damned_institute | DAY 52: BREAKFAST

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DAY 52: BREAKFAST

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!]

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"I'm okay! I got hurt a little, but it's nothing serious," Anise assured him, already back to wearing her usual casual grin. "I'll keep that in mind, though." Fortunately, she didn't have any broken bones this time, but it was going to hurt if she tried anything strenuous with her shoulder, like climbing or fighting. It would be a good idea to get it taken care of if she wanted to do anything adventurous in the near future.

The girl took a few bites of her food while she listened to Guy talk about his night. At the words 'Claude can see again' her eyes lit up, and she had to force her food down her throat quickly so that she wouldn't have to wait to speak up. "That's great! So he's all better now? Hehe, maybe I'll go congratulate him." She was quick to fall back into an easy 'I-knew-everything-would-work-out' tone, but that initial burst of excitement gave away the fact that Anise had been pretty worried. She didn't know what happened to Claude's eyes, but it sounded like it was pretty serious. It was a big relief to hear he was okay now.

Huh... three artes, though? Anise remembered clearly how much two had worn her out. Natalia really pushed herself last night, didn't she? The result had been good, though, so maybe she ought to just be happy for everyone involved.

It was hard to know whether or not Anise would actually ask Tear or Natalia for help, but Guy wanted to believe that she realized that either one of them would be more than happy to help her. She wasn't going to be of much help if she was too injured, after all. She hadn't seemed to have had any trouble walking over here, though, so chances were the injury was on her upper body somewhere. In that case, maybe she could hold out. They didn't want Natalia to start healing people again too soon after last night.

"Feel free," he said when the girl suggested going to talk to Claude personally. "I think that he's pretty thrilled himself." And understandably so. Being stuck here was hard enough, but being blind on top of it all? That must have been almost impossible to deal with. Natalia had shown up at just the right time. Not that her being stuck here with them was necessarily a good thing, but that issue was something he'd always be having an inward conflict about.

In any case, there was something about Anise's night that he was still curious to know, and so Guy continued with his questioning. "So, this new friend that you made... who is it?" There wasn't much of a chance that he'd know whoever it was, but he was interested nonetheless. He wanted to do his best to stay aware of the people that his friends were interacting with. He knew that Anise was normally a good judge of character, but some people here weren't trustworthy. They had to be extra careful.

Naturally, anyone would be thrilled to have their sight back after going through all that. Anise couldn't even imagine going without her sight for as long as Claude did. She would have to make sure to drop him a note on the bulletin somewhere soon, just as a little celebratory gesture. This kind of thing called for that much, at least.

It looked like Guy was curious about her companion from last night, but that wasn't too surprising. It was good for them to have some idea what the others in their group were up to and what their connections were, and fortunately for Anise, Ilia was definitely one of the less suspicious allies she'd made in the past several days. She might have had a harder time trying to explain, say, Tenzen to her friends. "Her name's Ilia. She's new around here," Anise replied, thinking back to everything she'd been told during their conversations yesterday. "She's a soldier and a scientist, so she's both tough and smart, hehe." Between their talks about fonons and their fight against the monstrous nurse, Ilia had demonstrated both qualities in front of Anise. She was a pretty impressive person, all things considered.

"Actually, that reminds me..." There was something in those conversations that she really wanted to share with her friends from Auldrant. It would have been best if the Colonel was around, but that wasn't possible right now. "I talked to Ilia about fonons, and she actually kinda recognized the word. She said Earth has something like them, but I guess it's different from Auldrant's." This was pretty big news, since before then, nobody outside of those from Auldrant seemed to have a clue about fonons.

Someone new, huh? Guy was glad to hear that Anise had been helping out someone that was still learning the ropes about this place, even if they had run into a monster. That was pretty much unavoidable, though, and it sounded like she had showed this Ilia about where she could find some good supplies, so it had probably been worth it in the end. Besides, the sooner people got used to the monsters here, the better off they'd be. Not that they could ever completely anticipate what might attack, but...

