Night 59: Cafeteria

[chippforprez]

[ from here ]The cafeteria was no different then the Sun Room, with the feeling of predators already lurking in the shadows to get the jump on unsuspecting victims. It only took a moment for Chipp to locate a door as he veered to the right on instinct. It was a good choice, because he swore he heard the crunch of bone as something made impact on

Comments

[lovecrafty]

> Be the mutant cat

You cannot be the mutant cat. Besides, the mutant cat was, in Rose's estimation, divesting itself of one (1) pillowcase with claws that made the process trivial. (In fact, it was momentarily distracted by a need to groom a few ruffled underbelly patches and a round of incredibly dignified self-hindsniffing, but would be on its way shortly.)

Either way, Rose had found something she would rather not stab without an attempt at conversation. She didn't want to disappoint Lily. Obviously.

Instead, she rushed past Ilia and Gamzee, through the door, and somersaulted past over the first row of tables, putting as much distance as she could manage between herself and the stunned feline. "The coast is clear for the nonce," she called back to the other two, with her fingers (well, knifewands) crossed that the cat couldn't understand her.

[avengingfists]

"Whoa!" The surprise carried over to Ilia's side when she saw Gamzee launch the cat across the room with just a swing of his weighted pillowcase. Rose also carried her own against the necrits just fine Ilia was really starting to wonder where these kids came from. Not her Earth, that was sure.

Ilia was impressed by Rose's swiftness and chased after her, clearing the tables with her own mighty bounds. Tonight really was her night, it seemed. Their night, maybe. Ilia didn't know if she could count on this being a permanent power-up but she was thankful for it, nonetheless. Even with the monsters, it almost made traveling through this place easier.

There was only one door at the far end of the cafeteria, located just beyond the serving counter. It would be faster to just bound over that then go around, provided no monsters were lurking behind it and lying in wait for them. Well, only one way to find out. She continued with the kids across the cafeteria, only hoping their luck would hold out and get them there without further

[mirthfulness]

Hell yeah. Gamzee could do this whole jumping over tables thing. It's not like they were allowed to do it during the day, so why pass up an opportunity when the staff weren't around? His new friends sure knew what they were doing when it came to having a good time.

He laughed as he went, almost losing his pillowcase at one point but running back to get it before he did. This was the sort of fun thing he needed to do every night. Then he might actually start to like it here more. (Not that he wasn't dealing with it pretty well as it was.)

> Gamzee: Do something awesome.

[stlg13bomber]

[ From here.]

"The nurses'll have it all fixed up in the morning," Carter said, trying to make his new friend feel better. "They always do for me. This one night I got my shoulder all torn open by a bat and the next morning it was half-healed already. They've got some pretty good medical care here."

Well, compared to a Nazi prison camp they did. The stalags had given Carter a healthy dose of perspective on the institute's good points.

The cafeteria seemed empty enough, but that didn't mean it was safe. Carter tried to hold up Hakkai's weight on his first side and tugged him further towards the kitchen.

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai was loathe to admit the real extent of his injuries, but it was easier to walk with someone taking some of his weight. And they needed to get somewhere where there wasn't room for the monsters to sneak up on them again.

His smile had a forced edge to it as he spoke. "Aah, do they? How kind of them." His travelling companions would have recognize the tightness in those words that meant that this place, the monsters, the pain was starting to wear at the edge of his temper, and that he meant nothing of the sort. To a stranger, though - it would all sound surprisingly sincere.

[stlg13bomber]

Carter, who had the social cognition of a soggy brick, would probably not have recognized the sarcasm even if he'd known Hakkai for years. He put his arm around Hakkai's waist and crouched to better let him lean on his shoulder. "Much better than my last one. I hope they've got it outside the institute too."

He had no idea, at this point, how the science and technology of the Institute related to the rest of The Future. He'd seen things that seemed like magic even to the Future people around him, which left him fairly confused.

[vinesofregret]

The smile thinned a little as Carter inadvertantly pressed a little to hard on the injury at his side. Gods, they were both going to be a mess after this. Hopefully nothing here tracked by scent - he could smell the blood, even in human form.

"Aah - I don't know. I'm a healer, though unfortunately I can't use it on myself. And I can't say what the world here is like." The number of times that would have been handy...

[allineeded]

[from here]

Though she tried to keep close to Zero as she pushed open the doors to the cafeteria, Leanne still couldn't quite help the shiver that passed over her when she entered, her unease only increasing.

Focus, Leanne!

If there were monsters in this room too, she couldn't afford to be distracted by anything. Being ready to run at a moment's notice (and drag a certain someone else along with her!) had to be her highest priority at the moment. ...And making sure Zero didn't try to leave her behind again. That was important, too.

"It looks fine, I guess," she whispered to her companion, taking several short steps into the room.

[believein0]

... The way Leanne just blissfully took off for the cafeteria without waiting for him to even say 'okay' was kind of irritating, especially when it was possible she was blundering right into danger. But Zero didn't comment out loud (besides frowning a little more than usual), however, because she at least had enough sense to stay relatively close to him. He was also mostly prepared to head in this direction, anyway, so it really wasn't that big of a deal