damned_institute | Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

After eating breakfast, Lloyd gathered up his journal and pencil and followed his nurse out of the cafeteria. He made a quick stop at the bulletin to leave a note for Lee, then let her lead him on to take his shower with the rest of the adult men. Not sure how old Lee was, Lloyd kept his eyes peeled for him just in case, but again he didn't catch even a glimpse of his friend's shiny black bowl-cut hair. Okay, no worries. Maybe he was with the kids in Arts and Crafts.

Cleaning up quickly, Lloyd grabbed a towel and dried himself off, then got dressed and headed back to the Sun Room to wait out the rest of the shift. His nurse hovered at his side until he'd situated himself at a table, then she backed up and withdrew to the edge of the room to keep an eye on him from there. He was fine with that. Of course, it would have been better if she left the room completely, but at least she was far enough back that it felt like he had at least some privacy.

While he waited, trying to catch sight of Lee, he pulled his journal back out. As far as he knew, no one else had been to the third floor before. There weren't any maps yet. That was something he could fix. Picking up where he'd left off, the teen went back to his work on the sketch.

[For Tsurugi.]

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[From here, and for Sechs.]

Finally set loose, Zero immediately began searching for Ciel everywhere in the Sun Room, moving quickly and with purpose. It was ultimately a search made in vain, however; he couldn't find her anywhere, and after a few minutes, he was forced to stop and give up. Either she was taking too long in the showers, or...

Wait, they mentioned the Arts and Crafts room on the intercom, didn't they? That's right...she was fairly young. Maybe she didn't count as an adult to the staff here. If that was the case, then she was probably in that room--

"Yūdai, where are you going? You don't get to go in there until after lunch. Stay put and settle down!"

...But the nurse was still being a pain by preventing him from going to check, still insisting that Ciel needed to be left alone, still insisting that he 'calm down'. "Why don't you read the bulletin board instead?" she suggested, while smiling as if his concerns didn't matter at all. "You always love to check on that, don't you?" And then she began to encourage him to go in that direction, ignoring whatever he tried to say against it.

Finally, after enough of being blocked, Zero let out a sigh and made for the board after all, tired of dealing with his nurse. However, he wasn't going there purely to appease her, or even because the board was a good thing to check in general. Maybe if he waited and did what she said long enough, she'd leave him alone for a few minutes...and then he could slip into the Arts and Crafts room while her back was turned...

But for now, he'd check up on the Institute news.

[From here.]

After a good warm shower to ease his back, Sechs made his way to the Sun Room Much to the nurse's displeasure, the Replica had neglected drying himself up properly, shaking his messy hair dry and leaving droplets of water on the floor in his wake like an oblivious dog fresh out of the tub.

By the time Sechs reached the Sun Room, he was considerably drier (while the nurses were visibly more annoyed) as he began looking out for fellow androids with blonde hair. Right away he spotted Zero's particularly long tail of golden hair and made a bee line towards him.

As usual, Zero was looking all serious and grumpy. Being in a rather good mood and having developed respect for Zero after their endeavors the night before, Sechs was starting to consider giving his stoic ally a nickname...

"Hey Grump'o!" Sechs greeted Zero with a teasing grin. Standing by Zero's side, Sechs crossed his arms across his chest and amiably tilted his head. "We did awesome last night! We gotta get back there again for sure!" he said, his battle-hungry excitement was clear in his eyes. "So we gonna meet at the same spot as before, right?"

.....Grump'o. Really.

Zero wanted to believe that the familiar voice saying that was addressing someone else, but this wasn't the first thing to deny him his want today, was it? The only positive was that the voice belonged to someone he actually liked, but it wasn't enough to overturn his desire to talk to no one but Ciel right now.

That, and Grump'o. Really.

As if to perfectly put (nick)name to face, Zero turned to look at Sechs with one of his best grumpy expressions. Sechs, of course, was as eager and reminiscent of Fefnir as ever. Any other day, it would have been enough to inspire similar confidence in Zero, especially since the fellow android brought up the basement.

But today.....

Zero stared hard at Sechs for a silent moment, thinking. Then, his mind seemingly made up, he gave a single shake of his head. "Not me," he said simply, then turned to start writing a note for the board as if Sechs hadn't said anything.

