DAY 52: BREAKFAST

[nobleobliged]

How one's body could maintain a waking schedule when sleep came unnaturally and in a room without windows, must surely be a mystery. Yet, as if working on cue, Natalia stirred well before her nurse arrived. That was normal. Less so, the weight that sought to press her eyelids closed again, the heaviness of her limbs that made lifting her hands to

Comments

[beyondinfinity]

Just stay focused, Space Ranger, Buzz thought to himself as his eyes darted back and forth across the hall. He was apparently being escorted to a mess hall of some kind, but that definitely wasn't his highest priority right now. He could barely even glance down at himself without reeling from shock, and 'himself' wasn't even his biggest concern - what about everyone else? Somehow, he'd been separated from them and had ended up here, like this... It didn't make any sense! How could any of this have possibly happened?

And maybe that was the key to all this. Lotso, the factory settings switch... Buzz remembered waking up suddenly in that dump truck with no idea how he'd gotten there, and now he'd appeared in this strange facility just as suddenly and with just as little explanation. Something here stunk beyond the whole human thing - maybe... it was all some kind of strange hallucination. Maybe his friends had never been at the dump after all!

Buzz frowned. It had felt so real, so... terrifying.. But if it had never happened, then his friends had never been in danger. Maybe they'd managed to escape from Sunnyside without him, and maybe they'd even rejoined with Woody! Buzz let out a weary smile at that thought, resolving that no matter what was going on and whether or not this was all fake, he needed to try his best to get out of here and get back to them.

Maybe the nurse could help him with that. He turned toward her as she led him through a doorway into another hall.

"Ma'am?"

"My, aren't you a polite one!" the nurse replied approvingly. "What is it, Mr. Taylor?"

"It's Lightyear - Captain Buzz..." he trailed off and sighed, gingerly rubbing the side of his overly squishy face. (Geez, was this how being rubber felt like?) "I was just wondering if any of my friends were here. There's a cowboy and a cowgirl, a dinosaur, a piggybank-"

"What an active imagination!" exclaimed the nurse by way of interruption. Buzz's frown deepened and he jogged up to walk beside her.

"Listen, it's... really important," he pleaded, gesturing at her. "I don't know what happened to them - or what happened to me, for that matter - and I just need to make sure they're all right. You see, there was this bear-"

"I'm sure all your friends are perfectly fine. In fact," the nurse glanced back at him with a smile, "you might even see one of them on visitor day!"

"Visitor day?" Buzz echoed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin in a motion that turned into general exploration when he realized how much smaller it was. "Well, I guess that..."

He paused as he realized how ludicrous the idea was, as well as how little he even knew about the whole setup here. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. All of this was muddling his head so badly that he felt like he couldn't even think straight. "Well, that... sounds good, but I'd really like to-"

[beyondinfinity]

"And here we are!" The nurse threw open a new set of doors, revealing a giant cafeteria. Buzz stood in shock for a second - so many people able to see him in plain view! He tried to shake the instinctual discomfort in the pit of his gut by instead focusing on the room itself. There were windows on the right and left, looking out into some kind of yard. So far, the whole facility seemed pretty civilian, a lot like Andy's elementary school, where Buzz had once gone as a part of show-and-tell.

Somehow, though, Buzz didn't remember Andy's cafeteria smelling so... good. He felt a weird sensation in his mouth, like water was building up, and he found it didn't take much urging from the nurse to end up in the food line. He remembered seeing food like this on the Davis' kitchen table, but the idea of actually eating it...

Something weird and squelchy happened in his stomach, and his eyes focused even more intensely on the food. Whatever this was, he had a feeling he didn't have much control over it, and he soon found himself with a tray of nurse-recommended portions.

"You should introduce yourself to someone!" the nurse told him, gesturing vaguely at a table where a young man was sitting. "How about Matthew? He's very kind - and one of our truly veteran patients! I think he'll be able to answer any questions you might have."

Buzz turned to look at the nurse, perplexed.

"But I thought you said that you-"

"I'll come back to check on you!" The nurse smiled and waved at him as she walked off.

Buzz stared after her, then shook his head. Slowly, he approached Matthew's table, standing awkwardly on the opposite side of it. A human woman was one thing, but a kid... actually sitting and talking with a kid-

"Uh. Hi!" Buzz said suddenly, letting go of his tray with one hand and moving to outstretch it toward Matthew. "Captain Buzz Lightyear, at your-"

Buzz suddenly lurched as his tray swayed dangerously to one side. Gritting his teeth, he snapped his hand back and gripped the tray tightly, letting out a breath once it was steady again.

