Nightshift 25: Cafeteria

[1mperturbable]

[From Here]Slipping into next room, Cloud allowed the door to click shut at his back as he looked around. Now this was a place he could easily recognize from his early days. This had to be a cafeteria, if the long tables and the arrangement spoke of anything. He had paid many of his days away in Boot Camp at arrangements just like this

Comments

[lady_general]

[[From here]]

She seemed to enter a commissary. Long tables, strange chairs. It was reminiscent of the soldiers quarters in the capital, in the mess hall. The woman tread quietly, flashlight flicking along shapes and metal and towards the back.

This place was strange, perhaps essentially useless. Celes would move on.

[damned_monsters]

click click click

From under one table, one, two, three pairs of antenna peeped out, waving. It smelled like food, sounded like food. Clicking to each other, the roaches scurried from the underside of the table, to the floor.

Food indeed; they were always hungry.

[Katsu]

[lady_general]

A click?

Celes looked around at the floor and shifted into a fighter's position. She had no weapon, save the Figaro torch, and it was heavy enough to brandish, but still...

...They were only nasty, nasty trilobite-like creatures.

"I've only been here five minutes, and already..." she murmured and held still, waiting for the creatures to rush her.

[damned_monsters]

The roaches weren't particularly intelligent, just hungry. Rush was what they did, scurrying along the floor far faster than a thing of that size had a right to. They were at least smart enough to fan out slightly.

Start at the feet and work their way up. That was what they always did, and it worked for them.

[transgenix]

( Coming from here.Max and Excel burst into the cafeteria, escaping the creepy laughing girl and the blue flame and the sunroom behind them. Slamming the door behind her, Max leaned against it, taking a moment to get her bearings and catch her breath. This room was darker than the last, and again, she was having a harder time focusing within here than she had out in the halls they'd travelled to get here. Still, though, she could make out some things, the darker shadows of the long rows of tables she knew were there

[bulletofjustice]

"Foodfoodfoodfood," Excel sang, practically skipping across the cafeteria towards the kitchens. "What should I eat first? I hope there is pie. Salmon pie. Fish sticks. Beef tips. Boiled yak. Oh, I can't take much more of this anxiety!"

She broke into a run, only tripping once over a table. Excel laughed and picked herself up before heading towards the doors that led to the kitchen.

[transgenix]

Max followed her with a rueful shake of her head, wrinkling her nose at some of the things Excel was babbling about finding. She really hoped there was no salmon pie or boiled yak. What the heck? Where was this kid from anyways?

Reaching the door a moment behind the girl, Max reached for the knob and found it locked. Bending to inspect it, she found it was like the locks from last night, aged and not well maintained at all. "Stand back," she cautioned Excel a moment before she lifted her foot and delivered a sharp kick to the doorknob.

There was a crack as the lock shattered and the door to the kitchen swung open with a creak.

( Going here.)

[black_ageha]

[ From here ]

They entered the cafeteria, passing through long benches stretching across the wide span of the room. As the door closed behind them, the sounds of manic laughter and running feet were muffled, enclosing them in relative quiet once again.

"Do you cook at all, Seishirou-san?" he asked casually as they made their way through the room and behind the counter leading to the kitchen.

[notahangedman]

"Cooking? Certainly, but I'm better in eating." Seishirou had no qualms about dorky jokes. He had lived by them a whole year and they had kind of stuck with him.

Slipping through endless rows of benches and tables, he followed after Kikyo through the dark cafeteria. The chairs looked like lines of silent soldiers in their quiet obedience, standing in lines. Seishirou chuckled huskily at his own thoughts and shared the metallic legs of his soldiers some enlightenment from his flashlight, the spot sweeping over the floor as far as it could reach.

"So here's to hoping that you excel in the first and not the later like me." His grin was a bit sheepish but surely not apologetic.

[black_ageha]

"I'm not sure if you would call it excelling," Kikyo chuckled. "But I can get around with some proficiency. Maybe the end result will even be edible." It was false modesty, but not really meant to be deceptive. It was the kind of high mannered propriety one would expect from a man of his breeding.

He was rather curious also, to continue their conversation from earlier. As they approached the kitchen door, he said, "Food might be your priority, but I could truly kill for a good cup of green tea right now." He was teasing, but one never really knows, with Kikyo.

[notahangedman]

Seishirou chuckled softly at Kikyo's modestly, curious to know if the man could actually cook or not. But he wouldn't ask so directly. It'd take half of the fun out of the game. "And what do you consider edible?"

The door to the kitchen seemed to be swung open with force, cracked open and bend from places that should have been perfectly straight would the door have been unharmed. Ah, that would save the trouble of breaking through for Seishirou.

"Then we better hope we'll find a find blend of that tea of yours, or we'll have to deliver a message to the cook by ourselves."

[i_slay_giants]

From here

The Fable stumbled in, shutting the door behind him and took a look around. Ah, it was the cafeteria. At the moment, it appeared to be deserted, though he could hear sounds coming from either side. Where to go from here?

He pulled out his map and mulled it over. On one hand, he might be able to get out if he went through the rec field, which would require going through the sun room and a myriad of hallways. He could always go back outside and go over that wall, but...

Then again, there was always the chance he could arm himself better with a knife or something from the kitchen, assuming they were out in the open like the bat had been. He also still had that mystery key to try and match up, and who knew what might be in his way?

The kitchen it was, then. He folded the map and returned it to his pocket. Readying his bat and flashlight, he made his way to the kitchen.

( To here)

[i_slay_giants]

Coming back from here)

Well, it wasn't much, but the plethora of silverware could be possibly made into something more than forks and dull knives. Of course, that was a task for another time; Jack Horner had far more important things to do, such as finding his way to the rec field. Still, the "Kikyo" had been an amusing (who drank tea at time like this, really?) guy. He wondered what his deal was, briefly, before moving on. Bat in hand, he opened the door to the sun room and stepped through.

( To here)