Bread Suit
Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2019 1:20 am
((Junko Kurosawa continued from St. Patrick's Purgatory))
Junko was angry, but she had no idea why.
After the run-in at the beach, literally nothing had happened. She hadn't seen anyone else, or even a sign that anyone else existed right now. It was quiet. The silence was something Junko still hated about all this. It still felt like she was just biding her time until someone attacked her. It was the worst feeling in the world. Sometimes, she still wondered when someone was going to do it.
Today, it was particularly bad. As the hours passed by, Junko felt like there was energy pulsating, bubbling, buzzing under her skin. Like she needed to do something, move around, or else she'd explode. She'd exercised this morning, too. But even when she stretched or jogged, it was only a moment of clarity. Once she'd stopped, the feeling slowly crept back.
The announcements came back on when she was exercising again. Junko could remember a few details. Brendan Harte, one of her team mates, had killed Jerry. Junko liked Jerry. He was a quiet type, but he was cool. They'd known each other since... what, elementary? Yeah, there we go. Had it stung a little when she found out? A little, yeah, to be honest.
Danny had died too, but it didn't sting as bad, she didn't think. Danny... was kind of a douche. They'd dated for a while, but he broke up with her. That wasn't the awful part. No, the awful part was how he did it. Junko had literally looked at her phone after practice to see that he broke up with her through text. He didn't even talk to her personally. Just a text saying basically "sorry Junko, it won't work out, bye!" Worst part was, she didn't get why exactly he broke up with her. Her only guess was that she'd made a few jokes that... were on the raunchy side beforehand, and she may or may not been hinting a bit. She still wasn't sure that was it. But he was dead too.
Kimiko had gotten Bradley, too. To be honest, Junko wouldn't have been surprised if he did something to provoke her. Bradley... liked to annoy people. She remembered he once picked a fight with Aiden by talking shit about his family. And with Aiden, you never talk shit about his family. Ever. Personally, when Bradley tried to make jokes about stuff like, dunno, internment camps or nuclear bombs, she just rolled her eyes at worst. Maybe make a quip of her own about white people's obsession with colonizing shit or something. Sure, he knew how to back down sometimes, but still. As harsh as it sounded, she wouldn't be surprised to find out that he did something to annoy her, even if she'd been on the announcements before. Did it still sting? A little, yeah.
They weren't the only deaths mentioned, either. Another Luz died recently. She'd seen Sabrina around a few times, but there was nothing that really stood out to her, other than her being one of the more popular kids. They just weren't part of the same group, y'know? Samuel, though, she knew Samuel. They had vaguely similar tastes, though he wasn't as... adventurous. She remembered Jasmine King, as well, who was completely different from Reed. Jasmine had a temper, and admittedly, Junko used to find it the funniest thing ever. There were a few other people who'd died, but she didn't get all the names, to be honest.
But the thing was, she didn't think the announcements were the reason why she was in such a nasty mood. It was the same last time: an accomplishment of sorts. Congrats, you made it another day. Can you make it to the next announcement? Let's see if you can. Being sad, though, it wouldn't help, would it? She didn't want to die grieving, if she had to die. Instead, it was another day to try to make it out alive. Even when her mind wandered, she tried to remind herself of this fact.
However, her mood hadn't improved when she walked past a copse of bushes just outside a building, only to smell what she could only guess was the world's largest roadkill. The blanket of flies hadn't helped, either. It was a scent she'd experienced a few times while she was here, but she didn't really look for it. She hadn't seen that many bodies, but smelled? Yeah, if that was a dead body smell, she smelled it. Instead of looking though, her pace had picked up as she approached the building. Junko had announced her arrival by slamming open the door, only to not find anyone there.
It'd been about an hour, she guessed, since she'd shown up. It looked like some kind of gym? It was dark, though. Some dim afternoon light had peeked in through a few cracks, but really, this was a job for Mr. Flashlight. Junko sat criss-crossed apple sauce on the gym floor against the wall, the flashlight casting a beam on the outside exit just across from her as it rested on the floor. There appeared to be old gym equipment, but she hadn't checked to see if they still worked yet.
Instead, she was currently focused on trying to demolish a piece of bread. The key word here was "trying". Good news: after mugging Jasmine Reed, she did have more food and water. The bad: most of the food was terrible. Junko had eaten high-energy bars before. It was kind of an athlete thing. Protein and energy in general was good if you have an event coming up. But, somehow the terrorists had found the worst thing imaginable. And it wasn't like Junko had never tasted a bad energy bar before. But these... these were somehow even worse than anything she'd ever had. The crackers were okay, kind of bland. And... then there was the bread.
God, did they ever actually, y'know, looked up an instructional on how to make bread? Then again, they were terrorists, and they probably wanted them to suffer. But damn, maybe it was just her sour mood, but it tasted like everything that could go wrong with bread, short of burning it, went wrong. Maybe it was Junko knew a bit about good bread, but it tasted a bit stale and weird. And yet, here she was, still eating it. It's hard to be too picky when your choices were terrible ration bars, bland crackers, and even worse bread.
Maybe just a few more attempts at swallowing, then she could try to do something about all this pent-up irritation. Just a few more moments of pretending that the bread was not only edible, but delicious.