More than that, it sounded like this person that had Anise had met was pretty talented, if she could juggle being a scientist with being a fighter. It made him wonder if she might have been able to hit it off with Jade, had he been around. Not that they would have any way of knowing, and Guy was secretly hoping that Ilia wasn't a female version of the colonel. That would just be scary. Luckily, chances were that Anise would have probably mentioned if there was that much of a resemblance.

"She sounds like an interesting person," he remarked. "I'm glad you were able to meet someone like that and help her out." Not that he had any control over who Anise befriended, but he figured there was no harm in commenting on it.

What did take him by surprise was finding out that this Ilia was from Earth, and also that she seemed to have some idea of what fonons were. If that was really the case, then why had Claude never mentioned anything? Guy brought a hand to his chin as he thought it over. Maybe it had to do with Ilia being from a different time than Claude? "That is weird," he commented. "So what are they like on Earth, then?" Maybe that was why he'd actually be able to use artes in the coliseum?

Anise beamed a little when Guy commented on her helping out other patients. It felt good to get a little recognition for her good deeds!

When her friend asked for more information, Anise had to think about it for a moment before venturing an answer. "... It sounded pretty complicated. She said something about 'vibrational motion', and... kind of like on Auldrant, they're a part of what makes up matter." Anise did her best to relay what she had learned, but it was difficult when she didn't understand it very well herself. "It sounds like they can't use them for artes or anything like that, though."

Right now, Anise didn't know whether or not there was anything they could do with that information, but it seemed like a good idea to pass it on. Maybe they could learn more from Ilia later on, or else the Colonel could come back some day and figure out how to use Earth's fonons to their advantage. After all, most of their other friends were here now, so maybe it wouldn't be long until they were all reunited again.

The explanation that Anise gave was a bit garbled and vague, but Guy got the basic idea. He figured he could always ask Ilia about it himself if he wanted, and just that prospect reminded him of his unofficial mission to try and find Auldrant a new energy source. He'd already hit on a possibility with Leon, but there was no harm in continuing to look. Even though he wasn't under orders to do it anymore, that was only because Peony had disappeared. Guy still wanted to work at it whenever he got the chance, though he had to admit part of his motivation came from his own curiosity.

He was no scientist, but he had to wonder why it was that Earth's version of fonons, if they could really be equated, couldn't be used in the same way. Was it because they didn't have the Planet Storm? But it was hard to make any guesses when the terminology used on Earth had to be completely different, and so Guy decided to hold off before he started running himself in circles.

"There are probably a number of explanations for why that is, but it's still interesting," he said once he pulled himself out of his thoughts, also forcing himself to return back to his meal. "Maybe I'll track her down and talk it over with her sometime... if you don't mind, that is." If Anise wanted to keep her friends to herself, that was fine, though Guy didn't see why she would. Still, teenagers could be a bit fickle in that way. He didn't think they had to keep secrets from each other at this point, but he always erred on the side of politeness.

Guy's suggestion received an approving nod. "Yeah, that might be a good idea." There wasn't really any reason to keep Ilia to herself, and besides, a new patient like her could probably stand to make as many new connections as possible. That, and it would be a lot easier for Guy to understand what Earth's fonons actually were if he heard it from Ilia directly, instead of Anise, who only vaguely understood the concept.

"--Oh, but that's not the only thing I wanted to tell you about," she added somewhat abruptly, seeming to have only just remembered herself. It was easy to get caught up in other topics, especially when talking with such good company. The girl leaned forward on the table, eager to share the fruits of all her efforts to chat up strangers for information. "I talked to someone else who's been exploring outside the institute, and he said he found a quarry a little ways to the north."

That same person had suspected it could be related to something built under the institute's foundation... the basement, maybe? Anise could only hope that Edgar wouldn't try to investigate that for himself. She tried to warn him away from that, but without being able to give any details, she couldn't help but worry that she might have unintentionally encouraged him instead.

