damned_institute | Day 40: Lunch

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Day 40: Lunch

*hobble wobble*

"Damn that SCOURGE!" Starscream cried out, the slowly-filling cafeteria producing a jarring echo of his raspy voice. His limping, already bad enough from not knowing how to properly use his crutches, was now exacerbated from the injuries he'd received the shift prior. Despite the gauges in his non-casted leg so lovingly provided by the aforementioned 'patient', Starscream could still put some weight on it, but not so much that he could really stop and rest; relieving the soreness under his arms was out of the question. The nurse that walked behind him with his tray, already upset at having to deal with yet another troublesome inmate, was growing rather impatient as his charge slowly made his way down the food line.

"Just...give me a standard serving of the aquatic creature's flesh, some of those fried potato slices, two bananas, and three bottles of juice," Starscream sighed, his anger from just a moment ago assuaged by the physical exertion needed to move the way he did. "I'm going to sit down here...bring it to me when you're done."

He was hardly surprised to find that one of the bananas was completely bruised along its inner curve, or that the handful of 'chips' on his plate were all on the small side. Tired and frustrated as he was, however, he could barely muster a 'damned flesh-creature' before moving his fingers to the plate, picking one of the longer 'chips' and shoving it into his mouth listlessly.

There was an unusually high concentration of sodium chloride crystals on it. Of COURSE.

[For Tony Stark]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Playing outside had been kinda fun, but that was dwarfed by thoughts of knights using giant robots to kick some serious ass. He couldn't help but wonder if those robots wore the same kind of armor a knight would normally wear, and he had to admit the idea was pretty cool! Maybe he'd run into an island with that kind of set-up someday. (If he did, he was so asking for a ride.)

But now it was lunch time, and, with high spirits, Luffy went through the line and gathered as much food as the Cat Ladies would allow. Really, all of this was pretty routine by now, which was, well...sorta boring sometimes, but he had a feeling the Cat Ladies would get mad if he tried to make lunch more interesting.

Now that he thought about it, music would definitely be cool -- pirates sang while eating all the time, after all! But Luffy didn't have an instrument with him, much less a singing partner.

Taking a seat at the table, Luffy took a bite of his fish, eyebrows knit together in thought. It was pretty good, and if it weren't for the fact that Sanji's cooking was better, it might have even reminded him a bit of home. Within moments, he was more focused on eating, however, and soon the faintly serious expression on his face had pretty much melted away.

[Free to a good home!]

Edited 2009-04-05 20:15 (UTC)

[Mind a small girl?]

The shift spent in the greenhouse wasn't filled with emotional tears or outbursts, which was a good thing considering Chise's tendency to cry 24/7. Her nurse led her to the cafeteria and told her to stay put for a moment before retrieving a lunch set. They still didn't believe that she was physically capable enough to pick-up her own lunch tray, afraid that she'll make another mess. The nurse came back with her lunch (and package of pills) and directed her to an occupied table, stating that she should make more friends with people around her age.

Directly across from her was a boy with a straw hat, munching away through his meal. Chise stood still, nervous about the boy in front of her. "I-Is it alright if I sat here? I'm sorry if you do mind."

[♥!]

Luffy had been so engrossed in his meal that he didn't notice the girl approaching him. When she spoke, he paused to look up from his food, swallowing a bit of fish. She wasn't someone he recognized. Then again, that didn't necessarily mean much. Luffy wasn't exactly the master at remembering names and faces, and with the way she carried herself, it might have been easy to miss her in a crowd anyway.

"Why would I mind?" he asked, genuinely confused. "That chair doesn't have anyone's name on it, right?" As if that idea had just occurred to him, he checked the back of his own chair. "Nope, I don't see any name here, either."

Grinning, he turned his attention back to the girl. "Looks like the coast's clear, then!"

[SCORE! I-I mean, thank you very much!]

From the way the boy answered her question, Chise had a tiny feeling that he didn't quite understood what she was asking. At least it sounded like he didn't mind her company. She placed her tray on the table and pulled up the supposedly nameless chair.

"Thank you. I'm Chise by the way," she introduced herself. "What's your name?" The question was ordinary, but she was trying. She was never good at starting conversations with strangers. The boy didn't seem mean or scary, so there was a high chance that he was friendly. The grin he gave seemed cheerful enough.

