damned_institute | DAY 23: BREAKFAST

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DAY 23: BREAKFAST

That hadn't felt like an entire night.

And his goddamn head hurt. Pounded, even. Enough that he wondered if he was going to end up playing another round of "Christen the nurse" this morning.

Maybe it was because he'd spent so much time and energy trying to find Nowe. That could be the reason behind both those problems. Just the thought of it made his stomach turn, made him want to fucking choke something.

Still, there was shit to do. He forced himself out of bed to put away his pens and the other leftovers from the adventures that didn't happen last night. He'd have to try to talk to Sora today, to see if they could just do tonight what they were going to do last night... and to see if the kid was doing alright.

...he just wished his head would stop hurting. That was probably the result of just how badly he'd overreached himself the previous morning.

The nurse that showed up to get him was cheerful. He grunted at her, listening to her with only half an ear until she mentioned all the excitement, about someone pretending to be a patient, all that crap that Landel had mentioned.

Renji gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Dr. Landel is a goddamn lying coward, and he's lying about that, too," he said. Whether it was true or not, there was only so much good cheer he could take on a shitty morning. "I hope he chokes on a cock." No matter how much venom he put in that statement, it wasn't enough.

Then he had to listen to a lecture about language and gratitude for the rest of the walk to the cafeteria, so maybe it wasn't worth it after all. She dragged him through the breakfast line, and he ended up with granola and toast and tea and a cinnamon roll, because not even a shitty fucking night could ruin his sweet tooth. Though that thing was looking a little too sweet.

The cafeteria was pretty much empty; he had his run of the place. He sat himself about as far from the doors as he could get, and proceeded to stare at his breakfast.

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Alucard had no idea how he ended up in bed, nicely curled up under his sheets as if he had been sleeping away the whole night. He was about to ~~dismember~~ follow Aidou off into a deserted room too! In fact, he couldn't remember just what happened after the other 'vampire' had spoken. Like his nightshift was just some dream. Which he knew it wasn't, of course. Because his body still smelt faintly of Necrit-pus.

It didn't stop him from zeroing in on Aidou though. He saw the boy quickly duck under a table, and that alone made him chuckle. Still grinning, he slunk over. After all, he could still smell the boy. Maybe they would get to finish what they started tonight...even with a stranger -an even smaller boy- sitting down next to Aidou.

A potential meal, maybe?

"Good morning!" he spoke in an absurdly cheerful tone, taking a seat, razor sharp teeth still exposed in his grin.

Ritsuka shrugged and tested the cinnamon roll again, nibbling at it. "I'm trying not to think about it. Wherever they go during the day, I don't have to deal with it. And you didn't answer the question."

"We're pretending to be patients - all mental patients are lab rats anyway." It was strange how calm he was despite the idea of being under medical and otherworldly scrutiny, but there wasn't anything he could do right now. He just had to play the part of the model patient and maybe he'd learn something that would help them later.

Ritsuka was surprised at how sweet the roll was, but managed to eat a bit of it. "I am eating it. I just didn't want to stick it in my mouth if I wasn't going to like it."

Just as Aidou hissed out the warning, a tall - a very tall - man with a very sharp smile appeared at the table. Ritsuka jumped and gazed up at him, eyes wide with shock and with awe at how he towered over them both. That and this guy made Aidou cower against the table - he had to be someone important. The cinnamon roll still in his small hands, Ritsuka managed an equally small but polite bow to the new guy. "G-Good morning."

Aidou didn't raise his head for a long moment; the table was cool against his forehead. He had another headache.

"That," he finally muttered, "is your answer." The way Ritsuka stuttered only annoyed him further. Just because he hadn't advertised himself, it didn't mean Aidou was any less intimidating as Alucard. He was a hundred times as powerful! He deserved more respect! "And he isn't entitled to attention."

He didn't turn his eyes away from the half-eaten cinnamon roll in Ritsuka's hands. "And you, don't even consider it," he said unwaveringly, answering Alucard's unspoken question. Hungry E classes always had the same grin.

Alucard even gave a little bow before he even sat down.

