Day 44: Lunch

[mizuhomaiden]

That had been a very frustrating shower. For many reasons. At least Raine was going to at least look at Forte. Hopefully, she'll actually heal him. The showers had also succeeded in making the ninja feel like a pervert. A mild one, but still... It was as if Yukari had picked that spot in the showers because she knew the ninja could easily see

Comments

[theroadsofar]

If there was one food he'd eaten just about every variation of, it was the hamburger. Dean supposed it was unhealthy to eat the amount of crappy food he did and booze it up and not, y'know, settle for a nice side salad instead, but he figured, what the hell. What was he gonna have to worry about, putting on pounds or getting a heart attack early on? Dean figured if he had that year expiration date, he might as well just eat whatever he damn well wanted and not sweat something like how healthy he didn't wanna eat. He had enough problems on his plate. Dean was gonna pig out, maybe eat both that hamburger and hot dog, and damn well enjoy it.

Automatically checking out the cafeteria for any sign of his brother, Dean picked a table that was relatively close to the lunch line, enough Sam could pick him out, and sat down with the tray before him. The hunter took a big bite of his hot dog, piled high with onions and ketchup. Closed his eyes as he chewed. Man, he was getting so friggen spoiled on the food here. It was way better than 7-11.

[7_to_midnight]

After the run-in with Peter, Sylar felt weirdly quiet. Not sad, but not satisfied either: just quiet. By all means, he should have been happy right now; he'd managed to push Peter's buttons exactly the way he'd wanted to, even in this pathetic state. Peter's warpath against him was freshly renewed, which would cause trouble, but trouble was better than nothing.

It was much better than nothing.

Either way, the short conversation had allowed Sylar some extra time to relax, or at least let his mind wander until his gaze fell on the mass of papers that comprised the bulletin board.

Right. He'd been meaning to check that.

He wasn't so crippled that he wasn't able to get back in his wheelchair on his own, but he was injured enough that a nurse had to roll him over in the thing. Though degrading, he felt more neutral toward the help now than he had before, and he tried to focus his attention on the bulletin board rather than his own weakness. He left a note for Faize - hopefully, the kid wouldn't be busy saving people this Nightshift,

[theroadsofar]

Dean just grunted, grinning around the hotdog, "Gotta turn that frown upside down, Perky

[7_to_midnight]

"Perky"? Great, Sylar had run into one of those types, though he couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer ambition of the man as he attacked the giant burger and caught whatever fell off of it with his fingers. By the time Sylar's nurse arrived with his own burger and modest pile of fries (no extra hot dog included), it looked pretty pitiful by comparison.

Not that Sylar was in much of a state to be scarfing down food, with his chest cut all over and his cheek burnt deeply on one side. Instead, he gingerly picked up a fry and chewed on it as his eyes stayed fixed on the other man, even as he began to talk through a mouthful of beef and lettuce.

"Way I see it, if they're gonna feed us, I say we might as well just eat up. Better than starving."

Sylar's eyes moved from the man to slowly wander over the rest of the room, stopping on one or two patients as he imagined just what kind of power they had for him to take.

"Yeah," he said, slowly. He smiled as he looked back to the other man. "Yeah, I do agree with that

[tender_cruelty]

Allelujah seemed a little more subdued than normal when he entered the cafeteria that lunch time. The conversation with Soma had been somewhat draining and not exactly pleasant. He still couldn't quite bring himself to believe that she had absolutely no memory of him at all. What had the HRL done to her during the time since Allelujah had escaped? How had they made her forget everything that they had shared?

It didn't matter though, did it? They were enemies now in an uneasy truce. At least he didn't have to fight her here.

He filled a tray and then found himself a seat near the doorway waiting for Artemis to arrive. He couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about what he wanted to talk about, but he was Badou's friend and seemed reasonable enough.

[For Arty]

[byname_bynature]

He didn't hold out much hope for Arts & Crafts: a thought that weighed heavily on his mind. Even if he'd climbed the ranks from Pipe-Grunt all the way to Strategic Advisor, it didn't do much good when the group had been scattered to the winds and was currently lacking a head. At least, a head that had been there longer than four days

[tender_cruelty]

Artemis's first words brought a faint blush to Allelujah's cheeks. He'd been reading what they'd posted on the bulletin? Badou always managed to get him writing ridiculous things. He wasn't certain how he managed it since Allelujah had never indulged in things like that until they'd met. "Ah, apparently so," he replied, looking rather awkward at the fact. "He wouldn't take it seriously would he?" he asked after a moment, looking concerned. He doubted that Badou would take it seriously, but it could be difficult to tell with him sometimes.

[byname_bynature]

Artemis laughed lightly, taking a seat. "The day Badou takes something seriously is the day I put on a dress and prance about the Institute, waiting to get sedated.

"You can relax, Allelujah," Artemis continued, pretending that he hadn't just made a completely ridiculous and colorful statement. In some capacity, Artemis figured that one of these days he'd find himself in a dress (figuratively, he hoped...), but not over a playful 'break up' he surmised. "I'm only here to talk to you."

He settled in and began on his food. "You see, I'm sure you've noticed that I have something of... a ring. Badou happens to be a key element in this ring from time to time, and he speaks highly of you and your skills. Which, you've already displayed superbly when you helped in the move downstairs a few nights ago."