But if someone interrupted her attempts at eating atrocious bread? Well... the bat was laying across her lap for a reason.
Junko was angry, but she had no idea why.
After the run-in at the beach, literally nothing had happened. She hadn't seen anyone else, or even a sign that anyone else existed right now. It was quiet. The silence was something Junko still hated about all this. It still felt like she was just biding her time until someone attacked her. It was the worst feeling in the world. Sometimes, she still wondered when someone was going to do it.
Today, it was particularly bad. As the hours passed by, Junko felt like there was energy pulsating, bubbling, buzzing under her skin. Like she needed to do something, move around, or else she'd explode. She'd exercised this morning, too. But even when she stretched or jogged, it was only a moment of clarity. Once she'd stopped, the feeling slowly crept back.
The announcements came back on when she was exercising again. Junko could remember a few details. Brendan Harte, one of her team mates, had killed Jerry. Junko liked Jerry. He was a quiet type, but he was cool. They'd known each other since... what, elementary? Yeah, there we go. Had it stung a little when she found out? A little, yeah, to be honest.
Danny had died too, but it didn't sting as bad, she didn't think. Danny... was kind of a douche. They'd dated for a while, but he broke up with her. That wasn't the awful part. No, the awful part was how he did it. Junko had literally looked at her phone after practice to see that he broke up with her through text. He didn't even talk to her personally. Just a text saying basically "sorry Junko, it won't work out, bye!" Worst part was, she didn't get why exactly he broke up with her. Her only guess was that she'd made a few jokes that... were on the raunchy side beforehand, and she may or may not been hinting a bit. She still wasn't sure that was it. But he was dead too.
Kimiko had gotten Bradley, too. To be honest, Junko wouldn't have been surprised if he did something to provoke her. Bradley... liked to annoy people. She remembered he once picked a fight with Aiden by talking shit about his family. And with Aiden, you never talk shit about his family. Ever. Personally, when Bradley tried to make jokes about stuff like, dunno, internment camps or nuclear bombs, she just rolled her eyes at worst. Maybe make a quip of her own about white people's obsession with colonizing shit or something. Sure, he knew how to back down sometimes, but still. As harsh as it sounded, she wouldn't be surprised to find out that he did something to annoy her, even if she'd been on the announcements before. Did it still sting? A little, yeah.
They weren't the only deaths mentioned, either. Another Luz died recently. She'd seen Sabrina around a few times, but there was nothing that really stood out to her, other than her being one of the more popular kids. They just weren't part of the same group, y'know? Samuel, though, she knew Samuel. They had vaguely similar tastes, though he wasn't as... adventurous. She remembered Jasmine King, as well, who was completely different from Reed. Jasmine had a temper, and admittedly, Junko used to find it the funniest thing ever. There were a few other people who'd died, but she didn't get all the names, to be honest.
But the thing was, she didn't think the announcements were the reason why she was in such a nasty mood. It was the same last time: an accomplishment of sorts. Congrats, you made it another day. Can you make it to the next announcement? Let's see if you can. Being sad, though, it wouldn't help, would it? She didn't want to die grieving, if she had to die. Instead, it was another day to try to make it out alive. Even when her mind wandered, she tried to remind herself of this fact.
However, her mood hadn't improved when she walked past a copse of bushes just outside a building, only to smell what she could only guess was the world's largest roadkill. The blanket of flies hadn't helped, either. It was a scent she'd experienced a few times while she was here, but she didn't really look for it. She hadn't seen that many bodies, but smelled? Yeah, if that was a dead body smell, she smelled it. Instead of looking though, her pace had picked up as she approached the building. Junko had announced her arrival by slamming open the door, only to not find anyone there.
It'd been about an hour, she guessed, since she'd shown up. It looked like some kind of gym? It was dark, though. Some dim afternoon light had peeked in through a few cracks, but really, this was a job for Mr. Flashlight. Junko sat criss-crossed apple sauce on the gym floor against the wall, the flashlight casting a beam on the outside exit just across from her as it rested on the floor. There appeared to be old gym equipment, but she hadn't checked to see if they still worked yet.
Instead, she was currently focused on trying to demolish a piece of bread. The key word here was "trying". Good news: after mugging Jasmine Reed, she did have more food and water. The bad: most of the food was terrible. Junko had eaten high-energy bars before. It was kind of an athlete thing. Protein and energy in general was good if you have an event coming up. But, somehow the terrorists had found the worst thing imaginable. And it wasn't like Junko had never tasted a bad energy bar before. But these... these were somehow even worse than anything she'd ever had. The crackers were okay, kind of bland. And... then there was the bread.
God, did they ever actually, y'know, looked up an instructional on how to make bread? Then again, they were terrorists, and they probably wanted them to suffer. But damn, maybe it was just her sour mood, but it tasted like everything that could go wrong with bread, short of burning it, went wrong. Maybe it was Junko knew a bit about good bread, but it tasted a bit stale and weird. And yet, here she was, still eating it. It's hard to be too picky when your choices were terrible ration bars, bland crackers, and even worse bread.
Maybe just a few more attempts at swallowing, then she could try to do something about all this pent-up irritation. Just a few more moments of pretending that the bread was not only edible, but delicious.
But if someone interrupted her attempts at eating atrocious bread? Well... the bat was laying across her lap for a reason.