Day 54: Lunch

[full_score]

All things considered, last shift had been pretty low key. After this morning's disaster, though, that was perfectly fine by Claude. Some fresh air and a chance to make sure Guy and Okita were all right weren't things to take for granted. It was also good to have a fairly normal, conversation with Guy that didn't slip off into awkward territory

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[bitpartgod]

By lunchtime, Kibitoshin was feeling slightly better. Slightly. He'd stopped sniffing, which was probably a good thing considering people would be eating near him now, but a quick stop in the bathroom on the way to the cafeteria still showed those horrible red rims around his eyes, like he'd spent all morning crying. And that certainly wasn't the strong, brave look he needed to aim for, was it? He wanted to look like a hero, not someone who dived for tissues every time something bad happened! But fixing that little problem wasn't exactly something he could manage during the day when there were so many nurses around, so he'd had to resign himself to looking silly until night fell. Then again, wouldn't it be too dark to tell how his eyes looked at night

[scarefaux]

[Hope this is okay! He could use a pal.]Much to the Scarecrow's surprise, the cafeteria looked as though everything that had happened that morning simply hadn't happened at all. Even with the tables clean and the dark-clad officials all back in their places, the former strawman was still feeling the effects of the morning's events. He'd barely gotten the map back from Mele before the doors shut and he became aware that something was very, very wrong. And then the smoke poured into the room from every direction, filling the air and suffocating everyone inside

[bitpartgod]

[eee ♥ the scarecrow is always okay!]

In the situation, Kibitoshin couldn't have been gladder to see anyone.

"Scarecrow!" Immediately, his face lit up. "I'm so glad to see you!" Sechs and Haseo would have been cross with him for being so indecisive, Franziska would have shouted at him for blocking the aisle and Goku-- well, Goku barely recognised him. Even if the Scarecrow hadn't been as nice as he was, he'd still have been the best possible person to run into.

He glanced back around the room, giving a little laugh. "Actually, yes. I wasn't sure where to sit." It sounded kind of silly out loud, like he'd walked aorund and somehow managed to miss every single chair in the room. Quickly, he added, "I mean, there aren't many people who don't have someone with them already."

And there were even fewer now. The cafeteria had filled up around him while he dithered and now he wasn't even sure that there was anyone left to sit with. He could've sat in a three, of course, but what if he'd been interrupting a conversation

[scarefaux]

The Scarecrow nodded with a knowing smile and took one of the two seats, a little relieved that he wasn't the only clumsy one at the Institute. Of course, his came from his unfamiliarity with being human

[bitpartgod]

With that settled (he'd made a suggestion! And it had been accepted! It was a miracle!) Kibitoshin settled down into the chair next to the Scarecrow with a pleasing sense of satisfaction. Even his appetite seemed to perk up a little. Maybe that was his problem- scary people were bad for his health.

Picking up his own knife and fork, he starting to poke experimentally at his meal. Fish and chips, had his nurse said? Hmm. As he prodded, he looked sideways to the Scarecrow as he spoke, brow knitting just a little. Ah... that was right. He'd talked about his friend not being here anymore on the board, hadn't he? Kibitoshin knew first hand what a troubling way that was to start the day, with the way things like that threw you right out of joint.

"I know how you feel," he answered, eyes sliding sideways. "It- it makes you feel like anyone can just vanish, and you'd never even know until-" An awkward swallow. He didn't think that either of them wanted or indeed needed to hear the end of that sentence. "I'm really sorry about your friend."