Glancing down she checked to see if her medicine was on the tray. Yep, it was there. It looked like the institute had a limitless supply of them, which was good new for her.

Chise, Chise...hmm, nope, he'd never heard the name before, and he was sure he hadn't forgotten it (well, pretty sure anyway). Luffy grinned and leaned back in his seat as he popped another piece of fish into his mouth.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" he replied brightly. "Nice to meet you!" With the way he was talking, it was almost as if they weren't actually stuck in the middle of an insane asylum at that moment, but such a thought didn't even really occur to the pirate. He wasn't the kind of person to put up false smiles or to say stuff just to make someone feel better. He was just acting natural, and right then, the natural thing to do was to have a good lunch with Chise.

"So," he said, leaning forward now, and looking at her with interest. "Do you know any songs?"

Monkey D. Luffy... Without a doubt she'll definitely remember this one, it was odd for someone to have 'Monkey' as their family name. Whoever thought of it must've been really bored. Anyway, it was a nice change to meet someone as cheerful as Luffy, the rest were either scary, neutral, or mean-looking. His positive attitude was literally glowing when he answered.

"Songs?" she replied, mindlessly poking at her lunch. It was very similar to tempura. "Um...I know one song that my boyfriend hums all the time, but I don't know what the words are. The only thing I know is the main tune."

After the fish, she tried the 'chips' and made a face. Bleh. It was too salty for her taste buds.

A song with out words, huh? Well, those were good, too! All a pirate needed to dance was a bit of music and possibly some clapping. And something good to drink. And something awesome to eat, too. If it was an overnight thing in the woods or something, though, a bonfire was absolutely necessary.

He was about to ask more about that, but the face Chise made when she took a bite of her food was easy to notice, even for him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, before taking a noisy slurp from his cup of juice. "You don't like it?"

"It's too salty for my taste, but the fish was alright." she answered. "This is the first time I've tried it. You can have the chips if you want to, I don't think I'm going to eat them.

Once she finished the rest of her fish she started punching out her pills. Hopefully the side-effects wouldn't make him worry about her. Maybe she should tell him before she took them, but then again, he might ask her why she needed the medicine. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, but, can you ignore what I say after I take my medicine? It makes me a little woozy for a second, one of its side-effects. Is that okay?"

Wait, was she seriously giving up some of her food to him?! Man, if there was one thing he liked about this place, it was the fact that some of the people here were way less stingy about food than his nakama.

"Woah, really?!" he exclaimed. "You're awesome!" Laughing, he reached out to grab the fries for himself, not giving any thought to how rude that might seem to other people. She did say he could have them, after all. "Thanks!"

They'd just met, but he already liked this girl a lot.

He didn't even notice as she got her pills, and he looked at her confusedly once she mentioned the medicine. "Huh?" Luffy said, voice muffled by the fries he'd promptly shoved into his mouth. Once the pirate caught sight of what she was talking about, though, he barely blinked. "Oh, okay." He didn't really get why she was asking his permission, but, oh well!

"Y-Your welcome?" Chise was surprised by Luffy's attempt to stuff every single fry into his mouth. He was either starving or had a big appetite like her roommate. Her face flustered when he called her 'awesome' and tried to hide it by popping all the pills into her mouth and taking a huge sip of water. After swallowing, a few seconds passed before the drowsiness hit her. She tilted her head while observing Luffy's stuffed face through half-lidded eyes.

"You look...kinda funny for a monkey," she mumbled. "And your name sounds like fluffy. Are you fluffy?"

Well, she was right about being weird, but it was kinda funny, too! Luffy gave a muffled laugh before swallowing the rest of the fries.

"I dunno, do I look like a fluffy monkey to you?" he asked with wide-eyed curiosity. He'd been called a lot of things, but this was the first time anyone had called him fluffy. The hair on Sanji's legs, though? That was kinda fluffy, now that he thought about it. Well, more like a little furry, but that was basically the same thing, right?

Man, those were some funny pills. He couldn't help but wonder what kinds of things he'd see if he took some.

