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

[forthewinry.livejournal.com]

Winry seated herself with food and began writing down notes in her journal. Taking a shower had definitely helped clear her head, and now getting a big glass of pink lemonade was helping her re-hydrate. It was always nice to come to a resolution to tears, and have a nice drink afterwards. If anyone could help her figure this situation out, it was Mister Hughes. She was really lucky to be surrounded by such great people.

She had a few bites of her lunch without paying much attention to it, scribbling down details about the supplies she had acquired. She'd only been able to briefly check the contents of her toolbox before being pushed out of the room, but she remembered enough details to brainstorm their uses. If only she could get back to her room and properly take apart one of those radios; she was pretty sure the screwdriver she had was the right size. If she could re-wire them into communication devices, that would be immeasurably useful for the whole group here, but especially for researchers like Mister Hughes.

If only she could find Ed again. She needed to talk to him about her situation, not to mention give him a thorough exam. (It'd been a while since she'd gotten his measurements.)

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

Well, that had been... interesting. Ed's head was sort of still spinning when he went into the cafeteria for lunch, his hair still damp and sthicking to the back of his neck and t-shirt. Tamaki... he seemed better but Ed still worried and still needed to think up a plan. He made a soft irritated noise when the nurse gave him a displeased look for filling his plate with so much, but it wasn't as though he was putting on any weight for it so she didn't have anything to bitch about.

He grabbed his tray and looked around for a moment. Everyone was already busy it seemed, but he spotted Winry after a moment and headed over to her. He sat down in the seat opposite her. "Hey. How did your night go?"

[forthewinry.livejournal.com]

Winry brightened to see Ed, plate piled up with food as always, coming to sit beside her. She pushed her notes aside (note-taking and diagrams always made her itch after a while; she preferred to get her hands on stuff and just go from there) and nodded hello.

"Hi," She said, falling a bit when he asked about her night. There was no use being secretive about what had happened, even if it meant admitting she'd done the stupid thing and gone out alone. Ed was the one who could help her through this situation, emotionally at least. He'd kind of been there. "Ah, not as expected," She admitted.

[lost-metal.livejournal.com]

Ed started to eat quickly as always, getting through a good amount even in only a few minutes. He turned to Winry though when she spoke, a concerned look on his face. Not as expected could mean any number of things from 'found good stuff' to 'got horribly mauled by a flesh eating demon'. Although, she didn't look mauled which he was taking as a good sign.

"What happened?" he asked suspiciously.

[forthewinry.livejournal.com]

It was funnily comforting to watch Ed stuff his face like usual. At least it wasn't her groceries that he was swallowing down at inhuman rates now (not that she minded feeding him, but there was something to be said about keeping within a reasonable budget, and for that matter, she and Grandma got hungry too.) She was able to regard the situation with a small level of detatchment now, noting Ed's suspicion. She wasn't sure herself whether this was a good or bad development. Wasn't that often the case, though? The good news is- Al and Ed are home for the first time in over a year. The bad news is- they're in an armor body and missing two limbs, respectively, and bleeding on the front doorstep.

"I think my parents are here."

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

It had been a good morning. Ken had slept through breakfast and woke up sometime during second shift, content to just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling until the nurse had decided that he'd been lazy long enough and drug him out of bed just in time for lunch.

He went through the line, intending to eat a larger meal at lunch--because if dinner last night was any indication, he'd be giving most of his food to his roommate just so the guy didn't start chewing on his pillow. He didn't seek anyone out today, instead just finding a seat by himself and starting in on his plate.

[daddyslilkiller.livejournal.com]

Well, too bad for him, but someone else was seeking him out. For a certain definition of seeking out that involved a lot more accident and spontaneity and a lot less seeking. Close enough, right?

Omi stopped by the Ken's table, hair still wet from his shower. He was still sort of annoyed from spending the last far-too-long with Artemis, he was hesitantly happy to see Ken. He even sounded mostly like himself. "Ken-kun? Mind if I join you?"

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

Ken looked up at Omi, then grinned and shrugged. "Knock yourself out, Omitchi. How's it going? Sorry if I missed anything this morning, I kinda slept in."

[daddyslilkiller.livejournal.com]

He smiled brightly and sat next to Ken. "It's okay. It's not like we had a meeting or something."

He fidgeted a bit with his food, smile turning shy. "I wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday. It really did help."

[gentiana-clusii.livejournal.com]

That...was a relief. Ken's grin turned into a real smile. "...I'm glad it did. I had no idea what I was doing."

