Day 22: Brunch

[dawning_dreams]

Cid usually liked sleeping in, especially in a place as messed up and uninviting as this, but this happened to be one situation where he really wished he hadn't.

Right there, on the bulletin board. The Head Doctor and he'd fucking missed it? Some part of him wished he'd been there to take his eye out and another part of him knew he wouldn't have

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[grosse_sklaven]

"Now, Mr. Haushofer, I really must protest!" A poor nurse, who had been shuffled back and forth a million times already, huffed good-naturedly as she deposited Adelheid onto one of the empty seats, a tray piled high with good food going with him. "I know that it's important for you to talk with your friends, but you should try to remember that all of this talk about alternate worlds is nonsense! And remember to stay in your room at night! Ooh, I should really have a word with the night shift

[high_prosecutor]

"Mr. Pierce! I thought you were a quiet, well-behaved patient. You've been so cooperative so far. It was a shame we had to give you something to calm you down

[the_clown_king]

By the time brunch rolled around, Tamaki had completely forgotten he'd promised to leave Adelheid alone. Between the traumatizing discussions on the bulletin board and patching things up with the twins, it had slipped his mind. That tended to happen.

"Adel-kun!" Tamaki exclaimed, bounding over with his tray of brunch. There was someone new with his friend, someone he didn't know. But that was alright, he was always happy to make new friends!

"Adel-kun... are you alright?" Come to think of it, neither Adelhied or this other person looked like they were alright. Tamaki's face fell, his expression one of concern.

[in_your_defense]

To put it simply, Phoenix was in shock.

The nurse had walked him out of the Chapel, but hadn't said a word to him this time. It was surprising, considering everything that she had wanted to talk about earlier.

He had watched Edgeworth, Adelheid, and Eric as they were tranquilized, and everyone had been sat down except for himself. Phoenix had been the last one standing, staring, as the Head Doctor had smiled and spoke. Those eyes...they had been focused on him.

The nurse walked him through the buffet line, and his plate was filled with food that he wanted to eat, merely out of necessity. When he was seated next to Adelheid, however, that desire dried up like a drop of water in the desert. His stomach protested, but Phoenix couldn't have possibly choked down any of the food around the burning swirl of anger, frustration, and frozen shock in his chest.

Helpless. He was so damned helpless. Words were only words if he didn't follow through on them, and he hadn't been able to do a thing. The speech, burnt into Phoenix's brain,

[somekinda_lady]

Tifa managed get the orderlies off her back once she got to the cafeteria. She had made a note of the path they had come, and was ready to turn back and run as soon as she got the chance. She didn't care that her nurse seemed to honestly believe she was crazy - Marlene and Denzel were alone at home and someone had managed to kidnap her. This was some kind of trick.

The nurse stayed with her long enough to stuff some food on her plate, despite Tifa's insistence she wasn't hungry. The plate was shoved in her hand anyway.

As she plotted various ways to subdue the staff and run for it (she felt kind of sluggish...did they use a drug to bring her here?) she scanned the room.

Oh. God.

It was Cid. They'd kidnapped him, too?! Her half baked escape plans forgotten, Tifa ran over to where he was sitting, practically tossing her plate on the table in her haste. She didn't care if the food spilled over or not.

"Cid?!" she exclaimed. So they were lying - he was the proof. They must have known about Gaia, if Cid was here...

[materianinja]

Yuffie was feeling a little better after her talk with Zelos, but not too much. She didn't understand... Why wouldn't he go and talk with Aerith? It wasn't right... It didn't help her mood that her throat still hurt from yelling at Barret. She was almost afraid she might end up hoarse.

Absently, she rubbed at the bandages as she entered the cafeteria, the flower girl was the first person she looked for. Instead, however, she noticed the familiar long hair of another comrade. She stared for only a moment before running over to see her, ignoring the food completely.

"Tifa!" the ninja exclaimed as loud as she dared, which wasn't more than a normal tone, and launched herself at the woman's back, hugging tightly from behind. Were all of her friends going to show up here? She wasn't entirely sure if she was happy or sad about that. She didn't want them getting hurt like someone else did last night..., but she didn't want to be alone either

[reduxvalentine]

As he was led into the cafeteria, mind reeling from the chapel and leg burning from the pace, the sight of yet another teammate with Cid and Yuffie was all it took to shake him from his thoughts. Dammit, they had managed to bring her here as well. Timelines aside, she made the entirety of Avalanche.

Vincent passed the actually pleasant-smelling food with disdain, not wanting to bother with the difficulty of eating right now, and made a beeline straight for their table.

"When did you get here?" he asked without hesitation, immediately sitting to take the weight off his injuries.

[bigshotbarret]

Conversation was cut off once the nurses intervened to whisk the patients off to brunch, but his nurse was sure to stop before the bulletin to let him read the current events

[bond_off_lame]

Axel was certainly pleased to be one of the first people there, catching sight of only a handful of individuals as he sauntered himself into the Cafeteria. The sight of all the food was really wetting his palette, and the redhead took no time in helping himself to everything that was graciously offered.

After plating what could be considered the strangest combination of food known in existence Axel situated himself in a spot where anyone could walk up to him if they desired. He was feeling rather rejuvenated after taking a break from last night's shift and that post in the bulletin only fueled his curiosity even moreso.

