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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[kingdomless]

By the time Kairi woke up, she was certainly feeling better, but she was still wary to enter the Cafeteria once again. Could she be blamed? Her eyes continued to dart around the room as if she expected the horrible gas to appear any minute.

"Now, Claire," her nurse by her side cooed, "I know this morning was difficult, but things will be better! I promise." and then she smiled that usual sickly sweet smile, and Kairi couldn't help it when her stomach dropped to the floor. The smiles of the nurses and doctors meant absolutely nothing to her, especially considering the doctor who had experimented on her those many nights ago had smiled at her as well, and it only made her feel worse and worse and worse.

After grabbing a plate of food, the princess made her way to an empty table, sitting down with a sigh. She couldn't help that she was still slightly on edge. You have to get over it, Kairi, she told herself, prodding at her french fries with her fork.

No use dwelling on things.

(for rapunzel eeeeee)

afdasf sorry for the TL;DR! ;o;

[hairraising]

[From here]

By the time Rapunzel entered the large eating area (the "Cafeteria" as the nurse had called it), her head was spinning to such a degree that she was surprised she hadn't fallen over again. This was less out of actual dizziness and more due to information overload. For one thing, the woman who had picked her up in the strange white room kept calling her by a different name, "Amanda," even when Rapunzel insisted she was mistaken. For another, there was the fact that there even was an unfamiliar woman there with her at all, and a nurse at that. That had alone had thrown her for a loop even more than the name thing did. Then there was the building itself, which was unlike any Rapunzel had ever seen in her life. The sights, sounds, and smells alone were doing a number on her brain every second that she spent walking through it

don't be sorry i love it~

[kingdomless]

Hearing the sound of her "real" name, Kairi looked up, blinking in surprise when she saw a nurse moving a girl in her direction with ... very, very, very long hair. Unconciously, the princess ran her hand through her own hair, glad that hers was growing out (and she couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for hers to get that long

[hairraising]

Don't worry? Don't worry?! How could she not worry? By now Eugene could be

[kingdomless]

Whoops. Too fast? Kairi thought to herself as she watched the girl become visibly shaken, and she gave her a sad smile. "Yes, creatures. All kinds of things. But, like I said, there are ways to defend ourselves from them. Not to mention there is also a flashlight under your pillow, so you'll be able to see in the darkness." She always made sure to mention the flashlight; her first night in the institute, she had run out without the thing, and if she hadn't run into Roxas, who knew what would have happened? The light helped.

Rapunzel. A strange name, but then again, according to some of the other patients, her name was strange as well. "It's nice to meet you, Rapunzel," she gave the girl a bright smile, hoping to at least calm her down a little bit. "Oh! And the nurses are calling you a different name because according to the leader here, our real lives are make believe. But you mustn't believe them, because ... well, what we have really lived is real, right? You just have to focus on that

[hairraising]

Rapunzel nodded slowly, swallowing a lump and chewing on the inside of her bottom lip. Kairi's calm, though it threw her at first, was helping some now. She took in the rest of the explanation as well as she could, all things considered. She didn't remember a flash of light at all, but the transition from one place to another with only a period of darkness in between was fresh in her mind. It was good to know that her experience was shared by everyone around her, if only because it gave them all some common ground to work from

[kingdomless]

Rapunzel looked to be calming down, and in turn, that made Kairi's tenseness fade away. When she even smiled, the princess couldn't help but smile back, glad to see she was doing a lot better now that things had been explained. "You're welcome," she told her happily, her smile softening when she said she didn't want to be alone anymore. "And you and me both

[hairraising]

A weapon sounded good. If there were creatures roaming around at night, a weapon sounded very, very, very good. A frying pan, a kitchen knife, a baseball bat (whatever that was) - anything would do so long as it held together and packed a good solid blow to the head.

...If monsters even had anything resembling a head. And weren't so much bigger than her. And were less monster and more, say, fluffy bunny.

Oh my gosh can daytime just last forever starting now? Please?Then Kairi brought something else up, taking Rapunzel slightly off-guard again. "What? Oh, thanks. I, uh, just got it trimmed, actually," she answered with a wince, though still trying to sound genuinely thankful for the kind words. In truth, even if her hair were its proper length, she still wouldn't have been totally sure how to respond to a compliment about it. Up until two days ago, only one person had ever made any kinds of comments about her hair (in non-animal-speak, anyway). Hearing these kinds of unabashed compliments, no strings attached, was still new to her

[kingdomless]

Kairi still smiled, despite Rapunzel seeming to be taken aback by her compliment. "Well, it's very pretty, either way." She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have that long of hair on the beach, though. Would sand get stuck in it? And how long would it take to dry? Crazy.

Why am I thinking about this.Kairi's smile turned warm and understanding at the comment about her hair becoming her friend, and she nodded her head. "Reliable, right? I understand. When I was separated from my best friends for a while, I used to write notes in bottles and send them into the ocean. It was my way of talking to them, I suppose, though I don't think they ever got any of them," a small laugh, and she sighed. It was true; they never mentioned any of her notes, so she supposed she never got any of them. Which was okay, she decided, since most of them were written when she was feeling lonely and sad, and she didn't want to explain to either of them what they really meant. "So I guess I could say that my notes were my friends, too

[hairraising]

Rapunzel tried to imagine Kairi sending out the bottles, wondering how closely her vision of the ocean matched the real one. Oceans, farmers' fields, deserts, mountains - they were all places Rapunzel had only read about or heard mentioned in passing. The ocean was blue, right? And big. Really, really, really big. The water was supposed to move and crash a lot, too, unlike the water in the lake she had sailed on with Eugene. Was that how Kairi's bottles got carried out to her friends? It sounded like that was the idea. Though, she was disappointed for the other girl if none of the messages had ever reached their destination