Day 18 - Breakfast

[red_dragon_mode]

Junior had woken up when he heard the crackling of the intercom. He'd had every intention of hiding out in his room that night, and had eventually fallen asleep; and seeing as how no monsters had come to attack him in the night, that had been a good call in the first place

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[theycutitout]

River opened her eyes slowly, staring up at the ceiling as though she'd been wide awake and doing so for hours. Rested and exhausted at the same time. They'd pulled them away so soon. Did they know that the bug was dead? Perhaps the one who had bandaged her leg before she'd awoken had assumed. The girl rose slowly as if on cue as her door opened to reveal the nurse and the orderlies that would serve as escort.

River ignored the chatter and the excuses that were made in regards to her injury as the staff led her to the dining area. Something about being more careful in the kitchen. They said they'd keep a better eye on her, and she didn't doubt it for an instant. She was something to them now, if they hadn't know it before. She was something to this very building. A piece of it. Slowly becoming one and falling into step.

Food was piled onto her plate as the girl went through the motions of breakfast almost mechanically, limping only slightly as she distributed her weight accurately as she walked. She could've lived without favoring it, but the limb would need to be at full strength when the darkness came again. She'd have to take it easy for a change, so long as it could be afforded.

Blankly gazing into space. Nothing here was real anyway. River took a seat at an empty table, waiting.

[theycutitout]

River was staring at her food, looking much the same way that she had the day that she and Elena had first met. Just yesterday, if her memory was serving her correctly. And it always was.

"They're trying to kill us," she remarked flatly. Funny that it was the food and not the giant, carnivorous spiders that had prompted young River Tam to announce this theory.

[theycutitout]

Breakfast was always the worst, River reminded herself. While lunch wasn't much closer to being recognizeable meal, it generally wouldn't cause her to reflexively vomit upon attempting to ingest it. So, the logical course of action would be to eat the "apple" she'd also managed to procure and wait for lunchtime for more suitable nourishment.

"I should've known it," River replied, frowning not from the fact that the apple was almost rotten and more because she hadn't seen through to understand the real problem that Naminé had had. She'd felt something else, but a matter so simple... The fog wasn't just making it all blurry after all. It was shrouding certain things entirely. "They turned out all the lights," her voice trailed off mysteriously as she paused in the middle of her bite to glance around the room.

"Dias is a boy," River finally pointed out bluntly as she snapped back to attention. "Boys don't like to think of girls shedding blood that won't clot and endometrium lining from places like that."

[theycutitout]

River was swiftly lost in the country gravy again, staring blankly as her lower lip jutted out in a slight pout. She was being so strong, but it had already been two days. This place wasn't good for her. She wanted to go home, home to Simon and the rest of the crew. Home to her Serenity. River hoped that she'd been a good girl during her prolonged stay at Landels. Only Kaylee ever knew how to talk to her properly when she was away. Captain was just too gruff, and Jayne and Zoe were, well, Jayne and Zoe. And Simon? Simon was completely out of the question. He didn't even know how to talk to girls.

The reality that she might never get to see that home again became a very real possibility as River sat there, lost in her own little world. It wasn't right. This wasn't right, not after she'd paid her dues.

"Isn't right," she murmured shakily, quite abruptly as well compared to what Elena's train of thought had been. "I don't want to go. I don't want to go. Can't make me, can't take what isn't their's anymore. Doesn't a place 'cept home, and here they won't hesitate to squish and twist and snap. Won't be kind like the Captain was because nobody here knows how. Nobody here even knows how to be a person. They forgot. Only thing is they don't have to remember while they're here. Cows can forget to be cows in a place like this, and it'll be okay." River's voice was getting frantic now, clutching on of her remaining pens that she always carried with her so tightly that her knuckles turned white. "They'll take more until there's nothing left. Too much food to feed an army, but they'll do it anyway."

[theycutitout]

River, however, was growing to be more hysterical with each passing thought. They piled up because there wasn't anything around the let them dwindle. They piled up until they had to burst, and it was overflowing again. The water in the sink was overflowing, and the stopper was nowhere to be found.

The girl shook her head, clutching at it as she retreated further into herself. Stoppers weren't to be found, and their wasn't a proper fixer around. None proper. Only somewhat.

"It's not okay. It's not!" she almost shouted. Her voice was beginning to rise, and she knew that They'd come if she gave them enough reason. The knowledge only made the sobs wrack her small body harder. "Cutting deeper until they take the rest of it out. Til she's just a puppet. They won't have it. They won't have the rest of the doll. Made it, gave it a real heart, and now they're trying to take it away. They take it all. Cutting it all out and leaving bloody remains in the trash. Doing good work. Fixing. Casualties of war. Casualties!" River looked up at Elena desperately, clutching her hand tightly as though pleading with her to somehow understand.

[heavens_too_far]

[From here.]

Dias hadn't needed to be prodded to make his way over to River once he'd become aware of her distress; the fact that he'd noticed it from all the way across the room and in the midst of an involved conversation about swords had in itself told him just how upset she had to be, and he would have made his way over to her for a lot less. He wasn't that good at comforting people - he tended to unnerve others at best, and outright intimidate them at worst - but River seemed entirely underawed by him and had intentionally sought him out for comfort before, and had even gone so far as to request to become his honorary little sister, so as far as he knew he was the most qualified person in Landel's to try to calm her at the moment.

Besides, the blonde with her seemed to be more than a little alarmed and upset herself, and even in Dias' limited experience that never really helped people feel better.

"River?" he inquired as soon as he was within reach(which was, for him, admittedly some feet away still). "What's wrong?"

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River knew that she had to calm down. She knew it, but it didn't matter. Even when she knew that she was acting out, it didn't help matters because of what had already been taken. If it could be gotten back... But that was impossible. Not even Simon could work miracles and reverse what had been, and he was an incredible doctor. She knew from experience that he had to have been, putting up with her for so long. Or maybe that was just because he was an incredible brother.

She'd have to tell him some time.

The presence that came to stand over them was less overbearing and looming. More like a blanket than anything else. Thoughts of Simon... Gratitude that Elena was trying her best... And now her honorary brother... She'd learned so much and gotten so much better. Giving it all up now wasn't an option. River could be brave; in fact, she'd been brave last night facing down the sort of things that only came to play in nightmares. As her eyes turned to the nurses, somehow she was able to block out the intentions that frightened her more than anything ever had.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine," she repeated over and over again, eyes squeezed shut as she tried so desperately to convince herself. "I'm okay."

[heavens_too_far]

Dias managed a small smile in return at the pigtailed girl, whose name he really needed to get, even though he was still more than a little concerned about River. He moved over to her side and rested a hand on her shoulder; it wasn't really meant to do anything other than, hopefully, reassure her that he was there.

That done, he glanced over at the blonde. "I still don't know your name," he murmured.

[theycutitout]

"Time to go!" River announced suddenly, jumping up from her seat just a second before the nurses and orderlies filed in to escort them to their next destination. She shook her head and frowned before moving toward the exit, breakfast untouched again. The girl paused, not looking back at her companions but rather into the nothingness that hung so heavily in the air.

"It's always so crowded in here, but it acts like... like it's empty."