Dayshift 36: The Cafeteria

[rope_victim]

Miku hurried away from her new friends (and kitten) to the cafeteria. For some reason she was just terribly ravenous. Her nurse smiled, relieved that her patient had finally chose to eat something and wouldn't continue that backslide into poor health. She loaded the girl's plate with French toast and fruit, dusted the bread in powdered sugar and a

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[bastard_sadi]

Despite having stayed in the night before, there were light circles underneath Daemon's eyes this morning as his nurse escorted him into the cafeteria. He glanced around immediately, not seeing any of the others right away - nor a familiar shock of bright red hair - so he selected his food slowly before heading for an empty seat.

Despite his obvious weariness, there was a restlessness to his form, in the way he sat, in the way his eyes would continually flicker to the doorway as he waited for a familiar face. His golden eyes gleamed with new purpose, even while his expression gave nothing away that this morning was any different from any other.

[Waiting for his fellow Blood]

[eyrien_prick]

Lucivar walked into the cafeteria, restless from the previous evening. It was frustrating to get so very close to something and then wake up to find you were back to where you had started. He glanced around the room, hoping to see Renji and perhaps talk about what had happened when his eyes locked with his brother's instead.

Something was on Daemon's mind. It would take a trained eye to tell that and Lucivar had more then enough experience to catch his brother's moods, as subtle as they could be. He grabbed a small plate of fruit before walking over to the table, sitting down in front of Daemon.

"Bastard," he greeted with a grin. "You look like hell. Rough night?"

[bastard_sadi]

Daemon shot his brother a cool smile, a tension lurking just beneath the surface of his expression that he knew would be pointless to try and hide from the Eyrien, who knew him all to well.

"You could say that," he replied mildly, settling comfortably back in his chair as he motioned for Lucivar to join him, though he maintained careful attention on the door for the moment as well.

"What about you? Have any luck last night?"

[eyrien_prick]

"Further then last night though that's not saying much," Lucviar grumbled, spearing what looked like a melon with his fork. "I bet Renji is sore. If you see him come in let me know. I want to talk to him about tonight's plans."

He took a bite of the orange cube and looked up at Daemon, his eyes narrowing. "What happened last night?" he asked softly.

[bastard_sadi]

"I'm not sure if we'll be seeing him today," Daemon answered, having done his best to locate the redhead all morning, ever since he'd seen the post about Rukia. To the best he could determine, he was being held upstairs somewhere, which he assumed meant solitary, but there was no way for them to get to him until nightfall. Rage boiled beneath the surface, but he forcefully leashed it. Now was not the time to step onto the Killing Field.

Not yet.

He met Lucivar's narrowed gaze. "Wait a moment. I want to see if Ranier or Karla or the Lady Lia are around to join us. I've things to tell you."

[deathandfudge]

Well, his meeting during the last shift had certainly been... interesting, albeit rather odd. Still, it wasn't often that a male openly appreciated him considering the nature of Blood society.

Rainier stepped into the cafeteria and picked a selection of food before spotting Daemon and Lucivar sitting together. Neither looked pleased. He wavered for a moment, wary about joining them, but finally decided to make his way over there.

"Is this a private conversation?" he asked when he reached them, not wanting to interrupt if it was family business.

[eyrien_prick]

Lucivar glanced up at Rainier's words and moved over, gesturing for the man to join them. "Daemon actually wishes to speak to us, all of us," he said, looking back to his brother.

He was tense and worried, spurned on by the fact that he instinctively reached out for Karla's thread when Daemon mentioned her name, knowing that he hadn't see her for a few days. "I don't think Karla will be joining us," he said, his grip on the fork tightening until the cheap silverware began to bend. "Is this what you wanted to speak to us about?"

[bastard_sadi]

"Have a seat, Warlord," Daemon replied, motioning for Rainier to join them as well. "This concerns all of us."

Although at Lucivar's comment about Karla, he shot a startled look at his brother before turning his attention inward, to the webs. They were faint, as they always were for the day, but her presence was noticably absent. There were only four of them registering at all.

"Mother Night," he snarled out a curse, his hand curling into a fist atop the table. "Will there be no end to this?"

