Day 48: Lunch

[zack_fair]

Even with the nasty weather, Zack still felt refreshed after going outside. Humidity would have reminded him of Gongaga, but he wasn't sure he needed that. Not now, not when he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to get back home and see his parents again. Not that he should have the chance at all, but it was hard to think about nonetheless. Seeing

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[toxicspiderman]

The first time a nurse had barged into his room, S.T. growled something suggestively profane, and pulled the covers back over his head. The second time, he'd pretended to be asleep. Which was only about 50% untrue, as he'd fallen back into dreams involving ham radio operators moving to Nicaragua to run a smuggling ring. With Gomez as their native guide, which made no fucking sense as he'd been born in the States and was originally Mexican

[war_wounds]

Although the nurse claimed she'd let him sleep in, Ratchet didn't feel at all rested. In fact, he felt awful. Maybe organics could develop recharge glitches, too. It was the only reasonable explanation he could think of, anyway, given that he'd recharged for over half a solar cycle and still felt run down.

It was a long walk to the cafeteria, and once again the nurse collected fuel for him. Ratchet would have taken offense at such coddling, but he was still too groggy to muster up any real anger. What energy he did have was spent trying to identify what sort of shoddy excuse for fuel he was expected to ingest this time.

The mess on the tray almost looked and smelled familiar, like something Sari would eat. For the life of him, though, Ratchet couldn't place what it was. His table-mate didn't seem to be having the same difficulties. "Hey, meatbucket," he said, in the most civil tone he could muster. "What is this slag?"

[toxicspiderman]

A bitchy retiree candidate had decided he made an easy mark. He was feeling generous today, so he left the door open that the man could be new here.

"Is that a question about the food, or life in general? If you're fundamentally opposed to ground and reconstituted meat food, you've come to the wrong Institute."

And meatbucket? That was a new one. Carnivore was frequently hurled in S.T.'s direction, due to working in an office where vegetarianism was just a baby step on the road to lifestyle veganism. They'd learned not to expect compliance from him, he'd started finishing his sausage McMuffins before hitting the top of the steps. But it didn't stop him from correcting their usage. The right word was omnivore. More accurately, conscientious omnivore. A few slabs of hormone-enriched animal protein once in a while didn't mean much.

[war_wounds]

"The food, for starters." These things were supposed to be meat? But they were so...rigid. Meat was squishy. "It doesn't look like meat."

Not in the mood to contemplate different states of meatiness, Ratchet took a cautious sip from his glass of juice. It was sort of pinkish, and though he'd told himself not to expect it to be at all like energon the sweetness still caught him off guard. "Ugh. Why does everything here need to be so fragging difficult?"

[longlivetehking]

Scar had settled to describe the conversation he had with Nanaki as at least 'interesting' before being herded to another dubious meal. The former lion couldn't help but to be skeptical of these so-called 'chicken tenders' as the nurse assisted him with bringing his plate to an empty table. Then again, he supposed he was skeptical of everything these humans called food.

After prodding it for a little more, the King eventually opted to try and take a bite from it.

[Free! No limits]

[goldenroulette]

[Would the King like a witch? 8)]

These things on her plate were hardly what Beatrice would consider actual cuisine. She suspected that they were some sort of Western food that hadn't come to popularity in Japan, but...she missed Ronove's cooking, and having tea whenever she wanted it.

She had asked her nurse a few times whether or not it would be possible to have tea, or request tea, or simply go out and buy some tea, but all of those questions had been vexed with nonanswers, or 'Caffeine is bad for you', or another excuse.

That, and their captor had the audacity to come over the speakers with a cold? Tch. That was no behavior any kind of person in power should have.

She scouted the cafeteria, eventually settling across from a dark-skinned man who seemed as displeased with the food as she did. "The food choices here are rather abysmal," she said, nodding once as she sat down.

[longlivetehking]

[Why, of course~! <333]

The bite he took from his food only served to remind Scar that he probably wasn't going to get used to this human food. Ever. Though some things were decent, this definitely wasn't one of them. What in the name of Pride Rock had they done to this so-called meat? The nurse that had told him of these chicken things must have been mocking him. In the mean time, he was left wondering how much of this far cry of a decent meal he was supposed to eat just so he wouldn't starve.