"Whoa," he said, blinking as he watched a stray tater tot roll off the table. "Wasn't expecting it to be that heavy."

[scintillatingly]

Up until hearing his fake name, Sora had been totally engrossed in his food. He made it a habit of trying to get as much of it eaten as possible before he started talking to someone, since a conversation could easily distract him from his meal. It had happened before, anyway. But ever since that day when he'd truly thought he was Matthew, he couldn't not hear the name if it was spoken near him.

He was surprised that the nurse called him a "veteran," even if the term did apply. He just wasn't used to the staff here making a big deal out of it, and he found himself smiling awkwardly at the woman as she led over a new patient. The man looked pretty nervous, so Sora hoped that he could do something to calm him down a little. Not that the so-called Landel's rundown was a good way to make someone feel better, but Sora knew how to break things gently by now.

Unfortunately, things got off to a bad start. Before the man could even finish his introduction, he almost fumbled his tray. "Whoa!" Sora exclaimed, putting a hand forward even though there was no way he could hope to catch the tray from where he was sitting.

Luckily, Buzz managed to right the tray on his own; Sora left out a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," he remarked. Luckily, only one tater tot had been lost. "You should go ahead and sit down," he suggested, pointing out the chair across from him as he smiled up at the stranger. For now, the best thing he could do was make him feel welcome.

"So, you're a captain, huh? Of what?" Was he like that man he had met the other day, who captained a starship? There seemed to be a lot of people who traveled the worlds in this place, though Sora figured that made sense, seeing how they had been whisked here.

[beyondinfinity]

Well, Buzz thought as he put down the tray and took a seat, at least everyone here was friendly! He tried his best to ignore the weird way his weight settled into the overly small chair, but what was even weirder was this kid talking to him like he was... well, like wasn't a toy. Sure, Andy had always talked to them back in the day, but no matter how engaged their owner had been, it'd always been for pretending purposes. Buzz had never actually expected to respond!

But Matthew's question was enough to get Buzz to forget all of that for a second. With a sudden rush of conviction, he put his hands to his hips and looked down at the kid with a grin.

"That's right! I'm a Space Ranger - Star Command ranked. See, I've got my badge right-"

Buzz pointed to the spot on his chest where his sticker usually resided, but as soon as he glanced at it, he froze. Instead of a proud "SPACE RANGER" insignia, there was some strange yellow symbol that he couldn't make sense of.

"Uh..." Buzz said, looking back up toward the kid sheepishly. "Guess it's... not here right now. But trust me," he added confidently, outstretching his palm in a trust-inspiring gesture, "you'd recognize it."

After all, just a few years back anyone would have recognized a Buzz Lightyear. Surely, a kid Matthew's age would remember - or had he been too young at the time? Come to think of it, he'd probably grown up with the newer lines of toys and electronic gadgets that had flooded stores after Buzz's time, but even if Matthew didn't recognize him, Buzz didn't really mind. He'd learned a long time ago that being important in other people's eyes wasn't what life was about, or at least not in the way he'd originally thought. The way he'd really lived up to his name as a Space Ranger had been through the epic stories where he, Woody, and Jessie had saved the day so many times over - for Andy.

But that hadn't been the case for a long time now. Buzz felt a weird tension in his weird body as he tried to get the images of trash piles and fire out of his head. He might've not been a Space Ranger, but he was a toy, which meant not letting down the people who counted on you.

Or... at least he had been a toy. Man, things were getting complicated...

[scintillatingly]

A Space Ranger. Sora didn't know what that was, but it sounded pretty neat! Though when Buzz started to motion to something only to realize that it was gone, the boy's face faulted for a moment. He could barely remember what that had felt like, and yet he'd seen so many other patients have to deal with the realization that so many things had been taken from them when they'd come here.

However, despite the man's words, Sora didn't know if he would recognize it. While he had been to a number of different worlds, he usually burned through them pretty fast; he didn't always get to see every detail about every place that he visited. If he didn't recognize the man's name or his title, then he probably wouldn't know the symbol, either. Still, Sora didn't bother saying that, since he didn't want to make Buzz's mood any worse than it probably was after waking up here.

