Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

[selfrescuer.livejournal.com]

Somehow, after their talk in the chapel, Elaine felt simultaneously more accepting of and more irritated by her future husband. On the one hand, seven years had clearly been good to him. He seemed more sincere and thoughtful than he had been before his disappearance, and he had a more mature (dare she say, handsome?) look to him. On the other hand, there were clearly some things that made even time throw up its hands in vain and say, "To hell with this!" Guybrush was still inexorably prone to disastrous accidents if the story about the Pox of LeChuck was anything to go by, and he was so obviously keeping something important from her that any passing dolt in the Institute would have been able to tell. In the end, that eternal underlying sweetness of his that won out, keeping her from punching him again, at least. That was only by a hairs width, though. Her snugglecakes was going to have to stay on his best behaviour if he knew what was good for him.

She left the Mighty Pirate™ alone for the time being when the announcement of the next shift went off. He would want some time to catch up with Morgan next, presumably. As much as the woman's attitude bothered her, she was a friend of Guybrush's, as she had claimed. Elaine could be strict, but she wasn't the kind of shrewish future wife/past fiancé who would keep her man from seeing his friends. Besides, she needed some more time to catch up on the goings-on of the Institute. Patients filled the building to the brim, now, it seemed; there would be a lot to investigate.

After a few quick trips back and forth to the bulletin and a few new leads to follow up on, the governor gave in to her nurse's persistent nagging and headed to the cafeteria for brunch. After the relatively light fare of the day before, Elaine took advantage of the Institute's admittedly scrumptious offerings and loaded up a full, balanced brunchfast of eggs, sausage links, waffles, and vegetable soup. As expected, the selection of drinks did not offer either root beer or grog. Grog she could live without, at least, she thought while making a face. Eugh. For now, she settled for a tall glass of water.

Elaine settled into a seat in the cafeteria and tucked into her meal. Her eyes didn't stay on her food, though, instead gazing around restlessly; she hadn't seen LeChuck so far this morning, and god forbid he wanted to invite himself to brunch with her if he chose now to show up. A certain horribly unpleasant dinner on Mêlée Island came to mind. She was prepared to either move at the first sign of the dread pirate or signal a random stranger to sit with her before he could.

[For Dean]

Comments

[anemptydecapo]

The talk with Nataku hadn't helped matters: last night was still following him, tainting his every thought. He almost didn't want to seek out Edward again, not after the man had seen him at his weakest. Especially not after seeing the man show exactly what he was and demonstrate it on-- ...even if it were only a fake. Even if he had wished death on it.

But they had business to attend to and so long as they did, he wasn't going to let up. Venom had spent the entire night pushing aside his want for answers to find that woman with the understanding that they would be able to continue on their mission once she was back in hand. Instead, her safety had replaced the mission entirely, regardless of the bumps in the road and mentally straining events that may have occurred.

He couldn't blame Edward. He wanted to, but he couldn't, not in good conscience. He had no room to be upset with anyone when it came to something like that. The most he could do was move on from that fact and hope the vampire's penchant for distraction wouldn't repeat this night, because Venom wasn't going to keep paying for a service he'd yet to receive. He wasn't going to blame him, but he wasn't any happier with him either. He was getting tired of this dance.

It looked like Edward was pouting on his lonesome, which the assassin had no qualms interrupting. Outwardly, he showed no signs of how tired he actually was, nor how upset. This wasn't the time for that. It would never be the time for that. "Did you find her?" If your problem is that you're hungry again, I will have no sympathy for you.

[prodigalson]

He had actually picked up a square of the orange fruit, readying it for throwing, before squashing it between his fingers and letting the pulp fall back to his tray. It might seem amusing in a minimal way, but it wasn't quite worth getting a needle jabbed into his arm for a five year old's act of rebellion. After what he had been through, Edward would not have been surprised to find the concoctions the nurses had at their disposal could put him out of consciousness quite easily.

The vampire picked his head up from the table before Venom had even spoken; he found that the man's mental voice was quickly becoming familiar to him and he could pick it up almost instantly. There was less static between the words and images, having the stream of consciousness blend together more thoroughly.

Also: it kept his headache nearly constant as well.

"Yes, I found her." It was strange to hear Venom was patient with him as equally as he wasn't. Though he hadn't brought it up, Edward had long been wondering what the man's personal issue was with vampires. It shouldn't be too hard to imagine, but... "Thank you for your aid last night. I feel we could both agree to never speak of it again."

