damned_institute | Day 34: Lunch

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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]

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[Single female seeks two handsome Malkuth noblemen]

After a quick shower, Anise returned to her room for the rest of the second shift. There was a lot on her mind that needed some sorting out, and she really wanted to get a head start on repairing Tokunaga! In the end, she only fixed the loose button-eye, leaving the rest for later and spending the remainder of her time lying on the bed, reflecting on recent events. There were too many awful things going on to possibly not feel a little down, but Anise made sure to keep any signs of emotional distress behind closed doors.

And so she did: when it came time for lunch, the girl quickly readopted her cute, bubbly demeanor. She was meeting Guy and the Colonel today - of course she needed to be smiling!

It was comforting to have Tokunaga - her Tokunaga! - hanging on her back with its arms stretched over her shoulders, as it always did back home. While Anise had made some imitation dolls in Arts and Crafts to decorate her room and to carry at night, they just didn't compare to the real thing. At the same time, however, she felt a little guilty for being so happy about it, when she thought about why she was able to get her doll back in the first place.

Rats. What was she going to tell the Colonel and Guy about that, anyway? It looked like telling the truth was her only option; any elaborate lie she threw together on such short notice would easily fall before the Colonel's deductive skills, she knew. And in the long run, it really was best to share as much real information as possible, in case it could lead to finding out more about how the institute worked. Last night had been weird, hadn't it? Anise was sure it was supposed to be the night they did patient experiments, and yet she was taken for special counseling instead.

In the meantime, she was starving. That's what she got for spending breakfast chatting instead of eating, huh? Anise loaded a tray with a healthy portion of just about everything they had, and took a seat near the food counter where she could be easily spotted. The girl began eating immediately, being careful to mind her manners and keep up a good appearance. These were noblemen she was meeting with, after all. Eligible ones, at that.

Since waking up on time was apparently a minor miracle in itself, Jade had used up his morning reading through the bulletin, catching up with whatever he missed amongst the various clubs and whatnot. It was only there that he came to learn that patients were now allowed to scale over the Institute's walls, which only made it all the more urgent that he practice on his alchemy. The colonel merely smiled at the idea, allowing his nurse to escort him into the Cafeteria where he began to gather his food.

Anise was a relatively easy target to spot, even though the area was quickly filling up as more people entered the bustling room. Of course, his eyes immediately darted down to the doll that clung onto the girl's back, amusedly quirking an eyebrow at the sight as he made his way over.

"Good day, Anise," Jade began as he invited himself into the seat across from her, smiling lightly as he quickly directed his attention towards Tokunaga.

"Ah, is it just me or do my eyes spot another friendly face?"

After missing breakfast, Guy certainly had an appetite, and the first thing he did upon entering the cafeteria was get himself some chicken, cole slaw, and a glass of water. As far as he knew, he was set to meet up with Jade and Anise this shift. He hadn't seen the Fon Master Guardian in a while, so he had to admit he was excited at the prospect.

He tracked them down easily enough (Jade was hard to miss considering his height), and as Guy drew closer to the table where they were seated, he also spotted the familiar stuffed animal that Anise was wearing on her back.

"Tokunaga!" he announced as he took a seat next to Jade. "Where'd he come from?" Maybe she had also gotten her clothing back and Tokunaga had been part of the outfit, though he was sort of surprised that the nurses let her take him around during dayshift in that case.

"Anyway, it's good to see you, Anise," he greeted with a smile as he started to eat.

"Good morning!" Anise chirped in greeting to the two men. Aside from Ion, she hadn't seen much of her friends from home in the past few days, and it was a relief to see at least some of them present and looking... well, healthy enough. Even if these two were the ones she was least likely to worry about, anyway.

