Day 31: Breakfast

[tsunagari]

And then he was back in his room again. Sai frowned at the ceiling momentarily, but was soon sitting up. He was back in the Landel's uniform again, which really saved him the trouble of having to change, didn't it

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[vladville]

Vlad woke up with a wheeze like a death-rattle, but he woke up, and for now that was the important thing. There was something intensely unfair about the fact that he was in so much agony and hadn't even done anything wrong. Not even something so minor as taking something from the prison's stores. In fact, he'd really been on excellent behavior last night, which just went to prove that no good deed would go unpunished.

There was no time to linger in self-pity, unfortunately, as a nurse arrived with a wheelchair to carry him off for breakfast. Perky as always, and astonishingly failing to note anything at all strange about the fact that he'd gone to bed in perfect health and woken up half-dead. (Hah. Droll.) They weren't trying very hard at pretending all of this was truly an institute, were they? She did natter something about an 'accident', between bright forecasts of a beautiful day and a wonderful breakfast and rainbows with pots of gold and other things he managed to smile and nod at politely

[vladville]

"Hm." Vlad returned a neutral smile. Oh, what choices. He still had room to play Daniel as some sort of villain, himself as an innocent man attempting to lead the boy to the side of right. But a deception like that would take some delicacy, and it would be hard to pull off if and when Daniel came over to personally speak to Brooklyn. Which would subsequently put Vlad's own motivations into question with his new good friend. 'Honesty' it was then.

"He is normally not like that. I believe he saw me as a threat, knowing my nature from our shared home. You were simply an unknown." Vlad took his bite of bagel. Cold now. At least chewing didn't hurt too much, despite the punches he'd taken. It was really more his spine that he worried about, now that his legs had been treated and were properly hurting again instead of numb. "He wouldn't ordinarily attack a little girl, either." Unless of course she were a ghost, in which case apparent age meant nothing at all.

[manhattan_red]

"That's good to know..." Brooklyn didn't have much respect for those that attacked innocents in general. It wasn't so much the fact that Rhode was female, (he'd fought his share of evil chicks), it was that she hadn't even been trying to fight him.

Knowing Vlad's nature? The gargoyle was really curious to know what sort of 'nature' this man and that boy shared, but after already promising to keep the whole deal a secret it didn't seem right to start pelting hims with questions about it.

And there was that whole 'other world' thing that Brooklyn still wasn't managing to quite grasp the concept of. Weren't they supposed to not believe everything they saw on television? Multiple dimensions was a Star Trek thing as far as he knew.

[vladville]

"Well, I can't say he's never careless." And Vlad was being perhaps a bit charitable for Brooklyn's benefit, although it was surely how Daniel saw himself, even if it didn't really reflect all the boy's actions. "But he doesn't usually use his abilities against those who have no way of defending themselves."

Despite himself, Vlad felt a little warm inside remembering Daniel slamming that one student's head into the lockers until the boy passed out. Daniel might deny it, but he had a vicious streak in him, all right. Thankfully, last night had been too confused for that dangerous side to really show, beyond than a few petty gestures.

Which reminded Vlad that his rear also still hurt, and he winced. "More in dealing with those who have such abilities and are inclined to misuse them. Despite the stigma he faces in that form. I apologize, I should not be so vague." He pretended to cut himself off from his thoughts, smiling at Brooklyn again. "It's simply... well, caution is hard to unlearn, you see."

[manhattan_red]

It was hard to disagree there. Seeing as Brooklyn and his clan had been betrayed on more than one occasion, it was still difficult to open up to others sometimes. Especially humans. But the need to protect the city often outweighed the desire to be overly cautious. Heck, he was wary of Vlad even knowing that everyone in here ultimately had the same goal. "Hey, don't worry about it. Trust me, I understand."

Really, it just had to be the hair.

He might want to have a chat with Danny later as well. Get his end of the story, or what he was willing to give, even if Vlad wasn't exactly speaking poorly of him.

[vladville]

Vlad gestured generously with his less injured arm. "I appreciate that." Things might be a bit shakier if Brooklyn spoke to Daniel asking about Vlad's intentions, but Vlad was fairly sure he'd done a reasonable job of outmaneuvering the boy or anything he might try.

Which would probably be limited to gestures and wild accusations, compared to Vlad's polite and perfectly considerate attitude... if Daniel even remembered what had happened last night and that Brooklyn was already a party to their little secret, and if he were willing to harm Vlad's position here further when Daniel had been the one to leave Vlad in this state. It was true, he found himself still wishing a bit for the familiar sensation of his fingers wrapped around Daniel's neck, but it really hadn't been the boy's fault (for once) and he couldn't think of a better weapon he might use against him than guiltThe little girl was the missing link, now. She hadn't seen anything, but her presence had still been unsettling. Those odd looks she kept giving him were still

[manhattan_red]

"Oh, uh, pretty good! Actually. Do you want one?" Brooklyn really only had one left at this point, and it was half rolled in syrup and cold. Probably not the best offering, but Broadway would have snatched it up right away. "This place might not be the most hospitable, but I can't say too many bad things about the food.

Though there was always the thought that it could be slowly poisoning them, but everyone else seemed to be eating it just fine. You'd think if it had any real negative effects someone would have told him...