Eating shouldn't be such a hassle.

Eventually, a female human sat across from him who appeared to be just as pleased with the food choices as the King himself was. Lovely, now they could woe about the food together. He supposed it was at least an improvement from those claiming that the food was great...

"Oh, I would hardly call the food choices 'abysmal'," Scar answered. "I believe 'terrible' is a more appropriate description." He dropped the piece of ruined food he had been attempting to devour back on his plate, hoping on better luck

[goldenroulette]

[<333]

Beatrice laughed, then nibbled a little at her own lunch - as she suspected, too greasy for her taste. Western-style food could be really good; she had certainly appreciated the fact of getting sugar in her system, but. She frowned down at her plate, sliding it aside.

"I think I would agree with that assessment," she said a moment later. "Abysmal is too nice a word for it." A bit of a smirk played across her lips. "I do miss having my furniture at hand, to prepare things that are actually edible. But this place has even taken those away from me."

A brief pause, another, more bitter laugh.

"I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Beatrice, the Golden Witch." Never mind that she couldn't use her magic here. She still had a reputation to keep up.

[itneverwas]

Xemnas had to raise a silver eyebrow at the intercom announcement signaling they were to be returned to the cafeteria once more. Their captor had appeared to have caught a spontaneous cold, an idea that was almost ridiculous in nature. It was certainly remarkable for the man to blatantly show such weakness. Was it part of the illusion of normalcy he and the nurses attempted to maintain?

Many seats were still vacant, which meant the Superior had little trouble locating a seat after acquiring his meal. Munching on his chicken in the mean time, he calmly watched the patients entering the cafeteria.

[For Abe Sapien, I believe??]

[bprd_fishman]

Abe couldn't resist a small feeling of gleeful schadenfreude at Landel's sniffling. It was far less than he deserved but it was nice to see something make a dent in his smugness--although come to think of it, it did give an important clue as to his real nature. One didn't see your average Ogdru Jahad getting a cold but mortal creatures were quite vulnerable to them.

Lunch was thankfully not fish-based this time and Abe took another half-portion to make up for the meal that he'd lost. The pink haired perky girl was not in evidence yet, and Abe quickly took a seat besides an older human before she could try and target him again.

[itneverwas]

More patients were herded into the area, slowly claiming various vacant seats before they began conversing among one another. Perhaps it was a coincidence, yet he recognized the one who claimed the seat beside him to be one of those that had sought shelter within the chapel last night, in the hopes of avoiding that inky creature that lurked within the hallway.

Then, Xemnas had paid him little mind. Aside from the monster beyond those doors, there had been the remarkable chapel itself along with his companion who had provided him a number of answers. But now there were none of such things, therefore, he saw little reason to not interact with this man. And, perhaps, to question him.

"Greetings," the Nobody offered with a nod. "I recall you were among those within the chapel last night." The way he spoke was most certainly not in a rushed manner.

[bprd_fishman]

Abe took a closer look at his companion, food halfway to his mouth. "Oh!" he said, finally recognizing him. He shouldn't be distracted, this wasn't like him. "Yes, we were. Did you know the place was there? We found it by mere chance?"

And still no one had given them an explanation as to the true purpose of the jewel hidden amidst Landel's winding white hallways. Perhaps it would make a stable meeting place, the monster never tried to pursue them inside--perhaps it was sanctified in some obscene fashion.

[should_be_dead]

There was something to be said about sniffing so openly while announcing a meal time, but Tenzen had to wonder why the head doctor would show such obvious weakness in front of his prisoners. Of course, it proved he was only human. Unless that was the very thing he wanted them to think. Be as it may, it hardly improved the image Tenzen had of Landel; they had been captured for an idiot's fun and games, after all.

On his way back, he requested to be taken to the bulletin board before acquiring his meal, only to discover a note addressed to 'the man of Iga'. Thus far, there was only one man who knew of this, which left little question about the identity of the writer; the young man from the game room back then; Fujiwara-san. It seemed he wished for a meeting regarding his 'group'. Hnn, perhaps listening would prove to be actually worth his time.

