Backlash
In comparison to the start of their time in the cafeteria, the mid-portion of their stay had comparably less violent outbursts courtesy of a choleric energy demon. The vast majority of them had settled into a comfortable, if tense, silence. Of course, the room being naturally wide and spaced out meant that none of them had to actually talk to one another. Which, depending on how they viewed each other, was either a good thing or a bad thing.
Although, that didn't mean that there was going to be no confrontation. Especially when the dripping of blood on the pure white table was reverberating a kind of rhythmic beat in the whole era. With the blood dripping from his nose, despite him covering it, and with the addition of the extra drops that game from his caved-in forehead, Kagekatsu was glaring daggers at Joseph on the other side of the room.
"Are you proud of yourself, Fucker?" It was what he really wanted to say the Furfur user. Granted, it's usually what he wanted to spout out to the vast majority of people. He already had the laundry list of people he was getting back at written down, now it was all about ordering a dartboard and getting the appropriate pictures so he could vent out his frustrations.
On the other side, Joseph who was sitting alongside Akashi, having just about managed to procure something that looked vaguely like food, was just staring down at the plate in front of him. It looked like a failed attempt to kid himself into thinking what he was about to eat actually constituted meat, particularly when the lettuce that had made up the most of it was sliced into something vaguely resembling a T-bone steak.
The rest, courtesy of Akashi being able to get over the lack of meat quite easily and not having too much of an issue working with what he was given, seemed to be contented with the kind of cabbage soup he had been able to whip up. Of course, the less Kagekatsu looked over at Ani, who was eating like some kind of rabid raccoon alongside the fact she looked as if she was about to eat the bowl as well, the better he would feel in general.
Plus, the same could be said about the way Hisumi, the girl who had sent him to ER with minimal effort, was lapping the thing up. The way she was making sure to lick the bowl as well made him want to vomit almost. She looked like a dog cleaning her plate, as if it were just more natural for her to lean into those urges.
Of course, his own choice of shitty microwaved cup Ramen was left in the dust after Joseph drained the electricity from the microwave, and now he was trying to not bleed into the soup or have it burn his tongue. This is why he preferred microwaved food, no effort, didn't burn your tongue, and nine times out of ten didn't involve some psychopath caving your head in over your choice. His broken nose could see to that last part.
And now with his initial complaining done, he locked his eyes on Joseph solely. Although, just a few moments later he was swiftly turning them away and looking down at his own plate, disgusted by what he was seeing on the other's end. What had turned him off so much? Well, maybe, beyond having to look at the poor etiquette from all the others, it was Joseph pretty much slamming his head down onto the table and shovelling food down his gullet with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. His elongated canines making short work of just about anything, and if it weren't for the crime against humanity that was the rest of the intake, the fox boy would be even more repulsed by what he was seeing.
Seriously, these people ate like they had never heard of the phrase "Table Manners" let alone even entertained the idea that they were human beings. He was gifted the features of an animal and he was the one eating like a human, oh such irony that Shakespeare himself couldn't craft!
Even a cursory glance over his shoulder, right where Ikariko was sitting made him almost want to throw up yet again. Whenever the walking horror show wasn't busy trying to trap bugs with his hands, he was eating like he was trapped as some kind of animal in some kind of jail cell. Scampering and tearing and digesting every last scrap of nourishment as if his life depended on it. You know, he had been overblowing it when he complained about these people not knowing manners. He wasn't expecting to be true!
In some ways, Kagekatsu missed prison. At least there, he was able to eat in his own cell without fear of getting decked by psychopaths at any moment. The true joys of being solitary confinement, you never had to deal with people for more than one hour a day. Compared to the time he spent here; prison was sounding pretty good right now. Then again, so was measles, didn't mean it was a positive connotation as well. He knew he should have never let that vampire scare/sweet talk him into taking this offer.
On the other end of the equation, though, prison had turned him into a scrawny, dishevelled version of his dad and he smelt goddamn awful the vast majority of the time. If this place let him clean up his stink, then there could be some positive at least.
Returning to his former glory would be a struggle, though. Even as he cautiously lapped up the soup, not bothering to give much time to savouring the taste, his tastebuds already having left him having been destroyed after a few years of microwave only food, he didn't entertain the idea of recovering from this scrawny prison he had ended up trapping himself in.
God, he just wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible. The atmosphere was killing him almost as much as his broken bones. Really, there was only so long one could sit in silence before the lack of sound sent them over the edge. If someone had ever gotten a Quirk like that, they would be one of the most powerful he had ever seen. Granted, he hadn't seen many, but sensory deprivation was really nothing to scoff at.
Even his ears, grafted onto him because of the mutation he inherited from his dad, as sensitive to sound as they were, could pick up nothing but Joseph's mutilation of his food and the slurping of all the others that weren't done.
It was like he had been taken into a training school for mimes. Hell! They even had a clown right here to prove that at least some part of that analogy had a basis. At least there was one silent person he was happy about, the less he heard of Arius' voice in his ears the better. Kagekatsu got the feeling that if Arius were ever set on fire, not withstanding his bullshit level of regeneration, nobody would even piss on him to put him out.
Speaking of the resident regenerating asshole, he seemed to be perfectly happy just scoping out the "field" and looking about the place for his next unfortunate target. He had already gotten a decent rise of the girl akin to a wild animal than anything else, plus there was always room for poking her further to see if she had a little something extra compared to the rest of them. There was only so much material that he could get out of this place with only spending about five minutes outside of a heated environment.
That, and the fact he was getting bored dunking his hand in the boiling soup and see how much he could get away with. Of course, he was rest assured that his Quirk would be overpowering minor burns that he would get from doing this, but it never hurt to know your limits in any way possible. If only he had a stopwatch, then he would be able to know what the actual time was. But as it stood, he would just have to make do with the eye test.
It was fairly indicative of the mood, therefore, that Arius found more enjoyment in the act of self-harm than he did with even trying to interact with the other members of the Foundation. That even he couldn't find something to poke fun at despite his seemingly bottomless pit of snide remarks and dickish antics. It was like there was an iceberg, even bigger in size than the one that had sunk the Titanic, had been erected right in the middle of the place. Beyond having several Ice Kings and Queens, there was just a general unease permeating the place.
