Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Yuffie took the long way around, practically making it a tour of the entire town. She collared--not literally, since the nurses would've thrown fits--a few random citizens along the way, asked as many inconspicuous sounding questions as possible, and then moved on. Wash, rinse, repeat. Sneaking a few covert glimpses into stores and windows confirmed what she'd been talking about with Sam earlier; no dates, no explicitly mentioned locations outside of the town itself… how weird was that? Even the most insular of towns back on Gaia would've coughed up some kind of connection with the outside world.

It was almost like a living ghost town.

Well, maybe she was just thinking too hard. Maybe she was throwing shuriken too hard at the wrong target. Back home, she had a concrete frame of reference. Here, she couldn't take anything for granted; she had no local or international knowledge whatsoever. All she could try to do was get a profile of the immediate area and build it up and out from there. Theories were already budding, popping up like weeds hit by Quadra-Haste, but without facts to back them up, theories were like sand in a desert.

Not that she didn't want to share those theories, sand or not. She did. A lot.

Once she'd developed a viable mental map of the place (as viable as she was gonna get given the time constraints), Yuffie swung back around and jogged back to North Street. From there, she took the alley; a quick right turn; slow to a trot, and there. Her cheeks were tinged pink from the cold winter air, and they stung as she poked her head in through the door.

Okay, so maybe she was a little early after all. That was cool. Very cool. She had some time to set things up, to pretend that she wasn't hideously under prepared for this lunch date. Stepping into the warmth, Yuffie surreptitiously cased the place out as she headed to a table. Homey, in a way that almost reminded her of some of the up-and-coming rural towns. Automatically seeking out one of the more strategic seats--one with a good view of the rest of the restaurant, and one that didn't leave her totally vulnerable to mutant chairs or murderous sandwiches--she made herself comfortable, whipped out a few crumpled pieces of paper and a pen, and began to jot down her findings.

[Closed to Edgeworth.]

Comments

[colonel-badass.livejournal.com]

"Really, Anise, shouldn't you be ordering off the children's menu?"

Jade had been fortunate enough to spot a familiar pigtailed figure vanishing into a restaurant and had followed her at his own pace, judging by his late arrival. Since he didn't really have any plans for his day, as even the most cursory examination of the town and the security measures being taken had informed him that there was likely very little that could be gotten away with under the watchful eyes of the staff, there seemed nothing else for it but to simply make the most of the excursion. And, really, he didn't know many other people yet, and wasn't in the mood for making new acquaintances. The only thing worse for his blood pressure than a typical youth was a typical youth who wasn't even familiar.

Besides, that conversation on the bulletin board about Luke...even he couldn't be entirely unconcerned. Though Anise, at the moment, looked far less upset than her companion. She had mentioned Guy's presence to Jade already, of course, but this was the first time they'd had the chance to meet in person here...well, at least to Jade's knowledge.

"You're looking well, Guy," he observed as he drew up a chair from another table. This was a bit of a generous assessment, but if Anise hadn't taken the chance to scare Guy a little then Jade would have really been concerned about her.

[nobleman]

Guy managed to keep his expression neutral as he watched Anise set her doll down on the chair next to her as if it was a child rather than a toy. Then again, considering Tokunaga, he got the feeling she was more attached to playthings than most people might be. He was about to ask her where it had come from (and how she planned to get it home) when the girl brought up the steak.

"I was wondering about that too," he said as he fished in his pocket for the appropriate coupon. It didn't say anything on it about not being able to order steak, so they would just have to ask the waiters for themselves and see. He'd prefer to get a look at the menu before he decided on what he wanted, though. "We'll have to ask," he told Anise.

Guy was about to signal a waiter to come over when a completely unexpected and yet very familiar voice cut in. His head snapped up to see none other than Colonel Jade Curtiss standing there as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Jade?!" Guy exclaimed, half-standing from his seat before he settled back down and simply stared at the older man. While Jade had been here before, it had been ages since then and Guy had hardly been ready for him to pop up like this. Not that it was a bad thing, but Guy's nerves had already been put through the meat grinder today.

[gald_digger]

The girl nodded at Guy's suggestion, hoping that what she was thinking was true. Steak seemed like more of a dinner food than lunch, but if it was free, who could complain? And even if Anise couldn't finish it all, it didn't matter, because she wasn't paying for it! Life was just so good sometimes.

When Anise heard the familiar voice, she quickly looked up, shooting an angry pout in the newcomer's direction. "Hey, that's mean, Colonel! Boooo!" she protested as the man made his way over to the table. Even if she was still the youngest by far (and the gap may have even widened thanks to timeline differences), she was still a long ways past being treated like a little kid!

Guy's more startled reaction got a curious look from the girl, though. "Oh, you didn't know he was here?" It made sense, when she thought about it for a moment. When she ran into the Colonel just yesterday, it had already been the end of the day. He probably didn't have time to go around and meet the others.

[colonel-badass.livejournal.com]

"You were too busy contemplating the steak to even mention I was here, Anise? I see where your priorities lie." Despite the complaint, Jade was in a rather good mood, as his amused tone made obvious; for one thing, he'd startled Guy, which was always entertaining, but more than that, it was reassuring just to see the other relatively level-headed member of their group accounted for and looking well.

...'well' being relative, also, of course.

"I trust the two of you have been well?" he inquired, glancing at Anise. "My time here thus far has been...eventful. I'd like to hear what you both have been up to in the meantime."

