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

[rocksthecourt]

"Yes, exactly," he confirmed as Lamperouge returned to the table. So she did seem interested in the subject. It was safe, then, to assume she wasn't just going to be there for the sake of decoration. He wasn't to disregard her completely in that case. Heh, this could get interesting.

He watched quietly as the boy presented the food with the careful practice of someone who had done this more than once. When he finally sat down and offered an explanation, Klavier's expression softened for just a second. Ah. Siblings. That explained the treatment, especially if he was right about her having gone through an ordeal the night before. Their exchanges were short, but it was obvious they cared greatly for each other. He could respect that.

"Ah, I see," he said with a slight nod. This would normally be cue for Klavier to put on a professional face himself, but he stuck with the same bright grin he'd been using for Nunnally. Nothing wrong with a friendly atmosphere even while conducting business. "Likewise, it's a pleasure, Herr Lamperouge."

He leaned back in his seat a little, likely looking more curious than attentive. "Now then. ...If you don't mind my getting right to the matter, what in particular did you want to discuss with me today?" There was a list of topics they could have easily gone on about, regarding both research and theories.

[kingside]

Catching sight of Nunnally nibbling at that muffin made his facade thaw a little, but Lelouch tried not to let that bother him as he turned his attention fully to the conversation at hand. "I wanted to request your assistance with establishing a more reliable means of information exchange than the bulletin board. As you know, the censorship has made it impossible to discuss certain pertinent topics without heavily veiling one's true meaning. Much is getting lost in translation, and more than that, continuing services such as Mr. Edgeworth's primer and the continually updated monster list is no a longer viable option. With your help, I hope to remedy this.

"By means of circulating journals with the aforementioned information written inside and collectively updating them a few times each week, we should be able to overcome much of the issues currently plaguing us. It will be a lot of work, but I believe that by utilizing the current club structures, we will to accomplish these tasks with relative ease. Ideally, we want one journal per group and one representative within each group to whom responsibility for collecting data and updating the journal is assigned-- possibly two, considering the institute's propensity for unwanted surprises. Having these individuals approved by both G.A.M.B.I.T. and the respective club leaders should cut down on any ruffled feelings as well, and so cooperation and communication with each group is absolutely essential for this project to get off the ground.

"This is where you come in. I am, unfortunately, only human, and I cannot meet with every club leader myself and explain what I hope to achieve with this project in a timely manner. There are not enough shifts in a day, and we have already lost much ground since the bulletin restrictions were put into place. This is partially my fault; I had anticipated something of this nature would become necessary, but I did not realize a need for it would arise so soon.

"Assigning blame is secondary to taking whatever actions are necessary to fix the problem, however, and it is my wish that you will join me in doing so before any more damage can be wrought."

[jouer-sans-voir.livejournal.com]

The small bite of food was enough to suddenly remind Nunnally that she'd barely had a change to touch her dinner the night before and hadn't eaten a real meal since lunch in town. She took another bite of the muffin to still her abruptly-ravenous hunger, watching the other two speak with a thoughtful expression. Circulating journals between small groups would serve to distribute information amongst those who needed to know, though there was always a risk that the staff might notice the significance of the books as they were handed around. Counting on word of mouth wouldn't work, however, for nurses were probably more likely to notice conversations before they would suspect something odd in someone reading from their notebook.

Unfortunately she wouldn't be of much use when it came to writing the needed information in the journals, as she was still remembering what she'd learned as a child. Information encoded in Braille would be far easier for her to read, but that was hardly an option for other people. Nunnally made a mental note to practice her writing some more (and perhaps if she asked Lelouch would write out the Japanese alphabet for her, so she could study that as well, since people seemed to use more than one language on the bulletin). When it came to talking to people, however... that she could certainly do.

At the moment Lelouch was working on recruiting Mr. Gavin for his purpose, though, so it wasn't time for her to interrupt and volunteer herself to work on the project. Nunnally did, however, give him a look that she hoped he could read as she lightly touched her fingertips against his arm. He was reluctant to allow her to help, she was aware. But that didn't mean she was going to simply sit by while he asked others to work.

[rocksthecourt]

A new distribution system? Interesting. It was true, they were limited in what information they could gather and share over the bulletin boards. The staff were making things unnecessarily difficult. Even if they weren't, the presence of some patients made posting on the bulletin more of a cautious venture than a productive one. Circulating journals and collectively updating them was actually a pretty good plan assuming it was organized well. People could write exactly what they witnessed and newer patients could be warned ahead of time regarding the dangers this place held.

