damned_institute | 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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Kaworu's eyes raised towards Asuka. The familiarity between them had been faint, but it had changed now. Her animosity had grown, and it had found its roots in the truth of their differences. He had been curious to meet her when she had arrived, so that he could associate her with Unit 002. He had been shown photographs of her, but Kaworu found those unsatisfying. They said too little of a person. They could not tell him how the Lilim would move, how they would talk. He had shared Unit 02 with her, but against her will. She saw it not as something intimate, but as an invasion. A violation. It had never been his intention.

He was not human, and so he would be rejected and denied that connection. His identity invalidated any previous moments spent with her. If he could change the situation, then he would have chosen to do so, but it was inevitable.

He watched the way her hand rested on the table in a forced act of casualness. She did not need to speak to express what it was she truly meant. Lilim would unconsciously show their true selves in the smallest motions. In the refusal of eye contact, in the acceptance of a touch, in the angle of their bodies. It was not meant for him to know, but he couldn't overlook it. He didn't want to.

He rearranged the tail of his half-peeled orange, using only touch as his eyes remained trained on Asuka. He smiled. "Yes," he agreed with sureness and understanding. "I was returned as well."

The thin veil of self control that Asuka held tightly to snapped like tissue paper. Her morose expression now burned with something akin to abhorrence and disgust as her fidgeting hands grabbed Kaworu by the collar of his shirt.

"Don't talk to me so casually, traitor, as if you are entitled to my friendship, or Shinji's!" Her voice started quiet, just for the two of them, but the eva pilot grew more hysterical, like a dam beginning to crumble one crack at a time and spew with no restraint. "A wolf in sheep's clothing, how dare you even show your face here, you filthy angel!" With a grip on the Fifth Child already, Asuka simply took the material of his shirt in her fist and shoved him back as hard as she could in order to topple the chair so the redhead could bear down on her enemy properly.

Kaworu was startled by the ease with which she lifted him. His chair was shoved across the tiles as his legs unwillingly moved it to accommodate Asuka. The sudden breach of the barrier, the physical space between them was unexpected, and different in its aggression. He had been reached for out of practicality, but being touched for the sake of such emotion was strange. Her anger radiated out of her, and reminded him of aspects of humanity that he often forgot when he surrounded himself with delicate souls. Asuka was fragile in her own way, but she would not allow him to see. She would not invite him in, as others had.

And then, as though she saw the understanding in his eyes, she had forced him away. Kaworu knew his center of balance was out of his grasp, although he reached for it still. The chair skittered away further and toppled as his knee caught on it and Kaworu hit the ground. Sharp discomfort raced through his bones, but it retreated into a benign sensation, easily forgotten. Asuka's words would remain longer. He looked up towards her, undeterred by the angle.

She had never shown him the acceptance that others had, but she had believed him. She had believed Shinji's implicit recommendation. Even as she was threatened by him, she had seen him as no real danger. And now, with his nature exposed, she would hate him more. A liar, a replacement, an infringement upon her life.

"You aren't wrong," he agreed. "However, my intentions mean less to you than what I symbolize, and what you fear."

"Fear?" Her condescending bark of laughter was undercut by a dry choke. What did she fear? Was she afraid of this boy? He probably weighed less than Asuka and had as much survival instinct as Shinji, which meant absolutely none. What was there to fear about him when he was willingly lying below her, vulnerable, and uninterested in defending himself. But he was an angel, and the eva pilot knew what he was capable of. The redhead had gotten a first-row seat to his power last night. He had been in character before, and yet in this place he was powerless, or acted powerless. No, there was nothing to fear from this boy nor his kin. She had been unstoppable before and Asuka would redeem her reputation!

"I saw what your 'intentions' are yesterday, but I have no reason to fear you. I was born to kill your kind!" Asuka was through with talking to a mortal enemy. Her proclamations, while outlandish, were true and she put her lifelong training to use. "I'll finish whatever wonder boy started!!" Her right hand pulled back into a fist to strike Kaworu, knuckles cutting over the pale boy's left cheek. The impact hurt worse than the she expected. Movies clearly didn't prepare you like they should, so, to save herself a broken hand, Asuka wrapped her thin hands around his throat and squeezed as hard as she could to extinguish the angel's light. "Just die!"

The strike was shocking, but it gave way to anger that blinded him. The enemy was there in his hands. Brittle and tangible. Something that could be killed, and that was his purpose. He felt his hands around their neck, and then still his hands on someone's arms, as though they didn't know what to do. He felt more sure of himself than ever, so why wouldn't they know? His face twisted in a mirror of Asuka's expression, inside and out. He was in control, he wasn't scared, he was chosen for this. The anger pushed outwards, it protected anything inside, it blinded everyone to him, it kept him safe and strong. He would act where others, the weaker ones, had hesitated. They always did. Weak. Disgusting. He was disgusting, just lying there, not fighting, accepting death.

The thoughts became harder to hold onto, and the hands that had gripped Asuka's arms with a borrowed will to survive weakened. There was so much in his head, and the pressure built up until he thought it would rip him apart. He didn't want to die, he didn't want to die, don't kill me!

When the confrontation moved from verbal threats to outright violence staff appeared at the childrens' side as though they'd learned to teleport. Two orderlies took hold of Lorelei's arms to pull her back, removing her hands from the boy's throat with grips as solid and implacable as stone, while the nurse accompanying them paused to drop to one knee beside the boy, brow creased in obvious concern. "Addison? Are you all right, dear?"

"He's not Addison, he's a monster!" The large hands that held her back did nothing to quell her rage. In fact, the two men only made her blood boil hotter, frustrated that they impeded official business. "You're letting a monster run free! What kind of sorry excuse for a prison is this?" The only way she would be able to get back to her job was to shake off these muscle heads.

"Let go of me, assholes!" The little redhead was too small of mass to pull away from the orderlies, so she tried to kicking at their shins or any other place she could inflict pain.

Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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I finally get to use this icon hooray \o/

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