DAY 20: LUNCH

[prisonerofdeath]

While Arts and Crafts wasn't all that bad, Gray Fox was greatly relieved when an intercom announced Lunch. He had almost reached the point where he was going to start eating more of the building materials

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[bigshotbarret]

Barret was whisked away from the Arts and Crafts room, and he was filled with a bittersweet feeling. The thought of meat over stale gingerbread was a blessing in disguise, yet his conversation with the teenager Kiden was cut short due to the interruption. She was a smart kid, and didn't feel awkward in telling her so. In fact, he felt a bit protective of her now. She seemed like someone who needed someone to have her back

[reduxvalentine]

Thank god he didn't need to eat much, because unlike everyone else stuffing their faces the thought of food right now made Vincent queasy.

Snagging an apple, a plum, and quick glass of water, Vincent sat down wordlessly across from Barret. His conversation with Elena had been taxing, and he wasn't in the mood for too much talking. But questions needed to be asked, and the plan formulating in his mind was taking shape.

He took a bite out the apple, swallowed hard, and finally looked Barret in the eye.

"...So when are you from?"

[bigshotbarret]

Barret immediately looked up from his plate to catch Vincent's gaze. His presence didn't go unnoticed beforehand, yet the food before him took presidence for the moment. Now, with his question and seeing his comrade seated in front of him, he was struck with an odd sense of familiarity and awkwardness. Vincent was one of the more distant of their group, yet he proved his loyalty to the cause time and time again. Like him, he fought for revenge and some sort of semblance of peace. That was as good a reason as the rest of them had. He was a formidable ally--one he was pretty intent on keeping

[reduxvalentine]

"Geostigma...?" That didn't matter; it was from his future and meant nothing right now. Shaking his head, Vincent took a swig of water and thanked god (?) that at least Barret was more receptive to this nonsense than Cid.

Where was Cid, anyway?

"When I'm from, the Sister Ray was fired at the Northern Crater five days ago." Hojo was killed five days ago.

This was so ridiculously surreal.

[damned_ivy]

He left his gingerbread inn behind with some reluctance, and the cafeteria his overly friendly nurse herded him into didn't make him any more happy about it. Not many people there yet, though he caught sight of the man he'd talked with earlier. He was talking to one of the people who'd drawn so much of his attention in the Arts and Crafts room. Interesting.

Hakkai eyed the hamburger only briefly before moving past to the salad bar. Not his first choice, but better than the meat. He offered a charming smile to the cafeteria worker who seemed about to ask him whether he wanted something more than the light salad and water. He doubted he could ask for tea, unfortunately.

A closer examination of the room proved that it held no Sanzo, Goku, or Gojyo, so he settled at a table, far enough away from anyone else that he would be unlikely to draw attention or conversation, from which he could clearly see the door. For the first time, he started to worry that perhaps the others weren't here. He sat and began picking at his meal. With his chi

[31st_of_china]

Overall, Sanzo could safely say that he'd rarely ever felt this physically and mentally drained. A few times before, and usually back when he'd been a dumbass kid making dumbass mistakes.

All this shit about "nuclear weapons" and "space ages". It was on par with Martel hinting at the possibilities of there being other worlds. The ache in all his muscles and bones also hadn't gone away as the day progressed. His body was trying to emptying itself of the cocktail of drugs from last night, and at the same time, repairing itself from the shock torture. And the process hurt like hell. Either getting a gun for his own personal use or getting plastered beyond all belief was looking more and more like a great idea

[damned_ivy]

He started, looking up suddenly when Sanzo spoke. He'd been losing himself in thought, toying with his salad, but he couldn't mistake that voice. He'd been able to identify Sanzo from some distance for quite a while now. He shouldn't have been able to sneak up on him, if it weren't for whatever this place was doing to him

[31st_of_china]

Sanzo sank down into the seat across from the healer. For Hakkai to be caught unawares was rare. It said they were in deep shit like nothing else could, actually. Gojyo he could understand: the idiot was so busy thinking with his dick that he didn't give his brain any excercise, much less any common sense against traps. Goku could handle ambushes, but not something so far out of their league as this Landels. But Hakkai...

His head was hurting even further when Hakkai answered. It was smartass reply that would've gotten Gojyo or Goku a good smack with the harisen, but one that Hakkai seemed to get away with. Goku had told him earlier that Hakkai had been here and then vanished. But the kid'd also been babbling almost incoherently.

Sanzo fastened the other man with a stare, searching him.

"Hmph," he might as well have tried looking for answers in a wall. Hakkai was that good. Sanzo picked at a clump of salad. "Goku was here, but something happened to him. He's been missing for days. I don't give a shit where the roach is."

[offduty]

Meal time number two had Reno essentially with just water in his hand. He’d abandoned his hamburger on one of the tables back there.

It was probably a good idea to actually eat something, considering he hadn’t had the chance to consume all that much at breakfast either, but food was the last thing on his mind right now. For once. Even that damned therapy session was pushed aside in his mind, left there for consideration later.

His main focus was Elena. Elena first, and then he’d move on to worry about Rufus. And then maybe hunt down Strife, or Barret, or both.

God, maybe he should start a checklist or something. Clipboard and pen in his ear and all.

