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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Leonard picked a table that was empty, setting his tray down before using both hands to rub his eyes. He shook his head- Tired. Why am I so tired? It was impossible to know what he'd done the previous night, if he'd gotten any sleep at all or if he'd stayed awake, his mind too busy to give him a moment's rest. All he knew was what he had now: he felt as though he'd either slept too long or not at all, his body aching at various points, his head swimming. What was I doing last night?

He removed from his journal from his pocket, flipping to the first page, looking for information on his activities. He paused, taken aback by what he saw: a photograph of a monster, a charred picture, his own writing speaking of a murder from within the walls of the institution. He read the notes again- if it hadn't been his distinctive lettering describing these events, he'd have thought they were the disorganized notes of a lunatic. Then again, he'd been institutionalized for God only knew how long. Maybe he really had gone insane.

I'm not crazy, Leonard told himself, sitting down and running a hand through his hair. Whatever this place is... it's not me. I have to be able to trust myself, trust my own writing and these pictures. This is fact somehow. Proof. Memories lie, but these pictures and what I've written to myself- they're all I have.

Leonard pushed the tray aside as he started going through the rest of his journal, grabbing his pen in case he needed to summarize areas. He could never know how many times he'd read that sheet at the front of the book, how many times he'd thought along the same track, briefly considering his sanity; however, it was clear he needed to condense the pages and pages of notes even more in order to get the information he needed faster.

[Harvey Dent]

'And there was nobody there except for us and a Tonberry (we fried it goooood) and we nearly crashed the airship ('nearly', whew) but we landed in front of Kalm (Cloud comes in handy sometimes, i guess) AND IT WAS TOTALLY EMPTY,' wrote Yuffie, her Wutaian calligraphy quick, casual, and just a little messy. '~~Reeve would have a heart-attack if i ever submitted these notes hahaaaa~~, I even checked for Marls.'

Yuffie paused, tapping her pen in a jaunty non-rhythm against the lined paper. Weird to think that they'd gotten home last night. Weird to think that Reeve was in Landel's. Weird to think about any of it.

At least spendin' the morning chatting with Kaito and Yukari'd perked her up mood-wise, Yuffie admitted in the privacy of her own mind. It'd given her a chance to process without thinking, and to blow off steam without stabbing anything (or anybody) in the face. The rest of her, on the other hand… that was a little trickier. The night had left her feeling wrung out and hung up to dry—except she'd been soaked. Totally not dry at all. And she didn't think the nurse had been lyin' her ass off about that temperature, either.

Ah, well. No time to dwell. Today was lookin' to be a busy one; she'd have to be on the look out for Reeve, had to decide what she was gonna do about Brainy and Mori, had to start (and finish!) reworking her report for Lelouch (including bulletin research, yay), had to raid Sen's old half of the room and potentially play delivery-girl for Okita, had to double back 'round to F6 to heal up Tifa, and then she was thinking about trying for her file and Hanna's possessions again, since last night had been a total bust in that department. Whew.

She was probably forgetting some stuff, too. Good thing she liked leading a busy life, or this'd all the building up to one hell of a suckgasm.

With a flash of a half-smile, Yuffie ducked her head down and resumed writing. A plate piled high with fruit and waffles lay abandoned off to her left side

[For Kenshin.]

“Calvin, dear, you have to eat something--don’t give me that look, young man.”

Keman wanted to tell the obnoxious woman that she wasn’t his mother and had no right to talk to him this way, but the words seemed to get lost on the way to his mouth. He was still too tired and woozy from the sedatives to fully articulate what he was thinking. The food on his tray went untouched; it didn’t look particularly appetizing at the moment anyway. Maybe he’d be hungry later, when the drugs wore off, but for right now he didn’t trust anything that they put in front of him. He felt cold and sick and very much alone, even after talking to Howl the shift before. How could he even begin to tell anyone about what they had done to him? No one would believe him, anyway. Dr. Jones thought he was completely mad for saying he was a dragon, so how would “they took me away at night and turned me into my natural form against my will” sound?

