damned_institute | 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

Today's food didn't seem quite as strange as some of what he'd seen, but Hanatarou still eyed his tray somewhat dubiously as he made his (very) cautious way to the nearest empty spot he could see. His talk with his new acquaintance had managed to distract him for the last little while, but now he couldn't help but remember the very, very unpleasant experience of finding a tangle of hair in his throat.

In fact, if he thought about it he could almost still feel it tickling the back of his throat, almost taste....

The healer hastily set the tray down, ignoring the way it made his glass of water slop over onto the tray, and dropped heavily into the seat. Not going to think about it, he chanted mentally, as he screwed his eyes tightly closed and tried to suppress nausea. Not going to think about it, not going to think about it...

Of course, not thinking about it only made him think about it, but he still did his best. At long as he didn't throw up in public - or worse, cough up another hairball - hopefully he'd be all right.

[free as a twitchy little bird]

It was amusing to think that there were still people here who actually believed in the fake smiles and easy-going attitude he wore. Ritsuka was a sweet boy, but terribly naive.

As Gin made his way through the line at lunch though, he caught sight of the fourth squad shinigami. He'd seen Yamada out with Izuru for a couple of nights now and while he didn't think he'd get much out of his former lieutenant, Hanatarou might be easier.

"Yamada-kun," he greeted smoothly, setting his tray down and sitting as though they were old friends. "You ain't lookin' too well." Not that this one ever seemed to be in the best of health...

If there was anything that could make Hanatarou feel even worse about some kind of strange curse that made him produce hairballs at random, Ichimaru Gin was most definitely one of them. The healer's eyes flew open at the sound of the most unwelcome voice, his face going even more pale at the sight of the former captain sitting right there.

Maybe this was a dream. Maybe - maybe he was hallucinating things. But no, that didn't seem possible. Even his nightmares didn't get this bad.

"Ah. I-Ichimaru...san..." he replied weakly. Though he'd been successful in avoiding the man for a week now, apparently what luck he possessed was gone now. But what could he possibly want? "Er. I...I'm fine. R-really."

For once it wasn't Gin's intent to frighten the other shinigami into a puddle of quivering goo, but then, whether he meant to or not, it wasn't terribly difficult.

"That so?" he raised an eyebrow, then shrugged, "Well, if y'sure. Looked like you n' Izuru had a rough time a things last night, but I s'pose that ain't the case," he said with a smirk. He and Ran had been passing by almost at the same time the other team stumbled down the east hall. Most of 'em had been down that way last night seemed like.

A rough time? Now the question was, had Gin been in the area when they'd encountered the strange ghost-woman, and had he seen what had happened? Or was he talking about another time during the night? Hanatarou had noticed the presence of other shinigami on the second floor, but he'd been a little too distracted to pay too much attention to who or where or exactly when.

He blinked a couple of times, trying to decide what the man was talking about, then finally decided that was a question that would probably be impossible for anyone to answer except Gin himself. "Ah? N-no, we're not hurt." All right, Hanatarou had bruised his knees a bit when he fell, but that wasn't anything unusual in the slightest. And he was fairly sure Kira hadn't been injured physically by that...whatever it was. But somehow he doubted Gin was truly concerned for their welfare.

At least the other man wasn't shaking in fear just speaking with him this time. It did make conversation a little easier and a bit less one-sided. He relaxed in his seat and started cutting up the fish. It'd taken some getting used to, but he was slowly becoming adept with the plastic knives and forks.

"Hnn," he sighed, picking at the food. "With all the people goin' missin' and messes in th' hallway, a body's really gotta be careful. I hope our new leaders are keepin' that in mind."

It was perhaps fortunate that Hanatarou had already lost his appetite, considering that he didn't think he'd be able to eat anything with Gin sitting right there. He clasped his hands tightly together under the table in an attempt to keep them from shaking (or at least hiding it) and gave the other shinigami a puzzled look.

"I...guess so?" What could he possibly be getting at? Hanatarou himself was just grateful that Gin's attempt to declare himself the new leader hadn't gone anywhere. "We're being, um, c-careful. Last night was the first time we saw anything dangerous."

Gin took another bite of the greasy fish without complaint. He was still as thin as ever, even when there was plenty to eat. Unlike Yamada though, the conversation wasn't to blame for his appetite.

"Hnn, well they say some places 're safer n' others. Maybe ya got lucky th' night before. Me n' Ran haven' run into anythin' much th' last couple nights either." It could just as easily be that Landel had gotten lazy or a matter of luck, or any number of other reasons.

"The...other night?" Hanatarou blinked several times, looking rather uncomfortable. He hadn't been to any of the places that people said on the bulletin board were particularly dangerous, but...was Gin trying to imply something? And why was he paying attention to where Hanatarou was going?

Oh, wait. He'd been with Kira - Gin's former vice-captain. That had to be it. The thought that maybe this wasn't about him did reassure the healer slightly, but that didn't make him feel any better about his lunchtime companion.

"A-ah, we...w-was there something, um." He couldn't just come out and demand to know what Gin wanted. But he still wanted to. "D-did you, er, have a...s-something you needed to know...?"

Of course, it wasn't only Yamada that Gin paid attention to. Before Hinamori had started changing the way orders were given, he'd paid plenty of attention to all the assignments, but that was one of the problems. If they wanted to make any progress, they couldn't exactly post things up where everyone would see them. Then again, it might be an interesting test to see if it made any difference at all.

"Not in partic'lar," Gin shrugged at the other shinigami's question. "Jus' curious 'bout what all everyone's been up to."

Day 40: Lunch

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject