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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[full_score]

As usual, dayshift had a way of sneaking up him. The good thing was that last night had been incredibly productive! Guy getting his arm healed, a sword, Leon getting to see this new alchemy for himself, stuff to repay the clinic and Ed with, not to mention getting to see other parts of the building...really, he couldn't have asked for anything better. Aside from getting out, anyway. Still, the three of them made a pretty awesome team

[tender_cruelty]

Another wasted night spent with those two bickering. Allelujah sighed as he entered the cafeteria, rubbing a hand over his visible eye tiredly. Even he was going to have to sleep soon he expected. Maybe a nap during dinner perhaps. And tonight he'd just have to try slipping off on his own, quickly before Joshua arrived (and how was he always waiting anyway?).

He filled a plate with a selection of food and headed over to a free seat, smiling awkwardly at the boy who was already sitting at that table. At this point, he'd much rarther choose who he sat next to, rather than having someone choose him.

"Ah, do you mind if I sit here?"

[full_score]

Claude looked up to see a young man he'd never met approaching him. He'd definitely seen him in passing before, so that was his cue that this wasn't someone new to Landel's. It was always nice to talk with people, though, so when the stranger asked if he could sit down, Claude returned the smile and gestured towards a seat.

"Oh, not at all!" he replied with a bright tone. "It'd be nice to have some company, really." It was better than being left to wallow in his own misgivings, which wouldn't do any good for anyone at the end of the day.

"I'm Claude, by the way," the blond added.

[tender_cruelty]

Allelujah smiled back awkwardly and slipped into the seat, setting his plate down carefully. The other man seemed cheerful at least, and welcoming which made things easier. He didn't particularly feel like spending breakfast with someone who would give Hallelujah an excuse to snarp.

"Thank you," he replied politely. "I'm called Allelujah. Nice to meet you."

[full_score]

"Allelujah," Claude echoed. "That's an interesting name. And it's good to meet you, too!"

The blond took a moment to get a better look at his new table companion. He couldn't have been too much older than himself, and he had a rather distinct hairstyle that covered one eye. With the way he carried himself, he didn't seem like he was the type to go do a lot of socializing. But with the constant dangers that lurked around this place at night, and the monotonous activities scheduled for them in the day, it was good to talk to people whenever possible.

Normally whenever people introduced themselves around here, the logical topics of conversation stemmed from questions like, How long have you been here? or Where are you from? But it'd be nice to start out with some light conversation. Otherwise, it was easy to stay wound up and serious all the time, right?

"So, do you like pigs in blankets, Allelujah?" he asked instead. "I think they're pretty good, but it'd be great if they served a nice breakfast steak every once in awhile."

[tender_cruelty]

"So I've been told," Allelujah replied with a small smile. It wasn't a normal name, he knew that, but it was his name, given to him by her so he wouldn't give it up for anything. It wasn't as though he had any other name to go by, after all since he'd forgotten what he was originally called, if he'd even had a name.

He glanced down at the food on his plate for a moment when Claude asked about his food. "I don't know. I've not tried them," he admitted a little embarrassed. "Most of the food here is pretty nice though. Better than the stuff I'm used to."

[full_score]

"Oh, yeah, I guess you hear that all the time, huh?" Claude rubbed the back of his neck before taking a sip of his juice. "Hahah, sorry. I mean, it's a nice name and all, so..."

He regarded Allelujah curiously when he said he'd never tried them before. "Oh, do they not have pigs in blankets where you're from?" he asked, genuinely interested. "Why don't you try one? I mean, they're not anything special, but it's kind of fun to eat new things sometimes, you know?"

[tender_cruelty]

"Just since coming here, actually," Allelujah replied, smiling wryly. "It doesn't seem so unusual among the people I work with in my own world." He worked... had worked with someone called Lockon Stratos. Allelujah fitted in just fine.

"I spend most of my time in space," Allelujah explained. "There's not really much chance to get fresh food a lot of the time."

[full_score]

"I see, that makes sense," Claude said. "People here come from all sorts of different backgrounds, so I guess we're bound to run into names and things we're not used to." He paused as he took a bite of his sausage. "What world are you from?"

His interest was peaked when Allelujah mentioned space, though. "Oh, really! Were you serving aboard a ship or something?" Not everyone who spent a lot of time in space were on ships -- some worked in docking stations or bases -- but it was the first thing that came to Claude's mind based on his own experiences.

[tender_cruelty]

Or maybe the people who worked for Celestial Being just enjoyed having ridiculous names. It wouldn't surprise him sometimes. They all had their eccentricities. "I'm from Earth. Well, a space colony originally, I guess." It was the first place that he could remember anyway.

That seemed to catch Claude's interest. "Yes, something like that," Allelujah said. "The ship didn't dock that often."

[full_score]

"Oh, hey, I'm from Earth, too," Claude said. But even though they were technically from the same place, he was starting to get the sense that they'd led very different lives. It wasn't necessarily unusual for people to live on space colonies, especially if they were involved in scientific research, but Claude himself had grown up on the actual planet, and he'd never been deprived of regular food.

"I mean, I guess it's not that huge a deal since that's where we are right now, but there are a lot of people from other planets here, too," he added.

Being on a ship that didn't dock that often...Claude could sympathize, at least a little. During his time on the Calnus, they hadn't really docked much, either. "So you're from the future, too, then, right?"

[tender_cruelty]

"Oh? There seem to be a few people her from Earth, and some people from places I've never even heard of," Allelujah replied, starting to warm to the conversation. It was more interesting than being asked how long he'd been in the Institute. "I've been to the planet a few times now. The Orbital Elevator makes things much easier," he added, wanting to see a little more involved in what they were talking about.

"I suppose I am, yes," he agreed. Assuming this time period was what it looked like. Definitely further forward than a few other people. "2308 AD. That's the year it was back at home."

[full_score]

"Some of the others come from places very different from Earth," Claude said before taking a bite of a pig in a blanket. "I've met a lot of people who didn't even realize there were other worlds out there in the first place. A lot of them are handling it really well, considering. It's kind of impressive."

When Allelujah brought up this Orbital Elevator, Claude couldn't entirely mask the confusion on his face. "I've never heard of that before. What is it?"

So he was from 2308AD. He couldn't figure out how that would translate into the SD calendar system right off the top of his head, but he guessed it would be somewhere around the 200's. "I'm from around 2452 AD myself," he replied. "In other words, SD 366."

[tender_cruelty]

"Yes," he agreed. "Places with magic and the kinds of things that don't exist where I'm from." But they all seemed to have wars and killing, no matter what they were like otherwise. It was said. "I guess, yes. It must be a shock coming here, especially if you've never seen electricity

[full_score]

"Yeah, magic..." Sometimes it was easy to forget that sort of thing simply didn't exist at all for some people. "Pretty crazy stuff, huh? But I guess the electricity here must seem like magic to the people who've never seen anything like it before, don't you think

[tender_cruelty]

"Hm, I suppose it must, yes," Allelujah agreed, glancing up at the lights. It was something so normal for him, like space travel was, like mecha were, but for some people, it must seem incredibly strange.

"It's useful," Allelujah agreed. "It makes taking materials up into space much easier. And it transfers the solar energy down to the surface to provide electricity." That was hoarded and controlled by the major governments. "It works well in theory at least," he said with a shrug.

It was a little strange, he had to admit and it made Allelujah frown slightly at the thought. "I've never heard of them," he admitted.