko and Yayoi and Soubi and...

"--dan! Jordan? Are you listening to me?" The nurse handed him his tray and he nodded, not really caring what she had said. It probably wasn't important and she wasn't his old nurse. That woman had been killed already. "Good. Then go eat and try to gain a little weight, hm? You've been dropping it since you arrived and the doctors are worried."

"Yeah, sure." Probably the same doctors who had stolen his ears and sent monsters after the patients at night. Worried wasn't the term he'd use to describe them. Looking around the room, he spotted Miku and the other Hosts already talking to someone. Soubi wasn't around yet either. Standing awkwardly at the edge of the cafeteria for a moment, Ritsuka set his tray down at the first empty spot he found and pushed the tray away. His stomach growled as the food moved out of reach, but he didn't want to eat anything. Putting his head down on the table, he closed his eyes and listened to all the conversations around him.

[idolism]

Well, well, well.

Aidou would never admit it, but inwardly he’d thought himself just a bit paranoid after almost two weeks in Landel’s, at the same time knowing that erring on the side of caution was in no way worth mocking. But he hadn’t thought things had gotten so bad. ‘Expecting the worst’ didn’t quite cover what he’d stumbled into in the Sun Room--not having gotten his nap was the last thing on his mind. Two of them. Looking so natural, too, like they belonged in the world of the living. What a joke.

That little Bella girl had lied. Granted, she hadn’t actually lied, since he hadn’t actually confronted or asked about anything, but the sentiment remained. All this time, she’d been consorting with undead freaks. Just the one, until only recently, since the girl’s had been a new face. But the other… he fit the description perfectly. Aidou hadn’t fully believed there was another bloodsucker until that moment, when the worst scenario became reality. Like Alucard, they were cold, unnatural, and close enough in resemblance to set his instincts to tingling.

But he wasn’t about to do anything yet, and in fact, had spent his time barely watching them while he wrote--still aware, but hardly at the point of gawking as the first time he‘d come across such a thing. Even if either went so far as to start biting humans left and right in the next twelve hours, the young vampire wasn’t going to consider it a crisis. He’d been so quick to react with Alucard… this time he had a better idea of what to do. Immediate confrontation wasn’t needed. Tomorrow, when he was fed and had taken care of some other tasks.

To be honest, Aidou felt almost calm about the sudden discovery. A forced calm of more than a day of telling himself to taking things in stride. He wasn’t going to be a child. He could handle things without losing face or composure.

He’d promised, hadn’t he?

The cafeteria smelled of blood and warm food, though he wasn’t hungry for the latter. He could at least sit and rest and pay some mind to last night’s injuries. Still, he couldn’t help eyeing the door from over his shoulder while he waded through the riot, curious and watchful. When he looked back, a familiar figure caught his eye, sitting alone not far away. Right, how could Aidou forget. A week wasn’t long enough to dull his memory.

As usual, he had two choices: ignore a loose end in favour of something else, or take the opportunity. Aidou was in the mood for scratching something off of his list, at least.

“You’re never eating,” Aidou noted, stopping at Ritsuka’s table. Rather than a greeting, he voiced his thoughts.

[captain-hunam.livejournal.com]

[Shito~?]

As always, Zelnick collected his food (heavy on fruit; he still couldn't get enough of the stuff) and sat near the door. He wasn't waiting for anyone, but they could come find him... or someone new might sit next to him. Or he might spend the meal simply sitting and eating his food listlessly (or as listless as he could eat food, which wasn't very; things with actual flavor were still exciting after half a decade of ship's food) as he wondered what the hell he was going to do with Tanaka and Fwiffo and ZEX...

Why did people he knew keep showing up? He wouldn't wish this place on his worst enemy. (He might wish his worst enemy on this place, though, if he could get Landel to stand in front...)

Or he might just let his mind wander all over the place. Whatever went.

[strange-unlife.livejournal.com]

Despite having an entire shift to himself to think about it, Shito hadn't managed to come up with any reasonable-seeming way to get in touch with Landel without getting caught by other patients, so he discarded that idea for now. He'd just have to see his current shaky alliance through for the time being, and hope it turned into something productive. Preferably before he went insane worrying about Qian He.

At least the food was good. He wasn't like Akatsuki, after all, scrounging for free food in dumpsters and eating expired onigiri--it had to be good or he'd rather pay some of his hard-earned money for better. But here, it was both good and free, which was the best option. Now if only they served more rice.

