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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It was surprisingly much easier to eat with the help of hands. She had never before had such helpful support to aid her in the joys of devouring food.

One by one, Amaterasu consumed each piece of food on her tray. The flavors were rich, foreign and delicious to her, but none of them could compare to the golden peaches of Nippon or Mrs. Orange's cherry cakes.

After a few brief moments, everything was gone and the goddess was left completely satisfied in her seat.
The stress and worries of being in a new place without Issun had toned down. She was feeling much calmer with a full stomach and now took the time to study her surroundings better. Her eyes hadn't taken in much detail in when she noticed the tall, well-built young man staring at her in horror.

What was wrong with him?

Ammy cocked her head to the side curiously, then offered a small smile.
Though, it was highly unlikely that a sweet, simple glance would make up for her barbaric display of actions and manners.

Piece by piece the food went into the beautiful woman's mouth and disappeared like starships falling into a black hole. And, like a train wreck, Mori couldn't stop himself from staring. He'd never seen anyone eat so much so fast without pause before in his life. Sure, he'd heard of those Big Eater contests, but he'd never actually...witnessed someone doing it outside of those competitions.

Soon enough the food was gone and the woman sat back, apparently satisfied with having devoured everything in front of her. Mori blinked, realizing he hadn't done so since he started watching her, and when he opened his eyes again he saw the woman staring right at him. Her head tilted to the side in a gesture he knew all too well and then she smiled. She had such a pretty smile, and such...odd manners.

But as a Host, it wasn't his place to comment. Gathering his wits again, Mori bowed his head in greeting and then glanced to the seat across from her. It was open, but would it be appropriate to sit? Turning his head toward the seat, he looked from it then back to the woman again. All the other seats in the cafeteria were quickly filling and if the woman were still hungry, Mori could always offer her the food he'd taken for Mitsukuni. His cousin would probably have his own tray piled almost as high as this woman's own was just a few moments ago.

The human's eyes moved from Amaterasu to the seat across from her. Did he want to sit down? She could see the reluctance in his stare, yet could not comprehend it. Why was he so hesitant?
Mortals were such trivial life forms. As a goddess, it had been her duty to watch over and protect them from the Celestial Plains. She'd even spent a few centuries in their realm, walking among them. So, with all her experience, why was it still so difficult to understand the way they worked?

Humans responded positively to acts of kindness, didn't they? That was why everyone in Kamiki Village liked Kushi. She was nice, generous and was what Issun called a 'sweetie'.
They also liked to talk a lot, much to Ammy's displeasure. That was something she would have to get used to for the time being. Falling asleep during long conversations would probably come off as rude here and she had no idea how long her stay would last.

So far, this particular human wasn't speaking very much. Either that was just his nature or she was frightening him. Or both.
Perhaps all she needed to do was to act like Kushi and show him some kindness. Being nice had worked well with the overly-apologetic boy in the Sun Room, after all.

Amaterasu's smile turned into a brilliant grin and she lifted a finger to point at the empty seat across from her.

"Sit?" she asked, once again tilting her head ever-so-slightly.

Her feminine voice was enthusiastic this time and it thrilled her to hear it again. Talking certainly wasn't going to get old, that was for sure.

"Sit?" she asked and she sounded rather happy to have him join her, so he nodded his head and set his tray down across from her, bowing his head again in thanks. There was something so peculiar about her though. She had the classic sort of beauty that Mori had often seen in Japanese art, but her hair was more modern in cut and shape. Perhaps she was from his country too, then? Although where she could have been raised was beyond him. Even Haruhi would probably have been shocked by the way she ate, meaning she couldn't be a commoner. Haruhi knew all about commoners, right?

"Thank you," he said after a moment's pause as he sat down. She seemed to be almost as taciturn as he was, but in a different way. Her silence wasn't as heavy as his could be at times, and instead she had this light and airy atmosphere about her that was almost refreshing in a way. Maybe it was her smile - like sunlight on a summer day. It reminded him of Mitsukuni when he smiled and it helped him relax a little.

Now came the hard part.

"Morinozuka Takashi. You can call me Mori though." It's shorter that way, he added silently in his head. Introductions out of the way, he bowed his head a little and then looked to the woman's tray again. She'd been so voracious earlier. Had she had enough to eat? Picking up the extra plate of pancakes, Mori held them out to the woman to see if she wanted them.

