Day 60: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

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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[blood_and_pocky]

[free.]

Oh… no. No. The coming of day brought to an end what might have been the first truly pleasant "dream" he’d had in his entire residency, leaving him to wake up to a familiar, white-washed box of a room and a too familiar uniform. Weak again.

No! It was all over? Just like that?

Aidou didn’t want to believe it, but the situation wasn’t giving him much choice. He also seemed to have been warped into the past, because in place of the military there were nurse escorts again, and real food, and that goddamn voice on the intercom. It wasn’t just his physical restraints that had been put back in place, it seemed, but Landel as well, back on his throne in the wake of the military’s retreat.

Not everything was back to a post-Aguilar standard, however. For one, there was a stupid wristband attached to his person that the vampire spent his walk to the cafeteria yanking at, a rather paltry target for his frustrations in comparison to what he had been capable of last night

[oneman_onekill]

"Ah, great."

Niikura sat up in bed and groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. Landel was back, and so were the smiley faces. That was awesome, just awesome--but now he and his team were all armed and ready for a sick basement adventure in a matter of twelve hours! Yeah! That, coupled with the realization that he no longer had to shove his hair under a hat (little things, you had to think about the little things in this place), was enough to get a little bit of a bounce into his step, and Niikura walked into the cafeteria feeling better than he had in days.

And then he saw the waffles, and life got that much better. He resisted the urge to actually jump for joy and instead parlayed his excitement into a fist pump. "Sweet!" Food, food, real food! Okay, now things were looking up. The teen gleefully accepted a full tray and bounded over to the nearest table, trying not to start eating before he had even sat down

[blood_and_pocky]

It truly was too much to ask to believe that what had occurred last night and Landel suddenly being back in power were two completely unrelated coincidences. Was Landel responsible for returning their powers, or had he merely taken advantage of an opportunity

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura waited until he had fully chewed and swallowed before responding. "Aye, that's always an option, but if you're just gonna let those" - He aimed his fork briefly at Aidou's plate. - "sit there, then why let them go to waste, right?" Eh, maybe it was no use arguing. Some people got really protective when it came to things that were supposed to be "theirs".

He shrugged. "I mean, I'm not demandin' 'em from you this very instant; I'm just asking." At least the other boy hadn't done that awkward deal where he said no in a very pointed manner before shoveling food into his mouth to prove a point. It always made him wonder what he'd done to come off in that kind of way, although the response he'd gotten hadn't been much better.

...Actually, why wasn't this guy shoveling food into his mouth? Maybe he was one of those special types that had gotten the normal menu the whole time. Figured. Total ingratitude. They ought to have served the pink oatmeal to everyone at least once just so they could all appreciate how delicious real food was

[blood_and_pocky]

What a very… unrefined way of putting it. Besides that, what was the big deal about waffles? Who cared about the stupid waffles? Breakfast was one of the last things people should be concerned with!

The vampire’s brows lowered into a flat line, clearly unconvinced by Niikura’s logic. “If they go to waste, who cares. It’ll regenerate itself like everything else in this place. Eating them or leaving them, it doesn’t change anything.” Not to Aidou, anyway. He was still going to be hungry, and there were still two more meals to sit through until the day was done. Three meals a day for however many days there were left in this prison sentence…

Ah, but perhaps that line of thinking would be too philosophical for a person who was content just to stuff his face. Regretfully, Aidou didn’t share the same enthusiasm for pigging out, though granted, it’d be smart for him to eat something. The combination of Aigis plus the anarchy of the night before had kind of turned his plans to find blood sideways

[oneman_onekill]

Ooh, he had a jaded one here. Niikura's eyes gleamed at the prospect of mischief as he finished chewing. Did he fancy himself above the masses, then, with that kind of realization? That the day to day actions of the patients had no effect on anything...oh woe indeed

[blood_and_pocky]

Aidou sighed, and slowly but surely his gaze slid away to settle on the rest of the cafeteria. Boredom was already setting in with this person, which was an ongoing problem when he was by himself like this, the only vampire in a sea of… whatever the other prisoners were. At least the male currently blathering at him came across as human enough to his senses.

The problem was that he wanted real company. Real conversation, someone who could help him challenge his mental blocks.

He wouldn’t wish Akatsuki stuck here again, but he missed him all the same.

"You talk too much," said Aidou. "First Landel and now you… two people who lack brevity and wit. This sucks. Go back to stuffing your face, please." That was a simple enough request, wasn’t it? Why did he have to attract all of these annoying personalities?

[oneman_onekill]

He briefly considered pushing his waffles away just so he wouldn't be complying with the other boy's request, but that would just be acting down to the other's level, and Niikura could be the bigger man here. Plus, those waffles were just too delicious to reject.

