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]

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Anise looked up from her plate when Guy approached her table, returning his smile with a bright, exaggerated one of her own. She felt her heart pounding when his smile faded, but she tried not to let hers follow suit right away. "I'm doing fine! Just fine," she answered quickly. Her smile was wavering, so she let it ease into a more sustainable, sober expression - though still not a frown.

She knew there wasn't much hope of fooling Guy when he probably had a good idea of what she was going through. Her worst fear had just come true, after all. She had just gotten Ion back, and now he was gone again! She was useless as a guardian. It wasn't just upsetting, it was frustrating too!

Still, she had to at least look like she was managing. She couldn't convince him that she was doing well, but maybe she could convince him she was okay.

That kind of response was more or less expected, and yet Guy wished that Anise could feel more comfortable with bearing her heart to him. Everyone needed to talk about what was really going on with them sometimes, but he knew from his own experience that it often felt easier to keep it all bottled up. He couldn't judge the girl too much when he wasn't much better himself. It wasn't like he'd talked much about how he'd felt when Luke had disappeared, although that wasn't quite the same since Luke had never actually died.

Not in Guy's opinion, at least.

There were countless things he could say: "he might come back someday"; "it'll get better with time"; "you know you can always talk to me"--but it all sounded fake, and Anise probably already knew all of those things. So he just gave her a knowing, rueful smile and left it at that.

"You know, even though we've lost a lot of people, it looks like our numbers are increasing again. Not that it's all good... I'm guessing you heard about Van?" There was Asch too, but Guy still wasn't sure if Luke's original counted as an enemy. That was part of what he wanted to talk to Anise about, but they would get there soon enough.

It became hard to keep eye contact with Guy when he looked at her like that. Anise's gaze moved downward in some sort of irrational effort to keep him from reading her face. Realizing it probably just made her look gloomier, she quickly occupied herself with the meal in front of her, trying to make it seem like that was her reason for looking away.

She nodded, somewhat absently, at the mention of their numbers increasing. She wished she felt happier about it than she did, but there were still a lot of people unaccounted for. What came next, however, was surprising enough to shock her right out of her emotional rut for the moment.

"The Commandant!?" she blurted out, eyes wide. "You aren't saying... he's here, too?" Anise looked back to his face, hoping to see some indication that it was just a bad joke. Not that Guy was the type to make a joke out of something like that. When he mentioned before that someone else had turned up, she'd thought for sure it had to be Asch. If it was a friend, he would have sounded happier, and if it was an enemy, he would have warned her, she thought...

But the Commandant? That was one of the last people Anise expected, and definitely the last person they needed around.

When Anise started to eat, Guy followed suit, though it was harder to enjoy the fish when he could tell that his friend was going through such a rough time. He knew there wasn't much he could do except make it obvious that he, at least, was still around. He wasn't Ion, but he needed Anise to know that he wasn't going anywhere if he had anything to do about it. He wished he could do something to get the Fon Master back for her, but that was pretty much impossible.

He jerked in his seat at Anise's outburst; he honestly had figured that she would have heard about Van by now, especially if she had been with Luke last night. Still, it wasn't hard to believe that Luke had forgotten to mention it, especially if he had been distracted by Ion's disappearance.

"He... is," he responded with a sober nod. This wasn't something that could be taken lightly, after all. "Asch, too, but you probably knew about that." Asch was a lot more obvious, even though he most likely didn't think he was. Van, on the other hand, could be discreet when he wanted to. Maybe the man realized that he was outnumbered...

Though was he, really? Once again, it went back to which side Asch was on. Guy got the feeling that it was Luke who would have to work that out with his difficult original.

"I had a hunch," Anise confirmed with a slight grin. For a second, she had been afraid her guess was way off, but it looked like it was right after all. So both of them had turned up...

"It's great that Asch is okay, but the Commandant..." She leaned back in her seat, squashing Tokunaga against the back of her chair. It went without saying that this was bad news. Couldn't they ever get a break around here!?

There was no telling what a creep like that would do in a situation like this, but it was probably safest to assume the worst. Van wasn't their only problem, though. "...I wonder what Sync's going to do now." Up until now, he had just been messing around with them for his own cruel amusement. With someone who could order him around, he was either going to get a lot less or a lot more dangerous. Judging from their luck lately, Anise didn't have high hopes for the former.

