damned_institute | Day 22: Brunch

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Day 22: Brunch

Cid usually liked sleeping in, especially in a place as messed up and uninviting as this, but this happened to be one situation where he really wished he hadn't.

Right there, on the bulletin board. The Head Doctor and he'd fucking missed it? Some part of him wished he'd been there to take his eye out and another part of him knew he wouldn't have been able to. No man that powerful who hid for so long went to dangerous places without some kind of entourage.

Brunch sounded like it'd be filling, at least, though he nearly stopped in his tracks when the bastard announced TEA. TEA. It'd been a damn long while since he'd had some fucking tea, though with all the stress this place had found fit to rain down on his fucking head, it hadn't really been the first priority on his mind. Kinda nice, even if Cid was sure this was just some game the mother fucker was playing to get them all stuck neck-deep in Stockholm Syndrome.

He scanned the mostly-empty room for any sign of a familiar face once he'd piled waffles and sausages and syrup on his plate, though the person he really wanted to talk to was that Reynolds guy. "Spaceship" was the last word he remembered clearly before waking up in his bed, and dammit if he wasn't going to keep it stuck like glue in his mind.

He found a table where he could watch people come into the cafeteria and grabbed for his mug. The steam rising from his drink and the bag of herbs in it was nearly enough to make him grin despite it all, and it was with marked leisure and a little relief that he drank his goddamn tea.

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Qui-Gon happened to look up and caught Reinforce looking his way, as if she was expecting something from him.

"Qui-Gon Jinn," he introduced himself, glancing between Yohji and Reinforce.

He was still very concerned about Martin Landel, but felt that meditation on the matter was probably best reserved for a later time. Now he had to make sure he ate and provided the fuel his body needed to recover, both from the events of last night and his injury from his last day on Naboo. There wasn't anything he could do about the Void he had sensed around Landel at the moment anyway.

Darman really didn't care if this Force user even believed in the Force or not - all he knew was that he equated mind-reading right up there with levitation and whatever "magic" Jedi were capable of, and incidentally he was responsible for interpreting the details of Emperor Palpatine's Order 66. As far as he was concerned, the only thing that saved this one from ending up a corpse was the fact it was too damn crowded. Maybe another time, he thought, and only regretted that he didn't have the small knife on him to slide between the not-Jedi's ribs.

Curiously enough this one didn't seem to care for Jedi such as General Kenobi. He hadn't ever known of the possibility of inhouse fighting and filed this away as important. Maybe they weren't so different from the Force sensitives Lyta Alexander had described on her Earth, with their civil wars and prejudices...though the Jedi he had seen were always calm and controlled and without question in charge.

"Jedi are Jedi," Darman said, thinking it was obvious and recalling how Etain and Jusik had seemed to make fighting with a lightsaber an art instead of just melee combat. How could this man not know about Jedi? They were warriors capable of almost magical feats with their Force, and he had learned now that the galaxy both respected and feared them.

Darman didn't fear them. He had two Jedi friends and he feared for their individual lives, but other than that, he wasn't particularly intimidated by their powers, only that he would have to somehow work a way around them.

Fox turned his attention to Edward, intrigued. He'd made the spear, from what, with what... it had seemed to be a very well made weapon, what little he'd seen of it.

"How did you make it... can you make other weapons?" If he could talk Edward into making a sword for him, it would make his life at Landels so much easier.

"Ah, perhaps we should go somewhere a little quieter and talk? I have the slight feeling this is going to be a rather complicated conversation." Fox grabbed his tray, doing his best not to wince as he lifted it up to move a short distance away from the rest of the group. He never liked groups of people that much anyway.

Aww, a shy one. He'd not run into that sort as of late, aside from Naminé ~~was she okay?~~. Classically avoiding the chaos around him, the blond took the seat, carefully mixing his tea with both sugar and milk as he hummed lightly to himself.

Yes. Today was better than most.