[vladville]

"No, that's quite all right, thank you. The bagel was more than enough. My appetite isn't precisely at its highest, I'm afraid." Vlad answered politely. "But I agree--the food is surprisingly good here, for an institution." Not what he was used to, of course, but compared to the quality of the clothing it was practically opulent.

Speaking of clothing, he hadn't been able to help noticing a few people not wearing the uniforms of this place during the previous night, before he'd traveled upstairs. As Vlad Masters it wouldn't be an option, but perhaps Plasmius could find out about how this was happening... if nothing else, he could attack someone of comparable size wearing something not too unbearable and take that. The smiley face just would not do.

[manhattan_red]

When it came to clothing, Brooklyn was used to wearing nothing more than a loincloth, so it wasn't as if he could say much for their fashion sense. The shirt felt a bit confining at times and he was tempted to take it off, but that was about all.

He finished up the last of his breakfast and pushed his plate out of the way. "I know you're not going to want to dwell on the subject much," he started, "but I'd kinda like to know what I was getting shot with last night. Some sort of green energy or what?"

[vladville]

Vlad watched Brooklyn push the plate away, considering how to answer the question. It was reasonable, after all, considering Brooklyn had taken more than a few hits. "Yes... it does have a supernatural origin. Despite the source, however, it shouldn't have any lasting effects beyond the superficial injuries we both received, if that was concerning you. Now, if you don't mind trading a question for a question, you mentioned something or someone called 'Fae' last night that you thought might be responsible for all this. I don't suppose you could elucidate on that a bit, hmm?" It was a pity he couldn't lean any closer, but he smiled wider, invitingly.

[manhattan_red]

"What, you've never heard of fairies?" Brooklyn smirked again, making a fluttering motion with both hands. He was sure Vlad hadn't answered his question to the best of his ability, but perhaps the man simply didn't want to admit that he didn't know what it was made of. Still who hadn't heard of Fae?

"The Third Race. Oberon's Children. I've been asking people since I got here and no one's known what I've been talking about. I'm used to anyone with any sort of magical power being a member of the Fair Folk. You know, creatures of pure magic and all that. Shapeshifters." He shrugged. "But I guess that's not the case here. It's a little refreshing when I think about it."

[vladville]

"Fairies." Well, he had known a few people who might be described as such, but that wasn't especially polite. Vlad supposed it was no stranger than regular interaction with ghosts, particularly considering how some of them seemed to be in no way the traditionally imagined restless spirits of the dead.

"Oberon. As in, Oberon and Titania? Puck? Bottom? Changeling boys? Love-in-idleness? I don't suppose you've read a Midsummer Night's Dream?" It was entirely possible Brooklyn was playing games with him, but from what he'd read on the board, this seemed no more unlikely than some of the other individuals around here. Honestly, it was entirely believable just from his own experiences. True, ghostly nature was ultimately bound to its own set of laws and science, and he expected the same to be true of any 'Fair Folk,' but that didn't mean they didn't exist.

[manhattan_red]

"I have, actually! And I've met the first three, the third on more than one occasion, and they're a pain in the fourth." Brooklyn frowned, wondering if he should really be sharing this information. Then again, it wasn't as if he owed any of them any courtesy.

It was also pretty likely that Vlad wouldn't believe him.

Then again, Vlad also seemed to believe him more than anyone else had so far (aside from maybe Renji and Sora, but that conversation had been too brief). Unless the older man was just humoring him.

[vladville]

"Hm. Well, I can imagine so, if he's anything as described in that particular story." Still not the most outlandish claim, although surprising that he would say he'd read a story that he also had interacted with. Or interacted with components of, rather. Vlad scratched his goatee with one hand, thoughtfully. "Do they use metered speech as well? The occasional trend of breaking into rhyming couplets?" That would get very annoying, very quickly, he thought.

"I don't exactly recall gargoyles playing a particular role in the story... I suppose that's an entirely separate matter, then? If these Fae are the Third Race, are humans the First or Second and gargoyles the remaining?"

[manhattan_red]

"Metered speech?" Brooklyn gave a little laugh at that. "No, no. That's all Shakespeare, I think." Oberon and Titania had lived out a thousand years among humans, so it was only natural that their own speech patterns had evolved with them. Who knew? Perhaps at one point they had spoken in rhyming couplets.

"It's Gargoyles, Humans, and Oberon's Children," he counted off on his fingers. "I'm not exactly sure why the order's that way, but that is the gargoyle way of looking at it. As for being in the story... no, that's a whole other matter. Gargoyles can read just as well as humans can." When they bothered to learn, at least.

[vladville]

Although actually recognizing the meter in regular speech might be quite a feat anyhow, Vlad was willing to give Brooklyn the benefit of the doubt. As with the suggestion that Brooklyn was actually some sort of flying creature and that he'd personally met the individuals in question, at least in some form. Really, it would be easy for someone to make up some sort of far-fetched story here and claim it as their origin (or even believe it,) but he couldn't see the point in deception. It seemed to Vlad that it would be hard to top some of the stories placed on the bulletin board.

Superman. Really.

"Hmm, that's rather unfortunate for humans, then, isn't it? Between creatures who can fly and creatures who can perform magic." Well, there was a reason ghosts tried to conquer the human world and not the Ghost Zone too, wasn't there? "And of course gargoyles can read, my boy, otherwise this conversation would have gone very differently. Many humans would blink in confusion at phrases like 'metered speech,' I believe."