Most of the friends Keman had here right now had no idea what he really was. Seeing what he really looked like would probably frighten them, or worse. He’d attacked two people last night simply because they’d startled him. His so-called friends wouldn’t react any differently; they’d see a creature they didn’t recognize and try to defend themselves. They’d see a monster.

[L and Indiana Jones!]

_{[free, like an overly dramatic bird~]}

Aidou was not some pathetic creature to hold his head low for very long, and by the time brunch rolled around, he filed into the cafeteria, noncommittal.

He couldn’t be held back. He was a vampire. These, too, were truths, very simple ones that didn’t usually need remarking upon. He reflected on them as he took a helping of everything from the cafeteria line. Yes, he was still an aristocrat no matter what was done to him. He wasn’t completely powerless: he retained his quick mind, and a portion of his physical prowess. Youthfulness perhaps wasn’t his greatest asset, he thought, in comparison to the greater strength and experience of older vampires. But his time in Cross Academy--that had served him. He felt he did have some experience navigating the waters of non-vampires, and that navigation had become more important than he’d believed, when he’d first arrived at the hospital.

What was standing in his way was not totally himself, but Landel’s seemingly impenetrable wall of intrigue and circular trials.

And then, sitting in the chapel, he had thought of Kaname-sama, and even the most confounding of the Head Doctor’s hardships seemed full of chinks. Aidou had vastly more significant affairs to devote himself to over this nonsense, and was hence reminded that he was inevitably going to free himself or die in the attempt. Simple truths. He hadn’t so much forgotten these things in the last week or so as perhaps let them slip too far from his thoughts. Well, he knew his priorities, and a string of failures wasn’t going to change them. Defeat might keep him grounded, but defeatism was idiotic.

That was debatably why he had started thinking about different avenues to try on his way downstairs, starting with the red-eyed female he’d met in the library a week before. If he took a step back from everything and looked at the big picture, the risks involved with associating with certain people were worth it if he got somewhere. He had to wonder: would another kind of vampire have thought that way sooner than him, or later? Huh…

One of everything equated to a fairly large helping of food, and the noble had to make room for it in a spot out of the way of most of the windows. Real food would have to come later. And then there was his journal, which he had collected in between checking up on the bulletin board. He put that in front of him and arranged his food around it so that he could write if he wanted. Even physically revisiting the facts and adding new ones to his handwritten notes could change something, bring to the forefront a connection he hadn’t made before. Right? Why the hell not. He’d be open to the possibility.

Sho was in a foul mood. His second encounter with the questionable Alvin Draper, his second period of time completely wasted. It was a small sample size, but the mathematician didn't exactly have a lot of spare time to experiment.

Arguing with that kid on the board hadn't helped his mood any either. As for the lack of legitimate responses, Sho wasn't sure whether he had positive or negative feelings about the lack of other Reapers. Heck, even some of those parsecs from parallel dimensions would have been at least interesting to investigate.

Filling up his plate with far more food that the nurses thought were necessary, Sho sat down in one of the far corners and ~~brooded~~ worked on his calculations.

[Free]

Edited 2010-06-17 22:05 (UTC)

While Hime didn't particularly like the carefree mash up of two meals into one, she at least appreciated that the larger selection meant a higher probability of being able to avoid the greasy fried foods the institute seemed intent on feeding them. Or so one would think. In reality, such foods still dominated the vast majority of the menu.

So it was with a bagel and bowl of fruit that Hime cruised through the line then back to a table near the entrance. Sipping at her juice - she really wish they would them have tea - the princess awaited the appearance of her robot ~~vassal~~ partner.

[For Depth Charge]

So, he finally got away from Sheena without pouring his feelings out to her, or having her calm him down. And he felt... like crap. At least before, he was just good and angry. Yes, he was frustrated, but mostly he was just mad at assholes that deserved it. Now he felt all knotted up inside and confused again, and she made him feel bad for being angry. Why shouldn't he be? Of course, he wasn't even mad at her... or was he? There wasn't even a good reason, it wasn't like she'd even done anything. And of course, now she probably felt worse and he... he didn't even know whether he had wanted that or not.

