An Itsy Bitsy Strawberry

Sugary

The two kids walked back into the big canteen. 

"So, to the left of the dorm hallway we just got out of, we've got the laundry chute and some higher-security bullshit over there. Dunno what it's all about. And to the right of the other dorm hallway, we have an artificial outside. I think it's supposed to resemble the average look from the 1700s, but I can't recall right now. If you head back from where you came, you get to the Verifications & Report Office. If you've got an issue, hand it to them and they'll determine the proper outcome. They got some weird-ass calculating machines in there." Damien continued rambling on and on and on about how the whole place worked. He even showed Strawberry some of the mechanisms of the place, such as the laundry machines and newspaper tubes.

After a handful of minutes, Strawberry finally interrupted. "Are you done yet? I'm kinda tired of listening to you ramble, you know?"

"Oh, sorry about that. I guess I got a bit out of hand, haha...," Damien giggled in a clearly fake manner. "I should probably check up on Rocco. You can wander around freely. Have fun!" he called out, walking back to the dorm.

Strawberry stood alone in the canteen, watching everyone around her slowly disappear behind doors. After a minute or two, it struck her mind that both of her tour guides had ditched her, and she had to navigate the place independently.

"Goddammit," she muttered under her breath, looking around the canteen. She walked over to the newspaper tubes and picked up a "newspaper."

The newspaper in question was ink carefully engraved on discs melted into a rectangular shape. Upon reading the paper, Strawberry saw some random opinions and the week's menu.

She pulled her eyes off the paper and looked around her. Her body was lulled to the food counter as she caught sight of a person running the counter.

The first actual adult Strawberry had seen in years, who was rather occupied washing metal trays, rested a tray down on a stack of trays just to look up and see Strawberry, waiting patiently.

"Oh, hello there, dear! You're a bit late for lunch, we've run out of the corn dogs. Would you like a snack from the back?" the woman spoke sweetly. It seemed rather practiced when she talked, though.

"Ah, no, thanks. I'm actually new around here and I'm not sure what to do," Strawberry answered, fumbling with her fingers.

"You are? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, dear. Everyone around here calls me Sour, but it's only because I enjoy eating lemons, haha. Who might you be?"

"Strawberry."

"Wow, that's a nice name. You can head to the outside area if you need something to do. I know some fellow chefs who are holding a picnic today. Maybe you can join the people there!"

"Thank you, miss Sour."

"Anytime, dear."

Strawberry walked off to the artificial outside Damien told her about, pondering the personalities of the people she had met so far.

The outside appeared rather calm yet eventful. Looking around the grounds, there were small buildings that one could go inside. The buildings were numbered from 1-11 as far as Strawberry could tell.

Strawberry was about to explore building 5 before someone ran into her shoulder.

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Author's note: I split the last part into two cuz it was getting big and off topic.