damned_institute | Day 61: Recreation Field (Shift 2)

Loki wasn't entirely thrilled about returning to the recreation field, though he supposed it would be nicer during the day. And without the annoying presence of Riku. Some fresh air would likely do him good; that was what Sif and Thor had always claimed right before they dragged him out of the library.

He wasn't entirely certain if that was a pleasant thought or not. It was still far too mixed up and painful.

He was allowed to go back to his room and pull out every bit of warm clothing he had, bundling up as much as he could. As he followed the nurse out into the field, he also wondered if this meant he would miss out on the greenhouse, since he'd arranged to meet Soma after lunch. That had priority, of course, but he did find plants interesting. At least it was good to know there were activities they were forced to participate in during the day that weren't as horrifically painful as, say, what the music room would indicate.

Good to know that as prisons went, it wasn't all just torture, torture, torture. Some variation was good for the mind.

He wandered along the crunchy, dead grass, for now steering clear of the few other patients. The air felt much better during the day, smelled much better to him as well as he sniffed at it. even if it was cold enough to make his nose hurt. It reminded him uncomfortably of Jotunheim, and...

But at least here, there was sunlight. He wasn't trapped in that dark place as sometimes was in his nightmares.

Loki stopped about halfway down the field, tilting his head back to take in the thin sunlight, his eyes slipping shut.

[Here, angel angel angel... :D Castiel!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, Okita couldn't argue with that. It was still an ambiguous answer, but it was probably as much as he was going to get out of him. Hijikata had opened a new line of conversation anyway and Okita was more than happy to follow that - even if it reminded him of someone who was no longer here. She was outside of the Institute now; although to say she was 'well' was a far cry from the truth. "Yes, that's true," he said, pulling his hands in against his chest. "I heard there was something new about the rewards for those stickers we get, though?"

Whether better food was a part of it, Okita wasn't sure, but new rewards always held more hope. Which, when he realized how pathetic that sounded, made them seem a little less desirable. They were like prisoners grasping at straws to feel even a little bit more human during the day. The high walls and the guards, the nurses always watching them, the carefully constructed schedules, it was all a dehumanizing experience. He turned his gaze to the wall then, trying to force the smile on his lips to stay.

"There used to be a club here," he started, sounded far more nostalgic than he meant. "It spent their evenings cooking of all things. Sweets and small things, but that was their entire purpose. A club for cooking."

He looked back to Hijikata, smiling a bit more naturally. "Isn't it strange?"

"So it seems," he replied, although he had only the vaguest idea of what that really entailed. He had one such sticker stuck to the irritating band they'd all been 'rewarded' with, but didn't know what it meant or what he'd done to get it. It seemed to match the small metal pins that had once adorned the hats the soldiers had insisted they wear, but that didn't tell him much.

He could sense that little shift in mood from Souji and tightened the arm around his shoulder, wondering if he was thinking of Ayumu and the disconcerting meeting they'd had with that woman wearing her face a few days ago. It had been troubling for him, and he could only imagine it had been more so for Souji.

"It's one way to spend the time," he replied after a moment. "Probably a safer one." Safety wasn't for them, of course, but perhaps for some of the people trapped here... they couldn't all be trained fighters. He was already sure of that. So finding something to keep them occupied... he could see the value in that, if not in the activity itself.

A safer one, perhaps, but now all the members were gone. So yes, the venture had been safe, but it had resulted in everyone leaving. Maybe it was the lack of focused purpose, the loss of drive that caused people to disappear here and wake up in a bed elsewhere, thinking they were someone else. He looked out over the wall again and wondered what that was like; simply giving up on his real life but also on the monotony of this place for a false sense of purpose and forward movement. Okita felt the arm around his shoulder pull him just a little closer and he turned his attention back to Hijikata, smiling.

"Just a few weeks ago at home it was so much nicer and now this," he said, suddenly switching topics again. He motioned to the cloudy sky and the cold air around them, seemingly bemused by the change of it all. Okita was certain there was a time gap between him and Hijikata, but he had never quite been able to determine how much. Hijikata, for all the stress in his life, never seemed to age much and so there were few clues Okita could go on. Instead, he scuffed his toe at the ground, frowning. "I wish they'd have left the snow, though. I never got to play in it properly. Do you think if we get enough stickers, then we'd get snow back?"

"It's always nicer than this back home," he replied with a snort. From Souji's perspective, he supposed, it had been fall, and only a few days ago, he himself had been watching as spring faded its way into the warmer months. Rarely was there ever cold like this to contend with. Just one more thing that had been taken along with their freedom, he supposed.

"Idiot." His hand moved to ruffle Souji's hair lightly, as though he were still a boy, before everything had gotten so horribly complicated. "You'd just catch another cold playing in it." It was practice that let him joke about it without wincing, even as he shoved the anxiety away. Try as he might, he wouldn't be able to forget that night and the horrible sounds of Souji's coughing, couldn't shake the dread that, despite having him back now, it had simply been a dress rehearsal for something worse laid out ahead of them on their path. "I doubt you can trade stickers for snow, anyway."

Day 61: Recreation Field (Shift 2)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject