Day 54: Breakfast

[arc_wrench]

For once, HK was working very hard to hide a giddy facial expression as he met his nurse at the door. He'd already hidden his scalpels in his clothing. The wonderful, sharp implements of doom would be needed today. “Statement: Despite my reticence towards all processed meat and plant products, I am experiencing intolerable levels of hunger,” he

Comments

[notachick]

Okita waved as Kaito headed off, watching the boy as he retreated back toward his food. Something about the notes just didn't sit well with him and so when he was certain Kaito was gone, he pulled them out again. He wouldn't read them, he just didn't have it in him to do that, but the feel of the paper in his hands was enough weight to focus his mind. He had to do something to bring direction back to the group, to give them hope and the leader they deserved.

With a sigh, he put the papers away. He needed those things as much as the rest of the club did right now. He'd always had someone else to rely on for orders, leaving him to deal only with battlefield strategy, on the field tactics, the things he was good at. He could deal with the people in the organization, but--

Someone was approaching again. He really shouldn't have been surprised. As the leader of the History Club, having time to oneself was rare. Okita wondered briefly if this was how Homura felt, but he quickly dispelled that thought. It wasn't time to be dwelling on the past when the future was--

"Souji?"

His voice. Tinged with the uncertainty that came with waking into a new, unknown environment and finding a strangely familiar face. It was doubt, the lingering hope that this was all a dream, and the need for at least one person here to be familiar, recognizable, home. It was a sound Okita had heard others make when they found friends here, but it wasn't one he'd heard used on him often, if at all. But this time it was. It was his voice. It was unmistakable.

And Okita couldn't respond. He was frozen. Afraid to turn out and find out it was someone else. The split-second delay felt like it was stretching into eternity and then, slowly, he gathered his courage and glanced over toward the ghost standing behind him.

"....Good morning, Hijikata-san."

[terriblehaiku]

Hijikata took in that reaction, somewhat startled by what that little delay meant. Souji hadn't been expecting him. To the point where he'd been surprised. What did that mean?

He didn't really have enough information to decide, but he tucked it away in his memory to mull over later. He could ask, of course, but Souji wasn't all that fond of straight answers, most of the time. Instead, he moved so he was across the table from the younger man, and sat down, ignoring the food on his tray in favor of looking Souji over. One finger tapped against the top of the table in an uneasy way before he finally spoke again.

"Do you know what's going on here?"

Of course, if he was asleep, or mad, the answer wouldn't do him much good, but listening to even a fake Souji's response to the situation seemed more productive than anything else he could be doing at the moment.

[notachick]

It was him. He was here again, calling him by the right name and acting completely and utterly clueless about what was happening. He had no idea they were in the future or that he'd been here twice before or even the amount of damage he was causing by acting so casual about this whole thing. Hijikata Toshizou had returned to the Institute and he was sitting across from him, ignoring the weird Western food in favor of asking him the one question that Okita honestly couldn't answer.

At least not without laughing hysterically.

To his credit, Okita only laughed a little and it was sane, amused laughter. Hijikata was back and that meant a return to some sense of normalcy in Okita's life. "More than you'd probably believe," he said, relieved to see Hijikata's grumpy face. "You're up early. I suppose they wouldn't let you sleep in, hm?"

Plucking his napkin from his tray, Okita pulled a pen from his waistband and wrote M63 on it before passing the thing across the table. Teasing aside, he had to be sure that Hijikata knew where to find him and the overall layout of this place. "That's where I am. If I can't find you again before night falls, find me here. The halls are organized with 10 rooms each, 4 halls per patient block. I doubt you know your number yet, but you'll see it tonight when you return to your room. I'll have maps to you by the second shift. If I can't give them to you directly, there is a board in the main room here - you passed it to come here - and I'll leave them there for you signed by the name Kaneyoshi." Okita paused, and grinned. "Maybe I should address it to Hogyoku?"

[terriblehaiku]

"I'm not so sure about that." He was off-center enough to believe a lot, at the moment. "They called me by someone else's name and dragged me in here. I didn't have a choice. If they're kidnappers, they're stupid ones." And his pipe was missing. He hadn't realized it until he'd become conscious of his own fidgeting fingers. Well, maybe it was back in the room he'd woken up in. For the time being, he curled the offending digits into a fist on the tabletop to stop the motion.

He stared a moment while Souji wrote something down with an odd implement, but took the scrap of paper from him, glancing at the numbers and making a mental note of the instructions. It sounded fairly simple. His eyebrow twitched a little at the name suggestion. "How about Yoshitoyo?" Because somehow, he knew if he let Souji use his pen name in a public place, it would end in disaster. Of course, just because he suggested it didn't mean Souji would listen anyway. He'd probably do whatever he wanted, regardless.

[notachick]

"They're certainly kidnappers..." Okita said, trailing off as he caught sight of the uniformed people mingled in among the usual nurse population. He'd been distracted earlier and had missed them, but now that his mind was waking up, they were difficult to miss. These people were new and a quick check of the staff's reactions to them confirmed that they weren't entirely welcome. Their presence might have to do with Martin Landel's strange message this morning and its unusual professionalism. "And it seems something is happening today."

Okita stuck his tongue out a little at Hijikata's refusal to play along, but he kept the name in mind. He should have known Hijikata wouldn't let him have that bit of fun. Not that he needed the man's permission, but Okita felt a little more disposed to giving him what he wanted to ensure that he stayed. He would need to find Hijikata a weapon, too. Homura's sword would do for now, but it was not a katana and the weight and balance change might be too big of a change.

Picking up his English muffin sandwich, Okita pulled out the parts of it he didn't like and started ripping off pieces to eat later. The nurses were watching like hawks today because of those other people lined up along the walls and the last thing Okita needed was for one of them to have reason to eavesdrop. Despite his casual actions, his voice dropped the cheerfulness and fell into the more comfortable tone of giving a report. "I'm sure you've noticed how different this place this from Kyoto or even Japan. It is run by a man named Martin Landel, but he has safeguards in place the likes I've never seen and as of now, we're unable to find, let alone kill him. During the day it's a hospital for the mentally ill, but at night it's a fight for survival against things that shouldn't exist - monsters, super-powered people, the other patients even sometimes when they've been brainwashed to work for the Institute. The patients tend to play nice during the day, but at night they band together with friends or with groups who hold common interest to explore the Institute, find a way out, and find a way to kill the man responsible for bringing us all here.

"There are several groups in action that regularly recruit from the patient body: Arts and Crafts, Search and Rescue, an unnamed group aimed at providing medical aid to those taken an experimented on at night, the LDGC, and my group - the History Club. They tend to share information as much as they can, but some groups keep their major finds to themselves." Including the History Club. "I can give you lists of the members for each group that I'm aware of, if you wish. Weapons are generally found around the Institute and are usually subpar compared to what we are used to - knives, staffs, household items turned into makeshift things. However, some people were able to create a few through magic and those are in circulation. We are lucky enough to have a different method we can use if necessary, but it is dangerous and can cost lives in order to obtain even one weapon that may or may not be of use."

He finished pulling the sandwich into pieces and smiled at Hijikata, pointing to his. "You should try to eat so they don't think we're suspicious, Hijikata-san. I tried to stab one of the other patients here my first day because he ended up being a former Choushuu hitokiri, now under the oath not to harm or kill another living human being. They like to watch me closely since they think I'll try it again." Picking up one of his pieces, he brought it to his mouth and asked, "Any questions?" before popping it in.

[terriblehaiku]

"I'd gathered as much. The woman who brought me here didn't seem too pleased." So something was going on, but he was too unfamiliar with things to take advantage of that fact. Frustrating. He'd have to get caught up as quickly as possible.

