Day 26: Breakfast

[tsunagari]

Sai awoke rather groggily, which wasn't a good sign for a ninja. It meant he was probably ill. He'd need to get checked up with a medic-nin before he did very much more that day. Eyes blinked open slowly to stare at the ceiling and then narrowed in confusion. Not his ceiling. Was he already at the hospital

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[31st_of_china]

Impatiently, the monk sat down at an empty table.

This day couldn't feel any longer. The days here were - in addition to being flat-out assinine with the coddling and schedule -mind-numbingly boring. They'd always felt overly long to Sanzo, but now that he was waiting for the entire day to be over so he could do some reading, it felt even worse.

The priest hadn't had a chance to look at either of the files he'd lifted just yet. Sanzo just barely had enough time to hide them under the mattress before the nurse and orderly came for him.

The monk was actually impatient for the dinner shift to roll around: even if it meant having to eat with the brat present, it meant he'd have time to read over the files.

At least something marginally useful had come from roaming around last night. The good didn't nearly outweigh the bad. Once again, whatever force was behind Landels and responsible for shifting them back to their rooms, replacing their clothes, even bandaging them up... hadn't seen fit to clean this one thing up.

The bruise on his neck felt tender when he touched it. Sanzo's mouth twisted in a grimace of disgust. Homura clearly had a death wish, and Sanzo was going to see to the matter of kicking the shit out of him as soon as he could.

[damned_ivy]

Last night had been almost enjoyable. Well, as enjoyable as nights trapped within a mental institution from hell could be. And, really, who was Hakkai to complain?

That left him almost cheerful this morning. A Hakkai sort of cheerful, granted, where it wasn't always entirely clear if he was plotting murder or a new cookie recipe, but that was just the way of things with Hakkai and one had to learn to work with what one had.

Which, in this case, was a moderately cheerful Hakkai. "Good morning, Sanzo."

[31st_of_china]

That greeting was met with a glower. Sanzo failed to see much good coming from this day, other than those files that may or may not even be too useful. He also had several more shifts look forward to trying to tolerate before he could even read the damn files.

"I don't see anything good about it so far," replied Sanzo.

Coupled with the fact that Sanzo was still very much lacking some cigarettes and coffee ( and that waking up in the morning wasn't ever something that put the monk in a good mood) one tended to be faced with a less-than-happy Sanzo.

Still, if Hakkai was here, then Sanzo wanted to get down to the business of those new bandages he'd last seen on the man.

[damned_ivy]

"Aha, of course. I didn't mean anything by it." Ah, so it was an overly cheerful day. He hadn't had one in a while, so perhaps it was due. Or perhaps it was just proactive defensiveness. Even if he wasn't quite sure why he should be defensive quite yet. Sanzo usually managed to think of something.

On the subject of bandages, Sanzo would be glad to note that there aren't any. Visible ones, at least. The knife wound in his side wasn't as quick to heal as the rest, having been more serious. His innate healing abilities plus the advanced rate at which the institute healed people certainly didn't hurt him, leaving the bruising and scratches fading on his cheek and neck. The cut on his hand was slightly more obvious, although it didn't take much to keep it hidden from view. The gash across and to the side of his right eye at least no longer looked like something that should have taken the eye with it. Stitches and redness made it look worse than it felt, though not by much.

Hakkai, for his part, tactfully didn't say anything about a certain hickey bruise.

[31st_of_china]

At least Hakkai wasn't going to revel too much in the morning. Dealing with him was easier than dealing with Goku or the cockroach this early.

Right around now would be the time the monk would have lit up a cigarette though. He'd picked at the food here and there, but these "waffles" really weren't to his tastes. It was overly sweet, and if Goku had been presented, Sanzo would've been more inclined to pass it on to the monkey and be done with it.

As for Hakkai, Sanzo wasn't too surprised to see that the man was recovering so quickly from what had to be new injuries. Aside from the forces at this prison, the man was a youkai after all.

Still, youkai or not, it obviously hadn't helped him avoid those injuries in the first place.

"I might understand Goku running head-first into something big and getting the crap kicked out of him." Even if Hakkai was recovering quickly, Sanzo remembered what he'd looked like the day before well enough. "I'd have thought you knew better than to do the same."

[damned_ivy]

Well, no, he mostly had the injuries because he was youkai. Or perhaps he only had these particular injuries because he was youkai. His human self would have likely handled that fight a good deal differently.

His smile went from cheerfully forced to forcedly cheerful, although few people would notice the change. "Yes, well, I believe the phrase is 'you should have seen the other guy.'" He glanced pointedly at Sanzo's plate. "You really should eat more, Sanzo. You need it."

It wasn't his best attempt at changing the subject ever, but with any luck it would annoy Sanzo enough to redirect his attention into ignoring Hakkai.

[31st_of_china]

"What I need is a damn cigarette," Sanzo shot back. He ate enough that it was going to get him by, but he didn't need to pig out like the monkey.

