Day 40: Lunch

[whiny_egomaniac]

*hobble wobble

Comments

[sheisthecause]

Meche couldn't help scanning the cafeteria for a certain lost friend as soon as she got through the door. She didn't find it, but she did pick out another familiar face--one she hadn't expected to see again. With a smile, she hurried to fix herself a tray of food and headed towards him.

Peter did look a little different than she remembered--younger, she thought as she got closer. She'd been picturing him as a college student. Then again, it had been the better part of a week, and she'd only talked with him the once, she told herself; it wasn't impossible that his maturity had just impressed her into thinking he was older than he really was. Still, it was unmistakably Peter, and she was happy to see that he was all right.

"Hello, Peter," she greeted him with another bright smile as she approached. "It's good to see you--to be honest, I was a little worried something had happened to you. Mind if I sit down?"

[sheisthecause]

Well, she hadn't expected that. Obviously Peter had made a much bigger impression on her than she had on him. She pressed on through her embarrassment, trying to smooth the conversation over. He'd probably had a rough week.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized, setting her tray cautiously down opposite Peter and taking a seat. Hopefully a few minutes' conversation would jog his memory; she really had enjoyed his company. "I'm Mercedes Colomar--Meche. We met on the bus back from town a few days ago. You gave me a lot of good advice about this place; it's really come in handy." She'd also probably ruined his day with her little preview of the afterlife, but she wasn't going to bring it up if he didn't. At least she'd done a pretty good job of not hitting people over the head with that today.

[hajike_tobiume]

It was good that Skuld wasn't going to be making the Noah any weapons. Momo was sure Tyki would find a way to acquire something better than a knife at some point, but at least she knew he wasn't going to be aided by the goddess. What Momo didn't like, though, was the girl's insistence that she take time off and let the others do it all for a bit. That was something the shinigami could not do. At least, it seemed the goddess had understood that, finally

[per_ardua]

Predictably, after several whole hours without her, Raine was looking for Reinforce... she was doing her best not to cling, but they hadn't seen each other all day so far.

When she saw the shinigami, though, she realized one of her other friends might need her. "Momo," she said, sitting down next to her. "How have you been?" She knew the basic answer was "not well at all," but maybe she could help. If nothing else, she was going to try.

[hajike_tobiume]

Momo took a good couple moments to staring at the page while her hand moved independently before she realized she was being talked to. She glanced up to find the half-elf healer sitting with her.

"As well as I can be, Sage-sensei," she replied. Slowly, the shading turned into a spiral that began looping down the page, though Momo did not realize it. "How is the Clinic?"

[per_ardua]

"We haven't had any major incidents recently." Raine looked at Momo's plate, then back at her. It was obvious she wasn't eating, and more, that she hadn't in a while. Since her friend died, I'm sure... but which one?

She'd barely eaten a thing for days, herself, after losing her parents, but she hadn't been literally fighting for her life every night then, either. And if what she was about to do made her a hypocrite, she could live with that.

"When was the last time you ate anything like a complete meal?"

[purpletaint]

The boy wasn't exactly sure his thoughts at the moment. Albedo held tightly to the two notebooks in his arms, and fingered the origami butterfly with his fingertips. Why was it that people kept giving him things here? It didn't make sense at all. He couldn't wrap his mind around....

The game he had played on the board was both relaxing and extremely frustrating. He could say for the simple fact of it not being completed, but in truth it was more Nigredo's insistent necessity to not communicate at all. Was the younger really so stupid as to believe that Albedo would leave him alone if he was silent? The baby was reaching too far with that one. His actions, and lack of it, were just fueling Albedo's building rage

[purpletaint]

Like a drug, like a habit, Albedo watched as his twin came in, as fine as could be, and soon after started interacting with another at his table. This was a kind of torture in and of itself. He couldn't sit through this for another shift. He needed something--

A faint tingling brushed his mental shields, and his eyes scanned the room. There. Another brother, looking all too worse for the wear. Albedo watched for a moment, the faint buzz of pleasure at seeing Nigredo so... off not as strong as he would have liked. Again, a stranger's brief kindness had shifted his mind, and he wondered about Nigredo. He wondered if the other had ever cared.

