damned_institute | Day 34: Lunch

Entry tags:

Day 34: Lunch

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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Free! Nakama? New friends?]

This afternoon. After lunch. That was the time. Had he timed it too closely? Was he taking too long? He was willing to bet none of the other people here worried about that kind of thing. He'd worked on the flier all last shift, trying to figure out the right wording, and now had his notebook closed under one arm as he went through the lunch room line.

It all looked... okay. Nothing fantastic, or anything, but he wouldn't starve. After getting a filled plate, and deciding on water over pink lemonade (it was entertaining looking, but maybe if it had been a manlier color, like pink) he sat down at an empty table.

Usopp took a few deep breaths, as though nervous at his meal, before starting to eat. He did notice the odd glances from one of the nurses, but managed to keep himself calm. It was okay. It wasn't like he was going to go set himself up as a big target or worse, to get totally ignored by everyone. Besides, who could... who could ignore the great Captain Usopp?! His manly power and determination would throb through the invitation, punching the hearts of everyone who read it, demanding their attention! Absolutely! He took an aggressive bite of stale chicken.

Though the talk of Necromancy (SCARY!) had been a bit of a downside to the morning, Brook had to admit that Faust was fun to be around. He was calm and had an interest in other worlds, so there was no faulting curiosity. It was what Pirates had to have, after all!

Ah, and it was Lunch time now, wasn't it?! Brook got one of everything on the menu since it all looked so yummy, then turned to look for an actual Nakama this time. Greeting others was wonderful and all, but he was still part of a crew, and some of them hadn't even been able to meet him properly! The time here was still so strange!

It didn't take him long to spot the ever-familiar long-nosed lia-- ah, sharpshooter of the crew. Usopp was from before they'd met, if Brook remembered correctly. It was time to change that then!

"Yohohohohoho! Good afternoon, Usopp-san!" Brook called cheerfully as he approached, setting his tray down without either asking or waiting for an invitation. Usopp was a crewmate, and anything went where those were concerned. On Luffy's ship, anything at all. "Remember me? Formerly Just Dead Bones Brook! Yohohoho! How are you today?!"

"Oh! Brook!" Usopp looked up, startled, but he grinned at the approach of the semi-familiar face. It was true that he still felt as though he barely knew the guy, which wasn't really right if they were nakama. If he had to get to know a walking skeleton, then getting to know him with flesh and skin was definitely the way to go. In an odd sense, maybe this whole time-travel, dimension skipping weirdness was lucky that way. Besides, Brook was Laboon's former nakama too, which even by itself was reason enough to like the guy.

"Of course I remember our new musician! So new I didn't even know about him." He laughed, scratching his nose self-consciously. "But I know now. Today is an important day! Full of adventure and excitement! How about yours?" At least Brook had a cheery, outgoing attitude. Pirates needed to be able to party, and after a shower session spent talking about killing people, Usopp could use some cheeriness.

"Yohohoho! So new you hardly knew me, then?!" he laughed out, playing on words since his usual skull jokes weren't so potent with skin, "Every day is a good day! And today the sun is bright and shining, and it was so nice outside!"

He started picking at his food, once again immune to the problems of not liking certain things. All food was good food, even if Sanji wasn't the chef in this place! As he chewed, he continued speaking with his Nakama as though he weren't diving head first into the plate. "I met some interesting people though: a little girl who was so sad that I just had to cheer her up, and an older gentleman that liked scary things! Not so scary as the night here, but still scary!"

That joke had been really terrible, which meant Usopp had to laugh at it, although throwing things would also be an acceptable option. He didn't really give it much thought, but something about Brook's enthusiastic eating, while a little (very) messy, made him warm up a bit to the other man. Everyone else here was so prissy, and they were stuck indoors most of the time... it wasn't right for pirates!