Yes, he pretty much dwarfed everyone else. Being a little over two metres had its own advantages, he could pretty much loom over any of his adversaries. Save Anderson of course...but he digressed. "I can't help it if I draw attention to myself. After all, I know my height alone is quite the imposing thing," he spoke again, that mirthful quality never leaving his voice, shark-toothed grin still plastered over his lean face.

"Consider what? And if I did, how do you plan to stop me?" he replied haughtily, leaning in close to stare Aidou in the eye. Because if the boy got in the way, Alucard wouldn't hesitate to feed off him as well. Hell, he had it coming too.

So this was the guy that gave Aidou those injuries? Certainly, Aidou didn't make friends easily here, but that didn't warrant the rather nasty looking slashes. Still, the way Aidou and the stranger were bantering back and forth made him seem the interloper in a rather slow burning but deadly war. It didn't help that Ritsuka had no clue what they were inferring with the warnings not to do something and the challenge of that same thing.

Despite all that, he couldn't help but give the taller man his attention! Those teeth and the height were intimidating. Dropping his gaze to the cinnamon roll, he started eating it again and mumbled an apology for staring.

Alucard's audacity really was astonishing; feeding off humans in the way he was was one thing. It was mere senseless behaviour. Attacking nobles - and in Aidou's case, showering him in a necrit's bodily fluids - was suicidal. But threatening to lay into an oblivious boy right in front of him?

His hand hit the table hard enough to rattle the dishes. He was out of his chair the next moment, at a point where he now bore down on Alucard. It would have been a tenuous morning no matter how uneventful - after all, there was only so much Aidou Hanabusa could take before erupting - but this was too much even on a good day. And there were no Night Class members to cool his temper.

"You have no right to play games, you filth! If you raise a single hand to him, I will rip it off along with your stupid wagging tongue!"

Aidou had only scorn for someone who'd hide behind nothing more than a human infant, just to force him into a corner. It was weak. It was disgusting! Even he couldn't stand that.

He didn't break eye contact with Alucard, but dropped his voice long enough to say, "Beat it, little boy. Just go away."

Alucard didn't even blink, still smiling like the Chesire cat, his eyes still glowing as fiercely as they did in the night. He couldn't understand just what was making Aidou so angry. It wasn't like he killed the ones he fed from. In fact, he owed them favours just because they let him drink from them! It was a sad thing for Alucard to be indebted to someone else, he hated it, but it was necessary.

The vampire had the gall to yawn when Aidou started to threaten him. Pffft.

"Oh, getting protective are we? No fear, I won't steal him from you, if that's the case." he spoke blandly in return. Those cinnamon rolls looked quite delectable. "I could simply ask from someone else anyway."

"And if you starve to death, you'll just have yourself to blame."

Ritsuka stared at Aidou in shock. Was this guy protecting him? And from what? The taller man talked about stealing him and starving to death? What the hell was going on?! It didn't help that the two men were talking about him like he wasn't even there. That really pissed him off.

Setting the cinnamon roll down, he stood and picked the tray and his notebook up. "It looks like you two could use some privacy for whatever is going on. I'll see you around, Aidou. Don't do anything too brash."

Before taking off, he gave Alucard another bow, extremely well mannered, but a little more guarded than before. He couldn't leave without at least introducing himself though - it just didn't seem right somehow. "My name is Aoyagi Ritsuka. Please have a pleasant day."

With that, he was off for someplace that didn't involve quarreling people.

It was safe to say that in the most basic of ways, Aidou was not adapting well to Landel's Institute. The bloodshed, the monsters, the aims of the institute itself - he could tailor himself to it. He was a vampire, after all. But it was dealing with all these people. How long had it been since he'd had to cope with all the nuances of the human world by himself?

'Never' seemed a fair answer.

Fortunately, the kid look more bemused than anything as he picked up and left. Aidou just forced himself to remember how to breath in such a way that his eyes didn't flare up with a hint of crimson. There went his plan of acting nice - he should've reconsidered sitting with that kid in the first place. For a split second - and just for a split second - he wished he was more like his taciturn cousin. That, or fit in so well with humans he could practically be one of them, like Ichijou.

