DAY 52: BREAKFAST

[nobleobliged.livejournal.com]

How one's body could maintain a waking schedule when sleep came unnaturally and in a room without windows, must surely be a mystery. Yet, as if working on cue, Natalia stirred well before her nurse arrived. That was normal. Less so, the weight that sought to press her eyelids closed again, the heaviness of her limbs that made lifting her hands to her face an effort. She put her wrist to her forehead with a frown, then attempted a jolt of energy – to swiftly dig her hands into the mattress and shove herself into a seated position, and from there, to her feet.

Not to overexert herself once again, but to refuse that it could be possible after sleeping. Happily, though all still felt leaden, her head did not swim. Encouraged, Natalia put on her slippers, rearranged the bedding, and waited. There came the announcement (reminding her, suddenly, of what she had last heard, and the guilt that had twisted in her gut, Jill--), and her face wrinkled with disgust at the hacking sound. Therapy and breakfast. Food would surely help.

Natalia did not wait long before her nurse opened the door, and after exchanging cursory “Good Morning”s (with rather more enthusiasm on the other woman's part), they began the walk to the Cafeteria. With, of course, the essential rest room stop, where water was splashed and scrubbed over her face, and her hair toyed with to no great satisfaction. At least the shower had renewed its body.

Separating in the Cafeteria, Natalia took her place in line and loaded her plate: eggs, fruit salad, fried “tater tots” (potatoes?), and curious meat wrapped in cooked dough. Some of everything, with juice and water. She thanked her servers, collected utensils and napkins, and found a seat at an empty table. It was early yet.

Sparing a brief look around to be sure no one she recognized had arrived – though she remained eager to greet every patient, at the moment she chose to focus on the possible strength gained from the meal – Natalia began to cut up the items and eat with a refined gusto. Entirely possible!

[Claude!]

Comments

[laguz-decoy.livejournal.com]

It had been another night of accomplishing nothing for Ranulf. He'd intended to explore the outer corridors of the Institute but, instead, had fallen asleep to the sounds of people scuffling through the hallways. With his advanced hearing, Ranulf could make out what they were saying most of the time... shushed whispers and fearful mutterings. He had closed his eyes for just a moment and had apparently fallen under whichever spell the "Head Doctor" had put on this place... the next thing he knew, Nurse Flo was leading him to the mess hall for breakfast.

The laguz loaded his plate with "scrambled" eggs (he particularly liked them in this form) and "pigs in a blanket", although the meat smelled nothing like pork. After surveying the mess hall and finding nobody he knew, Ranulf was directed by his nurse to take a seat across from a young beorc woman. Noticing the leaflet of papers, he assumed she was the type of person that liked to collect information for future reference, much like the tasks he'd carry out for King Caineghis. Perhaps she knew more about this place than others. Once Flo had left, he decided to attempt conversation.

"Well, it seems that we're being subjected to socialize." he said, letting out a small chuckle. "My name is Ranulf, what's yours?"

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

So the nurses were going to make her talk to people, big surprise. While she wasn't entirely unsociable, she didn't understand the need for a lot of the pointless banter they had to go through everyday here. At least the guy in front of her agreed more or less. She looked up from her breakfast and gave a slight nod in his direction.

Blue hair, mismatched eyes, but no scars to show it was anything medical, so possibly just a case of heterochromia? She put away the medical analysis running through her thoughts and decided it was probably best to actually greet him in return.

"It happens often enough," she replied, "I'm Sakura."

[laguz-decoy.livejournal.com]

He smiled at her greeting as he studied her stature and facial expression. Her look was that, of someone who was overly stressed. It wasn't surprising. He'd seen that same look over the past week so many times it seemed as if it was as uniform as the clothing they were forced to wear.

He looked down to take a few bites of his eggs with the odd beorc tool that had been provided (was it a fork? Yes... that was what Tsubaki had called it.). He was curious about the leaflet, as he hadn't seen anyone at the institute, aside from himself, taking notes on anything whatsoever.

He swallowed and then looked up at her again, this time with a question. "I noticed your leaflet. Are you a guide, where you come from?"

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

It reminded her a little of Sai, the way he seemed so preoccupied with studying her, or perhaps that was just his way of greeting people. Who knew anymore. She'd already been snapped at just for not knowing what a defense attorney was, so she was a bit edgy about offending anyone.

"Leaflet? Oh," she followed his eyes to her notebook and shook her head, "Just some general information. It's more for my friends than for me. I have a good memory."

Much of it was just that, in fact. Copies of the maps, various studies she'd completed. A list of all the medications that'd been found and their uses, important room numbers, a list of the doctors... it was all there.

