damned_institute | Day 61: Sun Room (third shift)

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Day 61: Sun Room (third shift)

The moment dear Landel-san announced that it was time for lunch, Erika wasted no time and headed straight for the Sun Room's bulletin board to check if there was any response to her message left for her dear friend. Predictably, there was nothing for her on the board, and the detective scowled as she realized she might have to write him off as a loss. She had lost a good number of potential allies in this place, but losing this one was a bit of a blow, if only because he had useful things on him. On the other hand, if he was gone, and that ring was still here...

Perhaps it was not a great loss, then. Still, Erika was mildly annoyed as she wandered away from the board and back towards a nearby couch. She was spending a lot of time in the Sun Room lately, which seemed to be a bit of a waste as she could have spent in going around the Institute. On the other hand, she had a sandwich here that was waiting to be consumed and after spending a week with little access to "real food", Erika was more then happy to enjoy her time spent eating.

Still, at some point she was going to have to manage her time a little more effectively. There was no reason why she couldn't multitask, so Erika kept her gaze on the door of the Sun Room so she could watch people filter in on their way to other rooms. She wouldn't get everyone, no, but perhaps she would find someone useful that she could bother for the rest of the shift. A familiar face, or maybe someone new. She'd decide on that eventually.

[ hau Seishin ready for round 2. /killed ]

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"Sure, whatever," Renji said. He nodded to Badou, since he didn't have an option but to sit unless he wanted to get in a tug of war with Daemon, and it seemed kind of silly. He dropped back into the chair. "Yeah, I feel like I've seen you around too. Abarai Renji. Just got back from wherever. It's nice to see a familiar face even if we didn't meet before."

He gave Allelujah a little wave and just said, "Funny running into you again so soon, eh?"

And then that look Daemon gave him. He smirked. "Your jealousy of my torrid affair with the censorship nurse is getting pathetic."

The sudden grab took him by surprise, but there was no point to fighting it was there? Not when he'd come over to see Badou anyway. "Yes, that's me," he agreed, offereing a smalele smile to the man. "Daemon, yes?" They had spoken, he remembered it but it ewas a surprise to run into Renji so soon after seeing him that morning. Strange coincidences happened more often than was normal in this place.

"Yes, I supposee it is," Allelujah agreed as he settled down next to Badou on the couch.

It looked like everyone had already met. Badou didn't bother to hide the flicker of recognition when Renji introduced himself - he was too surprised, to be honest. So this was the guy Arty had lost when they first started hanging around together. He couldn't say he really saw the resemblance. That was some pretty sweet ink. "Yeah, I got back not long ago too. It's practically a reunion party in here lately."

Then again, from the look Daemon was throwing them, maybe it wasn't a physical thing. Badou smirked lazily, not the least bit embarrassed, and leaned back to take a bite of his lunch, his shoulder brushing Alle's. "Hey, you're the one who said I had to work on my charm." He shifted his gaze to Renji. "For the record, I think censorship nurse missed you too. There was a period of mourning when she stopped striking things out."

He leaned a little more against Alle's shoulder, just because he could. "Relax, man. You gonna eat those apple slices?"

"Jealousy?" Daemon echoed, then laughed, the sound warm and amused as he took a bite of his own sandwich and shook his head at the Shinigami's smirk. "I'm not sure I'd call it jealousy. However you do have a worrisome habit of getting sedated every time I turn around. Can't we do something about that this time around?"

Alle and Badou's comments had him tipping his head for a moment, looking thoughtful. "I didn't hear of this happening a lot my first visit here, but you have any of you heard people making return visits much before this?" He wondered if there was a pattern, or if it meant something.

Or maybe he, Renji, and Badou were just special. Lucky them.

"Huh. Maybe more people are comin' back these days or somethin." Renji wasn't sure how he felt about that, because it was a thing that could fill him with hope and dread pretty much at the same time. For a moment his expression went stony.

The censorship nurse was a much, much safer topic, and he set the brooding aside for some other time, grinning. "I got that effect on women. Because I just ooze charm or something," he joked.

His smile fell away a little again when Daemon mentioned the whole sedation thing. That was a giant can of worms he didn't really want to consider, because his last experience there... he still remembered what that strait jacket felt like, all the confusion and panic. He shuddered, looking over toward the wall, but shrugged. "Depends on how much people keep givin' me shit."

The first brush went mostly unnoticed. Allelujah shifting to look in his own bag and unwrapping the sandwich before taking a large bite. He hadn't eaten much at breakfast and the food didn't exactly taste bad. But he started when Badou leaned against him, sitting up straight and giving him a surprised look. It wasn't that he minded, it was just that... he wasn't used to it. "You can share them if you want," he said, opening the packet of apple and offering it to Badou.