Here was his dilemma. Two brothers, one a twin, and all three supposed to be as close as close could be. Instead this ate away at them, deteriorated them from the inside, and Albedo didn't know if he wanted to let it. He didn't know if he wanted to force it faster.

He glanced at the nurse close-by, and stood up.

[ to here]

[quickdrawbkiddo]

[Grab her while you can!]

Fish and chips were always appreciated. Sadly, there wasn't any beer to go along with them. Pity.

Beatrix took her tray in hand, balancing it carefully so as not to need her left hand as that arm rest in a sling, and looked it over. In her mind's eye, she replayed the fight with Ophelia, her gaze moving to the various points in the room where it had ranged. Being one of the first ones in the room, she was easily able to do so without having to remove pesky prisoners from the mental cinematic.

A satisfied smile on her face. the Bride made her way to one table in particular. As she set her tray down, she touched the table surface and nodded. yes, this was where she'd severed the bitch's braid. Suddenly, this was her favorite table. Perhaps she'd make this her seating preference every time she had to take a meal while trapped here.

[see_my_back]

Sakura hadn't managed to make it to the greenhouse until it was almost time to leave. It was disappointing, especially given all the herbs she might have collected, but at least she'd been able to mentally map out a new location. If she needed them later, she knew where they were.

It only took a little while to get through the lunch line and she checked around to see if there was anyone she ought to sit by, or at least speak with. Her eyes fell on the woman she'd seen fighting in this very room just last night. She was skilled, no doubt about that, and had held pretty well against her opponent. It figured that she might know a little more than most about how this place worked, or perhaps some valuable information if she was lucky.

She still wasn't great at being the bubbly social girl that was expected of normal people her same age, but she had to blend in sometimes. Might as well try a little extra social interaction.

"Hi," she greeted the woman cheerfully. "I'm Sakura. Is it alright if I sit with you?"

[How about a

[quickdrawbkiddo]

Beatrix heard the girl approach, but didn't look up until she was addressed. She looked the girl over once, assessing her, before nodding.

"You are welcome to," she replied. "You can call me Arlene."

[see_my_back]

Sakura set her tray down and took a seat, sending the woman a cheerful smile. "It's nice to meet you Arlene-san."

The food wasn't bad, just heavier than she was used to eating. She'd have to be careful and watch what she ate; there wasn't as much time here for training as there was back home. A girl had to keep her figure in check after all.

"I saw what happened in the cafeteria last night," she started, picking up her water glass. "Your team is pretty good."

[whos_da_man]

[I swear, Akihiko-senpai, Ryouji and I found the inflatable dolphin abandoned at the station. How could we possibly not rescue it?]

Sweet! The food smelled awesome, looked awesome and Junpei bet it'd taste awesome too.

With the onset of lunch and the pressing matters he needed to talk to Akihiko about, since the teen's usual sounding board was conspicuously absent and probably pimping it up with half the school while they were gone, Junpei put the matter of Kiato and Yukari's steamy love affair out of his mind. He had his own to worry about

[fourtharcana]

[Sure you did, Iori. Sure you did.]

Well, that had been fun. Sure, soccer wasn't his sport, usually, but even with having gotten Boxing Club up and running, it wasn't the level of training he was used to, so having some time to run around had been good.

And probably a good thing, too. Akihiko noticed Junpei waving as soon as he got into the cafeteria, so he filled up his tray quickly and took the seat across from him.

"Hey. You wanted to talk to me about something?"

[whos_da_man]

[Come on, senpai, admit it; you want a ride on the inflatable dolphin, too.]

Junpei's grin faded off his face, but he quickly covered it by shoving some of his food into his mouth and nodded. After swallowing, he decided he's bring up Kyoto first. Thankfully, he didn't see any of the girls in the room yet.

"So, Mitsuru-senpai comes from the Kyoto trip, right? You happen to know which day? Has she said anything to you about what happened during the trip?"

If Akihiko didn't mention execution, then Mitsuru had to have come from before that little incident.

[fourtharcana]

[...well, as long as no one's taking pictures.]

"Yeah, she said that was the last thing she remembered," Akihiko said, in between bites. "I think it was the second day of the trip when she got brought here? Either way, she didn't mention anything particularly unusual about it. And you know her, if something had gone on that we all needed to know about, she would have said something."

A puzzled expression came over his face. "So what's up? Something happen?"