Day 21: Lunch

[totallytheseme.livejournal.com]

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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[theycutitout.livejournal.com]

River stopped, letting the fork she'd been holding fall, clattering against the table. She squeezed her eyes shut at the thought and forced herself to swallow. She didn't cry, though. She wasn't going to cry. Simple exchange. Between two people who understood each other.

"Cut into the brain. Took things out that didn't suit them. Can't not feel. Removal of the amygdala. Psychiatric conditioning to improve relfexes and combat efficiency. Stimulated the ability to hear what can't be said," she said simply, her voice straining at the end of it as she answered his unspoken question. "Told us it was a school for gifted people because Gen Ed was too slow."

River stared down at the fork intensely.

"I'm glad too."

[prisonerofdeath.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, she heard his thoughts, he couldn't even consider a question without her knowing about it. Fox was a secretive person, the thought of someone looking at his thoughts was uncomfortable, like being watched, but he didn't hold it against her. In a way it was almost nice, that she could understand him, because he was almost as bad at Snake when it came to communicating what he was thinking some times.

"They altered my genetic code. My body was in bad physical condition so they attached an exoskeleton to my body and wired it into my nervous system. They didn't want me to experience emotions, so they took those away. They put nanomachines inside of me to enhance my physical ability." Tiny little machines crawling along his spines and nerves.

He had been able to deflect and dodge bullets even without him, but there was nothing that compared to the speed he had experienced in the Exosuit. Bullets moved at a snails pace, people were even slower.

It was only right to share what had happened to him, after she told him. Amygdala, he would remember that. Fox wasn't entirely sure what they'd done to his brain, only that it hadn't been pleasant.

"If you ever need anything, just ask." He probably couldn't help her very much in the physical sense, River was probably just as formidable as he was, if not more, with the ability to read her opponents minds. And he wasn't good at the psychological aspect either, but he did have a lot of experience in this area.