Seeing Zero's perfectly matching expression to his new nickname brought a gruff snigger out of Sechs. With his toothy grin widening across his face, Sechs waited for Zero's reply, ready to tease the shorter droid some more if necessary...

...Yet Zero made no other reaction, just shook his head, declined Sechs and returned his attention back to the message board.

Sechs' grin froze for a second, unable to process what he had just heard. Once Zero's answer full registered in Sechs' head, his grin cracked and fell apart into a dubious pout. Zero's inexplicably simple decline made no sense to the Replica. He just stood there, blinking with confusion. Sechs had been expecting the usual quiet nod and confident confirmation from Zero, even hoping for some sign of annoyance for him to poke more fun at! What was Zero's problem? Did his new nickname for Zero piss him off that badly?!

"Wuh..?" Sechs' arms fell to his sides and shoulders slumped forward as his excitement seeped out of his demeanor like a downed balloon. "Whaddya mean, 'Not me'?! You did great last night!" he exclaimed, flabbergasted by Zero's sudden change of heart. By now Sechs had learned to expect a cold and distant attitude from Zero, but he didn't think his rather icy personality would involve abandoning him and Aigis. "Why the sudden loss of interest, huh?"

A second later and he hastily added, "If it's because I called ya Grump'o, I promise I won't use that nickname when we go on missions, alright?"

Zero waited to finish writing his very short note to X before he looked back at Sechs again, the same expression still on his face. The nickname was annoying, he had to admit, but it had nothing to do with his decision.

Though that might not have been obvious by his next response and the slight edge of annoyed tone it had. "That's not it." He turned back to the board again so that he could pin his finished note to it, intending at first to not say anything else. But having seen Sechs that second time, and seeing how disappointed he looked...hm. Guess it wasn't too fair to just not give him a reason, huh.

And it wasn't like Sechs was someone he couldn't trust...

"...I just found out that one of my friends is here now," Zero explained, eyes still on the board. "I have to be able to protect her." Short and simple. Just the important facts. That was all Sechs needed as far as he was concerned.

Sechs stared at Zero, feeling a tinge of anger join his surprised confusion as he waited for the shorter droid to respond. After what felt like minutes than just seconds, Zero's next reply came just as curt and unhelpful as the first one. Now some of that anger Sechs was feeling threatened to take up more space amidst his emotions. Letting out a huff of frustration, Sechs shrugged his shoulders and threw his hands down with exasperation. "Then what's the problem?!"

Zero's next answer took another moment to arrive and by then Sechs' patience was swiftly dwindling. "Oh! You found someone you know?" Sechs frowned, annoyed by how that was Zero's only reason for his suddenly uncongenial stance. Sechs thought something much worse had happened to change Zero's mind. "Well, you can bring her along with us then!" he added with a shrug, as though such an idea could have easily been thought up for the problem by Zero in the first place. "We could do with another pair of hands and eyes for whatever's next in the basement!"

And for that response, Zero gave Sechs yet another look, this time seeming as if he couldn't believe Sechs had just asked such a question. (Which, he would probably admit later, wasn't very fair since Sechs didn't know...but he was about to tell him, so it didn't really matter, did it?)

"She's not a fighter or an android like us." Despite the annoyance on his face, Zero still spoke very matter-of-factly. "She's a scientist and my leader. I can't let anything happen to her." He especially wasn't about to take Ciel down to the basement, where the monsters previously encountered there were clearly more dangerous than the ones on the Institute's upper floors. It was bad enough that she was here as a prisoner in the first place...

Sechs blinked. "Y-your leader?!" That was surprising news to Sechs. To him, Zero always seemed to be the independent type, not one to take orders from others. "Geeze, this scientist person must be extremely grumpy to have such control over 'Zero the Grump'o' here..." Sechs thought to himself.

"You kidding me?!" Locking his wolfish glare at the cold droid, Sechs' disappointed slump shifted into a predatory stoop, bringing his eye-level closer to Zero's. "So now that your leader is here, you're gonna just abandon the rest of us?" he growled, his tone strained between furious and betrayed. To think that he was actually feeling good around Zero and even trusted him before...!

Straightening up, Sechs defensively crossed his arms across his chest and frowned furiously down at the shorter droid. "Keep in mind, whatever we may find in the basement is gonna help us -- including your dear leader -- get outta this hell hole!" he snarled. "You really sure you're not going with us this time?"