At least Anise had figured out that Asch was here. Guy would have felt bad if he'd dumped so much shocking news on her all at once. Van's presence was obviously a much bigger deal, though.

He wasn't surprised when the girl jumped from hearing about Van to wondering about Sync, since he had done the exact same thing. "I think it's safe to assume that they're going to work together," he replied, and he didn't try to keep the strain out of his tone. Sync had been bad enough, but with Van here they were going to have three times the amount of trouble on their hands.

"We need to figure out what to do with Asch, though. He sort of worked with us last time he was here, but with Van here now it's a lot more complicated." Guy knew that Luke would want to try and form some sort of alliance with the God-General, but Luke was Luke. Guy's friend had even suggested working with Van, so he really wasn't the best person to discuss this with. Even though she was younger, Anise was usually more practical than Luke. It would have been even better if Jade, Tear, and Natalia were also here to give their opinions, but Guy knew they had to work with what they had.

Anise nodded slowly when Guy confirmed what she suspected. Even if Sync didn't seem like the kind of person who'd cooperate with anyone, he was pretty loyal to the Commandant. It bothered Anise to think about that, though. If Sync had been brought up by anyone else in the world, he might have been a gentle person like Ion... and they wouldn't have to be enemies.

But those thoughts didn't matter now, not when it was too late to change anything. What mattered was that if the Commandant ordered it, Sync could be out making serious attempts on their lives. They needed to be careful.

As for Asch, Anise just shrugged. "What can we do? Whatever we decide, he's the one who's just going to do whatever he feels like doing." Asch wasn't much for teamwork, she knew. He worked with them sometimes, but that was only for the few times he couldn't get everything done by himself. Still, it was good to have another ally around, even if he wasn't the most dependable guy. "What's so complicated about it, though?" It seemed like things always had be complicated between Guy and Asch, but to Anise, it was pretty clear who their friends and who their enemies were.

It was true that Asch wasn't the sort of person who could be controlled in even the best of times; chances were that he was going to pick his side soon, or maybe already had. On the other hand, the fact that Asch had cooperated with them before meant that he might be open to doing so once again. It was just that with Van here, it would take some more coaxing, and Guy wasn't sure if it was worth the effort or not.

When Anise asked for an explanation, Guy shrugged. "Well, last time he worked with us because there was no other option. With Van around, he has a choice to make, and even though he didn't agree with what Van was doing before, I'm pretty sure that Asch is like Luke in that he has a weakness when it comes to Van." Guy had seen Asch and Luke fight for their mentor's approval even up to the end, so it was obvious they hadn't completely cut ties with him. The fact that even Luke wouldn't have minded teaming up with Van meant that it was very likely Asch might work with him.

Guy stared off for a moment as he thought it over, but he soon realized that there was little point in keeping his thoughts to himself. "It's hard to deny that it would be useful to have Asch helping us, but I don't know how easy it would be to convince him that we're the side he wants to be on." Guy also knew he wasn't the person for that job, since he was apprehensive about having to deal with Asch any more than necessary.

That hadn't really crossed Anise's mind. "Huh? You really think..." She trailed off, straightening in her seat and trying to sort out what she knew and what she thought about the issue. "But Asch really hates the Commandant, doesn't he? He wouldn't..."

Anise couldn't claim to know Asch all that well, but he had helped them out enough in the past that she considered him pretty trustworthy - which was saying something, considering she didn't trust people lightly. She didn't want to think he could end up being an enemy. They had enough of those already! Of course, she couldn't see him outright opposing them, but just helping Van in any way was potentially dangerous.

"He can be pretty bone-headed about stuff, but... Asch knows better than anyone that nothing good ever comes from working with the Commandant! There's no way he'd pick him over us." The uncertainty in her tone didn't quite match the certainty of her words. Guy probably understood Asch better than she did, and if he said it was a possibility, then it most likely was one. But that possibility was hard for her to swallow. The Commandant just used people like tools - even kids! Anise didn't want to think anyone would want to go running back to him, no matter what was going on.