"I've not seen you here, miss. I would have to guess you as a newcomer," he said rather matter-of-factly as he finished pouring the last of his sugar into the mug. Ah, tea. Glorious, glorious tea. He sipped it with a pleased grin on his face before turning his attention back to the girl before him, eyes bright with interest. "Do you happen to know what has become of you?"

Renji had just about been ready to drift off into a nap when something started poking him in the back of his head. And his head still kind of hurt, so that was very annoying. He grumbled and tried to swat whatever it was away, then levered himself to a more or less upright position, though he quickly acquired a thirty degree tilt off center.

He stared at Ichigo.

Let's see... boobs. There are boobs. Booooooooobs. Rangiku? I guess. And someone with red hair. Redredred. And that's not a mirror. So, it's... Kuro-something. Kuro...saki. Yes. Kurosaki.

Which was good. This lead him to the conclusion that there was something he really ought to tell them, if only he could remember what it was. Something rather important.

He licked his lips and made a face. They tasted all coppery. Like blood. Blood... bloooooooooooood. Bloodbloodblood because he'd... he'd... bitten someone. Yes, that was it. He'd bitten... bitten...

Oh, that damned traitors smile.

There, he had it. A rather pleased, dopey smile formed on Renji's lips, since he'd gotten that figured out.

Then he had to think about it a little longer to figure out what he should say. Everything felt so slow and sluggish and talking seemed like a major effort.

"Traitor," he ennunciated carefully.

"You know," Schuldig said, becoming a little exasperated - usually he earned the homicidal thoughts being directed at him, and it was a little annoying to have yet another person to keep an eye on when he hadn't even done anything satisfactorily wicked enough to justify it - "far be it from me to inject a little logic into your morning, but if you hate telepaths so much maybe you should go sit with someone else. It'd be even more convenient than killing me, although you seem the type to have a hard time believing something so simple as movement might actually be easier than murder.

"And," he added for good measure, "what part of 'we're from different worlds' are you not comprehending? Should I say 'universes' instead? There are no Jedi. No Republic, no Dark Side, nothing that is in your head is anything I recognize because there's not even space travel where I'm from. The furthest anyone on earth has ever gone in my world is our moon. When I say I don't know about Jedi, it's not because I've never heard of them, it's because in my world they've never existed. And feel free to try and wrap your mind around that somewhere else, because your thickheadedness is giving me a headache."

Yohji finally forced himself to eat a couple of blueberries before setting aside his spoon. His stomach protested and he turned an embarrassed smile to the other two. He gave a small bow to both of them. Politeness seemed to be a better idea here instead of trying to get away with his normal behaviour.

"Yeah, I'm from Japan," he replied. "Yokohama originally, Tokyo later on." He stared down at the food for a moment before pushing the plate aside. "You?"

Haku glanced at the orderly then back to Zabuza-san. lie now would save everyone trouble. Well, it wouldn't save him any trouble, but Haku was used to that around his Master. He always seemed to attract trouble.

"I can't recall," he said, voice soft and pitched to sound slightly scared. With luck, Zabuza-san would know he was lying... and with a miracle, he wouldn't call him on it and make an even bigger scene.

Lost in thought, Ashton was led from the chapel to the cafeteria.

The swordsman still wasn’t sure whether he was alone or not. Perhaps there were many others around him in his exact situation, so he had sympathy from all sides.. but his definition of that word – ‘alone’ – was quite different from the normal person’s. ‘Alone’ was a thing of the past (and now, apparently, of the future.) ‘Alone’ was a concept that disappeared when he was possessed by Gyoro and Ururun, who he wasn’t even sure if he was glad were gone or not.. ~~but if he really was glad the guilt just might eat him alive.~~ If he just had closure, he’d be better, he kept telling himself.

But, ah, he’d just have to live with it. That was what Ashton did, what he had always been used to, what he’d always do. Eat from the plate he’d been handed.

