damned_institute | DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

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DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

Where was Blitzwing?

Lugnut ignored the nurse's fussing over his foot, even as it howled objections to his ill treatment of it the night before, pounding through the town in search of his wingmate, reportedly helpless and injured by an attack the night before-- and not finding him, not seeing even a glimpse of his crazy triple-changing ally.

Snarling at the nurse, but restraining himself from shows of violence-- Blitzwing would mock him if he showed up drugged already, and he would be useless to Megatron like that--he made his way impatiently to the cafeteria, stopping for just long enough to post an urgent notice on the board.

Where was he?

Looming in the middle of the cafeteria, he took the tray the nurse handed him (filled with disgusting human fuel, didn't she know he didn't have time to eat, not when his wingmate was missing?) and ignored it, watching for Blitzwing, where was he?

He refused to think about what might have happened to a wheelchair-bound, drugged, incapacitated warrior, with the swarms of monsters flooding around him, clawing and biting...

[for Scourge]

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Porky woke with a jolt.

"AUGH! GET 'EM OFF ME!" he screamed, flailing his arms in an attempt to fight off the non-existant zombie birds that had been attacking him just before morning came.

When he finally opened his eyes and saw that he was just in his bed, he laughed nervously and looked up at his nurse.

"Uh..." he stuttered, "A...er...bad dream."

Seemingly satisfied with his explanation, Porky's nurse led him to the cafeteria. During the walk, Porky began to think about what had happened last night. To the others, it may have been bizarre, but it was nothing Porky hadn't seen before. Truthfully, he had been around zombies at least two seperate times. Still, it had been quite a shock when the townsfolk had turned into zombies right as night had fallen. And then there had been the infection...

Porky rubbed his arm tenderly. The wound was still there, but the symptoms had vanished, along with the pain that the rotting had caused. Still, there was no telling when it would return. If only the other patients saw the necessity in documenting who had been infected...Ah, well. No skin off Porky's nose if they didn't want to make things safer.

When Porky finally reached the cafeteria, he could barely hold back a squeal of pure delight. It was a buffet!

Porky immediately ran for the sausage and bacon and piled them high and hobbled off to find a seat.

For once, Harley was happy to wake up in the same boring bed in the same boring room before the same boring nurse came in to bug her. She liked to think she was used to mutants and powers and other normally abnormal concepts, but a plague of mutant zombie people all over the place was a bit much, even for her. Especially since on top of being smelly and kind of everywhere, they'd been really annoying on top of things.

She was actually given an option of things to do today, which was a nice little change of pace. Or it would have been if the choices were any fun. A stuffy chapel, the same ol' boring sunny room, or food. Didn't take a genius to figure out which she was going with.

Her nurse thankfully didn't attempt any chatter, she Harley was able to get to the lunch room and quickly pile up a stack of pancakes and several sausages. She mostly wanted those cakes, though~ Mmmm! After loading up her tray, she rushed off to a nearby seat so she could start chowing down.

It had been an empty space only a moment ago, but just as she reached the chair, someone else reached another nearby spot at the same time. It was-- OH!

"Hey! I know you!" she announced in immediate excited recognition. "Yer the gramps from last night! With the hairspray!" She waved her hand in enthusiastic greeting as she placed down the tray.

"Oh my! Someone's excited today!" Porky said cheerfully, pleased that he had actually managed to make a good impression on someone, "I take it you made it out alive last night? Good, good! I certainly hope that my lighter and hairspray helped you out a bit!"

Porky looked down at his meal and began to think somewhat nervously. He was quite hungry after not having dinner last night and he certainly wasn't known for his manners...normally, Porky would have just...pigged out, but he certainly couldn't just stuff his face now. Not when he had a potential ally in his midst, at least. Grumbling, he tried his best to restrain himself as he carefully skewered a single sausage on his fork and slowly placed it in his mouth. Oh, to hell with it! It was clear that he wouldn't be able to eat like this for much longer, and he hadn't even introduced himself yet!

Porky held out his right hand and smiled warmly.

"I don't think that we had time to be properly introduced last night," he said, "I'm Porky Minch. You might have heard of me before. Pleased to meet you."

Excited? Was she excited? Maybe she was, she didn't know. Not that she had any special reason to be happy today, but a familiar face - any familiar face - was a welcome sight in this place. Well, assuming said faces didn't belong to jerks. And even if she hadn't actually gotten to use the stuff, anyone who gave her goodies to play with was a-okay in her book.

