Day 60: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

Anise had been lying snug in bed, only vaguely aware that she was awake, when her rest was disturbed by the one sound in the world she'd never wanted to hear again.

"Good morning, everyone!"

The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that

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[blood_and_pocky]

[free.]

Oh… no. No. The coming of day brought to an end what might have been the first truly pleasant "dream" he’d had in his entire residency, leaving him to wake up to a familiar, white-washed box of a room and a too familiar uniform. Weak again.

No! It was all over? Just like that?

Aidou didn’t want to believe it, but the situation wasn’t giving him much choice. He also seemed to have been warped into the past, because in place of the military there were nurse escorts again, and real food, and that goddamn voice on the intercom. It wasn’t just his physical restraints that had been put back in place, it seemed, but Landel as well, back on his throne in the wake of the military’s retreat.

Not everything was back to a post-Aguilar standard, however. For one, there was a stupid wristband attached to his person that the vampire spent his walk to the cafeteria yanking at, a rather paltry target for his frustrations in comparison to what he had been capable of last night

[blood_and_pocky]

The vampire lifted an eyebrow again, a gesture that was in turns weary and caustic. Really? Much to his chagrin, it wouldn’t be the first time he had been faced with such a childish response since coming to Landel‘s, and it wouldn’t be the last. Most people had no inkling of what they were talking to. Just a youthful, pretty face

HOW...DID I FORGET ABOUT THIS...

[oneman_onekill]

That chill in the other's voice ought to have given him enough reason to stand down, or at least to shut up and get back to eating, but Niikura had never listened to his instincts unless they agreed with whatever scheme he'd come up with. After dying over and over again, he'd learned how to ignore the little voice that said what he was doing was madness, the little voice that made sane people hesitate in that crucial moment as they took the time to listen to it. And so, he never flinched and he never looked away. If anything, he took it as a challenge

IT'S OKAY, THAT HAPPENS.

[blood_and_pocky]

As distracting as his… baser urges… were, Aidou knew better than to accept the bait. A boy was still a boy, whatever the face he put on. Different. Other. Not a fellow vampire, not someone to engage when he was low on energy (and restraint).

Butting heads over breakfast… that was a foolish path to start down.

The noble turned his head away and slowly leaned his chair back on two legs, resolved to ignore his stomach. Hunger made him thorny, and being thorny made him dangerous. Composure was what he needed in the face of Landel’s untimely return. “Guilt,” he said, “is an extravagance during captivity.”

Which was true in more ways than one.

/CRIES

[oneman_onekill]

...Okay, that was kind of a weird statement to wrap his head around. It sounded deep and mysterious, and maybe that was what this guy had been trying to go for.

Come to think of it, he didn't even know his name. That was...even if they'd been slinging thinly-veiled jabs at each other for at least half an hour in their mutual fruitless search for information, there was still something to be said about social norms and obeying them. Not that rich kids ever listened to those kinds of things--but hey, maybe he would have some...Niikura didn't know, etiquette or whatever. Fancy-schmancy something.

He shrugged. "Sure." Not that he thought much about guilt anywa--nope, strike that, he did, especially with Shiina around complicating things and spoiling the future for him. "But it happens sometimes. Not somethin' you can help."

Wait, how did he end up getting all philosophical too? Great.

"Anyway" - Niikura held out a hand; it was fancier that way. - "figure if we've been speakin' this long, we might as well exchange names. I'm Niikura."

[blood_and_pocky]

Was he being tutored by a human boy now? If there was anything that could sink him lower at that point, it was humans being… human at him. How did things flip on a dime so quickly? He had gone to being himself to being the sounding board for a weird-looking pseudo-human. One who really had yet to be of use.

Ugh. He was going to be stuck with a headache for as long as he resided in Landel’s.

Besides that, the male did know where he was, right? Not even the most oblivious human could begin talking about monsters with the same casualness Niikura had and end by talking about soft emotions. Guilt? Pfft. Guilt was a normal response for a normal situation. If the Institute had had even a shred of normality, their ‘conversation’ would never have a hope of happening. It was only prison life that had brought them together

[oneman_onekill]

Ignorance was bliss, and sometimes, Niikura did forget--well, he couldn't forget about Landel being an asshole, but the whole despair and gloom deal that was supposed to come with being stuck here didn't always hang over him. He was a normal person, Akumetsu aside, as well as a fanboy whose wildest dreams were sort of coming to life all around him. And he just didn't like doom and gloom. It sucked, brooding. It made him antsy and eager to kill things, and while that wasn't necessarily bad, he didn't like having to make himself feel like shit first.

He raised an eyebrow at the name. Wow, that was a mouthful. Just like the pretentious, flowery kid to go by something equally pretentious and flowery. "Of course this is a handshake," Niikura said slowly. "No, I just like pointin' stuff at ya. It's the next thing after my fork, y'know?"

And then the intercom turned on, and with a sigh, he gave one last look at those wasted waffles. Honestly.