Day 34: Breakfast

[screwthegods]

[starting off in M13]The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves

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[scarletspeedstr]

[Free, though may steal your food]Wally tossed up the idea of keeping track of where they were headed, but just as quickly discarded the whole thing as pointless. He'd hardly be here long enough for it to matter and he was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on. He'd gone to sleep in his apartment in Central, and now he was here. Even with how exhausted he'd been from missions, there was still no way he could have slept through an abduction. Not to mention he hadn't been sleeping very deeply with his nightmares

[transgenix]

Last night had been a break from the fruitless attempts in the basement and the nice realization that there was an outside world out there. One that they could actually get to. Although the cafeteria looked just as crowded as usual this morning - if not moreso - so that didn't mean breaking out of this place was going to be much easier.

Still, she piled her plate high with food and glanced around for an open place to sit. There were new faces in the crowd apparently this morning. It wasn't hard to spot the confused and disgruntled after being here for so long.

Finding one sitting off by himself, Max moved in his direction with an easy, athletic grace. Stopping across the table from him, she cocked her head to the side as she eyed him, dark eyes bright with curiosity and a faintly-sarcastic smirk playing about the corner of her lips.

"Mind some company?" she asked, motioning her head towards the chair across from him.

[scarletspeedstr]

Wally had been lost in a daydream of beaches and bikini-clad girls - after all you could fight a dream by dreaming something else and making it change, right? Well the theory had needed testing anyway - and so was a little startled to realise that someone had made there way to his table without him noticing.

"How could anyone mind your company?" he answered. So maybe it was a little obvious, but he meant it. Besides, it wasn't everyday that an attractive woman asked to spend time with him while he wasn't in the spandex.

"Make yourself at home." He grinned and started working on his stack of pancakes. As hungry as he was, old habits died hard, so he forced himself to slow down his eating to near-normal speeds. Not to mention that people normally got a little weirded out by super-speed eating, and he didn't want to drive away his new friend.

"So, at the risk of sounding cliché, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

[transgenix]

Max laughed at his flirting manner as she sank down into the chair across from his. Oh good, this was going to be a fun breakfast, she decided in amusement.

"Thanks. And thought I had you pegged as one of the new kids on the block. Welcome to Landel's where they tell us we're insane by day and we can almost believe them by night," she retorted, her tone bemused.

She held out her hand to him across the table. "The name's Max, and I've been here a few weeks. Which is sadly quite the accomplishment in this place. And I'm here for the same reason everyone else is, though none of us currently know what whacked-out reason that may be. They're not to big on explanations around here."

[scarletspeedstr]

Wally laughed at her bemused comment, though what she had said also had an interesting ring of truth.

"So, what is it about the night that makes you believe that? Monsters under your bed? Need somebody to keep them away at night?" He winked and smiled, trying to show that he wasn't too serious.

He quickly gulped down some more pancake and put down his fork to take her offered hand. "Wally West. And you're right, I just got here. But I don't expect to be here long."

[transgenix]

"No, under your bed is surprisingly one of the safer places to be in this place," she countered with a rueful look as she shook his hand, her grip firm. "The monsters are everywhere else, though. The place goes all Twilight Zone on us after dark and things that should be cute and fuzzy get teeth and hungry instead. And thanks for the offer, but I can keep away my own monsters."

Leaning back across the table, she took a moment to take a bit of her own breakfast, then shot him a quirky grin at his comment. "Nice to meet you, Wally. And yeah, none of us expect that."

[scarletspeedstr]

"Only under the bed?" he quipped. Huh, she seemed to be taking the whole monster joke a little too seriously, but then this was a dream, right? Actually, that didn't reassure him much. If this was one of Doctor Destiny's dream trap things, it was more surprising that something HADN'T tried to kill him yet. Still, he just had to sit tight until J'onn turned up, that was all.

His fork scraped across the now empty plate, so he reached across and hooked one of Max's pancakes without really noticing what he was doing.

"So, if you're not crazy, why are you here?"

[transgenix]

Max arched an eyebrow as the man attempted to steal one of her pancakes. Before he could get it off her plate, however, her hand flashed down to clasp his wrist in a grip that was much stronger than a little thing like her should be able to pull off. Pinning his arm to the table she cocked her head to the side and shook her fork at him. "There's second up at the counter, if you're still hungry. Don't even think of filchin' off this girl's plate."

