When it came to moving through thick crowds, Abel was always on edge.  It was never easy for a big guy to mill around with others, with so many feet to step on heads to knock into, and overall embarrassment to be head.  It reminded him of moving through the storehouse back in Pallisade—the 'world of cardboard', as his mom had nicknamed it.  He had to exercise extra self-control, or crush something that he might really need.  As a result, he was content to let the other students flow around him, and ended up almost last in the lunch line.

After arriving at the front, however, he discovered the stifling wait to be worth it.  He pored through the salad bar, selecting plentiful lettuce, tomato, ham, bell pepper, olive, cheese, egg, and some savory sauce.  One carton of white milk and a smaller carton of grape juice would serve to wet his whistle, and he picked up some mashed potatoes on the side.  He paid the cashier at the end of the buffet with a forty dollars, thinking to stock up his account so that he wouldn't have to rummage through his wallet every day.  Of course, that meant that he had less than five dollars for miscellaneous expenditures, so he'd have to be careful.

The armor of Gren Orchid was easy to spot across the cafeteria.  He made a beeline for his table, and as he approached he observed that Shiro was there as well.  Setting his heaped salad on the table, he stepped over the bench and seated himself.  A tiny bottle of sanitizer was produced from a pocket in his jacket, which he used while eying his teammate's mini-grill and the mouth-watering morsels of meat cooking atop it.  “You're crazy-prepared,” he said matter-of-factly, seemingly forgetting a proper greeting.  He recalled the last time he had seen Gren in motion, and while Shiro's fight had been rendered hazier by all the fights that followed it, its memory remained strong in Abel's mind.  Shiro himself seemed very happy; perhaps the steaks had something to do with it.  His infectious smile encouraged Abel to speak.  “Excellent showin' in first period!  I'm not really the kind of guy to be dishin' out compliments, but both of you did very well.  Kinda bums me out that I was the only one who technic'lly lost.”  The sanitizer bottle vanished into his coat, and he peeled open his milk carton.  “I wasn't really fightin' serious, though.  Next time Robert won't get off so easy.”

He was halfway through a combined forkful of lettuce, tomato, and egg when his eyes widened; he had forgotten something.  After finishing chewing, he set the fork aside and closed his eyes.  Through the tumult of chatter present in the cafeteria no words could be heard, but his lips were clearly moving.  It wasn't long before he resumed eating.  “What did you think of math?  Fullbuster's a pretty sweet name, but he was so...uninspiring.  Took me about ten minutes to get my head on straight and start workin' through that packet.”  The juice box was emptied in one fell swoop.  He gave it a disappointed look, clearly unhappy with its capacity, but quickly turned his attention back to the others.  Abel suddenly realized that Swansong was down a member, with Sapphire was nowhere to be seen.  Not knowing if she was here doing her vanishing trick or not, he nevertheless couldn't get too concerned about it.  Whether she was off in the infirmary, still getting food, or maybe with others, Abel much preferred her off doing her own thing than being here stifling him.  With Shiro and Gren he felt a sort of kinship, but Sapphire had closed herself off from any of that.  Still, her fight with the shield-toting Oswald had been impressive considering her injuries.