Souji was one step ahead of him, though. His report was as thorough as Hijikata had come to expect from his captain. It was a lot to grapple with, and raised as many new questions as it answered, but he ignored those for now and concentrated on what he was being told. It seemed there were a good number of people working against their captors. That was good. It was easier to organize things if you didn't have to waste time trying to convince people to see things your way. Withholding certain information was troublesome but also to be expected--he would have done the same thing. He nodded. "I'll take those lists, if you can get them to me." That was the sort of information he could do something with.

He arched an eyebrow slightly at that account of Souji's first day, but left it at that, for now. He could always ask about it later on. Instead, he picked up some of the food on his tray, eying it skeptically before taking a bite. He promptly set it down again. "This is awful." He couldn't even tell just what it was he was eating.

He paused a moment to consider. There were questions, lots of them. But this wasn't the place for most of them. Not with so many people who could overhear, and those watchful eyes on them. Instead, he went for the most obvious one, given how comfortable Souji seemed in these strange surroundings. "How long have you been here?" It seemed ridiculous, of course, given that he'd just seen him back home, but from the sounds of it, he'd been here for some time.

[notachick]

None of the staff seemed pleased. They weren't visibly on edge, but their demeanor was definitely different from usual. The general chatter the nurses and orderlies kept up along the edges of the cafeteria were gone, replaced instead with a silent, vigilant tension that seemed to bleed from the new personnel. Okita didn't recognize the uniforms they wore, but their demeanor spoke of rigid training and a lacking sense of humor. Either they were mercenaries or they were part of an army.

Pulling his mind away from his scrutiny of the supposed soldiers, Okita nodded his head. "I'll have them to you by lunch." It would take some time to find his notes and compare them to the lists of current patients, especially since they seemed to be appearing and disappearing so quickly lately. He made a quick mental note to begin working on that in the next shift and then turned his attention back to Hijikata.

And just in time to see the man try the Western food and find it horrid. Okita couldn't help but laugh a little, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. It had been such a long time since he'd seen Hijikata that he'd almost, almost forgotten how terribly honest the man could be. "Maybe you'd prefer it with something pickled on the side?"

His laughter turned a little lighter and he kept picking at his food. Having been here so long, he was growing used to it and was able to eat more than when he first arrived. The amount of bread, grease, meats, and other such things was still enough to make his head spin, but it was... Well, it wasn't growing on him, but he really had no other choice. And the food provided a nice distraction while he tried to think of a way to make his answer to Hijikata's question a little less disturbing. His commander was taking things in extremely well so far, enough to make Okita waver between wondering if Hijikata thought he was really crazy and feeling honored that he put that much trust in his captain. It took some time, but Okita counted back on the days and finally arrived at his answer. "One month. Quite...a lot has happened in that time."

[terriblehaiku]

"Good." He was grateful to have Souji here. Out of anyone, Hijikata knew that he could depend on the captain to get him up to speed quickly and reliably, knew that he could trust him implicitly, which was vital in a situation where he found himself completely without any other resources. If this wasn't some sort of deranged dream--and he was having to stubbornly admit it didn't seem likely--there was going to be work for him to do, and he was going to need all the information he could get his hands on.

"I'd prefer something remotely edible," he replied, shoving the tray away from him. He didn't care if he'd be hungry later, he was not going to eat any more of whatever that was on his plate, observers be-damned. If they wanted him to eat, they could serve him something actually palatable.

That answer took his attention away from the food. It explained a few things, but made him wonder about others. A month was plenty of time to gather the sort of information Souji obviously had, enough time to become somewhat comfortable in such strange surroundings, but it didn't explain the fact that Souji had most certainly been in Kyoto with him all this time. And now that he was looking--really looking--at his captain, there were subtle differences. He looked healthier, and there was a faint scar he didn't remember on the younger man's cheek. "It looks like you've made good use of the time," he replied, trying to keep the response neutral when what he really wanted to ask was 'what is the last thing you remember from home?' Had they been kidnapped together? Had he somehow been unconscious for an entire month? It didn't seem very likely, but he could hardly think of another explanation for the discrepancy. He held back a sigh. It was far too early to be processing such bizarre scenarios.