"Have you heard anything about that before?" she asked Guy, bringing her mind back to the conversation at hand.

It seemed that it was time to shift gears to a more serious conversation topic, if the way that Anise's behavior changed was any indication. It was always nice to just relax and talk about friends and muse about different worlds and how they worked, but in the end it always had to come back to the matter at hand, which was finding a way out. Guy didn't have a problem with that, but it could wear on a person after a while.

A quarry, though... It seemed like there were all sorts of things hidden around the institute, and Guy hadn't had the chance to see any of them yet. He'd gotten sidetracked by the basement, and where had that gotten him? Of course, the ruins and this quarry could just be another trap, and while Guy hated to fall for the same trick twice, he wasn't going to let his fear keep him in his room (or someone else's) every night.

"I hadn't heard much about that, no. Nothing definite, anyway," he replied with a raised eyebrow. "But I've been planning to search the surrounding area for a while now," he admitted. "It was just with the coliseum and then Claude getting taken for experimentation, not to mention Natalia and Tear showing up... Well, I guess I've had my hands full." Guy wanted to make sure that his friends were taken care of above everything else, after all.

Though that reminded him! "Oh, but did I tell you? My roommate finally got me the sword that he promised, so I'm all set for monster fighting now. And now that Claude's eyes are healed, we should be able to check this all out pretty soon." Guy was sure that Luke was going to want to come along as well, but he needed to find his friend before he could talk to him about it. Luckily, he didn't think there would be an issue with his two friends working together. They seemed to get along rather well, from what Guy had seen.

Anise nodded as Guy listed the things that had been keeping him busy, but her eyes widened at the mention of experimentation. Claude hadn't told her what happened to his eyes, and she suspected it was something like that, but... now that she knew for sure, it just felt awful knowing a friend had gone through that. What actually happened during those experiments? Anise wanted to know, but there wasn't exactly a tactful way to ask about it.

That wasn't the focus of the conversation right now, anyway. When Guy went on to tell her about his new weapon, Anise's face lit up once again. "So you'll be able to fight at full strength? Hehe. That's great!" Maybe it wouldn't be full full strength, without any artes at his disposal, but having a proper weapon put Guy at a serious advantage. Good for him! He deserved a lucky break once in a while.

"I want to check it out too, but..." Without really thinking, Anise rested her hand over her right shoulder. "... um, I probably shouldn't climb any walls until I'm back to a hundred percent," she admitted with a small, sheepish giggle. Maybe it would be a good idea to talk to Natalia or Tear after all. While the dull pain from the cuts was easy enough to ignore while sitting still, it wouldn't take much to aggravate the wounds. If she wanted to actually do anything at night, she knew she ought to get it healed.

Guy had more or less the same thought about whether or not it counted as full strength, but he figured it was close enough. Even without his artes, if he had a proper sword in his hand, then there wasn't much he couldn't do. Granted, the monsters here tended to be a bit different from what he was used to, but there were also more run-of-the-mill creatures that were going to go down pretty easily now. Especially if he had Luke or Claude at his side.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited to get back to investigating things," he admitted. Not that he had regretted the two nights he'd spent mainly in Claude's room, but it had left him pretty antsy as a result. He was going to have to make sure to get a hold of both Claude and Luke either in person or on the bulletin to make plans.

He was glad to hear that Anise was being realistic about her injury, though. If she went and started climbing walls when she had an injured shoulder (and she'd finally revealed it), then that was just going to put her out of commission even faster. Maybe she wasn't quite as stubborn as the other two girls who he interacted with on a regular basis. "Yeah, I would invite you to come along, but I'd rather you let yourself heal first. What do you think you'll do in the meantime?" Guy recalled that Anise had some connections with the Cake Club, but he hadn't heard much about it from her lately. He wondered if that was still happening.

What was Anise going to do? "Hmm... I'm not too sure." She tapped her chin and tilted her head to the side, trying to think of what her options were. "I guess I can find out what the others are up to. If Tear or Natalia is free, I can get this healed up right away," she gave the shoulder a light tap before moving her hand back to her utensils, "or... maybe I could meet up with Ilia again."

