Day 59: Cafeteria (noon)

[immortale]

By the time lunch rolled around, things still weren't getting any better. The voices hadn't gone away; instead, Firo was pretty sure they were getting more frequent. Ennis had been silent since last night, but Czes's voice had been an insistent buzz in his ear all morning

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[roseoverture]

The day had been pretty uneventful for Utena so far, perhaps to make up for her more eventful night. She had spent the whole shift between aimlessly flipping through books and meandering into the Sun Room to stare in bafflement at the blanket fort chaos going on there. She wasn't sure why it was happening or why the soldiers weren't doing anything about it, but it was a good thing to see, she'd decided. Landel's needed more random fun things going on. And now it was lunch time. For once, she was actually glad for it, because by that point, the skipped breakfast was catching up with her. "Oh man, I could eat a horse right now," she said to herself as she entered the cafeteria

[affictitious]

Well, that was aggravating. Oh, like... everything else. He shouldn't be surprised at this point. Castiel was still trying to - hell if he knew. What he was trying to do was be Dad. To Gabriel, at least. Seriously, the things he would've done if one of his siblings had, not once, but twice demanded to be updated on his activities like he was a wayward son.

He outright refused to do it. He wasn't here to help anyone. He was here to get his ass out and stop the freaking Apocalypse from destroying humanity because, for some reason, he had a personal affinity for them.

What he needed was a distraction, so - oh. Bingo. Target spotted. Except that was after the whole... rotting food debacle. No thanks. He'll starve, and maybe turn a dead rat into a croissant later tonight. You know, just for kicks.

Gabriel slid into the chair opposite a girl who would give cotton candy a run for its money with that hair. Yu-Gi-Oh had nothing on this shit. "Getting a little desperate, aren't you? The maggot's a nice touch." He vaguely pointed a finger

[roseoverture]

Utena didn't register the voice across from her over the smell at first, not until the word "maggot" jumped out at her. She snapped out of her dedicated not-looking-at-her-food-ness at that and chanced a look down. "What? Mag- What the-?! Ugh!" Utena shoved her tray sharply to the side, almost sending it off the table. She saw the telltale white wiggles in the middle of the bowl now, and that was the final straw. No way was she eating anything the Institute gave her today. If the man across from her hadn't seen the rotting as well, she would have seriously started to wonder if she was having another "Yomi"-type day.

"So I'm not crazy, then. I was starting to wonder whether I was the only one who could smell anymore," she said with a sickened sigh, slumping onto her elbows. Though, a quick glance around confirmed that, despite what she and the man saw, others continued to eat without issue. That still didn't sit well with her on the "maybe you're crazy" front. Had she spoken too soon

[affictitious]

"Well, the whole crazy thing is relative, but sure. Why not?" Look, the whole mental institute thing had its place. Eventually. Someone had to be crazy around here. Actually, you know, he was a great example himself. He had been pulling one crazy, stupid idea after the other for the past. Whatever. Days. Way too many days.

He would've shrugged if his bitten shoulder hadn't reminded him with a startling jolt of pain what a bad idea that was. Someone tear his wings off now. Please.

Gabriel wiggled his fingers in a mystical way. Or an annoying, maggot-like way. Whatever. "Maybe everyone's been brainwashed into eating rot. It's a training camp for zombies. Very Asylum of the Dead. I heard there were zombies around, at least."

[human_sponge]

Getting to talk to Depth Charge again had been a relief, if only because it was good to keep on reconnecting with friends here. He didn't know if the man would be able to contribute to the group that Peter was trying to put together since it seemed like he had enough on his plate as it was, but Depth Charge had still given him some useful information. The basement was something that people literally could not discuss, but whatever was down there wasn't good

[immortale]

Berga didn't respond-not that Firo had really expected him to. No matter what he'd thought he'd heard, the middle Gandor brother wasn't here. Someone else had called out his name then, and if he hadn't seen Peter Petrelli standing before him, he might have almost thought it was still his imagination. As it was, someone actually talking to him was more startling than he'd expected, especially after he'd been just talking to ghosts.

"Oh, Peter! Hello!" he said quickly, hoping the man hadn't heard him earlier. He'd asked about the food, though, not who he'd been talking to, so...

Firo's gaze dropped to the bowl of pink gruel. "I'm not so sure, actually. Why?"

[human_sponge]

Despite the fact that Firo had looked a little like he'd been in his own world for a second there, Peter didn't think too much of it. Seeing how he'd been known as a daydreamer for most of his life, he couldn't really judge someone else for having the same habits. And it was easy to want to put yourself in another situation when you were stuck here.

Even though Firo had a plate of rotten food sitting in front of him, Peter still took a seat. He wanted to make sure that the younger man didn't actually eat that stuff, because that was basically asking for food poisoning.

He couldn't understand why Firo wasn't all that bothered by it, though. Recalling that the man was from the past, Peter wondered if back then food had been deemed safe to eat even when it was far past that point. It seemed like a lousy theory, but he didn't know how else to explain it. "Well, it's... completely rotten. If you eat that you'll be puking your guts out before dinner rolls around, believe me."

[immortale]

Firo had glanced at Peter's face again when the other man had said the food was rotten, but then focused on the bowl once more. "I heard the same thing from someone else earlier, but..."

He'd eaten at breakfast-before he'd first heard that the food was off, and he still felt fine... But what he saw and what Peter saw had to be different. The gruel definitely didn't look rotten-in fact, he wasn't even sure what it would look like rotten. Maybe it was just that something in it had spoiled.