It was possible that Guy was being overly paranoid about the whole thing, but it looked like Anise wasn't as sure as she wanted to be about it. Asch always had to toe the line when it came to things like this, didn't he? Sometimes he was annoying without even trying. Guy rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

"I guess we could just ask him, but I'll admit that I'd rather not be the one to do it," he responded. Most everyone knew that he and Asch weren't on the best terms; usually Guy could mask his emotions if he needed to, but he could never stop himself from coming off as stiff when he was around the God-General.

"Maybe Luke could do it, but I'd rather those two interacted as little as possible." Asch just put ridiculous ideas into Luke's head, along with crushing the little bit of self-esteem that his friend had. If Guy could have his way, they would be kept separate unless it was necessary for them to talk.

Still, if Guy didn't do it and Luke didn't do it, that only left Anise, and Guy wasn't comfortable with that option either. Asch and Anise didn't know each other that well in the first place, and it seemed wrong to hand off the task to the young girl. Guy would bite the bullet if he had to, but he really wished someone like Jade or Natalia was around.

Anise could feel she was getting a little more worked up about the subject than intended, and took a little time to eat more of her lunch while she listened to Guy. She was still feeling a bit on edge, and didn't want to let it show.

"I wouldn't mind doing it, but... I'm not sure Asch would listen to me." While they got along fine when it came to working together, he tended to brush her off whenever she tried chatting with him. Granted, that was probably because she was usually just teasing him, but who could blame her for that? Asch just made it too easy sometimes. Unfortunately, thanks to that, he probably didn't care much for her opinion.

It wasn't a surprise that Guy wasn't too keen on doing it, either. He usually acted pretty weird around Asch, and imagining the two of them alone together, she guessed it would be sort of awkward. Leaning forward with her elbows on the table, she suggested, "Maybe Luke should do it after all, even if he'll probably get yelled at." She paused, twirling her fork in the air as something occurred to her. "I wonder if they can still use that convenient communications network they've got."

Guy knew that Anise had a point. Asch probably mainly saw her as an annoying little brat, which was another reason why Guy wasn't too fond of the redhead. He tended to write people off without a second thought, and his stubbornness was hard to deal with.

In the end, Luke did seem like their best bet, as much as Guy hated to admit it. Still, he was going to hopefully see his friend next shift, so maybe they could get it cleared up then. Guy at least felt good about the fact that he was staying in touch with those people he did know he could trust.

At Anise's question about the "communications network," Guy straightened in his seat as he thought it over himself. "I guess they might, but it seems like that sort of thing would be cut off here, right?" On the other hand, it was a pretty strong bond. That was one more thing he'd have to ask Luke about, then.

"Oh, and Anise... I can't remember how much I've told you about this, but I've been having some luck with the basement recently." He sent her a smile, since this, at least, was something to be happy about.

"I guess that's right," Anise agreed with a disappointed frown. It probably wasn't a good idea to get her hopes up for something like that. Landel's had a pretty lousy track record when it came to allowing convenient things.

The next bit of news to be dropped, however, made the girl's face light up, and in an instant she was giving Guy her full attention again.

"Why didn't you say so!?" she cried accusingly, but soon grinned, hands clapped together in delight. It was another forced smile, but she at least had some hope that this time, there was something to be genuinely happy about. "So what did you find? Something interesting? I want all the details."

Guy couldn't help laughing at Anise's response. It was as if she was asking about a date rather than some dangerous foray down into the basement, but he figured it was good that she was so interested. He needed to remember to always keep her in the loop, after all.

"Well, I haven't seen too much of it yet, but I'll tell you what I know," he agreed. "I went with Claude and his friend, Dias, and we managed to get into one of the side doors. There was a hallway that had some strange artwork on the walls, and after that we went through this big golden door where a monster was waiting..."

He could have paused and left her in suspense, but he was quick to clarify. "It wasn't dangerous, though. Well, not immediately. Claude said it was called a sphinx, and it was this big golden beast that could actually talk. It made us an offer - if we stayed, we could be given a riddle, and if we could answer it we'd get a prize. If we couldn't, then that was another story." Guy traced his finger across his neck to make sure Anise got the point, though he was sure she had already guessed.