The little exercise they had done before hand was something that may have played a role. It gave the impression that some of the people were definitely not here to be crossed, the meek might have decided and elected to stay in their own lane. They didn't exactly come here to make friends, after all. As far as some were concerned, the other people here were just a novelty. A side quest on the main storyline, a group of NPCs with similar issues they were to forget about when the moment passed.
"You know, I'm not keeping you a prisoner here, you're all free to leave if you want…" Subaru's voice came, piercing like a well-placed swing of a pickaxe into the growing iceberg. The pink haired clown had been much more subdued than he had been before in the simulation room, even a lot more agitated for some reason. His mood seemed to lie on some sort of seesaw, every waking second was a moment where it could flip one way or another. Going from overly dramatic, to serious as sin, and then back to some kind of clownish amateur dramatics. If he didn't give them all mood whiplash already, he was bound to do it eventually.
In his arms, Yua was very much remaining passed out beyond all belief, as if her whole bevy of energy she had had been drained from her. Still sleeping, she fidgeted about the place, not quite the little girl she had once been, it was a lot more uncomfortable to be in her "dad's" grasp and required a lot of fussy movement to get into a comfortable position. Not helping all that much was how she seemed to flinch and move away every single time Subaru tried to cajole her into place, almost like she was subconsciously trying to move away from him because her amygdala was acting up.
It made him roll his eyes, he hadn't had trouble with her like this in ages, not since she was small enough to fit under one of his arms. Honestly, she was already unruly enough and he would much rather prefer to have just dumped her back with Leech at this point. That would more so be the case if he could trust anyone in cahoots with Sateriasis as far as he could throw them.
In the end, his train of thought ended up going into one station alone. A one way express ticket to getting them through the rest of this orientation, the silence was beginning to drive him even more insane than he usually was. "If I wanted to hold you all hostage, I would have done it already! All I ask is that when you leave, you join back up at where you first arrived just so I can take you to your dorms. Let's say I'll give you all half an hour, that sound good?" He eventually rambled out, the first part said in jest, the latter part verging more on a kind of wistful tone as he tried to work out a smear he had someone gotten with his makeup.
Although, just because Subaru had decided to open his mouth, it didn't exactly mean that everyone was going to start talking like they were best friends forever. Subaru couldn't help but sneer when they all slowly began to matriculate out. One by one, with no more than a five-minute interval between all of them, they were all gone. By the end of the five minutes, Subaru was left by himself and with a pensive look on his face.
This little escapade of freedom would allow him to get them out of his hair, and then there would be more than enough time for him to come up with some sort of event to get them all together. It didn't take long for a smirk to cover his glossy lips and for his trademark laugh to nearly slip out, just like in the simulation room, sometimes his genius was frightening even to him.
The freedom to navigate the Foundation was one thing, the ability to do so was another matter entirely. The place was built like a maze, just as many of them were about to find out for themselves. It was awash with dead ends, hallways that would loop back on themselves no matter which path off of it you took, it could even give something as warped as the Overlook Hotel a run for its money with how cryptic some of the entryways were. Shiki, who had been meandering about during most of the run down, had somehow managed to find herself in an optical illusion nightmare of repeating doors and hidden exists. Safe to say, the ice dragon girl would be soon throwing up her lunch if she wasn't careful when navigating it. That was to say nothing of the garish colour scheme as well, so many clashing colours and wanton designs just helped add to the nausea. Did they really have to use such a vile green colour?
The taller people, in other words, Arius and Fukuro in particular, were having an absolutely torrid time surveying the place. Whilst Arius was busy having to duck under the doors, making his journey something of a moderate annoyance if anything else, as he deliberately took the long away around just to scope the place out. Fukuro was having a worse time of it, if he thought that banging his head on the way into the Foundation was bad enough, he hadn't seen it all yet. In an almost mocking way, he came across door after door that was shorter than the last. If he didn't think any differently, he would assume that the last door he came across before turning around was deliberately placed there to make fun of him. There was absolutely no way he was going to limbo under something that barely reached his knees. The only person that could conceivably use that door was a baby! Or perhaps a midget… At a push.
On the other end of things, Kagekatsu found himself quite quickly in the middle of absolute nowhere. There was a row of identical doors, all white and all kept in a total pristine condition. The only way they could actually be distinguished were the small marks notched into the space between them. The fox boy squinted as he walked in a bit closer, trying to see what the markings actually were. He could make out what looked like the vague scratching of tally marks, each one more haphazard than the last. The first mark would always start off being the most stable and the deepest, but they would all progressively get more unstable with the second and third ones just barely cut into the wall. The fourth one, for some odd reason, would always become more stable, like a guiding hand had placed a calming presence over the person doing this. However, that would not last long, as the final tally mark that closed the gate would be cut so dangerous and so deep that it overshadowed nearly all of the rest.
To say it was weird was an understatement, Kagekatsu wouldn't lie and say he wasn't a bit unsettled by what he was seeing. For once, in his better judgement, he actually took the correct decision in this case. He backed away from this creepy corridor, shuffling on his heels as he always looked over his shoulder to see if anything was going to come scampering out of those doors. If his time in here was anything to go off of, he really wouldn't be surprised if the walking dead just decided to pop out for a bit! Plus, it was better safe than sorry considering he was still walking around on fucking crutches with a broken nose!
Oh, he'd get his revenge someday…
At the other end of the spectrum, instead of backing away from an ominous set of doors, Joseph found himself in front and moving to just within touching distance of the infirmary's doors. His hearing wasn't the best, being clobber around the head numerous times earlier in the day sure didn't help, but he couldn't hear any tell tale sounds of movement. So, unless Sateriasis was doing his damned best to keep silent, the only person in the room would be Mei. With the silence still reigning like an absolute monarch, it was clear that she wasn't awake either.
Pushing his hand out, fingers brushing against the door, Joseph's face showed no discernible emotion. When you had a voice as dull as his, and body language that screamed total and utter disdain for everyone around you, it was hard for him to really look anything less than somewhere between pissed and infuriated. To a random passer-by, it would've also looked like he was having the world's most intense staring contest with the doors.
