Cafeteria

[Norjack]

Dejan continues eating, spoonful after spoonful taken carefully, as though each bite were precious. After a few repetitions, he finally stops to get around to Talon's comments. "The air here is impossible to compare to where I am from," he explains. He touches the breath mask lightly. "In the Pit Yard, the air from the machines, and from the mills and factories is choking. To have a respirator is a point of pride. This one was taken from a Company Man, sent to break our skulls." The pit yarder grins as he turns back to his broth. "He did not."

[Israfel]

Israfel, meanwhile, has his head bowed so that his face can't be seen, as he whispers something under his breath, the answer to Talon's question. "Beast-that-is-very-tasty-to-eat-when-properly-cooked." He quickly looks up, and tries to divert conversation, addressing Dejan. "Dejan, your planet had heavy industry...and were you a worker? Who are these Company Men? Why would they hurt you?" He seems confused, and also talks just a slight bit rapidly, as if he's in a hurry to get out his questions, as he keeps an eye on Victory and Talon.

[Talon [ST3710]]

He had been following the conversation quietly but seemed a little distant. Suddenly Talon moved towards the fridge, having resolved his internal debate, and opened the door. But the shelf was empty!

"Does this refrigerator work by some form of magic? I have seen students open it and bring out food, and it always appears to contain what they want right at hand. I ask, as I would like to try some food to see what will happen. I am still undecided as to what is appropriate."

[MasterV]

Victory draws his eyes back to Talon, the dust from his nose stopped coming out and he walks back near the refrigerator. "Maybe there is a whole food dimension over there... when I took my food, I didn't exactly look, I just thought about the three-eyed turkeys with six-legs we had back in my home-planet and a cooked one just came out."

Victory taps his chin for some seconds. "Plus I had a strange feeling that I wanted ashes and mineral water, must be from my species." Victory ponders, quietly, trying to figure out how the fridge worked.

[Talon [ST3710]]

Talon closed the fridge door, and turned towards Dejan as he hoped to hear more of his past. But in mid-turn he froze as his peripheral vision noticed something, and he swivelled back towards the fridge where a piece of paper was now stuck to the door with a magnet.

"How peculiar. That wasn't there when I opened the door." He read the flyer aloud for the benefit of everyone present:

This Weekend, come to the Arena for the 1st Quasi-annual Mortis Company Invitational Tournament!

Preliminaries will be held throughout Saturday with the Finals to be held on Sunday.

Prizes, lacerations, and good times to be had! Be extra-sure to sign up or your ass is out of luck!

SEE YOU THERE!!!

"I wonder if the preliminary bouts will clash with the mercenary work for the mining corporation. That would be a shame, but at least I will be able to observe the finals."

[Norjack]

Dejan stops in mid spoonful as the spectre of his past is raised. Cold eyes turn to Israfel and there they remain, looking more through than at the other student. "Worker?" he asks, laughing a short, cut off, mirthless chuckle, "Is it not obvious?"

He continues in a low, intense tone, "I was a worker. My father, my mother, my brothers in arms, all of us, we all worked in the Pit Yard. We all /lived/ in the pit yard. Collecting scrap, seperating it. What we use, what we barter, the rest we melt down in our furnaces and stamp into bars to keep production so the Company Men, the Bosses, so they don't send the breakers."

He stands up, taking up his wrecking bar clutching it in his fist. "They hurt us for their money. Keep us hungry and starved. The more we need, the more we work, the more we make for them. That is their plan. Keep all of us hungry and thirsty and tired. What little we have, what little we all have must be defended from the other work gangs. The Slaughterhousers, the Brakemen, the Aggies, all of the others. They all will take from you to survive. In turn, we take from them. We steal the Slaughterhousers pork. The Brakemen, we take whatever they carry. The Aggies, we take vegetables, and fruit. But what we take is just the refuse. And still we must fight tooth and nail for it. All for the Company Men to keep their precious services, and profits." The last words spit out in a barely restrained fury.

[MasterV]

Victory looks at the flyer intrigued. "It is quite a shame we will be in the field trip when this occurs, but has you said Talon, we can always see the finals." Victory quickly rushes to the table and puts everything in their respectful place.

"That is kinda of a sad story, whole families worked for almost nothing, you were like slaves, practically." Victory face palms as he thought about his own comment about Dejan's past, it was clearly rude. "Sorry about that comment..." Victory scratches the back of his head.

Looking back at Israfel, Victory asks. "Hey, I saw some person's using magic in the way here, how can I learn spells ?" Victory thought about learning most of the Earth style magic, since it would suit his race more.

