Day 48: Cafeteria (Breakfast)

[should_be_dead]

Luckily for Mele, the night had ended before Tenzen had changed his mind and deemed Mele appropriate for target practice. Even if the situation of who was mocking who had seemed to change into the Iga ninja's favor. Despite her behavior, perhaps the insolent woman could serve some sort of use nonetheless. He had been trapped in this place for a

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[kagurazuki]

Last night had been a confusing mess, but at least Ritsu was alright. She hadn't had a chance to get much of an explanation out of him, but it was worrying and not at all like him to leave his room and be gone for so long without reason. And if he'd just been waiting for her in the hall, she would've seen him, right? She felt sorry for running to Bridget with her problems, only to find that Ritsu was back out in the hallway. Something just wasn't adding up. Plus, she hadn't been able to get the things she needed for Toshiro

[cigarettes_plz]

Well, that was some night. At least it was finally over.

Despite losing a whole pack of cigarettes to Mihai - THE TRAITOR - this morning, he had to admit the familiarity was... Actually, no, it wasn't welcome. He'd just lost a whole pack of smokes. A whole pack of smokes. And probably his stash too, when Mihai found it. Fuck his life right in the ass.

He scanned the cafeteria for his Pasty McWhiteface partner and caught sight of Alkaid, Renamon, Snowflake (who probably had a name)... and Sohma sulking around by herself, looking for someone. Well, he was supposed to meet Haine (who had no real reason to kill him right at the moment) but a buffer wouldn't be too bad. Besides, how could he pass up an opportunity like this? He needed a little more cheer in his shitty assfucked life.

Badou came to a stop by her table and grinned. "Hey Sohma, what's up?"

[kagurazuki]

No sign of Ritsu yet, but Kagura smiled when she saw a familiar face approach. After last night, a friendly smile was just what she needed. She straightened and looked up at him, making sure to greet him properly.

"Good morning Badou-san," she replied in a small, quiet voice. "Ah... I just got here and was looking for m-my cousin. But if you like, you're... you're welcome to join me. I... I'm sure I'll find him before the day is out."

At least, she hoped so. He'd been in the hallway last night, so that meant he hadn't been in any of those awful experiments, but... why had he been out in the hall? Why hadn't she run across him before she got to Bridget's room?

[cigarettes_plz]

Badou slid into the seat across from her. "What's he look like? I'll keep an eye out for you." It wasn't like he'd have to go out of his way and hey, maybe Sohma would relax a little.

"You manage ok last night?" He picked a strawberry out of his tray (one a week to ward off scurvy) and popped it into his mouth. He wasn't particularly hungry but picking at his breakfast kept his hands busy when he really wanted to get back to his room and hide his smokes better.

[kagurazuki]

"Oh- ah... that's kind of you Badou-san," she smiled, grateful for the help. She still hadn't seen him come in and the cafeteria was starting to fill up. Hopefully he'd be along soon though. "He has hair a lot like yours, but... the color isn't quite so red and... h-he's fairly tall and thin, Japanese, oh- a-and he's very shy. He... I think he's having a hard time of things," she added.

As for last night... Kagura glanced down at her tray, "I was going to try to help Toshiro-kun find some medical supplies, but... but Rit-chan- ah- that is- my cousin, he wasn't in his room when I went to find him. But... we did find him a bit later I just... don't understand what he was doing out there."

After a moment of staring at her tray she looked back up at Badou, wondering if he might have any ideas or if the description of her cousin sounded at all familiar.

"Did... did you and Haine-san do alright too?" she asked, assuming they'd gone together. They were partners, after all.

[cigarettes_plz]

Badou nodded at the description. There weren't all that many redheads hanging around even here, so it shouldn't even be difficult to keep an eye out. The only one he knew who almost fit that description was Schuldig, and Schuldig was both german and dead. Probably. He wasn't sure of the dead part yet.

He didn't realize he was maiming a pancake until he tried to spear a piece of the ruin.

"How old is this guy? Ritchan? It's not like you're having an easy time either. Tell him to man-up and grow a pair. Family should look out for each other, right?"

His mouth was moving mostly on auto-pilot but that wasn't really anything new. He craned his head around to look for Haine before turning back to Sohma, massaging the back of his neck. If Badou had a guilty expression, this would probably be its bastard second cousin. Whatever he was feeling was only vaguely related to guilt. "I did alright. Dunno about Haine, but he's alive." He grinned. "You'll get to see him soon. We've got a breakfast date."

[kagurazuki]

"Ah... Rit-chan... nnn well it... it's Ritsu really, but um... he's not the sort to... that is..." she tried, but there was no polite or simple way to tell Badou that her cousin was not at all the sort to man up to anything. That Ritsu would be much more comfortable hiding out during the nights in his room. And maybe a frilly dress.

"Rit-chan is... v-very... ah... delicate," she finally found a word that fit, more or less. "I wanted to find him so... so I could protect him and make sure he was alright. Rit-chan is... two years older than me so... twenty one I'm fairly sure. B-but yes, I think if... if possible I should try to look out for him. I've had a-ah... w-well... a bit more training than Rit-chan. He helps run our family's hot spring inn so that sort of thing

[cigarettes_plz]

Delicate. Yeah, ok. Delicate enough to be protected by a little girl who, at 19, maybe wasn't as little as he'd first assumed. And there was that whole thing with her breakfast tray the other day. He really should stop underestimating people around here... But this was Sohma. At most she would be making the monsters cute matching sweaters, right? Not everyone was totally nuts. Usually. Sometimes. Just this once, someone had to be normal.

He had a bad feeling about that look she was giving him. Maybe that was a bad choice of words. "Of course it's --"

Haine's voice only made him jump about twenty feet. He turned, both hands pressed flat against the table. "Excuse you, I left a fucking note. Where the fuck were you last night?" Hi Haine, good to see you too. I'm fine. How was your night?

[kagurazuki]

Maybe Badou didn't completely understand about how things worked with Ritsu, but it was probably too much to expect him to. Their family was strange in a number of ways, the curse being the main one, of course, but even without it, they had their own oddities