All of that rolling over in his head again, he followed the crowd filing into the cafeteria and took a plate. He grabbed a few burgers, and found an isolated seat to eat at. At least there was the chance he could fight someone soon, if they responded to his note. All he knew for sure he wanted right now was to get into a real fight. It didn't matter if he won or lost, he was built to be a fighter, and he needed to just take out his anger somehow.

Awww man...this was what happened when he spent too much time talking to girls. Niikura groaned as he sat up in bed. That had been a waste; Hokuto hadn't even heard of Akumetsu.

He played surly teenager as the nurse led him down to the cafeteria babbling about brunch and about how she knew that it was important that growing boys get lots of sleep but really this was ridiculous. At least they agreed on one thing, Niikura mused: this was really ridiculous.

He piled his plate high with food and then went to go find a seat. There weren't that many people at brunch yet, so most of the chairs were empty. The teen picked a table that seemed nice for no apparent reason and took a big bite out of the burger on his plate before sitting down.

[for...Mello, I think. Otherwise free.]

All in all, the chapel had been even less interesting than he'd expected. He had heard whispers of the time when the Head Doctor himself had showed up there, but it had been foolish of him to hope for a repeat performance, especially after what the man had pulled last night. Chances were that the patients were frothing at the mouth even more than usual when it came to sinking their teeth into Landel considering what he'd just put them through.

He would have been first in line with that effort if he wasn't still reeling from the place he'd ended up with Jones and that kid last night. He wasn't sure if the archaeologist had a better explanation for it than he did, but the time issue was a serious one. He'd practically felt like he'd been walking onto some kind of movie set when he'd gotten a better look at that college, but that still didn't explain the way they'd been ignored, unless everyone there was just another part of Landel's scheme. Still, they'd been people Jones had known, so did that mean more brainwashing?

In the end, he was just running himself in circles, and so Harvey tried to drop it as he walked into the cafeteria with a scowl on the exposed half of his face. He grabbed his protein shake from the food counter as always and then looked for a place to sit.

While the man he'd met in the chapel had been on the more tolerable end of things despite the way he'd put him in on the defensive, Harvey wasn't looking to spend his day meeting and greeting. He searched out a familiar face and ended up spotting Leonard, the short-term memory loss guy from the other day. Honestly, Harvey was curious to see just how bad the man's condition was, and... maybe he felt a certain affinity with him, even if he didn't want to focus on that more than he had to.

"Hey," he said as he took a seat across from the other man. Now wasn't the time for joking, and yet he couldn't help himself. "Remember me?" It was clear from his tone that he didn't expect Leonard to say yes.

The tray of food slammed down first. "So, Composer, how's it hangin'?" Sanae slid into the seat across from Minamimoto and picked an apple off of his tray. He took a bite. "You're musterin' the troops, I notice."

Oh yes, he'd certainly watched that little post with interest. While on one hand he had been more than 99% sure that no other Reapers would answer, the slim chance of one actually answering was, well...too good to pass up. And of course, he had to keep up with Minamimoto's activities somehow. He was still the Producer, even if Josh was dead and he was some sort of criminal now.

Naruto woke up to the sound of the intercom, going on about "soccer" or something. He zoned out after a few sentences, not knowing or caring about soccer and movie selections. What he did care about, however, was food! It sounded like there was a bunch to be had. And hey, it wasn't ramen, but it was still food, and he was pretty hungry.

He was still disappointed about the crap that had - or, rather, hadn't - happened yesterday, but at least he knew there were more people here than he'd originally thought! Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Kiba, Shikamaru...was he missing someone? Probably. But Sakura would remember, or Kakashi would. No use sweating the small details. He'd have to find the bulletin board and see if he could talk to them, though.

The nurse came to collect him, calling him the wrong name. He glared at her and, ultimately, decided to ignore her.

Once in the cafeteria, he gathered several different kinds of foods that didn't go together at all. He looked around to ask the nurse about ramen, but she wasn't next to him anymore. Leave it to anyone here to be super useless!

He decided to sit down and eat before running off in search of a familiar face. Maybe he'd get lucky and they'd find him, anyway.

[free!]

