Steel Skeleton

Early Changes

 The unpacking had taken the entire hour, so he found himself following Madsen to the cafeteria. Upon arriving he was a bit shocked at the amount of folks. There were many different people of many different sizes. There were many who were very small, and that seemed female dominated. There were those of normal stature, and it seemed that they were almost mixed. There were a few larger folks. There was a man with long blonde hair, and a female who had her hair dyed a really light pink. Most of the people looked young. Some seemed as young as 13-14. He started to fear he was the oldest. Madsen had migrated to his friend group, so Gavin stood awkwardly in the doorway. He wasn't sure what to do; until a nurse tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around.

"Hi, I'm Erin. I'm here to help you learn the ropes," She said; her voice almost too cheerful for Gavin. He nodded awkwardly, and walked behind her. She pointed to a table of trays. "This is where your food will be when you come in. You'll find your name on the sticker." She explained, so Gavin searched for his. It was in the front of the array. He looked down at it in just a bit of shock.

"That's a lot." He whispered, yet somehow loud enough to be audible. Erin looked over.

"You'll get used to it; you don't have to eat it all on the first day," She explained, and he nodded. "There are rules as well. The first one is obvious. You can't use the restroom 30 minutes after a meal or snack. We expect you to eat everything, and if there's anything major leftover we'll have to give you a boost. No cutting food up or hiding it. No hoodies or jackets in the cafeteria; We make sure to keep it warm. Movement of the body is fine; we know it's a way to help cope sometimes, but no major moving for calorie burning purposes." She explained. It was so much to take in for Gavin. He looked at his food, and sat down where he was. It was all too intimidating. He wasn't sure if he wanted company.

He had no choice. and almost 30 seconds, he watches Erin bring over a rather larger figure.  He was about as tall as Gavin, and it was fascinating how different the two looked. Gavin looked up to face his eyes.

"This is Lars; I thought you needed someone to sit with for the first meal." She explained, and then left. Gavin looked down, and then up again.

"I'm Gavin." He said, and Lars stretched a hand out. Gavin shook it.

"Lars, but she already told you that." Lars said, and then ate something that Gavin couldn't make out. Gavin looked at his own tray. It was loaded with something of beans and tofu. His protein. Lots of peanut butter and bread. Masses of nuts, and he found there was milk. Normal milk. He hated milk, but he assumed there was no choice. He started by eating some of the nuts. Lars looked back up as Gavin finished up the nuts.

"Wait you're the new kid. You do that wheel thing right? That's dope." Lars said; awfully excited. Gavin nodded slowly and bit off some of the peanut butter sandwich.

"Yeah. I perform with a circus as a job." Gavin explained. He found the peanut butter oddly runny, and it annoyed him. He assumed it was just because of the toasted bread. He never expected the odd aversions he had towards food when he wasn't scarfing it down during a binge.

"That's so dope man. Mad respect," Lars said, and then looked at the shirt Gavin wore. It was one he had bought many years ago at a show. "I love the shirt too." Lars said, his voice still awfully enthusiastic.

"Oh, thanks. I bought it years ago at a show." Gavin explained; downplaying a lot of the enthusiasm.

"Yo, that's sick," Lars stated, and then eyed Gavin. He assumed it was an examination of disorder. It was a habit folks with eating disorders had. Lars looked up. "Bulimia?" He asked. Gavin nodded. He flashed his awfully broken knuckles in their absolutely horrific glory.