damned_institute | Day 41: Breakfast

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Day 41: Breakfast

Endrance turned his head to look at the intercom, giving it a look that would wither an entire rose garden in an instant. He would never get used to ending up in his room again from somewhere else in the Institute.

He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, not sitting up just yet. He could tell already that his torso had been heavily bandaged, even more so than it had been the night before. The cuts on his arms were covered with fresh bandages, and the one on his cheek seemed to no longer be there at all.

Endrance had been expecting to wake up in a lot of pain, but even that seemed numbed. "They must have given me something," he murmured quietly, as he slowly sat up.

At that moment, his nurse came to get him, pushing a wheelchair along with her. "Peyton, dear, good morning. I've come to take you to breakfast, so..." He shook his head. "I'm fine. There's no need for that...I can walk perfectly well."

She sighed. Well, if he insisted, she wasn't going to stop him. She motioned for an orderly to take the chair away, and walked him to the cafeteria. Once they had gotten there, she pointed him toward a seat, then set a full tray of pancakes covered with syrup, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of orange juice in front of him. "Now eat all of that, Peyton, or else you won't be strong enough to keep walking like that."

He glared at her back as she walked away, then stopped suddenly. There was that faint pulse he'd felt the night before...it was exactly the same.

And so he completely ignored his food in favor of staring at the cafeteria doors, looking at every patient that came in.

[thread will be closed to Haseo. ♥]

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"Very well. I will indulge in this wager, and I will contact you with bargaining material once I find something of worth," Megatron agreed, noticing the motion of Luxord’s tiny cube moving across his hand. "I must admit, I’ve finding myself quite curious to what I would receive in return for a week-long survival rate."

Bargaining with humans. How the mighty have fallen. In the end, though, Megatron knew full-well that survival was more significant than pride.

"I’m sure I will enjoy my captivity at a far greater capacity now that I know one such as yourself is looking out for my well-being," Megatron replied, eyebrows raised at Luxord’s little ‘trick’. Magnetized?

Luxord had to laugh at that, regardless of whether or not it was meant to be taken seriously. Him? Looking out for someone else? "I never claimed to be doing as such, Mr. Megatron. I simply wagered on your death, nothing more. Playing a role in the outcome would be cheating, would it not?" To think he would be helpful to the other was just plain silly and deserved to be laughed at.

Though the man did bring up a good question. Staying in his room as he did, the Gambler hardly had anything of use... His hand found its way to his chin again as he thought. "What would you wish for?"

"I suppose it would, yes," Megatron agreed dryly, finishing off the last fragment of pancake with an expression of disgust. Hopefully all human fuel wasn't as horrifically sweet.

What would he wish for? Of course, he could answer that question in a plethora of ways, but Luxord wasn’t thinking in as grander scale as the annihilation of the entire Autobot faction.

Megatron looked down at himself with a grunt. "I think the answer to that one is implied, don’t you? Since I am doubtful that you could actually retrieve my body, let alone transfer my processor - an object that could be used as a weapon might be of interest."

He was not the least bit impressed with the miniature sword he had been given to consume fuel with. Megatron efficiently wiped it on the side of the plate, before pressing the slightly serrated edge against his forearm. When he removed it, there was only a slight indent, but no cut, no blood, and therefore utterly useless. He let the knife fall back against the table with a sharp clatter.

After a moment, Megatron looked back up at Luxord, contemplating. The light reflecting off Luxord's die caught his eye.

"...on second thoughts, your little toy might be of interest," he offered, lips contorting in mirth, "I might need something to pass the time."

His die? He did have two spares and suspected there would be more in the Game Room, but was there any point in gambling if it did not hurt a little? The Nobody moved his hand in a sort of disinterested gesture and the game piece moved across the table and toward Megatron in accordance. "You may have it, if you wish. There are plenty others and it holds little value within these walls. A weapon, on the other hand..."

It might take him time to come across one, but it was only fair. Besides, who said the robot would live long enough to win this wager? Despite the fact that it meant X would not get his reward for guessing correctly (who would give it to him, with the other man dead?), it was still for fun.

