damned_institute | Day 23: Lunch

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Day 23: Lunch

The second the intercom sounded, while the man on the intercom was still talking, Ashton pulled himself off the couch in the Music Room and slowly made his way to the door. He walked, glided even, as if he were a ghost in a dream. The nurses had already filed up to escort the patients to the lunchroom, and one bustled over to walk Ashton those few feet from one room to another.

"You're not looking very well, Mr. Pritchett," she said cheerfully. "Didn't you enjoy your shower?"

Ashton replied with a small, forced smile, then shook his head. He didn't feel like talking now. Though the nurses were pushy and downright annoying, he figured he owed this one at least a little explanation. They didn't know - or didn't believe - what went on after dark, but he owed them the benefit of the doubt. "Bad day," he decided on telling her.

Bad day indeed. The showers and the music had done nothing for his nerves. But then again, what could get that graphic image out of his head?

He glided ghostily through the taco line and settled on two chicken and bean tacos, with chips, a scoop of guacamole, two churros on the side, and a glass of apple juice. He wasn't used to this sort of food (save the juice) and he wasn't even sure he'd eat it, but the chances were high that he'd be able to pass it off on someone.

He was on the verge of tears again, too. What he would have given to just sit down next to a barrel and eat a hamburger.

Thank goodness the cafeteria was bare just now, too. It left all the corner tables open, the tables that shouted 'Don't talk to me, I'm brooding over here.' He sat at one, pushed his food a little away from him, and buried his head in his arms.

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"Sure." It wasn't a lie. They probably had a bit different view on what 'irritating' consisted though. Living the life of a murdered for the past six years had made Aya cold, too cold if he'd take a good look in the mirror but in moments like this, it might have been a bittersweet blessing as well. "I haven't seen much of anything that would pose as a thread to practically anybody here though."

The burrito seemed to have less fighting spirit than the cinnamon roll this morning and Aya had made considerable progress with his food. He nodded towards Kadaj's plate in distantly friendly manner, which seemed to work just fine with the two of them. "The green stuff is not bad."

Again, Kadaj couldn't decide if he should be amused or irritated. He was a threat! Couldn't Aya tell? It must be the ridiculous uniforms they'd all been forced into wearing. He knew he looked much more impressive in his usual leather than the ridiculous smiley-faced thing he had on now. It was far too light, loose, and cheerful. He'd have to disembowel whoever designed it once he got out of here.

Instead of voicing these increasingly violent thoughts, he hesitantly plucked one of his chips out and, after examining it closely, took a bite. When it didn't make him violently ill, he ate the rest of the chip and chewed happily for a few moments before swallowing. "You must be looking in all the wrong places, then, or not looking at all. How long have you been here, anyway?"

Aya shrugged and glanced around the cafeteria, violet gaze lingering for a moment on Omi and Yohji talking together, awkward expressions painfully clear to him even across the room. He could guess what the conversation was about, half relieved, half disappointed that he could not be there to make sure Yohji didn't make things too difficult for all of them.

However, he was here, talking to a young man with a silver hair and liquid eyes. He could sense the danger from Kadaj, but nowadays it was practically impossible to unnerve Aya. He had driven his sword through a genetically engineered god just a little while ago, this asylum or the patients had yet failed to invoke more than slight uneasiness from him.

The awkwardness of this morning forgotten, he gave a curious look as he turned back to Kadaj again. "I've been here since yesterday morning," he answered truthfully. "You seem like a veteran already. So it's correct to assume you've been here longer?" His words were accompanied by a pale curve on his lips, not exactly a warm smile but the kind that said he thought paying attention to Kadaj wasn't a total waste of his time.

Aha, so he was new. Kadaj took a moment to mentally congratulate himself for getting it right, even though it hadn't been that amazing a deduction. He could be proud of it if he wanted. Besides, it was always nice to know that he was more experienced than people at some things, even if being stuck at Landel's was nothing to be proud of. At his age, he would take what he could get.

"You could say that," he said with a slight smirk. "I've been here more than a week now, so I know this place pretty well now." That wasn't technically a lie, but there was no way he was going to be completely honest and reveal just how little progress he'd actually made. He hadn't been to the second floor yet, he hadn't gotten into any of the locked rooms, he hadn't gotten Souba back, and on and on. If it weren't for the fact that he could excuse most of the delays in his mind, he would have been ashamed.

In an effort to distract himself from these thoughts, he started eating one of his tacos, and he was surprised to find himself actually enjoying the taste... a little. The churro was much better. "Want to ask me anything about the institute? Or would you rather discuss something else?" He really didn't care himself, but he'd gotten so used to summarizing things for people that by now it was almost a reflex. What an irritating habit to have.

Faint amusement edging into his gaze, Aya nodded, observing Kadaj with slightly hooded eyes. Despite his cautiousness, he found himself liking the strong flavor of the younger man's attitude, at least he wasn't left guessing what was going on.

The chips weren't bad either, he nibbled on his food curiously, suddenly realizing he was hungry after losing almost every meal at Landel's until now for either awkwardness or some other disturbance. Perhaps talking with a total stranger, without connections or past full of deception and lies, could be counted as stress relief.

"If you have something interesting to say, go ahead," he answered with an actual smirk edging onto his usual uniform of indifference. "I've heard the speech about this being a mental hospital with monsters roaming about the hallways by night so many times already I know it by heart."

He spared a moment to actually think what he'd like to know. If Kadaj was not lying, and had offered himself even, why would he pass a possibility like that?

"Actually, I've noticed about the staff having some abnormal abilities. Do you have any better idea of them?"

Oh, good, so he wouldn't have to tell that one again. Telling people about the monsters and so on had been fun only a handful of times, the most notable of which being yesterday when he'd tricked Penelo, and so Kadaj couldn't help but feel relieved about it. He would never turn down the opportunity to have someone's undivided attention, of course, but it was only natural that saying the same things over and over would become dull.

The question Aya did end up asking caught him off guard, though. Abnormal abilities? This place was practically picture-perfect during the day. What could he mean?

A slight frown crossed his features, and he ate some more of his taco while he thought about it. The only thing he's really seen the staff do during the day was herd or sedate patients, but beyond that, he didn't quite know what Aya meant. Was there more...? Damn it, this place wasn't supposed to get more complicated after he'd gotten used to it!

Swallowing his food, he asked cautiously, "What kind of abnormal abilities have you seen? I know that at night they change and sometimes experiment on people, but beyond that..." He trailed off, looking irritated. He'd have to tell Sephiroth about this later, and that meant he'd have to admit he hadn't known it beforehand. He hated not knowing things, and he didn't doubt that his big brother felt the same. Their next conversation wouldn't end well, he just knew it.

That had not gone the way Aya had expected. Perhaps he was so used to fighting off psi-talented assassins and the other freaks Esset and Rosenkreuz chose to send at them that something he could explain otherwise was indeed in his eyes naturally regarded as something supernatural. He studied Kadaj while chewing on the next bite of his food, carefully noting the frown and later the irritated look. He was out of his range here, he'd been around only for a day and he'd assume easily it was him who was mistaken.

"Only hints here and there really," he started, a bit hesitantly. "It could be that I assumed things too hastily." Analytical mind already skimming past all the events for the past day he chose words and incidents carefully. "It could be something else as well, but it sounds logical, doesn't it? The night ends and we'll find ourselves in our rooms in the morning without actually traveling back there, wounds heal faster than they should and during the head doctor's speech yesterday, someone threw a pair of slippers at him and they just stopped suddenly in midair." So used to reporting to the rest of the Weiss, all this came out smoothly in near apathetic tone. He had no reason to hide his observations after all, hoping that if he had missed something vital, Kadaj would fill in for him in return.

"Some people here come from different times as well." The sentence was bit out with a frustrated frown furrowing his brows. The matter of Mamoru being Omi and not the Persia he had expected him to be was still a bit touchy and he moved on quickly. "If they can do that, pull out people here from different times, different worlds and control it all, I'd assume it's something supernatural and not just some techno magic."

Oh, that. Kadaj immediately relaxed, feeling a little foolish for misinterpreting what Aya had said but not about to let him know that. The corner of his mouth quirked slightly, and he said, "Your guess is as good as mine. They're capable of more than you realize, too. I'm supposed to be dead, and I'm not supposed to be able to exist at the same time that he does." He nodded towards Sephiroth, a faint frown appearing again before he finally shrugged. "Different times, different worlds, and whether we're alive or dead makes no difference to these people. I don't think anyone's figured out how they're doing it yet, but almost everyone is trying."

He sighed, shifting in his seat a little to try and get more comfortable. "I thought you'd seen something else. They haven't been leaving any traces of whatever they're doing, and what you said about the Head Doctor is the first I've heard of something strange happening during the day. The visitors were unusual, too, but..." He trailed off, not quite knowing how to address the subject and not feeling very enthusiastic about discussing it either. He didn't want to feel the same way he had yesterday, when Mother had left him again.

He glared down at his food, sick of this subject and wanting it to be over with as soon as possible. "I don't know how they do it, just that they can," he concluded shortly, fixing his glare on Aya. "Ask a different question."

