damned_institute | Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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]

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Well, that worry-less smile was quickly gone with the sight of the man now in front of him; actually, he'd stopped mid-bite, letting a bit of egg hang onto his fork for dear life just above his tray.

Though he probably hadn't meant it to be, Haven't seen you around for a while came out sounding rather sinister. Would Xigbar be a threat? The Nobody was actually quite sure he would be. As carefree and... weird Xigbar was, Roxas was pretty sure he wouldn't defy a direct order from Xemnas, and he knew the Organization as a whole - or what was left of them - was still gunning for him. Well, there was to hoping they'd leave him alone.

If he hadn't seen Luxord stuck here as well, Roxas probably could have believed they'd banished him here themselves.

Play it casual. For now. "Hey Xigbar," he started, shoving the egg in his mouth to buy a few seconds, trying to figure out what the word was supposed to be. "You know... just surviving, I guess."

Roxas's worry was entirely understandable. Xigbar could laugh and grin whether he was just clowning around or raining death from the skies. If he had to kill someone, especially a traitor to the Organization, it was hard to say whether he'd be serious or whether he'd have fun with it... or perhaps both in turns. It was just difficult to say with the Freeshooter.

While he was joking, his eye picked up on subtle details. Or not-so-subtle, in the case of dangling egg. Young guys like him didn't do that often, and never without a reason. The smile was gone as well, which meant that Roxas had experienced an abrupt shift of not-quite-emotion, as sharp as flicking off a light switch. It could only be because Xigbar had approached, which narrowed down the reasons quite a bit. Was it because Roxas was afraid? Doubtful. Of all the Senior Members, Xigbar was probably the most personable and easiest to get along with, and while he hadn't done much with the brat, he doubted that would change overly-much. So then, if it wasn't personal, it had to be because he was worried something would be found out.

...but what? For now, Xigbar leaned forward and stabbed his fork into one of the piles- ironically choosing the ones Roxas didn't like- which let him get threateningly close while still leaving the possibility open that he was just curious about what Roxas had chosen. "Just survivin', huh? Seems that'd be a little trickier for you. How long have you been around this go-'round?"

He couldn't do anything during the day. He couldn't. The nurses would intervene and even a Nobody would be knocked out like a light.

Right?

He wasn't worried. Per se. He was... wary. And Roxas had enough cause to be so. He didn't like the way the Nobody got close to him, stealing his food, acting like he could move and take without any sort of consequence. Maybe back home. Then again, he didn't know what Xigbar was capable of here. Roxas himself? Not much. Helping someone else by being a distraction was simple enough, but defending himself...

If he could even get the Keyblade to appear, it would be hard. Even as much as he trusted Luxord (which was only a lot when in comparison with the other Nobodies), Roxas couldn't be sure if he would attempt to team up with Xigbar. They were still Xemnas's orders, after all.

Except - what did he mean by that? He voiced his confusion with a, "Huh?", lifting his brow. "What're you talking about?"

Hm, now that was odd. Most Nobodies would either take their stuff back or they'd subject Xigbar to a Look of some sort. Possibly both, considering some of the members of the Organization. But Roxas did neither, instead just looking at him like someone would a snake or a tiger or something equally as ridiculous. That, however, put another piece into place. Roxas wasn't edging away, and while he was clearly wary of him, Xigbar hadn't exactly seen the younger Nobody running for help.

...which, if he was allowed to guess given on those two deductions, meant Roxas wasn't afraid of Xigbar normally, but he had to have figured out that all the rules were different here. Either that or this was Roxas before he figured out exactly what he and Xigbar both could do, whenever that point in their futures might have been. But the former seemed more likely, given where they were. Of course, it could just as easily be that Roxas wasn't worried at all about what would happen in a tussle, but simply wanted to avoid making a scene or getting sedate.

Hm. Xigbar took a bite of his pilfered meal- stolen honey did taste sweeter, just for the record- and then looked at Roxas, pondering that reaction. Honest confusion, huh? Either no one had told him about his previous stays in the Institute, or he was oblivious of what was going to happen to him. Possibly both, if he hadn't been around for awhile. ...or perhaps neither, if Roxas was just showing some characteristic slowness. Where was Lexaeus with a backhand when he was needed? "This isn't your first go-round here," he answered with a shrug, using his fork to gesture as he spoke, "you've been in and out a coupla times here. Makes me wonder how long you'll stick around this time before you bite it."