The girl nodded with a grin at their acknowledgment of Tokunaga, then took a moment to chew and swallow her food before answering Guy. "I got it back last night!" The first part of the answer came out cheerful enough, but the grin soon began to fade, and her gaze began to lower. "I think the doctors gave it back when, um..." Even though Anise had just decided to tell them what had happened, she found herself hesitating again. There wasn't an easy way to say it, was there?

She shot a glance around, just to make sure nobody else was listening, and set her fork down on her tray. In a quiet voice, she finally finished. "...When they took me away." It felt incredibly awkward to admit to what had happened to her, and it probably sounded really bad, so Anise was quick to speak again, just to keep those words from lingering. "But I'm perfectly fine now!"

Yes, it did seem rather unorthodox for them to allow Anise to walk around with Tokunaga, but maybe it was because they disabled the doll's abilities during the day as well, if not completely. He would've preferred to have a few minutes to speak to Anise alone to inquire more about other things, but that didn't seem to be the case when he spotted a familiar figure approach them. Jade simply nodded at Guy when the swordsman finally took his seat next to him, listening to the two talk amongst themselves while he dug a spoon into his soup.

"Well, the important thing is that you are fine. Physically anyway." The colonel didn't seem all that surprised with the outcome. After all, only heartless people would harm a girl, himself included if the situation called for it.

"Were you able to get the rest of your outfit as well?"

Even though Jade barely responded, Guy let his fork clatter onto his plate as he stared at Anise. "You mean they brainwashed you?" he asked, managing to keep his tone at a respectable level (rather than Luke, who would probably have been yelling by now).

"What happened? How much of it can you remember?" At least he could ask Anise about all of this and get the full rundown on the process, seeing how she was a friend who could be trusted. Then again, if she really didn't want to talk about it, he would understand, but the information could be helpful. He was surprised Jade hadn't pounced on her with a slew of questions himself.

At least she had gotten something out of it, though. He knew how hard it must have been for her to not have Tokunaga around, and even if he couldn't expand, Guy was sure that Anise was glad for his company. It made him wonder what might happen if he was ever a victim of special counseling. Not that he would ever want that (he had been controlled enough times in the past, thank you very much), but it would be nice to have one of his own swords back.

Anise flinched a little at the word 'brainwashed.' That was exactly what it was, but it was still hard to face the fact that she had been controlled so easily by those bastards. Was her mind really that weak? Slowly, she nodded and took a deep breath. It looked like she had a lot to explain - even if there were still a lot of blanks.

"Um, some orderlies came to my room when I was finishing dinner." Anise picked up her fork again and prodded at her food, not feeling quite as hungry as she had been a few seconds ago. "They drugged me, so I was pretty out of it when we left the room. I don't remember much after that." Trying to remember any of the events that followed was kind of like trying to remember a dream, with all the huge gaps and few fuzzy parts.

"After that, I just remember being in the recreational field with all my stuff, chasing patients with Tokunaga. But some tough guys took me down, and..." She tapped her chin, trying to recall. Nothing came to mind, so it looked like that was all she could say about the events of the night. "After that, I woke up in my room, and everything was back to normal. They took all my clothes and stuff back, too. I only got Tokunaga back because Ion found it in the field." And she couldn't be more grateful for it.

Hopefully that answered both of their questions, though it was possible it'd just lead to more questions.

Jade nearly forgot how useful it was to have Guy around; to have the luxury of sitting back and enjoying his meal while the latter asked all the more pressing questions for him. It certainly made it easier in the long run, especially when Anise was cooperating rather well with it in the end. Still, Jade hadn't planned to spend the entire time interrogating the Fon Master Guardian, especially when the blond pointed out that there were other things he wanted to share.

"It's good to know you were taken down. It seems like they've done it rather gently as well considering the condition you're in," The colonel pointed out while he idly stirred his soup. While it may have seemed cruel, Jade knew well enough that it was for the best that Anise was knocked out in her brainwashed state, especially since Ion had made his way to the field at some point in the night.