"And if you hadn't noticed," she continued as if nothing had happened, "no one here's actually crazy. Well, most of us, anyways. It's a cover, a front. They bring us in from all over the place, stick us in here and tell us everything we know is a lie. During the day, they keep the game up pretty well, but once it's lights out, the rules change, and we get turned into lab rats in a maze. Believe me or not, it's up to you, but you're in for a hell of an eye opener come nightfall."

[scarletspeedstr]

Wally yelped in surprise when Max grabbed his arm and pinned it. She was a lot stronger than she looked and having his arm trapped made him a little nervous. Being trapped meant being unable to run if there was any danger, so it was difficult for him to not just rip his arm free at super-speed. Besides, he was pretty sure Max wasn't trying to hurt him or anything. Though with the strength in her arm, he wondered if that was reassuring or not.

"Geez, I'm sorry! I don't really pay that much attention to who food belongs to when I'm hungry. Do you think maybe you can let go of my arm now?" He smiled again, though it was a little forced.

"And anyway, you can't expect me to know much about this place. I only just got here, after all. You're the first person I've spoken to aside from that nurse. And this?" He gestured at his trapped arm. "Not doing so much for your I'm-not-crazy claims. And what makes you think I'm going to still be here for nightfall?"

[transgenix]

Max let go of his arm, sliding her plate a safe distance away from him with a wry smirk. "I'm crazy for protecting my pancake? Well, that's a new one, at least. Didn't hurt you, did I?" she added, nodding at his arm in inquiry.

"Well, you'll hear the same from anyone who's been here for twenty-four hours now, anyway. It's pretty hard to believe until you've experienced it first hand. And what makes you think you won't be?" she countered his question with another question.

[scarletspeedstr]

"Yeah, well, most people don't tend to get that extreme when it comes to pancake protection," Wally said. He instantly relaxed when she let go and rubbed at his wrist ruefully. He put on a hurt expression. "You know, I think you might have broken something. It's really sore. Maybe you could kiss it better to make it up to me?"

He doubted that was likely to get anything more than a laugh, so continued, answering her question. "Let's just say that I already have a fair idea of what's going on here, so it'll be a snap for me to get out." Well, once the rest of the League turned up anyway. Still, it was a pity he'd be gone soon and the lovely Max would just... disappear, he guessed. It was a little weird to think of her as a dream when she seemed so real, but then that was how Doctor Destiny worked. Probably best not to let it get to him.

[transgenix]

"Most people aren't crazy enough to attempt to get between me and my breakfast," she replied, shooting him a feral grin, and expression that melted into a friendlier smile at hurt expression. "Oh, come on, now. You didn't honestly get broken that easily, did you? You don't look the type. Besides, I thought guys found it mortifying to get beaten up by girls half their size?"

She eyed him when he explained that he knew what was going on here, arching an eyebrow. "You have an idea what's going on already? Seriously? ALright, then, let's hear it, Sherlock."

[scarletspeedstr]

"No, no, I think you really damaged something! It definitely requires closer inspection anyway. Maybe even mouth to mouth!" Wally grinned again, not even trying to hide his motives now. "Even if I don't look the type, you don't want to risk it, right

[transgenix]

"Mouth to mouth isn't related to healing procedures involving broken bones. But I can drown you in your orange juice first, if that's what you're aiming for," Max offered sweetly, although mischievous amusement glinted in her gaze as she teased him.

While he slipped away to fill up on more food, she wondered about the women he knew. That was a claim not many males would make, especially considering Wally looked like he wasn't much of a stranger to fighting

[scarletspeedstr]

"Hmm, death by orange juice followed by mouth to mouth from a beautiful woman... Tempting, though I might have to skip this time. Maybe on the second date though." Wally winked before starting on his second pile of food, trying to find a balance between as fast as he wanted to eat and as fast as was polite in company. Maybe he could even find time to grab another plate before they had to go, though he wasn't sure if Max would get suspicious of the amounts he was eating

[transgenix]

"Wise choice," Max laughed, shooting him an impish grin.

She could tell her words confused and bugged him, but there wasn't much about this place that wasn't unsettling, especially to a newcomer."As far as I know, it probably doesn't exist in my world. Then again, not much from other people's worlds does anymore, where I come from."

As he explained about this doctor person, Max just gre more skeptical. "So you're blaming all this on some sort of bent hallucination? God, do I wish. You might try pinching yourself, though. This ain't no dream. And if it were, you've got a pretty screwed up imagination."