After letting his hand linger for just a few moments more, he gave a light push and let the doors open the rest of the way on its own. True enough, Mei was still right where they had all left her when they had gone out to the cafeteria. She still looked peaceful if not still a bit restless in sleep, a kind of pained tranquillity settling over her face. Joseph's eyes narrowed when he spied the damage he did to her via his knife assisted crossface, the stitches looking a bit cleaner than they were before hand. Almost like someone with actual medical skills had touched them up.
Still, he could tell that that wasn't an injury that was going to be cleared up without much of a fuss. It was going to be a long, tedious, and painful process to the point where it was debateable if the lingering scars would ever fully go away. All in all, as he approached her bedside, taking small and slow steps, if she did suddenly wake up then he was going to have to tread lightly. He would have to handle the situation with tact and reasonable decorum.
Such a shame he was Joseph Weaver. He wasn't exactly someone with those skills, he was exactly someone who lacked all those skills and then some. Hence, he looked like the purest form of a creep as he stood by Mei's bed. Those beady eyes staring down out of the ocean of black sclera at his fallen victim.
"Mhm… Exquisite job you did there! Have to say, seeing it up close makes it even more impressive!"
As soon as that voice had entered his head, the sickening tone and wormy words that slicked around his brain in an alien grip, he was already on the prowl to shake it out of his head once and for all. It didn't matter that it had invaded just at the end of his fight beforehand, it didn't matter that it was perhaps impossible to shake it off his tail, Joseph wanted the damn thing out of his mind regardless of if it was clinging to him like glue and filling his ears with poison.
In a sense, Joseph was lucky there was no outside observer, which he could see, to watch him go through that internal battle. He didn't really have much of a clue as to how he looked while doing it, but then again, there wasn't any part of his movement that didn't look like it was itching to impale someone through the chest with his horns. He moved like a predator in the best of times, so any kind of violent reaction was going to make look more like a feral beast in the worst of time.
"...Ngh…" At the slight sound of Mei groaning in pain, Joseph would be lying if he said he didn't take a step or two back. It was something that tended to happen when one got too entangled in their own mind. A cautious look down laid out the scene of Mei's body turning about in her pain induced sleep session, her body fidgeting and her limbs going from being fully extended to retracted in mere moments. Of course, any time any of the limbs got close to him, he was immediately shutting the chance of them touching him down. He had already done enough of that today… If only people knew their boundaries.
However, he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little perplexed by Mei's actions in her sleep. As far as he knew, the ones he had seen sleeping had always been still and straight like a brick, like they were lying in wait to bound up from their pretend slumber. Of course, there was some unique cases, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. Though, it never hurt to be too careful from time to time, which was why, alongside the whole idea of moving away to prevent being touched, Joseph was airing on the side of caution regarding distance.
"…No… I-… I!" Mei's voice came out strained, her head tossing and turning, a light amount of the flames of her Quirk slipping out in that moment too. Blinking like an owl for a moment, looking like a child that was trying to figure out why the square peg wasn't going into the round hole, the cogs in Joseph's head were working overtime to figure out just what was going on with the girl in front of him.
Then it struck him like a boot to the face.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Joseph realised what was happening now. She was having a nightmare, right? At least, that's what he remembered they were called whenever his mother spoke about them to him. Half frozen in movement and half frozen in thought, Joseph remained stationary and could only really watch what Mei was going through. It was just… Strange… There was really no other way he could put it.
"…Don't… Take…" Somehow, the next time Mei spoke, her voice had gotten even more strained. As if it were an overused plane control cable, the same threat of imminent emergency loomed large if it ever broke. Right now, it was almost in a kind of soprano level of pitch, and it was lucky for the rest of the intake, who had sensitive hearing more often than not, that they were not nearby to hear it.
Joseph, meanwhile, was still at a loss for what to do. He felt almost like he was stuck watching a car crash that he just couldn't tear his eyes from, the kind of thing so awful that it made you want to turn away but some morbid part of you wanted to continue the experience.
He also could have sworn, even if it happened just for a single moment in time, that he saw something that no one would notice if they weren't paying intense attention to detail in that instance. In the briefest flash, one of Mei's baggy sleeves rolled down to just below her wrist right before she flipped over to her front. What was on the wrist? Well, if Joseph was some innocent teenager that had grown up with an actual life and didn't end up at this clown show, he would've said it was something akin to a bracelet.
However, basic reasoning alongside some rather unfortunate experiences on his end, clued him into what they were exactly.
Despite his revelation, he had little time to process it unless he was some kind of high-tech supercomputer. The simple reason being that this time there was a pained yelp that emanated from Mei instead of normal words, it was soon followed by the sudden and absolute cry of Mei waking up and tearing some of the stiches out of her lower body due to the sheer violence of how she woke up. Reflexively, something that was probably related to her nightmare in Joseph's opinion, she had kicked out and thrust her body upwards. Naturally, it caused the hatchet job Sateriasis had done to show the cracks. Now, she was just biting down her lip in an attempt to hold in any further cries.
The tension on her lip only got higher as she spied Joseph in the corner of her vision. "What are you doing here?" That's what she wanted to ask him at first. He was just standing there, looking at her with squinty, beady eyes and not saying a word. A cold shiver ran through her body, an almost subtle cry for help from her amygdala. Internally, said part of the brain was flashing so many red lights it might have been forgiven for being thought of as communist. In the end, all she could must was a meek "Huh?" Plus, it didn't help that speaking risking ripping open some of the stiches. All around, it was just awkward to say the least.
Joseph, still perplexed by the whole situation at hand, didn't know how to handle what he had just gotten himself into. He wasn't unique in social interaction not being his strong point, there seemed to be one of those people on every corner in this place, but he lacked any real instinctual reply to what he had just saw. "What were you doing?" But first things were first, he had to figure out if his hypothesis was correct.
Trying to take the pain in her stride, cursing herself under her breath, Mei huddled backwards in the gurney "Oh… Ummm… What did it look like I was doing?" It was a fairly odd question in the first place, watching someone while they sleep was also quite remarkable in its creepiness, however, Mei was going to let that slide at the moment. It wasn't like it was going to happen again or anything.
