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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Edgar paused, jam spread only halfway across the toast on his plate. He brought his good hand to rest under his chin, thinking a moment. "The world I come from is in ruins," he answered truthfully. "A vile man hellbent on becoming a god destroyed it, changing the shape of the land overnight and using his new-found powers to obliterate anyone who opposed him. My home, Figaro, hasn't been seen in months."

It frustrated the king to be trapped within the walls of the institute, unable to help his people survive in the decaying world. If the castle was buried under the sands and unable to surface for any reason, it was only a matter of time before they perished. They couldn't live beneath the ground indefinitely.

"I was with my brother when it happened, but we were separated," he continued, sounding a little less pensive. "I'm confident he's faring better than Figaro. Thankfully, he's far too stubborn to let something like a crazed magician rearranging the face of the world be the end of him."

"A magician?" Raphael repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. Geez, and he'd thought he and his family had had it pretty tough against the Foot and the Shredder (and everyone else that came along and decided they wanted a piece of them). But at least that was mostly just in New York. Even Leo hadn't gotten ideas crazy enough to think they should try and save the whole world when things went wrong.

...okay sure, maybe they'd done that once or twice, but it was only something that had happened while they were trying to take care of their little family, not like they woke up one day and decided they should look out for everyone. Wasn't like the rest of the world would look out for them or anything.

"So your brother," he said, looking at his food and poking at the small salad the nurse had insisted be set up on the side. "You think he's here or 's it just you, on your own?"

Edgar looked away from the conversation for a moment, his mind clearly elsewhere. "He's not here," he said, no doubt in his voice. It was true that given the numbers in the prisoner population, there was a chance he could have missed seeing those he suspected had been 'released'- Yuna, Harley, Kuukaku, all not seen for days- but Sabin was a different story.

He returned his attention to Raphael, the smile on his face tinted with melancholy. "If Sabin was hiding somewhere in the institution, he'd have let himself be known by now. He's the sort who's hard to miss with his physique- he's a martial artist by trade and tends to stand out in a crowd."

The shoulder wound ached dully; Edgar's hand went to it unconsciously, his teeth gritting together. "He's also the sort who wouldn't let undead beasts have their way with my shoulder," he said with a sore grin. He briefly imagined how the fight would have progressed had his twin been present, then decided to save that disturbing notion for later. He still had a meal to eat.

"No kiddin'?" Raphael laughed, smile lighting up his face easily. "I'm a martial artist too. Ninjutsu. Learned it from my father, along with my brothers. All four of us grew up with it."

He took a bite out of another slice of pizza, in part to hide the pensive look that was stealing over him. "Yeah, I get it," he said around a mouthful of food. "If my bros where here as well, I'd know 'bout it by now. We're good at findin' each other. No matter what else happens. Always been good at that."

It seemed Edgar shared more similarities with Raphael than he'd initially expected. He flashed the younger man a wide smile. "Wow, four brothers? And I thought the one could be a hassle at times." He wasn't sure he could handle having three other siblings- then again, his situation was a tricky one. It had been easy enough to convince Sabin to pursue a life of freedom from the world of politics- all it took was the flip of a coin. A simple coin toss would have never worked with four heirs to the same throne.

"All in all, it's probably best our siblings are not here," he said thoughtfully. "As great of an aid as Sabin would be in escaping this wretched place, I wouldn't wish it on him. He'd likely get himself in a lot of trouble as it is, trying to save everyone all at once. His heart is in the right place, even if his head isn't sometimes."

Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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