"It's also good that Ion found Tokunaga for you. Maybe it still has some of its abilities left." It was doubtful, but Jade hadn’t ruled out the possibility yet.

However, now that all of that was said and done, the colonel turned his attention towards Guy.

"Anyway. You said you had things you needed to talk about, if I'm not mistaken."

What Anise described was more or less exactly the same as what had happened with him and Okita last night. That reminded him -- he took a quick look around the cafeteria, not actually expecting to find his roommate, but then there he was. He was in a wheelchair and talking to one of the people Guy had delivered the message to last night, which gave him hope that it had actually done some good.

While he was sure that Okita had probably been put through something horrible, at least he had come out of it in one piece. They could talk about it tonight.

"Sounds like it went as well as it could have, Anise. I'm glad you're okay," he said as he turned back to his two lunch mates. She didn't seem too broken up over it, which was good. It wasn't something she should feel guilty over, even though he wasn't sure he would be able to follow such advice if his time for special counseling ever came. But it was a sore spot for him.

Glancing to Jade, he started on another piece of chicken as he nodded to the man. "Yeah. I think I may have found a new energy source we could use back in Auldrant. I'm not entirely sure if it'll work, but it's the first real lead I've gotten so far. Maybe we should talk about that later, though? I wouldn't want to bore Anise, and we should also probably figure out which of us is still here." It was a touchy subject to bring up, but they were going to have to face reality here.

That reality being that he hadn't seen Luke in a few days, Tear was already confirmed as being gone, and now Asch was nowhere to be found either. He wasn't so sure if the last one was such a big deal, but on the other hand, the God-General had been cooperative during their time here.

At the time, Anise hadn't really thought of getting knocked out as a good thing, but now that the Colonel mentioned it... those guys had probably saved her from getting into much worse trouble. And then she got Tokunaga! Looking at it that way, and considering nobody had been hurt too badly, it wasn't such a bad result. That wasn't to say Anise was happy with what had happened. Not only had they scared her out of her wits, but they made her forget her promise to Ion! If she ever ran into the creeps responsible again, they would be in for the beating of their lives.

With the topic coming to a close, a faint smile returned to Anise's face. There was nothing she wanted more than to be able to put the whole thing behind her. Once she began to relax, her appetite came back, too. The girl stopped poking idly at the chicken and instead began dividing it into smaller, bite-sized pieces. She ate as she listened to the other two move on to the next subject to be discussed.

Guy was right; Anise wasn't that interested in energy sources, or technical stuff like that. The next point he brought up did interest her, however. "Ah, that's right!" she piped in, frowning a bit. "Besides you two and Ion, I haven't seen any of the others in a while now."

The prospect of a new energy source was an enticing one, but Jade merely laughed when the swordsman pointed out how the idea would just bore Anise to death.

"But Guy, how does she ever expect to worm her way into an old man's heart if she doesn't at least try to look interested?"

However, the swordsman was right. He could always pull Guy aside and discuss it further at a later time. It would also save him the embarrassment of having to associate himself with the latter if no one else was there to witness the swordsman's freakish obsession. Ah yes, the mere thought of his friend's gruesome transformation nearly brought a shudder up his spine, and he sometimes found himself wondering how he'd to come to deserve all of this in the first place.

"His Majesty is still present as well," Jade added in after Anise's comment. "Other than that I'm afraid I haven't had much luck either."

He chuckled.

"Whether this is a good or bad thing is uncertain, especially now that the other God-Generals are starting to appear." While they wouldn't exactly be a threat with the way this Institute was set up, he was certain it'd still prove to be a nuisance in some way or another.

"I'm not sure," Guy responded to Jade with a crooked smile before glancing to Anise and laughing. "You might want to get on that, Anise." Then again, the most eligible bachelor wasn't even here anymore, though Guy really wished he could stop thinking about it.

