Day 55: Cafeteria

[mustbethesuit]

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[scintillatingly]

Sora had still been sitting with Kairi in that empty room when the intercom had finally come on to announce the end of the night. Normally he was too busy fighting or running to actually hear a lot of the words that the Head Doctor spoke as morning came, but in this case he'd been able to hear it loud and clear.

Except, of course, that it wasn't the Head Doctor who was speaking this time. It was yet another unfamiliar voice. The accent didn't really stand out to Sora, since he'd traveled to enough places that he'd heard his fair share of them, but he could almost feel the disdain in the voice. It was scolding them, even going so far as to say that they were useless animals rather than flesh-and-blood people.

It was the sort of thing that filled Sora with a quiet anger, because they had already been toyed with and put through more than anyone should have to deal with. If this general (it had to be him, didn't it?) didn't consider that valuable, then he was full of it, plain and simple

[scintillatingly]

"Come along, then." The walk itself was pretty much the same as how it went with the nurses, but Sora spent it taking in the smiley face on his armband and marveling at how the boots were actually kind of comfortable. The pants were a bit tighter than he was used to, but he'd just have to adapt to them

[allroadslead]

There had suddenly been an excess of things happening at once after what had started off as a pretty quiet night. Sam hadn't figured for a goddamn angel to blow into the room, and therefore throwing him the task of keeping Castiel and Ruby from destroying each other. Thinking on it later, Sam would conclude that trying to step between an angel and a demon, both of whom had their powers back, wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done

[allroadslead]

Truth was, he should've known better than to be caught off guard. Of course the two of them were bound to bump into each other, and of course it would result in a spectacular blowout. He knew he couldn't stay in the middle, as much as he felt caught in it, and when it came down to it, he still trusted Ruby more than he did some angel he hadn't even known existed until three days ago. But he also wasn't exactly looking to incite any bad blood here if he could help it. There'd been a reason why he'd extended a tentative truce with Gabriel, why he hadn't done anything about Castiel until now, and why he'd been avoiding discussing it with Ruby as much as possible. He didn't need the mess, end of story. And not only him, but Dean, either. He was interested in getting Dean alive and out of here. That was it. For such as simple goal, this was getting really freaking complicated. Angels. He never thought he'd run into a supernatural entity that caused more trouble than demons, but at this point, he'd pick demons. At least he knew he could

[scintillatingly]

Sora hadn't necessarily been a spoiled kid, but his parents also hadn't treated him like a servant rather than a child. He'd been given chores to do, but they had also allowed him to leave his room at least a little messy most of the time. And even when his mom had gotten upset and ordered him to clean the kitchen or something, he'd always been able to call friends over to split up the work

[allroadslead]

For his part, Sam's bangs kept falling into his eyes. The upside was that he was pretty used to it, having always had them too long since...ever. Part of this was because Dean had made it a habit early on of bitching about their length and how one day, it was gonna get his ass kicked six ways to Sunday

[scintillatingly]

B Class? Sora hadn't expected that. If he was S Class and that was the best one, then he'd figured the other ones would be T and U and things like that. Then again, this place had never made much sense to him; why would the soldiers taking over have changed that

[allroadslead]

Sam returned the smile. "Yeah, I guess it was time we did."

You know, given the circumstances, Sora seemed to be adapting pretty well. Not that this was too big a surprise from the other people he'd already met, but still. If they weren't both wrist-deep in soapy water, he'd have thought they were chatting across a table at a diner somewhere.

He wondered if Sora had parents or something. If it made a difference-Sam wasn't a hundred percent sure whether it was possible to be missed in the first place, but he was leaning towards the answer to that being a no. His own case wasn't much to go off of (hunters made it a point to disappear even before they, well. Actually disappeared), but there was Peter's brother. Senator, wasn't that what his roommate had said

[scintillatingly]

Even though Sam was trying to make a guess at what the ranks were for, Sora didn't really get it. Divvy up for what? Why did there have to be a hierarchy in the first place? This military stuff just made no sense to him, and the only thing he could really relate it to was the Organization. They'd also assigned ranks through numbers that were based on when a member "joined," right? Which was why Roxas, the final one, had been number thirteen.