The monk also recognized an attempt at moving the subject to a harmless area (Sanzo saw it as pointless - who the hell cared what his eating habits were and weren't?) when he saw one.

Sanzo wasn't about to let go that easily. "So you're saying someone picked a fight?"

Hard to imagine that Hakkai would fold so easily or that someone would see a reason to start shit with him. Of all four of them, Hakkai was the one who'd most likely try to break up the fight, not get involved in it.

[damned_ivy]

No, actually, Hakkai did care what Sanzo's eating habits were. If the monk wasn't going to take care of himself, then Hakkai would just have to. Personally, he also thought Sanzo could stand to put on a few pounds, but he wouldn't argue the point.

The smile faded a bit, becoming more distant. "One might say that, yes." After all, that 'someone' being him did not negate the fact that someone picked a fight. On the one hand, Sanzo probably deserved to know what had happened, but on the other, Hakkai would really rather Sanzo not find out.

[31st_of_china]

Sanzo could practically see that wall going up, even without the overly vague answer. Hakkai was obviously hiding something, and the monk didn't like it.

Unfortunately Hakkai was the hardest of the three to crack if he decided to clam up. Provided he could keep that smile up and find enough ways to hedge around questions, Hakkai could probably keep it up for days on end.

Sanzo stared the man right in the eye. Whatever it was, these things had a way of outing themselves.

"Suit yourself," Sanzo said. "I'm going to find out eventually, one way or another."

Half-warning, half-promise. It might not be as high priority as the sutra and escape, but it was going to come out of Hakkai's mouth or someone else's here.

[damned_ivy]

At the warning, the amusement returned, or at least it seemed to. Keeping Sanzo from digging for information could be like keeping a terrier from going after a rat. Not impossible, but certainly a challenge.

Hakkai rather liked challenges.

He returned Sanzo's stare evenly. "My my. Well, it's certainly good to see you haven't lost any of your determination while trapped here."

[31st_of_china]

Hakkai wasn't backing down. Somewhat surprising, especially since Sanzo was generally used to his authority going unchallenged for the most part. But then that was hint enough that what the healer wasn't telling him meant something to risk it.

"Should I have?" Sanzo asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just because it's particularly mind-numbing here, doesn't mean I have to go along with it."

Only partially true. He'd tried to do things his way during dayshift and gotten the full brunt of it. Not that he hadn't shot to kill, because he certainly had, and those had been real bullets, because he'd shot that patient in the stomach the night before.

Sanzo just hadn't counted on Landels defying several laws of nature.

So he did have to stick it out during the day. As much as it pissed him off to do it, but he had proof already that there wasn't any other way around that so far, short of that he-bitch placing the gun and sutra in his hands. Which would be too easy.

Didn't mean he had to accept all this bullshit with good graces though.

[damned_ivy]

Hakkai backed down when there was value in it. Keeping peace while trapped in a small jeep with three other men on a suicide mission made giving in to Sanzo worth it. Right now, Hakkai really had nothing to lose except... well, he wasn't actually sure why he was going against Sanzo like this. He just didn't especially feel like telling him.

He poked at his food. Some fruit on a waffle. One could only eat so many salads before one started dreading the sight of lettuce. "Should have? No. Very well could have, though. You've been here somewhat longer than I have, and I've recognized how this place drags on a person. One could hardly think less of someone who lost something under that much pressure.

[31st_of_china]

The only danger he could see might be frustration and boredom during the dayshift. "Luckily" Sanzo had enough on his plate to prevent that from happening.

Sanzo gave a small shrug. "Maybe."

Actually, he was concerned about how it would effect Goku still. Ever since the monkey showed up again, he'd been acting strangely, and Sanzo couldn't be sure it was all entirely due to Landels.

"I think this place has thrown enough stupid shit at me that it's actually ensuring that doesn't happening," the priest added.

Aside from the creatures at night, the nightshift itself and this issue with Kenren, he'd gotten Homura thrown at him as well. Somehow he got the unpleasant feeling that threat or not, the "god" wasn't going to be scared off that easily.

If this was the Bosatsu's way of keeping him on his toes, Sanzo could easily say he didn't care for any of it.

[damned_ivy]

Surprising, the things that worked as diversions in a conversation. Hakkai mentally noted that getting Sanzo to talk about the institute was even better than getting him angry about something. Getting him angry about the institute would probably be best of all, but Hakkai wasn't quite sure he wanted to poke at that particular button quite yet. Keep it in reserve, perhaps.

"It does seem to enjoy throwing the unexpected at a person. Not least that they treat us so kindly during the day. Were the evidence of nightshift so vivid, one might almost begin to believe it to be a collective hallucination of some sort."

And he was back to the cheerful tone from before. Really, Hakkai could change moods and masks faster than most people could keep up. Most disconcerting for the average listener, and it was only partially on purpose. Luckily, Sanzo was hardly average.