[deathandfudge]

He did? He wasn't certain whether that was reassuring or worrying. Still, he took a seat, setting his tray down carefully and looking at the two other males. He frowned at the mention of Karla, reaching for the webs himself, a hiss escaping him when he found her absence. He gripped the edge of the table, knuckles turning white as he fought to force down his anger. She was gone and he hadn't even seen her here!

He cast a dark look towards the nurses and it would be so easy to let his temper rule him now, but he'd be useless later on.

[gray_gambit]

What little cheer Lia had managed to regain during the shift spent in the sun room transmuted to unease nearly immediately upon her entrance into the cafeteria. There was something distressing to any sensible female about a meeting between three Warlord Princes in general. That none of the three looked happy hardly helped the matter.

The time it took to collect a tray and some breakfast was enough for her to mute unease into sensible wariness, and enough time to decide it might be best to see if she could find out what was amiss before it became critical. She extricated herself from the line at the counter to approach their table, stride measured and posture ramrod straight. She stopped alongside the table, inclining her head in polite greeting. "Beg pardon. I'm not intruding, am I?"

[eyrien_prick]

Lucivar's anger was rising as it was slowly being fed by the men around him, pushing him swiftly to the breaking point. Thankfully, Lia's voice made him pause and he remembered Daemon's warning, to leash the rage before it landed him with a needle in his arm and an afternoon recovering from the elixir that made him stupid and dull-witted. "Lady," he said, nodding his head and standing, gesturing to the table. "Sit. Daemon has words for all of us. I hope that it's more uplifting news then another disappearance."

[bastard_sadi]

Daemon managed to shoot the young Queen a small smile, as he, too, rose in her presence, habit and respect dictating his actions. "You're not intruding at all, Lady Lia, please sit down. I was waiting for you, actually."

Once she was settled, he returned to his seat and paused for a moment, his intent gaze flickering between each of them. "I have news, yes. I'm not sure how helpful it will be, but at least it's something." He paused, trying to find where to start, then realizing there might be things that Rainier and Lia didn't know about him - Lia especially, since he'd never encountered her personally, so all she knew were the dangerous rumors that had floated around Terrielle about him. Most were well-earned rumors, of course, but that didn't matter here

[deathandfudge]

Rainier stood as well, and he bowed his head for a moment, glad to have something to distract him from his temper for a moment. It gave him the time he needed to reign his temper in. "Lady Lia," he said before sitting back down, returning his attention to Daemon.

The information made the Warlord's eyes widen. A Black Widow? But... a smirk curled Rainier's lips at the news, and he shook his head in amusement. "Your family can never do anything normally, can it?" he asked wryly. It would have been extremely boring if they had though, he had to admit. It certainly kept things interesting. "What did the web say?"

[gray_gambit]

Lia could only dimly classify her own reaction as shock; it seemed too mild, somehow. A male born to the Hourglass was something unprecedented. A male who was also a Warlord Prince... "Mother Night," she whispered. Small wonder he'd kept it secret. Black Widows of the usual stripe faced trouble enough from the High Priestess' coven.

While internalizing the information entirely would take more time than seemed likely to be available, she did at least have the wit to focus on the topic at hand. Still wide eyed, she echoed quietly, "What did you see?"

[eyrien_prick]

Lucivar blinked in surprise, though really, he shouldn't have put it past Daemon to try. "Where did you get the silk?" he asked before shaking his head. "No, never mind. I don't think I want to know."

[bastard_sadi]

"There are rather large spiders here," he replied to his brother, his lips quirking faintly. "It wasn't as strong, or as reliable, as the silk found back home, but it accomplished what I needed."

He paused, taking a deep breath, and glanced between each of them. "There was much I saw that made no sense. It was disjointed and vague, and I'm not even sure if it was real. This is not home, and none of our powers work like they should. This was no exception. But I did get one thing very clear from it. A direction, maybe, but it seemed more like an ultimatum at the time. There was a line that stuck with me through the whole thing, as I searched for answers. It was that One way must be chosen. Vengeance lies above, but freedom is hidden below."

He raked his fingers through his hair in agitation. "It wasn't clearer than that, but the Hourglass Craft rarely is. Still, it answered my searching with that, and considering those two things are what most hear search for..."