Joseph remained blank, his dreadful monotone not making his emotions any easier to gauge for Mei. "What's that supposed to mean?" He replied back, the monotone staying the same but the temperature around them dropping by a decent amount. Made all the more impact full on Mei when one considered how her Quirk functioned again. "I would have to say, though, you looked like you were fighting an invisible villain." He tacked onto the end after a sigh, having watched how Mei looked lost by his reply to her.
The last part, however, still didn't help ease the awkward flow of conversation. Much less did it physically help Mei from looking less lost and directionless "Ah… I see… It's nothing to worry about, I guess I just had a nightmare or somethin'…" Her voice sounded forlorn, a kind of breathiness about it that didn't make it seem like she was all there.
The furfur user shook his head, idly brushing away some stray strands of hair that had fallen in front of his other eye "You know, if you weren't going to tell me anything useful, not talking was also an option." He might have come off as a bit curt there, the awkward tension of the whole thing wasn't really helping the whole situation either.
Once more, the person replying was left with little to go off of. This time around, there was the added bonus of Joseph coming off as much more pissed off than he was beforehand. "Just saying… They just happen…" And that was really all she could say, not like she could remember all the details of what she had been dreaming about. Just a select few that she really didn't want to speak about…
Joseph eyed her closely again, right as she moved back down into the centre of the bed and let her face lie front and centre. Once again, seeing the damage he had inflicted on her had that putrid voice knocking on the door of his brain again, so much so he forced himself to speak to dismiss its poisonous undertones "You think it'll scar for long?" He asked, cracking his neck and regretting it the very second he did so. God, she had really done a number and a half there.
Mei blinked for the moment, eyes darting about as she tried to finger out what he meant. After a few more seconds, she idly let a finger run across the stitching on her jaw, herself whenever she nicked it and caused more pain to streak through her system. "Oh… Dunno…"
Joseph fought back to keep a sneer from emerging on his face "Do you really have to be so blasé about it? Scratch that, do you really have to be so blasé about everything that happened?" He snapped, evidently not clocking what the hell was going on in Mei's head. How could one not know this stuff? It was basic information! Ignore the whole thing about Joseph not recognising what a nightmare was for a moment, it wasn't relevant. He didn't want to brag, because it wasn't anything to brag about, but he more than knew his fair share of pain and Mei was hitting all the wrong notes here.
And as if she were just doing this to piss him off, Mei shrugged his question off. Furthermore, instead of choosing to look at the growing fury of Joseph, her eyes darted around the room in general. This was her first experience of the place compared to the rest of them, and whilst she could certainly say she had seen cleaner and more sanitary places, she had seen far worse out there. It at least didn't look like they were about to sacrifice her Aztec style.
Then she moved her gaze upwards, and her eyes immediately caught on one thing in particular, something so small that it was unlikely that anyone was ever going to find it out. Unless, of course, they had a particular set of skills and interests. "We're being watched…" She said, pointing a solitary finger up into the far-right corner of the room.
As Joseph squinted, trying to follow Mei's line of sight and outstretched digit, he scoffed upon not finding anything where she was looking. "Did I make you delirious as well?" He said, keeping down the natural urge to growl. His shoulder blades getting awfully tense as he grabbed on the ends of his partially burned shirt.
Mei shook her head, the simmering fury flying right over her as she leaned in a bit to get a "closer" look. A brief glance downwards from Joseph made him take note of the new light shining behind Mei's otherwise dull eyes. Even during their fight, he saw nothing in those eyes of her. Of course, beating people senseless didn't tend to allow much time to digest as subtle changes as this. However, for the times he could see them, it was nothing but an opaque wall. It made him think just what had gotten her into this mood…
"It's a unique one… Dunno when I last saw it… But it's one of those cameras that's made to blend in easier to a background. Y'know, if you ever watch some of those old heist films, where they're trying to hide them so that the people trying to brake in never see them! Or it's something more like a Hero raid where they have to scope out the villain location beforehand to make sure they're not being watched!" All of a sudden, she was full of some kind of weird determination and energy. She had flipped from reversed and blasé to a scary kind of energetic. Joseph couldn't understand the trigger as well, was there really a camera over there? And if there was, would it really matter? Cameras were all over the place, if anything it would be weird if a place like this didn't have them! Not like he lived with them the majority of his life or something.
But that didn't seem to matter to Mei, she was wanting to clamber over the edge of the bed regardless of the pain she was experiencing from the stiches coming undone again. Joseph couldn't help but shake his head every single time he saw Mei grimace in her journey, and had he been someone else, he would have likely stepped in to stop her. But hey, he was in this place for a reason. If she wanted to give herself even more suffering then she could be his guest, it's what she got for being such a bad fighter that she ended up getting impaled by one of his horns!
However, just as she got close to the place in question, an announcement blasted through the whole Foundation. "Tick tock! Time's up! Now if you would all be so kind as to meet with me where I told you, we can finally start the last part of this orientation!" Subaru's voice pounded through, alerting everyone in the Foundation, and by everyone it meant everyone. Which just so happened to include a barely awake Kyte, who was now planning on some payback of his own… Later…
But to Joseph, Mei, and all the other new members, the call came with a degree of either enthusiasm, indifference, or outright annoyance. Mei and Joseph, their previous conversation topic dropping as Mei retreated back ever so slightly, the light in her eyes going dimmer and dimmer by the second, they just ended up looking at each other. General uncertainty becoming the flavour of the day.
However, the next part was the driving factor that made Joseph in particular want to storm over there right in this instance. "Oh! One more thing! I may or may not have messed up and been a bit liberal with how I designated all your stuff, so all you stragglers might want to come about and make sure I've not screwed up your stuff! Okay? Anyway, I'll see ya soon!" Oh, there was no doubt about what had really happened. Everyone might have only been here for the day, but it didn't take a genius to figure out how the resident psychopathic clown had really gone about it.
It didn't matter to Joseph, though. As soon as the indication was given, he was off like a rocket. Mei was utterly and totally left alone, forgotten about like she was never actually there in the first place. To the furfur user, there was little else on the planet that took much of more of a precedent than keep what was his safe. No one, and he meant no one, was allowed to touch it. If Subaru had so much as left it out of place, he was going to tear that goddamn clown limb from limb.
