Forum Thread

Xuanji sat with the group, she herself recoiling at the texture and feeling of the contents on her plate. Biting off as little as she could have the bread, Xuanji swallowed immediately, not wanting to taste it. She left the egg alone, not wanting to throw up everything and embarrass herself. Reluctantly, she had finished the slice of toast, yet the egg was untouched, it looked as unappealing as ever. Resisting an urge the throw it at a wall, Xuanji inspected the vitamins, holding up the packet to eye level and opened it, no, she wouldn’t take them, who knows what this place laced them with. Being a quite reasonable individual who was (probably) towards the older side at the orphanage, she wasn’t risking it.

Them, the children, were already miserable and trapped, she didn’t need a claw controlling what would happen to her like a marionette. Xuanji wasn’t a puppet, none of them were, it was only natural, however, that they need the institution for their own survival. It wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t good in any form, but it was better than being on the streets.

Taking out the pills from the suspicious packet, the girl slipped them into her sleeve while miming the action of consumption. Putting on a fake grimace after doing so. Xuanji readjusted her sleeve so she could take the pills out and relocate them in her hand. From there, the pills were shoved in a pocket. They would be carefully snuck into the sleeping quarters so that she could investigate them when everyone were asleep.

[]Xuanji does not take the vitamins

---

Hua looks around, before taking her own packet of pills and tearing them open. She peers inside, fiddling with the tablets for a bit. Should she take them? Recently, she had noticed the pills gave her the occasional piercing headache- amongst other varying effects.

After a bit of thinking, Hua takes another icky looking boiled egg, and carefully hides her vitamins inside them. Then, she pockets them to dispose of at a later date.

Phoebes doesn't touch the plate. It wasn't like she needed it for her to feel full. She didn't touch the vitamins either. Her body is able to naturally absorb the nutrients from around her without a fuss. However, just because she doesn't need it doesn't make it any less troublesome that she NEEDS to eat it no matter what. Seeing from her peripheral vision that other children either sneakily hid it away and that Ibaraki was the only one who actually ate the pills made Phoebes tilt her head.

She declawed her hands away from Ibaraki and smiles gently, signalling him to turn and face her. She then offered her pills for him to take. Smiling.

"You'll listen to jiejie right?"

She mouthed silently.

[]Phoebes does not take the pill.

---

Holding back a whine when Phoebes drew her hand away, Ibaraki wasn't left pouting for long. obeying her summons with a tilted head, Ibaraki glanced down at her hand where she offered the medicine. Of course, Ibaraki would listen to Jiejie... right?

Ah, so this was how it was going to be, huh.

Staring at the vitamins for perhaps a beat longer than what one would deem normal, Ibaraki only leaned around Phoebes to check if Nurse Lisa or Madam Isla was watching either of them. When that didn't seem to be the case, a toothy grin bloomed over Ibaraki's face as the unwavering trust wrapped itself around the proffered packet. "Of course!" Ibaraki chirped, swallowing down the bitter medication stored within with only a minor grimace. The grainy residue that lingered like sand joined with the tasteless food and bland water as Ibaraki beamed at Phoebes.

Of course he would listen. If it was Jiejie asking, then Ibaraki would do anything she asked.

[]Ibaraki has taken the vitamins. Again.

---

Phoebes smiles delightfully, her eyes curling into crescents. Once she made sure that Ibaraki has eaten the vitamins, she gave the boy a generous tousle, making his hair point in all sorts of direction before patting it down before any of the institute staff catches a whiff of their messy behavior.

With her food still untouched, Phoebes passed the plate over to Ibaraki, prompting him to dig in with a bright smile. Didn't he just wolf down this meal as if it was the most delectable dish in the world?

If so, then this should cheer the malnourished boy up again right? Phoebes pondered carefully before shrugging.

There's no reason for her to care this much about the boy anyways.

---

When the clock hits eight forty-five exactly, Madam Isla’s voice crackles through the speaker once more.

“To your lessons, my dear children~ Don’t be late”

Other children begin robotically piling their empty trays onto the ‘main table’, and file out of the cafeteria in a straight light, hands swinging rhythmically as they march down the halls to an imaginary beat they all hear.