"Anyway, we put her heads together and managed to get it right," he announced, looking proud for once.

Anise leaned forward on the table, listening intently. "So there are monsters like that here, too? I can't believe it..." Everything she'd ever run into were creepy-looking mindless creatures that didn't seem interested in anything but eating or smashing people. The one Guy described actually sounded kind of smart.

There was only a slight change in her expression in response to his gesture. It was a little worrying, but considering everything they did was a life-risking venture, it was actually kind of relieving to hear of any situation where a fight could be avoided with words.

All of that was just the little details, though. There was one thing Guy mentioned that really had her interest.

"And the prize?" Anise asked excitedly, quite literally on the edge of her seat. "You got it, right? What was it?"

It figured that Anise would be most interested in the prize (rather than the sphinx itself or the riddle), but Guy realized that it was the most important part. Unfortunately for Anise, it wasn't anything too exciting.

"Oh, it was this miniature model of a shield," he explained, pulling his hands apart to give the girl an idea of how small it had been. Dias was the one who had been carrying it last night, right? Guy should have asked him about it last shift, but he could probably assume that the man would remember to bring it along tonight.

"It sounds like we need to find a second one, though, and once we do that we can get to another area." The sphinx had made it sound dangerous, but everything in this institute was dangerous, and so Guy doubted that was going to stop any of them.

"We're going to try to get it tonight, but things get in the way a lot of the time," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"A shield...?" Anise echoed, tapping her chin with her finger thoughtfully. It didn't sound like it was as impressive a treasure as she had hoped, but it was still something rare and useful, so she was plenty happy about it. "So it's like, some kind of key?" If he needed another one to get to one of the rooms down there, then it seemed like an accurate way to put it.

"Eh heh. I guess that happens a lot." It wasn't a surprise that Guy's group got held up a lot. Even simple, less important plans got messed up easily between monster attacks and sudden blackouts. "Still, this is great! If the basement really is the way out, then we're a step closer now!" And getting closer to freedom meant getting closer to the people outside. To Ion, her parents, and all her friends that had disappeared...

Despite her enthusiasm, Anise felt weighed down by a sort of heavy, disappointed feeling. She was happy about Guy's success, but it reminded her that she still hadn't really accomplished anything herself... and still didn't know how she could accomplish anything. Her smile weakened somewhat, but before it could fade, Anise reached for the cup of milk in front of her and drank from it, just for a distraction.

"That's what it sounds like," Guy confirmed. While he knew that Landel was basically having them run through a series of hoops, he still wanted to believe that it would lead to something helpful in the end. Maybe that was just him fooling himself, but quite a few other patients seemed to feel the same way about it.

It was good to have Anise's support, and while Guy would have liked to have her along, he didn't want to put her in too much danger when she didn't have Tokunaga to rely on. (Well, she had him back now, but it wasn't like he could transform here.) Besides, it seemed like she had other plans a lot of the time.

"I don't really know how it's going to turn out, to be honest, but I'll keep you informed," he assured her. "I'm also going to talk to Luke about it next shift, if all goes well." He didn't think it would be that hard to find his friend, but things had come up in the past and interrupted meetings. It was possible Luke had therapy or something like that.

"How about you, Anise?" Guy continued. "What are you up to tonight?"

Even though it was a normal thing to ask, Guy's question hit a bit of a sore spot. Anise set her cup down, then hesitated a few moments before answering. "I'm... not really sure, actually." It was probably the first time in over a week that she could honestly say she had nothing planned. She felt a little guilty about it, like she needed to be doing much more.

"I spent the last week looking out for Ion, of course. And the reason I joined the Cooking Club was because Ion was there, too..." She had done a lot of work for the club without Ion, but during that time she was expecting the boy to wake up and rejoin them at any time. The Cake Club was a little different; she'd joined mostly because it was just too hard to refuse a request from a bunch of young nobles. But Anise knew she couldn't just have fun every night. "...So right now, I don't know what I want to do."

Her voice came out a little strained, but Anise was relieved to find she was able to talk about Ion without getting too outwardly emotional, even if her cheery act had fallen apart. She didn't like coming out and talking about the things that bothered her, but it was possible that Guy would have a good suggestion. Keeping her thoughts to herself and dwelling on them in secret hadn't proven to be very productive so far. And besides, they had agreed to keep each other up to date on their own movements. She couldn't exactly make something up.

