[center][color=0076a3][h2]Zachary Ackerson[/h2][/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/omGHHwx.png[/img] [/center][hr] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jet6Lf76_lQ&ab_channel=Zakken]Zachary Ackerson had done it.[/url] He had survived the Night of Carnage after being assaulted by one of the evil robot sisters and come out without a scratch. Well, in his dream that was the case. The truth of the matter was that he suffered a critical injury that would have lasting consequences. This particular injury affected Zach perhaps more than it'd affect anybody else in the group. He looked around and noticed he'd been returned to his room. It was quite convenient that their rooms were what they were. He was not wearing all of his clothes, which did worry him a little, but until he knew exactly who had operated on him, he wasn't going to get too red in the face over it. He figured he would get a change of clothes, so he tried getting up. [b]*Thump*[/b] His vision in the one good eye he had left blurred for a second upon nastily hitting his head on a nearby wall, but thankfully, he had done so on the opposite side of his head. Still, it hurt, though the pain wasn't too serious compared to the throbbing he felt on the back of his head. Had he hit it? Perhaps there was a bruise or something? And that's not all, he felt somewhat drowsy and weak. And his stomach was yelling at him, too. Boy, what a mess he was. [color=0076a3]"...what the hell happened?"[/color] It wasn't like he had retrograde amnesia or anything like that, he was just confused. He knew he'd been grabbed by one of the sisters and she'd done this to him, but he didn't remember hurting his head. Perhaps that'd happened after he'd lost consciousness? Did he have a concussion? There were a lot of questions he could ask, but to be honest, they just weren't that important to him. He was awake, which meant he was alive, which meant that weird dream he had was nothing more than that --- a weird dream. Nobody was going to take him to some weird, cheap 'happiness' before he was done doing what he needed to do. And for that he was thankful. Still, he didn't like this new impairment. He raised a hand to the place where his eye had once been but stopped just before touching the small piece of fabric that was the eyepatch he now wore. It felt silly. He'd always associated eye injuries with war due to movies and the like, so to have one himself... felt kinda cool, too. At least, when he didn't think about how it might affect his ability to shoot arrows. [color=0076a3]No, thinking about that is almost as bad as when the other Zach comes out... almost.[/color] Waifu-rating in this scenario was bad. Very bad. His mind was best placed on other things, like what he should do right now. Honestly, he felt like shit and it was likely his doctor would advise him not to move around so much. He probably needed rest. Actually, moving around at all was likely a very stupid idea. Was his wound even fully tended to? Maybe not. But unless Jezebel was here to dote on him he couldn't see himself sitting around. His belly was rumbling and he hadn't yet had a nice cup of coffee. Obviously, there was only one thing left to do after he changed, and it wasn't "be a smart person and let yourself heal". ... ... ... Being that he was still not fully recovered, Zachary found it rather hard to walk straight. He experienced more than one moment where he almost completely lost his footing and fell to the floor and to anybody watching him, he might appear to be a drunkard. He wasn't sure why, but he had not run into anybody in the hallways as he made it to the dining room. Ignoring that fact, he pushed opened the door rather sloppily and stepped inside. [i][color=0076a3]Jeez, since when was this place such a chore to get to?[/color][/i] He wondered this while forcing himself through the restaurant, towards the kitchen. Now that he thought about it, perhaps the break room would have made more sense to go to? He wasn't exactly the most capable of chefs and he was really not feeling it, so making something complicated (that is, anything that isn't microwavable) was currently beyond him. Yet, as he thought about turning around, he heard voices up ahead and things sounded... tense. With worry in his heart and definitely not twisted motivations like secretly hoping people would take pity on his poor self and treat him, Zach decided he could press onwards! [color=red]"Right, sorry..."[/color] was the only thing Zachary clearly caught, so he wasn't sure exactly what had happened between the two. Maybe a ship was about to set sail, only to be sunk just before it left port? Maybe one of them farted? Ideally, he would not be walking into that hot box, but Zach was going to roll the dice right now and hope they fell on a favorable reason for this atmosphere. Zach entered the kitchen. Sadly, he wasn't too stealthy what with his inability to walk precisely how he desired so they probably heard him just before he did so. He was unlikely to spook them with his presence. Unless they thought he was a ghost, maybe. [color=0076a3]"Yo."[/color] he casually greeted the two with a quick wave, while steadying himself with his other arm. Hopefully, his behavior would suggest that he was fine so that they wouldn't ask him how he was feeling. He really didn't want to have to lie, nor did he want to think about what he'd lost right now. Focusing on other things, no matter how stupid, was better right now and Ackerson had yet to consider the possibility that other Infinites had been seriously injured, let alone killed. Somehow, he felt he should probably steer the conversation elsewhere. Last night was probably going to be a landmine for everybody, not just him. "Pancakes, huh?" he looked directly towards Ice and gave an innocent smile. Maybe he'd be nice and share? Come to think of it, had he even personally spoke to Ice yet? He hadn't exactly been too chatty with Alice, either. They could both be dickheads in a normal setting for all he was aware. Now he was kinda nervous. Social interaction and all that, only not with his horrible, no-good public mask. He needed to act truthfully to himself in order to gauge whether he and others could be friends. So what was he dealing with here? Alice was an odd one but Zachary assumed, given her talent, that she'd probably 'seen some shit'. Going off movie stereotypes and all was something he both really good at doing and not doing. He knew not to, but it was often more fun to ignore that and do it anyways. He now had a picture in his head of explosions and one-handing an LMG in some trenches somewhere. Man, Alice sure was a badass. No, wait, that was Rambo. She was the Infinite Recon, no? So she was supposed to be the silent type. More like a ninja, except modern! Yeah, Zach actually had no clue, he only knew what her title was. The only thing he knew after studying her was that she wasn't exactly the most sociable people here. And neither was he. What about Matthews? Given his own upbringing, Zachary was really not one to care too much about Ice's own previous lifestyle. The reveal was somewhat shocking during the trial (even if it was hidden away by irritation by that point), sure, but it certainly hadn't made him anymore unapproachable than if he was simply a blood donor. The biggest problem with Ice was that Zach didn't recall the man being too much of a speaker an---- Wait, both of these people were untalkative, typically. Also, Zach was bad at doing the talking thing beyond the bare minimum! These two were both ice cubes of sorts. Cold and quiet. Hard to interact with unless you had some important goal in mind, like the NoC. How was he supposed to strike up a conversation with these two double-teaming him!? Why did it have to be them!? [i][color=0076a3]REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, coming here was a mistake![/color][/i] All this thinking was just getting to be a pain, so Zach stopped doing that. Hopefully, it would lead to a desirable social outcome, and not just have them run away. Only time would tell, though. [color=0076a3]"So, quick question to you two since it's relevant: Do you guys eat pancakes with peanut butter on them? I knew this one guy who SWORE by it and it really struck me as odd ever since that people do that. But maybe I'm the weird one? Thoughts?"[/color]