damned_institute | Day 45: Breakfast

Mori woke with a start. He lay on the bed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and sighed quietly. Another day, another round of shifts and people and-- Wait a minute. Breathing in carefully, Mori's brow knit together as he realized that his ribs were no longer broken. After testing his collarbone, he found that it, too, was healing faster than it should have. Not that he was complaining, but there was something odd about broken bones setting so quickly. Pushing himself up out of bed, the teen shook his head, knowing that he'd have another day or two of the sling and then he'd be free from it.

But more important than that was finding out how Mitsukuni was doing. The last thing he remembered was the bathroom and gathering metal. Since they were together at the end of the night, Mori was certain that Mitsukuni would be fine, but...well, he still liked to confirm such things with his own eyes. With the twins gone and Tamaki still missing, Mori didn't want to take any chances anymore. Especially not with the strange announcements this morning.

As usual, his nurse came to collect him and helped him into his sling. Then he followed her quietly into the cafeteria, taking notice of the unusually empty bulletin board. They really were cracking down on it already. Weird. Even weirder? For once, he was the first into the room. Picking up a tray, he pointed out what he wanted, making sure to take double of the pancakes (asking to keep them away from the sausages for now), double of the strawberry jam and biscuits, and an extra helping of fruit. To top it off? Milk. It'd help his bones mend. Hopefully.

Going to a nearby seat, Mori took a look around the empty room and shivered. Kind of eerie in here without anyone else but the nurses. Someone was certain to come sooner or later though, right? He hoped so at least.

[for Chihaya]

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Augh, he'd gone and made a horrible mess of things and this was only his first, what, hour of real consciousness again? No wonder he'd decided the other personality was better. At least he didn't do such ridiculous things as messing up on his manners and embarrassing a poor girl by being a total and complete creeper by staring at her hair. Then again, Grell killed people and liked it, so maybe that wasn't a fair trade off. Why was he even thinking about him? He was better today! He should be--

Whoa. Through the cracks between his fingers, he thought he caught a glimpse of a smile and slowly lowered his hands. She was! She was smiling at him! Maybe he hadn't been a social freak after all! Or...maybe she was just being nice. He didn't mind that so much either, actually. Someone being nice to him, even if she was a fellow patient and, therefore, logically crazy somehow or another, was a good feeling. Especially when he knew the smile was directed at him and not some fake him. "..." Speak, Geoffrey. Don't just gawk in awkward silence at how she's being nice to you! "R-right! Right! I'm certain you'll be just fine, Miss Linda, but-- ah..." My, she had a pretty smile. "...ah... um, well, it shan't do to leave a lady feeling unwell, yes?"

Right, okay, standing up now. Bowing slightly, Geoffrey muttered a quick "pardon me for a moment" and then disappeared over to where the nurses were hanging about. With more gestures than were probably necessary, he explained the situation, earning a few curious looks as he shrank back, fearing that they'd reject him outright. Instead, he came padding back over a few minutes later with a little plastic cup filled with two aspirin tablets cradled in his hand. Gingerly, he placed them near Linda's tray and then sat down again, going back to picking at his shirt. After a moment, he quietly half-spoke, half-mumbled in embarrassment, "...they said you should have a little something to eat before taking them. To avoid upsetting your stomach."

She smiled wider when he took off, twirling her hair in front of her face like it was still a little embarrassing to be asking anything from a stranger with her track record. But this was nice. Just... talking to people with nothing in mind for them. Not trying to use everyone right off the bat for stupid purposes and then screwing yourself when everyone figured out just what a right bitch you were. After all those horrible nightmares she had, especially the one last night, just the thought of, well, having a normal conversation with a nice, if not jittery, man was

It felt like a blessing.

This is easy, she told herself. You're already so good at making people do what you want them to. What was so bad about abusing it? What's so bad about being Dahlia when everyone does every little thing for--

Her fingers tightened around her fork and a shiver ran through her, but Geffy thankfully derailed that creepy thought when he came back. She gave him another smile, but this one didn't last as long as the last. "Thanks."

Eat something...? She looked down at her plate and realized how totally unappealing the modern art she smooshed up looked. She really didn't want to have made him get up and run around for nothing, but...

"Do you ever feel so sick that just thinking of eating something makes it worse?"

He'd been hoping for another pretty smile, but the one he received was a little less brighter than before. Had she not wanted the medicine after all and he'd done the wrong thing? Glancing furtively up at the girl, he tried to calm himself down because there was nothing wrong with getting a bit of aspirin for her, right? Of course not! She didn't have to take them anyway, so why should he fe-- No, those are bad thoughts. You know what will happen if you keep thinking that way and get angry. Geoffrey offered her a small smile in return and picked up his fork, ready to poke at his meal when she spoke again.

"So sick you..." Can't eat? Yes. He remembered feeling that. He felt that way whenever he remembered the last time he'd seen Red. He felt that way whenever he remembered him and the way he took pleasure in all the bad things Geoffrey had done, all the bad things he had made Geoffrey do. Lowering his fork, the man nodded and asked, "Is it about something you can't tell anyone?"

He looked so disappointed in her. Ugh, as if she didn't feel bad enough about it. She just lowered her head and went back to poking her cancerous breakfast-lump glumly. She didn't mean to make him upset, really...

Hm? He was still talking to her? So he wasn't mad! She picked her head back up and her smile got a little brighter, but it dived right back into awkward when he asked what she meant.

"No, I just-" Just what? And don't bite your lip while you're thinking, it's stupid. Will you get some more control over yourself?! "...I just don't feel good. I- I mean, I feel better, I just." Sigh. "It's weird." If he knew what she meant. Hopefully he did. She wasn't too sure she knew what she meant herself anymore.

Oh how stupid of him! She was probably actually physically ill! Not every sickness had a mental reason, despite where they were. That would explain the headache and whatnot! But what if she had a cold? He wasn't so much worried about catching what she had as he was worried she might collapse under the fever. And how would he explain that?! Oh, yes, I was speaking with her and she fell ill with a fever and collapsed. Yeah, that would go over well.

Geoffrey felt his nerves start to frazzle again and he peered at her in concern. She didn't look particularly ill. But then, she didn't exactly seem to want to talk about it either. And if he watched her too closely, his eyes went to her hair again and-- "Oh, I see... I do hope you feel better soon then. It's a shame to be ill when you're feeling better in other ways."

Day 45: Breakfast

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