[scarefaux]

There wasn't much the Scarecrow could say. Everyone had undoubtedly lost friends they'd made in Landel's, either through the Wizard Landel's trickery or worse. While it was nice to know he wasn't facing loss alone, it certainly didn't change the fact that people were disappearing. Even worse was knowing he could be next. He still had so much to do

[bitpartgod]

The Scarecrow was right, there had to be something they could do. Most of the bad guys Kibitoshin had ever seen or heard of had actually liked a challenge- a sentiment that, actually, the Kaioshin could whole-heartedly get behind if it wasn't for the fate of the entire universe- so that had to go for the people in charge here, right? They wouldn't just trap them without a single hope of getting anywhere. He hoped

Last edit, I super promise. D:

[scarefaux]

Now that was more like it! Even without his diploma, the Scarecrow had managed to come to the same idea as Kibitoshin, and at nearly the same time- maybe his human brain wasn't quite as broken as he thought, despite the clever little thing being in there

is this revenge for when I did it in our dinner thread? <3

[bitpartgod]

"Right!" Kibitoshin agreed, surprising himself with how chipper he sounded. "That way, if anything happens to me," a slight wobble there, but he recovered quickly, "someone else might find it and then they'd know it, too!"

Well, how could he not sound hopeful? It felt like he never managed to do anything useful during the day, with every shift plodding past, just padding between one horrible, traumatic night and the next- but here they were now, exchanging names in case of emergency and acting like the professional, resourceful people he always saw exchanging important messages on the bulletin board. They did things like this, right? ... a-anyway, it was definitely a step forward

<3 <3 <3

[scarefaux]

"Immanuel Williams," the Scarecrow read aloud in a similar fashion. "Oh, I agree. I definitely like Scarecrow and Kibitoshin better." He tucked the scrap into his journal for safekeeping, trying not to look too suspicious to the nurses as he did. There were plenty of blank pages in his journal- he really only had his maps and a few other things in there. Keeping track of his friends' "real names" would be putting it to good use

[bitpartgod]

With that settled, Kibitoshin folded the piece of paper and put it carefully into his pocket, praying that he'd remember to take it out before he went out tonight. He wouldn't necessarily remember the Scarecrow's other name without it, and it wouldn't do to have the note get ripped or torn or covered in blood before he could note its contents down.

"Really?" He made a face that was part put out and part wounded, as though he'd been personally affronted by Landel's decision to make the Institute's filing system difficult for them to comprehend. Really, now! How were they supposed to find anything, if that was the case? "Well, searching is definitely out. But this other room..."

He'd never heard of it before, but it sounded interesting to say the least of it; boxes with things in, strange writing on the ceiling... it all spelled Trouble with a capital T to Kibitoshin. Which, perhaps, was why he found himself so irresistibly drawn to thinking about it. "Maybe it's to do with what's in the boxes. Did you get a look while you were there

[scarefaux]

"I got a look at the box with my own name on it," the Scarecrow said after swallowing a bite, tapping his fork to his plate, "but I didn't think to look in the other boxes. I thought it couldn't hurt to see what was inside the one, seeing how they must've thought it was mine anyway

[bitpartgod]

Listening to the Scarecrow talk was strange enough to get Kibitoshin wondering. What if he had a box? Or rather, what if 'Immanuel Williams' had a box? There was no reason that he wouldn't right? The objects the Scarecrow had described certainly seemed random, yes (he couldn't see the Scarecrow using a knife for anything but eating fish and chips like he was right at that moment, really), far too random for him to even hazard a guess at what might be in his own, but still. It was interesting to think about. And who knew, there could be something useful in there

[scarefaux]

A worried look crossed the Scarecrow's face as Kibitoshin posed a rather horrifying question: if he was in Hunk Howard's body, then just what had happened to Hunk Howard himself? Now that was something he hadn't thought of before: he knew well and good that he'd been given a human form somehow, but to think it might have been taken from someone else? That was just awful.

It did make sense, though. The possessions box, the fact that the staff was downright convinced he was this Hunk Howard- if he was simply a strawman borrowing a human's body rather than being stuck in one conjured just for him, some of the Wizard Landel's elaborate trickery may not have been that after all. Some parts couldn't be explained by that theory, like Dorothy's visit and the movie- he knew they would require more thought to figure out. If he could get his brain, he could reason out such things just fine