So the dastardly man finally showed himself, eh? The Nobody was hoping to find someone who'd seen the Head Doctor with their own eyes, someone who was kind enough to describe every single detail of that demented man's face. Unlike Luxord, a man who held his grudges like his alcohol (and in no means was that a compliment), the redhead felt nothing for this Doctor, as his nature of being a Nobody preceded him

[bond_off_lame]

[Jumped Here. ]

[dolphin_king]

As Iruka arrived at Brunch, the wonderful smell of food pulled at him like a leash on a dog. He spotted the food right away and hurried over to it without questioning. He was used to this at least. He skimmed over the cereals and low fat milk, stopping at the fruit, taking a few grapes to pop into his mouth. Looking for the unch part of brunch he'd heard about in his room, the ramen, he was pleseantly surprised to find some and helped himself. There was tea too! It was definitely a nice menu.

Finally, after re-examining his brunch plate and giving in to his need for cereal and a beef burrito (out of curiosity, of course), Iruka found himself a seat and began to eat. Things seemed to be looking up already... though he was worried about his once-student. He wondered if she was okay. He knew for
certain he was in a new place now, and that meant she was probably still in the other.

"She'll have gotten out; I'm sure." he said quietly between mouthfuls.

Oh God... the Ramen is... he nearly felt his brain melt with happiness. It wasn't as

[she_bloomed]

Ramen. Sakura could only assume who had suggested adding that dish to the menu. Naruto could be such an idiot sometimes

[dolphin_king]

He heard her voice and turned to see Haruno Sakura set a tray of food down at his table. His heart swelled. He wanted to give her a hug... but she was a young woman now; she wasn't a little girl anymore. He'd leave those kinds of things up to his once-students to decide upon.

"S-Sakura!" he gaped. "I'm... I'm so happy to see you again! It's a shame we're in this place, I mean, but it's still wonderful that you're alright."

He slurped up some more ramen before continuing.

"How long have you been here?" he asked, wondering if this was indeed the same Sakura he'd met in the other place. If not, he'd assume the other Sakura had been a part of some kind of cruel illusion. It would't be above them to have done that to him. He smiled at Sakura, completely overjoyed to see her safe. It had been quite the shock.

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke set down his tray and sat, making sure to keep his face blank. Time to get this over with.

"Iruka," he nodded at his former teacher. "Sakura. You're new here, then?"

Two things to clarify: one, what they remembered of their world, and two, if they were as drained as the rest of them seemed to be. Some of the other patients had been able to retain some powers, after all. Maybe it was an arbitrary decision?

After that, he wanted to find the girl who'd been screaming that morning.

[ifandmaybe]

Weary of the games Landels continued to play with them Inara had kept to herself for the majority of the morning. Had she known there would've been a meeting with the Head Doctor himself, she might've been more inclined to emerge from her room. Granted it hadn't yielded terribly impressive results, but she hadn't exactly had the proper materials. A day of solitude was also rather tempting, but she was worried about Mal and probably wouldn't have been able to take in the peace and quiet without confirming that he was alright. The ankle wound had been bad, but the dark-haired woman found herself thankful that whatever he'd stumbled into hadn't delivered a more serious blow

[blacksustenance]

Brock wasn't convinced there would be strippers in Landels, despite the mysterious advertisement he had seen on the bulletin. They would be nice, he had to admit, because what man could say no to tits?

He wasn't too fazed by the Doctor's appearance and announcement; it was the symbiote who had grown quiet and calculating, wondering how to topple this new new, foreign predator and resume their rightful place at the top of the food chain. It retreated very far now, and for one of the few times in his life Brock felt almost like a normal human being. It was both nice and....kind of boring, now that he thought about it - he had grown used to "hearing" the owner of his (their) body in his skull, even feeling it moving around like a house guest who had decided to make their stay permanent.

Brock sat down next to an attractive woman. Make that very attractive, because glancing at her he saw that she wasn't just pretty, she was smoking hot, in a regal, I'm too good for you kind of way

[ifandmaybe]

Inara smiled at the man as he approached, noting his expression and marking it among the sort of look she usually got. Not to be vain, of course. Being aware of that sort of thing was simply a step to put oneself ahead of the game.

"Of course not. I'd actually been hoping for some company," she answered smoothly and genuinely. The Companion had seen the man around before and had simply never run into him herself. As this was the case, she wasn't able to place a name with the face. No matter. Introductions were a common occurance at Landels, and Inara assumed she should look forward to making them every day.

"My name is Inara. I don't believe we've met?" Of course, it was obvious that they hadn't, but such pleasantries were commonplace in a place like this. Eventually, she would probably find herself hard-pressed to remember the names of everyone she'd met.

[blacksustenance]

"We probably haven't," Brock said. He held out his hand briskly, more out of habit from working at the Daily Bugle than anything else. "Eddie Brock."

Inara carried herself like a princess, something Brock hadn't seen in quite some time from his former line of work. There were snobs, brats, Daddy's girls who were loaded down with Daddy's money and not much respect, and then there were women like Inara, who acted like honest to God royalty. It didn't feel as if it was just an act to get him to write a favorable publicity piece either. The woman clearly didn't feel insecure and was proud of who and what she was. No lacking in the self-respect department there.

Brock liked that in a woman.

Still, considering where they were, she probably was a mutant like almost everyone else here with their mutant powers. Brock might be Host to an alien symbiote, but he wasn't sure he wanted to get too friendly with a mutant, even if said mutant was unbelievably hot. The idea of getting into a fight with someone and having to worry if she could