Day 38: Breakfast

[deadlyjuliet]

What a singularly delightful evening he'd had. It was dampened, of course, by two things, but those were small things and he supposed he could overlook them for now. First was that his powers had still not returned. If he truly were on punishment as he thought, though, he couldn't very well expect those to come back. Second was that the little

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[shallweplay]

And just like that, the suitable and gorgeously bloody weapon (Arlene's blood, even) that had taken Ophelia all night to finally acquire was gone. In its place was the white ceiling from the morning before and the feeling of cool, clean sheets beneath her palms. The Claymore lay in the bed for a few moments, not willing to believe that she had suddenly been snapped back into that horrible little room. When she realized that one overhead announcement had definitely lead into another and the feeling of lying on a bed suddenly was too real to be imagined, however, Ophelia let out a screech of frustration.

"No! I had it! I had something I could actually use in this god damn place! You bastards can't take it away from me!" she yelled, not caring that she would probably wake GLaDOS.

It wasn't long before the two surprisingly strong nurses were there to collect her for breakfast, and when she violently protested going with them, the two ended up giving her a small pinprick with a strange needle rather than deal with her outbursts so early in the morning. Despite her desire to rip the two women apart and demand to know where they had taken the sword she had found, that pinprick was starting to do something to her body that made it hard to continue that path of action. Her actions became a little more sluggish, and a mild wave of drowsiness spread through her mind.

After a few more minutes, the nurses felt confident enough to take Ophelia back to the cafeteria with them. She drifted with them through the hall much as she had the previous day, only this time her daze was chemically-induced rather than due to shock. The woman helped her to pick out some items for breakfast, and took her to a nearby table to sit her down.

By the time they had moved away to keep an eye on her from a distance, Ophelia had legitimately calmed down somewhat. She would find another weapon, and next time she would make certain that the forces of Martin Landel did not knock her out and steal it away again. Obviously Arlene had found a sword and kept it, and so had many others if Itachi's claims about the clubs were true. She knew that it wouldn't take that much effort to find something usable once she was more used to her new body. How could she expect any less of herself, the organization's Number Four?

"How indeed?" she grumbled, remembering the fights with both the glowing monster and the man with the swords the previous night. Both would have defeated her more soundly than the stranger in the woods had if Arlene had not been there to cover her. She cursed Martin Landel under her breath yet again for robbing her of her rightful strength as she poked at her food, wondering if she ought to join up with Arlene's group again the next night or not. There was obviously something in the basement that Landel didn't want them getting at, and she intended to find out what it was and how she could use it against him. "Must be something really powerful," she mused aloud quietly.

[For Yukari Yakumo]

[mind_the_sukima]

And then, suddenly she was awake.

One moment she was squabbling with that pint-sized evil mage, the next she was lying in her bed. The gap in between was missing, and it mildly irritated Yukari that she couldn't command it to return, to fill in the blanks.

Oh, well. If that was how this was going to be played, that's how she'd have to play until she found a way to cheat the system, of course.

Yawning, Yukari was about to roll over and go back to sleep when her nurse - no, wait, a nurse; this was a different one from the one that had escorted her around yesterday - came in, telling her to, of all things, rise and shine.

There were many things Yukari did. Rising and shining, particularly in combination, were not on the list.

In a daze, neither chemical nor shock-induced, Yukari was led unresistingly - mostly - to the cafeteria. Wordlessly receiving the plate of pigs, blankets and other food items, Yukari's only word of thanks was a rather large yawn before her nurse steered the sleepwalking woman over to a table, seating her across from a pale blonde who looked fairly upset.

Yukari didn't notice, as she was too busy eying her food and swaying unsteadily. Eyes unfocused, they began to close as she started to lean further and dangerously further forwards, lacking the willpower to stay upright...

[shallweplay]

At first, Ophelia didn't pay much mind to the tired young woman who had been seated across from her, instead opting to stare off into space in thought as she took little bites of the little pieces of meat that had been wrapped in pastry-like dough. She was far too preoccupied with the decision of whether or not to team up again with a woman who annoyed her so much if it meant discovering the secrets of the basement.

It became hard to ignore the woman, however, when she started leaning so far forward that she was practically laying her head on Ophelia's plate. Tough choices or no tough choices, she didn't like the idea of her tasty meat breakfast being ruined by a pile of blonde hair.

"So," she said abruptly in a loud, chirpy tone that she hoped would make the woman more alert. "Am I right in assuming that you had a rough night? Poor thing, you look so tired," she said with a seemingly friendly smile painted across her face.

[mind_the_sukima]

Yukari shot up right at the address; just in time too, as she'd been mere inches from losing all semblance of vertical posture and simply laying her face down on the table and in anything that happened to be on it.

"What?" said Yukari, blinking owlishly. One part of her was upset for her lack of awareness, while another part reminded her that it was fairly safe during the day, supposedly. The other eight parts were too tired to chime in.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she mumbled in reply. "Fought this thing made of arms and teeth and stuff and it smelled really icky. It was even worse after I killed it, but at least it stopped trying to eat me then. Now my parasol's all bent."

She yawned then, before turning her attention to her plate. Maybe some food would help her perk up. She already had a few mouthfuls down her throat before she paused to look back to the other woman.

"The nurses call me Violet, by the way. But you can call me Yukari if you want," she said ambiguously before going back to her food.

[shallweplay]

Well at least the woman had managed to fight off anything at all, unlike what Ophelia had managed the night before. Perhaps this one had gotten lucky and only come across a smaller monster. Yes, that was probably right, Ophelia decided. Someone as delicate-seeming and out of it as this couldn't have beaten anything like the opponents she had run into. Hopefully, she thought, that would bode well for the coming night. If not all the monsters were as large and impervious as the golden being with the healing blood, perhaps she still had a chance to hone her skills in her new body.

"They," she answered, gesturing over her shoulder at the nurses watching from further off by the wall, "insist that my name is Emily something. Hardly accurate. I am Ophelia, the--" She cut herself off before adding on the usual "the organization's Number Four" onto the end of her introduction. It was more than likely that Yukari had never heard of the organization, same as everyone else she'd come across thus far in this godforsaken hole. Much to her chagrin, her rank would probably mean nothing to this woman.

Since she had pulled herself into a conversation anyway, Ophelia figured she might as well see if she could glean anything useful from it. "Pardon my intrusion, but I'm curious: did you at least get anywhere of particular note after that dreadful experience? Learn anything that might be useful in the future? I'd hate to think that you had to ruin your parasol for nothing other than survival of the moment," she inquired, putting on a sympathetic tone. Perhaps if the girl knew where to find things like parasols, she knew where to find other things that could be used as makeshift weapons.

[mind_the_sukima]

Yukari mentally lifted an eyebrow at the shortened introduction, but gave no hint of suspicion outwardly, though this was more a result of preoccupation with her food than any genius mask-like facade. In all likelihood, it had just been Ophelia about to spout some impressive title that would be meaningless to outsiders, and the woman had given up on trying to awe others with it. Well, no matter. That she had such a title was probably as much as Yukari'd glean from it anyway, since she probably wouldn't recognize it, and be unable to substantiate any such claims, much like the supposed evil mage girl from last night.

Besides being a little more humble, this one seemed friendly too.

"Well, survival of the moment was my foremost concern at the time," Yukari admitted after swallowing down another forkful. "But I ended up partnering with this annoying little brat afterward and we made it as far as the Patient Possessions room."

[shallweplay]

"I can certainly empathize with having to team up with an annoying partner," Ophelia said with a nod, hiding gritted teeth behind her smile as thoughts of Arlene came swiftly back to mind. She still hated having to admit that the bitch was so damned skilled. She took another bite of her breakfast to keep herself from crushing her own teeth, then continued: "In any case, was there anything worth finding there? Perhaps I might be interested in venturing there sometime if the group I'm currently with has too many continued troubles with exploring the basement."

[mind_the_sukima]

"Depends what you consider worthwhile," replied Yukari with a shrug. "We found some clothes and knickknacks from our 'real' lives, you know the ones the nurses say we have? I don't think any of it will help us out with fighting monsters are exploring the basement, it's all pretty mundane." Yukari hurried in another bite to stall for time as she thought. "Well, I suppose if you didn't find anything in your closet, it could always be nice to have something to wear other than the prison grays," she added with a smile.

Ophelia was a girl. She might care about that sort of thing, right?

[shallweplay]

Ophelia did raise an eyebrow at that remark, physically rather than only in her mind. She had been ready to stop talking once she'd heard that the Patient Possessions room likely wasn't worth checking out, but the closet remark caught her attention. "No, I didn't find anything of interest in my closet. Are you suggesting that there was something interesting in yours?" she asked, an intrigued look on her face.

[mind_the_sukima]

"One of my favorite dresses, with gloves, parasol and everything," she said with a smirk. "It got all torn up during the fight though, a shame." Lucky she'd picked up some more outfits in Patient Possessions. "I saw others wearings outfits that sure didn't come from their 'real' lives, but a lot without. I guess the good doctor likes some of us more than others. You should check your closet tonight; maybe he likes you too."