That gave her a few ideas, at least. Anise was going to have to find something to do. Staying in her room to recover just wasn't an option to her. Being the youngest and the smallest, Anise often worried about becoming the weak link in their group. She believed that as long as she kept busy, that wouldn't happen.

"... Well, I'll figure something out!" she concluded, clapping her hands together. She didn't have any solid plans or anything, but things tended to work out for Anise in one way or another. "... And you're going to share everything you find outside the building with me, right?" She grinned sweetly - and expectantly - in Guy's direction.

The idea of Anise meeting up with Tear or Natalia was a great one, as far as Guy was concerned. He smiled and nodded. "You should definitely see if one of them is free," he suggested, liking the idea of all of them sticking together when they could. He didn't like to think that someone might be off on their own, or left without a goal for the night. It reminded him of when they used to have that check-in system, but in recent times they had pretty much forgotten about it.

Then again, back then he and Peony had shared a hallway, so that had made it ten times easier. Nowadays, if they all tried to convene before splitting off for the night, it would probably just waste too much time. Which was a shame, because getting visual confirmation that all of his friends were around would have been pretty nice.

Guy trusted that Anise would find something to do, and since she seemed to be taking her injury seriously, he decided to leave it at that. "Of course I'll clue you in! You know where to find me," he said with a mock bow. But it was true. He and Anise had been here for so long that it was pretty much a given that they were going to keep each other abreast of their situations. That stability was comforting, he had to admit.

Guy was probably happy to hear that Anise might be going with his earlier suggestion to get some healing help. Anise supposed she'd feel the same if she were the one talking to an injured friend. It still wasn't a solid plan, but at least it left him with little reason to worry over her.

When Guy gave a favorable answer, Anise's grin widened. "Yay! I knew I could count on you." It wasn't like Guy would withhold information from her, especially if it was about the institute, but she just wanted to make it clear that she wanted all the details.

Anise could see the nurses preparing for the shift change, which she didn't feel ready for at the moment. "Ah! They're going to make us leave soon." Hurriedly, she started spearing fruit onto her fork, eating it quickly. Talking with Guy was interesting as usual, and as such, it had caused her to neglect her plate quite a bit.

Even though Anise probably only meant it as an offhanded comment, it really was relieving to know that she trusted him to be there for her. He smiled widely in response. "I would only expect the same from you, you know." While Anise had betrayed their trust once, she had had good reason to do so. Now that they were all stuck in this place, though, everyone's goal was the same: get out by any means necessary.

Well, maybe that wasn't the case for someone like Sync, but he didn't count in Guy's mind anyway.

It did seem like the time for the shift to end had come around already, which also took Guy by surprise. Time tended to pass quickly when he was chatting with a friend who he was so comfortable with, and so he also had to go back to his cold food and try to get a few more bites in before one of the nurses got impatient. "They really don't give us a break here," he said between bites, though he was very careful not to talk with his mouth full.

When Guy reciprocated the comment, Anise couldn't help but feel genuinely relieved. Even though Anise's dishonesty had caused them so many problems before, he still treated her like she was a dependable ally... When faced with that, Anise knew that the only thing she could do was try and live up to those expectations.

She could only nod when he made his next comment, her mouth too full to make a proper reply. Anise wanted to finish as much as she could before leaving - wasting food was wasting money, after all, and she made a habit of avoiding both as much as possible.

By the time a nurse arrived at their table, Anise had more or less cleaned off her plate. She didn't give the nurse a chance to speak, but instead stood up by herself, not wanting to have to deal with the woman guiding her through the same routine she'd already been through a hundred times by now. "I guess it's time to go, then. I'll talk to you again soon!" With those cheerful words and a cheerful smile to go with them, Anise left the table and escorted herself out of the cafeteria - though the nurse followed close behind.

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DAY 52: BREAKFAST

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