Day 32: Cafeteria, Breakfast

[7_to_midnight]

Sylar's gears were still turning as the nurse and a burly orderly escorted him down long halls and through a strange, sunlit room. He'd been forced to drop his pen when the orderly had seen it, and since then, he'd realized that this place had better security than he'd originally anticipated, as well as a large population of patients. It looked

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[i_promised]

[has a date with the Musician~]

Waking up disoriented was nothing new for Zoro. He calmly sat up and set about stowing the things he'd gotten the previous night in his closet. He wasn't worried for Mousse, knowing instinctively that nothing could have happened between that last moment by the door and his waking that morning.

He hadn't achieved his ultimate goal of locating the basement, though not seeing any of the Straw Hats that evening had been odd. Nami was probably still down, considering she took so long to get better the last time she was sick. The chef, though... Zoro couldn't be sure.

Going about that morning routine took little effort on the swordsman's part. Without any nakama in sight, he took an empty seat and ate his food in silence.

[promisedawhale]

He'd kept his hand to his head during the walk with the woman, and when he did finally take it away, he found himself staring into a room with tables and chairs and people! More things he was not used to seeing in his dreams! Part of him was hoping that things would fall back into sync soon and he'd see one of his dearly departed crew members run through and tell him to stop dazing, while the rest of him nearly wanted this to be a reality. The part about him being alive and with skin, at least. The rest of the happenings were just too strange!

Was he alive, or dead and dreaming, or alive and perhaps daydreaming, or...? Well, it had been raining candy the previous day on the Grand Line, so he supposed absolutely anything was possible, and maybe there was some kind of explanation for this. Nothing logical, but at least some explanation. He turned to look for the woman that had lead him in, hoping she may be able to present that explanation, but found upon looking that she'd already scurried off

[i_promised]

Having been excitedly called by name, the tall, flailing man hardly went unnoticed as he hurried over. Zoro stared, open about his suspicion even when the other began speaking to him as if they were supposed to know each other.

Though he strained to remember, Zoro couldn't recall ever meeting anyone with the same face or voice as the one in front of him had. At least most of what he was saying seemed familiar. This was the first time a stranger had independently mentioned the Grand Line, though that alone was reason enough for Zoro to pay closer attention to what was being said. Someone from the Grand Line... that meant he was probably a pirate. The talk of skin could have been rambling, but a Devil Fruit having something to do with that was a strong possibility. Lion-chan... Lion... Lion... the Thousand Sunny? Even though it really did look more like a sunflower

[promisedawhale]

Zoro was here. That meant the rest of the Straw Hats couldn't be too far behind. Granted that the swordsman hadn't ended up lost again. He'd already been warned, specifically by Nami, that Zoro could get himself quite lost if he tried. And even if he didn't try! Brook was better with directions himself so if he was there as well, then they couldn't be too terribly lost at least.

He didn't think.

But then Zoro's manner wasn't at all as welcoming as it should have been. Brook stopped his rambling the moment he felt the air around his friend turn tense. And then came the kicker. Who are you? "Eh?! What?! You don't know?!" his mouth fell a little, face showing his bewilderment. Zoro didn't know who he was? How cruel! Before Brook went off into what would have been a tearful rant about how friends could never forget each other, he remembered that he did look a tad different than he should have, what with the skin and all. Maybe he should clear that up before trying to get his own answers. He didn't want Zoro glaring at him or looking

[0bnoxious]

When Albel finally awoke in his room, he was in agony. He gasped as he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his chest, preventing him to breath properly. A wave of panic washed over him as he fought for air, his lungs beginning to ache even more than they already did.

"Calm down, Jonathan." came a voice that was supposedly soothing. "Keep breathing." The voice belonged to the nurse towering over him, pulling him into a sitting position to allow him to breathe easier. He wanted to scold the wench for doing so, he didn't want her goddamn pity, but instead there were only coughs and gasps.

He was even too weak to scold a stupid woman. Damn it! His panic was replaced by anger, anger he couldn't vent. He wanted to smack her annoying face, but couldn't find the strength to lift his arm and do so

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[can delete if unwanted! 8D]]

Sasuke awoke to his nurse's disappointed noises and nearly screamed with frustration, the only thing stopping him the still (still?!) present lethargy from Muraki's sedative. His limbs were much more obedient now, but there was a reluctance -- and, when he sat up, a distinct wooziness and dryness in his mouth.