As he sped his way there, Mei loosely following behind him with small steps, he had to stop himself from ripping every door off his hinges. He also had to bite back the internal urge to just soak up any electricity outlets he could get his hands on, there was being protective of your stuff and then there was being psychopathic over it. So long as no one touched it, there was no reason for him to go in the direction of the latter.
Eventually, he was able to power and speed his way up to the meting room. Throwing open the doors, these ones were obvious and in broad daylight, which meant that clearly Subaru hadn't manged to get a monopoly on designing this room, Joseph raced over to the centre of the room where all the stuff was piled.
Being the first one there, he was only joined by Subaru, who was leaning on the wall with his eyes closed and a smirk on his face. He didn't need to know which one of them had arrived first, he could tell through the sheer violence and speed which one of them it was. "Jo-chan, I assure you that you didn't need to be that overly violent. You know how much this whole place costs, hmm~?"
Joseph disregarded Subaru, acting like the other man was nothing more than a fly that was trying to annoy him with his pesky buzzing. He also didn't care for whatever he turned over in the search for the one thing he truly wanted, whether that be some random lock box he just tossed over his shoulder without much care for the rattling of a card he heard inside, or if it was the pile of furs he not so carefully ripped through in an effort to find his desire.
It would've helped an awful lot more helpful if Subaru decided not to dump everything right in the middle of the room without a care, but this was also Subaru that Joseph was talking about. The chances that he would do anything helpful was really next to nothing. "You seem a bit tense, Jo-chan, looking for anything in particular?" Came the pink haired man's voice, a teasing lilt to it as he watched the scene unfolding in front of him. This really was a masterstroke on his part, wasn't it? He should've been doing things like this from the first intake instead of only now. Watching that iceberg melt away was always the most annoying part of the process, and with how he could hear the sound of more people coming, it wouldn't be much longer until he thought the first thaw would come.
Plus, it wasn't like Joseph was going to find what he was looking for any time soon. Some part of Subaru gazed upon the frantic of search of Joseph and couldn't help but almost giggle. It really was quite endearing and funny to watch all these people, designated as sweathogs by his beloved boss, scamper over their material belongings. It was also always funny to see how protective of their trinkets they really were, and it looked like Subaru had guessed right with how fervently Joseph was trying to search for one item in particular.
In fact, Joseph was so consumed by his search that he was barely aware of the increasing amount of people joining him. Including a very, very irritated Arius, who, given by how he was cradling the lockbox that Joseph had flung across the room, was just the slightest bit miffed of Joseph tossing his belongings to the wind. "Oi! What's the big idea here?!" He growled out, almost going to grab Joseph back by his collar, but his anger abating his confidence in tanking the blows just enough for him not to go through with it.
More people trailed in behind Arius, including Mei, who walked around the general area before ending up just sitting in a corner of the large room and staring at the large pile of items. She also a took a keen interest in the brewing tension between Arius and Joseph, especially with how Joseph seemed so hyper-focused that he didn't even clock the fact that the resident asshole was talking to him.
Arius growled as the lack of a response got to his head and started playing table tennis with his thought process. He hadn't talked once to this stick in the mud since he had gotten to the Foundation, the only time he had even mentioned Joseph in one of his amazing breaths was when he rubbished the other's fighting style. Now, he wanted to absolutely run down the other teen with just about every insult in his book, but the total stonewalling he was receiving was pissing him off just as much as what he had done to his stuff. It was unlikely that any of his words would penetrate through that thick fucking skull of Joseph's, and that in turn just led to Arius huffing behind the other with his arms folded.
A few moments later, and now he was at work in the pile, trying to see if anything else he had brought was messed up on purpose. Not at all surprised by the fact he soon found that half of his actual memorabilia was stuffed into random places, he ended up finding his medal collection shoved into the midst of what looked like the world's shittiest attempt at colour coding imaginable. One top of that, a pair of slides he had been given, his old man's rank and all, were found wrapped up in some of the furs that Joseph had torn into like a cat did to a sofa.
So, naturally, whenever he saw Akashi, who had just arrived, head to the colour coded belongings and maintain a kind of blissful ignorance, something was lit within Arius. "Hey! You! Furry fuck! Ruby Tuesday, whatever the fuck your name is again! What the hell is your problem with you leaving your shit all over mine!" He yelled, hovering over Akashi's shoulder as the catboy began to feel the weight of a thousand worlds press down on him.
Almost leaping out of his skin at first, trying to reach out with his on instinct only for the cuffs to get in his way again, Akashi took a deep breath before looking back up at Arius with a smile halfway between sunny and creepily happy. He didn't talk right away as well, leaving that ominous smile on his face as his brain went through the process of electing which nickname he would ascribe to the meatbag in front of him.
Meatshield sounded pretty good when he thought about Arius and his Quirk's ludicrous regeneration making him the perfect human shield. Then again, there was always just calling him Ari! Although, the more he thought about it the more he decided that that was far too cutesy for someone like Arius. There was always Punching Bag! Like, the guy clearly was going to act like one if he continued rubbing absolutely everyone the wrong way, and the same could be said for labelling him as Deadmeat! Wow… He was really going to need to write these down at some point, wasn't he? He hadn't had this level of interest in nicknaming people in some time!
Back in the real world, though, Arius was stuck staring at this at furry fuck just smile at him. Needless to say, he wanted to slap the fucking smile off this creep, he doubted the idiot had any kind of durability like he did, then again not many did but that was besides the point. If he were to follow that clown's teachings, they were to take violence as a question instead of an answer and then beat the shit out of each other because the answer was always yes. Of course, though, wishing violence on someone was different than actually executing violence on people. Maybe he would have to take another path to getting something back on him…
"Yeah! That's it! Don't worry about it, Meatshield! I'll take my stuff and get out of your hair, just remember one thing, though." As Akashi went down to pick up his assortment of belongings, stumbling in a way as his small frame made piling them up fairly taxing, he passed Arius by and made sure to nick him on the way by with a slight shift of one of his claws. Oh, he knew it would heal within moments, but the message was important. "Oh, and one more thing. They're not rubies. Please try to remember that, Meatshield, otherwise Taser over there won't be the only one sick of you." He said, giving another smile and nodding over at Joseph before departing to the side of the room.