Getting to check up on Nigredo again had been nice, even if they hadn't been talking about the most cheerful things. While Sora was worried about Junior, he was equally concerned for his brother and how he'd handle the institute without support from his sibling. Sora wasn't sure if the two were all that close, but just having someone familiar around must have been a comfort, especially for someone so young.

While he'd done his best to give the boy as much information about his brother as he could, he wasn't sure if he'd really been that much of a help. Still, he'd tried, and that probably had to count for something. Sora was going to do his best to keep an eye on Nigredo, since he wasn't sure if anyone else was at this point.

But now it was time for brunch, and Sora had to admit that he was pretty hungry. When they ate right after waking on every other day of the week, having to wait until later on for Sundays usually left him starving. Luckily, there was a large array of food to choose from, and so the boy quickly went to work piling his plate. There wasn't much that could stunt his appetite.

Riku was right about that, at the least. Sora smiled to himself, remembering his friend's bulletin message as he scanned the room for either of his friends. It didn't look like they had made it yet, and so he took it upon himself to find an empty spot for the three of them to sit.

As he started in on a hot dog, a nurse who was passing by smiled at him and nodded. "That's right, Matt," she spoke up, "you should make sure that you're talking to your visitor today on a full stomach so that you aren't distracted."

That actually made Sora pause before he took another bite, but the nurse had already left to check in on other patients before he could say anything. He was really getting visited today? He still remembered that time with Riku, but it had been so long ago that he'd figured that was the last time. It looked like he'd been wrong.

Frowning, Sora did his best to focus on his meal as he tried to figure out who might be coming to see him.

[Riku and Kairi!]

Speaking with Soujirou had given Zack a pretty good distraction for a while there, but now that he was back in the cafeteria and surrounded by the rest of the patients, he couldn't ignore the fact that Aerith hadn't responded to his bulletin note and was nowhere to be seen in the mess hall.

This wasn't a situation where she would have ignored him to tease or anything, which meant that she was either missing his messages or she wasn't around at all. She would probably only be missing them if she couldn't get to them, which made him wonder if she had gone the fate of her roommates and fallen into a deep sleep.

Checking her room that night would have to be his next course of action, since he didn't know what else to do. Other friends of Cloud's had cropped up, even people he had never met (and what was with that message of Cait's?), but still no flower girl. If she didn't come to him, he'd just have to stop at nothing until he found her... or confirmed that she wasn't there to be found.

If she really was gone, then the time had just been too fleeting. He didn't want to assume that she wasn't here, not just yet, but even the possibility was enough to sting.

While Zack wasn't feeling too hungry with all of this swimming around in his head, he still went through the motions of getting a plate of food from the buffet. Sighing, he searched the crowd for Aerith one more time before finding himself an empty seat. He glared down at his food for a moment, challenging it to look more appetizing, before forcing himself to start eating.

Ratchet couldn't remember what term that human from the other solar cycle had told him to use, and so when his nurse made to get him some fuel he simply laid a hand on her arm and said, "No carcasses this time."

What she brought back did look very plant-ish, so he must have gotten through alright.

He was slowly getting used to the leaves and plant chunks, but the little round things were a new challenge. He'd have to tackle them eventually, though. The fatigue and tremors were not improving; it was amazing how quickly organics used up their fuel.

Seeing Claire again probably should have been more of a shock to him, but after seeing the girl come and go so many times, he'd almost gotten used to it. Like with Nathan, Peter was left wondering how long Claire would stick around this time. He hated the way they both got tossed around like rag dolls, but there wasn't much he could do about it except hope that his information would somehow help them to stay for longer.

While there was still so much more that Claire had to learn, he'd given her a pretty good base of knowledge. She hadn't been able to accept all of it that easily, but if she spent enough time here (which he was honestly hoping for at this point; while he didn't want her to be in so much danger, it was better than her memories being erased time and time again), she would slowly start to adapt. They all did.

He wanted to stick with her for the rest of the day, but the nurses weren't having it. After giving him a BS explanation about how Claire was a new patient and needed to focus on meeting more people, they were separated and Peter was led into the cafeteria for brunch. He went along with a nurse's insistence that he get food, as last night had been tiring and his conversation with Claire had only added to that. He needed to keep his energy up.