Luxord nodded and smiled. "If you withstand this institute for seven days, I shall do my best to acquire one for you."

Megatron smoothly caught the die before it tumbled off the table, throwing it up in the air and methodically catching. After rolling it once in his palm, he realised that his efforts had been in vain. It did not seem to be magnetized as he had suspected, so that effectively ruled out any attempts to disable security systems with the magnetic field. Then how had Luxord had originally managed to flip the cube without touching it? Humans did not have such capabilities.

...that would lead to the hypothesis that this ‘Luxord’ was apparently was not as human as he appeared.

"It appears we have an accord. Hopefully I can appropriate something of worth in return," Megatron said loftily, flicking the die with a finger. It collided with his plate and bounced, coming to a sharp stop. Six dots greeted Megatron when he lifted up to examine it.

Hmm.

"Staying online - alive, I should say – for seven days is not usually considered a difficult task. How have you managed to do so, when so many have apparently perished? The favor of Fortune aside."

Luxord shrugged, that easy grin still in place. "Not taking Luck's infatuation with me into account, I truly cannot say why I am to survive when the others did not." With Megatron toying with the die now, the Nobody resorted to sliding a lone card from his sleeve to idly twirl between his fingers as he spoke. "It all seems to be within chance. There are those around who have been here longer than I, though they are rare and few between. Though, perhaps," he paused and laughed lowly before continuing, "Mr. Landel simply grows tired of some and dismisses them like childish playthings. Were that to be the case, I suppose those left within are more interesting than the other, unfortunate ones."

Which, obviously, was not the case. But he could pretend if it made him feel better.

There was, however, another important part to that. "I also do not make a habit of foolishly bumbling off into the night, unlike some other patients. That may help."

Megatron couldn not help but notice that Luxord seemingly had a compulsion to keep his hands in motion, or at the very least, needed to be constantly entertained. Megatron, in turn, dropped the die on the table as he mulled over what Luxord had said. This time it landed on three.

"You appear to not only be a suitor of Luck, but in the favor of this 'Mr Landel', too."

Mr Landel? A human, judging by the name, that had the technology to transfer a Cybertronian into an organic body in the process? Utter nonsense. There was the very real possibility that Quintessons had needed a front to keep the humans in line, but a human by itself having the capacity to do such things? Laughable.

"A sound strategy." If not cowardly. Unfortunately, it was not like Megatron could speak of pride and nobility when he was taking cues from a human and desperately consuming organic fuel in order to stay online. His hands, previously lying flat on the table, clenched sharply at the thought of the Sharkticons being let loose in the hallways to pick off the stragglers. They would have no trouble devouring any unsuspecting human that stumbled into the path.

Megatron was, under no circumstance, going to be one of them.

"So the death toll rises every night, hmm? Surely banning together would be more favourable," he said, pressing his fingers to his brow. Apparently human bodies could develop processor-aches as well. "I suppose strength in numbers can only go so far."

...he'd not put it that way, but alright. Perhaps Mr. Landel just liked him.

He tried desperately not to shudder in disgust at that thought.

X was going to offer that a response, but it seemed time was up for this discussion. Nursey returned from wherever she had been previously lurking and pulled him up, reprimanded him for not eating his breakfast, and dragged him off. He'd not even a chance to say farewell...

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Day 41: Breakfast

A pretty girl like Luxord can never have too many! …Megs needs some Decepticon-bling.

Megs' just jeluz of Luxord's mad lady-nabbin' skillz. >[

You mean Luxord’s ‘dude-looks-like-a-lady’ nabbin? Poor Grell! Luxord, you man whore, you! :D

JUST BECAUSE GRELL'S A DUDE DOESN'T MEAN HE ISN'T A LADY

THAT'S A VERY VALID POINT! Luxord gets the best of both worlds...?

damn straight he does >[

...well, straight wouldn't be the right word in context, would it. XD

Hey, hey, hey. The pendulum swings both ways, bb. :]