Speaking of eating: The Intercom had mentioned hamburgers. Joy! Immediately he traveled to the buffet and proceeded to pile three hamburgers on top of one another, creating a tower of sorts that amused him for a time while he piled up the rest of his plate. He laughed to himself, as he was given to do.

So he looked around for the silver-blue hair that had become so familiar in his recent battles, and spotted him sitting at a table with two others. He almost felt like he was meeting someone he hadn’t spoken to in years, although in truth, by his reckoning, he’d only been away from the man for less than a few hours. And the thought made him feel unnecessarily excited. It’s just because he’s not the Dias I know, I suppose.

Approaching the table, he caught a bit of their conversation and was relieved to hear the topic, but he didn’t feel like he had anything to add just yet. “Um.” With his tower of burgers, sat down next to Dias after glancing at the other two with a ridiculous (but nervous) grin. “Um. Hi.”

Haku was acting scared, that much Zabuza caught onto. The boy had no reason to be scared. He was strong. He could handle a lot.

Zabuza looked back at the orderly, picturing what it would be like to kill the man. But if Haku was acting for now... maybe he should too. Zabuza had no problem playing along, for a little while.

"I'll find out who did this to you then," he said, and he meant it. "And I'll kill them."

He gave the orderly a contemptuous look, daring him to challenge the ninja again.

[[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/65478.html?thread=3314374#t3379910)]]

Fox sat down a short distance away, rubbing at one of his shoulders gently, and trying not to scratch the itching claw wounds, and waited for Edward to join him.

"So you made the spear... here in Landels?" He could hopefully get a sword made by Edward, if not, he would keep using his fists.

Naoe nodded. "If it was a barrier spell then it is only a matter of knowing the counter spell to break it. If it's technology it might be a bit different," he considered this for a while and then thought about the next question.

"No," he said. "Everyone I don't want to see is already here."

Tifa made a surprised "Oomph!" noise as she was tackled by her younger friend. It was odd that Yuffie wasn't as nearly as loud as she usually was, but as she turned around she saw the cause. Her friend had obviously been injured.

"Yuffie!" Tifa exclaimed, concern written all over her face. "What happened to you?"

Before she even got an answer, Vincent arrived at the table. From the way he talked, it seemed he had been here for some time longer than she had. "Just now, pretty much," she responded. She was just about to ask her friends just what on Gaia was going on when she was grabbed again, this time roughly, staring right into the eyes of her closest friend.

"Marlene's at 7th Heaven with Denzel," Tifa told Barret calmly, trying to soothe him with her voice. She understood more than anyone how important Marlene was. "I was just with them a few minutes ago...until I woke up here. She's perfectly fine." She turned to look at her friends. They looked so beat up...what was happening?

She turned to Cid, seating herself at the table. "Yes, please." Not that she was hungry, but tea sounded very nice. She couldn't help but grin at his response to Yuffie, but she still had several questions to be answered.

"What's going on here?"

"Eh?"

It was a less than brilliant response, but she had been only half concerned with her food, her eyes darting around the cafeteria for any sign of her friend. Not that she really minded new company, but she felt slightly dizzy and more than a little anxious.

"Oh, no, I don't mind," she said, attempting to keep her eyes on the person in front of her instead of wandering. She'd seen him before, she realized, but never had the chance to speak to him. "I'm Claire."

"Become of me...?" Miku repeated and looked at him, and the now unrecognizable poked-to-death strawberry. "I'm not sure." She shrugged and looked at him again curiously.

"I was dreaming, and I woke up here..." she stopped herself, because she was being terribly chatty and a random (if very silver-tongued) stranger probably didn't need to know all about her. Or that she'd been dreaming of Mafuyu.

"I'm really sorry, I should tell you my name first," Miku bowed her head apologetically. "My name is Hinasaki Miku, it's nice to meet you."

So he was a man of position… It was a start.