Unlike Porky, Harley didn't really see any reason to hold back with the food, especially since she was hungry as is. She stabbed at that top pancake and just shoved most of it into her mouth and chewed for a moment as she stared down at the offered hand with a kind of foreign curiosity. Grandpa sure was formal. Why don't they just break out the tea and crumpets while they were at it? But she could play along, she guessed.

She turned up a big grin and threw her hand out to clasp his. Although she was holding it all wrong. Rather than clasping his hand like a normal person, she'd simply grasped his fingers from the knuckle down and shook up and down.

"Harley Quinn!" she replied, thankfully having swallowed what she shoved in her mouth by this point. "I never hearda you before. You supposed to be famous or somethin'?" Hey, a lot of people hadn't heard of The Joker here. Maybe she was missing out on a lot of famous people herself.

"Gohohoho!" Porky laughed when he saw Harley shove the pancake in her mouth, "And here I thought I would have to act polite or something!"

Oh, thank GOD Harley wasn't much for manners either. Porky immediately began shoveling sausage and bacon into his mouth. After days of nothing but crap like waffles and apples and steak and stuff like that, an all-you-can-eat pork buffet was almost enough to make Porky cry with joy! This must be Landel's may of making up for last night! After Porky had devoured the three plates of sausage and bacon he had taken, he downed the glass of orange juice he had grabbed on an afterthought and burped rather loudly.

"Mmmm..." Porky sighed, "That was delicious..."

After laying there content for a few moments, Porky straightened up.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Harley!" Porky said happily, "I'm sad to say that I've never heard of you either. But you know what they say: 'No reputation is better than a bad one!' In any case, I'm glad to see that you got out of that hellhole alive! The zombies didn't manage to get a bite out of you, did they?"

Or maybe not. Frankly, Harley was more than delighted to hear an actual laugh come out of... someone here. But the last thing she was expecting was to see the old guy pack away three plates of food. She stared in awe, a grin plastered on her face the whole time even as she munched down her second pancake. Grandpa could sure pack it in!

The burp kind of sealed the deal that this old guy wasn't the stuff shirt she kind of pegged him to be when she first sat down.

She took some of those little syrup packets and started ceremoniously emptying them onto the rest of her stack as she answered. "Nope. They were a real pain, but none a' them bit me or whacked me or nothin'. Just ended up running down a street with a buncha other people." Actually, it was almost funny how she had been more traumatized by giant spiders and mutant cats than zombies. Ah well. In went the next pancake as she looked him up and down. "You don't look much hurt for someone who rolled in through the window. You get off clean, too, Pops?"

"Pfffft. I wish," Porky mumbled, "Take a look at this!"

Porky pulled up his left sleeve, showing off the bite wound he still had.

"And that's not all!" Porky continued, "Apparently I got infected by the zombie! I started turning into one! My skin started rotting off and I nearly attacked the people I was with. Of course, I managed to keep control, but not until this Hokuto chick threw a bottle at my head to knock me out...Then they had to tie me up to make sure I didn't try to pull anything fishy. Can't say I blame them, though."

"But!" Porky began, a grin forming on his face, "I did manage to get out of that bar with more than a few injuries! Check this out!"

Porky looked around, checking to see if any nurses were nearby before discreetly pulling a lighter out of his pants.

"This oughta come in handy, eh?" he whispered, "I finally have firepower! Hee hee! Get it?"

Porky carefully put the lighter back in his pants and looked up at Harley.

"So what about you?" he asked, "What did you sneak out?"

[lol, sorry for the slow. Backthread?]

Harley had leaned forward in her seat to get a better, more close up view of the big chomp mark on the guy's arm. Ouch. He wasn't acting like he was in massive amounts of pain, but that had to hurt.

"Whoa, wait. You turned into a zombie? Like in the movies?!" That was new. Did that really happen for real? She couldn't imagine Porky would be lying about something like that. "...You turned into a zombie and you had to spend the whole time tied up? That's boring. Doesn't sound like you had much more fun than I did."

When he started reaching into his pants, she was worried Gramps was going to pull a Spider and start dropping his drawers. Honestly, what was with all these guys dropping their britches while she was trying to eat, anyway? But in the end, it turned out he was only pulling out... A LIGHTER?! Aww! No fair! He got to get away with a fun goodie.

Though she was excited, she knew enough to keep her reaction discreet. You didn't just run across things like that here, and the stiffs here would snatch that away lickity split. She did, however, spread a giant grin at his little joke. How fun was this guy?! She never would have been able to tell by just looking at him.