Shito didn't really pay attention to where he sat, this time, aside from being sure he avoided pink hair. He'd had enough of that bizarre habit, and would be watching out from now on to make sure he didn't gravitate to the nearest pink-haired girl again. "Afternoon."

[faithful-frost.livejournal.com]

(By all means, FREE!)

Haku took a tray of food (most of which he probably wouldn't touch) and looked around. He spotted people he knew, some he'd spoken with, and a few new faces here and there.

... Was that Naruto-kun? Interesting.... He left that alone for now, the shouting would have only bothered Haku more than he really needed right now. Taking a seat a little bit away from the main mob, he started to eat a bit of the soup.

If Naruto-kun had returned, did that mean Zabuza-san might....

[ofdeceit.livejournal.com]

[mind taking in a healbot-tan then? |D]

The entire way, Atoli didn't have much of her confusion cleared away. The woman that came into her room pulled her out of bed (not that it took much, when she was very curious what this area was) and out of the room, then down some hallways and... here. It was strange, because even though nearly everything had indicated she was still as her PC, everything around her looked like places from the real world. At least, a hospital in the real world, and those didn't exist in The World. Not when you had healing items or spells in any given field, or when you could simply return to any of the root towns to restore health. Anything more would have been unnecessary in an online game.

Yet, here one was. Just how much was behind this game that normal players would never discover? She certainly never knew of this!

During their walk, Atoli had many questions, but the woman simply shook her head as if she expected the Cleric to at least understand the basic gist of why she was here. After several times, she gave in and said she would explain-- but not yet, the girl had only just woken up, and she needed to have something to eat, too.

Well, all right. Atoli couldn't argue that one; she would be getting an explanation later, no matter how badly she wanted one now. How could she wait for the reasons why she was unable to log out in an area she had never as much as heard of before?

The woman ushered her to a table, somewhere along the way managing to grab a tray of (really good looking) food for her. "Here," she began with a hand gesture towards the other current occupant, setting the tray on the table. "Why don't you keep this young man company? It's always nice to meet new people."

There was no debating that, Atoli knew, but even if she had any reason to do so, the woman flashed a smile and trailed off elsewhere before any chance came up. That left her sitting in a chair, at a table, with... food. The World did have items that sounded like they would be some sort of food, but nothing this... convincing.

"Um." Atoli's voice sounded timid, and her confusion was entirely too clear. With a small fidget, she intertwined her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry to bother you like this," she apologized with a slight bow of her head. "I- I'm not sure what's going on, to be honest."

[haikudemon.livejournal.com]

Hijikata took the tray his nurse pressed on him, tuning out her babble as he scanned the room. There was Souji, talking to one of the boys; Kuroba, he identified after a second. And from the look on Kuroba's face, it was a serious conversation. He didn't protest as the nurse wheeled him to an empty table. If the boy finished talking, he could always interrupt.

As an afterthought, he looked around the room for the other History Club members, counting them up. Hattori, Homura, MOMO, the red-headed boy he'd met last night... nearly everyone.

He cut the food and began to eat without tasting it, mind running over what he'd seen on the bulletin board, and what the plans for tonight might be.

[Free but intends to ditch you for his not!boyfriend if he can. XD]

[sillybus.livejournal.com]

[beloved-less.livejournal.com]

"Now," said the nurse, stiffly, "here's a new friend for you."
Apparently seeing Soubi willingly approach a girl last shift, the staff figured he was coming out of his shell and decided to give him a helping hand. And, bizarrely, he wasn't as angry as he'd usually have been. It was Ritsuka's desire that he made friends, and an outside introduction was a good start with a new person.

Soubi sat down and gave a smile. It looked natural enough to anybody who didn't know him. And luckily there were only a handful of people who could see through him. And only one of them was here.

"Should we go through the usual motions?" he asked politely, as the nurse wandered off. "I'm Soubi, I'm from Japan and the year is 2007. Your turn."

[prevails.livejournal.com]

[son-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

[Hope you don't mind a confused Kryptonian farmboy? >:D]

Clark was probably as relieved as Wally to get to lunch.

How did he know about him? Clark couldn't shake away all the questions buzzing around: how did he know about kryptonite, how did he know what it did to him? And what was this about him being an adult working at the Daily Planet? Dating some Lois Lane? He was dating Lana Lang, for starters, and he didn't even know if he was the reporter type - seemed more Chloe's business than his and if anyone was going to be whipping the bullpen into shape, it'd be her, not him. Clark took very little notice of what he heaped onto his plate (it was a lot, because he was used to packing it away), and the farmboy glanced around for an empty seat. He was alarmed to see Wally was already here.