Niikura sighed and shook his head as he went back to cutting up his waffles. "Picky, picky. I even went through the trouble of feedin' ya some Camus, but I guess absurdism's just too deep for kids these days." He really liked Nietzsche more, himself, but he was kind of biased: Katsuragi had been fond of Nietzsche, and anything his best friend had liked, he'd kind of tried to pick up out of reverence (and maybe a tinge of guilt).

[blood_and_pocky]

A snort. “Who are you calling a kid, boy?”

But this entire situation was an old argument. Irritating people who had nothing better to do than talk down at him as if they were on the same level--ugh! How easy it should’ve been to just freeze the stranger’s mouth shut and be about his way, but no, he had to be here and his powers out of reach again. Treated like a child. Treated like something other than what he was

[oneman_onekill]

If Niikura could have read Aidou's mind at that very moment, he might have started laughing for real. Treated like something other than what he was, huh? Oh, he didn't know anything about that at all.

The difference was that he didn't mind it. In fact, it was convenient. People constantly underestimating him gave him more room to maneuver until the web had been spun and the victim completely (and unknowingly--that was important) ensnared. Of course, there was a certain time and place to this type of trap, and expending all that precise, careful effort on one boy who had a stick up his ass seemed like a waste.

He was about to say something along the lines of "You're trying too hard," but then the questions turned in his direction, and Niikura actually paused for a moment as he tried to figure out exactly what the other boy was getting at. What did he see? Well, unless you were blind...

"Uh...monsters? Nothin' special." People saw monsters every night, after all. There just happened to be more of them last night. "Why do you ask?"

[blood_and_pocky]

“Well yes, there were those.” Duh.

Aidou was convinced one would have to be completely insensible to have missed all of the filthy critters running around, unless they had spent the entire night holed up in their cell. One didn’t even require fully functioning eyes to make them out, as Sasuke had demonstrated. Not to mention the pinkish barriers lighting up the darkness all over the building.

“Their numbers were special, however. But I mean more remarkable happenings. Did you do anything of note? Encounter anything? Last night was an unusual occasion, as you may have noticed.”

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura's expression of mild confusion quickly morphed in a flat stare as he leaned his cheek against a fist. "If I'd seen anything other than monsters, I would've already mentioned it and not even bothered with what everyone sees around here all the time, y'know."

Duh.

"But yeah, for me, last night was business as usual, aside from all the extra monsters." He idly picked at the bandage just barely poking out from under his sleeve, totally unaware that it had already been detected long before he'd inadvertently brought attention to it. "What about you? I'm guessin' ya did somethin' out of the ordinary, if you're gonna be askin' other people about it."

[blood_and_pocky]

Aidou lifted an eyebrow. “There was the barrier,” he reminded the boy. “Unless you had your eyes closed the entire time

[oneman_onekill]

He shrugged. "Everyone saw that, so what's the point in mentioning it?" Unless he'd been expected to have had his eyes closed the whole time. Ugh. These types were so obnoxious to deal with sometimes; they always thought that everyone else had to be spoken to like they were two year-olds, as if breeding and rank actually granted one more intelligence and wisdom. (And he still hadn't touched his waffles...)

"Ah, nothing, then," Niikura said, pointing his fork briefly at the other boy. "Shame." Damn it. For one second there, he'd really thought that he'd get to learn about something exciting beyond extra monsters and glowing pink barriers.

[blood_and_pocky]

“Maybe I was asking because I wasn’t around. Who cares? Does it really matter?” Trying to undermine Aidou’s way of thinking was a wasted endeavor no matter how one looked at it. On a morning like this, it was annoying having to deal with a male who wanted to compete with him. Another reminder that he had been dragged back down, closer to the boy’s level than he had any right to be.

It was an intolerable situation, and although he knew he should focus on tackling breakfast given that the boy had nothing groundbreaking to contribute, Aidou found it hard to shake off his disappointment.

If he was being honest, it was the setback more than the loss of his powers that bothered him.

He eyed the eating utensil as it was branded in his direction before resting his chin in his hand. Being ugly wouldn’t be a blessing at all, but he almost missed being as oblivious as this weirdo. Eating without worrying about a single thing. Wouldn’t that be nice?

“Do you know anything that isn’t already public knowledge?”

[oneman_onekill]

Saying that maybe he had been asking around because he'd been out of the loop and then claiming it didn't matter...wasn't that kind of self-defeating there? Ah, whatever, this guy was going to be a snob no matter what. He didn't have to rise to the bait if he didn't want to.

Niikura smiled at the other boy's question. Do I know anything? Of course I do, but nothing that you need to be aware of. It probably didn't interest him anyway, since he was so caught up in himself. The things that Niikura liked to learn about typically had nothing to do with Landel or with the military. One day his focus would probably be shifted toward them, but first, he had wanted to stretch his legs for a bit. "Eh, probably not, but at least I know when to admit it." Unlike someone.