Amaterasu blinked as the human introduced himself. Like the boy she had met earlier, his name could very well have come from Nippon. She repeated the full thing over in her head a few times, then tried to speak the nickname he gave her aloud.

"M . . . Mori . . ."

It rolled off her tongue without difficulty and the goddess could not help but beam in triumph. Now, all she had to do was say her name back. Ammy opened her mouth to speak, but cut herself short when Takashi held a plate out towards her. It was stacked with some rounded, flat and fluffy pieces of food that held a very sweet scent.

How could she decline such an offer?

This time, as she picked up one of the delicious-looking morsels, she was very cautious about eating it. Amaterasu took a single bite, chewed it, then swallowed it down. It was as sweet as it smelled and fluffy, but there was something that wasn't right.
Her stomach let out a loud, irritated rumble and she winced in pain. It felt as if her insides were about to burst! Was the food poisoned?!
. . . Or . . . or maybe she had just eaten way too much. Either way, it was not a feeling Ammy was used to.

The rest of the food suddenly seemed a lot less appetizing to Amaterasu. She shook her head frantically at Takashi, arms wrapped tightly around her belly.

"No," she groaned. "Too . . . too m-much."

Now that was kind of weird. Was she having trouble saying his name? He'd been hoping that giving a nickname would make it easier for people to pronounce his name, but maybe he'd been wrong about her being Japanese after all. But then...she seemed so essentially Japanese that there couldn't be a mistake, right? Maybe she was like him and just wasn't used to speaking all that much. That would explain the head tilt and the one worded sentences so far. Mori could deal with that. He actually somewhat preferred it.

He smiled when she took the pancakes from him and was about to turn to his meal when he heard her stomach grumble and glanced up to see her shaking her head frantically. He nodded slightly and took the plate back, setting it on his side. Best to remove the temptation and the source of the pain at once. If she'd eaten too much then more food in front of her would only make her uncomfortable. It was still a bit odd though. Wouldn't the woman have known her own limits by her age? Not that she was old. At all. But most people tended to figure that out when they were going to be big eaters like she was.

"Sorry." If he had ginger tea he'd make it for her, but the only tea they served here was English and decaffinated which probably made a lot of people angry. If her stomach kept hurting though, maybe he could ask the nurse for some medicine to help her. Picking up his granola, he added the milk to it and started eating it as he eyed the room for a nurse who might be able to help. After a moment, he returned his attention to the stranger and inclined his head, wondering what her name was. "You new?"

The first wave of sickness was already beginning to die down a bit. Ammy loosened her grip around her stomach, then lifted her head to look at Takashi. He had set aside the plate of fluffy circles in response to her outburst and quietly apologized to her.
It was almost surprising to see how well-mannered he was. Where was he from? Somehow, she had a feeling he wasn't from Nippon, even though his name said otherwise.
Amaterasu narrowed her eyes at Takashi, watching carefully as he began to eat his food. Maybe he could tell her about the place they were in. Maybe he knew where Issun was. But would he want to talk about such things? He was so quiet and didn't seem like the talkative type.

"You new?"

Well, that took care of that.
Ammy nodded at him, choosing her words carefully in her head before saying them aloud. It would probably be best to give him her name now. She could at least start there.

"Yes. I am . . . A-Ah . . . Ama . . . Ama . . . terasu."

She did it! She had managed to say her full name this time, rather than just 'Ammy'! Good Gods, she missed having her tail. It'd be wagging like crazy right about now. That is, if her aching stomach would allow it to.

"I . . . am A-Amaterasu."

That would explain a lot of things, Mori supposed. A new person, probably from a different world, maybe experiencing these Earth foods for the first time and--

What.

Mori stopped eating and almost dropped his bowl of granola.

What.

Amaterasu. Did she really just say Amaterasu? As in the Sun Goddess, the founder of the Imperial Line and the highest Shinto goddess around? No. That was just impossible. Gods didn't descend to the Earth like that, did they? There was no way Landel could have brought the Sun Goddess out of the sky like that! It had to be a coincidence, right? Just a really, really weird coincidence where someone's parents had decided to name their children after the most beautiful goddess in existence.