Well, that was news to him; Luxord hadn't brought that up to Roxas, and neither had Sora or Axel. Not to mention it didn't make any sense at all - he hadn't had time to disappear to... whatever this world was! He had been busy trying to lose the tail the Organization had on him, permanently detaching himself from the group, as well as finding Sora and -
- well, just Sora. He thought there might have been something else, but he couldn't remember it at the moment.

"That doesn't make sense," he said, trying to go over the possibilities in his mind. During one of his week-long comas, perhaps? But... he had always been in his room on the World That Never Was during those. And X - Axel would have told him he was disappearing for no reason at all. Roxas was actually quite sure Axel would have brought that up to him if it had been an issue in the first place. So how? When? "I've never been to this world before now. I was looking... for someone."

They weren't his allies anymore if they had ever been in the first place; he definitely shouldn't be telling one of the Originals that Roxas had left the Organization to find his Other (as well as try to assassinate Number I, but that was a different story. And he would have, if that white-haired kid hadn't gotten in his way -) The details were staying with him.

"Sure it does. You're just not thinking about it right." That was interesting to know, though. Clearly no one had told Roxas about how often he'd been in and out, which was a rather odd omission. Usually that was one of the first questions asked and answered. Why, then, hadn't it been either. Puzzling, and the reactions from Roxas were confusing as well.

Who was he looking for? Couldn't be Sora, could it? Nah, that was just a stone's throw away, and it was pretty much impossible to make a Nobody forget their Somebody. Unless his theories were horrifically off, which was entirely possible. He usually handled studies of the Darkness with copious amounts of illicit substances, after all.

But where did that leave them now? He probably couldn't dig any deeper, given that he wasn't entirely sure where and when Roxas was from, and it wasn't like he had the right frame of mind to go trawling through it anyway. So then, what now?

Well, why not answer some of his questions? "Guarantee you, you've been here before. Most of us have, at some point or another. Most are gone now, so... things are kind of in the open when it comes to the Organization. ...just your bad luck that you arrived at the same time as Number One."

"Most of us? The Organization?" So, that thoroughly negated the theory he'd had that perhaps they'd sent him here somehow. Besides, Roxas was pretty sure Xemnas didn't like loose ends - it didn't seem like something he would do; he'd finish the job, make sure the Nobody was no more. So... why send the other members here? Luxord hadn't been particularly malevolent-sounding, and he had had more than one chance to take Roxas out.

This was way too confusing.

The blond stabbed his fork in his pile of "dislike" food, gritting his teeth. He did not want to know Xemnas was here. If he was here and saw Roxas, he might get whatever members were here to come after him. If anything, he'd have to get the jump on Xemnas. No matter what that kid said, nothing would stop him from destroying the elder Nobody. "I didn't know he was here," he said, trying to hide how angry he was with the news.

It didn't work.

"Yep," he confirmed, and i felt kind of weird, to be talking to someone who was so far behind where Xigbar had come. Roxas just didn't have the information he needed to get where Xigbar was, and the older man wasn't really interested in providing that much info. But eh, maybe this would get Roxas thinking. That'd be his good deed for the day.

What intrigued Xigbar was just how angry Roxas was trying to be. Nobodies couldn't feel anything like that, Roxas should know that, and yet he was stabbing his food as though they were Voodoo Cakes. Granted, he could understand that- he kind of liked the idea of being out from Xemnas's thumb as well- but he didn't feel such not-anger about it. Neither should Roxas, not if he was still part of the Organization. So... this had to be Roxas after he turned traitor.

Before now, he would have taken that as an invitation to throw something pointy at the kid. But now? Now there wasn't really an Organization to defend or rebel against, and what was the point in trying to kill someone who was likely going to disappear again anyway? There was no real point to it, so he just shrugged his shoulders. "You sound like that's a bad thing."

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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