damned_institute | Day 21: Lunch

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Day 21: Lunch

Hikaru and Kaoru had been so caught up in their little game that they initially hadn't heard the intercom go off. The new "ding" system was far less jarring than the old SCREECH, and as such, wasn't as easily heard, even in a place as quiet as the library. All too soon, the nurses came to separate the twins and take them to the next activity--lunch.

It only felt like a few minutes since breakfast, somehow, and yet Hikaru was starved. The lunch selection was ridiculously Americanized food of the "Pan Asian" genre, as bad as when his family had wanted Japanese food in California and had gone to the "nicest" restaurant in the English language guidebook. He cringed visibly when the surly cafeteria worker poured sauce on his rice--which was supposed to be plain--but...food was food, and he wasn't feeling terribly picky right now. At least it smelled all right.

One of the good things about being the first one into the cafeteria was having his pick of the tables. Hikaru chose one of the larger ones, saving seats for Kaoru, Tamaki, and (in a fit of hopefulness) Haruhi.

He hoped they'd come soon. He hated being alone.

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"Chase? Dude, there's nothing you can rhyme chase with. 'cept maybe 'mace', or 'face'... huh, no, now that I think about it, there's a lot you could do with that." A grin; he still remembered his ~~horrendously pathetic~~ freaking awesome rhyming taunt with what's-his-name, and he was more than prepared to do an encore with the right provocation.

There was something weird about the man, now that Xigbar was focusing on him. Something about the eyes, the set of the face,it was all just... pointing at something. Something almost reptilian, and if there was one kind of critter Xigbar knew about, it was the serpent-like ones. "Guess you're right, I'm going to bet your not really a 'dude', now are you? Not like most other people, anyway."

For a moment, Chase was silent, his fork having just left his lips and his eyes still fixed on the food before him. Then he slid his gaze to the side and gave Xigbar a long, piercing look out of the corners of his eyes, as if considering whether he should just walk away or tear the man apart at the seams.

Then he set down his fork and spoke.

"Are you saying I'm a woman?" he asked, his voice so soft it was dangerous.

Xigbar had returned that stare evenly, just waiting for the man's response... but when it came? It had come so far out of left field, out of a different ballgame entirely from what II had been thinking, that only one response was possible.

Maniacal, unfettered laughter. The joke was it's own punchline, the man getting furious already even though Xigbar had hardly even done anything, and there was next to nothing that the Nobody could add to the masterpiece. This was one of the best days of Xigbar's life!

"D-d-dude! Or dudette, whatever!" He had to manage it between gales of laughter, pounding on the table to add to the effect. "I was... was just sayin'... oh man... you look kinda inhuman, but... ah hah hah, if the pretty slipper fits, dudette, then wear it~!"

And here Chase had been expecting something slightly less than that. Yes, laughter he'd thought would come, but not quite so much, or so hard. That response ... that he was practically enforcing what Chase had merely asked, that the man himself had probably insinuated ... !!

"Shut up!" he hissed, feeling his teeth grind against each other as he did so. "You made the insinuation, I merely asked the question!"

Then it was clear that the man knew there was something different about Chase, he just wasn't sure about it yet. And the longer he remained unclear, the longer these sort of stupid mistakes were going to go on.

"I am not human but am fully male! Does that settle your curiosity?!" he snarled, feeling the fork start to give beneath his fingers.

Oh man... if he didn't watch it, Xigbar was going to keel over. Just die right there, his non-existence over. This was too much, and Xiggy couldn't help himself; for several moments he was too wracked with laughter to even offer anything coherent. He tried to force some words out, but it just plain didn't work. And every time he thought he was done, he'd look up to see those glaring eyes and gritting teeth, and he burst into laughter all over again.

Finally, finally, Number II managed to compose himself. To an extent. Enough to keep from chuckling too much.

"Sure, sure; you're all guy from the slippers up, I've got it. Doesn't answer what sort of non-human-critter you are, though. I was gonna guess snake, with all the tongue-sticking you're doing, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt if you want to say something else."

Chase was far too much fun. Xigbar didn't know why so many people wanted to get out of Landels; the natives were so very fun.

Even when Xigbar managed to control his laughter, Chase didn't calm down. He turned away from the man and dug into his food again, but found to his dismay that he'd already eaten most of it. Damn. No distractions, just this miserable, irritating fool insisting on finding out all his deepest secrets. Well, the slightly more visible ones, anyway.