[Israfel]

Israfel decides to handle the amount of conversation in a strange order. The first thing he does is answer Victory's questions. His face is bland, and blank, and his tone is measured, almost a monotone. "Actually, I doubt there is a food dimension. Alternate dimensions are a concept that is only for the realm of fiction. There is only one dimension, and all of Mahou Galaxy inhabits it. Perhaps there is a 'food planet', but the amount of magical energy that would take is prohibative. I'd say that it's most likely the food is pre-prepared in a certain place on campus, perhaps by the Janitorial staff? It's also possible the food is magically created, though I am unsure of the possibility. Learning the spells is simple. As long as you have a bit of training in the type of magic, you simply have to buy the spell from someone, and look over it."

He turns to Talon. "I doubt, however, there are limits on what you can get. Many students have specialized diets, after all. I believe Xalforious actually ate kittens. I think he may have been faking it, though. I've heard rumors of Legion pulling out a can of sunbeams, or a collection of dirt." He pauses for a sec. "Oh, and remind me to sign up for that Arena match. I may find such a thing entertaining." He doesn't move to sign up, however, as he is busy talking with Dejan and Victory.

With that done, he turns back to Dejan. "I apologize for letting myself be distracted, your story is extremely interesting. A planet such as that seems cruel, and I admire your ability to survive that. Many would have been broken. It seems like a world full of chaos and tyranny. The company men seem like the worst kind of rulers. They care not for those who they should be protecting. I wonder, though, why you and the others did not unite and work together?" As he speaks this, his tone begins to shift. It's more animated, and interested. He really seems to care about this world, at least from an intellectual standpoint.

[Norjack]

Dejan eyes Israfel for a moment, cold and unfeeling as the steel and iron he came from. "Kind words," he says bluntly, with an acidic distaste on his tongue. He slides the wrecking bar through a belt loop and crosses his arms, adjusting his posture in a subtle lean to the balls of his feet as he crosses his arms. "It is not so simple," he states simply, with a slight hand wave of dismissal. "It has been tried. We have unionized in the past, but the same thing, leaders fall, the Breakers come, people die. No one yet has been enough. Though the martyrs are still talked about in the light of the barrel fires."

He looks away, towards the watery stew he pulled from the refrigerator. "There is little food, and little water. If we all worked together, there would not be enough. We would all go hungry. We know this, and resort to raiding so that at least some can survive, if all of us cannot."

[Israfel]

Isarfel sighs, as he gets up. "I admire your ability to withstand such a world, I doubt I would have the will to do such without going mad. Perhaps this school will teach you a way to help your planet escape such sorrow. This is a school for heroes, after all. Excuse me, there is something I must do."

He heads over to the arena sign-up sheet, and signs his name down. Once done, he heads back, and sits down. "I myself planned to change the place I came from, though these plans were rather foolish."

[Talon [ST3710]]

Meanwhile Talon appeared to have finally come to some sort of decision. When he reopened the fridge door, a plate of meat and vegetables was there, carved and smothered in sauce, the same as Israfel's meal.

He took the food and placed it on the table. Mimicking his fellow students, Talon cut a small chunk of the meat and placed it in his mouth, closing his teeth to hold it in place whilst withdrawing the fork. He moved it about a bit with his metal tongue, before unexpectedly swallowing it whole without chewing.

He frowned briefly with concentration before saying, "I must admit that I am slightly confused. Exactly how does one taste?"

[Israfel]

Israfel turns towards Talon and deadpans. "From what I have heard, delicious." He pauses for a second, waiting to see how his joke goes over. After that pause, he continues. "It is automatic once the food is in one's mouth, and touching one's taste buds. If you do not taste the food, it is possible that you do not possess taste buds."

[Talon [ST3710]]

Talon either hadn't understood the joke or he was ignoring it. Instead he simply replied, "Oh, that's disappointing."

For a moment a delicious aroma of cooking wafted through the air, but it was quickly replaced by the unpalatable stench of burning meat. The source appeared to be Talon himself, and a thin whisp of smoke began to curl out of his mouth.

[Israfel]

Israfel pauses for a moment, shocked by what is going on with Talon. "Talon? I do believe it may have been a mistake to attempt to feed you by traditional means. You appear to be on fire. At least, that appears to be what is going on inside your body. Perhaps your power source is something different?"

[Talon [ST3710]]

"Fire...? Oh!!" Talon clamped his mouth shut, but his eyes were wide with surprise. He stood there, paused in shock, silent.

After some seconds he opened his mouth again and a small puff of particulate matter blew out, but no more smoke issued forth. "I do not think that my lips are airtight, but they appear to have constricted the flow of oxygen sufficiently," he said. His voice was a little throaty and when he spoke the smell of charred flesh mingled with his words, an incongruous halitosis. "You were telling us about your plans for change, Israfel..."