[notachick]

Gathering the names of people was going to take time, so Okita was glad for once that he hadn't made many plans to meet people in regards to the club. Besides, with Hijikata here now, the structure of it was going to have to change. Of course, Hijikata couldn't take over the club itself, being new it simply wouldn't make sense. However, the thought of issuing orders to Hijikata made the captain uneasy; extremely uneasy. He'd have to find a happy medium so as to not upset the senior members of the club while still keeping Hijikata in a leadership role. Definitely a good thing he hadn't made any concrete plans for the day then.

As Hijikata shoved the tray away, Okita held back his laughter. Honest as always and just as stubborn as Okita had been in his first few days here, Hijikata was doing what was natural and refusing to eat the gross food here. In reality, Okita wished he could do the same, but maintaining health and energy was important for him now. The past few days had shown him that much what with the fever, the coughing, and that....other thing. Picking up another piece of bread, he said smiled and let the conversation drop. Hijikata's mind was clearly elsewhere as soon as Okita had mentioned the length of his stay and as nice as it would be to distract his leader with food talk, that wasn't what the man needed right now.

"The way they take people is strange. The last thing I remember is Gion after the Ikedaya, but the Choushu says he knows the end of the war and is from far after it. Other people here are from even further in the future or further in the past. I've seen people come through here that aren't even from any country recognizable in the world, let alone from Japan. It's--" He could get no further because suddenly a tray bounced off the table nearby, breaking his focus off the man across from him. A fight? No, not exactly. Food was starting to fly through the air, people were shouting and... Okita sighed. Attacking the nurses and orderlies. Great. Okita remembered the last time there had been a riot and he wasn't about to get sedated and stuck in his room for the rest of the day. He had to give it to them, though. This certainly was far more amusing than the other fight.

Bringing the ballpoint pen back out, Okita palmed it and started to get out of his chair. Did he try to get Hijikata out of here before a fight broke out in earnest? Or did he wait for his commander to give the order? Regardless, he had to warn him of the needles. "Watch out for the staff if they reach into their pockets. They have something they can force upon you that will really ruin your day."

[terriblehaiku]

That... made absolutely no sense. He could understand somehow managing to kidnap people from all over, but how did you take someone from a time that hadn't happened yet? It was nonsense. Souji should have been bright enough to recognize utter lunacy when he saw it, he seemed to be believing every word of what he was saying. Unless this was just an elaborate scheme to mess with him. As fond of practical jokes as the younger man was, however, Hijikata couldn't see him going so far as to feed him false information when they were stuck in this sort of situation. Not for the sake of a joke, certainly.

Which meant he'd just ignore the fact that the whole thing was utterly ridiculous for the moment, and concentrate on the part that mattered. Gion. The Ikedaya. If that was true, Souji remembered significantly less than he should have, even if he'd somehow been in this place a month already. It meant his last memories were of victory for the Shinsengumi. It meant he thought Sannan was still alive, and knew nothing at all about that thorn in his side, Itou. Well, it could stay that way. There was no need to burden him with the things he himself knew. If he asked--

The sudden racket was almost welcome, even as he reached instinctively for the sword that wasn't there and cursed under his breath at the absence. He scanned the chaos quickly, keeping Souji in his peripheral vision so he could move if the captain did. "I have no desire to get near any of them," he replied, scowling at the ridiculous attempt at a riot that was quickly unfolding in the room. Anyone with a brain in their skulls could see this wasn't going to end well. It was too chaotic and poorly organized. As a distraction, it might serve well enough, but he couldn't spot anything in the midst of the fight that looked the least bit organized. "What do these idiots think they're doing?"