"Yeah, there's some really weird people here! Some of them are nice, and some of them are kind of crazy!" Usopp nodded firmly, leaning over a bit (though out of potential food spray zone) as if confiding a secret. True, he was a compulsive liar talking to a former skeleton, but that wasn't so weird. "Still, I've made a lot of good friends! I bet you will too. Did we find you an instrument yet?" He was really curious to hear Brook actually playing something, considering how long the crew had floundered with just their natural exuberance for singing... well, his and Luffy's, and sometimes Chopper's. An actual musician was definitely a welcome improvement!

"The eye of the beholder, Usopp-san," Brook waved a finger at the comment as though he were scolding, but then turned it up at his face, "And I have eyes, so I can say that now! Yohohoho! Anyone can try to make friends with anyone! I know I am!"

Another few bites of chicken (and the resulting spray) later, he continued, "Oh yes, we got an instrument. Archer-san, oh, that's my Roommate if you don't know, well he helped me to get that little piano I was playing back to the rooms! It's in Luffy-san's closet right now," he beamed, "I can't wait to play it for everyone!"

"Well, we need to, if we're going to get out of this place! But... just be careful!" He leaned back helpfully from the spray zone again. "Some of the guys here are a lot nicer than they seem at first, and some guys here are just non-stop bad news. But we're pirates, so there's nothing to be worried about, really!" Usopp laughed awkwardly again, then shifted his plate back, before shoveling a few chicken pieces in his own mouth. At least Brook didn't have elastic cheeks.

Swallowing hard, then gulping down water, he added, "Archer's a really cool name! He must be a great guy to help you like that. We'll all have to get together and party some night, right?!"

"Yup, rowdy pirates! Nothing to worry about because nothing can bring us down!"

There was probably a good reason why the crew had never left Brook and Usopp alone together back on the ship - too much happy to handle! Not that either of them would complain, but Brook could just see Nami and maybe Franky if the jokes got out of hand clobbering them both. Especially if it was early morning!

"Archer-san's kind of mean sometimes... HE ATE CAKE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME WHEN I DIDN'T GET ANY!" he exclaimed in an over dramatic yelp, but calmed right after, "But! He's good deep down. And he's a good fighter too! Last night would have been far more scary without him!" He paused in eating long enough to wave a hand. "And no! We can't a party when we can have a meety! Yohohohohoho!"

"He ate your cake?!" Usopp stared. That was pretty cold--the cake had been good, too! "Or... they didn't give you cake? That's awful! They at least pretend to be nice guys during the day, why would they deny you cake?!"

Granted, being on a ship with Luffy meant bracing oneself for the incoming possibility that anything and everything even slightly edible would be stolen, and if you didn't want to starve to death you learned to eat fast, eat mean (booby trapped food or launched forks being the minor counter-attacks available) or just eat everything that came your way when you had the chance. Like say, bait. Granted, that had... turned out not so well later on...

Still, roommates weren't Luffy and really shouldn't be stingy with cake. They probably shouldn't trick each other into thinking the other is a commanding officer either, y'know. "At least he's a nice guy at heart! That's what I've met... mostly, a lot of really nice scary guys!" Actually, didn't that describe the crew pretty well? Except the girls. They were really nice scary women. Of course, then there were family-killing bastards, but this wasn't the right talk for lunch.

"We need to get more food before the next meety. And alcohol! I know there's gotta be alcohol somewhere around here." Usopp looked around suspiciously. "Or a way to make it. We have to corner Sanji, he probably knows how! Except he might want to do it some fancy way..."

"Hm," Brook stopped to think of how to best word the terribly tragic situation, "I had cake - it would have been terrible if I'd not have gotten any! - but when Archer looked like he was getting possessed by his bat, it was scary, and I jumped up. My dinner went to the floor because of it, cake included. It was so sad! And when I asked if Archer-san would share, he shared everything but the cake! It was cruel!"