[unmocked-lawr.livejournal.com]

The morning had passed pleasantly enough; the lady at breakfast had certainly been entertaining, and the break after that had been more than welcome.

Lunch consisted of more unidentifiable food, but at least it was edible - and not all that bad, he had to admit. Javert accepted his tray from his nurse and took it to the far side of the cafeteria. Most of the patients had already entered, but he kept an eye on the ones who were still trickling in. Maybe this time he would see a familiar face.

[janus-006.livejournal.com]

Alec was not happy. He'd met that Willow chick, the one he'd beaten up a few nights previously - was that a twinge of guilt, Trevelyan? How very unprofessional - and they were on speaking terms. Well, at least they were on not-beating-up terms, and she didn't seem to be sore about it. Not like he would have apologized even if she was. She had seemed to realize her mistake of revealing that she'd known too much, and at least she was properly ashamed of it.

Now all he needed to do was talk to Javert, who he hadn't seen all day. What if the Inspector had disappeared, as those around here were wont to do? That'd be just Alec's luck, of course; he and his first ally were barely talking to each other, and then bam, no more ally.

He wouldn't put it past whatever kind of twisted son of a bitch Martin Landel was.

Oh. There was Javert; Alec would know those (ridiculous) sideburns anywhere. He debated going over to talk, but in the end he swallowed his pride, an unheard-of event. Javert ought to be flattered, or something. While making his journey to the far side of the cafeteria, he tried to meander. The last thing he needed was to seem to need to talk to Javert. Whoops, he was psychic now, wasn't he? Damn and double damn. So it didn't matter.

Trevelyan sat down near Javert, but far away enough to make it seem like a coincidence. "Still have all your limbs intact, I see," he said dryly.

You could lead a Cossack to his ally, but you couldn't make him unsarcastic.

[dasgift.livejournal.com]

[Waiting for Light, I believe.]

As he hoped, his escort provided an explanation on their way to the cafeteria. The woman unfortunately had difficulty keeping her account straight; Kristoph found more than enough holes to dismiss the entire matter altogether. He was certainly not this "Bruno Godfrey", and despite what the dissenting minority believed, a psychiatric hospital was inappropriate for braining one idiot. They--for all their careful procedures--must have transferred the wrong inmate. No other explanation made as much sense.

Despite the mistakes, Kristoph kept silent, neither vocally rejecting nor accepting the story. He merely threw a benign expression here and there, smiling on cue whenever the woman so much glanced in his direction. It was not her fault Los Angeles county could not keep their criminals straight. Furthermore, a simple nurse was in no position to recognize such a mistake. She probably would not believe him. As irritating as it was, Kristoph would have to wait until an outside contact could be reached.

They parted ways when the duo reached the cafeteria, though not before she handed him a pair of glasses: his own. With the world now clear, the man gathered up a tray of salad and soup and occupied the nearest available seat. The food appeared relatively unremarkable in comparison to his usual fare, but he supposed a bite wouldn't kill him. Yet.

[youlackmascara.livejournal.com]

Itachi dutifully supplied his system with some meat, hardly even seeing what he was eating. Not that he could see well anyway; it was becoming more and more irritating that he could not make note of everyone in the dining hall. It was a feeling of. . . vulnerability. Something he did not care to have as much experience with as he now did.

Couldn't see. . . the apparent experiments, torture, whichever, of the Institution's had mattered little to him until now. Sasuke was blind. Itachi shouldn't concern himself with Sasuke's state, but what if the damage was permanent? It obviously had an effect on Itachi's plans as well. His brother had been near incapacitated, what an Uchiha might consider to be ruined. It explained Sasuke's incompetency the other night, and yet Itachi did not understand at all. Never. . . it would never work. Why was he even thinking about this? Beyond a brief recognition of the practical ramifications of Sasuke's blindness, Itachi should be turning his attentions to escape from here. If there would be a point to escaping, with Sasuke blind.

[lady-general.livejournal.com]

Celes was very tired, but not as frustrated as she'd been previous mornings. Afternoons. Whathaveyou. The General struck herself as almost looking pleased, as she strode into the cafeteria and sat herself down with her afternoon meal. It would be very important to keep her strength up, if she wanted to have any chance in the nine hells of casting.

And at least they'd managed to get something from the offices instead of nothing. Perhaps she'd make a request for a weapon, and wondered if the rapier Noah once had was still around. Her brain tried to tell her that painful squeeze around her heart wasn't guilt, but she knew better. If the Goddess Triad were with her, she would find a way out and a way to rescue them.