[notachick]

"Having fun?" In reality, Okita had no idea. He'd seen people throw food before, sure, but that had been in jest and mostly when those involved were extremely drunk. Sometimes Okita wondered in the people here were in a state of constant drunkenness considering how some of them acted, but even that wouldn't excuse this. It was just tactically impractical to attack when there were new additions to the staff. The fact that the new people were carrying weapons only compounded that fact. Now, if a patient could hope to get a weapon away from someone, that would change things, but it was a gamble that could end with an unnecessary death. And with the disorganization that seemed to be rampant, there was no way this riot was going to end well.

Okita had been in a riot that had been rather well done and even that had ended poorly. This, however, was just going to end in someone going to solitary and a lot of people getting sedated.

Another tray came whizzing by Okita's head and the swordsman leaned away from it, letting it clang onto the floor. "Perhaps it'd be best if we left the area? It really isn't this--" He sidestepped to avoid someone's half-eaten sandwich. "--strange all the time, Hijikata-san. You just pick the best times to show up."

[terriblehaiku]

"This isn't fun, it's idiocy." He scowled as more food and dishes went flying past. If any of this hit him, so help them...

But he couldn't really do anything about it. Not here, where it was obvious the staff was retaliating with force. It made sense, on their end. There were more kidnap-ees than staff, despite the power imbalance, and if they didn't deal with it quickly it would continue to escalate. Why the idiots who'd started this mess couldn't see that this was bound to backfire, Hijikatata couldn't see. Perhaps they just didn't care. There were plenty of people who just didn't give a damn about anyone but themselves.

"I think that's a good idea." He really had no desire to be pelted with whatever people chose to fling in their direction, especially when they couldn't react without attracting undesirable attention to themselves. He looked around, trying to decide on the best path of escape. "Aren't I lucky?" Really. This was shaping up to be the worst morning he'd had in a very, very long time.

to the Sun Room

[notachick]

Okita laughed despite himself at Hijikata's almost expected answer. He couldn't exactly argue with his leader on that point, but he did think it was a little bit fun. Even if the food flying around was wasteful and the mess it left behind unclean, people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Whether they were merely throwing food or actively attacking the nurses and being beaten down by the new guards, they did seem to be having fun. Maybe there was something to be said about reckless mayhem.

A plastic fork went flying and Okita laughed to himself again. "Very lucky," he agreed and then motioned to Hijikata as he headed toward the cafeteria wall, weaving through the crowd of patients and nurses and gun-toting guards. Since he wasn't trying to join the attack, the staff seemed more than willing to allow him to pass, pushing by him as they ran into the fray.

Okita was more than happy to be ignored for once, and he began to notice others doing the same as him. Getting out of the cafeteria and away from the fight seemed to be a priority for quite a few people. Some were heading the opposite direction, but the objective was the same: leave the area. He could see some people running for the courtyard and others were going in the same direction as he was trying to lead Hijikata. The captain didn't bother to look behind him. He knew Hijikata was with him. He could sense the man's presence nearby and he trusted and knew Hijikata would follow him here where Okita knew the layout of the area better.

Soon enough the swordsman ducked past the last of the nurses and padded out into the freedom of the Sun Room. He took a few steps in before he stopped to look back at the chaos, picking a piece of scrambled egg out of his hair. He hadn't gotten away completely clean, but he was in considerably better shape than those still in the cafeteria. Once Hijikata joined him, Okita smiled up at him and said, "Well! Wasn't that exciting?"

[terriblehaiku]

Woken up at an ungodly hour after being apparently kidnapped and trapped in some kind of completely ridiculous jail, and now his captain was laughing at him. Wonderful. Well, it wasn't as if the day could get any more trying than it already was. At least, he certainly hopped no. And he could forgive Souji his laughter. At least it meant someone was enjoying themselves.

He followed as the younger man started to lead him away from the chaos. He was keeping one eye on the riot in the center of the room, watching to see how the ones who were ostensibly in charge were acting. Those who were apparently part of the regular staff seemed irritated, at best, although they apparently had some means of subduing the troublemakers. Probably the thing Souji had warned him about. The ones in black seemed in distinctly less good humor about the whole thing, and he had to wonder just how it would take before things got very out of hand. All in all, he was glad they were leaving.

