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

[hat_einen_vogel]

Flawed theory or not, West may have been on to something. The list of who was here was a bit odd, no matter how he looked at it: their group wasn't one of geographical neighbors, nor one with a language—or even an alphabet—in common... He and West had a familial connection, of course, as did England and America, but then Russia and Japan were the odd ones out. Even without knowing when Russia and Japan were supposed to be from, there was also the oddity of England and West being from the late 2000s when to Gilbert himself, it was only 1947.

Maybe time was the important factor? He'd wondered before about whether this was supposed to be some shitty version of the afterlife, but...

"You and England are both doing alright in the future, aren't you?" he asked. It was difficult to come up with any possibilities when he there was a significant gap in what he knew in the form of the sixty years between now and then, so he could only go on what he did know. He'd used to be strong—stronger—as an independent nation; now he was on the verge of abolishment and the brother he'd raised held the reins of their country. England's empire had once stretched across the world. If there was some connection between their former glory and present situations... "I mean... you're not dying or anything... And I'm still around then, too, right?"

A little confirmation wouldn't hurt.

[neuepolitik.livejournal.com]

"Hm? Yes, I think so." Germany frowned as he considered that question. Could he be considered to be doing 'alright'? Yes, in theory, he was stable and for the most part managed to remain one of the stronger nations in the world. Amongst the top five for economy, and certainly one of the power brokers for the European Union; in that aspect he was in no threat of dissolution. But with the wave of economic disasters and everything else... mm, it worried him. He'd been an adamant voice for responsibility and national responsibility. Had that been the reason he'd been removed?

Doubtful. That theory made no sense. The only way it could work is if other nations were removed for being trouble-makers, but that still wouldn't explain all of them here. Hm. The younger nation frowned as he considered the situation carefully. Unlike Prussia, Ludwig tended to think over things carefully before he spoke, and this was certainly a difficult problem to muse through. "I... after the war, a community of European nations is eventually forged. This 'Eurozone' eventually becomes the most powerful economic force in the world, and I'm the heart of that apparatus, along with France. While England and I are both facing troubles at my time, we're in no threat of dissolution."

And as for Prussia... Ludwig sighed as he looked away. That was a sore spot. His older brother was still around, but as 'East' to his 'West', there were... problems. Problems he didn't want Gilbert to know about, that he barely even acknowledged himself. But nevertheless, problems still remained. For Ludwig, that was inexcusable, for both of them. "...yes, you're still around in my time."

[hat_einen_vogel]

"Oh," he said, though he couldn't help but grin at West's confirmation that he would still be around... and the fact that it sounded like West would be a European leader (along with France) in the future. It was encouraging; no matter how grim the situation had been since the war, things would get better.

"Never mind, then. If you're doing alright and I'm still around, I guess that ending up here wouldn't have much to do with falling out of power. I'd been thinking maybe we'd been targeted because we were in trouble," he said as he skewered the last of his sausages.

He made a looping gesture with the hand holding the fork. "If you weren't, that can't be the case... But I'm still having a hard time picturing anyone capturing us under normal circumstances, if they were humans."

[neuepolitik.livejournal.com]

"No. If it was because of that, I would expect many more before myself; Greece and Iceland in particular." The economic problems facing the world in Ludwig's time had hit himself perhaps the least of all of the others. He was still strong enough to send money to others; those like Iceland or Greece had none. And if it came to a fallen empire, Greece could certainly qualify as such, couldn't he? So no, he doubted that such would be the case. It probably wasn't because of trouble in their states.

Yet even still... "That is another problem, yes. Even our bosses control us only to a limited extent, so usurping that position wouldn't be enough either. And I don't remember any amount of force it would have taken to bring me in." Nor would it be possible to change them in such a dramatic way as Hungary had been. That was far beyond any one man's power, and yet there clearly weren't enough involved in this Institute to form a faction large enough to do the same. Therefore, how was it even possible?

...and yes, Ludwig was adamant on that point. Perhaps he wasn't the powerful military machine that he once was, but he was still no pushover. It would take more than a few men to keep him down. As it was... Ludwig finally bit into one of his own sausages, frowning as he tried to come up with some explanation, and coming up completely blank. After swallowing it down, he gazed at his brother again. "We need more information. About the other nations, and also about the other people taken here. All of our explanations only work for nations; they don't take into account the sheer volume of other individuals here."

A pause, and then he made one final question. "...and also, about where you came from... the Council hadn't yet determined what was to be done with us, correct?"

[hat_einen_vogel]

So Greece and Iceland were having trouble in the future, or at least weren't having as easy of a time was West was. Good to know, though he couldn't think of a practical application for the knowledge, without either of them here. But at least West's words served as further confirmation that his brother was just fine in the future.

Not that Prussia doubted any brother of his would be kept down for long.

His face darkened when West brought up the Control Council's plans for them, but only for a moment. Prussia covered up his disquiet with a laugh; knowing that he would survive helped, but it didn't exactly make up for everything. Things may have been bright sixty years from now, but sixty days from now still looked grim.

"Well, they've issued a bunch of proclamations and instructions and orders and directives and laws ever since the end of the war, if that's what you mean," Prussia said, shrugging nonchalantly. "But if you mean what they're going to do next... Right. They had told me that they'll be abolishing my State next month, but they haven't really told me anything about what they're planning to do after that. I guess they think they don't need to, but they're underestimating me!"

[neuepolitik.livejournal.com]

Ludwig remembered those words, or rather, ones much like them. Back when they had both been defeated, when the Allies had beaten them both into the ground and left them to await their fate, Gilbert had said similar words. 'They're underestimating me!' It hadn't been simple bravado, either; his older brother had survived what no one else thought a nation could endure, and he wasn't much the worse for that wear. Granted, it was still uncertain if it had truly worked, still not entirely solid in its formation, but Prussia had survived. Even in the dark days after the War, he had survived and carried on as he always had. Perhaps it was too much to say that he had made a complete recovery, but it was at least not an end to the one who had raised him and made him who he was.

...no, what worried Ludwig was the immediate future. Prussia had no idea what was in store for him. Their survival had been predicated on their lands being ripped in half. Half, Ludwig's, had been allowed some measure of self-determination. He'd recovered from the worst ravages of the war, and slowly grew into an economic power again. And half... half was Gilbert's. Half had been thrown to be savaged by the Russian Bear. Half had been decimated and ravaged and left a broken husk of what it once was. Did he dare speak about it? Should he let Gilbert know, or was it better to leave him in ignorance?

"Ah... on that topic..." But he couldn't say anything else. Suddenly the intercom chimed in, and it broke Ludwig's nerve. Later on, perhaps, he'd come to a decision about it. For now, however, he scooped up his journal and changed subjects quickly. "Hopefully we can speak again tomorrow during this shift? I hope to have more to report then."

[hat_einen_vogel]

Damn announcement, interrupting things... The last of his sausages was still hanging off the end of his fork, so Prussia quickly shoved it in his mouth to finish it off in anticipation of the nurses coming over to insist he leave the mess hall whether he'd finished his breakfast or not.

He was curious about what West might have been planning to say 'on that topic', but it was obviously going to have to wait for another time. Must not have been that important, anyway, or else his brother would surely have brought it up immediately.

"Alright," he agreed with a nod, watching West's preparations to leave but not making any move of his own just yet. "I'll see you tomorrow."