The group is left alone in the cafeteria, and the little TV on the wall flashes a red timer “13:59…58….57”

---

Hua stands up, clears her own tray, and looks at the others “Come on. Let’s go. Before Teacher Lisa comes. You know what she’s like when we arrive after her. Even if we’re still on time” She glances up at the timer that’s counting down “I doubt any of you want to be punished by her. We should probably hurry up”

Damien stood up at Madame Isla’s voice, picking his plate up. He considered talking to the others, but.,. He doubted they’d hear him. Instead, he went to put his tray away.

---

Raven silently mimicked the other children, putting her tray away. Her head was pounding, whether from another incoming vision or just from lack of sleep, she couldn’t tell.
Skeletal fingers stretched out to her from the walls, the bone bleached white and clean of blood, flesh and muscle. A blink, and the hallucination faded. She shook herself and made her way to the classroom.

---

Brightening as a new tray was pushed into voracious hands, Ibaraki only paused about midway through devouring the epitome of "at least its edible" when the thought suddenly occurred that Phoebes hadn't eaten anything at all. Not the vitamins, not even breakfast. Yeah, logically Ibaraki knew how much of a torture eating more plastic than nutritional slop that was served was them was, but even nibbling on something was better than nothing. But as soon as Ibaraki was turning to needle Phoebes into eatting something, Madam Isla's voice chimed an end to that.

Standing up and ignoring the wave of dizziness that crashed over, making everything swim in a tangled mess of shapes and colours, Ibaraki trotted over to the main table and set the mountain of empty trays down with the rest. Unsteady steps left Ibaraki trailing after the others in a daze, shorter feet struggling to keep up. That light headed feeling clung like a ghost to the child, weighing down each step with a heavy fog that refused to let Ibaraki gain any proper footing.

---

Hua stares after the stumbling Ibaraki, blinks, dumbfounded, before making a small train appear, gingerly lifting the child up and dumping him into one of the train carriages. She then wipes her hands thoroughly on her skirt. Huh. Maybe she was a bit of a germaphobe. Just a little. Either way, that train was way faster than whatever drunken daze Ibaraki was walking with, zigzagging all over the place. The poor boy probably wouldn’t make it further than down the corridor, Hua thought to herself, as she sent the train gently chugging along to the classroom, walking behind it.

With a truly pathetic squeak Ibaraki was picked up, not without difficulty. Dense corded muscles bunched up with undisguised strength naturally made Ibaraki much heavier than other children of the same age, so Xiao Hua would undoubtedly have struggled a little to even pick up the small child. Still, Ibaraki was deposited into the train cart with only a muted whine of... some emotion, sitting down heavily as the dizzying wave of psychedelic visions made the walls bend and the echoes ring.

"Than'y...H'a-Jiejie....." Ibaraki mumbled, head thunking softly against the wall of the train carriage, heavy eyes fluttering shut against the hoard of stimulation assaulting delicate senses. Taking in a breath, the soft aroma of wood planks soothing frazzled nerves into a low hum, the buzz that filled Ibaraki's head slithering into only a pleasant annoyance. Letting the rocking of the train rock back and forth with the constant motion, the gentle motion drawing Ibaraki deeper into the lull of comfort that the power gave, though the more Ibaraki thought about it, the more a sense of unease sat heavy in an emptying stomach before Ibaraki shot up with a gasp.

"Hua-Jiejie! W-wait the rules!" Ibaraki sputtered, attempting to scramble out of the carriage. If there was one rule that always stuck out so starkly, if only for the reason that Ibaraki kept breaking it, was to never. Ever. Use your powers. The fear that coursed through the small body overrode any sort of illness that had plagued the child just moments before, giving Ibaraki the burst of strength to try and clamber out of the train.

---

“Relax, Ibaraki. You worry too much. Jie Jie heard that the security cameras for this hallway-“ She points to the sloppy sticker on the wall reading 34C. “Are broken. I heard Teacher Lisa tell Madam Isla that, during my after-classes. They were discussing stuff outside the classroom, and they said they would only be able to fix it next week. Which hasn’t come yet.”

Hua ruffles his hair, turning it into a messy mop atop his head.

“Stay in the train, we still have a little ways to go before there are any working security cameras.”