Day 40: Lunch

[whiny-egomaniac.livejournal.com]

*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]

Comments

[gald_digger]

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.

[nobleman]

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.

[gald_digger]

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.

[nobleman]

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.

[gald_digger]

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.