damned_institute | Day 37: Breakfast

[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.

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As Luffy's explanation shed light on the meaning of 'Cat Ladies', Michiru made a soft oh sound, followed by a brief chuckle. The reason made it no less peculiar, but it sounded a bit amusing, and at least now there was some context that she could understand.

"Well, if that's who you mean, then I would have to say No. I don't believe they can read minds." Well, she hoped not, anyway. That might be something to look into, if the opportunity arose.

"So," Michiru continued, smiling and setting her fork down to give the boy her full attention. If she was required to be social, she might as well make the best of it. "Would you mind if I asked your name?"

"Yeah, that makes sense," he said with a nod. "I mean, if they had any idea how hungry we all really were, they wouldn't be trying to tell us just how much to eat." But, come to think of it, it'd actually be kind of cool to know a mind-reader. He'd constantly pester his Cat Lady to guess what kinds of crazy things he was thinking! It'd be great fun, even if it was only for a little bit!

When the girl asked for his name, he took a moment to stuff a large piece of sausage into his mouth. "I'm Luffy!" he said with a muffled voice. Then the pirate swallowed and washed it down with a gulp of juice. "Monkey D. Luffy!" He gave an almost unnaturally wide beam. "Nice to meet you!"

After tiling his head curiously, he added, "What about you? What's your name?"

"Kaioh Michiru. It's a pleasure to meet you, as well."

Luffy's cheer was addicting. Within a few brief exchanges, Michiru was surprised to find her own spirits were lifted, even if it was only marginally. That sort of contagious personality was hard to come by in a place like this, but so very familiar...

Smiling more warmly, Michiru removed the apple from her tray and slid the rest towards Luffy. "You can finish mine, if you'd like. It's not much, but it would be a shame to let it go to waste."

Michiru, huh? He'd remember that. Well, probably. He wouldn't intentionally forget it, at least!

...Of course, once she pushed her tray towards him, he figured he couldn't forget her name if he tried. Someone actually offering him that much food? In this place? Where the Cat Ladies had the power to restrict how much everyone ate? That was like giving him a boatload of treasure just because.

"Woah, really?" he said as he stared at the gift with bug eyes. The pirate didn't waste too much time ogling the gift, though, and he quickly took a large bite before swallowing it. "Wow, this is great! Thanks, Michiru!" An enthusiastic laugh shook his shoulders. "I like you!"

The day had barely started, but Luffy could already tell it was gonna be a good one!

Luffy's reaction earned another chuckle from Michiru, which she hid behind her hand. Contagious, indeed.

"You're very welcome." She watched the boy wolf down a portion of her offered breakfast before moving on to a different subject. She wasn't accustomed to dining with strangers outside of social functions, and after the incident with Kunzite, the idea was even less appealing. Charming as Luffy was, if Michiru was going to spend breakfast with him, she needed to know more about him.

"So, where do you come from?" sounded like a good place to start.

Where did he come from? That question was so funny when people asked it around here. Sometimes, a guy was likely to say he came from the stars, or a place where it rained all the time, or somewhere just as crazy. Or awesome. Or maybe crazy-awesome.

But as for Luffy? Unlike some of the other people here, there wasn't really any special name for his world that he knew to give, but it didn't bother him. "The ocean," he promptly replied with a grin. "Before I woke up here, I was out sailing -- on a journey with my crew!" It seemed like a long time ago, the last time he'd gotten to doze on the sun-baked deck, with only the laughter of his nakama to wake him up every now and then.

Those memories were part of what kept his fighting spirit alive, though, right?

"You know," he added suddenly, "with the way your hair's all long, and wavy, and green -- it kinda looks the ocean!" Luffy chuckled as he stuffed a sausage in his mouth. "But what about you, Michiru? Where're you from?"

The ocean? Michiru hid another quiet laugh behind her hand. Here was a man after her own heart. How could she dislike anyone so enamored by the sea as to call it his home? Of course, his remark about her hair--which she could only take as a compliment of sorts--wasn't helping to balance her bias.

"From a country called Japan." She answered his question briefly before turning to topic back to Luffy. "I didn't think I would find any sailors here. Do you enjoy that sort of thing?"

"Japan, huh?" Luffy scratched the side of cheek in thought. "A lot of people talk about this Japan place, but I'd never heard of it before coming here! What's it like? Are there lots of kitchens there?" It had the word "pan" in it, after all.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really met that many people who sailed on the ocean, either -- and he'd met even fewer pirates. He took another bite of his sausage and swallowed it. "Well, I'm on a journey to find a treasure called One Piece!" he said brightly. "You gotta sail across the Grand Line to do that, so that's why I've got my own ship and an amazing crew."

He'd never heard of Japan? That was odd. Unless he was from another planet, or perhaps an era where Japan didn't exist. It was possible, wasn't it?

The strangeness of the question regarding kitchens caught Michiru off guard. "Kitchens? Well, I suppose there's quite a few. Generally, each household should have one. People need to eat, after all." Did this boy have some sort of fixation on food? It was hard to imagine with how thin he was. Maybe he had a fast metabolism?

"I've never heard of 'One Piece' or 'Grand Line', either, but a treasure hunt sounds like fun." Michiru paused, another more somber question coming to mind. "Has anyone else from your crew showed up here?"

Day 37: Breakfast

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