Once he'd put together a plate of food, Peter found himself a seat and took it without much more consideration than that. With Claire here now, he wondered if he'd be seeing any more familiar faces, and he wasn't sure if he was excited for the possibility or dreading it.

Either way, he needed to focus on his work for the night, which meant that he'd have to put a note on the bulletin about the paramedic group. He'd gotten a few useful items for his work last night, but that was only the beginning. He'd have to head into the Sun Room after his meal to tack something up, then.

Klavier wasn't much for senseless optimism, but he almost dared to say things were proving to be... okay today. Last night hadn't been fantastic, but it was far better than his previous nights had been. And he started out the day with a bright-eyed, smiling young lady. Yes, maybe he had reason to believe things might be looking up a bit. Let's hope he could maintain this little trend he had going.

After collecting a plate of eggs and a muffin (with some assistance from his liebes nurse), he made his way over to the left side of the room to take a seat, as he'd stated he would earlier. He was going to be meeting with Lamperouge this shift, and he wanted to be sure they didn't end up missing each other. Especially not after screwing up the last time they were supposed to meet. Thankfully, the cafeteria wasn't crowded just yet, so there were plenty of seats still available in this part of the room.

As soon as the nurse left him be, Klavier placed his notebook alongside his tray, trying his best to flip it open to one page in particular. A bit difficult to manage with one hand, but doable. ...Ah there we are. It was a simple page of notes in the form of a checklist. Nothing important, honestly. But in the upper right margin of both pages was a scratchy doodle of the G symbol he used to sign his bulletin posts. It wasn't especially prominent, but anyone making an effort to look at his book should easily notice it.

This should have been enough for Lamperouge to recognize. Klavier himself had no idea what this man looked like, so he really couldn't do anything but sit and wait for an approach. In other words, there was no point in paying any attention to the people around him. Instead, Klavier simply picked away at his eggs absently, staring down at the notebook as though fully engrossed in what was written there.

[for L.L. + 1 guest]

The mention of food had immediately captured Minako's attention, especially after she'd avoided it the day before-- and especially because the man on the intercom seemed so fascinated with describing it. She all but dragged the nurse back downstairs to the cafeteria and then spent a moment staring at the selection with something approaching awe until her stomach growled and reminded her of why she was actually there. Well. The place might be a creepy horror-movie-in-disguise, but they sure did feed people well.

Hopefully they really didn't drug the food, but... well, if she was going to end up stuck here for a period of days or maybe even weeks she couldn't starve herself. Mimicking the other people already present, she grabbed a tray and went down the line, picking out a somewhat random assortment of food. Once finished she turned to survey the almost-empty room with a thoughtful frown, then shrugged and headed over to an unoccupied table that gave her a good view of the door. Now that all those people weren't on that trip or whatever it was yesterday she was curious to see who else was stuck here, too. And maybe one of them could answer some questions.

[Howl]

Howl allowed the routine to take him after he had left the unfortunate Keman. All those emotions made him feel uncomfortable and inadequate, and Howl was eager to abandon any further attempts to find something in himself that he simply lacked.

That routine was slightly different that day, as it seemed that visitors were expected. He wondered with a strange lack of emotion whether or not anyone had come to see him. It would, of course, not be Megan or Sophie or Michael, but some construct made to appear as them. The magical thing would would see a reflection in his mind, and appear as thus. Still, he sometimes craved a familiar face, enough to tolerate a well done doppelganger. He knew what those people expected of him, and he knew what they wanted. It made dealing with people so much easier when it was all laid out like that.

Of course, perhaps Sophie shouldn't have been included on that list. He wasn't sure what she wanted besides to frustrate him and make him miserable, perhaps in some misguided attempt to teach him a lesson. Her attempts hadn't made any impression on him, and he still denied the way that his life had slowly begun to shift to keep her in it. And yet, he always remembered that ginger haired girl he had seen for only a moment. It was most likely that he had imagined her. He had seen a pretty girl, much like that little mouse, with her bow lips and stern gaze, and he had allowed himself to hope. The thing he had been hoping for seemed an exciting relief at the time, but he knew in the long run it would only make him miserable if Sophie were to appear. And if that were her, who had managed to lift that blasted curse, where he was unable and she was unwilling?