Augh, but he hated hated hated being here. Especially with Alucard, the one large thorn continually jabbing him in the side. His ideas of unfettered feeding were to blame - stupid ex-humans could never follow protocol.

That was right, though. Protocol. He was bound by it. His journal was still tucked within his clothes, and he pulled it out as returned to his seat. And because of his duties, he'd have to consider things carefully. If he thought of what Kaname-sama would do... Turning his back on Alucard, he uncapped the pen.

"Prove you're Dracula," he said, impassive.

"Nice to have met. Good day to you as well," he replied curtly before Ritsuka quickly left the table. A smart move, after all it was dangerous to be caught in a crossfire. It was espcially perilous if Alucard was involved, because the vampire had a habit to ignore the welfare of those around him. He simply smiled when Aidou didn't say anything, it was to be expected.

Nothing but a whole lot of hot gas, like he assumed.

His crimson eyes watched as the boy forced himself to turn away, taking breathes -how cute, really- to try and calm down. Alucard draped himself across the table like the Cheshire cat, watching as Aidou started to write in his journal. Not that he cared about what was being written.

In fact, the vampire decided to go write too. Or draw. Whatever. Aidou was not being fun anymore. Alucard sorely wished he could call upon his demons, imagining them treating the so-called 'vampire' like a beloved chewtoy kept him smiling though.

"First off, I'm dead. As I have been for five hundred years. I can also rattle off my life's story, but I don't think you'd want to hear it. Lastly, I could beat you blind in under a minute."

"No, you couldn't," Aidou lightly quipped back. But he didn't pursue the who-could-beat-up who debate any further than that, because as long as he was awake, it was back to business. He shifted around in his chair so he was back to partially facing Alucard, tapping the pen against the top of the notebook. Who could say what was now going on under his exterior.

"I'm assuming your age can't be proven. The only reason I've given pause to disposing of you is because you appear to be dead. Like a zombie. You'll have to enlighten me as to how that happened."

It was a bizarre conversation to be initiating, but Aidou didn't show it. What made the myth of Dracula so fantastical in the first place was that he hadn't been bitten by a pure blood, had instead made the transformation independently, through some weird ritual magic. Or something like that. It wasn't like Aidou had taken a keen interest in learning this stuff. But even if he believed Alucard was lying, it didn't change the fact he had no heartbeat.

There. Alucard put aside his journal and pen once he was done writing, lazily going to lay his head down on his arms. Things were passing much slower than he would've liked. Maybe he would try those cinnamon rolls after all. So during the ceasefire, he quickly walked over to the counter to get a tray of his own.

The vampire had already popped one of those sweet confectionary treats into his mouth. Nothing fantastic, and he preferred meat over sugar. "Hmm."

"Didn't I tell that to Sasuke yesterday? Or weren't you listening? At all?" came the rather snippish reply. It looked like he had to repeat himself then. "I can't say exactly when I changed...but if it is of any help, I woke again a few days after they had executed me."

"They put my head on a goddamn spear."

Watching Alucard eat cinnamon rolls stirred an odd sort of irritation. It might have been petty jealously. After all, the desperate mongrel had already ingested plenty of blood, from more than one person - he shouldn't have to eat anymore.

"You imbecile." Aidou didn't have a much of a reason for say that this time - unless it was for the poor and unconvincing explanation - but it made him feel better. "I don't care if they displayed your head on a parade float. It'd be more then you deserved, Kazikli Bey," he mocked, crossing his arms.

The pen in his hand began to twirl between his fingers as Aidou voiced his thoughts out loud. "You do realize you'll have to come up with a better tall tale if you want to fool me. It's impossible to turn a human without the aid of a pure blood, and if I were to humour your sad story... Then I'd have to say you were a liar. You obviously did something." Aidou watched him, cocking his head. "Licked blood off the gallows, maybe? Renounced a higher power?"

Everyone knew the stories.

"Feh. I would've appreciated it if they at least put it back, when they were done," he hissed. Really now. He had to go running about looking for a missing head. One final indignity towards him, it would've seemed. At least the sight of a walking headless corpse drove most people away in terror.