Arius, meanwhile, after healing from the petty nick, was halfway between anger and frustration. God, he was supposed to be the one annoying everyone else, what was he doing getting so riled up by nobodies?! In the end, he simply resolved to take his shit and keep his own space, waiting for whenever the clown would allow them to move on to the dorms. From there, he could begin to plan his masterpiece that would get him back on top. In the meantime, he was hoping that demon Loli and Pretty Boy would turn up again.
Whilst Arius was busy moping off in his corner of the room, Hisumi had just entered it and it didn't take people long to figure out just who owned the numerous furs that were all over the place. The robotic movement she had entered with, degrading down to something almost wild as she began to wrap herself in a couple of the furs. From what looked like wolf's fur, which would probably various ethical concerns considering her Quirk, and deer's fur, which made more sense given her Quirk, they were all collected and horded by her without another word. Well, that was until she discovered the earbuds that were entangled within them at first.
Seriously, these dangling things, ever since she had first laid eyes upon them a few years back, they were hell on earth to deal with. She almost howled at first when she first made contact with them tangled in her furs, and she never wanted to deal with the hell of having to untangle them ever again. It was like the devil himself had made them purposefully made them to mess with people who liked things to be over and done with quickly, they were just another trapping of industrial society meant to dull the senses and frustrate humans!
She was too wrapped up in her own internal rant to notice Shiki sneaking in behind her to pick up the buds. The ice dragon girl not really having anything of worth to add to the field, she was just going to be happy enough if she could get herself to the dorm and prepare for the first full day of actual teaching.
Trawling in last of all, mainly owing to the crutches and general unwillingness to be anywhere near the rest of the crowd, Kagekatsu dragged himself into the room with his nose still dripping trace amounts of blood. Eyeing Arius on his side as he entered, he snarled but didn't say a word, lest he start up some shit that the fox boy was in no mood for starting. All he wanted to do was be led to the dorms and then toss away the key after locking himself in there. He hadn't actually brought anything with him, it wasn't like the prison would allow him to bring his belongings with him there in the first place. So, in effect, he was just watching everyone collect their things. Or, most of them at least, his tail instinctively pulled in between his legs whenever he spied Joseph's frantic search, which still hadn't ended.
And Joseph had had enough! Everyone else had managed to get their belongings somehow, and whilst there were one or two things he was happy with recovering, nothing more than a few decorations his mother had said to take with him, there was one thing… One critical thing that was missing… Whenever he looked up at Subaru, his neck pain forgotten with all the adrenaline pumping through his body, he saw the adult in the room smirking.
Oh.
He knew very well what Subaru had done, and he wasn't going to be afraid to voice his opinion. "You… Where did you pu-"
Unfortunately for him, he didn't get any chance to finish his threat. This little thing called authority was on Subaru's side, and with no one knowing why Joseph was just about to test his metal against their supervisor for the day, it meant that the pink haired male could get away with his next statement. "Alright, everyone! Before Jo-chan here ends up knocking my block off for something I didn't do, allow me to take you all to where your dorms are! I'm sure you're all so dreadfully tired from the work you've had to do today, and just like what Niijima-sama said earlier today, we're all very impressed by what we saw! As such, it's only natural for you to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow, isn't it~? Of course, you can still move about if you wish after I leave you there, but whether or not you get lost is not really my problem! We all onboard here?"
With the nods of heads, the vast majority of the people were more than happy to start heading out to their dorms. There were just two people who were not happy in the slightest. Kagekatsu being one of them, more than pissed off that he had just arrived, expecting some kind of rest from walking, only to be dragged out alongside the others because his timing was just too impeccable. On the other end, it didn't take a genius to figure out the other one. As Subaru began to motion for all of them to follow him, Joseph bore holes into the clown's back. Hateful eyes spitting out charged lasers of disdain that would have affected a normal man so much more.
However, this was Subaru Fujinaga, he was the furthers thing from normal one could get. Strutting down one of the many hidden corridors with a hand on his hip, occasional glances over his shoulder to make sure that no one was lagging behind; or wanting to be a straggler and run off for some god forsaken reason, Subaru guided them all with the most grace his body would allow him to. "Just one final word before we get there, I have already randomised your locations, so don't think you can just pick and choose which dorms you get to stay in. Now, is that right of me to do? No. But, just think of it as something like breaking the ice. Sometimes, random chance gives you the best case of success in life."
A few perplexed stares later, two sets of iron doors further on, and the entire group was now face to face with all the dorms that were to house them until they left the Foundation. Each dorm was equidistant from one another and was a near enough replica when it came to the doors as well. Some of the ones further back, because like everything in this place, it would stretch on for fucking miles on end, were corroded and possibly in need of repair but that was about it. The 12 identical steel doors faced them down like a firing squad, smaller notches in the front of them indicating which one would belong who. If that wasn't enough for them, it seemed as if Subaru had also taken the time to splash some colour on them with the aid of a sign designation everyone.
Once more, as they all took one step forward, it didn't take much of a genius, considering his words just a moment ago, that Subaru had fixed this like he had probably fixed the fights as well know that they thought about it.
Whilst the majority of them were fairly happy where they had been left, Ikariko having some kind of grin, if one could call him capable of one, when he saw that he had been gifted the one on the furthest side. There was still a fair number of people who were displeased about where they were located. A few grumbles were heard, mainly Ani, who was not at all happy with being located next to Arius, and Akashi, who seemed to be somewhat nervous with being placed next to Joseph for some reason.
However, the one that had the most issue with the arrangement was no one other than the resident hateful fox boy. Kagekatsu wanted so badly to snap the crutch he was leaning on, ignoring the fact he wasn't nearly strong enough to do so, whenever he saw whom, he had been placed next to. "Are you kidding me? I'm next to that sorry disgrace of a person? Can I call your family, because I'm pretty sure I've never hurt them!?" He yelled, throwing out an accusatory finger at the person who he was saddled with being next to on his left side.
