damned_institute | Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

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.]

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Despite the moment of embarrassment when the women there had assumed he was a girl, Bridget had enjoyed the massage and he was glad that Kagura had had fun as well. He looked over his menu, also finding the american food a bit strange.

"It is," he agreed. "You can almost pretend like things are okay." He glancd up at her and smiled. "I hope that you're having as nice a time as possible Miss Sohma."

"We never went to restaurants like these," she replied after placing her order. She'd gone to the occasional cafe' with friends, but that was different. A slight blush colored her cheeks; Bridget was always so concerned about her, it was a little unsettling, she just didn't understand why. She cared about Bridget a lot too, of course, and it seemed like he was having a good time as well, but... something still nagged at the back of her mind.

"Ah- back home I mean. I... I kind of wished we could, but," she trailed off. It wasn't like Kyo ever took her places, not unless she dragged him. And she didn't have a lot of friends...

"B-but I am enjoying myself. I just wish all the days were like this."

Bridget gave his order as well and handed the menu back to the waitress before focusing on Kagura again.

"I know what you mean," he said with a smile. "Roger and I didn't really go a lot of places either, though I knew a nice woman who made great chinese food. Sometimes, she would feed us in exchange for chores or errands." He missed all his friends.

"But if everyday was like this, some people might not want to go home."

Chinese food sounded pretty good too, but she doubted they'd find somewhere that would feed them in exchange for errands, especially since all they had was coupons. Bridget had a point though, and she looked down at her placemat, feeling somewhat ashamed. Hadn't Uzuki said the same thing? That this was a war and she was stuck on all the trivial things. Things that seemed important to her, but when compared with all of the problems they were facing... maybe that was why she felt useless so often. Should she really be sitting here, enjoying the atmosphere when she knew what was coming when night would fall?

On the other hand, she knew if she worried too much about it and scared herself with all the maybes, she wouldn't be able to enjoy very much of the here and now. And... and what was wrong with being happy here and now? If they wanted everyone to be so miserable wouldn't it just be raining on their parade to be happy in spite of everything?

"Do you think it's okay to um... to be happy here... sometimes?" she asked after some hestition.

Bridget gave the question some thought. He was happy here, even though he felt homesick as well. "I think..."He frowned slightly. "I think it's important to be happy here as well. It's important to find something to be happy about here. You can't be sad or scared all the time."

Bridget's answer was enough to soothe her troubled thoughts. If she believed it was one thing, but if other people thought the same way, it was probably alright. Sometimes she didn't always think along the same wavelength as others.

"I think so too," she nodded, taking a sip at her water glass. "I'm glad you're here. Ah- I mean... I think... I'd be a lot more afraid and lonely if I didn't have a friend."

That made Bridget blush slightly and he fiddled with a napkin to try to hide it. "I'm glad I've got such good friends as you as well Miss Sohma," he said with a smile. "It would be hard to stay positive without friends."

She smiled at his comment and nodded her agreement. It wasn't long before the meals were served and Kagura was glad for the friendly atmosphere as they ate.

"Mm," she said after a moment, picking over the half of her plate that was still left. "Do you think your friend will need help tonight? I think the nurses said there was a bulletin in the grocer's market. Maybe we should check it on the way back?"

In truth she wanted to ask him more about his friends, his world, and all the stories he must have as a bounty hunter; a life so different from that of an ordinary college student(nevermind that strange curse). But as always, the institute loomed over the happy things like a dark cloud and while she didn't want to remind them of their journey back, it would be bad if they weren't prepared.

[agh, i fail so hard ;-; so sorry!!]

Day 42, Noon: The Twin Pine Restaurant

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