Day 60: Cafeteria
Anise had been lying snug in bed, only vaguely aware that she was awake, when her rest was disturbed by the one sound in the world she'd never wanted to hear again.
"Good morning, everyone!"
The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that ( Read more... )
"Good morning, everyone!"
The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that ( Read more... )
Ah, time to have some fun by seeing if he could stick it to this guy. Philosophy had always been one of his hobbies, especially following Katsuragi's death. One couldn't just launch a campaign against evil without giving it some serious thought first, after all.
He swallowed. "Aye, but that's not what I'm concerned with. I just wanna know if ya want 'em or not, and if not, if I can have your waffles." He shrugged. "But I see ya had to use them as your pulpit for expoundin' that deep, meaningful message right there. Might be absurd to bother considerin' whether to eat them or leave them, but I read somewhere that continuin' the fight in the face of absurdity is enough to fill a man's heart."
Niikura resisted tacking on a comment about how struggling against this particular absurdity filled his stomach as well.
"More interesting than just sittin' around moping about stuff I can't change anyway. At least ya have a choice, y'know: to eat or not to eat, that's the question."
Alright, and now he was just being hideous.
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The problem was that he wanted real company. Real conversation, someone who could help him challenge his mental blocks.
He wouldn’t wish Akatsuki stuck here again, but he missed him all the same.
"You talk too much," said Aidou. "First Landel and now you… two people who lack brevity and wit. This sucks. Go back to stuffing your face, please." That was a simple enough request, wasn’t it? Why did he have to attract all of these annoying personalities?
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Niikura sighed and shook his head as he went back to cutting up his waffles. "Picky, picky. I even went through the trouble of feedin' ya some Camus, but I guess absurdism's just too deep for kids these days." He really liked Nietzsche more, himself, but he was kind of biased: Katsuragi had been fond of Nietzsche, and anything his best friend had liked, he'd kind of tried to pick up out of reverence (and maybe a tinge of guilt).
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But this entire situation was an old argument. Irritating people who had nothing better to do than talk down at him as if they were on the same level--ugh! How easy it should’ve been to just freeze the stranger’s mouth shut and be about his way, but no, he had to be here and his powers out of reach again. Treated like a child. Treated like something other than what he was.
But that, too, was an old, old argument. The ugly boy was nearing the truth about one thing: there were some things that could not be changed at the moment, and Aidou knew it. He did.
It was just… difficult facing another morning in the Institute. Infinitely difficult.
Abruptly, Aidou threw himself back in his chair until it leaned on two legs and swept Niikura with a clinical appraisal. “That’s correct, I’m picky,” he announced more loudly than before. “That’s my right. You want to make something of it?” But he wasn’t actually interested in hearing the boy’s response and so didn’t give him a chance to reply. Talking about waffles and silly literary references served no purpose, but maybe the other male could be useful as long as he insisted on being a bother. “Never mind. Allow me to feed you a question in return: what did you see last night? If we‘re going to enter into a conversation, it might as well be about something practical.”
He could smell a fresh injury from a mile away, and the boy probably hadn’t gotten it running with scissors as the nurses liked to claim.
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The difference was that he didn't mind it. In fact, it was convenient. People constantly underestimating him gave him more room to maneuver until the web had been spun and the victim completely (and unknowingly--that was important) ensnared. Of course, there was a certain time and place to this type of trap, and expending all that precise, careful effort on one boy who had a stick up his ass seemed like a waste.
He was about to say something along the lines of "You're trying too hard," but then the questions turned in his direction, and Niikura actually paused for a moment as he tried to figure out exactly what the other boy was getting at. What did he see? Well, unless you were blind...
"Uh...monsters? Nothin' special." People saw monsters every night, after all. There just happened to be more of them last night. "Why do you ask?"
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Aidou was convinced one would have to be completely insensible to have missed all of the filthy critters running around, unless they had spent the entire night holed up in their cell. One didn’t even require fully functioning eyes to make them out, as Sasuke had demonstrated. Not to mention the pinkish barriers lighting up the darkness all over the building.
“Their numbers were special, however. But I mean more remarkable happenings. Did you do anything of note? Encounter anything? Last night was an unusual occasion, as you may have noticed.”
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Duh.
"But yeah, for me, last night was business as usual, aside from all the extra monsters." He idly picked at the bandage just barely poking out from under his sleeve, totally unaware that it had already been detected long before he'd inadvertently brought attention to it. "What about you? I'm guessin' ya did somethin' out of the ordinary, if you're gonna be askin' other people about it."
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But who was counting? The omission was negligible in the long run, not only because the vampire already had an idea of what the protective pink defences were for. If someone had cracked the mystery of the barriers function and how they could be disabled, he doubted it would have been a single gluttonous boy who talked too much. He felt safe making that assumption.
The other male, on the other hand, was veering off with his own strange logic. Wasn’t it obvious that he would ask? How else was he supposed to figure out what the other patients were up to? He couldn’t read the boy’s mind or dig into his memories and share his experiences.
Well, not anymore, anyway.
“How else would I get a picture of what was going on without collecting stories? But I believe you about not finding anything. That’s too bad.” The last part was said mostly to himself. Wouldn’t it be convenient, to isolate the one person who might’ve encountered one of the radio people, or any of the other fortuitous events that seemed to find certain prisoners. Unfortunately, the ugly boy was not his winning horse, it seemed.