[nobleman]

[ooc: So sorry for the delay, guys!]

Guy did have to admit that he was a little surprised that Anise hadn't mentioned Jade's presence to him, though they had only just sat down -- he couldn't really blame her for it. In fact, the way he had found out just seemed that much more appropriate. So were there four of them now? But Luke...

Without really meaning to, Guy scanned the surrounding area for red hair. It had been a while since he had seen his friend now, and as far as he knew any messages for him on the bulletin board had gone unanswered. Had it really happened a second time? Guy didn't want to believe it, but staying in denial was no better.

He didn't think that now was the best time to bring all of that up, though. Jade was here; they should be celebrating that.

"Oh, sure," he agreed, gesturing to a nearby chair since he didn't see why Jade couldn't just pull it over to join them. "Me and Anise have both been here for a while. I'm not sure how much you know yet, though. I guess one of the first things you should know is that Asch, Van, and Sync are here." Or at least that was the count last time he'd checked.

[gald_digger]

"I was getting to it!" Anise objected before even thinking about whether it was true or not. Well, maybe it was. Probably. It wasn't like anyone could prove otherwise.

Anise nodded when Guy went through the list of people. She'd mentioned it to the Colonel when she saw him the day before, but it was always good to go over it again. The head count seemed to change every day or two. And on that note... she noticed he didn't include Luke. Had Guy seen the bulletin messages too? It seemed likely.

So Luke wasn't around anymore... That bothered Anise even more than his first disappearance had. He had just come back! And he even said all that stuff about saving Ion... now he needed saving, too! That idiot. Anise didn't want to speak up and say any of those depressing thoughts, though, so she just frowned into her menu as she tried to keep her mind from dwelling on it.

Instead, she latched on to the subjects brought up by the Colonel. "I'm always doing well, naturally! As for what I've been doing... well, I was at the kitchen last night with the Cake Club. I collected some metal while I was there, just in case." She grinned, proud of her own resourcefulness.

[colonel-badass.livejournal.com]

Jade raised an eyebrow at Guy. "So there are three of us, and three of them?" he inquired, although he wasn't exactly sure if Asch really counted as being on Van's side versus their own. Of course, come to that, he wasn't really sure if Asch was on anyone's side at all. (He wasn't certain Asch was at all sure himself.) But he wasn't about to count on Asch as an ally; the boy was simply too hot-headed, even more so than Luke in some ways.

"As for what I know," he continued, with a slight shake of his head, "I'm quite well informed. I met up with a man named Edgeworth on my first day who provided me with a great deal of documentation upon patient experiences here, a list of the monsters that have been encountered and the clubs that have been formed...I believe I know almost as much as most of the people here, even if the bulk of it isn't from personal experience."

For all that, though, he couldn't help raising an eyebrow at Anise. "The Cake Club...?" he repeated. "And just what do you intend to do with metal, Anise?"

[nobleman]

It was good to hear that Anise was keeping busy with the Cake Club, especially since she had seemed so uncertain about working with them, but it sounded like she was getting more done than just baking sweets. He also had to wonder what she was planning to do with that metal, though. Probably trade it with someone, seeing how Guy couldn't think of anything she could personally use it for.

Guy didn't want to affirm or deny Jade's question about how many of them there were -- it seemed like he would be admitting defeat when he should probably hold out some hope for Luke still. It hadn't been so long that it was a lost cause just yet.

Luckily, Jade had more to say about what information he had gathered, and Guy would have been impressed if it wasn't completely expected. Leave it to Jade to find out more about the institute than the rest of them had in their time here combined.

Still, it wasn't like Guy didn't have some claims to make on his own behalf. "That makes our lives easier," he said with a quick smile. "Thanks for asking someone else to explain for once. Anyway, I've been working with some friends on exploring the basement. It can get tedious since it's hard enough just to get down there, but we're not the types to give up easily."

It was about time that they ordered, though, wasn't it? Guy drew his arm up to wave a waiter over.

[gald_digger]

Three of them? Anise wasn't sure she wanted to count Asch as being on the "them" side, even though she had seen the bulletin messages herself. He couldn't really be siding with the Commandant, could he?

"The Cake Club's mostly about going to the kitchen and baking. Pretty much all the members are noblemen," Anise explained. She quickly realized what that was going to imply to everyone, so she hastily added, "so they're pretty helpless in a place like this! And I was generous enough to volunteer to protect them. Isn't that nice of me?" It was basically true, at least.

"As for the metal, it's for weapon-making. I can't expect to get rescued every time something bad comes along, right? ...As much as I'd really like that." The two big fights Anise had been in at Landel's were both won with sheer luck. The first, Anise had gotten a lucky blow, and the other, she had been lucky enough to have Guy and Claude show up just in time. If circumstances had been a little different in either scenario, she could have wound up dead. Anise didn't want to wait and see how long that luck would hold out. Even if she wasn't as skilled with weapons as some people, it would give her a way bigger advantage than what she had with a pipe.

Besides, she hadn't forgotten about her main goal: to get Ion back. Doing that was probably going to mean taking down Landel and the entire institute... She couldn't just sit and wait for someone else to uncover all the mysteries of the institute without doing anything herself.

- Right, food. Anise folded up her menu and set it down on the table to make it clear that she wasn't still deliberating.