Day 23: Lunch

[part1of3]

The second the intercom sounded, while the man on the intercom was still talking, Ashton pulled himself off the couch in the Music Room and slowly made his way to the door. He walked, glided even, as if he were a ghost in a dream. The nurses had already filed up to escort the patients to the lunchroom, and one bustled over to walk Ashton those few

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[seiran314]

As expected, the shower had been eventful experience; luckily Aya had been able to avoid the entire ruckus. He had gotten in and out as fast as he could and without any unwanted attention. Damp hair brushed and neatly tucked behind his ears, fresh pair of gray uniform on, he was ready for yet another stroll around the madhouse.

Granted, Landel's made an effort not to bore the patients to death with food, Aya still felt weary about today's menu. He had nothing against the taste, even if he would prefer something with subtler flavor, but it was bothersome. Any diet was just as good as long as he could cut it into bite size pieces to shove down his throat without further fretting over it. This was just too much trouble.

Sighing, he gathered a plate with just barely enough food on it to please the nurse who was giving him a disapproving glance or few for his lack of enthusiasm considering any kind of nutrition. Then glanced around the cafeteria, he might as well make a use of these moments and try to act like he didn't belong in here.

After spotting someone sitting alone, he made his way across the cafeteria to the table and stopped beside the chair opposite to the young man. "Hello." He did not like meaningless chitchat but might as well try to get to know some of the other patients - supposedly they were on the same side here anyhow. "May I?" He nodded towards the chair politely.

[seiran314]

The day could still turn out worse, Aya was rather sure of that. His luck never failed to rise up to the occasion to fuck things up even worse than he was capable of on his own. The young man over the table did not seem too eager to communicate. Aya was as antisocial as they come and trapped in this madhouse where he just had to deal or accept the fact that nothing came for free. Just wonderful.

Pulling on his best impression of a smile, pale and as far from sincere as possible but still a curve on his lips, he pulled a chair for himself and sat down. "I'm Aya. So you'll know who to blame for interrupting your lonely pastime." His words could have implied the busy staring or something else completely.

He couldn't really blame Yohji for this foul mood, but it didn't stop him from wanting and cursing the blond for being such a stubborn asshole as if Aya had been any better. As Kadaj stared away, he started slowly shoving his lunch together, stuffing the burrito with as much vegetables as possible.

[seiran314]

Lying, well that was one of his specialties, having a life based on them would not allow him any other kind of luxury. Lies kept him alive, he lived and breathed them every day, it would have been an anomaly in his profession to be incapable of lying. Aya, a slave to his habits, cut a bite size bit of the burrito with his fork and chewed on the food before answering.

"No," he lied smoothly. "Haven't heard anything. Should I have?" Just curiosity within the violet gaze that was leveled calmly at Kadaj over the table, not a taunt for the childish ego. He'd been reading the message board, and wasn't stupid enough to not piece together the puzzle, but that wasn't something he'd be telling to Kadaj any time soon.

[seiran314]

Brows arching, Aya observed the abuse Kadaj was giving to the food on his plate, somewhat tempted to do just the same with his own. It seemed as if Kadaj was disappointed for not having a fame of some sort, perhaps Aya should have been more cautious with this particular young man. Oddly enough, he didn't feel threatened.

"Generally, people are annoying by default. It's easier just to ignore them most of times." Obviously Kadaj didn't expect him to be sprouting meaningless pleasantries, so why would he? "Sadly, this place forces us in close quarters like this."

[seiran314]

"Sure." It wasn't a lie. They probably had a bit different view on what 'irritating' consisted though. Living the life of a murdered for the past six years had made Aya cold, too cold if he'd take a good look in the mirror but in moments like this, it might have been a bittersweet blessing as well. "I haven't seen much of anything that would pose as a thread to practically anybody here though."

The burrito seemed to have less fighting spirit than the cinnamon roll this morning and Aya had made considerable progress with his food. He nodded towards Kadaj's plate in distantly friendly manner, which seemed to work just fine with the two of them. "The green stuff is not bad."

[seiran314]

Aya shrugged and glanced around the cafeteria, violet gaze lingering for a moment on Omi and Yohji talking together, awkward expressions painfully clear to him even across the room. He could guess what the conversation was about, half relieved, half disappointed that he could not be there to make sure Yohji didn't make things too difficult for all of them.

However, he was here, talking to a young man with a silver hair and liquid eyes. He could sense the danger from Kadaj, but nowadays it was practically impossible to unnerve Aya. He had driven his sword through a genetically engineered god just a little while ago, this asylum or the patients had yet failed to invoke more than slight uneasiness from him.

The awkwardness of this morning forgotten, he gave a curious look as he turned back to Kadaj again. "I've been here since yesterday morning," he answered truthfully. "You seem like a veteran already. So it's correct to assume you've been here longer?" His words were accompanied by a pale curve on his lips, not exactly a warm smile but the kind that said he thought paying attention to Kadaj wasn't a total waste of his time.

[seiran314]

Faint amusement edging into his gaze, Aya nodded, observing Kadaj with slightly hooded eyes. Despite his cautiousness, he found himself liking the strong flavor of the younger man's attitude, at least he wasn't left guessing what was going on.

The chips weren't bad either, he nibbled on his food curiously, suddenly realizing he was hungry after losing almost every meal at Landel's until now for either awkwardness or some other disturbance. Perhaps talking with a total stranger, without connections or past full of deception and lies, could be counted as stress relief.

"If you have something interesting to say, go ahead," he answered with an actual smirk edging onto his usual uniform of indifference. "I've heard the speech about this being a mental hospital with monsters roaming about the hallways by night so many times already I know it by heart."

He spared a moment to actually think what he'd like to know. If Kadaj was not lying, and had offered himself even, why would he pass a possibility like that?

"Actually, I've noticed about the staff having some abnormal abilities. Do you have any better idea of them?"

[seiran314]

That had not gone the way Aya had expected. Perhaps he was so used to fighting off psi-talented assassins and the other freaks Esset and Rosenkreuz chose to send at them that something he could explain otherwise was indeed in his eyes naturally regarded as something supernatural. He studied Kadaj while chewing on the next bite of his food, carefully noting the frown and later the irritated look. He was out of his range here, he'd been around only for a day and he'd assume easily it was him who was mistaken.

"Only hints here and there really," he started, a bit hesitantly. "It could be that I assumed things too hastily." Analytical mind already skimming past all the events for the past day he chose words and incidents carefully. "It could be something else as well, but it sounds logical, doesn't it? The night ends and we'll find ourselves in our rooms in the morning without actually traveling back there, wounds heal faster than they should and during the head doctor's speech yesterday, someone threw a pair of slippers at him and they just stopped suddenly in midair." So used to reporting to the rest of the Weiss, all this came out smoothly in near apathetic tone. He had no reason to hide his observations after all, hoping that if he had missed something vital, Kadaj would fill in for him in return.

"Some people here come from different times as well." The sentence was bit out with a frustrated frown furrowing his brows. The matter of Mamoru being Omi and not the Persia he had expected him to be was still a bit touchy and he moved on quickly. "If they can do that, pull out people here from different times, different worlds and control it all, I'd assume it's something supernatural and not just some techno magic."