Howl gathered himself a modest breakfast and some napkins with which he continuously dabbed his nose sadly whenever a nurse cast her eyes his way. He was distracted only by the sight of a pretty blonde sitting alone, and decided to continue fishing for sympathy at her table. She was very young, he realized, near in age to Lettie Hatter.

Regardless, he gave her a smile that was soft and tired, but filled with manicured friendliness. It was a warmth that his eyes could not reflect, despite his best attempts. "Good morning, miss," he greeted, and balancing his tray on one hand, he swept his dark hair from his glassy eyes with the other. "Would you mind terribly if I joined you?"

Kenshin was rather glad to get out of the chapel. The room had a gloomy air already, and the conversation with Homura hadn’t helped the mood any. Sen was dead and Okita was an ever-shortening fuse and despite Homura’s insistence that he would ‘take care’ of the situation the rurouni did not find himself reassured. Okita would attack the boy again. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when.

And yet, nothing could be done about it during the daytime. Kenshin felt like a horse chomping at the bit, chafing against his inability to do anything. He had saved the boy last night, but how many more times would he be lucky enough to just hear the fight beginning and arrive in times? How many more coincidences would there be before Okita managed to break free of Homura’s control and luck would turn in his favor?

The rurouni meekly followed his nurse to the cafeteria, too lost in his thoughts to even notice his surroundings. He was growing stagnant, he could feel it. Ten years of peace had not dulled his blade, no matter what Saitou said, but a month in this place was surely enough to make a man rot.

The cafeteria was slowly filling by the time they got there, so maybe it wasn’t any surprise that he couldn’t see Kaoru. It was early yet. If he didn’t see her by the next shift, then he would allow himself to ask after her. Not yet. He wouldn’t worry yet.

Kenshin picked a seat in full view of the door so that she could see him when she came in…and also near a certain young ninja. “May this one join you?” he asked cheerfully, trying to banish the darkness from his thoughts. “If it won’t disturb your writing, that is. Letters to your lover, perhaps?”

In the end Carter had settled for a quick round of whatever scant prayers he could remember, followed by the usual bedtime petition for his parents and his grandmother and his dog and his country to all stay safe and sound. That almost counted as church, and he could flee to breakfast guilt-free.

Maybe he hadn't made it out last night, but tonight he definitely would do it. For sure. Until then there was all this delicious fresh fruit to help soothe his youthful frustration. Carter took his normal large portions of food from a selection that seemed to be a mix of breakfast food mixed with lunch food...oh! Brunch! Hey, that was pretty clever, he'd have to remember that. The future had the best ideas, you could get two kinds of food at once and save time eating it all.

Licking his lips, Carter slid in next to an older man who had enough grit about him to maybe be military. His tray was piled with little piles of nearly anything the layout had to offer, just to make sure he didn't miss out on anything good. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully.

Artemis had barely finished dashing off a quick note to his mysterious contractor when his nurse called him to brunch. Honestly Artemis didn't see what was so wonderful about an 'all-you-can-eat' buffet. It encouraged the mass-production and mass-consumption of food, without any regard for how it was prepared or how it tasted. Quantity over quality, something Artemis had never been in favor of--even where money was concerned.

His nurse set him up with a nice vegetarian salad, as well as a half-sandwich and some juice. All in all, a decent meal, and one he could eat with a sling holding his left shoulder stationary. It was fortunate he was ambidextrous, he supposed. He didn't have to suffer the same sorts of humiliation other patients did when their arms were rendered useless for one reason or another.

Artemis sipped his juice (sadly, he was becoming used to it), and watched as patients filed into the Cafeteria. He was looking for Badou, Sai, and Haku--to make sure they were all still in one piece. So far, he was disappointed.

He continued to eat and think, brow furrowed. He only had a few moments before the entire room deafened him.

[For Mihai]

Dean beat Sam to the cafeteria. For once he just wasn't real hungry, and while he knew he'd wolf down whatever he put on his plate, it was just kinda more keeping his mouth busy than actually being starving.