And the person in question? An ever-silent Haru, who was busy muttering to himself in the corner about things that Kagekatsu couldn't even begin to care about. Haru hadn't even realised what was going on and how he had just become the vocal point of Kagekatsu's ire.
Subaru, meanwhile, shrugged off the corners. Tapping the corner of his lip, smearing a bit of his makeup in the process, he replied with a mirthful glint in his eyes. "I don't know what got you all riled up, Kage-chan! Like I said, this was all done completely at random, so the only person you have to blame is lady luck herself!" Oh, Kagekatsu was going to do that and more. He was going to spit in the face of lady luck, because lady luck decided to gift him with the worst luck imaginable.
Grumbling back still holding out hope since the door to his right was still free for some reason, Kagekatsu didn't want to bother with talking to these people anymore. Pretty much kicking the door in, he became the catalyst for everyone else doing the same thing. The actual dorm was as barren as could be. In fact, it reminded Kagekatsu of a prison cell. There was a singular bed, a toilet because evidently there was no way they were ever going to find where those godforsaken places were, and then there was just the barest form of a window. If he didn't know any better, he would think that this place was mocking him for the time he spent in prison, but then he remember that this place was around before he was even born... Ah well, not like that was going to stop him complaining about it.
On the outside, one of the first to follow in the trend he had set to the surprise of absolutely no one, was Ani, who had taken to the idea of her own room like a fish to water. By the time she was already envisioning how she wanted to set up her own dorm, the others had already begun to flood into their respective places.
In the end, it left just Subaru and Joseph standing outside. The pink haired man looking down at the dark-haired teen, red eyes dancing with mirth once more. "What's the matter, Jo-chan? Why aren't you going into your room?" He said, leaning his face up against his face, making the contortion of his piercings turn his face into that of a metal mountain.
Joseph looked up at Subaru, the other man barely taller than him in the moment. If Subaru had so much had gotten a scratch on his most prized possession, it didn't matter if this guy was a staff member or a god walking on the face of the earth, he was going to get what was coming to him. However, there was another reason why he hadn't gone into his room yet. "Which one is mine?" he asked, his monotone betraying all the anger pent up inside of him in that moment.
Subaru burst out into laugh for the briefest moment, eliciting a glare from the electricity demon next to him. However, as the seconds ticked by, he became more and more grim to the reality of the question. No more than ten seconds after he had burst out in laughter, he was deadpanning at Joseph with one simple question and a finger pointing to his destination. "You're kidding me, right?"
Joseph shook his head, "No. Do I look like the kind of person who would joke about that? So, are you going to tell where I'm supposed to go or not?" He was serious to a fault, not appreciating what Subaru had just told him.
"I'm literally pointing at it." Subaru said, his deadpan expression not changing. His voice giving something of a sudden exhausted exasperation. If only he could touch Joseph and force him into the goddamn room so he didn't have to deal with this fucking tap dance. Stupid, stupid kids with inconvenient trauma triggers.
Following the other's words, Joseph moved to the door where his own name had been placed on a sign. Squinting at the sign and then the notches at the door, about seven in total, he ended up looking back at Subaru "Was there supposed to be something here that told me this was mine? Well, something other than your usual cryptic bullshit?"
Subaru's eyes went wide, the corner of his lips turning downwards as he mouthed out a quiet "What?" before he suddenly hit the side of his head in realisation. He knew he had forgotten something from someone's form, that or Parasite hadn't listed it down, which was probably the safer bet if he wanted to save his own hide from the mistake he had made. "Okay, I made a mistake, what about it? That's your room, so shut up and get in it, that's an order. I have better things to be doing."
Joseph wanted to snap back at Subaru talking down to him like that, especially with how those ruby red eyes looked down at him as if his entire being was a hassle to the clown. However, his body began moving without much resistance on the physical end, something Subaru seemed to be very proud of activating if the smirk on his face was anything to go by. It also just so happened to be the last thing Joseph saw before his body shut door and ended up just standing like a robot in the middle of the room.
However, whilst his body was like a well-oiled machine, his mind was awash with anger. The first thing he was going to do the next day was get what was his back from the monstrous clown that had stolen his most important thing ever from him. Now? He was going to sleep. A fully recharged body would help him on this endeavour, but mark his words, he would take back what was his…
On the outside, Subaru was finally free to breathe a sigh of relief and began to leave for the rest of his work for today. Believe it or not, the half an hour he had spent by himself was the most stressful part of his day so far. Any time he had to spend a prolonged period of time around Sateriasis' gaggle of followers was going to be a pain, much less when they told him of what was going to happen later on when Kyte finally woke up from his slumber. Running a hand through his hair and using the other to wipe the sweat off his brow, he headed off to a meeting he wasn't sure if he was going to like the outcome of. He really didn't want to meet his "daughter" tomorrow with a set of black eyes…
"This is our takeover, Kyte."
There were some people in those world… Some sweathogs that couldn't be tamed no matter how long you tried to reform them. If there was protective padding, they would be the type of people to remove it and expose the dangerous concrete beneath. It perhaps wasn't the best analogy in his repertoire, but it was the one he felt the most resonance with that very moment in time.
Some of them liked to fly too close to the sun. Dancing on the edge of a volcano without a care in the world, all because they thought they were the one with the ball in their court. That they were the king of the castle with no challenges left to their throne, after having spent so long snuffing out any lingering embers of resistance.
However, whenever trapped in the corner like the scurrying little rat they were, they would clutch and claw at any lingering sense of power they had. A weapon, a book, a title, anything and everything would be used in the vein defence of a thieving sweathog. Nothing was off limit to the scum of the earth as they tried to protect their tainted victories.
"This is everything we've ever talked about. Just take a moment… Breathe with me…"
It was always the ones you never wanted it to be as well, the wolves in sheep's clothing. They buy your affection, support you through thick and thin, make sure that they were always in your corner when you were against the ropes. Then… Then… Just when you were ready to get back in the fight, they'd through in the towel and rip the rug out from under you. When you were at your most vulnerable, they would always be the ones to strike. They would have cherry picked their moment perfectly, a sense of smug satisfaction as they used you as a steppingstone.