When Usopp tried to reason things out, Brook's jaw fell. "Nice and scary shouldn't go together!" he exclaimed, then paused at a realization, "But then a Gentlemen Skeleton shouldn't go together either! Yohohoho! Oh! Or Zoro-san! He's nice and scary!"

He sipped at his glass, face now looking as though it had seen the harsher side of a food fight. "I know Archer-san knows where to get food. He did last night, and gave me some meat for Luffy-san."

"Yeah... I've raided the kitchen a bunch of times, but getting something that'll stay long enough for Luffy to get the chance to eat it..." Usopp gave this serious consideration, and took another chicken nugget as though Brook's face weren't fully decorated. Food was important stuff, yes sir. "You know what would be great? If we could make, you know, a portable kitchen for Sanji! Improvise a grill and things!" Usopp lit up at the thought of it. After all, Brook had the tools of his trade, Usopp had an improvised slingshot, and Luffy had his hat. In fact, ways to improvise a device like that were floating up quickly; it shouldn't be too hard, although it might have to be just open flame cooking and nothing fancy.

But that wasn't the primary job here, right? Weapons. Weapons, then... he wondered if Sanji'd fit his boots. Sanji was kind of taller, but he really ought to offer. "There's some nice people who're mean too, though, or I mean you'd think they were nice except they go around eating human brains or whatever." Usopp let out a helpless shrug, as if to say Brain-eaters, what can you do? "So y'know, just be careful at night, but I guess that's obvious anyway! It's good your roommate's decent, I hope he doesn't get possessed by his bat again." Was that a baseball bat or a flying-type bat? Did it really matter?

"Food vanishes like magic with him! Yohohoho." Not that Brook was one to talk. Where Luffy was a magician making the white rabbit disappear, Brook was a the general leading his ~~teeth~~ troops into battle! The wreckage of the remained on his face as a testimony to that. Thankfully Usopp wasn't as mean as Zoro, or Sanji, or Nami, or Franky, or... well, or nearly everyone else when it came to correcting him on manners! "But Sanji-san makes it all reappear again, so that's good."

He was about to comment on the portable kitchen following removing the cup from his lips, but by that time, Usopp had gone off on another subject that easily set Brook on edge. "Ehhhhhh?! Human brains!?!" Brook shivered at the very thought and almost thanked God that he didn't have a brain. Except he did! "I don't want my brain eaten, I just got it back!" he shrieked and clapped his hands to his Afro, unable to even reach his scalp for the repellent nature of the curls.

More like food being sucked up by a vacuum. Usopp had started to notice that Brook still hadn't wiped his face clean... either by using a napkin or by eating the food there. That was a little odd. Well, whatever, Usopp'd seen worse. "As long as the food keeps coming back, that's the important thing!"

And it was one of the nicer aspects of Landel's... they were always fed. Even if he could go for more fish on the menu. You never knew what you had until it was gone! Speaking of menus, Usopp shook his head again. "Of course you don't want your brain to be eaten! Nobody wants to get their brain eaten! That's why I said folks like that are bad news! But don't worry, I haven't had any trouble with them so far. They're probably intimidated by my superior intellect and are afraid my brain would overcome them!"

"No food would be bad! Just like brain eating! Yohohohoho! Of course if it was put in font of Luffy-san and called food, he'd eat a brain right up!" He laughed more, then thought a came to him, "I wonder how Sanji-san would cook a brain...?"

Usopp finally paled a bit at that (although it was pretty hard to tell on his skin) and considered. "Sa.... Sanji does take advantage... of everything... so probably... we've already eaten brains in something, and it was just so delicious we didn't know."

He quickly added, "But not human brains! Human brains is where we'd have to draw the line!" Besides, probably the only viable sources on the ship were Nami and Robin anyway and Sanji wouldn't mess with them.

Though Luffy would definitely eat a brain if they put it in front of him on a plate. There was just no arguing with that.

Edited 2008-08-08 10:12 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 34: Lunch

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject