damned_institute | 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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Way too stiff. He could probably pass for someone from the Kuchiki clan if not for the hair. "Ara~" Gin commented. Sephiroth's eyes seemed a little glazed, but it took him a few moments to realize just what it was. The man hadn't blinked. Strange, though most definitely not the strangest thing he'd seen thus far.

"So you're new too, mm? Where y'from?"

Gin simply smiled his ever-present smile at Sephiroth's last comment. "No? They say th' nights can be pretty rough. You don't seem t' have had too bad a time of it though."

"Ara?"

Had Gin just insulted him? For the human's sake, he hoped not. Sephiroth still wasn't too happy after what had happened in the shower. Each of those bruises was a mystery to him, something he didn't like and couldn't trust.

"I would not say 'new' precisely."

Well, he couldn't very well explain that Kadaj and Yazoo were part of him and thus he had been here before now. It was best to just skip that. Humans didn't have intelligent enough minds to grasp that idea.

"I have heard the same, but I have yet to see proof of it."

One shoulder lifted in a careless shrug, Sephiroth spearing a bit of vegetable on his fork.

Either the man had an entirely different concept of time, or he really did belong here. Gin wasn't about to discount either explanation.

"Oh?" he pursued. It seemed silly for Sephiroth to speak aloud in riddles for no apparent reason, but that was just the way of some people.

Gin poked at his food with his plastic fork and finally started eating some of the chicken. "Ha... so who's t'say it's not jus' some rumors? Seems like jus' the sorta thing y'oughta hear 'bout in this kinda place. Full of crazy people n' all that."

"Indeed."

He simply chose not to explain that. It would make no sense to anyone on the outside, and he had already seen how these dogs liked to take things and try to rip them apart to break it down to a level they could understand. Sadly enough, that usually meant debasing any idea to its lowest and simplest element.

"I doubt it is all rumours, but humans do tend to blow things out of proportion. I have no idea though if the 'monsters' that I have read about are rampaging through the hallways at night. I simply do not know. There was no blood all over the floors last night if that counts for anything."

At least the ingredients were fresh. The food wasn't so bad really. Almost made up for the lack of decent conversation. Sephiroth was more than a little secretive? Well, good for him. It wouldn't be a challenge if it came too easily.

"Ara..." he sighed. "I s'pose it does. Had some fun explorin' then?"

"Ara? Why do you keep saying that? It sound Wutain."

Sephiroth simply wasn't the sort to talk to those he thought were beneath him. That was something more that others did than he did. Even before the 'problem' at the reactor, he hadn't been one much for talking about anything and everything. It was a matter of finding what meant something to him.

"It was not fun. It was strategy, mapping out the area to avoid confusion and becoming lost at a critical time that may come later. You find this place 'fun'?"

Gin glanced up. People usually noticed his accent, but not many actually commented on it. "Ha...? I don't really notice much," he replied. "Just a country boy, yeah? Somethin' I picked up I s'pose." He had no idea what the man meant by "Wutain" though. "'fraid I'm not familiar with that... place?"

He gave a simple shrug of his shoulders, laughing inwardly. It was easier to rile the man up than he'd thought if he was getting so nit-picky about something like his dialect and his choice in adjectives. "Didn't say that. M'sure you did a fine job of not gettin' lost. I s'pose it all depends on your idea of 'fun,' ne?"

After Aidou left to do... whatever he was going to do, Jack went through the lunch line again. He'd been pleased with the tacos. It was impossible to get halfway decent Mexican food anywhere in England, let alone in Cardiff.

Gin didn't look too busy, so he decided to join the guy. He was the closest thing Jack had to a friend in this place, after all.

Jack set down his tray and sat next to Gin, giving the other man at the table a cheery smile. "Hey boys, hope you don't mind," he said.

Sephiroth had never been happy to hear that blasted intercom come on, but it did save him this time. Giving the pair of humans his usual disdainful stare, the general rose to his feet.

"If you gentlemen will excuse me, it do appears I have elsewhere to be."

Nodding to the pair of them, Sephiroth headed out. Humans. Even Kadaj was preferrable.

Day 23: Lunch

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