Reno scanned the crowd for the familiar blonde head from his position in a far corner-as to avoid a repeat of the constant interruptions at breakfast. He wanted a chance to speak to her privately. Something didn’t feel right. Not overall of course, because nothing was right overall what with this hellhole they were in, but her in particular. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it,

[stray_shinigami]

Breakfast had looked okay. Pancakes and meat and stuff. Renji could go with that. It seemed like reasonable food. He wasn't so sure about this hamburger thing. He didn't like the way it smelled, and he wasn't so sure about the condiments either. Even the pickles looked a little weird. So he opted for the salad instead, and he still wasn't sure about some of the things on the salad bar. He would have killed for a nice piece of fish. Or even just some rice. What kind of hell pit didn't even have rice?

After getting some food that looked edible, he scanned the room. There was Ichigo - he'd check in with him in a moment. And there was the little blonde girl. He decided to deal with her first, since the conversation would probably be pretty to the point.

He headed over, stopping at her side. "You have a minute for that chat?" he asked.

[offduty]

That's it. Whatever the fuck happened to privacy? Was the fact that they were both tucked in a corner not enough of a message? All this interrupting was pissing him off. Probably more so because he wasn't really used to it--almost no one ever came between two Turks.

But his position was entirely meaningless here. Or, former position? Whatever. Either way, it sucked.

Reno scowled, turning his eyes on Renji, the fact that he actually sort of knew the man stopping him from simply snapping, Fuck off. "Look, could you just give us a goddamned minute alone together first? Then she's all yours."

[perfect_meld]

An all American meal. Tried and true, and if it wasn't broke, don't fix it. Actually, Kasady preferred ribs over burgers, but hamburgers did the job nicely. Not as nice as brains, but it was still good.

They had it piled up with as much as they could get away with, and managed to find a seat that was furthest from the others and the door. They didn't want any prying eyes or ears. Especially not Noo-Zhee hanging around.

They needed to have a little talk with Venom. As interestin' as the proposition was, Kasady didn't trust it one bit. The little lady got way too much good out of it and they got too little. Venom might be satisifed with just being fed, but Kasady thought outside the box. He had something bigger in mind beyond just feeding.

[blacksustenance]

"So what do you think?" Brock said without any preamble. He sat down across from Kasady and began tearing into the hamburger, relieved that he could still enjoy the finer things in life.

Brains were more fulfilling, but he had to say that nothing beat a good, American (as in heaped with just about everything and anything) hamburger. And it was chock full of calories, another plus; the symbiote would putt the additional calories to good use, seeing as they tended to burn through them pretty fast.

[perfect_meld]

"I'm think' we get the short end of the stick in her deal," Kasady replied. He was ripping right throught the hamburger. They had a healthy appetite despite the fact their secret had been guessed.

Of course, if she went and spilled it to everyone else about him and Venom, she'd have to look behind her back from then on. Not a way Kasady would've wanted to live, but it'd serve her right if she made that mistake.

"She gets a lotta benefits, but we get fed. That's not good enough. I'm thinkin' we can feed without her, so she's going to have to make a better offer."

[blacksustenance]

rock glanced around the room, and nearly stiffened as the symbiote caught sight of another human with River. The blond human looked like he was going through a ridiculously exaggerated version of the courting/mating ritual for their species and it was all Brock could do to argue that it probably wasn't what it looked like, before his Other hauled them up to go deal with the matter.

We'll see, the symbiote grumbled, She isn't the Spider, but she's desirable for other purposes. She has the perfect mental state and capabilities.

Yeah, but they also had the matter of Kasady and Nu Zhi on their hands.

And there also the fact that she was jail-bait, and Brock wasn't comfortable with that.

"And what were you thinking she could offer?" Brock asked, thinking that if they could get fed for eternity, with Parker at their side, there wasn't much else that would be worth anything to them. This youngling symbiote was new and immature - feeding and hunting, while thrilling, quickly lost its appeal after a few hundred years.

[braidless]

When Obi-Wan was escorted from the Arts and Crafts room and into the cafeteria, he couldn't deny the hunger he felt for a decent meal. His unexpected encounter with Qui-Gon at breakfast had distracted him from something so seemingly trivial as eating, but he'd come to regret that when he'd had nothing but foreign confections to tide him over until lunch time

[braidless]

On the other hand, it had been Qui-Gon's same preference for the living Force that had led him to say Anakin was the Chosen One. Everyone had told him that training the boy was a terrible idea, that he had too much fear and was a potential threat to both himself and the Jedi Order if he received any training. And, yet, Qui-Gon still insisted on teaching the boy. He even went as far as to use his dying breath to make Obi-Wan promise he'd do it in his stead.

It had always bothered Obi-Wan, perhaps a little more than he wanted to admit, especially when he had to see his Master get passed up for a seat on the Jedi Council. Twice. There was no question in Obi-Wan's mind that Qui-Gon was one of the greatest Jedi of his time; the Council respected him, he was a strong, brave warrior who always rose up to challenges he faced, and, most importantly, he was a good, kind man

[qui_gonjinn]

Obi-Wan looked concerned. In the recent years, he had fallen into the habit of always falling back on that expression, Qui-Gon observed, especially when his old Master was involved. It hadn't seemed too long ago that Qui-Gon had his hands full with his new teenage Padawan and their share of rocky starts. The Jedi almost smiled. Now Obi-Wan was in his twenties and had surpassed all his expectations, going above and beyond

[braidless]

Obi-Wan met the Jedi Master's gaze as soon as he sat down. He glanced at the strange, brown drink, but didn't comment, taking a sip of his own water instead. He was used to eating unusual foods, but he wasn't about to drink brown milk if he didn't have to