"Oh, Sean," the woman said, and Sasuke nearly punched her, only residual commonsense staying his fist. "If only you hadn't tried to hurt yourself in Dr. Muraki's office! Tsk, look at your poor neck."

"Shut the fuck up," he snarled, because whatever his poor neck looked like (probably finger-shaped bruises), it sure as hell wasn't self-inflicted.

And yet why hadn't Itachi just -- was Sasuke still not worthy to kill? Nothing at all, in Itachi's eyes? (But of course, a familiar voice in Sasuke's head chanted, you're weak, weak, weakweakweak!)

"Language, Sean!" The woman sounded shocked, and Sasuke thought, immaturely, Good. "Now, let's get you to breakfast. You need some nutrition!" To kill

[0bnoxious]

'Now here's someone who's even more hurt than you are, Sean!'

If Albel had the energy, he would have punched the irritating wench for that comment only. He was in a bad mood and had trouble to keep breathing. The stupid wheelchair was bad enough as it was, and the last thing he needed (or wanted, for that matter) was to make some other pathetic maggot feel better with it.

And said brat decided to ask stupid, irrelevant questions, too. But then again, the brat's eyes looked a bit odd. Perhaps the kid was blind or something.

"And what if I can, worm?" came the rude answer, though it didn't sound like Albel had wanted. His breathing trouble didn't make the comment as (supposedly) intimidating as he would have liked.

It showed his weakness...

[sasuke_of_sound]

The other patient responded in a way that reminded Sasuke of Sound, and the memory was an odd, nearly-comforting thing in the midst of Landel's confusion of unavoidable alliances and Konoha-nin. For some reason it was easier to shift into the blankness that he needed (probably the insult, really, as breathless as it had been), and when Sasuke spoke again his voice managed to be slightly calmer.

"Do you see a man in this cafeteria," Sasuke paused, trying to estimate how tall Itachi was, and had a moment of startled realisation when he remembered that he'd overreached last night partially because he and Itachi were nearly the same height by now. "Slightly taller than I am. He looks similar to me, dark hair in a ponytail, lined face -- is he in here?"

[lost_metal]

Damn it! Fox... Ed had slipped back to his room after leaving the clinic, but Fox still hadn't been there. And he wasn't the type to just not turn up so... well, Ed was more than a little worried. Like very worried. Wasn't it the night they did experiments? Like they'd done to Adel?

He snarled at the nurse when she came to get him, earning himself (another) scolding. But his patience had pretty much snapped when it came to this place. He just wanted out now, with all of his friends. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been him, but it was Tamaki and Adel and now maybe Fox who were suffering. And he hated 'his' people getting hurt. It was just a much larger group of people who were 'his' now, larger than he'd ever thought it could be.

Still, the waffles were good, all warm and sugary and... he took as many as he could away with, liberally smothered with syrup, and went to the nearest seat. He'd find Tamaki later and Fox.

[the_clown_king]

Tamaki entered the cafeteria looking as though he were in something of a good mood. He was spending his nights feeling fulfilled now, and it made a great deal of difference.

After getting his breakfast he spotted Ed and immediately made his way over. He hadn't been able to slip away from patients to see him last night.

"Ed!" He exclaimed, sitting now next to the other teen. "I'm so sorry about last night."

[lost_metal]

Ed's expression brightened as soon as Tamaki came over to see him, especially with the smile on the other's face. He looked happy which was something that suited him so much. "Tamaki!" he replied with a grin, moving his tray over to give Tamaki more room.

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "The clinic is important. You can't just ignore people who are hurt."

[the_clown_king]

"I'm just pleased it's working properly," Tamaki went on, as he began to cut his waffles. "Though I think I may need to make a few announcements." If people wanted to volunteer, they had to learn what they were doing.

"And thank you so much for the books you brought! I didn't have a chance to look at them, but I know they'll be helpful!"

[scaredy_crow]

[Free for pestering. :D]

Crane listened intently to the nurse as she escorted him to the cafeteria, filing away some of the rooms that she mentioned for future investigation. The bulletin board might be useful, as well.

When they got to the cafeteria, she pointed toward the line and told him to go get some food, then find someone to talk to. Crane thought that he'd rather just sit by himself and see what sort of people his mind had come up with. That it would even go this far for a dream was interesting, and the former doctor could only think that he had to have been completely exhausted back in Gotham.

