Chapter 5: Food for thought
I didn't like Carnivore's tone when I mentioned Rebecca's Cell Number. What did she mean by 'poor fool'? Right then, though, I climbed into my own bed, ready to sleep and be rid of that day. The next morning, I could visit Rebecca again. Maybe I could ask why Carnivore was so against me being friends with her. Yet… there was something about her words that intrigued me.
"Why did you call me that?" I found myself asking her.
"If you must know, that person is the one who taught me that there is no such thing as a friend in the Void," I heard her state, venom evident in her voice.
"How did she do that?"
"Given enough time, she'll teach you, in exactly the same way she taught me."
"But she seemed nice enough."
"Naïve child. Do you really believe you can make any friends in this place?"
"There have got to be one or two people."
"Well, I shall give you one piece of advice: the sooner you get rid of that misguided notion, the sooner you'll stop getting your heart re-broken."
Something struck me at that point. "Did that happen to you?"
"That's private, brat! Suffice to say that I won't make that mistake again. Not with her, not with you!"
"You must get lonely, though."
"Who cares? Besides, the only reason that I told you to stay away from that notion of 'friendship' was because I could see how fragile you are, and if I have to sit through agonized bawling again I'll throw you out myself."
There was something about her words that just didn't sit right with me. A vague idea had occurred to me as to why she kept pushing me away, but I'd have to ask Rebecca about something first.
As soon as I woke up the next morning, I saw that the partition that was usually raised by Carnivore was lowered. Walking to the cell edge, I suddenly felt a strong pain in my stomach, from which emitted a growl. "That's the longest period of time between someone arriving here and noticing his hunger," Carnivore's voice rang out.
"That's usually what happens when something gets in the way," I tried to sound relaxed, but it was kinda hard when you're in a presence of someone who can flatten you against the wall. "Just wish I could remember where that food court was."
"I'm going there myself, so I suppose I can bring you with. I only have one rule; no fraternizing with me while I'm eating."
"How is the food here?"
"It's edible at the very least, now come on," she ordered, grabbing my hand and opening the cell door. Once we got to the elevator, she motioned me to use my own keycard, and when we were inside, she had me manually select a destination. Looking, I eventually found the food court and clicked that button. "What food do they have?" I plucked up the courage to ask a minute later.
"Just about everything you could want, be you a vegetarian, meat-eater, they have quite a selection," she replied. Anticipation started rising in me until… "I never said that it's good quality, though, so brace yourself."
With the elevator opening, I could finally see the food-court. The lighting was much better, although the floors, walls and ceiling were still a pure black color. I saw various openings on one side, with people serving out food on plastic trays and signs in white above each opening detailing the food type. Some included 'FISH', 'BREAD' and 'FRUITS/VEGETABLES'. I also saw rows and rows of square tables, with other people in black jumpsuits sitting down to what must have been breakfast. Just then I was dragged by Carnivore towards one window with the sign 'MEAT' above it. "You have to create your own food here. Just go to the various stalls and get the ingredients. That's the only thing that they provide aside from maybe some heating," Carnivore spoke again.
"What do you mean?" I had to ask. It just seemed too illogical. We arrived just as I finished voicing my question, and Carnivore had her attention focused on the vendor.
"Get me some grilled pork ribs," she spoke to the meat vendor.
"Alright. Oy, people, got an order for grilled pork ribs!" he shouted into the stall. "By the way, what's the kid doing by you, Carnivore-chan?"
"Don't ask. He's new around here."
"Welcome to the Void, kid! Does he have a Title yet?"
"He's only three days into his Leniency Week."
"Was he the kid that beat the Beast? I thought I heard something about a newcomer wiping the floor with him. What's even stranger; the victor didn't declare one attack."
"Interesting. That is bound to attract some attention."
"Yeah, from what I've heard, the Queen, the Bombardier, the Succubus and the Dancer have got an ear to the ground for this newcomer."
"Four of the power-players already, eh? This is actually getting interesting. Right now, though, I can only see that working with the Succubus."
"Here are your ribs, Carnivore-chan. Eat up!" the vendor said, producing a tray of ribs. Taking them, Carnivore just motioned me to look for what I wanted to eat. Not seeing where they might have had dumplings, I just decided to see what the people at the 'BREAD' section handed out. I can't exactly remember what all there was, but some articles included bread slices, hot-dog rolls and hamburger rolls. Not really caring about what exactly I had, since I was starving at the time, I just walked away with five hot-dog rolls on a plastic tray and looked for any drinks vendors. The only ones I found were 'DRINKS – CARBONATED', 'DRINKS – CAFFEINATED', 'DRINKS – SPORTS' and a few others, but there weren't very many stalls that catered for those needs, so I just got myself a cup of black coffee and started looking for Carnivore. Although I tried looking where she had left after the meat vendor, I couldn't find her. Eventually, I gave up and sat at a table on my own, just choosing to have my coffee and rolls before my hunger got the best of me.
I was into my third bread roll when I noticed something: the rolls were actually quite stale. The coffee also wasn't very appetizing; I actually found myself wanting to spit it back out again. However, I suppose that Carnivore did warn me about quantity over quality, so I just forced myself to tough it out. The stale rolls were, however, much easier to ingest, having taken me about twenty-five minutes to finish. The coffee was another story, as in an hour, I had only drained about one quarter of the cup.
"Having trouble there, Toby?" Rebecca's voice spoke. Turning to see her, I noticed her in the standard-issue black jumpsuit, holding a tray of pasta.
"Morning, Rebecca," I replied to her as she sat down beside me. "I can't help but feel that I've got the wrong thing here."
"Why?"
"This is supposed to be coffee, yet it tastes like anything but. Have I got it wrong?"
"Probably not. These food vendors supply you with exactly what you want, provided you don't ask for something too complex."
"Like what?"
"See my pasta here? I just asked for pasta at the relevant vendor and they provided it to me. Had I asked for various sauces, a side order of chips, soft soda drink or even tried to add extensive modifications to that, then there would have been a problem, and they would have just given me the basic pasta and told me to go to the other vendors. They're actually sort of rude unless you can get on first-name terms with them."
"I think I agree with you, although Rebecca… can I ask you something?"
"Shoot, Toby."
"I've heard other titles today. Titles like 'Bombardier', 'Succubus', 'Queen', 'Beast' and 'Dancer'. What do these titles mean?"
"Ah, yes, the Duel Title. Gain enough notoriety through Duels, and people generally start calling themselves names. The Beast, for example, is known for his ruthless assaults and Beast-Warrior-type monsters, hence 'the Beast'. Come to think of it, I actually heard that he lost a Duel against a newcomer that didn't even launch one attack."
"Yeah, well… that's me."
"Interesting. The Beast has an admirer in the same Cellblock as me, so that's how I heard. He kept roaring and crying all the way to his Cell, judging from what I heard. While he was defeated before this, it would take something massive to send him howling like that."
"How far away is he?"
"Beastie is 08D14. He is usually regarded as strong for his relentless attacks at the first opportunity, being second only to the Carnivore."
"How strong is the Carnivore, Rebecca?"
"She hasn't lost many Duels at all, although unlike the Beast, she's never really taken to participating in any Wars. The only times she's ever really Dueled were when people have pissed her off, and in those times she's been exceedingly brutal, especially with her Psychic Powers."
"Well, well, well, we meet again, Succubus!" Carnivore's voice rang out.