Day 31: Breakfast

[tsunagari]

And then he was back in his room again. Sai frowned at the ceiling momentarily, but was soon sitting up. He was back in the Landel's uniform again, which really saved him the trouble of having to change, didn't it

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[vladville]

Vlad woke up with a wheeze like a death-rattle, but he woke up, and for now that was the important thing. There was something intensely unfair about the fact that he was in so much agony and hadn't even done anything wrong. Not even something so minor as taking something from the prison's stores. In fact, he'd really been on excellent behavior last night, which just went to prove that no good deed would go unpunished.

There was no time to linger in self-pity, unfortunately, as a nurse arrived with a wheelchair to carry him off for breakfast. Perky as always, and astonishingly failing to note anything at all strange about the fact that he'd gone to bed in perfect health and woken up half-dead. (Hah. Droll.) They weren't trying very hard at pretending all of this was truly an institute, were they? She did natter something about an 'accident', between bright forecasts of a beautiful day and a wonderful breakfast and rainbows with pots of gold and other things he managed to smile and nod at politely.

He had no appetite, particularly considering the pain in his chest, but refusing to eat wouldn't help him heal any faster. A bagel with cream cheese and a glass of milk later, and he was ready to be wheeled out to "make some new friends."

There, early enough to be caught alone. Perfect. Vlad wasted no time in directing her to the other white-haired gentleman. He smiled, practically warmly. "Good morning."

[manhattan_red]

Brooklyn glanced up in surprise, and had to chew and swallow his current bite of breakfast before he could reply. "Oh! Hey!" He hadn't expected the older man to come seek him out, but it was good to know that he'd be okay, even if he was wheelchair bound. And he was definitely more cheerful than he had been.

He almost considered pulling up a chair before he realized how stupid that would be. "Are you, uh..." Feeling better? Doing okay? Bandaged well? "I mean, I'm glad to see the nurses did their job."

[vladville]

"They have patched me up quite a bit, yes. I'm not exactly one hundred percent, of course..." He chuckled gamely, then winced at the effort. The nurse had cut his bagel into bite-sized pieces for him, which he supposed was considerate enough of her, but he was mostly eager for her to leave already so he could speak in semi-privacy. "Yes, thank you, I believe I'll be fine now..."

"You just raise a hand if you need any help at all, Mr. Masters!" She patted him on the head and he managed to reduce himself to merely looking very annoyed rather than murderous. At least she left after that.

"And how are you?" He turned his attention back to Brooklyn, smiling weakly again. "You seem to be feeling a bit more lively yourself."

[manhattan_red]

It was odd. He hadn't realized it the night before, what with the troubling predicament they'd been in, but Vlad Masters reminded him quite a bit of a somewhat grayer Xanatos. It wasn't as though they could have been twins, of course, and the goatee wasn't even the same. He reasoned it had to just be the pony-tail. They didn't sound much alike, and the attitude wasn't the same. At least it didn't seem to be. Get a grip, Brooklyn, and stop comparing possible new friends to former villains.

"Yeah, I'm all springy. Let me tell you," the gargoyle answered blandly. "A little sore, but not as bad off as you. What was up with that kid?" Masters knew him, didn't he? He hadn't exactly been in the best condition to explain the relationship then, but now...

[vladville]

Vlad quirked a half-smile at the dry comment, then sighed, looking down at himself. He did take the opportunity for a bite of bagel, via fork. The bagel wasn't very warm, but at least cream cheese had the power to make almost anything taste better. Swallowing was a little difficult. If this didn't heal up a bit through his transformation, he had a nasty feeling he'd be spending the next several nights in his room.

Perhaps that was why Daniel was so ignorant? An injury early on against a properly armed opponent...? No, there was no sense making excuses for the boy. He had simply not bothered thinking about. He wondered if Daniel's mind was turned on again this morning, at least to the degree it ever was. He hoped the boy was absolutely twisting in guilt. Not over Vlad, maybe, but at least over the others he'd attacked.