Ducking his head, Clark sat down in the nearest empty seat he could find that was far away from Wally, and sat down across from another patient.

"Hi," he said, a little rushed. "Anyone sitting here?"

[not-a-herbivore.livejournal.com]

Kaku found the fact that he’d been given another name interesting, but it was explainable. Maybe the government wasn’t going to throw CP9 away, and this new name was a way of maintaining his anonymity.

Or, more than likely, the new name allowed them to stick him here without any annoying questions about Water 7, Enies Lobby, or CP9.

As he was led through the halls, he noted that while there didn’t seem to be any obvious guards, there were certainly a lot of nurses, and the building itself was mostly secure, structurally speaking. The only thing he really questioned was that glass ceiling in the sunroom, but since that would be an awkward way to escape anyway, he didn’t focus on it too much.

Well, at least he had a rough idea of the time, since they were serving lunch in the cafeteria. He didn’t really like the look of the chicken, so he opted for a salad instead.

He sat down by himself. While he intended to ask the other patients for information later, he decided it would be a better idea to start planning first. It would at least narrow down the kind of information he needed.

[missedfortunes.livejournal.com]

Kaiji's time in the courtyard was somehow more frustrating than it was relaxing. Nothing specifically bad happened to him, but then again nothing specifically good had taken place either. Of course this could not possibly have been related to his spending the entire previous shift lazing about in the grass and occasionally fidgeting. Not at all. Fortune was generally something that Kaiji waited on instead of chasing after it like so many others. Some would call it laziness and a lack of ambition. They would be absolutely correct.

Lunch was a welcome shift for Kaiji just as breakfast had been, and he sincerely hoped that nothing would manage to rattle him enough to make him lose his appetite again today. Or ever. The great thing about all of this was that anything the institute could come up with food-wise would probably be better than whatever edible items he could have managed to scrounge up on his own before he got here. This little comparative perk was a prominent item in the list of 'things that might make this place suck less,' also ranking high up on the 'advantages to having a really sucky life before showing up here' one.

Once again he took the 'little bit of everything' approach when picking out what he wanted to eat. Why bother making a decision when he could just sample everything there was to offer? With just about his entire right arm dedicated to balancing minuscule amounts of various foodstuffs that he had accumulated, Kaiji entrusted the safe transferal of his utensils to the loose grip of his left hand. Too loose, apparently, since by the time his collection of food ended up haphazardly arranged on a table, the things were no longer where they should have been.

Son of a bitch, they must've slipped away somewhere along the line without him noticing. He shouldn't have been surprised: while it functioned decently most of the time, Kaiji's left hand wasn't what it used to be. For a moment, part of him wondered why he even bothered having the damn thing put back together if it was going to pull this kind of shit on him. Oh, right. The alternative would have been even less convenient. And even more creepy. He already felt wrong for not being able to cover it up with a glove anymore.

Begrudgingly, Kaiji left his food unguarded to try to figure out where his eating utensils had wandered off to. Or, even better, to get a hold of some replacements.

[adevilmaycry.livejournal.com]

Dante, after obtaining a map and some extremely sage advice from Archer and Seigfried, decided that fighting the program was probably not the most fun he would have today, and that waiting until Nightshift would serve his interests better. "Sedation", oh what a lovely term. He wasn't looking for that right now. (Or ever.)

Soon enough he was being ushered into the Cafeteria for lunch. And just as well- Dante was ready to kill for some pizza. Of course he was mildly aggravated that they did not have pizza (apparently he had to wait for 'Pizza Day' and a definite mental note was made about that) so he grabbed a couple sandwiches and wandered around, looking for a place to sit; hopefully alone. Now, Dante prided himself on being observant. He could react to his environment quickly and without hesitation. But while he focused on eating his tuna sandwich first, he did not notice the plastic fork and other things currently scattered over the floor, directly in his path.

When he did notice something-- it was the sudden sensation of falling flat on his face with a painful thunk as the plastic slipped out from under his feet and skittered off somewhere else.

"Son of a... ouch, dammit..." Slowly raising himself to all fours and then one knee, he brushed off his coat and came to face to face with Kaiji Ito.

But that wasn't really what Dante saw. He saw Jester, Arkham, that fucking goddamn clown asshole who had caused him a staggering amount of problems and grief. And obviously it was Arkham, with a nose and face like that. No normal person in the world had a nose like that and without hesitation, Dante punched Kaiji in the side of the face, pushed him aside, and went to grab the sandwiches he'd dropped.