Jun 26, 2011 03:01
Edgar's charming company had raised Anise's spirits enough that not even the Head Doctor's voice could bring them back down. Besides, she was feeling pretty sure that Landel wasn't actually around. To begin with, it wouldn't make sense, and secondly, his announcements sounded suspiciously like ones she'd already heard before. While Anise wasn't
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sonia,
kirk,
carter,
japan,
bella,
scott pilgrim,
anise,
izaya,
claire littleton,
the doctor,
sora,
england,
prussia,
firo,
utena,
renamon,
claude,
guybrush,
ted logan,
elena gilbert,
edgeworth,
peter parker,
tolten,
kurogane,
dean winchester,
seishin,
grell,
byrne,
albedo,
guy,
stefan,
peter petrelli,
nigredo,
tear,
rose (tvd),
lightning,
damon,
rita,
ritsuka,
two-face,
rapunzel,
castiel,
erika,
edgar,
allelujah,
tifa,
the scarecrow,
mikado,
trickster,
chise,
ippo,
alaric,
okita,
meekins,
claire stanfield,
edward cullen,
battler,
zack,
mccoy,
wichita,
l,
harry lockhart
Today was shaping up to be ... interesting, so far. The conversation in the chapel had been pleasant enough, but was shaping up to be.... A serial killer, someone who apparently liked getting hit in unfortunate places, another person who seemed to be talking to himself, and some pretty, um... undesirable implications involving little boys. Were these guys for real...? It was almost as if, now that they had reverted back to the premise of mental facility, everyone had decided to play along with it. ... Maybe it would be best if he ignored that for the time being.
In any case, Battler was definitely looking forward to getting some food in his stomach. The announcement was kind of abnormally static-filled, but if anything, it did give him some hope. Did that mean that since they were pretending not to be under military control, they'd actually get some real food...? Unfortunately for him, that proved not to be the case. .... Still sorting by rank.
What the hell, wasn't that just cruel? The Western-style food in the buffet looked and smelled really good, a pretty big contrast to the weird pink crap the looked kind of like it had been predigested. His rebellious streak kicked in for a moment, causing him to make a move for the other line, but he didn't get very far before a "nurse" shoved a try of slop into his chest. ... Aaah, dammit! He really didn't want to eat this stuff at all. But he didn't really have a choice, did he? Apparently, it was either eat this or starve.
Sighing, he glanced around the cafeteria for a place to sit. The first person he saw was a young girl in pigtails, who seemed to be in pretty good spirits despite all the reasons it would be easy not to be in a place like this. .... Well, why not? Maybe it'd be fun, and he'd rather try and meet someone new than try and find somewhere isolated.
"Mind if I sit here?" He greeted amicably.
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Before long, Anise found herself approached by a handsome red-haired man. Didn't she meet him once before, actually? He had a really weird name, so even though it was a short encounter, she remembered him.
When asked if he could join her, her face lit up with a smile and she nodded vigorously. "Of course not! Go ahead!" The company of a handsome guy was exactly what she was hoping for to begin with, so there was no way she could turn that down. She felt a little bad once she noticed the goop on his tray, though. Anise's own food looked like a meal fit for a king in comparison.
"You got stuck with the gross stuff, huh? That really sucks," Anise offered by way of sympathy. She would have offered some of her food along with those words, if it wasn't likely to result in some horribly disproportionate punishment from the military. Anise couldn't afford to get in trouble - especially not today.
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"Oh, this?" He made a face at food. "I'm not too picky about what I eat normally, but this stuff is kind of ridiculous, isn't it? But since they're made it pretty obvious you either have to eat this stuff or nothing at all, then I guess I'll have to get used to it somehow."
At the very least, he wasn't about to go an entire day plus whatever amount he'd slept through on his arrival again. To confirm this with himself, he took a cautious spoonful. It... wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly that great, either. The sort of bland thing that you could eat if you wanted to, but hardly inspired any kind of appetite. ... Well, it was better than no food at all, he guessed.
"Speaking of which, getting the good stuff means you've been here a while, right?" He frowned slightly at the thought. He'd heard multiple people suggest that the military rewards were something meant to cause division between them, but while he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous of the idea actually being fed properly, resentment was far from the feeling seeing that inspired in him. If anything at all, the idea of people being stuck here for lengths of time, probably being manipulated into who even knew what (if he were to take some of the implications in the announcements at face value), was sobering, and kind of depressing.
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Actually, it wouldn't be that weird if he did. But if that was the case, she couldn't let it slide without teasing him a little, could she?
It was a bit of a relief that Battler had an easygoing attitude about the difference in their food quality. Anise didn't want to make him uncomfortable by eating good food in front of him, but he seemed to understand that they all had to take what they got, even if it was unfair. There probably were a few people who would resent her for getting to eat well when most people couldn't, though.
When he guessed at the reason for her privileges, Anise nodded. "Mm-hmm. I think it's been a little over four weeks by now." It was a little depressing to think about how long she'd been trapped without even coming close to finding a way out, but Anise had more or less come to terms with the fact that she could end up staying longer still. The fact that she had reliable friends around made that a lot easier to accept.
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"... Well, about that, probably not," he explained. "How should I put this.... Apparently, this is my second time here." With any luck, that would be be all he really needed to say about it. He'd explain if he had to, but while he'd come up with own explanation for this kind of thing and had already accepted it on his own terms, it was still pretty unsettling to encounter. ... That was probably true of the other side of things, too, now that he thought about it. Acquaintances were one thing, but what if it was someone important...? His mind drifted to Lion for a moment, but he ended up shaking his head. He couldn't just darken the atmosphere with something like that and leave it be, could he?
"But don't worry, okay~? In any normal situation, I'd never~ forget the name of a cute girl."
"About a month, huh...? Another guy was telling me the same thing," he thought aloud. It was definitely disheartening to think about, or hear again, both for the people still stuck here, and that it was looking like, if he was going to accomplish anything here, he'd be stuck for a while himself. It was true, there was choice but to accept the hand he'd been dealt, but did he really have that kind of time to spending...? The sooner this place got exposed and shut down the better, but he was beginning to wonder if that wasn't just wishful thinking.
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Battler's explanation for his lapse in memory was unexpected, but not really unusual. Anise knew all about how people lost their memories when they were released and readmitted... It happened to lots of her friends. But when it came to the acquaintances that she didn't really keep tabs on, there was no real way of knowing when they disappeared and came back.
"Well... I guess I can forgive that!" she decided, her playful grin returning once she processed that bit of information. "It's Anise! And don't worry, you probably didn't forget much else about me. We should make sure to get to know each other properly this time, okay?" Anise knew that if she was the one with the memory gap, she'd be constantly wondering 'What else did I forget?' So it seemed like a good idea to assure him that he didn't have much to catch up on.
But for being so good-looking and charming, Battler couldn't be that bright. His math was all wrong! "Closer to half a month, but I guess it feels a lot longer, eheh," she commented, casually correcting him as she did. Hopefully he wouldn't take it personally, but thinking of her time at the institute in terms of months was just depressing.
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