After the nurse left to go retrieve another patient for breakfast, Crane went over and picked up a Belgian waffle covered with syrup, some scrambled eggs, and a glass of water, then went to sit by himself. He looked out at the current patient body, and was a bit shocked to see people with green and purple hair sitting out there. This could be taken as proof that it was a dream, but why green and purple, of all things? For that

[2cuprhubarb]

((PSYCHOTIC COMPUTER ATTACK))Nothing had happened last night. Perhaps the delay in arrivals had caused it; GLaDOS had thought she'd contacted HK-47 about meeting, but apparently this hadn't been the case. As a result of the waiting (the late arrival of both Akabane and Dairine added as well, and her own distracted observance of the fight int he hallway), they had gone nowhere

[scaredy_crow]

Crane was still focused on the patients. He wasn't quite sure if he was surprised or amused to see that there were children and teenagers here, and some of them looked quite young. No one was separated during the meals, it appeared. It wasn't long before his peace and quiet was interrupted by more people. A nurse had decided to sit down another patient in front of him, blocking his view of the people filing in, and then left her there. Left her there to stare.

The woman's stare was eerie (Were her eyes black?), and Crane was happy to see that she began eating instead after a few long moments. Her movements were jerky, though, which prompted him to wonder just what was wrong to cause her to be in an institution like this?

Then again, it was a dream; next thing he knew, she could well be flying across the table to strangle him. But what could it really hurt to be pleasant? After a moment of eating, he set his fork down and gave her a smile. "Good morning, miss. I'm Jonathan Crane."

[2cuprhubarb]

GLaDOS didn't pause when the other patient asked her a question (she could multitask, she was built for multitasking!), instead continuing to eat while looking over at him. She finished off a waffle with what could have been considered a flourish and set down her fork, still staring at him, before wiping off her face with a napkin.

The name was unfamiliar.

"Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System," she responded, voice flat and mechanical. "But for convenience, my name can be shortened to GLaDOS." She wasn't done with even one plate yet; quickly, GLaDOS went back to eating, but she was still paying close attention to her dining partner.

[captain_hunam]

[Reserved for Xigbar~]

Last night hadn't been much fun.

Not that any of his nights so far had been, but last night had had a lot more crying and clinging and comforting ZEX than Zelnick was retrospectively comfortable with.

Not that he didn't kind of understand why ZEX was hit so hard...

This morning wasn't going so well, either. He felt weirdly exhausted, barely able to be excited over the fruit he'd piled onto his plate, and when he found a seat near the door-- make it easy for Xigbar to spot him, right?-- he wound up staring kind of blankly at his food, barely nibbling at it.

[numberii]

In stark contrast to the Captain, the Freeshooter was feeling pretty darn pleased with himself. He had a bow, and the promise of arrows, and a nice way to cap off the evening as well. Mm... didn't get much better'n that, did it? Of course, if breakfast kept up with the rest of it, then Xigbar's day was just going to get much better.

So he plopped down across from Zelnick, a bright grin on his face as he did so. "Rough night, huh? Looks like you got put through the wringer."

[captain_hunam]

Zelnick glanced up and found himself smiling in return. "You're chipper," he commented, putting down his fork and sitting back in his chair. "And I fared pretty well, actually. It's Admiral ZEX who didn't make it through the night unscathed..." He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his face. "Worst night I've had so far, I guess. Didn't get anything done, and came out of it with a wounded ally."

He sighed, pensively, then shook off his grey mood as best he could. "You, on the other hand, are practically glowing. Anything good happen?"

[numberii]

"Ack, hope I didn't give him any bad luck when I talked to him." Not that he normally thought that, but a bit of Luxord had rubbed off on the Freeshooter; 'fate' was a rather fickle thing, and he'd feel bad if the VUX had ended up the worse for wear.

And it was at about that moment that said VUX cried out and went sprawling on the ground, making Xigbar blink in his direction. Had some other soul not intervened, the Nobody might have checked in on him. As it was... oomph. He just shook his head. "At least you were good enough to help him out? What did him in, anyway?"

Then there was the question that got Xigbar's smile going again, bright as always as he gazed at the Captain. "Got me a bow. Tonight I'm getting arrows. And I'm going to be the freaking king of the nighttime!"