Day 60: Cafeteria

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Anise had been lying snug in bed, only vaguely aware that she was awake, when her rest was disturbed by the one sound in the world she'd never wanted to hear again.

"Good morning, everyone!"

The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that

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"Good morningThe sudden jovial noise that flooded the room startled Luke awake. His heart hammered against his rib cage like a wild bird. The young man even screamed as he clutched the sheets tightly to his face. When he realized there was no one in his room, the redhead groaned and rolled himself into a ball under the sheets, listening to the rambling with half an ear, though he couldn't make much sense out of it. This greeting had been nothing like the one he had heard yesterday. Frankly, he enjoyed the other guy. At least he hadn't tried to pop anyone's eardrums

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And right on cue, her prince (well, duke) arrived

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It took Luke a moment to notice the invitation, but he soon found himself taking a seat in one of the hard, oddly colored chairs and setting his tray down beside his bubbly friend

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Luke's comment on how long she'd been at the institute was met with an affirmative nod, her mouth too full with waffle to give an audible reply.

Anise swallowed when he asked about the voice on the intercom, and nodded again. "Yeah, that's him. He's been running this place from the start, as far as I know. He's seriously twisted." He probably didn't seem as scary as the soldiers at first, but Anise knew all too well how dangerous he really was. It was important that Luke didn't underestimate him.

Her grin returned when she realized Luke probably didn't know much of anything about the institute itself. It was kind of funny to imagine those clueless nurses behaving like the soldiers from earlier that week, though. "This is how it used to be, before the military took over. Instead of treating us like soldiers, they treat us like we're crazy. It's really annoying. And these uniforms are the worst!"

She waved her fork in the air as she explained, then dug back into her fruit-covered waffles once the important points had been made.

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Frankly, Luke didn't have much of an opinion on their new outfit. he had been made to wear some pretty weird things back on Aldruant. A baggy pair of grey pajamas was rather tame. Plus, they were a lot less binding in all the places necessary for swinging his sword. He didn't need to worry about popping seams when he was trying to fight for his life.

"I dunno, they're not so bad," he finally said, pulling at the strange smiley face. "I think it suits you pretty well." Luke poked, knowing full well he'd get bitten, but that was no incentive enough to stop him from running his mouth.

He scraped another hunk of whipped cream onto his fork and let it dissolve in his mouth. "So... Last night, was that the way it normally goes? Monsters everywhere, glowy pink stuff...?"

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"These rags!? Boooo. You can't even see my petite little figure!" Luke really had no sense of fashion, did he? Maybe Anise shouldn't have expected he would understand her plight. "Well, I guess a beautiful girl can look good in anything," she quickly rationalized. The uniform sure didn't suit her, but she could just assume he meant that she was so cute, nothing could fully detract from that. Yeah, that was it!

"Last night was pretty weird," she went on, addressing Luke's questions. "I've never seen that pink stuff before, and while the monsters are pretty common, we usually don't get anywhere near that many." She took a bite of fruit as she tried to think of a possible explanation. "I don't really know why it happened, but I think the military was calling an emergency. Maybe because we could use our artes again? And like, they wanted to keep us from escaping

I'm sorry this is so late!

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Luke was strongly tempted to ask "What figure?" but he kinda wanted to eat his breakfast and not wear it. Instead, he began stuffing the remains of his waffle and colossus of fluff down his throat so Anise would have no ammunition if worse came to worse. The young man listened to her intently around mouthfuls of breading and syrup. It also gave him time to think as he chewed and frowned at the white-washed wall in front of him.

So, his first night through the dungeon had given him a bit of a handicap. Now, as he thought about it, he couldn't feel his body singing with fonons any longer. Whatever had happened, or rather whoever had given them access to their artes, was not going to be a reoccurring theme. That sucked! Still, at least he knew what he was up against... sort of. What he could... remember.

When Anise asked him about his night, Luke's fork stilled on his plate as he stared at the remnants of syrup and whipped cream. He wasn't sure how to answer that--No, scratch that. He knew how to, he just didn't know how he wanted to

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Luke's vagueness struck a skeptical cord with Anise, and she slowly tilted her head to the side as he trailed off. Was he hiding something? It definitely looked like it, but what could there possibly be to hide after a single night at the institute?

Unless...

"Did something happen with Tear?" she asked as soon as the thought hit her. Her expression grew more and more troubled as her imagination produced a number of possible scenarios. "Alone together... after dark..." What if being apart for a while ended up bringing them closer together than ever before!? Now Anise was never going to be a duchess!

askfjh ANISE

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"Tear?" Luke leaned further away as an invisible storm cloud began to grow over Anise. It was hard to give a straight answer since he couldn't remember most of the night, but she was fine for as long as his memory stuck.

"Come on, like I'd let anything happen to Tear! Besides, she can take care of herself... she doesn't need me to guard her." His last words grew a bit somber before they picked up a note of petulance as he gave Anise the side-eye. Where was this sudden concern for her safety coming from? He was the newbie when it came to fighting; Tear could kick monster butt with her eyes closed.

"Any way, it's not like we didn't have other people with us! We were hardly sitting ducks, you know, and with out Artes working..." Anise's questions had planted seeds of doubt in him. Was Tear okay? Had they suffered some kind of head trauma? Was that the reason he couldn't remember last night very well? Luke had so many questions, but he wasn't sure where to start! It all just made him flustered and irritated.

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Did all of that really fly over his head? Wow.

But if Luke didn't see what she was getting at, then that had to mean the worst case scenario (for Anise's love life, anyway) definitely hadn't happened. And she was doubly sure once he mentioned there were others around, too.

"Oh, really? Then I guess there's nothing to worry about," she decided, a playful grin emerging on her face. This meant she still had a chance! In celebration, she leaned closer to Luke and wrapped her arm around his. Now they were just like lovers on a date!

"Anyway, enough about that. Is there anything you want to know about this place? Being new here can be pretty rough, but lucky for you, you've got cute little Anise here to help you out!" She looked up to him with a big smile as she leaned onto the arm she'd grabbed.