He had just been preparing to bring up Sync (did Anise really not know he was here?) when Jade mentioned the God-Generals. "Yeah, Sync is here. He hasn't found you yet?" That was surprising, though maybe the Tempest had been focusing his attention on Ion. Guy was sure that Anise would keep the Fon Master safe, but what about her?

"It's looking more and more like both Luke and Asch are gone," he pointed out, not wanting to vocalize it but knowing it had to be said. He wondered if they had both disappeared around the same time because of their connection to each other, though there was no real way of knowing. Though maybe it had something to do with the experiment? Guy didn't want to think that, since that would put the fault partly on him, but it was a possibility.

"Anyway, if that's the case, that leaves our numbers at six, including Sync."

"Hey!! I can do that just fine! Boooo!" Anise protested with a pout.

She could only sigh when the Colonel simply laughed off what was probably their most serious concern: their disappearing friends. As inappropriate a reaction as it was, it was pretty much what could be expected from that devil of a Colonel. It was good that the Emperor was still around, though! It had been too long since Anise last explored the halls with her favorite ruler.

Still... it was really scary to try and imagine what could have happened to everyone who had vanished. All Anise could do was try not to think about it.

A somewhat sour look crossed her face when Sync was brought up. "Yeah, I've run into him." And did she ever wish she hadn't. That was another experience this Fon Master Guardian wanted to be able to forget. In a lighter tone, she added, "Is he the only God-General here? I saw Dist before, and heard Arietta might've been here, but I haven't seen either of them in forever." It was hard to say how reliable the tip about Arietta had been, considering it had been from a brainwashing victim who wouldn't even use the girl's real name, but if anyone knew anything more about it, Anise wanted to know, too.

Like Guy, Jade found himself pondering the reasoning as to why both Luke and Asch managed to disappear roughly at the same time. However, unlike Guy, he was unaware of the redhead's experimentation so there was no real way he could solidly connect Luke's disappearance to such. In the end it seemed like nothing more than another conundrum to his growing pile, deciding to file it away for another time as they continued.

"It appears to be that way," Jade replied simply. It meant they had a definite advantage over the lone God-General, though one couldn't brush off the possibility that more could be on their way at any time. He wasn't exactly keen on the idea, especially now that their boundaries have expanded only recently and he'd rather invest his time looking for a proper means of escape than dealing with past grudges.

"It looks as if our previous plan of keeping headcount fell short. I suppose using the boards is the best method. Through aliases, of course." Really, the less the God-Generals knew about their presence the better.

"Anyway, Anise. What else have you been doing with your time? I saw you and Ion in front of Colonel Mustang's room the other night."

If Sync was outnumbered five to one (or more like three to one, since as much as it hurt Guy to think that way about his friends, Ion and Peony were victims rather than opponents), then Guy didn't think he should put too much energy into worrying about the God-General. He was sure they could handle him - it would just require sticking together more than expected.

"Yeah, I need to post on the boards myself," Guy commented to Jade with a sigh as he finished up his food. "I'd like to try to go to the basement again tonight, if you or Peony are up for it. I'm pretty sure that it only needs to be a group of three, though, and then the door should open without any problems." He had Max to thank for figuring that out.

With monsters like the one they had run into last night skulking around, not to mention Sync's presence, Guy would have preferred to go with Jade and one other capable fighter tonight, but he doubted that Peony would be willing to allow that. Besides, the emperor seemed set on wandering the halls with that Haseo guy, and it was hard to say whether or not the teen could really fight. If Guy remembered correctly, Haseo had been trying to do something during that encounter in the kitchen, but none of it had seemed to be working.

If there weren't any other God-Generals to worry about, then that was good news. The last thing they needed around here was more enemies. Using the bulletin sounded like the simplest way to keep track of people - much easier than trying to track everyone down after dark. "Using code names again? Hee hee. Sounds like fun!"

Finished with her fish and now stirring her soup, Anise answered the Colonel. "Me and Ion worked on some Cooking Club assignments for a few nights - collecting metal and following radio clues and stuff. The other night, we tried to go to the basement, but there was something going on in the Sun Room and we couldn't get through." And last night had pretty obviously been a write-off.