His lips lifted into a cruel smile when Aidou spoke though. "They wanted to take my kingdom from me. Of course I fought back in earnest. And as for the transformation itself, yes...I licked the shed blood off the chopping block , as I finally renounced the Christian God and cursed Him. He left me to rot, so I saw fit to do the same," Alucard spoke languidly, fingers elegantly folded on each other.

"I knew exactly what I was doing that day. That I'd rise from the grave to exact my revenge."

It was practically a parody of Hio Shizuka, their Madly Blooming Princess. Although technically she was Aidou's Mistress and he had to respect her memory as such, she had still lost hold of her sanity, blinded by vengeance. But it was an insult to compare them. There were no true similarities. Although it was odd that this one seemed so lucid - E classes that lost their minds rarely escaped their bloodlust - he was still obviously off his rocker.

Dismembered corpses? Kingdoms? Religious faith? Come on. Soon it was going to be Mina and holy water and stakes through the heart.

The more Aidou listened, the more disappointed he became, in a twisted sort of way. Now Aidou couldn't even rightfully condemn him for all his insolence - Alucard was insane! If his rightful name was even Alucard. And with all the talk, he'd been expecting something... else. More, perhaps. What a joke. Aidou was a little embarrassed with himself.

After a long pause, he spoke.

"I'm surprised the council itself hasn't ordered your death long before now. You're nothing more than a lunatic ex-human." Then Aidou narrowed his eyes. "I should've expected this from the beginning. You're not a legitimate vampire. Dead flesh... Give me a break. Just what the hell are you, really? Where did you come from, and who's been handling you up until now?"

This was getting nowhere. And Alucard was getting awfully, awfully bored. It would've been much more exciting if Aidou suddenly decided to try stabbing him in the chest with a fork. Anything other than just talking. It wasn't like Alucard needed a recount of his rather horrible past anyway.

He also had no idea of what Aidou was thinking, and thus no way to goad him further. Of course when he started to speak again...

"I have no idea what council you're talking about, and even if there was a vampire council, I would crush them for trying to oppose me. Lots of talk coming from a child such as yourself, really...you barely know what you are!"

Which was true, vampires were supposed to be dead, period. They weren't supposed to be expelling hot air -literally and figuratively speaking- which each little speech.

"I've already told you where I've come from and you already know. So unless you are an utter and complete retard, with an intelligence which is on par with the average ghoul, I'm not going to repeat myself again."

"You really are mad!" Aidou snarled back. It quickly turned into a sneer, voice equally purring and patronizing. "But of course you are. ‘Even if there was a vampire council,’ you say. What a crazy moron you are! I don‘t need to lay claim to a five hundred year old legend that holds nothing but corrupted blood - I was born as a I am, and you... you‘re just a despicable E class.”

Then Aidou's normally blue eyes flickered an ethereal shade of crimson. It was a sincere warning. “Now take your leave. I don't want to consort with you any longer!"

He didn't know what the hell an E-class was either, but it surely meant something insulting and demeaning for sure. Alucard wasn't one to just stand there and do nothing at being so rudely slandered though. "I have no idea about your so-called 'Council' or what an E class really is."

The vampire's hand lashed out, to deliver a powerful slap to Aidou's face. Claws included. Blows to the face were the must humiliating, as it would disfigure the victim.

"I won't stand for such insolence either, fool."

Aidou couldn’t have predicted the strike, not with being raised in his particular vampire society. As it was, he took the blow on his left cheek - and unlike Kuran Kaname’s punishments, it carried force.

He hit the table hard, and his own blood splattered onto the surface.

His bowed head concealed his expression, but when Aidou lifted a hand to his face, it fairly shook with repressed fury. His fingertips came away red.

"I warned you," came the soft hiss, barely audible. "I warned you if you ever drew blood from me..."

It was almost like the nurses had a sixth sense that let them know when blood was spilled in the cafeteria. That couldn't actually be true, but seeing as how quickly two of them headed over, it was a good theory.

Then again, someone getting smacked across the face would obviously attract attention.

The two nurses approached the table the two vampires were sitting at from either side. One grabbed Alucard's arms, while the other took hold of Aidou. The one holding Alucard was the one who spoke. "Now just what is going on here?" She seemed to be directing it toward the man she was restraining, glancing down at him with a chiding look. He was the one at fault, of course, since he was the one who had struck the other patient.