He heaped on some eggs and tacos - might as well mix the two for some variety - and glanced around the cafeteria, giving a casual scan of the room. Same number of nurses and orderly standing guard, for the most part evenly spaced out and keeping an eye on their charges. They'd done this song and dance over and over before. Considering the Scooby Do teleport doors from last night and he wasn't even sure how good the odds were of just walking out, even assuming they could in good conscience leave these folks. So far no sign of the Doctor, either. Considering the Doctor was the only one who knew about the trip to the TARDIS, he figured the guy was still alive, what with that note and all on the bulletin board.

Maybe he should shove Sam at the Doctor, see what he made of the guy. At the very least Dean would feel better watching Sam trying to puzzle the Doctor out.

He picked a seat at random. Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely random; the chick there was hot and that was good enough for him. Dean slid into the seat across from her, setting down his tray and juggling the cup with water in it with ease as he flashed her a smile.

"Breakfast of champions you got there, sweetheart."

[Hitting up Elaine]

Mello paid as little attention as ever to the food. He'd accepted the necessity of eating here, but that didn't mean he had to like it. A couple of sausages, some pancakes and syrup, which made a lousy substitute for chocolate, but might at least fend off the sugar-deprivation headache.

His inclination was to find an isolated spot and go over what little he'd learned so far today (not enough, never enough, here), but he was growing accustomed to taking the hard line with himself. It wasn't like anyone else was going to snap him out of it if he got too absorbed in his own thoughts. So when he spotted that Niikura kid, the one the Yakuza wasn't fond of, sitting alone, he made his way over to the table. Turning potential allies into definite ones was always a good idea, and there was a part of Mello that wanted to remind the kid he was on the ball when he wasn't sedated. He deliberately assumed permission, knowing, and hating, that he would once never have had to do so consciously, and set his tray down. "Hey."

The nurse led him from the chapel without incident, and urged him to eat as they entered the cafeteria. His listlessness must have led to her intervention, as she left him alone for a moment to retrieve a heavy plate. Her hand lingered on Kaworu's shoulder for a moment after she had set it down in front of him.

"Tell me if you need anything," she advised, and he copied her smile. It was a kind gesture. She reached beyond her self and towards him, although it seemed unnatural now. Not for her, as the exchange of emotions was the only reason for Lilim to live, but it was not for him. Kaworu Nagisa, called the Fifth Child, was an angel. It could not upset him, as there was no purpose in mourning truths. It was instead the impact of this truth that created his dissatisfaction. The nurse demonstrated kindness because she believed him to be human.

There were few exceptions. Shinji knew, but Kaworu was unsure if he understood. Shinji did not want to understand. Would he now decline to touch Kaworu, after seeing that he could not change? The only existence left to them now was this place. It was the only life in which he was free to remain near Shinji.

Kaworu dug his thumbnail into the peel of an orange. In concentrated movements, he tore the skin, and twisted the fruit so that the shell came off in a long, unbroken spiral. It held his attention enough that he was able to find some comfort in the focus. It required he set all other thoughts aside.

[For Asuka!]

There really was a weird assortment of people here, wasn't there? Minako had already seen people ranging from way-too-young to weirdly-old (and why was that guy half covered in bandages?) and with really nothing in common between them. Shouldn't kids be in a different facility than grownups? If this was a real hospital, at least; she probably shouldn't be surprised to find stuff that didn't make sense, considering what happened at night.

Since she was already looking around anyway it wasn't hard to spot the guy heading toward her table, but contrary to what she'd expected he actually kept heading toward the table and stopped to smile at her. He was kind of handsome, wasn't he? And... oh right, talking to her.

"Oh! Of course I don't mind, feel free," she assured him, glancing away half a second too late to avoid staring, and gestured toward all the open seats at the table. There was something odd about his eyes, but she wasn't sure what, and he probably wouldn't appreciate if she looked long enough to figure it out. And... well, it wasn't every day a cute guy wanted to sit and talk with her, was it? "Good morning to you, too. I'm Aino Minako. Minako."

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Day 50: Cafeteria (Brunch)

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