And once all was said and done? Nothing remained. They didn't, you didn't, and there was no longer a trace that that moment in history had happened. Like a Yakuza crime scene, every speck of the deed was covered up by the mark of an expert cleaner. All loose ends were tied up and then dumped into a lockbox that would never see the light of day.
"What do you plan to do with them, then?" It was the, for once, not droning voice of Sateriasis that broke the dome of silence that had descended. The two main staff members of the Foundation had had the meeting dropped on them earlier on in the day, which had led to them being in Kyte's office at the dead of night. "Frankly, I don't want to deal with more people than necessary. At least not until everyone has returned from their little sabbaticals. There's only so much Hideyoshi and myself can do, especially when I'm running after him half the time."
Kyte paused for the second, running hands through his dark blue hair. What Sateriasis was saying was very true, the three of them had been the initial staff of the Foundation. The ones that had built this as a place for those with broken hearts to find solace, and for them to build to a better future for themselves. Sometimes, their task was impossible, but it never stopped them short of trying.
However, there was a growing issue that none of them could ignore. Not only was there a distinct lack of people who wanted to work for them, there was a distinct lack of people that could work for them. Kyte didn't want to run back through all the times he had brought someone to the Foundation, only for them to get cold feet the second they saw the true nature of the place.
The vampiric man had no time for people like that. Sweathogs who wanted the appearance of helping without wanting to get their mitts dirty, they were almost as bad as those thieving sweathogs he had mentally ranted about. It was like they expected to turn up to a land of sunshine and rainbows, whenever Kyte had explicitly told them not to take that image with them.
It was a very simple thing, in the end. You had to be the right person for the job, just not in the right place at the right time. "Subaru, hand me something from the second row of my desk. You'll know which one." Kyte called out, pinching the bridge of his nose as he thought of the issue even further. He had been hoping that there would be decent additions this year, but circumstances were dictating otherwise to a borderline insane extent.
Following his orders without any further words, grabbing a torch to make sure he could actually look through the drawer without having to have infer-red eyes, Subaru eventually plucked out a black binder after a few minutes of searching for it. On it, the logo of the Foundation was scratched out and replaced by five red tally marks, the rest of the cover looked like it had been eviscerated by someone as well with all the scratch marks on it. The pages looked worn, the colour fading from their normal cream to a putrid yellow.
Depositing it to his employer, Subaru and Sateriasis both narrowed their eyes as Kyte flicked through page after page. They may not have appreciated being in each other's air spaces for more than five seconds at most, but as they switched from the binder to each other's gazes, a silent agreement was formed between them. With a quick gesture and sneer that screamed disgust from their makeshift doctor, Subaru was the one speaking next. "Niijima-sama… Forgive me if I tread heavily, but…"
Kyte looked up. Eyes, made even more threatening in the dark void of the room where his face was almost invisible, piercing through any layer of defence that either Subaru or Sateriasis could put up. "If I had wanted your opinion, Subaru, and you too Fauser, I would've asked for it by now. Did you hear me ask? No? Then I didn't want it!" Scoffing and turning his attention back down to the binder, making sure to make careful page turns so as not to damage it any further, Kyte continued. "Now, this is what I want to make absolutely clear. You are both to do what I said before hand and you will do it as I say it. Do you understand?"
With silent nods, no words exchanged between the two of them, Subaru and Sateriasis were painfully aware of what the task ahead of them was. To say that their boss was in a sour mood was an understatement, but the actual details as to why was still something of a mystery to them. Still, they maintained a kind of tense seat in the office, Subaru coughing every once in a while, and Sateriasis pinching his hand every now and again to make sure he wasn't in some kind of horrible dream.
"You two are still here?" Came Kyte's voice after what seemed like an eternity. It also arrived in association with the thud of the binder on the hard, wood desk. Once more, a pair of angry red eyes glared burning holes into their faces as the vampire slid the binder back into the desk. "Jesus Christ… Look, if you two think that this is crossing the line, just remember how you got here in the first place, okay? You both have no right to dictate this matter, and if either of you step in, or your associates for that matter, then just know I can and I will cut the rope I threw out to you."
A single flick of the wrist and a door opening later, and the two staff members were back into the "light" of the Foundation. Of course, by now they were lit by the backdrop of the night-time city lights, and as soon as they had seen that glorious image great their merciful departure, they both released the collective breaths of a thousand years of tension.
"Ughhhhhhhhhh, thattttttt…" Sateriasis droned out, head dropping, and hands pressed against his knees as he bent over. He didn't even have the energy to force out the last part of his sentence. He almost felt like collapse on the spot, just wanting to let the wonders of cold floor take him away to the land of sleep.
On the other end of things, Subaru was slumped up against the wall with his hands over his face. There was no way in hell he was going to let Sateriasis of all people notice him panicking, even if it was just the slightest crinkle of his eyes or tensing of his hands. "Remind me, Sati, never to let this happen again."
"Youuuuu andddddd meeeeee bothhhhhhh…" Groaning out again, the makeshift doctor pulled out his phone and a made a quick note to add to the number of times he had nearly died because of talking to his boss for a prolonged period of time. Next up, figuring out who he was going to hand this task off to, because he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to take the blame if everything went wrong.
"You're getting Parasite, right?" Subaru said, taking notice of Sateriasis' further action on his phone. In a way, he was hopeful that that scumbag and his equally scummy brother would actually be taking this over. It just meant that there was less to blame on himself, and that it was easier to lay all the blame at Sateriasis' feet.
However, Subaru didn't get a reply. Instead, Sateriasis remind fully silent and sent off one last message before turning away from the pink haired male. The clacking of his heels against the ground being the only sound as Subaru stared a hole in the back of his head, of course he was going to leave him hanging like this. It was just typical.
Threading his fingers through his hair, and then interlinking them behind his neck, Subaru shook his head. This was an… Unusual situation they found themselves in. But hey, they had gone through much worse with much less at their disposal, what was one more tiny little ember to the fire?
It just seemed like all they would have to do was take this bunch one step at a time. How bad could that realistically be?
A/N: Yeah, sorry for the slight delay in this chapter's release. I'm off university until September now and with me still being unemployed there is little chance that there is going to be a break in me writing this story. So yeah, I'll work on trying to make up for this chapter's delay. Until then.
Tick Tock.