The point was that Buzz had also traveled through the stars, which Sora was always curious to hear about. "I've done some space traveling, too," he told the older man, hoping that he wouldn't get a skeptical response due to his age. Still, Buzz seemed nice, so chances were that wouldn't be the case. Nonetheless, Sora couldn't help worrying.

"Oh, and!" He glanced up from his food and smiled. "My name's Sora! I don't really have a title, though." Keyblade Master might be one, maybe, but Sora felt kind of odd introducing himself that way. For one thing, he knew that most people wouldn't know what a Keyblade even was, and it was hard to explain without showing them.

[beyondinfinity]

Wow, Buzz thought in surprise as Sora told him about his "travels," the kid sure has an imagination! Buzz couldn't help but smile at the thought of how happy Matthew's toys must've been to have such an enthusiastic owner. To think of the stories he probably came up with!

Although... it seemed like Matthew wasn't 'Matthew' after all. Maybe 'Sora' was a nickname of some kind, or maybe the nurse had been mistaken. After all, she had called Buzz "Tim Taylor," even if a false title was the least of his worries right now. He still hadn't gotten any answers about this place - where it was, what he was doing there, and most importantly, why he was... well, human. The only logical explanation could be Lotso's tinkering, but when he thought back - way back - to when he'd first come to his senses in the real world...

Buzz tried to throw off the strange uneasiness that once again settled midway down his torso. And besides, he wasn't going to refuse such a cheery greeting from such a fine young man (even if he hadn't quite gotten over talking to a human child), and he outstretched his hand amicably, trying not to stare at how weird and pink it looked.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sora! And that's all right - with enough training and hard work, any cadet can save the galaxy!"

Figuratively, of course, but Buzz was sure Sora already knew that. After a second, though, the strange reality of his situation sunk in, and he cleared his throat as he added a little more quietly: "For now, though, could you, uh, give me a fix on our... general coordinates?"

[scintillatingly]

Sora took the hand without a second's thought, giving it a good, brief shake before pulling back again so that he could eat some more of his food. It looked like Buzz wasn't quite as interested in his meal, but that was probably because he was pretty distracted by the new setting and the fact that they were stuck here. It was pretty hard to work up an appetite in that case. It was for that reason that Sora was almost glad that he'd woken up at night way back when he'd first arrived here.

Though at the mention of the word "cadet," Sora thought of another title that he'd been given during his travels. Junior hero, right? He had probably knocked the junior part off of that title a while back, but he didn't need to get into that with Buzz now. Sora was proud of what he'd done, but there was no point in bragging when this man needed questions answered.

So, as tempting as it was to say that he already had (saved the galaxy, that is), Sora refrained.

"Hmm," he mused in response to the question, glancing up at the ceiling as he thought it over. "Not exactly. I know we're on Earth, but where is pretty hard to tell. The nurses and doctors here try to be really mysterious about that. Not sure why." Well, he did know why. Because some people would actually know one place from another because they were from Earth, but to Sora it all would have been new to him.

He wished he could have gotten the chance to see more of this world. It had to be better than some creepy mental hospital run by a man whose heart had clearly been soaked in darkness.

[beyondinfinity]

"Earth. Gotcha." Buzz confirmed, still so taken by the kid's imagination that he didn't want to correct him. Besides, who was he to ruin this child's playtime? Deep down, Buzz was still a toy, and it was a toy's sworn duty to make sure that kids could... well, be kids. They only had so long before they grew up, and... well, that time was important. Precious.

Although... Buzz was a little confused about why Sora was still playing make-believe during breakfast. Aside from the usual airplane/baby-mouth trajectory and Andy's birthday parties, Mom usually had the kids leave their playtime from the table back in the day, especially during the school year. Also, Sora seemed a little... old for this kind of thing, didn't he? But who was Buzz to question it, even if... well, even if it didn't help Buzz much to figure out where he'd ended up.

But maybe he could still figure out whether or not his friends were safe. (Surely, he couldn't have gone very far outside the boundaries of the Tri-County Area, anyway, especially now that he was too big and bulky to ship.) He decisively nodded and made a confident fist with his hand against the table.

"And what about any reports of certain toy- uh. People running around? Like a cowboy, a cowgirl, a..."

He trailed off when he realized that "married spuds, a T-Rex, and a piggy bank," were a little hard to explain to a human. It'd been one thing with that nurse, but how could he even consider breaking the rules right in front of a kid? Woody had done it to Sid, but Sid had been despicable! Sora... not so much.