It was all a matter of course.

[mind-caster.livejournal.com]

So there were... goddesses here. That was interesting, to say the least. Still frowning over the previous shift, Melissa almost robotically took a little bit of food when it was her turn and found an empty seat as far a distance as she could find from other people. Not that it helped at all, it never did. It wouldn't be long before she cracked and asked her nurse for a really, really loud CD player. Preferably her own back.

"Kaylie, why don't you ever try and make friends? Don't you want someone to talk to?" the nurse in question asked, causing Melissa to squeeze her eyes shut and count slowly to ten.

"No. Thank you. I'm fine by myself." It wasn't good that the nurse was starting to question it, though. If only Melissa still had the secret hour, there would be an easy solution. But she didn't, there wasn't, and she was going to have to find someone to talk to next shift to get the overbearing nurse off her back. At least that way it would be someone she could stand.

[his-singer.livejournal.com]

Bella didn’t really want to leave Edward and Alice, but then the nurse came and carted her off to the cafeteria, she really couldn’t say anything different.

Grabbing a plate of food, the teenager was soon carted off to a random table where a lone girl sat. “Now, Stella, why don’t you make friends with Miss. Kaylee? I’m sure the two of you will be good friends.” Being forced to sit, Bella turned and gave her nurse a confused look before watching her walk off.

Turning her attention back to the random girl, she gave a sheepish smile. “Uh. Hi.”

[mind-caster.livejournal.com]

Melissa had lost count of how many times she was surprised by someone approaching whom she couldn't feel or taste beforehand. She was too used to it by this time to give the girl more than a strange look and a raised eyebrow. "Okay. What's your story? Let me guess, you're not human?" There was a little bit more exasperation in her tone than she would have liked, but she was honestly beginning to wonder how many people here really did have normal tastes. Not to mention whether her question, intended as a joke, was actually a joke or not.

She couldn't complain, though. If 'Kaylie' had to talk to someone, it was nice that they didn't add to the anguish already in her mind.

[his-singer.livejournal.com]

… What.

Bella blanched at the girl who sat in front of her, asking if she were human or not. What kind of question was that? Was she taking a jab at being pale or something? “Uh … I’m a … human? I don’t really have a story …” a pause, and the teenager quirked an eyebrow in the strange girl’s direction. “ …Were you expecting me to be otherwise?”

Something was definitely up, but … Bella had to be cautious. Who knew what this girl was getting at?

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

Phoenix had retreated to the Sun Room immediately after he'd left the courtyard, remembering something about a bulletin board and resolving to check that out as thoroughly as possible. Unfortunately, it seemed that lunch was mandatory, and he'd barely had fifteen minutes alone with the thick mass of tacked and re-tacked papers before a nurse had found him and shooed him off to eat. By that time, the line was practically out the door, and he fell into thought while he drifted towards the front, agreed to chicken tenders, and put together some sort of haphazard attempt at a salad.

He stared at a blank page of his journal while he ate, pen tapping in the outer margin, dogged by the feeling that he should write something -- anything. But nothing came to mind. It was too much to synthesize, and nothing but hearsay, a jumble of facts from Edgeworth and notices from the bulletin board and the cryptic hints of the girl from breakfast.

He glanced up briefly at the intercom, listening closely to the announcement before looking back down at the page as the people around him began to stand and shuffle out. He didn't make eye contact -- he didn't think he could take seeing recognition he couldn't return right now.

He tapped at the paper a few more times, and then, on impulse, inclined closely over his journal and wrote out a quick note.

Phoenix,

I don't know where or when you're from. But if you're reading this, then everything probably looks unfamiliar right now. From now on, I'd like you to work from three basic assumptions:

1) You are not insane
2) You are capable of handling this.
3) You can trust Edgeworth. He has your best interests at heart.

That's all I can give you. You'll have to accept everything else on your own.

He looked over the last sentence with a smirk and inward murmur of God, I sound like Mia there, then signed the note with his full name. He re-read it, then, almost as an afterthought, added to his name a note.

[Circa February 2019]

He ripped the note from the journal, folded it twice, and tucked it in between two of the middle pages. Then he stood, picking up his tray and walking quickly to get rid of it. He was already late for a meeting.

[janus-006.livejournal.com]

[Lunch date with everyone's favorite stick-in-the-mud Inspector!]