"...Amaterasu-omikami?" Surely that wouldn't be her full name, right? There was no way she could be-- "Sun Goddess?"

Takashi's reaction was not something Amaterasu was prepared for. She was mildly startled by the shock on his face, but the names he spoke were what grabbed her attention.

"Omikami . . . Sun G . . Goddess?"

He knew her.
Out of all the other humans in this place that could have spoken to her, she had found one that knew who and what she was.
The excitement building up in her chest was overwhelming. If she were a wolf, she would have jumped up and licked Takashi's face or at least given her tail an enthusiastic wag. But Ammy had to contain herself. If she scared him even more, it was very possible that she would not receive the answers she was looking for.

"Ah . . . y-yes," she said, offering a nervous smile. "Sun G-Goddess. Me."

Mori wasn't sure if the woman was happy or nervous, but his recognition of the Sun Goddess' true name certainly seemed to strike a cord with her. She seemed to get excited at one point, but then she quieted down again and gave him a nervous smile.

And a most unexpected answer.

Yes? She was the Sun Goddess? She was the Sun Goddess? Here. In Landel's. Sitting across from him with a stomachache from eating too much food. It was the Sun Goddess Amaterasu-Omikami sitting across from him with a nervous smile on her pretty face.

"...." Mori had no idea how to respond other than to let his absolute shock register on his face. He was certain people would start staring at him soon. He was staring at the woman slack-jawed, eyes wide as if he couldn't believe she was here of all places. Because he really couldn't. "...how?" Why? What was he supposed to do?! He had Hosted princesses and aristocracy, but a goddess?! How was he supposed to react to a goddess?! His mouth moved on its own and eventually he started to speak again. "...You know about this place yet?"

How? How was she here? She still wasn't sure herself.

Going through the Spirit Gate had brought her to this unusual place. Every step she had previously taken in her journey had led her along the correct path, but now it seemed as though she had taken a wrong turn. Was she meant to be here? Surely there must be some sort of divine purpose for her being in this place.

It was all so . . . frustrating.

Amaterasu shook her head, her eyes falling solemnly to her lap. Her long, layered black hair fell over her shoulders and briefly curtained her face before she managed to brush it aside.

"No," she said softly. "I d-do . . . do not k-know. Lost."

[I'm sorry for the wait! I was gone over the weekend. u_u]

Oh, so she was really new. And Mori supposed being trapped in a mortal body wasn't much fun either. It certainly explained her looks and her strange manners. A goddess hardly had to worry about proper manners when she was above everyone and everything. But that also meant that being here had to be much more frightening and disorienting. For a goddess who should have been able to get out of here anytime she wished, the limit on her powers had to be disturbing.

Smiling faintly, Mori nodded and motioned to his nurse. She came over and he drew a rectangle in the air, looking at her with hopes that she'd understand what he was asking for. After a brief moment of confusion, the woman nodded and disappeared for a few minutes, returning soon enough with Mori's journal. He hadn't written in here yet at all, so there was nothing to hide from her and thus no danger in having her fetch it. Besides, the nurses seemed to ignore anything out of the ordinary in the patients' rooms anyway.

Turning back to Amaterasu once the nurse left, Mori pulled a few sheets of paper out. He was never very good at explaining things and he didn't trust his voice to be able to make it through the explanation necessary. It was hard enough to give that speech he gave to Tamaki once, but explaining this place? Mori began writing as quickly as he could, drawing maps of the areas he knew - downstairs, minus the East Wing, upstairs minus some of the details around the Sun Room railing and any locked doors. He passed this over to the woman and nodded his head slightly. "Day is normal, but night's pretty dangerous. Don't go out alone. Patients'll help you as much as they can - but clubs are around to make sure you got someone to travel with. Club names usually don't really show what the Clubs are for, but it's a good way to get to know people. Mitsukuni and I run the Cake Club." The rest he wrote down - instructions on where to get makeshift weapons, explanations that the staff here weren't going to help but they didn't really mean to hinder, warnings to beware the animals and other things here because they weren't going to help even the great Sun Goddess herself, and finally an apology that he couldn't offer a real explanation as to why someone so powerful could be kept here against her will. "Mitsukuni is in M60. Me, M61." He pointed to the two rooms and then looked at Amaterasu. "We'll help you if we can."

