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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Ruthless, powerful, and insane. Honestly, the first two words would have fit Sephiroth even before Nibelheim. When it came to his opponents, the general had never held back -- and he had been harsh with his own subordinates, too. Powerful went without saying, as far as Zack was concerned. The fact that such a strong man had fallen into insanity so quickly was deeply disappointing, but he realized that the time for mourning was long past.

Continuing with his own meal, Zack also couldn't help noticing the way that Nanaki handled his food. Once again, it fit that sense of awkwardness that he had noted from the start, but Zack had to admit that he'd never seen someone who acted quite like this. Wouldn't it be rude to ask, though?

At the comment about Cloud, Zack smiled and nodded. "You're right about that. I mean, he's still Cloud, but a lot has changed from when I knew him." To go from a half-aware, mako-poisoned kid who couldn't even walk on his own to someone who could call the shots and pilot an airship on top of it all? Well, it was pretty amazing, if he was going to be honest.

When Zack was again distracted by the way that Nanaki was continuing to struggle with eating his meal, he found himself unable to stop a question from leaving his mouth. "Uhh, are you... okay?" That seemed like the most polite way to question someone about why they were having issues with basic motor skills.

Nanaki thought it would be polite not to mention that Cloud had thought he was Zack. Or rather, he'd lived certain parts of Zack's life. His confidence seemed to have stemmed from that, after all.

"You were an inspiration to him," he said, politely.

He felt his cheeks heat up when Zack asked if he was alright, his mind racing to place what might seem wrong. His mood, his habits? Whatever it was that gave him away, it was frustrating.

"Yes... I am," he said, unconvincingly and entirely aware of the fact. "I am....adjusting."

An inspiration. It was a nice word for it, and Zack could only hope that it was true. His death wasn't something he'd wanted -- he doubted that anyone really did, even those who asked for it -- but the idea of it having some meaning and pushing his friend to do so many great things... well, it made the whole thing a little easier to take.

Granted, here he was again, alive and kicking. Zack still wasn't sure if there was a time limit on all of this, but he was going to just take things as they came. Even if it involved seeing Gaia as it was years after his own death.

When Nanaki explained that he was adjusting, Zack frowned down at his food as he tried to figure out what that even meant. Suddenly, he realized that this whole situation was strangely familiar. The odd movements from his conversation partner, the difficulty with eating... It all reminded him of his talk with ZEX.

Did that mean -- was Nanaki not in his normal body? Zack tried to eye the other patient subtly, searching for clues, but there was no way of really knowing. He could just ask, but if it turned out he was wrong, that would be both awkward and really rude of him. Instead, he decided to go with a more discreet line of questioning. "Adjusting in what way?" he asked as he took another bite of his brunch.

Nanaki was about to lift another lump of meat into his mouth, but stopped at looked at Zack. His face was blank for all but his eyes as he thought about the situation. He supposed, from what he knew, Zack could be trusted. But still.

"In many ways. Aren't you? This is a very peculiar situation after all."

That was a pretty generic response, which might mean that Zack was just reading between the lines a little too much. Either that, or Nanaki wasn't going to be completely forthcoming, which he couldn't fault him for too much. A lot of people didn't trust him off the bat because he used to be with Shin-Ra, and this was also the first time they'd met, regardless of how well Cloud might have spoken for him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he agreed with a nod as he chewed on a piece of sausage and glanced off in thought. "I have some experience with this kind of thing, though. I'm still not sure if Landel is quite as bad as Hojo." Though he was reminded of the situation Yuffie had painted for them last night, and had to suppress a shudder.

Chances were that Nanaki had heard of Hojo at one point or another, through Cloud or just as a matter of course, and so Zack didn't bother to explain. He didn't want to make the teen feel like he was being patronizing, after all. As much as he teased Yuffie, he didn't really see age as a sign of inexperience or ignorance.

Nanaki, as composed and calm, began to nod as Zack spoke. But the mention of a certain scientist set his back hunching up as he growled, every bit a caged animal. He hated Hojo, the vile little man. He could barely be considered human, and Nanaki didn't even like humans much, so that was saying something.

"I've been told he's not responsible. It makes sense. The day time would be much worse if he was."

That was a much larger response than Zack had been expecting, especially since Nanaki had been pretty mellow thus far. Or, not mellow, but quiet and kind of awkward. The way his shoulders tensed as he made a weird growling noise caused the soldier to straighten in his seat out of shock, but it didn't take him long to calm down again -- after all, that sort of reaction wasn't out of hand considering they were talking about Hojo.

Nanaki had to have dealt with the scientist personally. That was the only reason to react so strongly to just a name, even if Zack could relate completely. If anything, that made him more convinced.

"Tell me about it. At least here they let us walk around a little bit." They were still forced to go to the rooms that the nurses told them to go to, but they could stretch their legs and even get some fresh air. Zack wasn't saying it was paradise, but it was way better than the Shin-Ra mansion's basement.

"So, what did he put you through?" he asked with a tilt of his head as he popped another piece of sausage into his mouth. "If you don't mind me asking." Some people were okay with talking about it and some weren't. Zack wasn't exactly the sharing and caring type -- he'd give the facts, but he wasn't going to turn on the waterworks.

Nanaki had been suspicious that Zack was searching for answers about him and the question was further evidence towards it. Really, he should just ask straight out, Nanaki wasn't going to deny what he was, but he was happy to dodge careful questions.

"I don't mind direct questions. It was captivity mostly," he grumbled. There'd been some prodding and poking, but he was mostly being saved for Aerith. "I would ask you the same.... but I suppose I know." So did Zack know he was dead? It wasn't that long after the Mansion that he was killed. Or perhaps he was unhappy long before that ordeal?

Captivity, huh? Well, that seemed to be the name of the game, especially when it came to Hojo. Zack sighed and gave Nanaki an apologetic look. Even if the kid was kind of weird, it was clear that he didn't deserve to be put through something like that. No one should have to be put at Hojo's mercy, as far as Zack was concerned. It didn't matter what they'd done.

It sounded like Cloud had shared enough details of what they'd been put through that his friends didn't even need to ask. Zack felt a little bit uncomfortable about it, but it wasn't the sort of thing that could be kept secret for long. "Yeah," he responded as he shook a hand through his hair, "four years of being cooped up with some experimentation on the side."

Not to mention the mako. Lots and lots of mako. It was no surprise that seeing the Lifestream had made him feel a little queasy.

At that moment, the intercom went off and the nurses started to hustle around the room claiming patients. The time never seemed long enough, but Zack also knew that he was playing catch-up with everything that had taken place after his death. It was going to take a while. "Well, it was nice to meet you," he said with a small smile. "I'll see you around, all right? I wouldn't be surprised if we end up working together sometime."

"Four years," he repeated with a nod. It had only been one for himself. Give or take. "I don't think we'll be here for that long," he added. It was his attempt at optimism.

"Work?" he asked, head tilted. "I...suppose." What did he mean by that? Was he coming back alive, or...perhaps he meant here. "I would like that."

Zack also hoped that they wouldn't be stuck in this place for four whole years. He'd already given up too many years of his life to Shin-Ra's greed; he didn't need to go through it again. While Zack realized that he had to be somewhat grateful to Landel for resurrecting him, that didn't mean he had to lay down and allow himself to be experimented with out of gratitude.

Nanaki seemed a little confused, but in the end he responded in the affirmative, and that was the important thing. "Sounds good," Zack responded with a nod as he stood from his chair, abandoning the rest of his meal. He'd eaten enough. Giving the kid a parting wave, the soldier moved away to meet up with a nurse.

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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