Alec was not happy. He'd met that Willow chick, the one he'd beaten up a few nights previously - was that a twinge of guilt, Trevelyan? How very unprofessional - and they were on speaking terms. Well, at least they were on not-beating-up terms, and she didn't seem to be sore about it. Not like he would have apologized even if she was. She had seemed to realize her mistake of revealing that she'd known too much, and at least she was properly ashamed of it.

Now all he needed to do was talk to Javert, who he hadn't seen all day. What if the Inspector had disappeared, as those around here were wont to do? That'd be just Alec's luck, of course; he and his first ally were barely talking to each other, and then bam, no more ally.

He wouldn't put it past whatever kind of twisted son of a bitch Martin Landel was.

[mazoku-king.livejournal.com]

Yuuri's head was beginning to hurt as he thought over all the information giving to him throughout breakfast. Why hadn't he been warned that travelling between dimensions had the possibility of being dumped into a third one? And from what he understood, there were even more dimensions than the three he had now experienced.

Ahh why did these things happen to him? It wasn't like Murata was around to help him get back to Earth, and without any possible water sources yet, Yuuri was unsure if he could use his own Maryoku to transport himself back home. That also posed the problem of whether Murata was stuck here as well. His friend had come through at the same time, and he'd yet to hear one way or another whether Murata was trapped here like he was.

Picking up the piece of chicken on his plate, Yuuri glanced at it with a long suffering sigh. He certainly hoped that Murata wasn't stuck here or in any world other than Earth or Shin Makoku – he'd feel terrible to know he'd gotten his best friend in the same situation. Dropping the piece of chicken back down to the plate, Yuuri's black gaze turned to look over the other patients in the mental institution. Just how many other worlds were there, and why were they all being dragged to this institution in the first place? He didn't like what he'd heard about this place so far, and Yuuri definitely wasn't looking forward to experiencing the monsters in the night.

Alright! He'd need his strength if he was going to do anything about the situation here. Eyes narrowing in determination, Yuuri picked up the same piece of chicken again as he began eating.

[1mperturbable.livejournal.com]

It had been more than pleasant to feel clean again, especially after the soreness of his body in some parts. Nice and clean was a good feeling though, and he was partially managed to get a human feel to him again. He was not doing anything particularly productive for this day, but he already had plans on what he was going to do in the night. Maybe if he was lucky, he could convince Yuffie to go out with him over the walls again. It would be better to not go by himself.

Walking around the cafeteria with his plate of suspiciously looking cadet camp food, Cloud wandered to a table where there was a dark-haired youth looking both determined and dejected. He figured the kid was probably new here, since there was an air of confusion that seemed to be lingering.

Setting down his tray, he seated himself across from from the dark-haired youth and nodded his head. "Afternoon," he murmured as he went about picking at his meal. He would need all the energy that he could get for the upcoming nighttime hours. "You must be new here, since it looks like you have a headache." The corner of his lip turned upwards slightly.

[mazoku-king.livejournal.com]

Could he simply go back home without trying to do something about stopping the evil actions here? That thought plagued the young Maou's thoughts as he chewed on his piece of chicken. He just wouldn't feel right leaving all of these people trapped here while he took the easy way out and returned back to the safety of his country. Besides, if he did that and found out that Murata had been trapped here, he'd never forgive himself.

The sound of a tray clanking on top of the space in front of him caught Yuuri's attention, and with a wide-eyed expression, the young Maou glanced up. Woah! The surprised expression turned into one of awe as he caught sight of the blonde seated himself across from Yuuri. How much hair-gel did he have to use to get his hair to stick up like that?!

He's so cool.

"Good afternoon." Were his eyes glowing? All of Yuuri's previous determination and confusion vanished as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ahh is it that obvious?"

[1mperturbable.livejournal.com]

Raising an eyebrow at what appeared to be an awed expression on the youth's face, Cloud glanced behind him to see if there was someone else stood in the youth's line of sight. When it became apparent that it was him who was on the receiving end of that sort of expression, it was actually kind of refreshing. Denzel often gave him that look, but it felt like such a long time ago that he had received it. It almost made him feel uncomfortable.

Chewing on a piece of chicken, he nodded his head. "Everyone seems to have that look when they first come here, so you should not concern yourself too much." It was strange to be considering himself a veteran in this place when he had only been here for a week now. "This place tends to muddle people when they first arrive. My best advice is to arm yourself when the night time comes," he offered.

He had lost one of his prime weapons the night before in a single shot. He would need to get himself another baseball bat tonight. He also thought about better arming Yuffie as well. "Monsters here are not very nice when the lights go out. If you cannot fight yourself, I suggest you find someone who can."