“Captain? Really? Wow, I’ve never actually talked to one before. It’s nice to meet you. My name is… Emily Aston!” Larxene shook his hand, her smile remaining. There was no need to give him her real name, especially when it could attract the attention of any Organization member looking to spoil her fun.

“You noticed already? Well, I guess it’d be hard not to.” She should’ve hidden the crutches better.

“It happened last night.” Time for a little acting. She clutched the front of her shirt, her expression turning into one of sadness. “I’m still having trouble believing it myself. I was taken away by these strange men, and…” a brief pause, to add some suspense! “… experimented on. But it was more like torture, really.”

Seeing Abarai get dragged off in a drugged stupor was fairly satisfying, though he couldn't say it'd been completely worth it. He did, however, make a mental note to move the vice-captain up a few paces on his list. If he thought he was getting off with just that, he was sorely mistaken.

It felt a little better once he'd been bandaged, but his head was still foggy and he had not one single logical explanation for what had just happened. He didn't have much stomach for anything else, not after being nearly impaled by a writing utensil, then bruised, and bitten of all things. He sat quietly instead, trying to get a better hold on his bearings. It seemed Abarai wasn't alone. Gin easily recognized the ryoka with brilliant orange hair as well as...

Gin's smile faded. If he didn't already know what happened to a person when they died, he would swear he was in his own private Hell. First physical abuse from someone as pitiful as Abarai-kun and now this emotional baggage. Hadn't he said goodbye to her only hours ago? Moments even. This was turning out to be a very bad day.

Darman was unfazed by the not-Jedi's words, taking it in without a change of expression, and just gazing at him.

"I would move if it wasn't for the fact you decided to start snooping, mind reader," Darman said matter-of-factly. "But now you know information I'd have liked to keep private and that's leaves me wondering if it's going to start spreading."

What the orange-haired man said about different worlds and different realities didn't make much of a difference. The way he interpreted the Order was that any who displayed these kinds of Jedi-like powers had to be eliminated - or at least the news of their existance passed onto the Emperor. It was rather a broad interpretation, but the Kaminoans hadn't seen fit to be more specific about it when they programmed it in genetically, which left Darman in a bind. He could just take it literally and then not be sure he had done the best he could. Or he could take it broadly and know that he had carried out the Orders to the best of his abilities...and hope that he hadn't been so efficient that he had killed Etain or Jusik and somehow blocked it from his memory. His accelerated aging left him only ten years, anyway, and he doubted he could be much use in a full-scale invasion of these other planets that no one had known existed until now.

So the fact that this man didn't think he was a Jedi, didn't know about the Force or the Republic or the Dark Side was irrelevant, in the end. After all, you didn't have to know what a blaster was to be capable of firing it, so ignorance wasn't exactly an excuse in the clone's mind. He knew that this man himself was a potential threat to his duties.

Darman shrugged. "What I want to know is what's happening next. I don't really want to slot you here, but I probably will have to if you decide you want to start informing the other Sensitives here about what you got from my thoughts."

He continued to eat, going about methodically through the food and the drink as he glanced aside at this not-Jedi and waited for his answer. It probably had been a bad idea sitting down next to this man, but he'd had no way of knowing he was a mind-reader, and, once he'd figured out he was, he was what Skirata had called committed - stuck with trying to figure out where to go from here when his position was compromised.

Chase narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth at Xigbar, but none of it had the same energy, the same ferocity that he usually had. And he knew it, too. There were drugs in his system holding him back. He hated it beyond most things he could ever hate ... although Xigbar was certainly much higher on the scale than the drugs.

"I'm not weak." It was hard to move his jaw. "If we fight, you will be forced to fight me with everything you have. Don't think I'm weak just because I'm older." Older. Not old. He had spent over ten years of his life learning to fight with just his own strength, which this place could never take away. And he'd spent nearly 1,500 years learning further, training harder, and even if he didn't have his magic-granted strength and power he was still a force to be reckoned with. Hadn't he tried it thousands of times, not using his powers? And succeeded?