Chise wrinkled her brows in question and leaned forward over the table to take a closer look. A frown appeared as she tried to understand why the 'monkey' across from her was human.

"Hmm...you don't look like a monkey and you don't have any fur," she continued and tilted her head to the other side. "But you said you were a Monkey D. FLuffy, or was that a lie?"

Clearly by the way she was acting, nobody would want to take the same medicine she had(except for Luffy, in this case). Luckily(or not) for him there was one pill left, just in case Chise dropped one.

Time left before Chise returns to normal: 3 seconds.

"Nope, it's not a lie," he said simply. "That's my name."

He began finishing up the rest of his fish, and then suddenly stopped, as if something had just occurred to him. "But, you know, Chise could be confused for the word 'cheese'," Luffy pointed out, "and nobody's asking you why don't have holes in your head."

After a brief pause, he leaned a little closer. "You don't, do you?"

The similarities between "Chise" and "cheese" were pretty small, but "Luffy" and "fluffy" were only a little alike, too. So it was sorta the same, right?

Whatever Luffy had said about cheese and heads filled with holes were forgotten once the side-effects wore off, but she managed to catch the end of it.

"Huh?" she blinked a couple of times to regain her composure and found a pair of huge eye staring back at her. A short period of silence followed before she abruptly lept back in surprise, knocking over her drink in the process.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry I called you a monkey! You don't look like one, really! Please forget anything that I said earlier," she cried out, "I'm sorry."

She dropped her head and groaned in embarrassment. Small blots of tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

Luffy promptly laughed -- not at her, exactly (though she was pretty funny!), but just in amusement at the whole situation.

"Why're you upset?" he asked once he'd settled down, and he genuinely meant it. "Do I look mad or something?" The pirate paused long enough to drop some napkins over where the drink had been spilled, but he didn't really make an effort to wipe it up.

"Anyway, I like monkeys, so I don't see what the big deal is," Luffy continued. "Plus you didn't really call me one to begin with -- you were just asking why I didn't look like a monkey, right?"

This girl was kinda confusing, but maybe she'd stop crying once she realized there wasn't anything to be upset about.

When he started to laugh, Chise's face felt hotter than before. This was so embarrassing! Well, not as embarrassing as the time when she suggested her class to start evacuating, because at that moment she sensed an oncoming attack aimed at her from far away.

"But, but...I made fun of your name," she protested, "a-and I just met you! It was a mean and stupid thing for me to do. Even if I was asking, it would still be considered as being mean. Anyone could tell that you aren't a monkey. I'm sorry."

There was still tears in her eyes when she wiped them. If only Shuji (or somebody) was here to call her stupid for saying that, then she would feel a little bit better afterward.

Luffy thought it'd been an honest question. And anyway, it was obvious Chise hadn't been trying to be mean with it, so he didn't see what the big deal was.

"You already apologized before you took the pill," he pointed out. "What's the point of apologizing for something if you're gonna apologize for it again afterwards?" Maybe she just liked repeating herself a lot. Or apologizing all the time, either one.

"Anyway, you should stop crying," he added seriously. "You'll get your food wet." Although...maybe it'd add a little extra flavor, now that he thought of it.

He had a good point about apologizing for something you already apologized beforehand. It really was a force of habit for her to apologize for everything she did.

"...I'm sorry," the tears had finally stopped but her eyes were still wet. This was the second time she cried today. "I cry all the time, even for the simplest things, so it's nothing you should worry about. I'm always like this ever since I was born and I'm always screwing things up. I...I want to be strong for both myself and him, but...I'm not sure if I am strong enough, especially in a place like this."

She couldn't even protect herself from a swarm of mutated dragonflies.

Idly leaning back in his chair, Luffy listened to the girl as she spoke. So she wanted to be stronger -- that was something he could get. A guy had to be tough if he wanted to make it on the Grand Line, after all. And while Luffy wasn't something who put himself through rigorous training like Zoro did, he knew he was going to have to work hard if he wanted to be the Pirate King someday.

"So being strong's what you gotta do," he said simply. Whether she could actually do it was something he had no way of answering, but that went without saying. "If you want it bad enough, and this guy is so important, then what's stopping you?"