[Aw, it's alright. :3 I didn't mind!]

Amaterasu watched with great curiosity as the nurse brought a small book at Takashi's request. He took a writing utensil in hand and began to draw on some of the sheets of paper. Her eyes followed the lines he scribbled out, unaware that her head was cocking to the side yet again.

The sketches he drew were not like the ones Ammy was used to. Yet, for some reason, it softened her glum countenance. It was good to see that even in such an unusual place, art still existed in one way or another.

While Takashi continued his explanation, the goddess listened with attentive ears. Hearing of the dangerous that arose during night did not disturb her in the least. In Nippon, night was the perfect time for evil to act. It seemed as though that was another rare thing the two worlds held in common.
The rest of the explanation was written out for her, followed by an apology. When it was all over, Amaterasu raised her gaze towards Takashi's face and she offered up that sunny smile again.

"T . . . T-thank y . . . you. Mori." she said, bowing her head in a grateful fashion. "M . . . M-May I . . . find you? D-d . . . d-during n . . . ni . . . n-nightfall?"

Such words sounded silly to her when spoken aloud. She was Amaterasu, origin of all that is good and mother to all. But in this place, she was merely human and she lacked the divine powers she had worked so hard to reattain. Relying on others was a foreign concept to the Sun Goddess, but Takashi had told her to travel in a group. So far during her time here, he was probably the one human that had bothered to explain things. And he had done so without boring her into a light nap. That was a first in Ammy's book.

Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun, the mother of Japan and its imperial line, looked at his drawings and almost seemed to relax. He had read that the gods liked art, but he'd never thought she'd like something so simple as what he was doing. Maybe someday he'd have to get someone with actual artistic talent to draw her something and present it as an offering. It might make her feel a little bit more at home to have some sort of tribute.

She also seemed unperterbed to find that the night brought unspeakable evils. Mori supposed that she was accustomed to vanquishing demons and whatnot though. He should have expected her to not bat an eye. She was, after all, a Celestial Being.

Which was all the more readily believable whenever he saw her smile. It seemed to glow with a light of its own and Mori couldn't help but smile a bit in return - if a bit shyly on his part. When she bowed, he returned the gesture, bowing a bit deeper than she did. He had his lessons to attend tonight, but Mitsukuni could definitely use a guardian and a friend. Meeting Amaterasu of all people would be interesting for him, right? He'd need to ask and see. And if Amaterasu liked eating as much as she seemed, maybe the Cake Club would be perfect for her. "Cake Club. We always meet. Would be an honor to have you join us."

It truly felt good to receive a respectful bow and to hear such polite words during a difficult time. Just witnessing such a spectacle filled Ammy with a powerful emotion.
Being held here against her will was a painful thing. She needed to protect humanity and keep the world safe from harm. But she would not be able to do it alone and thus, the relationship she had just made was very satisfying to the goddess. Allies in this prison was no doubt a fortunate thing to have.
Her impending meeting with the 'Cake Club' sounded exciting, as well. It also sounded delicious (Do they know how to make cherry cakes? she wondered).

From the corner of her eyes, Amaterasu could see the approaching form of her nurse. She acted quickly, grabbing the writing utensil Takashi had used prior and clumsily clutched it in one hand. The tip of the pen scribbled across the first page of his open journal, forming the shape of a circle and a few squiggled lines. Just as her nurse came to a stop beside their table, the goddess completed the drawing and pushed the journal back towards her human companion.

"Oh, Amari! I'm so proud of you! You've made a friend!" the nurse cried happily, placing her hands on Ammy's shoulders. "But you're going to have to say 'bye-bye' for now. It's time you got some sun, because you're just as pale as can be!"

Amaterasu rose to her feet in one fluid, graceful motion, surprising herself at the ease in which she could now balance on two legs. She gave Takashi a playful smirk, then turned on her heel and walked away from the table with only her nurse at her side.

What had she left on the page of his journal? It was nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary.
It was a drawing. A drawing of the sun.

[Moved to Courtyard (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/932686.html?thread=70683726#t70683726)]

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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