[anemptydecapo]

So she was fine. Meaning last night was both an effort in futility and a complete waste of his time. About on par with everything else he's done, then. He didn't bother questioning Edward's sour mood, instead fiddling silently with the plastic fork he'd taken for no identifiable reason aside from the fact that it was there and his hands were otherwise empty. His thumb pressed against the tip, not enough to break the thing, but enough to feel the sting of sharp pressure. "Yes," he agreed, pointedly ignoring the bandages outlining the vampire's eye. He didn't want to think about that.

The notion that he should at least ask over the weapon Edward had located crossed his mind, at least before they moved on to actual business, but the feel of eyes on his back made him turn. Off in some far corner, atop the various heads in the room, stood Nurse, arms crossed and expression blurred by distance. Venom frowned to himself as he eyed the woman back.

Her mouth moved and she rose one hand, then lowered it. 'Sit down.' He wasn't a child. Infuriating woman... He turned his back to her, maybe standing a bit longer out of spite before relenting to the hurt in his legs and taking a seat. In the same motion, his eyes caught on to mulch and seeds falling from Edward's hand.

"...Why did you just crush that cantaloupe?"

[prodigalson]

Well, it was such a lucky thing for him to have Venom's unceasing optimism to further improve his already outstanding mood.

... all right, even that amount of sarcasm was too much for him.

Edward followed the turn of Venom's face with his own eyes, spotting the nurse that the man had begun fuming over. At least he wasn't the only one being talked down to by the staff. It seemed they gave no care to age here. Since seeing a boy as young as Sora, that was especially clear.

As for the question, well. Let his answer belie his age. "I was thinking of throwing it at my nurse. She gave me rather bad news and I didn't take it very well." He wiped his fingers across his shirt, leaving wet smears near his breastbone. "Small acts of rebellion, you know. Keeps the insane sane."

[anemptydecapo]

"So you crushed it instead?" The words came out slow and measured, but mostly confused. "That was childish of you," he said with finality after a pause, seeing no reason not to be truthful about the situation. Though, in the vampire's defense, it wasn't as if he could or would eat the thing (at least, he didn't think he could. The founder never bothered - why should Edward?). Still, the least he could have done was either throw it away like an adult or give it to someone else.

Not that he wanted a repeat of yesterday's conversation with Brainiac 5 and the mutually unwanted ice-cream. And it wasn't as if Venom were above the occasional act of childish spite, as much as he refused to admit it. But he hadn't gone around crushing fruit for the sake of it.

He shook his head to himself. "They want to see change in you. The staff may not know what is happening, but they want to see some sort of difference in you; a sign that you're effected by this. Don't show it." He wasn't sure if he were scolding Edward or himself. Did it really matter which? "No matter what happens, what they do, or what they tell you, there is a time and a place for--" Bad news...? He stopped himself short again.

He didn't care about Edward's personal matters. He couldn't afford to care. Not only was against everything he had been taught to worry about anything other than the mission, but it was also extremely detrimental when in a situation like this. There would be casualties - you would never be able to stop that. Worry meant attachment, and you could never get attached to someone who could just as easily die in the next minute as much as they could in the next year. But the words left his mouth before he could stop them, mind slowly attempting to justify this afterward. "What did she say?" He was not going to wait another night because of whatever it was. Mope now, yes, but inevitably, Edward would have to deal with it.

[prodigalson]

He did not need lectures from humans, especially concerning other humans. However, he felt that Venom's temper wasn't worth speaking back at him about it, especially considering he was convinced that all vampires were condescending.

That belief probably wasn't too far off. Age lead to condescension. It happened even in the human elderly, so he wondered why the immortal were expected to be immune to it as well.

Brushing his wet fingers on his pants, he watched the assassin's face with raised eyebrows; he was actually surprised behind the man's justification of the question. As surely as Venom believed that Edward's reactions were rather cold, he also thought the same of the other. The assassin was cold to others and their relations... or it seemed he tried to be. It was rather curious, actually. As if he told himself that, it would be the truth.

"My brother was here a few days ago. She told me he had been released. Cured."

[anemptydecapo]

His brother...?

Venom hadn't even known Edward had a brother, none the less that they were here. They never spoke of one another's personal lives (which was for the better), aside from the brief information about the vampire's fiance last night. He assumed the man was alone aside from her. He hadn't expected to be told about having family. It was strange to hear about it now.

Uncomfortable, even. Edward could have lied. He could have said something else - the assassin wouldn't have cared either way. Why would he trust Venom to tell him that, even if the other was gone? They weren't friends. They were barely acquainted in anything that wasn't work-related. They didn't know each other.

"I'm sorry." This plastic fork was hereby the most interesting thing in the room.