"I...I don't know," she muttered. It would've been easy for her to blame it on the institute, but that wouldn't be an acceptable excuse. "I want to blame it on this place because I couldn't find my boyfriend last night, but it wouldn't be right to accuse this place for all of my present problems. It's what I am that's stopping me. I don't want to be weak, or too strong to the point where I'll end up killing him and everything around me."

Chise suddenly realized that she'd just told Luffy, a complete stranger and a boy, about her personal predicament. She inwardly berated herself for being so inconsiderate.

"I'm sorry for telling you my problems when we only just met. I know that talking about it releases emotional tension, but it might be a nuisance for you. I don't know if you understand the feeling of being unable to do things here, that you could easily do beforehand."

"Sure I do," Luffy replied. If this was back home, he would have been out of here by now, and Landel would have been sent flying a long time ago. It was simple as that, and it had to be the same for a lot of other people, too.

"Anyway," he went on, "if you're worried about all that stuff, just get some help from other good people in doing what you gotta do." Most matters were usually pretty cut-and-dry for Luffy, and this was no exception. "If you're trying to be strong on your own, that's kind of a stupid thing to do. Nobody knows how to do everything."

Well, unless there was a devil fruit for that somewhere out there, but Luffy had never seen anything like that before.

"You do?" she questioned, "You have special powers of some sort?" The subject of different abilities partially lightened up her mood. She wondered if Luffy was a magician.

When he mentioned asking for help from other 'good' people, her expression fell. "I...don't know anybody here that could help me. All the ones that I do know of are dead." Both her best friend and Lt. Tetsu are dead, and Shuji wasn't here. There was nobody that she could relate to. "I'm all alone."

"Oh, yeah," he said simply, as if they were talking about anything but special powers. "I'm a rubberman! So, normally, I can stretch super-far." Landel had done something to mess that up, but Luffy was gonna find a way to fix it. The main issue was whether it was going to be before or after kicking that bastard's ass, but he'd figure that out later on.

He listened, face oddly blank, as she explained her predicament. Then after a moment, he tipped the brim of his hat back and stared at her with an almost unnervingly intense gaze. It wasn't that he didn't get that she was having a hard time -- that much was obvious. But was she really as alone as she was making herself out to be?

"It doesn't look that way to me," he finally said. "I see you, but sitting behind you are all sorts of people who're stuck here, too. And a lot of 'em are good people, you know!"

"A rubber...man? Stretch? How?" Dumbfounded by the sound of it, she couldn't help but stare at him. The ability to stretch, she never would have guessed it.

She looked behind herself after he informed her that most of the patient population were good people. Well, Kurogane seemed like a good person (even though he had a scary face), but she wasn't so sure about the rest of the others.

"I suppose most of them are good," she said, turning back to Luffy. "But...I doubt that they would take me as their friend, if they knew what I really am." A weapon of mass destruction, the angel of death, someone who wants to live after causing widespread suffering. "Would you even want to be friends with me, if I...if you knew all the horrific sins I've committed!"

"I throw my arm out and it stretches," he explained. "I'm like a rubber band!" Really, he thought it kinda spoke for itself, but he guessed not a whole lot of people have seen stuff like that. Well, if they weren't from the Grand Line, anyway.

As for whatever she'd done before coming Landel's, Luffy didn't think it mattered much. "Well, you seem like a good person," he said, shrugging. "And if it's stuff you did before I met you, what does it even have to do with anything?"

Besides, he was a pirate. The word "sin" didn't really mean much to him in the first place. Betrayal of one's nakama, broken promises, heartless cruelty -- those were things he hated, but Chise didn't look like she was capable of any of that. (She'd spend so much time apologizing beforehand if she even tried.)

But whatever it was she was talking about? Luffy wasn't about to decide whether it was horrible or not -- it could have been, if she was so upset about it (even though she got upset about a lot of stuff). But, really, he didn't think it mattered to what was going on right here, and right now.

"Anyway, when you say stuff like that, it sounds like the only person stopping you from finding friends is you," he bluntly pointed out. "There're all sorts of good people here, and if they're good people, they'll know you're good, too."

To him, it was as simple as that.

Day 40: Lunch

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[The End (finally)]