Day 37: Breakfast

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

[for Sylar, I believe]

At the sound of the intercom, Wally jerked awake and blinked around at the room. He’d fallen asleep. He should have been up and keeping an eye open for ZEX, but he’d fallen asleep waiting on his bed.

“Idiot,” he groaned, ruffling his hair and sighing in annoyance. “Way to help a guy out, hotshot.” Hopefully ZEX hadn’t dropped by and thought he’d left or something, or wouldn’t be too mad at him for just forgetting about it like that. If he was lucky, he’d be able to catch up with the other patient at some point and explain what had happened.

Rolling himself a little awkwardly out of the bed, Wally took the opportunity to stretch his injured leg and test how well it was holding up. It was feeling a bit better, not so much that he could abandon his crutch or that it didn’t pull painfully if he wasn’t careful, but better. Tony had apparently made it through the night in one piece as well, which was a relief. He really didn’t feel comfortable about the thought of his roommate wandering about on his own with an injured arm. Not when Wally himself could relax and fall asleep in the apparent safety of their room.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to let himself forget that one in a hurry.

It was at that moment that the door swung open to admit one of the nurses. She seemed surprised to find him awake and ready to go already, but smiled warmly. “Hungry, are we Mr. West? Well in that case, let’s get you to the cafeteria. The staff have provided some delicious French Toast as well as a range of other foods I’m sure you’ll like. Now will you be needing a hand with your leg, dear?”

“No thanks, I can handle it,” Wally replied, smiling back. After all, it probably wasn’t the nurses’ fault that this place was so messed up, so it wasn’t like picking fights with them would do anything. With a cheery wave goodbye, Wally slowly made his way to the cafeteria, keeping a tight grip on his crutch all the while. Obtaining a plate of food was only slightly less difficult than it had been yesterday – he didn’t have the painkillers to work around this time – but he managed well enough, coming away from the buffet with a tray containing a plate piled high with slices of French Toast and slathered in maple syrup, butter, and sugar, as well as a glass of juice. Not quite as good as some coffee would be right now, but the sugar would hopefully make up for it. And, with how few people were here at the moment, he could afford to take more food than might have been considered ‘normal’ – he’d have most of it gone by the time anyone came to keep him company, then he could just worry about how many extra serves would be allowed before he aroused suspicion.

Feeling pretty happy with how things were looking so far, Wally hummed faintly to himself as he dug in to his breakfast.

Comments

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

"Sorry!" Kagura said in quiet embarrassment as her cheeks colored a slight pink. Takeba probably thought she was weird now. Aaah, why was making friends so hard?

"Um, if you don't mind, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?" she asked. Everyone here usually had really neat stories to tell and it was a good way to get to know the other person. Or it seemed to be.

[remedying.livejournal.com]

"About me?" Yukari blinked, admittedly caught a little off guard. Nobody had really been upfront with such a question, or perhaps Kagura was simply curious about everyone here. With all the strange stories she'd heard so far, it was possible there was a lot more to someone than Yukari could imagine around this place, and the other girl could be thinking the same thing.

"Well," Yukari began, a brief moment of thought crossing her face. "I come from Japan-- I imagine you do, too." Kagura certainly had the name, as well as the looks. "I live in Iwatodai, if you know where that is-- during 2009. It's always a different year for everyone. And, um..." Yukari trailed off, unsure what else to say; she never made it a point to talk about herself to others much, and the sheepish look she finished off with made that clearer. "I'm not very good at this sort of thing."

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

Kagura nodded to show that she was from Japan as well, but once again, they year was off. It didn't really surprise her anymore, but it was a little worrisome. "Mm, it was an earlier year for me."

When Takeba looked unsure of what to say, Kagura shook her head, "N-no, it's alright. I just- most people here have all kinds of different stories about where they're from or when. I just like to hear them I guess. Mine is so boring so... it's kind of interesting I think..."

[remedying.livejournal.com]

"You're worried about boring?" Yukari gave her an odd look, and the closest thing her words could be described as was slightly envious. Yeah, she supposed she had an "interesting story" or something like that going on back home, although much of it were things Yukari wasn't sure she would feel comfortable revealing to just anybody, especially someone she only briefly met. Above all else, she just wanted to go back to a normal, everyday life, too.