While he doubted they were making their way completely unobserved, it seemed they simply weren't very important at the moment, and no one tried to get in their way as Souji led him out of the room and into another. They weren't alone, though, and the way they were being watched seemed to indicated that should they try to go much further, they'd be met with resistance. He ignored that for the moment in favor of shaking bits of breakfast off of his clothing. "Very," he replied dryly, and made an instinctual grab for his pipe, which obviously wasn't there. He scowled and dropped his hand to his side. "They're obviously not kidnapping people for their tactical planning abilities." The whole thing looked to be a mess, from an organizational standpoint.

[notachick]

"You'd be surprised," Okita replied as he reached behind his neck and unclipped a second pen from its hiding place in his shirt collar. This he offered to Hijikata with a pleasant smile. He remembered all too well how Hijikata had dealt with the withdrawal before and while the captain thought a little less smelly tobacco in the commander's life wasn't such a bad thing, he also knew how difficult it was to deal with. Thankfully, Okita had some of those modern mini-pipes left over from when he hadn't been able to pass them off to Badou or the other Hijikata. He wasn't sure if his Hijikata would take them, but it was one other way to help him at night at least.

"I would say most of the people here are either former or current fighters, soldiers, or leaders of something. Even those who are not have some sort of ability to fight, or have experience in the support fields like medicine and espionage. Several here have 'powers' unlike anything we've seen before. One girl here is a ninja with considerable acrobatic skill. There were once people here who could create weapons with their bare hands in the blink of an eye. And...a man I once knew was a demi-god and could control fire." It was still strange to think of Homura as being gone. Especially now that Hijikata was back and there would be no division of Okita's loyalty. He considered briefly telling Hijikata about the demi-god, his former leader and the man who'd kept him from falling apart every time Hijikata left, but he decided against it. It was information that Hijikata didn't need in order to function here. No one left in these walls knew of his and Homura's somewhat strained relationship and it was best that no one ever did. "It's a strange place, but I can see why Martin Landel picked this group to be here. There are, of course, those who slip through the cracks and seem to have nothing to offer, but they are few and far between."

Very far and very few. Okita was fortunate enough not to work with any of them, but he did feel terrible for him in an abstract way. They were left here to struggle to survive night after night while the stronger ones went off to do what was necessary. It was always those who were least visible, least useful who disappeared without anyone to mourn them, too. Okita wondered how many had left already without a single person to notice. "I'll introduce you later to the History Club. We are a smaller group, but everyone is battle ready." He paused for a moment and then laughed some to himself. "Or at least battle eager."

[terriblehaiku]

Hijikata frowned when Souji held the object out to him. It was a little annoying that the younger man had clearly pegged his fidgeting for what it was, but at least he had the good grace not to say anything about it. He took it and looked it over, trying to work out what it as. It was the same as what Souji had used to write on the paper earlier, but didn't resemble any sort of brush he'd ever seen. And he couldn't say for sure what it was made of. There'd be time to examine it later, he supposed. For now he just held onto it. It was enough to keep his hands occupied, at least.

He listened to Souji's explanation, looking a little skeptical. Glancing from his captain back to the chaos that was still going on in the next room, he found most of it hard to believe. "If that's the case, they have poor impulse control." Then again, so did some of the men back home, so perhaps it wasn't quite so hard to believe. It seemed odd to gather so many trained individuals in one place if you were looking to contain them. It also seemed odd that if nearly everyone had the sort of capabilities Souji said they did, they were all still here. Was the lack of teamwork so great that they'd never been able to put together a focused assault? Or were the odds that stacked against them? I supposed only time would tell.

Hijikata nodded. "I'd like to know who I'm going to be working with." Because it went without saying that if Souji was working with them, he would too. What he wasn't looking forward to was the number of toes he might end up stepping on in the process. Tact and diplomacy had never been his strong suits. Well, he'd leave it to Souji to smooth that out. He was good at it, and presumably knew these people well enough to anticipate any issues that might arise.