"Yes." Vlad continued to look down at his own injuries. In truth, as much pain as he was in, he really ought to feel much worse. The fact that he could sit up and talk was impressive. Quite the doctors here. "Yes. I... know that individual." He looked up at Brooklyn. "I wanted to speak with you about that. I realize what you saw may have been a bit, ah. Shocking. Or confusing." Poor old man with terrible secrets. It helped that he didn't have to fake his shaking arm as he reached for his glass of milk, although in actuality he was a very fit man in his forties and did not consider himself 'old' by any means.

"I would not have done what I did if I did not believe it to be a life and death situation. The boy in question seemed to have gone mad, he might easily have killed you or me if he'd applied greater force. He and I know each other from our home, because we have a similar... affliction. Despite what happened, I don't feel comfortable telling you his actual name, or looks, when he is not in such a state. I'm certain he was not responsible for what he did, though I cannot explain it now. And although I have no way of enforcing such a silence on you, I can only ask that you'll respect the same silence for my peculiar situation." Vlad looked hopeful.

[manhattan_red]

Brooklyn shrugged a bit, offering an awkward smile. "Hey, if you've got some sort of special ability and you're worried about others here finding out - I don't think it's actually a big deal. There's a lot of people that have them. Or that claim to have them, anyway." He thought momentarily of Peter, and couldn't help but wonder if the young man really had abilities like he'd said. He'd seemed honest enough, but Vlad here had actually shown them. "But if it matters to you then consider it forgotten."

He shoved a bit more sausage in his mouth, hoping to get through it before it started to get cold. "I've heard of the brainwashing, I think," he went on once he'd swallowed. Once again, Renji has supplied just a bit too much info. "I figure he's not as bad as he seemed, right?" Though really he hadn't appeared all that bad. Brooklyn knew worse. It was the whole throwing people off the balcony and attacking little girls parts that had ticked him off the most. That was taking the whole hall guarding thing a bit too seriously.

[vladville]

"I've heard such... I noticed your own eyes glowing a bit last night. Quite startling, really." Vlad took some more bagel. It was a bit like putting a finger in a leaky dam, but he couldn't exactly come after Brooklyn with thoughts of murder considering the state he was in. Interpersonal relationships were more useful than corpses, anyhow. "This is simply something personal from our own world. I appreciate your discretion."

And he hadn't even needed to point out the fact that he'd distracted Daniel and gotten wounded more than once trying to divert Daniel from Brooklyn in that little fight. Honesty was the best policy, since he could sigh with honest relief. Not total relief, but some. Then a little concerned face again. "I see... and do you know if the brainwashed patients... recall what they've done, after?" Oh, please, please say yes.

[manhattan_red]

The first comment caused Brooklyn to choke a bit on his food, almost making him miss the next few lines as well as he silently, but with much difficulty, attempted to get the food down his throat in one painful gulp. "I don't now much about it," he finally gasped. "This is only my second day. Sorry."

Throat finally clear, he shook his head a little. "But wait. Go back. That first part about the eyes. I mean my eyes. They did what?" Glowing eyes was normal for an angry gargoyle, but not an angry human. Not the last time he checked, anyway. Did that mean the change wasn't complete? How good were his chances of it simply... wearing off? "And is that all that happened?"

[vladville]

Oh, goodie. Despite his pleasure, Vlad frowned more as Brooklyn choked, tilting his head with concern. He couldn't reach over to pat Brooklyn on the back for full effect, but close enough. "I'm afraid they were. Is that unusual, for you? Yes. Quite a distinct, bright glow as you fought."

He hesitated before his next bite, as though seriously considering. "I don't recall any more details off the top of my head. I was rather distracted, you see, I'm sure you understand. Was there something else in particular you were thinking of that might have been showing?"

[manhattan_red]

Yeah, I didn't sprout a tail somewhere in the middle of fighting and not notice it, did I? "No, that's, uh... I mean... I'm. Uh." Man, now he looked all flustered. Good going, Brooklyn. "I didn't expect that is all."

What was he supposed to say? He knew a secret of Vlad's, and the man might be someone else who'd believe his story about not being human before he arrived. He didn't have anything to lose by telling him, did he? "Before I came here I was... something else. I guess that's a carry-over. Odd, though."