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"Ah, nothing, then," Niikura said, pointing his fork briefly at the other boy. "Shame." Damn it. For one second there, he'd really thought that he'd get to learn about something exciting beyond extra monsters and glowing pink barriers.
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It was an intolerable situation, and although he knew he should focus on tackling breakfast given that the boy had nothing groundbreaking to contribute, Aidou found it hard to shake off his disappointment.
If he was being honest, it was the setback more than the loss of his powers that bothered him.
He eyed the eating utensil as it was branded in his direction before resting his chin in his hand. Being ugly wouldn’t be a blessing at all, but he almost missed being as oblivious as this weirdo. Eating without worrying about a single thing. Wouldn’t that be nice?
“Do you know anything that isn’t already public knowledge?”
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Niikura smiled at the other boy's question. Do I know anything? Of course I do, but nothing that you need to be aware of. It probably didn't interest him anyway, since he was so caught up in himself. The things that Niikura liked to learn about typically had nothing to do with Landel or with the military. One day his focus would probably be shifted toward them, but first, he had wanted to stretch his legs for a bit. "Eh, probably not, but at least I know when to admit it." Unlike someone.
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It worked well enough when he wanted to hide from people like Aigis, but in moments like these… ha. Wouldn’t it be nice to just bare his fangs and show the boy a little of what there was to be afraid of? Close his hand around that pale neck and feel arteries nervously pumping blood? Right now the male’s blood was calm, untouched by distress, but Aidou wondered how the scent would change once he was given a little start. Just a little one, of course… though given the attitude, making the boy believe his life was in jeopardy for a moment or two wouldn’t necessarily be a crime. At least then he would understand that vampires weren’t creatures to patronize.
Despite the unfortunate looks, it wasn’t like the other’s blood smelled bad, either… If Aidou was teaching him a lesson in respecting one’s elders, would it be so wrong to steal a bite? His blood was worth more than his conversation skills, to be sure. And if he had nothing worth sharing information-wise, why not share something else?
The silence went on as Aidou simply stared, his gaze turning harder and more intent than was strictly polite. Ugh… I really do need to feed, and soon.
But now that the thought had crossed his mind, it was hard to ignore Niikura’s blood again and go back to considering his plate of waffles. The idea of eating the sugary foodstuff didn’t excite his appetite quite like the alternative, however. He finally shifted his head and dropped his gaze, which had become as hard as diamonds. “I hope you weren’t referring to me,” he said. His words came as a drawl, but they lacked the personable element of before, when he had at least been bantering, however curt. Now his demeanor had shifted, and into something less approachable. Those familiar with his kind might have called it less human. “I wouldn’t want you to wander that far from the truth.”
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"Are those the words of a guilty conscience I'm hearin'?" Niikura's eyes glittered darkly as he stared down the other boy, smile curving into the familiar chilly grin of Akumetsu. Contrary to Aidou, his voice was still as amiable and amused as it had always been, even though that sort of tone was wholly inappropriate. "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, y'know."
Actually, he could've been referring to anyone, but he liked to push the envelope too, even past the point of reason. Thank goodness Shiina wasn't looking at this very moment; she would know what the look on his face meant, and even if she couldn't interfere, she would definitely voice her displeasure at some point or another. She wanted him to be safe, but frankly, Niikura didn't care much for personal safety.
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Butting heads over breakfast… that was a foolish path to start down.
The noble turned his head away and slowly leaned his chair back on two legs, resolved to ignore his stomach. Hunger made him thorny, and being thorny made him dangerous. Composure was what he needed in the face of Landel’s untimely return. “Guilt,” he said, “is an extravagance during captivity.”
Which was true in more ways than one.
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Come to think of it, he didn't even know his name. That was...even if they'd been slinging thinly-veiled jabs at each other for at least half an hour in their mutual fruitless search for information, there was still something to be said about social norms and obeying them. Not that rich kids ever listened to those kinds of things--but hey, maybe he would have some...Niikura didn't know, etiquette or whatever. Fancy-schmancy something.
He shrugged. "Sure." Not that he thought much about guilt anywa--nope, strike that, he did, especially with Shiina around complicating things and spoiling the future for him. "But it happens sometimes. Not somethin' you can help."
Wait, how did he end up getting all philosophical too? Great.
"Anyway" - Niikura held out a hand; it was fancier that way. - "figure if we've been speakin' this long, we might as well exchange names. I'm Niikura."
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Ugh. He was going to be stuck with a headache for as long as he resided in Landel’s.
Besides that, the male did know where he was, right? Not even the most oblivious human could begin talking about monsters with the same casualness Niikura had and end by talking about soft emotions. Guilt? Pfft. Guilt was a normal response for a normal situation. If the Institute had had even a shred of normality, their ‘conversation’ would never have a hope of happening. It was only prison life that had brought them together.
Prison life that had no end in sight as of yet…
Without bothering to fuel the circular exchange of words by commenting on the boy’s opinions, he said, “It’s Aidou Hanabusa.” Fair was fair, he supposed. Introductions at least had a point to them, more so than most of what had come out of his companion’s mouth. But he had to eye Niikura’s hand, uncertain what he intended. “Are you asking for a handshake or is that another unusual gesture you enjoy?”
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