He smiled. "Following so far?"

[runner_up_robot]

Alright, even with that kid to talk to to pass the time, this being-stuck-in-a-wheelchair was getting very old, very quickly. Yes, he'd been disabled while waiting for repairs before, but he was offline most the time (actually... that's sort of what happened those three days or so, but they didn't finish the job).

It finally occurred to him, however, that the announcements weren't being made by the automated voice from the previous day. He'd never paid much attention to the announcements, but hadn't someone said that started because the head doctor was dead? Ugh, who even cared anymore. He'd only listened to know who to blame, and now it kept changing from him to a machine to her.

The only thing that brightened up his mood was that lunch was hamburgers. He really enjoyed them the week before, and best of all, everything the nurse put on his plate was something he could eat with one hand, without tiny utensils! Once he was brought to a table, he happily dug in.

[closed, unknowingly, for Starscream]

[whiny_egomaniac]

A brief stasis nap in the Sun Room always did him wonders

[runner_up_robot]

Forte was enjoying his variety of food when someone sat down across from him. He looked up, annoyed, but quickly recognized Starscream - it had been a while, but he remembered Starscream had been a helpful source of information. Of course, he also jumped at a stern voice, and his supposed teammates came after him for being a traitor.

"I got into a fight on the second floor. I took most of the attacks while Depth Charge killed the monster." He emphasized his own bravery with all the subtlety of Wily's skull motif.

[whiny_egomaniac]

Fight. Attack. MONSTER. Starscream had heard rumors that the nights were filled with strange creatures, but hearing a first-hand account of their reality filled him with a strange sense of dread. He placed the hamburger waiting for his mouth back on the plate and glared at Forte, first at his bandaged arm and then back into his optics.

"Monster? What... what, exactly, was it?" he asked, more curious than anything at the moment. The worst Starscream had encountered was that dragon back in the 500s, and even that was scared away by simple gunpowder. He had no delusions that the same tactic would work in this strange world.

[oftemptation]

Endrance wrinkled his nose as he stepped into the cafeteria. This was definitely not his day when it came to food choices, and if he'd been able to get away with simply ignoring it all, that's exactly what he would have done. As it was, though, he saw a nurse peering at him expectantly. He sighed and put together a salad, then moved to a table, keeping an eye out for Haseo and the girl.

[feartehreaper]

"I think we might be pushing it," Haseo said, tense and quiet as he slid into a seat near Endrance. Immediately several fries went into his mouth-- not because he was hungry, or because he actually felt like it as he settled next to such a big reminder of what could go wrong and kill an appetite in this place, but because he had a good suspicion that he probably did need something to keep up this body's undoubtedly high energy.

He also didn't want to seem too terribly interested in what the man was doing, considering the weirdness of what had taken place on the board before the idea of finding and finally talking to this mysterious something-Avatarlike-summoning woman was put up. Shoving food in his mouth, bringing up another topic, and obviously looking around the cafeteria as if he'd somehow be able to recognize the girl they were looking for, as he was now, seemed the best bet. It was a shame though that they hadn't served burgers when he was feeling better. If there was any American food he could actually enjoy, that was

[oftemptation]

"I think you might be right," came the quiet reply. It was very likely a good thing he had a very large distraction in the form of trying to find one face in what was a very large room, otherwise Endrance would have just started talking about, well...that question he'd left unanswered on the board.

Instead, he nibbled on a carrot half-heartedly, scanning the crowd until - there. "She's in the far corner...towards the right side of the room. The one with the long, dark hair."

[feartehreaper]

As a sort of compromise, Haseo went with stripping the bun and lettuce from the sandwich and biting into that rather than the entire thing, trying not to look outwardly distasteful at the lonely taste of ketchup without the meat to balance it out. It was only after several beats had passed that he looked in the direction Endrance had indicated. He blinked a moment, but was determined not to make any preconceptions- looks could be very deceiving, especially if the girl actually did have something to do with them and their "world." There were a lot of possibilities here.

"I'll come along, but you'll have to be the one to talk to her at first, Endrance," he said. He hadn't forgotten that Endrance was probably afraid of women, which was just... silly. He was a powerful and highly-praised player (or was before the Sakaki incident- Haseo didn't really pay attention to politics and hadn't had the chance to see the popular reaction to the staged about-face)- the guy could have just about any girl playing 'The World' he wanted, but insteadIn

[windstwilight]

Ah! Why did everything keep going back to work? She needed to not... be thinking about this all the time. And since when did she become since a nine to five girl? What the hell was this? She was too upset over this and she knew it, and talking to Artemis had just underlined that... Things were different. A lot different. And Senna was changed

[windstwilight]

[ugh. death. sorry for lateness and shortness.]

Senna feigned astonishment, eyes wide. At least his expression had turned around. Good. Distraction was go. "Serious? I assure you, Mr. Closet Geek, that I am always serious about food." Her grin returned in full, secretive and teasing. "C'mon. Gonna get out-eaten by a girl? Seriously? What will your action figures think?"

To that, Senna pointed her hot dog at him again and then held it to her opened mouth, pausing to shoot him a glance. "I'll win if you just sit that like that. Put your mouth to good use."