Did humans even have the means to make their eyes glow like that? Maybe his eyes were still gargoyle eyes. Wouldn't that be all sorts of weird...

[vladville]

He nodded sympathetically. And what, if any, relation is there to Fae? What are Fae, or should I still assume 'who'? When you say you are from Manhattan, could you describe what Manhattan is like where and when you are from? If Fae were the equivalent of ghosts, glowing eyes would hardly be a surprise... but Brooklyn had spoken of them as something separate from himself, hadn't he? Then perhaps...

Really, it was too easy to assume Brooklyn was a half-anything. Tempting, but too easy. "I believe I've heard of that. Some others here have a similar problem, finding themselves in new shapes. How unusual to have something remain. I don't suppose you'd be interested in detailing what has glowing eyes, where you are from?" He smiled hopefully, taking another bite of bagel. Slow and steady for eating, between that and all his talking his chest was hurting quite a bit. "We seem to have both done a good job of surprising each other last evening."

[manhattan_red]

And Renji had said that too, that he wasn't alone. But if that was the case, then how come no one knew what a gargoyle was when he brought it up? He couldn't be the only one. Though it wasn't as if gargoyles were all that common nowadays.

But fair was fair. Once again, he'd seen what Vlad could be.

"Gargoyle," he answered with a look that dared the other man to challenge him or become hostile after the revelation. Not that he could do much, being in a wheelchair and all. "You know. Wings, claws, overblown sense of justice."

[vladville]

Vlad raised his eyebrows at the look Brooklyn gave him, which was virtually all he could do in response. Unless he felt like flinging his remaining bites of bagel via fork, perhaps. "Well. That must be quite an adjustment to make. My sympathies for your loss; going from a winged individual to a regular human can't be easy." He himself wasn't too pleased with his own adjustment from the powerful creature Plasmius once was to the weakened state of his other half. Being in a wheelchair as Masters was nothing at all compared to that greater loss.

Still, 'overblown sense of justice?' Either Brooklyn was better at this than Vlad himself, with the almost resigned tone in that voice, or the poor young man had a serious handicap that went beyond having his wings clipped. He offered another smile. "But you haven't lost everything, it seems. That look in your eyes was rather striking, I assure you."

[manhattan_red]

Well, that was something, wasn't it? Still, it almost felt like further mockery, leaving him with an aspect of the gargoyle that was used to terrify their enemies while keeping him in a body that wasn't all that terrifying.

Worse yet, he couldn't even tell if Vlad was being serious with him or not. It was true that the other man had some alternate form of his own, but for him to so easily accept the whole gargoyle deal? Brooklyn's eyes narrowed somewhat.

"Yeah, great. Because glaring monsters to death is so effective here." He sighed, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. "I'm sorry."

[vladville]

A sarcastic force for justice, wasn't he? Considering some of the personalities Vlad dealt with (particularly on the other side of the Ghost Zone) he brushed it off. "No, it's fine. I can't blame you for feeling frustrated." He took a fork of bagel, but didn't eat it yet, glancing around the room as much as he could without straining his neck. Ah, Daniel had arrived, and it looked as though he were speaking to one of the shadow figures he'd played with last night, if Vlad's eyes were accurate. You awful little... He cut off the wave of loathing with a wistful sigh.

"All of us who are... different... seem to be weakened. Apparently in that vein, they decided your entire body was your strong point. Perhaps if my own nature had been reduced to 'scary eyes' I might not have found myself trying to stand up and thus in such a state this morning. Don't you think so?"

[manhattan_red]

Brooklyn gave the matter some more thought. Sure, he was physically weaker now, by a fair amount, but he could also be active during both the day and night. On the same vein as that, however, he also didn't get the healing bonuses that stone sleep allowed. "Point taken," he conceded with another sigh.

It wasn't as though he would have fared any better than Vlad if the fight had continued much longer, though. They both might have ended up over the balcony if there hadn't been interruptions. "The kid really didn't seem to like you much." He gave the other man a weak smirk.