"Mine isn't anything, really," she continued, and in a way Yukari didn't want Kagura to sound so disappointed about her own. "I wake up, go to school, come home and do homework, just like everybody else."

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

"W-well not worried, no. I like things at home well enough." The only time she ever heard such fantastic stories was on her television while watching anime.

She did brighten though, when Yukari mentioned that she was just a student too. "Ah-! Really? I'm glad! I... I was starting to think I might be the only one here like that."

[remedying.livejournal.com]

"Nah," Yukari replied with another small chuckle. She really must not gotten around to talking much... "I've talked to a few others that do all the usual stuff, too. Well... usual to us, that is."

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

"Mm, that's kind of a relief. I was starting to think it was all super powers and bounty hunters," she gave a short laugh as well, glad to ease the tension a little.

"I graduated last year, but I started university just recently. It's really different. O-or it was."

[remedying.livejournal.com]

"It sure seems like it, huh?" Although, they were lucky they could all still use their own, for the most part. Yukari definitely wanted her own on more than one occasion.

"University? Really?" Yukari looked genuinely surprised to find this out; Kagura didn't look very much older than she, and she sounded so timid Yukari would have guessed she wasn't out of high school yet. Then again, she must have always been that way. "I'm only a second year so far. Still got a bit to go before I'm outta there."

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

"Mm hm," she nodded, "it's a world apart from high school, mine was an all-girl's school so it's really different. I'm still not sure what I want to study, but it's kind of nice to do my own thing for once." At the Sohma house everything else was decided for you, so while it was a little bit scary, it was exciting too.

"Do you know what you'll do after high school Takeba-san?"

[remedying.livejournal.com]

Yukari had heard things like that before, and while she didn't mind high school as it was, she wouldn't have minded the change, either. "Sounds like it's something to look forward to, huh?"

At her question, she made a thoughtful pause, although Yukari already knew what her answer was. "To be honest, I haven't thought about it much."

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

Kagura was honestly quite pleased to be able to have an ordinary conversation with a nice, normal girl. It'd been ages since she could say it'd happened, or at least it felt like it. "I like it so far," she nodded. Plus there weren't near as many exams to cram for and she had time to visit Kyo on weekends sometimes.

"Really?" she smiled, cheeks pink for a moment, "Maybe I'm not so strange then. I like to sew, I was thinking maybe... I could try design or something like that. Do you have any hobbies?"

[remedying.livejournal.com]

"The next school year feels so far away, even though it isn't," she said, absentmindedly prodding her food with the end of a fork. "The third years always look so busy, though... Maybe I should."

Hobbies, huh? Well, that was easy to answer. "I've been practicing archery for a few years now, in our school's club. It doesn't sound like much to pursue in though, does it?"

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

"Archery? Ooh, that's really neat Takeba-san!" Kagura was quick to tell her. "I heard it takes a lot of talent for something like that." She'd never had the control to master anything so delicate. Kagura's strength was far too unpredictable. It was hard enough just to learn martial arts.

"Hmm... I don't know how you'd make a career out of it though, you're right. Unless maybe you tried it competitively. Oh! Or you could teach it to other people?"

[remedying.livejournal.com]

Yukari's grin could have easily been taken as modesty, brushing off the compliment as if it weren't a lot. "Well, I guess," she responded casually. "I kinda decided on it on a whim one day, and I've been with it since. It takes a lot of practice, but I enjoy it enough."

"Teach it?" It kind of seemed like an odd suggestion, since Yukari never felt like much of a teacher. "Oh, who knows? I just might bump into something new along the way. At least design sounds a lot like something big you could get into... That's something I never had much of a talent in."

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

Kagura sat quietly and listened to Yukari talk. Even though she didn't share the same love of archery, it was still nice to listen. "Mm hmm, there's still plenty of time to decide. I'm only a beginner, and... Kyo-kun thinks it's a waste of time, but that's just because he's obsessed with martial arts. I want to give it a try, even if I don't get very far."