"And I don't care." came the growl, Alucard preparing to strike him again. This time, he would aim to disfigure the entire face. After which, he would add insult to injury by drinking the shed blood. Already, he was licking at the blood splatters on and around his claws and fingers.

And then someone grabbed him from behind. Now, Alucard would've taken that someone's head right off, but they had held both his hands tight.

"This is none of your business. That little brat deserves to be taught a lesson."

((From the Renji/Rukia thread.))

Adelheid had been planning to get a nice cup of tea, get back to Renji and Rukia, and continue speaking. He had been planning on just relaxing and preparing for the night with the newfound allies.

All of that went out the window when he saw Alucard swipe some poor kid across the face, blood splattering across the table.

With a sigh, Adelheid put the cup down on some random table- hey, maybe whomever it was would like some tea- and strode over to the quarreling vampire. He hadn't given his blood just so Alucard could draw more in broad daylight. "Please excuse me, misses, but Alucard?" he politely stated, his voice implying that it would be a really good idea to listen, "Please show some respect to the nurses, or at least to the fact that their job might force them to sedate you? Not even your condition will help." Which was true; if Eric, who had blood barely flowing through his veins, could still be sedated, then Alucard would be an easy target as well.

He stood perpendicular to the two, ready to interpose if the nurses alone wouldn't be enough. Honestly, what did the two of them think would happen if they gave sway to their inner passions? "And the same to you, sir," he added for Aidou's benefit, "now is neither the time nor the place, wouldn't you agree?"

Bait. He needed bait. Aidou's voice was even when he said, "How violent. I do hope you treat that boy of yours a little better. No wonder your first wife chose the fate she did. Really not surprising if this is how you behave."

Although every last particle of his being screamed at him to retaliate in the same manner, to requite for being hit in the face, he didn't. It took indomitable self-control - something Aidou appeared to have a lack of - but he just pressed his hand to his bleeding cheek, keeping his face cast downwards. Until he could truly squash his rage, his tousled hair would shadow the solid crimson of his eyes. He didn't move, not even when Alucard licked at his blood - his blood, his noble blood - and he was touched by restraining human hands.

He wasn't witless. He was better than his base proclivities. He was in control of them, not the other way around. With "nurses" present, priorities changed. More so with the arrival of this blonde boy; that rich scent was impossible to miss. It had been all over Alucard's nonexistent breath the previous night.

Shameless. He had absolutely no consideration for the one before him, but even less for the humans who allowed Alucard to feed off them; he ignored Adel.

Thankfully, even though it seemed that the situation had not yet been quelled, neither of the two patients were fighting too hard against them to get to the other. It seemed that the taller one was in the wrong, though the way the teenager was baiting him (what he said was nonsense, but it might have meant something to the other man) wasn't helping.

Luckily, another patient came in to actually help their effort. That was quite the surprise. The nurse restraining Alucard glanced at the blond boy and nodded gratefully.

"Yes. We'd rather not have to sedate you, Mr. Fairbrook, so maybe one of you should sit somewhere else?"

The nurse who had a hold on Aidou lowered her voice so only he would hear. "And we can take you to the medwing to get patched up, if you'd like."

"It was his fault, and I-"

Time simply froze. Aidou's words were still ringing in his mind a few seconds after the boy had spoken. He didn't. The vampire's eyes widened, pupils shrinking to a near-nonexistent slit. The barb had stung him like nothing before. "Take. That. Back," he hissed, the sound barely human at all, as he began to struggle. Aidou was digging his own grave, and come hell or high water, he would pay.

If there was anything Alucard hated most, it was anyone bringing up the more...painful parts of his past.

But no.

He couldn't torture him right now. Too many witnesses. Instead, he settled with the hardest, coldest, most malicious glare he could muster. Devoid of any emotion except for hate. If looks could kill, Aidou would've spontaneously combusted by now. Deadly teeth bared, Alucard kept that gorgon's stare with the boy.

"Just wait till night falls. How dare you speak of them this way."

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