Yukari had an amused look on her face; she was still tired, but getting something in her stomach definitely helped perk her up.

[shallweplay]

Ophelia had no idea why Landel would deign to give patients some of their clothing from home back, but she at least had an inkling of an idea about how such choices about who got clothing might be made. "Do any of these other outfits you've seen have much on them in the way of armour? I'm guessing the head bastard wouldn't want me to have my uniform back unless all the guards and plating on it were made out of extra brittle glass."

Though, even if that were the case, Ophelia thought she still might not mind having her uniform back. At least it would give her at least the feeling of still being who she had been up until the day before.

[mind_the_sukima]

"Well, I didn't see anyone running around in plate mail if that's what you're asking," she replied. "Though I might have seen a forehead protector somewhere? Anyway, none of it seemed to be in the 'useful' category of clothing." Though, arguably, the parasol had certainly been useful. Then again, anyone with the time to pick up a stick would be just as well off as her, so...

"But, does that mean you're some kind of armored warrior? Do you run around in a tin can back home?" she asked teasingly. She always did think those ancient knights in the outside world looked rather silly clanking about.

[shallweplay]

Ophelia noted the information in her head: some individuals were granted clothing from their home world, and would find such outfits in their closets if they were so lucky. Mostly useless clothing, though smaller things like forehead protectors seemed allowed. She definitely wouldn't be getting her own uniform back anytime soon, then, if that was the case. Pity. Even if the strength of the armour were reduced, she knew that at least the look would suit her figure better than these drab, loose garments.

"Heh, not quite. Running around in 'tin cans' the way humans do would just be unnecessarily detrimental to our agility," she said with a derisive chuckle, imagining the same silly clanking suits of armour that Yukari was likely imagining. "No, we only have armour in the most necessary places." Ophelia moved her hands around her body, gesturing the shape of her armour in the air as she named body parts: "Shoulders, shoulder blades, across the breast, wrists, thighs, groin, shins, ankles, feet. Also some tougher fabric around the neck area. That all leaves the arms, legs, torso and neck free to move and twist more freely and grant us more speed."

She laughed again, adding, "I think the only reason humans prefer those full body cans is because they're so much more delicate and afraid of any part of their fleshy bits being touched. Not that it does them much good against the yoma anyway."

[mind_the_sukima]

"I see," she murmured. Now came the hard part.

Yukari knew Ophelia had been asked the question probably a dozen times already since coming to this Institute, which is exactly why it irritated her to be asking the same question and sounding the same as everyone else. Yukari was not particularly vain, but neither was she particularly humble, and parroting the same words as every other patient here was beyond just irritating. In the end though, curiosity won out.

"But I have to ask," she started out, "what's a 'yoma'?"

Or for that matter, what are you, if not human? she thought to herself, but left the question unasked for now. The question could wait.

[shallweplay]

If there was one thing that could ruin the semi-good mood that Ophelia was working up other than the mention of anything that had happened the previous night, it was the continued reminded that no one knew the basic terminology of her world. "Yoma" had been one of the first words she learned as a young child, and it only became increasingly more pervasive in her life as she'd grown up and joined the organization. The frequent reminders that no one in this place seemed to know this basic, no, this inescapable word in her life was just mind-boggling and frustrating.

The Claymore let out a short sigh, though she tried not to let go of her smile that much. She'd spent too much of last night scowling for her liking. "Yoma are like demons in my world, although they don't come from any supernatural planes that I know of. They like to slaughter humans and eat their guts, and the only plan the weak little humans could think up to keep them at bay was to create some protection: half-human, half-yoma warriors," she explained, at least glad that she was able to talk about what she was (or had been, anyway), which was still something she was glad to flaunt. "I don't care so much about defending the humans, but it certainly is a good excuse to slice those wretched things to ribbons day in and day out. It never gets old, seeing yoma blood and guts fly everywhere. A beautiful sight to see, no doubt."

[mind_the_sukima]

Definitely no knight in shining armor. This one was blood thirsty. Ophelia was dangerous.

Of course, that only made it all the more fun.

The yoma sounded not unlike youkai in their need to attack humans, but seemed far more visceral, more animalistic and not as whimsical or haunting. She could understand the desire for half-breeds though; the strength of the enemy but with ties to the humans. Someone might have tried something like that if people like the Hakurei hadn't made it a moot point.

"Are all yoma the same or similar? Or are they uniquely empowered and embodied?" asked Yukari. She was curious just how like youkai they were, or if they were simply, as described, a race of flesh-eating demons.

She paused before her next question, fairly certain it would be a touchy subject.

"And what stops half-yomas like you from siding with the yoma?" she said, a subtle darkness to her smile.