Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

[whiteychan]

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him,

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[heraldric]

Leon's coughing had died down a little by the time brunch came around, which was good. He didn't want it to look like he'd be spreading germs all over everyone else's food, even though there wasn't really anything to spread. His nurse, making it known to everyone nearby that he was looking a bit pale (much to his embarrassment) decided he needed a little taste of everything. That was fine with Leon, as he'd told Claude on the bulletin that he'd try and get a large brunch anyway - especially if this was all they were getting until dinner.

He opted for more than one glass of orange juice over any other beverage, and found his glasses overfull. Setting his tray down without spilling any of it became a balancing act as he got himself an empty table.

[transgenix]

Max was disappointed the head doctor hadn't showed up in the chapel; she'd have had a few choice words for him. Then again, she wouldn't be surprised if everyone else in the chapel hadn't had a few prepared themselves, in which case the head doctor probably realized that unless he had a death wish, the chapel was the last place he should be.

So instead she allowed her nurse to nudge her into the caf and filled her tray with far more food than it looked like a girl her size could tuck away, and started for an empty table. On the way, however, she came across a boy haphazardly trying to balance his tray and himself and looking like he was having a little difficulty.

"Need some help?" she offered, pausing beside him as she shot him a friendly smile and a wink.

[heraldric]

The young mage had about gotten himself situated when he was approached by a female patient he didn't recognize. He blushed a little from the attention. "Uh..n-no. I'm fine, thank you." It was the motherly sort of attention, he realized as he sighed inwardly. Figured.

He took his seat, picking through the the odd assortment of food he'd been given for the best parts first. Glancing around for Claude out of the corner of his eye, he wondered what the blond would think if he saw him with an attractive older girl - even if she was just trying to be friendly.

[transgenix]

"Ahh, sorry," Max apologized, her grin turning rueful. She saw him glance around and wondered if he was waiting for someone? "I'm not interrupting, am I? If you're waiting for someone, I can buzz off."

[totallytheseme]

[waiting for Kyon]

Hikaru was one of the first people into the cafeteria, but he didn't head towards the food. He wasn't hungry.

He was hurt and angry and confused, because no matter how hard he tried to delude himself, part of him kept insisting that the vampire had been Kyon. And that part had gotten louder and much more obnoxious when Kyon had posted on the board, wanting to "talk."

He sat at the nearest table, head in his arms.

"Damn it."

[bored_narrator]

Kyon had internally fought with himself for the rest of the shift after his chat with Hisoka. He either could or could not confront Hikaru about what had happened. One side had stated keeping his distance from someone he'd attacked was a wise and sensible idea, the other part of him knew that both the twins had come back to save him when it happened, and that not at least trying to apologize was wrong.

In the end, his conscious had won and he made a hasty post on the bulletin. The answer had him worried that this wasn't going to go well at all, but he realized it needed to be done, whether Hikaru hated him or not.

Walking into the cafeteria he ignored the food as well and scanned for the red-head. Finding him off to himself and unwell, Kyon bit his lip, stopping.

No, he had to do this.

He made his way over to him and with a breath, sat down in front of him. "Yo."

[totallytheseme]

And there he was.

Hikaru looked up, his face a careful mask of nonchalance. There was something to be said about completely isolating yourself from everyone except your twin, really. Things were a lot simpler.

"Hey."

[bored_narrator]

Kyon was silent, thinking of a way to start this smoothly, as impossible as that seemed. He ran his hands through his hair and said finally. "Listen, about last night..."

There was a sigh as he looked away from him. "I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened." And he really was sincere when he said it, which was definitely hard to get from Kyon.

[osakapwnzu]

Heiji was wheeled into the cafeteria by his nurse, chattering all the way about how he was sorry he'd missed a chance to see the head doctor. His nurse was considering duct taping his mouth shut, but settled on the next best option--food.

The teen detective was starving. So when the nurse set a tray full of breakfast food and rice down in front of him, he immediately began wolfing down the sausages. Mmm... meat.

Come to think of it, he was meeting Okita soon, so perhaps he should save some food so he could actually eat with the swordsman--instead of watching Kaneyoshi eat... which would be really awkward.

He shoved a whole silver dollar pancake into his mouth in thought. Hm... it wasn't all that sweet, was it?

[Waiting for Okita!]

[notachick]

Time in the Chapel had been interesting. Even without the Head Doctor making his appearance, Okita had been productive and that always managed to lift his spirits. Fai had been an interesting person - and knowing there was more to him than met the eye only increased Okita's desire to know him better

[osakapwnzu]

Heiji was all smiles again as Okita sat down--thrilled to see the swordsman again and in much better spirits, apparently. However, he couldn't help but look slightly embarrassed as Okita looked at the wheelchair. Making such a stupid mistake...

"Yeah, totally! I've been starved since last night! Didn't get a chance to eat what they gave us on the bus. I was, uh, not in the mood, y'know," Heiji gave Okita a knowing smile.

"But yeah, uh, I'm okay," He took a fork to his rice. It felt really, really weird to eat rice like this. "I look pretty bad, and it kinda hurts to swallow, but I'll live. Takes more'n that to kill me!" He grinned.