Gingerly, he lifted the bowl up and leaned closer to smell it. It didn't have a smell at all.

"It seems alright to me." He set the bowl back onto the tray. "I'm not sure what this stuff is made from, so maybe I just can't tell... But it's just the same as it was yesterday."

[poorexample]

It seemed that he couldn't get through a conversation with Gabriel without it devolving into some form of argument. Even if the archangel had watched over him while he'd been indisposed the night before, that didn't make him any easier to speak with. Castiel realized that he was now indebted to his brother, but he would be better suited to repaying him through actions rather than words

[theroadsofar]

For one of the few times in his life, Dean Winchester was nauseated at the idea of eating

[poorexample]

While Castiel had watched as Dean entered the room, he hadn't expected the man to come speak to him without any prompting. In fact, he had been preparing to go apprehend the man before anyone else could approach him, but that turned out to not be necessary

[theroadsofar]

Castiel, you bought yourself some more brownie points by agreeing the food was literally shit

[selfnighted]

The difficulty with ascertaining their captors' intentions, Maya thought as she sat down with her pink gruel that seemed to have been forced randomly upon a selection of random patients, was that she knew so little. Clearly that seemed to be the point, but the apparent pointlessness of Maya's actions was no less frustrating.

Was it truly time for lunch? Intercom Man had made no mention of punishment for the entire patient populace; had Maya's delay in awakening to consciousness been meant for her only?

At least she had located her radio-helpful as it may or may not be-before she had been escorted to the cafeteria. Poor consolation prize, but she had not truly meant to make much progress into the unknown last night. Perhaps this was her answer. Glumly, Maya raised her spoon-prior experience with lack of food intake made her hesitant to invite the effects she knew to be inevitable.

[free]

[scintillatingly]

Given the choice, Sora would have hung out in that fort all day. Maybe there wasn't anything that special about it, but it was different from the day-to-day routine he'd been forced to go along with for over a month now, and that made it special. Not to mention he'd been in the process of getting to know two new people, which got cut short when the intercom came on.

So, he may have been pouting a little as he stood in line for his food, grabbing the two tacos he was offered with little response. He knew he needed to appreciate each meal he got when he was being fed so much better than the rest of the institute, though, and so he quickly got over his sour mood

[selfnighted]

"Of course I don't mind," Maya answered, smiling in return. A short pause, and then she continued, "I have a question. Have you had breakfast?"

Had something occurred that the Intercom Man felt as if he needed to remind the populace about misbehavior? There had been no more food fights since the first day. Something more subtle, perhaps?

Hmm. No matter; she wasn't likely to receive an answer. In the meantime... "I hope your night went well?" Maya hoped the younger ones traveled in groups, if they ventured out at night at all. But it wasn't her place to have that discussion, was it not?

[scintillatingly]

The second that the woman said that it was okay, Sora took a seat, though he was surprised to be asked such a strange question from the get go. He was used to the "how long have you been here?" and "what is this place?" types of questions, but something as simple as whether he'd eaten or not kind of stood out. Did she have a reason for asking

[hes_deadjim]

His first day without having splitting migraines. McCoy had practically gotten used to them, having them color what he did, how he made his choices. There was something of a residual headache, but it was so small and distant, and much more importantly, fading instead of getting worse, that he didn't pay it much mind. While the mind meld wasn't something he'd like to repeat ever again, Spock, McCoy had to say to himself, did know what he was doing. Although it was damned lucky he hadn't made a mistake. McCoy got the ugly inkling of an idea that the Commander had never corrected brain trauma like that before. He'd been the first test subject.

Better not to think about it. Or what Spock uncovered. Food, he wanted that first, and it sounded like a mighty fine idea.

If he were a man of lesser dignity, he might have celebrated, and loudly, very loudly. As it was, he liked to think he had a little bit of dignity left after the ordeal, and he was more than happy to let the younger people take care of it.

[free]

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai had hoped that lunch would not be a repeat of breakfast, but he had barely gotten three steps into the cafeteria before he could smell the mold. He still wasn't sure if the problem was in his eyes, or those of others - after last night, everything was a little uncertain.

He skipped the line for food, though, hoping the soldiers would not notice. There was no point taking something he would not eat - even the quick bite at breakfast had been revolting. Instead, he found an empty chair and took a seat, not caring particularly much who it was by, and tried not to look too put out by the lack of lunch.

[hes_deadjim]

McCoy took a bite and found that, while it wasn't great, it wasn't terrible either. It just was. Actually, he thought as he stared at it, it tasted of efficiency, and somehow that turned the food that much into a vaguely unpleasant experience. Probably had all the necessary nutrients in there to keep them all at their best, nothing wasted. The Vulcans would've loved this. McCoy never had Vulcan food, but he was sure that if he had, it'd probably taste like this.

Well, maybe he liked a little sugar or fat or anything not completely necessary in his food. Something to give it more of a flavor. It wasn't like he was the type to gain weight off it. McCoy looked up to see someone sit at the table, with a a tray.

"You should really eat something. Keep your strength up."

[vinesofregret]

"Hm?" Hakkai glanced over at the man who'd addressed him - also sitting at the same table. His accent was unfamiliar to Hakkai - but a lot of today had been so far. He'd stopped bothering to add to the list. It did not seem particularly productive to do otherwise.,

He gave the man a quick smile, hoping it was sufficiently reassuring. "Ah, I'm fine, thank you." He didn't want to run the risk of losing yesterday's meal along with today's.