She looked up at Guy with an impressed grin. "Sounds like you beat us to it, though. What's down there?"

"I'm afraid I have other plans tonight, Guy," Jade answered with a slight laugh, not sounding all that guilty for having to turn down the swordsman's invitation. In fact, he felt like he was doing them all a favor by pulling back after a somewhat successful night. After all, it wasn't as if he was going to spend the next few nights loitering about, and if everything turned out just as he planned it then it would only prove to help them in the long run.

"As for the required amount of people I'm sure his Majesty is bound to bring someone else along. However, I do intend to stop by tonight to at least make sure he's properly armed." He had gathered enough pipes to spare one for extra insurance. A rather large part of him wasn't exactly keen on allowing Peony to wander around the halls, especially after their last encounter, but his doubt was eased somewhat by the fact that Guy would be there with him. It wasn't by much, but he was sure the swordsman would keep Peony from harm if he knew what was good for him.

The colonel soon turned his attention towards Anise, smiling over at the guardian.

"I'm sure Roy appreciates your efforts. Are you planning on helping again tonight?"

He made no effort to answer Anise's own question, knowing well enough that Guy would spring in and answer for him.

It was somewhat disappointing to hear that Jade had other matters to attend to, though Guy wasn't too surprised by it either. He considered asking what the colonel was up to, but he got the feeling the man would want to keep it a secret.

"I'm sure I'll see you tonight, then, even if it's only for a second. I still have that meat cleaver, by the way, if you want to trade back." It would be sad to part with it. Even if it was a pretty crude weapon, it was closer to a sword than his bat was.

He was surprised to hear that Anise and Ion had decided to join a club, though he figured that if anyone was going to pitch in and help out, it would be the Fon Master, and Anise was almost always at his heels. He wondered if they had been on an assignment when he had run into them in the music room, then.

As for her question, all he could do was shrug. "Like I said, we didn't get to see all that much. There was this huge ballroom with a few doors on the side, and we'd just gotten through one when the night ended."

Helping the other Colonel again? Anise tapped her chin with her finger as she considered it. "Hmm... We were probably going to go to the basement again, but if Guy's already got that covered, we better think of something else. I'll run it by Ion, and we'll see about signing up!" The Fon Master was technically the boss, after all, and it was his decision in the end. But Ion was usually quick to agree to any sensible suggestion, so there would be no problem there.

A ballroom in the basement, though? That was one of the last things Anise would expect to find down there. She wanted to see! But it was looking like she wouldn't get a chance to for some time now. Boooo.

With every bit of their conversation having been more or less wrapped up, it was unsurprising to hear the intercom to go off just as they finished. The colonel merely laughed, taking the time to at least respond to Guy about the fate of the meat cleaver.

"I see no need to trade back," Jade smiled "It was technically a gift for his Majesty anyway, but I'm sure he won't mind if you used it for a few nights." That was the plan anyway, especially since it was easy to see that the swordsman was a more able fighter with the makeshift weapon. He gave a brisk laugh when there was no more to say.

"I'd rather lose neither of you so I expect you both to be alive come tomorrow."

Jade finally rose from his seat when he saw his nurse arrive and followed her out of the room.

That about settled it, then. Guy was thankful to Jade for letting him keep the weapon (it was way more exciting that it should have been to know that he could hold on to a meat cleaver of all things), but he couldn't actually express his gratitude, since the colonel was gone in a flash.

Ahh, well. Jade probably knew that he was grateful. It didn't exactly have to be said.

"Well, Anise, I'll see you around," he said with a smile as he stood from his seat as well. "Hope you and Ion have good luck tonight! And maybe Tokunaga will even lend a hand." With that, he also took his leave and went in search of a nurse to lead him to the showers.

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Day 34: Lunch

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