Buzz sighed as he felt a tangible weight on his shoulders and glanced down at the table.

"I apologize; I, uh- I'm a little out of my element."

[scintillatingly]

With the easy way that Buzz had accepted his explanation of where they were, he was either a) from Earth or b) used to traveling between planets. Maybe both, seeing how he was a so-called space ranger. Sora smiled at the thought, wanting to know more about the places that the man had been. They could have exchanged stories about the interesting sights they'd seen in their travels! But now wasn't the time for that. Maybe in a few days, when Buzz was a little more used to this place.

Unsurprisingly, Buzz quickly moved on to asked about friends. Even then, he didn't really give the best descriptions. You couldn't tell what a person's job was just by looking at them, after all! Especially not here, where they all had to wear the same uniforms. A cowboy would stand out if he had a hat, but...

"What are their names?" he asked with a tilt of his head as he took another bite of his breakfast. "I've been here a while, so I may have heard of them." The bulletin was another way to handle something like that, seeing how a lot of people signed their names -- even if a lot of people also didn't.

Though it seemed that thinking about his friends had caused the man's mood to drop. Sora frowned, but then quickly shook his head when Buzz apologized. "Don't worry about it! That's how it is for everyone when they first get here. It's pretty tough, but you'll get used to it." So long as Buzz didn't let it get him down, he'd be okay. Sora hoped he was the optimistic type, since they did the best here.

[beyondinfinity]

Names? Well, now that Buzz thought about it, it did make sense that Sora would need names, especially with how everyone here was wearing the same strange grey uniform. The whole human thing was also something that Buzz was still having hard time wrapping his head around, too - to think of any of his friends with the same strange, fleshy features that he had was nearly impossible.He could hardly think of how he looked right now, so how could he even begin to picture them?

But... maybe he'd have to take a cue from this kid and start being a little more imaginative. Woody and Jessie - well, they'd probably look pretty much the same, wouldn't they? He cleared his throat

"That'd be Woody and Jessie - Woody's a brown-haired, brown-eyed fellow, and Jessie's got bright red yarn - er, hair - pigtailed. Then there's Bullseye, Rex, Hamm, Potato Head - Mr. and Mrs. - and... well, actually," he corrected himself, scratching his head and wincing as he felt that hair again, "I'm... not exactly sure how the rest of them would look. UH - that is," he added hastily, "in the uniforms, I mean."

Frowning, he looked up at Sora again. The way the boy was talking about this place made Buzz feel a little... uneasy. "That's the other thing I was wondering about. What's all this for, anyway?"

He glanced around the area, narrowing his eyes in contemplation at the way the staff were pacing around, and the solid walls, and the burly men at the doors. Under his breath, he muttered: "If I didn't know any better, I'd say this security was military grade."

[scintillatingly]

Woody and Jessie, Woody and Jessie...

But even though Sora tried to strain and think back as far as he could, he knew from the start that those names were unfamiliar to him. He remembered names; he remembered people. And unfortunately, he hadn't meant any of Buzz's friends. He didn't want to have to say that, but lying wouldn't do any better.

Although then the man went on to add in some other names -- he sure did have a lot of friends. A lot of friends with really weird names. Sora had encountered his fair share of odd names -- Lock, Shock, and Barrel, anyone? -- but it still took him aback a bit. Still, what stood out even more than that was that Buzz said afterward -- and the way that he'd corrected himself.

If he didn't know how they would look here, that probably meant that he hadn't always been human. Sort of like Scar, who had been forced from a lion body into a human body. Or Jack, even though Jack had disappeared a long time ago. There were tons of examples!

He was getting distracted, though. First things first was letting the man know that as far as Sora was aware, his friends weren't here. "I'm sorry, but I haven't met anyone that goes by one of those names," he said with a frown.

At least Buzz had gone ahead and asked him another question, though, so that neither of them had to dwell on that for too long. "Well, there are a lot of different theories, but no one's sure," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I mean, people think it's just to experiment, others think it's just for the head doctor's amusement, and others think it's for some military reason, like you said. But mainly, it's just a huge mystery." He threw his arms up in the air, not wanting to admit defeat but knowing that he had a long time ago.

"But Buzz," he continued, leaning forward in his seat so that he could peer up into the man's face. He wasn't going to just let that earlier slip-up slide. "Are you not in your normal body right now?"