Aya had not been asking Kadaj to explain to him how did they do it. He'd expect anyone knowing either being gathered away from the institution, eliminated or having already succeeded in getting out of this place. The glare, however, made him reconsider mentioning about the misunderstanding. Eyes narrowing, he answered the glare first with the begins of another one, temper flaring dangerously at the unnecessary display of ego.

Luckily for the both of them, he was not twenty and hotheaded anymore. Biting his teeth together, he forced himself to look away and grab his drink from the table to sip on. It was not the first time he'd been misunderstood after arriving here and wouldn't be the last.

You couldn't be too careful though, and that in mind, he pushed his chair a hint away from the table, leaning back casually as he returned his gaze back at Kadaj, cool and indifferent. No reason to get pissed off.

"Hn." He nodded and moved on. "So where do you come from?" The name Kadaj didn't ring a bell right away, perhaps Europe or Northern Asia. But then, if what Otacon had said was true, Kadaj could come from a totally different world all together.

That question seemed harmless enough. Kadaj could almost think the same of Aya, but after River had proven how incredibly bad he was at judging whether or not people were dangerous (wasn't his fault he hadn't expected her to attack him with a pen), he managed to kill that thought off before it could get any further. Aya didn't have the same sheltered, naive air that Kadaj associated with the more useless members of the human race after all, and that had to mean something.

Anger apparently forgotten, he smiled and said, "Gaia. No city or continent in particular, but I was in the ruins of Midgar last and my brothers and I had our base in the Forgotten City." He giggled softly, before he could stop himself. "But none of those names mean anything to you, do they? You might want to learn them, though. There are at least ten people from my world here so far, so you'll probably be hearing them again.

"What about you?" he added after only a slight pause, curious in spite of himself. He would've liked to pretend he didn't give a damn about where Aya came from, but it just wasn't happening. Besides, it was either that finding something else to talk about, and really he just didn't feel like it.

Brows arching curiously at the capricious turn of mood, Aya found himself relaxing despite the fact that he realized he really shouldn't have. He did not judge people, only boxed them quickly so he could predict loosely their actions in the future. Kadaj went to the same box where Kikyo and Omi resided, and that if something should have made Aya wary. But perhaps because he did not consider mental instability and the lack of morals (, which both were closely related with the said box,) as anything more than every day bother he had to deal with, he felt right at home with Kadaj.

"I've heard those names already," he said. "The same person who was talking about different worlds mentioned them. Probably the place where I'm from is just called Earth. Japan, Tokyo, but those names don't mean anything to you if you're not from there." He briefly wondered about the language matter but then decided not to disturb himself more than was necessary right now.

"The Earth is sometimes called Gaia as well. And actually Midgar has something to do with Norwegian mythology." He had been thinking this ever since talking with Otacon and going through his memory bit by bit but considering the amount of books he had consumed in his lifetime, it hardly was neither easy nor fast task to complete. Maybe there was a connection somewhere... It was as good as any assumption.

It was a little disappointing to find that he hadn't been the first person to mention those names to Aya, but Kadaj quickly got over it, instead feeling rather curious about just who it had been that had told him about it. If it was on the bulletin board, he'd probably find out sooner or later, but if not... oh well. It wasn't that important.

"I've seen people mention those places before, but that's about it," he admitted, shrugging to show that he really didn't care about his own ignorance on the subject. Why should he? "It's strange that those similarities exist, though. There are too many of them for it to just be a coincidence."

The intercom chose that moment to interrupt, and with a glare directed at the device responsible, he slowly rose to his feet and "saved" his last churro from his plate. "It was interesting talking to you, Aya, but it's time for us to say 'goodbye' now. Try not to die tonight; you're one of the few people here I can actually tolerate."

Smirking at him and raising a single silver eyebrow to indicate that was a compliment, he turned and began to head towards the exit. Not exactly the most elegant (or even polite) way of ending the conversation, but it worked.

Truthfully, Aya wasn't interested in anything else than getting out of this place but he was willing to notice any and all small details that seemed like oddities in the system. Somewhere had to be a mistake or a forgotten head of a thread that would lead him to the answers he desired. And that way the hell out of this place.

Kadaj's parting words managed to amuse him enough to bring a small smirk over his lips. On best days, he could pretend to be all smiles and friendship, lies for the idiots. Today he had not needed to pretend, for that, he was thankful.

"I don't die easily," he said. Not if he didn't welcome the death himself that was. "See you around." He nodded his head as a goodbye and stayed seated until a nurse came to interrupt his silent reverie while gazing after Kadaj.

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Day 23: Lunch

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