After acquiring the strange Western food in the cafeteria, the ninja picked one of the many empty seats that still remained. It would seem he was early today...

[Free! No limits.]

[flamingfurball]

Nanaki was wheeled to the first free spot, as requested, where he quickly set his dinner out in front. Not he had a better idea of chewing and swallowing in this body, he was quite eager to try eating again. He reached out, but stopped himself. He was acting like the child he looked like. Boy. Teenager. Young adult. Yes! A young adult.

He looked at the man beside him (from Wutai, perhaps?) and said 'Hello'. Usually he wouldn't have bothered, but meeting Scar had been thrilling, perhaps there were more like them?

"Where are you from?" he asked, picking up some food and dropping it into his mouth, head tilted back. He gave it some wide, awkward chews and threw his head back again to knock it down.

[should_be_dead]

The teen that the nurse left beside him certainly had an awkward way of eating his meal, but Tenzen refrained from commenting on it. It was hardly any of his concern, after all. A cold 'good afternoon' came in response to the greeting before Tenzen took a bite of his own food.

"I am from Japan," he merely stated, purposely choosing not to elaborate any further. It was hardly any use stating he was from the Iga province if the conversation would only consist of small talk.

[idontregret]

One would think that after all the times he'd ignored his meals so far, the staff would have given up on trying to feed him. After all, he was pretty rotten to them - why would they care if he died of starvation? And he looked healthy enough anyway.

So he ended up sitting at lunch with a tray of chicken tenders and barbecue sauce in front of him and an orderly standing over one shoulder to keep him from tossing it to the floor again. The two of them had a staring competition for a while, with the demon drumming the fingers of one hand on the table in irritation. Finally, just to get the staff off his case, Heat took one of the tenders, doused it in sauce, then popped it in his mouth with an over-exaggerated Mmmmm. Deciding it looked as though he wasn't going to throw a fit, the orderly left him alone. It would be hard to get other patients to sit with him while staff was present, anyway. The red-head nearly dumped the tray out of spite immediately afterward, but decided the hassle wouldn't be worth it

[no_dont_go]

After not showering for the entire shift, her nurse just gave up and dragged Aigis away from the mirror. Once she was back in her clothing she felt much more comfortable. Not only did her skin revert from that strange, bumpy condition to smooth, but she always felt comfortable with her papillion heart concealed. Not that her papillion heart was there anymore... but just knowing where it had been was now covered gave her immense relief.

Nurse Cathy chatted on and on about keep to schedule and personal hygiene, but none of it interested Aigis. She just allowed herself to be dragged along, back to the cafeteria for another meal period. Breakfast hadn't been that long ago but it was already time for lunch. Aigis couldn't fathom why humans needed to eat so much. Actually, she understood why but...

A strange sensation in her body stopped her thoughts. Her stomach pinched within her, and she almost winced at the sensation. Cathy had already filled up a tray for her with chicken and the smells--was this what it was like to smell?--

[idontregret]

Heat had begun drawing on his plate with the sauce-drenched piece of chicken, spreading lines out from the other pieces not unlike those that had spread along Roland's skin the night before. He was hardly thinking about it - was really just wasting time for the moment.

Hardly noticing someone had joined him for his meal again, the demon didn't look up until his name was spoken. He stared at her with some surprise, not yet setting down the poor abused tender in his hand. "You again..." he muttered, not sure what to follow that up with. He had said that their discussion wasn't over, so it was really only right that she approach him. Even as he'd said that, though, he had no idea how to pick the conversation back up again.

Rather than looks clueless, he gestured vaguely with his free hand, frowning. "So? Learned anything?" She'd seemed pretty clueless the last time they'd met, but then again so had he.

[no_dont_go]

It seemed Heat was no longer in quite the same bad mood he had been in yesterday afternoon. He continued to be just as terse but much less aggressive, which Aigis took as a good sign. But he wasn't eating his food. Did demons even eat food? Aigis didn't eat, and she knew Shadows and Personas didn't eat. It was a mystery, but Aigis wasn't going to ponder on it for now. Instead she focused on answering Heat's question rather than on her pained stomach