But when he threw a question back at her, she seemed somewhat less enthused. She blew a big huff of air through the corner of her mouth, blowing her bangs up for just a moment. "Didn't get away with nothin' fun like you. All I got out with was a big bottle a' rum. Maybe I can find the break room and throw it in the nurses' coffee."

That might have worked in Arkham, but this ship was too tight for its own good. No matter how entertaining a sloshed up staff would be, it wouldn't happen. Sigh. "You know, I never seen zombies out here before. Maybe we'll get mummies next time. Or vampires." She grinned. "Then you could make more a' your special flamethrowers!"

"Eh, it wasn't so bad," Porky said, a small smile on his face, "I got tied up after we got up on the roof of the bar, so I didn't have to worry much about zombies attacking. Plus, I handed out some lighters to the people with me, so we had a blast throwing Molotov cocktails off of the roof into the crowds of zombies. I didn't get to throw any, but it was still a lot of fun watching!"

"As for turning into a zombie, though..." Porky said, rubbing the lump on his head from Hokuto's bottle tenderly, "That was absolutely miserable. I smelled like shit, my entire body felt like it was on fire or something, and I even tried to eat my own arm. Luckily, my teeth aren't in the best shape, so I didn't manage to do any lasting damage. Still, it was pretty awful. I dunno if it'll come back again tonight."

When Harley told Porky what she had gotten out of Doyleton, he could barely stifle a laugh. It wasn't that Porky didn't feel bad for her, but seriously? A bottle of rum? What good would that be? I mean, seriously? You couldn't use it as a weapon, it would be crap as a sterilizer, and as a bargaining tool...hey, wait a sec!

"Hey! Lighten up, Harley!" Porky said, a huge grin on his face, "There are tons of drunks here, right? There's no telling what they'll trade you for a bottle of booze! See? A bottle of rum isn't so bad. You just gotta use your brain a little! Plus, if there aren't any takers, you still have a bottle of rum to drink your sorrows away with. Besides, I ran a little riddle contest on the bulletin board where the winner got a torch. Maybe I would be able to get you a torch, too, eh? I'm not making any promises, but you might get to make a few more flamethrowers sooner than you expected!"

"Aww... I wanted to see the fireworks, too!" she said with a small pout as though actually devastated. She would have stayed if she knew they were doing that. "If you do it again, you better invite me! Promise?"

She certainly hoped he would invite her next time. It sounded like a lot of fun! Well, except for the whole smelly, turning-into-a-zombie part. That sounded pretty bad. Though she guessed being a zombie wasn't supposed to be all fun and games. Not that it looked it anyway. Actually, it looked pretty gross if she stopped to think about it.

Porky's suggestion, however, pulled her thoughts from disgusting things and back to fun ideas. He was right! Even if she couldn't spike the doctors' drinks and watch them stumble over each other for a day, there were plenty of wackos here who would probably give an arm and a leg for a drink or two. If she could find a way to give out maybe thirds of the bottle's contents, then that was three goodies she could get out of one bottle! ...And maybe she could save the actual bottle itself for, oh I don't know, throwing glass shards into a certain bastard's food.

"Hey! Not bad, Pops!" she said with an impressed grin. "People in the nuthouse are always clamorin' for a smoke or a drink. Bet I could get a lot of fun things for it!"

Even though he had just said he wasn't making any promises, Harley clapped her hands together excitedly at the proposition. "Really? Really, really?! I might get one, too?!" That was so exciting! Her very own little blowtorch! And maybe this time it wouldn't get taken away and she could keep it. Grandpa sure was nice to be giving her one again.

...Hold on. People weren't normally that nice now, were they? There must have been a catch like... "Wait. Do I gotta try solving riddles and stuff, too?" Where was that Nigma guy when ya needed him? She spread a big oh-so-innocent smile, as though to indicate she wasn't all that great at them. If he wanted an exchange for the flamethrower, she would have to hope he'd be good with something else.

"Definitely!" Porky said with a big grin on his face, "I'll make sure you're along for the ride if I ever set some zombies on fire. Hopefully I won't be turning into a zombie next time so I can actually have some fun, too."

"As for the torch," Porky said, "Don't worry about solving any riddles or giving me anything. It's not like it would cost me much more than a shirt and a stick or something, and it's not often that I actually make a good impression on someone. Hell, most people hate me within moments of meeting me. It's been a while since I've actually enjoyed someone's company and they've enjoyed mine. At least, I hope you're not just humoring me."

Oh, what the hell. Why not?

"You know what? You're definitely getting the torch tonight," Porky said, a genuine smile on his face, "Where do you wanna meet to get it?"

