Day 51: Breakfast

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

Yuffie Kisaragi, indomitable bouncing ball of sunshine and unfathomable ebullience, was tired. It'd been a long night full of gibberish and getting nowhere fast.

"Can't I—"

Plucky, who had been busily loading a plate full of French toast and bacon, tittered. "I'm afraid not, Hanna, darling. A chat over a nice, hearty breakfast would do you a world of good, don't you think?"

"Aaaaactually—"

"Come on, let's find you a seat. Plenty to choose from this morning!"

For a long moment, Yuffie seriously considered doing something—anything—to act out. Punch her nurse, rub jam in an orderly's face, climb a wall and hang off the ceiling, jump on a table and parody Loveless… A ruckus like that would definitely jolt her back into gear, right? Sedation aside. And it'd turn Plucky's good day right on its head, which was always a bonus worth shooting for.

But, by the time she'd reached a decision—and it was an epic decision, a really awesome one; everybody'd appreciate the genius, she was sure—she was already alone. Her breakfast tray had been set down neatly by the nurse, who had left with an infuriatingly winsome smile.

"Wow," Yuffie muttered. Shaking her head, she picked a chair at random and threw herself into it. She kicked back, one arm slung across her eyes, to wait. For what, she wasn't totally sure. Some moron to decide that she looked like good company? That was how it usually went.

Comments

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

Such a senseless question. He may have been older than the majority of the patients, but that hardly meant he was anything near a senile old man. Tenzen's dark gaze shifted to the girl standing near the chair across from him. Of course he recognized her! She was the naive girl that had led him to the ruins East of the institute.

But unlike the majority of the patients thus far, she had actually been useful. Maintaining conversation may actually be worth his time. He nodded in greeting. "Anise-san, I see you are well."

[gald_digger]

Well, that was a little more friendly than she was expecting. Maybe Tenzen was a nice guy after all? It wasn't like a person could help it if they were born with a creepy face. That didn't mean she could stop being cautious, of course, but it looked like she didn't have to worry about the guy having a bad attitude, or anything.

To his greeting, Anise beamed and gave a firm nod, then took the seat across from him. It didn't look like he was expecting any other company, so the fact that he'd greeted her in return probably meant that it was okay.

"Ehe, of course! You look like you're doing well, too!" she replied with a small giggle. A few days had passed since their horrific discovery in the ruins, which was fortunately enough time for Anise to put aside her feelings about the massacre well enough to act casual around the man who had discovered it with her. Soon after she seated herself, the girl began dividing her fruit-covered french toast into smaller, bite-size parts as she went on to ask a few more questions.

"So, what've you been up to lately? Anything exciting?" It was Anise's cutesy, casual way of trying to pry information from her fellow patients. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but it was always worth a try.

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

Oh, Tenzen could be pleasant whenever the situation called for it even though the ninja acting pleasant was likely even creepier in some cases. He was, after all, the second-in-command of the Tsubagakure Clan, something that couldn't be solely accounted to his age. After all, after 180 years he was still a novice...

"I've been mainly exploring," Tenzen said matter-of-fact-ly. "Curiously, when I headed over the walls last night, a third of our traveling party suddenly began speaking in incomprehensible gibberish. Tell me, have you experienced anything similar?"

[gald_digger]

So he was still exploring the area surrounding the institute. Anise wondered if he found anything she hadn't, but if she wanted to be tactful, then asking about that would have to wait a little bit.

When Tenzen mentioned a teammate speaking 'in gibberish,' Anise tapped her chin with her finger. "Was that when the intercom made that weird screeching noise? Everybody started sounding weird right after that... the Head Doctor, too." Anise hadn't been in any position to try talking to anybody at the time, being in the middle of a fight, but she remembered their attacker shouting weird things that she briefly mistook for an incantation of some kind.

"But... you said it was a 'third' of your party... so you could understand one other person still?" she asked, cocking her head inquisitively.

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

"Yes, it happened after that screeching sound," Tenzen confirmed. After the second screeching sound, the head doctor's ramblings once again became understandable, making it seem as if the noises were connected to the situation. How a mere sound could affect one's spoken language was another matter entirely, however. This place grew more ridiculous by the day!

"Yes, strangely enough I had no trouble speaking with the other individual I had been with," he continued. "Though, it seems strange that every patient would speak the same language considering the supposed diversity in origins. I don't suppose you know anything about this?"

Perhaps questioning this girl was a long shot, but it was worth the attempt when there was little else to be done during mealtimes (other than eating this ridiculous food).

[gald_digger]

"Huh? Now that you mention it..." Anise cocked her head to the side as she thought. "Some people tested it out on the bulletin board, and it looks like everyone hears and reads everything in their own language, even if everyone else is using different languages. So... I guess everything is being translated somehow."

One of the first things she saw on the bulletin this morning was someone asking about the languages everyone spoke. Whatever happened last night probably had something to do with the language barriers.

"...Do you think they use some kind of weird technology to do it? Huh..." Anise started taking a few bites of her french toast as she mulled over the possibilities in her head. The more she thought about it, the scarier it actually seemed. On top of being able to change the way people looked and acted, could the Head Doctor control the way they actually saw and heard things? Then... languages aside, what else could he control about their senses?

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

"Then, what language am I speaking now, according to you?" he asked, crossing his arms. "To me, you are speaking flawless Japanese." It wouldn't hurt to ask several other patients and possibly some nurses during the day. It was an easy way to confirm the theory on the bulletin board.

To Tenzen, this entire institute consisted of weird technology. What had occurred last night and was hearing now...it was odd, impossible! But as ridiculous as it all was, it was proving to be impossible to ignore.

"Perhaps it is a futuristic sort of technology he uses. I do not claim to be familiar with the means he uses for mocking us," Tenzen scoffed. They were mere toys to be mocked, weren't they?! "I wonder what other tricks he can use."

Moving them around the building however he liked, changing one's perception of languages...where did this end?!

[gald_digger]

"It sounds like Fonic to me," Anise replied simply, spearing a strawberry on her fork and eating it. There was no denying that it was weird how everyone understood each other, but Anise was so used to it that she didn't think much of it anymore.

If Tenzen spoke Japanese, he was probably from Earth, but it looked like the technology used by the Head Doctor was beyond him too. Maybe this was some weird future Earth, and all the hints they had about the date were made up. It seemed unnecessarily elaborate for a trick, but that was pretty much the Head Doctor's style, anyway.

"Making illusions, teleporting people around, raising monsters... he's got some pretty messed up hobbies," Anise commented with a disdainful shrug. "It's almost like he does all this weird stuff just to show that he can."

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

The longer Tenzen remained here, the longer it seemed that any sort of motive for putting him through this nonsense happened to be completely nonexistent. He couldn't help but to agree with the girl; it seemed as though the head doctor did these things just to show that he could do it. Truly, did this man have nothing better to do?

"I suppose that makes him rather pathetic," the ninja commented, a small smirk forming on his lips.

[gald_digger]

"Sure does!" Anise agreed with a playful smile. She couldn't quite pass up a chance to put down that bastard Head Doctor.

"Oh, right - I thought you might want to know," Anise began suddenly, lowering her voice a bit just in case any nurses were close enough to listen. "When we went to that ruined town the other day... I picked up a slip of money from there." Tenzen might have seen, and if he did, he might have realized it was a lot more than one, but that wasn't really important right now. "I showed it to a friend from Earth, and it looks like it's from the 1920s. So that helps narrow down how old the place is!"

Since Tenzen had been there too, it was only fair that he got to hear what she learned about the ruins. He probably had a better understanding of Earth's calendar than Anise did, besides.