But that was only looking at the smaller picture. If the established clubs worked together on this project, it would create a small sense of unity. Collaborating on one collective front would open the avenue for further endeavors and may actually make people think about working together more often. Once that was established, it wasn't hard to imagine a possible, institute-wide force working against Herr Doktor. ...Clever. He liked it.

Unfortunately, the plan only worked under the most idealistic of conditions. It was a little presumptuous of the influence of the clubs. Since Lamperouge had apparently been keeping tabs on the clubs and their memberships, Klavier trusted he knew what he was doing by suggesting such a plan, but it still felt like a stretch. Even then, it required a great amount of trust. Assuming everyone cooperated, assuming people were truthful in what they wrote, assuming people wouldn't use this distribution system to try tricking one another, assuming information wasn't stolen entirely, assuming people could follow through with schedules and promises, assuming people here were decent and good-hearted enough to want to do what they could to do something for the common good of everyone here... then it would work flawlessly. Klavier wasn't nearly optimistic enough to assume that was the case.

He chuckled a little. "You certainly weren't kidding when you said it would take a good amount of work. And it is a bit of a leap of faith regarding the club leaders and those handling the notebooks. ...But if we can make it work, the benefits would be immeasurable. It's certainly well worth the effort." He carefully nodded once, as though still mulling it over. "I'll gladly help you in any way possible. If you're asking I only help pass the message along to other clubs for now, that I can most certainly do. ...However, I have one issue with your plan.

"You're planning to involve every single organized group here, ja? Including the History Club, I assume?" The smile had faded a little by this point and was only really there for the sake of it. "...I think they're more likely to hinder collective efforts than help. They care only for their own interests. Nothing more. And to be frank," he shook his head slightly as though exasperated by the thought, "...I don't think their trustworthy."

It was hard not to laugh at the understatement. Homura was a killer as was Julian, most likely. Saying he didn't trust them was like saying dangling a baby over a meat grinder was kind of a bad idea. He had no idea if the rest of the group was as bad or if they were only manipulated patients, but the case remained that they would prove troublesome.

[kingside]

"Not every organized group," Lelouch corrected promptly, taking a sip of his orange juice. Coffee would be so much more appropriate right now. Well, he supposed he should be thankful that he was able to drink anything at all; it was impossible to do so through that mask. "It seems a little foolish to expend the effort necessary to maintain journals for some of the smaller groups. If they have members who are willing to do so, of course, I won't stop them, but otherwise, I think it should be all right if they were to pair up with other small groups and share.

"As for the History Club, they'll have no more over what goes in the notebooks than they would have had the information stayed on the board. I'm not intending to share anything in these journals that I wouldn't on there, Mr. Gavin. The fruits of our research in other areas will be given somewhat more care than that. The History Club is, after all, far from the only group with a dubious reputation in this place." That wasn't even going into the various individuals in the institute, but Lelouch didn't even bother pointing that out. It would have been a waste of time, assuming Gavin was as intelligent as he thought he was.

"Apart from that, we can always implement penalties for groups who fail to contribute. We may not be able to take their journals away from them once they've gotten them, but we can prevent them from updating them with the others. Outdated information can quickly become obsolete in this place. They could theoretically steal the information from other groups' journals, but we could just as easily penalize that group as well or stop using the system entirely. I am not suggesting that this is a perfect plan; it is merely the best I could come up with under the current circumstances.

"I am, of course, open to any other suggestions you may have for improvement. I do not believe, however, that excluding the History Club at this stage would be a wise idea. It is still a prominent group, and assuming this information proves to be something that they have a genuine interest in, we may be able to find some way to ensure that the success of this venture becomes one of their goals as well. It isn't the ideal outcome, but I believe that enough people will benefit from it that it should be worthwhile."

He kept his eyes on Gavin, scrutinizing him in what was likely a vaguely unsettling way. He had no doubt that if the man had any inkling at all of the sort of things he had done in the past, he would lose his support in an instant, and after Edgeworth had been released, that was a possibility he had to avoid at all costs. The current subject wasn't the sort that might cause such a split, but the subject of the History Club itself... he would need to keep his true opinion on their methods hidden.

As focused as Lelouch was on the current conversation, though, he could hardly block out Nunnally, and he lightly touched his hand to hers, sparing a brief glance at her. The look she gave him was one he recognized, and he gave her a brief smile. If she wanted to help with this, he would hardly stop her; it was something he'd be working on himself, and as long as he could keep an eye on her...