Hate him? Really? Grandpa seemed like a lot of fun to her. I mean, he was inviting her to go have fun with Molotov cocktails! What the heck was there not to like? Then again, most people had really odd and stupid tastes. Some paper-pushing wuss who dedicated every day of their worthless life to some stuff-shirt company and followed the same routine of wake up-eat-sleep was considered perfectly fine and absolutely normal. Sometimes, she had to wonder who the real crazy ones were.

Especially after that little proclamation! He was really giving one to her! And by tonight even! She let out a happy squeak-like noise and threw her hands in the air as though cheering. "Eeeee!! Really?! Yer the best!"

Oh wait... she shouldn't be bringing so much attention to them, huh? She put her hands down in realization and tried to contain her excitement. "Uh... Lessee... I'm in room F13 if you wanna meet there. Or I could go to yours! ...Or we can meet halfway in the big hallway!" Obviously, this would be why she was never placed in charge of decisions. Which was funny since people tended to ask for her opinion a lot here. It was strange, but nice.

"Hee hee hee! I'm glad to see you're excited!" Porky laughed, "Tell you what, how about we meet in the main hallway? Also, I don't really have any plans tonight besides handing out one or two torches so would you mind if I followed you around? I may not be in the best shape, but I'm sure that an extra pair of hands would help regardless of what you're doing!"

Porky's grin faded a little, though.

"I'll understand if you say no, of course..." Porky said, a little less enthusiastic, "I mean, I was infected by a zombie, so there's no telling what will happen tonight..."

Ohhh. Right. He was infected by a zombie bite. But was that supposed to mean he was gonna turn into a rotten mess from now on? It could have just been a one night kinda thing. It had to wear off, right? Or maybe there was some kind of cure or something. She never watched those zombie movies, really, so she wasn't sure how that was supposed to work.

But she wasn't going to sit here and watch Grandpa deflate after he'd been so nice to her all morning. Harley flashed a big carefree grin at her companion. "Hey cheer up, Pops! We can be travel buddies. Just cause it happened yesterday don't mean yer gonna be a zombie the resta your life, right? How 'bout this? I'll save my dinner on the side in case you get a sudden hankerin' to gnaw on somethin'. 'Kay?"

It made sense to her. Cause, well, if he was some completely brain dead zombie, he wouldn't be able to figure out meeting anyone anywhere, right? He'd probably spend all night wandering and moaning around his room trying to figure out how to work a door knob. So, if he didn't show up after a while, she'd assume he was on house arrest and would go without him. If he DID show up, that meant he was either hunky dorey or maybe he was okay enough to travel around with? How was she to know? They were kinda lacking in the Mindsets of the Undead course when she was in college.

Oh well. She'd find a way to deal with whatever ended up happening. She wasn't much one for worrying about silly things. "Sooo don't worry 'bout it none and come shopping with me! Extra hands means extra stuff, right? We'll grab as much as we can, and we'll split up the goodies later. De-e-al?"

Edited 2009-08-16 20:25 (UTC)

"R-Really?!" Porky almost shouted, "You mean it?!"

After realizing how loudly he had just shouted, Porky looked around and started laughing nervously.

"Ah, pardon me for that outburst!" Porky laughed, "It's not often that people actually want me around! So, uh, yeah! I'll meet you in the main hallway tonight! I'm pretty sure that I have an aerosol can lying around my room somewhere that you can use to make one of those flamethrowers you love so much!"

"So, where are we going? The janitor's closet? The lab? Both?" Porky asked excitedly. Oooh, what were they going to get?

He was apologizing for being happy? Good grief. What kind of people was this old guy used to hanging around? If one were to ask her, she thought energy was a good sign. Nothing was better than high spirits. Except maybe flamethrowers.

"Hmmm. Haven't decided yet," she said, tapping a finger on her cheek in thought. Normally, she'd just barrel on through whatever room struck her fancy and play it by ear. But tonight was different. Special. So she wanted to make sure she had a game plan and actually plotted out what rooms to hit and which not to. She could plan ahead if she wanted to. "Prob'ly both and maybe some more. Guess it depends on what we end up findin' and if we can get there first."

The nurses were starting to shuffle around and collect people to drag to... wherever it was they felt like dragging people today. They'd have to cut the shop talk before the stiffs ended up getting to them. She turned a big grin. "Don't worry! I'll have a plan ready by tonight, 'kay? 'Preciate the extra hand, Pops! We'll make sure to get you some goodies, too."

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DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

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