His hand was starting to feel sore from all of the monotonous scrubbing, and so Sora took a moment to wring the sponge out and then get some fresh water onto it. This seemed like way more work than fighting monsters to him, but he realized that probably wasn't the case for most people. His life hadn't exactly been ordinary for the past year or two.

At Sam's question, he took a moment to think back on the conversation he'd had with that soldier. It hadn't been that long ago, after all. "He said that if I continued to behave, I'd be treated well. I'm not sure what that means, but he did let me

[allroadslead]

Sounded about right. Rank + privileges was pretty average. Sam did consider that maybe the soldier had gone easy on Sora because Sora was younger. He couldn't imagine all of them being completely heartless, but he wasn't naive enough to rule it out, either. Besides, he wasn't sure whether he was supposed to take these soldiers as actual people or if they were something else. The brainwashing thing was straight out of sci-fi, but it seemed real enough here, and it didn't have to just apply to the patients.

"Keeping your head down does sound like a good idea," he agreed. It'd probably be harder for some than others, though. Harder for most, even, because he'd figured out pretty quick that a good chunk of the people pulled into here weren't exactly the type to do as they were told. Hell, even he was finding his patience fraying, if he had to be honest

[scintillatingly]

"Keeping your head down" was what Sam called it. Sora just figured it was a matter of being nice and following orders. He wasn't a very confrontational person, not like Riku -- though he got the feeling that even his friend would have known better than to start arguing with these guys. They had no way to fight back and it would just get them on their bad side, which could have some serious consequences. All in all, his night with Kairi had been very calm, but that was because they'd chosen to take it easy

[allroadslead]

Usually, Sam would've figured this for an exaggeration-you know, that whole, "my hair just won't stay in place" kind of thing-but he was pretty much witnessing the literalness of Sora's statement right now. It was kinda weird if he considered it too long and he realized he was only half-kidding when he wondered briefly if it was maybe...possessed or its own entity or something.

...Yeah, okay. This place was definitely driving him crazy. Oh God.

He scrubbed the floor a little harder, as if that would turn his thought processes back to normal.

"Maybe they'll let you bobby pin it on," he said wryly. It was only then that it suddenly clicked where he'd heard the name before. Or seen, actually. He didn't know why he hadn't made the connection immediately. Part of it might've been because he hadn't expected it to be someone so young, but in hindsight, he should've guessed from the tone of those notes that they'd been written by a teenager.

"Hey, uh. You're the one running the Arts & Crafts thing?"

[scintillatingly]

That was actually a good idea. Well, maybe. Sora had always thought that bobby pins were for girls. Kairi and Selphie had made them out of things they'd found on the beach, kind of like those thalassa shell necklaces. Would people make fun of him if he used those to keep his hat on? Maybe if he did it the right way, they wouldn't be visible at all

[allroadslead]

An almost involuntary smile tugged at Sam's lips. He had no idea where Sora was getting his enthusiasm from, but it was sorta refreshing. He didn't begrudge anyone from being in a completely crappy mood, of course, given the circumstances. It was just, you know. Nice to see people like Sora. And yeah, he knew it was probably a lot more complicated under the surface, but he could tell the kid was genuine.

At the question, he looked over. He hadn't expected Sora to leap on it like that. He pushed his sleeve back up, leaving damp spots in the material. Something told him that if Sora had had a clipboard on hand, he would've whipped it out and started collecting Sam's name and email address.

"I don't think I can, sorry. I've got...people." Who need me, he couldn't quite bring himself to finish. The kind of guilt that accompanied turning down a solicitation for a donation crept up in him. He knew he shouldn't be so caught up in his own problems, but there wasn't any way around it: he was. Still, from what he'd glimpsed on the board, it

[scintillatingly]

While it was a bit disappointing to be turned down so quickly, Sora didn't judge Sam for it. The explanation he gave, short as it was, was more than enough for him to understand. People meant friends, those who relied on him and who he couldn't let down. It wasn't like he wanted people to leave important obligations for the sake of a club, after all. It was meant to be a support system, something for people to use if they needed guidance for what to do during the night