Episode 1: It's not always sunny after a storm

[tsunderebunny]

Characters: Barnaby and YOU!
Setting: Room 2-04, Dormitories, Library, Cafeteria, and Anywhere Else.
Format: Action. I can switch off on demand.
Summary: One retired hero arrives in the Tower and refuses to believe the news.
Warnings: Potential for irritability, deadpan snarking, and a few hints of depression.

Room 2-04:

[The seemingly innocent letter was promptly folded up and tossed away the moment Barnaby finished reading it. First he found himself in clothes that he never would dream of wearing, along with a collar that only compounded his embarrassment-- what kind of person did everyone think he was? Then, to add to the strangeness of the morning, the note dared to tell him that everything he knew had been laid waste.

He ran a hand through his hair, tossing his curls from his face.]

Don't tell me that people honestly believe all of this?

Everywhere Else:

[Barnaby set off on his own in search of something that made sense in this Tower, taking in every new piece of information with a dose of skepticism. Although the battle on top of the Justice Tower had been a bitter victory and Sternbild had finally awoken from its bizarre dream, he wasn't certain about how much in his mind could be trusted.

Not even his senses were infalliable. It was a painful lesson to learn.

That was why he wandered the halls with the attention of a detective, taking note of anything and everything that struck his interest. He would eventually end up in the Cafeteria when he got hungry, studying the menu with bemused interest as he took a short break. Later on he could be found in a quiet corner of the library, taking advantage of the comforting quiet to make sense of everything that had happened to him in recent days-- along with the strange situation he suddenly found himself in.]

Comments

cafeteria

[tsunderebunny]

Alright enough.

[He smiled for a moment in wry amusement over the absurdity of everything.]

Everything's hard to believe, but there's been stranger things out there. [The menu among them. He shifted it to show the man, using it as an excuse to keep ignoring that oatmeal for the time being.] I hate to say it, but the lavender meatballs sound better than the oatmeal [which he was still ignoring.]

Are you managing alright?

[hobologic]

Good.

There's a lot stranger than oatmeal, that's true.

Lavender meatballs? That's a new one on me. [He glances at the menu.] ...flowery. Not the kind of food I'd have expected here. It seems more like a bread and water establishment. Or gruel.

[He looks back to the oatmeal.]

I guess there's some gruel.

Could be better, but then, I could be worse. Arguably.

[tsunderebunny]

Isn't that always the case.

[He sighed, still frustrated over the situation, and finally looked at the oatmeal.]

...well. It looks like we have no choice.

[hobologic]

It would be odd if oatmeal was the strangest thing around, the maximum excitement. Sounds boring. But this is a little too exciting for me. I'd prefer it if oatmeal were somewhere in the medium range of excitement.

[He knows that isn't really what Barnaby meant, but he said it anyway.]

Maybe if we eat it together it won't be so bad. We can distract each other.

I'm Phoenix Wright. [He holds out a hand to shake, realizes it's the hand holding the oatmeal, then holds out his other hand instead.]

[tsunderebunny]

Perhaps, Mister Wright. [He shook the hand with a small smirk. In his own way, this stranger was another goofy old man.

There were far worse fates.]

Although now I wonder, wouldn't the very idea of oatmeal being the strangest thing around be strange in itself? It sounds like there's plenty of excitement there.

I'm Barnaby Brooks Jr. Eating this oatmeal with company sounds much better than the alternative.

[hobologic]

[Goofy old man? Guilty as charged.]

You make a good point. Oatmeal being the strangest thing would be almost bizarrely boring. Unless it was really strange oatmeal. Like talking oatmeal, or oatmeal with magic powers that turned you green if you ate it.

[The possibilities are endless, clearly.]

Good to meet you. You can just call me Phoenix. No need for the "mister". I'm not that fancy. Should I call you Mr. Brooks? Barnaby? BB?

[Mr. Brooks sounds so formal, but Phoenix isn't adverse.]

Let's have a seat.

[tsunderebunny]

[Extremely. There was no chance of parole.]

...that sounds a little horrifying, Phoenix. [There were some possibilities that were simply too bizarre to explore.] Let's just let the oatmeal be oatmeal and get on with it. There's some things in life that we shouldn't change.

[He took a seat at the suggestion and set his bowl down, vaguely wondering if there was some kind of protocol involved in this. Surely they didn't need to eat it with their off hand while standing on their head, right?]

And Barnaby is just fine, since we're being informal. [Though he smiled wryly.] But BB is a new one, that's for sure.

[hobologic]

Ha, yeah, it does, doesn't it? Maybe I shouldn't think about it too much, since I still have to eat the oatmeal. This place is bad enough without talking oatmeal.

[He glances at it as if half-afraid it really is going to say something, but fortunately, it remains silent.

He sets his own bowl down. At least the oatmeal looks completely ordinary, if not very good. Bland mushy oatmeal is an everyday challenge he could deal with. Not like monsters.]

Barnaby it is, then. Oh, you like it? I thought that with all those Bs in your name, it'd be a good nickname. Short and snappy.

[tsunderebunny]

It's...unique.

[Both in the 'that's interesting' sense and the 'oh god no' sense.

Barnaby toyed with his spoon as he spoke, idly waving it in his fingers as he thought about how the oatmeal was a silent blessing. It was a shred of normalcy before they were thrown into the fire.]

I'd prefer Barnaby, please. But, wouldn't you say that Phoenix is an interesting name itself?

[hobologic]

Can do.

[Don't worry, he doesn't know you well enough yet to inflict nicknames on you, Barnaby. Barnaby already strikes him as a serious guy who wouldn't care for cutesy nicknames. Also, he's been called more than enough stupid (and insulting) nicknames in his day, and he doesn't want to do that to another person. He knows what it's like.]

True... I've never met another Phoenix. My folks had some creative ideas, you could say. Some people just call me Nick.

[He takes a bite of his oatmeal, and his face falls. It tastes even blander and the texture is even grosser than he'd expected. He feels like he's eating breakfast at Très Bien.]

My compliments to the chef. Although "chef" is a very generous term.

[tsunderebunny]

Too generous. Best hope that everything else on the menu isn't this quality.

[But painfully bland was better than the alternative. He would rather have something tasteless as his first meal in a strange place over being shoved into whatever the locals called 'food'.]

But Nick it is. There's something to be said for creativity, even if my parents were more traditional in their approach.

[He took another bite with a small, fond smile. Conversation made it easy to ignore the tastelessness of the dish.]