"I've done a bit of work guiding people," she shrugged, "but primarily I do medical work." Why having a notebook would make her a guide, she couldn't guess, but perhaps he had good reason for it. "Why do you ask?"

[laguz-decoy.livejournal.com]

Ranulf was pleased that Sakura seemed to be becoming a bit more relaxed as the conversation went on. He kept eye contact as she continued and was genuinely interested in what she had to say. From what he gathered, she seemed to be a very intelligent individual. Determined too. She reminded him of a stronger version of Princess Elincia.

Medical work? Could she be a mage? How interesting... a guide and a mage. His eyes widened at this. She must certainly be a valued member of... well whatever she was a member of. He was so lost in thought about this that he jumped a bit at her question and answered with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Oh! Er... sorry." He laughed nervously. "I was... I am a guide where I come from. A sort of vassal. When I was in training, the king had me carry a leaflet to take note of the dense forests and deep valleys across Gallia. I picked up the habit of writing things down after that. It's much easier to keep track of information that way." He gave a soft smile and looked down at his food, picking at his eggs.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Learning about all these different worlds was a lot like getting a whole new lesson in vocabulary. She supposed it must be the same for anyone else too, but even if there was some kind of universal translator, there must be some things that just didn't quite convert. Vassal? Gallia?

"Mmm that makes sense," she replied, able to glean most of it from context at least. What else was she supposed to say? Good for you? You must be very proud?

"Have you been here very long Ranulf?" she tried. That was usually the polite question that came next, wasn't it?

[laguz-decoy.livejournal.com]

Ranulf looked up from his eggs with half-lidded smile. He could tell some of what he'd said hadn't registered with her by the tone of her voice and the words she'd chosen. He wasn't offended. A lot of things people mentioned made no sense to him at all. She did seem to get the gist of what he had said though and decided it would be rude to try and explain or press it. Instead, he finished off his eggs and then answered her next question.

"I'm not sure. The days all seem to melt together... but I believe it's been four or five nights." He looked at her nervously as he asked his next question. "Do you... do you leave your room when the lights go out?"

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

She could certainly understand the days melting together like that. She'd been here for long enough for it to start to drag on her, but if this guy was already complaining after only four or five days, he probably didn't have a whole lot of experience dealing with these kind of extreme situations. Even she was a little out of her depth at times, but at least she'd had some training. There were way too many plain old civilians here or people with minimal experience.

"Usually," she nodded, not willing to mention the couple of times she'd woken up to find that the night had passed without her. How they did that, she wasn't sure. Maybe drugged the food? "Like I said, I'm a medic. People get hurt a lot at night, so I try to make sure they don't."

Not that she'd done a spectacular job of that. Most of the injuries were either way too strange or she ended up fighting off monsters instead of helping people. At least they seemed to be able to heal a lot faster than usual here. The cut on her leg from the weird old man with the claws the other night was already scabbed over and peeling away, leaving just scar tissue. She should probably treat it a little before she headed out if she didn't want it to leave a nasty scar.

[laguz-decoy.livejournal.com]

Ranulf nodded solemnly at her response and couldn't help but grin a little. Sakura was admirable. Risking your own life in order to help others was a trait you rarely found in beorc... humans... although who knew if she was even human to begin with? Of course, after meeting Ike and joining his mercenary band, he wasn't as surprised as most laguz would be. He'd only just met Sakura, but he felt it'd be foolish to not ask his next question.

"I'm... I'm still relatively new here and I don't know much about the hallways during the night hours. I'd like to find a way back home, but I know that simply escaping isn't going to get me anywhere. Whatever magic this "Institute" possesses is very strong... and I'm smart enough to realize that I can't accomplish this by myself."

He didn't know what it was that made him ask his next question. Perhaps it was that Sakura seemed to have it together. Perhaps it was her determination that reminded him so much of Ike and the others. Whatever it was, Ranulf killed his hesitation and submitted his inquiry.

"I'd like to offer you my assistance during the night hours, if that'd be alright?" He said, giving her a kind smile as he picked up one of the "pigs-in-a-blanket". "It's getting hard to sleep with all of the screaming and I'm getting rather tired of meat being called one thing and tasting like another."

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Smart enough to realize maybe, but she wasn't sure if he'd gained her trust. Most patients, once they'd been in for a few days had settled in with a group or at least one other person. So why hadn't this one? Her compassionate side argued, of course, that he might be genuine, but logic was harder to ignore and a lot easier to rely on. People didn't usually just offer their services without some kind of catch. If he thought that just because she was a girl, she couldn't kick his ass from here to Doyleton and back, he would find he was sadly mistaken.

"What kind of assistance? I don't mean to be rude, but what's the catch?" she asked, raising an eyebrow just slightly at the offer.