Guy hadn't meant to ask something that was going to emphasize Ion's disappearance, but he couldn't exactly take it back now. His brow furrowed slightly as he realized the situation the girl was in. He glanced off for a moment, hoping that he could come up with some sort of useful advice.

"I'd invite you along tonight, but with four people it usually gets kind of hard to move around," he started as he looked back to her. He was used to fighting with three other people, as was Anise, but the hallways got cramped; not to mention that a larger group stood out more. Still, he had to admit it would be nice to work alongside Anise again. It had been too long.

"Otherwise, well... are there any other clubs you're interested in? Or have you made some friends here that you can go with?" It might be better if they spread out and covered more ground, so if Anise could find a good group to fall in with, that might be the most beneficial for them.

The nurses were starting to move from their posts to gather up the patients, so they didn't have much time, but Guy wasn't going anywhere until he tied things up with his friend.

Anise nodded. Guy was right; she'd probably just get in the way if he took her. It was a fact that traveling got cumbersome with more people, but she couldn't help but wonder if Guy would have taken her if she were stronger. Being strong wasn't something Anise normally cared much about, but lately, realizing how helpless she was in a place like this, she couldn't help but wish she had more power. All she needed was enough strength to find and protect the people closest to her... why couldn't she even have that!?

Those bitter thoughts were kept buried as deep as possible, however, and Anise kept a small smile on her face as she discussed her options. "Friends, huh? Hehe. I guess I've made a few of those lately. I've been helping out the Cake Club a bit, even though they don't really do anything important..." She felt slightly embarrassed saying so right in front of someone who had been working so hard and was actually getting things done.

But maybe it wasn't fair to say they didn't do anything important. Just last night, Anise had helped protect someone weaker than her. That had to count as important, didn't it?

Still, it didn't bring her any closer to finding Ion. There had to be something more she could do. She couldn't just sit on her hands and wait for Guy to get all the tough stuff done for her!

"I guess... until I find a group that suits me, I can stick with them for a little longer," Anise thought aloud, glancing over her shoulder at an approaching nurse before flashing Guy another smile. "It'll work out somehow." She wasn't so sure it would, but she felt like she needed to say something to make sure Guy wouldn't be worrying about her after they parted ways this shift.

Guy honestly didn't know much about the Cake Club, but from what he had seen, he had to agree that it didn't seem like they did much. Granted, it wasn't like every club had to be serious - if they were all the same, there wouldn't be much point in having more than one. Really, he was content with Anise doing something that she enjoyed, but it seemed like she was eager to find something different.

"Yeah, there's no rush," he assured her, and he did actually mean it. Yes, they needed to get out, but it was something that was going to take time no matter what way you looked at it. Anise didn't have to feel like it was urgent that she found somewhere to lend a hand.

"Anyway, hopefully we can find some night to work together. Me, you, and Luke. That'd be pretty nice, right?" It would have been better if it was all six of them, though it was hard to imagine all of them moving around in a big group here. That didn't mean he wouldn't like it, though.

Guy felt himself getting nervous as the nurses' presence became more and more obvious. "But I guess we'd better get going. Hang in there, Anise." He smiled at the girl and then stood from his seat.

No rush? Anise couldn't agree with that. She knew any endeavor at Landel's was going to take time, but who knew what could happen if they wasted even a single day?

The suggestion of working together with Guy and Luke was something she could agree with, however. Despite faking a lot of optimism throughout the conversation, Anise found herself smiling at the idea without consciously trying to. She hadn't even realized how much she missed being able to travel with her friends, like they had on Auldrant.

"Yeah... I'd like that a lot!"

It looked like they were out of time for chatting, so Anise stood as well. From Guy's choice of words, it sounded like he was still concerned, but at least he wasn't saying anything embarrassing. "You take care too," she replied as cheerfully as she could. "Let me know how things go!"

Her attending nurse was practically hovering over her at that point, so with a tiny wave to Guy, Anise turned to meet the woman and was soon led away.

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Day 40: Lunch

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