[notachick]

Okita only laughed when Heiji reminded him of the results of their sparring match and began separating out the food on his tray into edible and inedible things. He neatly compartmentalized anything that looked too terribly foreign and kept the rice and fruit off to the side. The amount of meat this place shoved down the patients' throats couldn't be good for them. Not that Heiji seemed to mind.

Taking a small bite of rice and relishing the relatively plain taste, he realized how much he'd missed plain food. He hadn't eaten much since coming to this place merely because the flavors and amount of grease had upset his palette terribly

[burningdigisoul]

Brunch, huh? That meant he was going to have to eat twice as much as he normally did, which would be a feat in itself with his appetite. Masaru was pretty sure he could pull it off, though who knew at what price. Couldn't be that bad though, right?

His tray was piled high with eggs, rice, pizza, hotdogs and smaller portions of things he had never seen but grabbed anyway out of curiosity.

He sighed as he ate. He didn't want to wait around until nightfall to look for that head Doctor bastard, but right now, it was looking like he didn't have much of a choice.

[radiant_howl]

That someone turned out to be a redhaired boy who seemed to have grabbed a little too much on his plate. Actually, Luke hadn't been planning to talk to Masaru, but seeing the other boy there seemed like a good opportunity. Plus he was just glad to see that Masaru made it out alright.

"Hey, Masaru!"

Luke's selective vision also prevented him from seeing the other boy who had sat with Masaru until he actually sat down next to said boy and looked to his side.

"... Oh! Hey, sorry, were you speaking to him?" Luke asked, feeling rather stupid at the moment.

[burningdigisoul]

"Sure thing," Masaru consented, mouth full of food. He'd always had horrible table manners, and now was no exception.

He couldn't say much else before Luke came to sit with them. Masaru hadn't seen the guy in about a day, but he seemed to be okay enough so far, which was good, although he was honestly half-expecting news that his friend had done something incredibly stupid the night. Then again, the vice-versa was probably also true.

"Hey," he greeted casually, and added, "Who the hell says three people can't talk?"

"I'm Daimon Masaru," he introduced to the guy with the curly hair. "And this guy is Luke, um..."

What was Luke's family name, again? Had he even told Masaru what it was?

[stray_shinigami]

Renji got his nurse to let him retrieve his notebook before heading to the cafeteria; it would give him something to do. He didn't feel like eating, but knew that he needed to yesterday. He couldn't get in the habit of ignoring food just because he was upset; he needed to fall back on the childhood habit of just eating, even if it was disgusting, because he needed it to keep going

[blood_and_pocky]

By midday, Aidou knew something was wrong. Conversing with Guy in the Chapel had been all well and fine--it was early, a late arrival could be explained. Or perhaps he had gone to nap in the Sun Room, or even....

But now it was brunch, and his cousin still hadn't found him, and he still hadn't found Akatsuki, and something was definitely, undeniably wrong. They'd grown up together. They knew each other well. Akatsuki wasn't so brainless to think being so late wouldn't... wouldn't scare Aidou. It did. And the only solution he could think of that might help to immediately relieve his suspicions wasn't one he'd ever thought he'd need to consider. As soon as he entered the cafeteria, fully prepared to snag the first shinigami he could identify, he saw Abarai Renji sitting against the wall. It doesn't matter who, I have to do it. Picking his way through the room, he approached Renji's table.

Although he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Whenever he needed genuine assistance, it was from family. Other nobles. Other vampires. Not from

[stray_shinigami]

Renji put down the fork as Aidou approached. He at least knew who the kid was, now, since Rukia had pointed him out a couple days ago, but he had no idea what he'd want with him. They didn't exactly get along, though he had nothing against the kid other than a bit of annoyance.

Apparently, something was bothering him. And after Renji thought about it for a moment, he realized that it must be something pretty damn major, if Aidou was bothering to ask for a favor. The kid had made it quite clear that he thought Renji was annoying scum - fair enough, Renji thought nobles were useless wastes.

His expression didn't change with those thoughts. He simply looked at Aidou, then said, "Have a seat." He leaned back against his own chair carefully, slowly, easing into the burn of the seat back against his skin. "What is it?"

[blood_and_pocky]

Aidou did as instructed, albeit with a fair bit of reluctance. However, standing would only make his fidgeting more obvious. Dread was never a good feeling.

"I've heard rumors that you can... recognize a person from a great distance, with whatever abilities you have." His voice didn't crack or shake or waver in the slightest, which Aidou took as a small blessing. Feeling distress was altogether different from showing distress--that was a lesson he knew well. Still, he didn't quite meet Renji's eyes. "I need that--or rather, if it's true, I need you to find someone. I felt it was... urgent enough to warrant a sudden meeting like this."

Talking was the easy part. Explaining the what and how and why was a small bit of a denial, a way to keep from fully focusing on the consequences. Of what it would mean if it was possible and if there was a confirmation.

Aidou blinked, realizing he'd trailed off somewhere, and abruptly shook his head. "Of course, like I said: if you can do it, it'd be a favour! I don't leave loose ends. I'd pay you