"I hold the blood and soul of a dragon. Far more powerful than anything you will ever come near to encountering, or defeating. A snake is hardly close enough."

But it was closer than he'd like it to be. No legs, no wings - so similar to his lack of wings, to his long, scaled, utterly deformed draconic half.

"...a dragon?" Oh yeah. That was right up Xigbar's alley, and he leaned forward with an even wider grin on his face.

"Dude? I don't just defeat dragons, I control them. Simple as pie; matter of fact, just before I was swiped here, I was on my way to transform a god-dragon-thingie into my personal weapon. After that I was going to take him out for a spin, see what it's like to fly with those silly wings."

He wagged his finger, tsking the man. "You may want to stay on my good side; I'd hate to see you marked as one of mine, when you've been a laugh-riot."

Control them?

Marked as his?

Chase dropped the fork and whirled, siezing the front of Xigbar's shirt. He could feel the rage boiling up in his chest, making it difficult to breathe, making him absolutely hate --

But this worthless, pathetic, irritating human was hardly worth his anger. Carefully, Chase released Xigbar, clenched his teeth, closed his eyes, and let out a long, slow hiss. He's not worth it. He's useless, only trying to get you to react to him. Leave him be.

"I think you're overestimating your abilities in relation to mine, you fool," he said slowly, his eyes opening just enough to glare daggers at Xigbar.

"Xigbar." It was rather nice to not have to try and find an empty spot, since by this point there were very few left. He would probably have to eat quickly. "Who's your friend?" he asked with a rather amused smirk as he sat across the table from II; the man was absolutely seething. This should be interesting.

"Dude~!" Xigbar grinned as he saw Hojo settling with that, more than happy with that turn of events. The other man was a bit geeky, but his heart was in the right place, and for the far too happy Xigbar, that was more than enough.

"This is Chase." He couldn't help but shift his grin over to the other one, feeling far too alive to play it safe. Chase hated, he hated so pretty that Xigbar felt like he was flying on top of the world, enjoying it as he enjoyed very few things anymore. "Chase is a dragon-dude, and he seems to have this weird idea that having scales and wings makes him special. And he didn't seem to take too kindly to me telling him about how I could control dragons and make 'em dance to my tune."

After a pause, he brightly asked, "Did you ever manage anything like that? I think he needs a bit of a lecture about how to treat conquering heroes like me."

And now there was another one, a friend to the irritating one-eyed man. Chase glowered at him, giving him a once-over to try and determine if he was worth even paying attention to; already his voice was reminding Chase of people who were born with a natural superiority that just didn't suit them.

"For your information," Chase began, his voice extremely controlled, "I am more than just part dragon. It is the dragon in me that allows for my immortality and my superior strength. Also, you're thinking of the wrong sort of dragon - the Western kind. I have never had wings." If a dragon was truly powerful, it needed no wings to fly. It simply could. "As for you? A conquering hero? Don't make me laugh. I seriously doubt you have any sort of strengths aside from being able to crawl under a person's skin and make them want to tear out your eyes."

Hojo laughed, already amused by the situation. "You keep acquiring powers, II; you'll have to tell me if there are any more. Chase?" He glanced at the irritated snake-eyed man then, grinning. "Well, Chase, you seem rather high-strung. It's not healthy to be so tense. Besides, we're just having a conversation, there's no need for threats." He started on his food then; he'd gone without breakfast again and was rather hungry by now.

"'course I will; I'm just too awesome to be summed up in one chat." An easy grin at that; Xigbar was that good and he was all about the ego. Ego, in this case, that he could back up with fact. Or future fact, either way.

But now that Hojo was there? He found himself not needing to taunt the other man. Rather, he just gave Chase the proverbial cold shoulder, turning his attention back to the scientist. "Oh, and by the way; unlike Sir Scaly over here, did you want another demonstration from last night? Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke? Or do you believe me now?"

A chuckle, as he leaned back in his chair. "Speaking of believing, looks like I was right about the time-thingie after all. Opinion question time: if you know someone's a traitor, but they haven't actually done their betraying yet, do you ax 'em or keep 'em around?" He was curious to know how people with hearts would answer; as it was, he'd almost gotten his fill of hatred. Or as much as a bottomless void could be filled, anyway.

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Day 21: Lunch

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