When the brown-haired boy approached them and adressed Xigbar, Chase blinked slowly at him. Still going to do what? Even under the drugs, he listened intently, not about to miss any opportunity he might get to ruin Xigbar's chances of escaping.

[OOC: Breaking posting order to go after Fox]

Ed directed his attention back to Fox, so many people making him feel dizzy and slightly ill in his tired state. He couldn't keep up with them all! He blinked rapidly, focusing on the older man. He shook his head slightly to try and clear it. "Alchemy," he mumbled, for once, not really wanting all the attention. "I can make whatever if I have the materials."

He'd agreed to Fox's suggestion before he realised it. He turned back to Adelheid and smiled reassuringly. "We should talk later, Adel. Don't beat yourself up over it. I only got a chance because of you." It wasn't usually his nature to be so generous, but Adel looked like he needed it.

He scooped his tray up awkwardly and turned to follow Fox. "I'll be over here for now," he said. He followed Fox away from the small group, hoping it would help clear his head without so many people talking.

[Gone to here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/65478.html?page=2&view=3381190#comments)]

Honey nodded, more reassured than he'd been in a while. "Thank you, Axel-san. I appreciate that." It actually did feel nice to have someone else looking out for him a little. It wasn't that the others he knew wouldn't, but, well. He could just imagine Tamaki getting distracted if Haruhi was in trouble, and the twins had each other. If Takashi was here...but he wasn't. It just felt better to have someone bigger watching out for him.

He then turned to the other boy that had popped in. "Hi! I'm Honey. You're a friend of Axel-san's?"

He couldn't help thinking, He looks like Sora-chan does. Are they brothers or something? Cousins, maybe, like Takashi and I. And he looks friendly, too!

[from the same place]

Ed deposited his tray, careful not to drop anything and damn, he'd forgotten how difficult everything was with only one arm. He sat down opposite the man and quickly gulped a few more mouthfuls of food.

"Yeah, I made it in my room," he replied, a little wariness in his voice. "I got some metal from the kitchen so I used that."

Naminé, needless to say, was a bit disturbed. It took the nurse's promptings to remind her that she was indeed in a cafeteria and that she needed to eat, but she simply let the few food items she had gathered on her plate to sit there as she contemplated what had just happened.

The Head Doctor... that voice on the intercom. Now that he had a face to go with the voice, he was only more menacing. She had consoled herself with the fact that the Head Doctor could have been nothing more than a disembodied voice that served to unnerve and bother the people trapped in Landels, but to see that he actually had form, that he was an actual person... it only made Naminé even more fearful for her life.

And how powerful was he? He was untouched, despite everyone's attempts to get to him. Not only had he bodyguards, but... Naminé could not understand how someone could have that much power. But why? Why was he doing this? She had barely listened to the Head Doctor's speech, even though she looked at the transcript posted to try and find some meaning to the head Doctor's ramblings. They showed her nothing, just that... some people would be getting vists.

Naminé knew she would be getting no visits. Even in the world of Landels, she had no family. Her "file" said as much, anyway.

Third time? “Well, I--” Wait, what did she say? Did she say…

He was instantly frozen still, his eyes too wide. And he breathed, “Edward?”

The poking seemed to work, at least, and Renji (annoyingly) took more notice of Ichigo than her. She listened intently to what Ichigo said slightly puzzled since she'd missed the cause of the fight. "What...?" she began to ask, when Renji spoke.

Traitor?

Her blood ran cold for a second, a shiver running down her spine. Traitors. Aizen, Tousen and... and Gin. She swallowed, glancing over her shoulder surrepticiously. A flash of familiar silver hair. How hadn't she realised?! She stood up abruptly, suddenly all seriousness.

"I'll be back in a moment."

[Gone to here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/65478.html?thread=3365318#t3365318)]

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Page 9 of 28

Day 22: Brunch

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