"I know that." ...He said that with the same gruff tone as before, but Zero couldn't honestly say he'd thought much of Sechs's point until it was brought up just now. It was true... Their mission to the basement wasn't technically complete yet, and Zero had made a commitment the day before to help out.

But things had changed since then. He hadn't expected Ciel to show up again, much less as a prisoner. No matter how much he wanted to go back to the basement or help his new friends, he felt that he had a duty to follow Ciel before Sechs and Aigis. And he just couldn't bring himself to put her in such a dangerous situation as the basement, especially not when she'd just gotten here today...

So Zero held his ground, refusing to break eye contact with Sechs now. "You're both capable of fighting without me. I helped you get started, and I trust you can both finish it. But I won't let Landel brainwash my friend a second time."

He'd revealed a little bit more about the situation than he normally would have, but when Sechs was reacting like this, Zero felt the need to justify himself more fully. Even if he didn't understand, though, the former Reploid's expression made it clear that he wasn't changing his mind.

Except for the sound of his agitated panting, Sechs remained silent against Zero's response. The Replica's eyes were narrowed, his brows furrowed and his frown twisted into a pained grimace. For a moment Sechs looked just about ready to explode or storm away from the other droid --

Yet the word "brainwash" gave Sechs a reason to pause. He barely reacted, only his eyebrows perked slightly as a painful recollection flashed through his mind. He knew Alita was out there, brainwashed and living a false life. Fai was another acquaintance Sechs thought to have died, but recently returned with his memories wiped. In that quiet moment, Sechs got the hint from Zero -- but it didn't ease his jilted anger towards him.

"...Fine!" Sechs severed his eye contact with Zero and turned to the side with a huff. It was decided then; Zero was out of the mission. Despite what Zero said, Sechs couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that just him and Aigis would not be enough. He wasn't sure if he could find a third person to join before the end of the day either, and it didn't help that it was already nearly evening. That setback in the plan only gave Sechs more reason to begrudge Zero for his decision. Yet before he left the blonde droid to his business with the bulletin, Sechs needed one more thing from him.

"We're gonna need that artifact from ya to open that door downstairs," he snapped bitterly, giving Zero only a brief sideways glance. "So meet me at the same place as last night, give the sword to me and then you can go on with your little scientist friend. Alright?!"

"...Alright." Zero wasn't opposed to doing that much. Sechs and Aigis would need that sword to get farther in the basement, so he wasn't about to keep it to himself and prevent them from going anywhere.

As for Sechs's bitterness...he could understand it to a degree, but it still wasn't going to make him change his mind. Zero wasn't even going to allow himself to feel too guilty over the whole thing. He knew he would ultimately feel more guilty abandoning Ciel or letting something happen to her in that basement - or, worse still, allowing Landel to manipulate her a second time. Whereas Sechs and Aigis, he knew they had been here long enough to know the ins and outs of this place, and they were also skilled at protecting themselves. It was only obvious to Zero where his priorities should lie this coming night.

As for now, he supposed he could still do something helpful by making a second bulletin board note to Ciel. So he finally broke eye contact with Sechs to start doing just that, not intending to add anything else to the conversation with Sechs for now.

"Good," Sechs retorted with a final snort. If Zero wasn't going with them, the least he could do was give one of the keys to that door. They were too close from finding answers to be stopped now and Sechs was angry enough to take the sword from Zero with force if he had to. He was no longer a team player in Sechs' book.

Without giving Zero even a glimmer of a glance, Sechs stomped off to the other side of the Sun Room, cursing and grumbling under his breath as he made as much distance between him and Zero. He picked a chair and kept his back to everyone around him, glowering as he berated himself for trusting anyone in the first place. He didn't plan on talking with Zero anytime soon for this.

"Great... Now what?" If the mission fell apart any further, Sechs would just have to go on his own. Embarking on missions in solitude wasn't new to the former G.I.B agent, but that was when he was still robotic. Now he was too vulnerable and he hated Landel all the more for it, even feeling some of that hatred towards Zero for reminding him of the institute's limitations he suffered.

For now, the Replica could only hope that Zero would keep his word tonight and that Aigis stuck with the plan without having her own change of heart. Going alone with the mission wasn't exactly the most comforting alternative to think about...

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Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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