He grimaced as talk turned to sedation. "I hate being sedated. I'd rather they just put me in solitary in a straightjacket." At least that was something familiar and he got time to think. He took a bite of the sandwich and focussed on that for a moment, listening with half an ear to the conversation.

"Sometimes," He admitted, shrugging the shoulder that wasn't planted against Alle's. "You hear all sorts of things, but from what I've gathered just about anyone can come back, whether they remember being here or not. This place doesn't exactly play by any rules."

"My partner came back twice," He added. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. If they were here at least he knew what was happening to them, but that wasn't exactly any kind of consolation.

He laughed at Renji's reply. "Man, I have that problem too."

He worked his way through his sandwich, occasionally stealing an apple slice from Alle while the other guys flirted. It was almost... kinda normal. Sort of. As close to normal as things got these days, except for all the trauma and talking about their preferred method of sedation. So really not normal at all.

Badou swallowed his bite of apple. "How about we all agree to opt out of both whenever possible. It's too early in... my life to have a debate about straight jackets vs unsolicited drugs."

"I don't think oozing is natural or healthy," Daemon quipped, sliding a sideways glance at Renji once more, his lips quirking faintly about the corners in an effort to hide a ridiculous grin. He, too, steered away from more serious topics at the moment, preferring to relax and enjoy the brief period of light companionship. So often his days lightly had been spent trying to catch up on what he'd missed or filling in other newcomers on what they needed to know. It was nice to just sit for a while.

Although he still filed away each of their responses, eying Allelujah thoughtfully after his comment, wondering what sort of world the boy came from. Badou had him laughing a moment later though as he shook his head at the redhead. "I'm not sure there is a better option there other than yes, avoiding both when possible. Although I think I passed the point of being too young for either a very long time ago," he added, a hint of dry humor creeping into his tone.

Then again the bitch Queens of the courts that had raised him had rarely paid much attention to age or experience when applying either restraint or drugs. Though that was an entirely different sort of game than the one that was played here. Daemon didn't point out that comparisons between Terrielle and the Institute almost had Landel looking amateur at times. He didn't want to chance the powers-that-be overhearing and attempting to up their game. He would take fighting mutant monsters over his old life any day, even if he did miss home so badly.

Renji went a little quieter, though he did shoot Daemon a crooked smile. For a moment he just stared at the space over Badou's left shoulder, expression going back to mostly unreadable with a side of grouchy.

He was really regretting contributing anything to this particular conversational topic. But he couldn't really think of anything else to say, because his brain seemed to get stuck on it.

Suddenly, he also didn't feel all that hungry. He dug the apples out of his lunch bag and tossed them onto the space between Badou and Alle, following it with the cookie. He wasn't much for sweets like that, anyway.

Because it had him thinking of something else as well. The last shift, there'd been therapy. There'd be more next shift, and in the days following. Maybe he should see, if anyone knew if... that doctor was still around. But he kind of didn't want to know, as much as he did.

Badou was still sitting up against him, a line of warmth against his side and it... wasn't unpleasant. he did smile at Badou's comment though. "I agree," he said quietly. "We might end up talking about how pretty your hair is again," he added with a small smile remembering that conversation surprisingly well for someone who had been drugged near mindless. At least, he hoped that it was something he remembered and not something that he'd made up while under the influence of drugs. That was the danger really; drugs did not improve the general IQ of a conversation.

He caught the apple slices thrown at him, and the cookie, and blinked at Renji. "Thankyou," he said. He wasn't going to turn down food. Badou wasn't going to turn down food more importantly. And Allelujah did likes sweets.

Badou shot Daemon a look, curious and appraising. "You can't be that old." He'd placed the guy in his late twenties at best, but he knew you could never be too sure of anything, especially with a guy who talked about realms and light and darkness like they were real, commonplace things.

It was a fairly neutral topic though, and mostly he was just curious. "You're not an elf or anything, are you? Not that I've got anything against that. You've got the whole seductive thing..." He paused, chewing contemplatively. "Maybe that's vampires."

He elbowed Alle in the side for the hair comment. Or he would have, if he wasn't too lazy to do more than sort of nudge him with his arm. "No one wants to get into that again either. It goes without saying that I'm the finest ginger you ever met."

"Second finest," He amended, glancing from the food to Renji again. "Thanks."

They all needed a break from the heavy stuff for a while. Maybe some more than others. He wasn't really the type to pry into that kind of thing though, even with people he knew fairly well.

He shifted his attention back to Alle, noting his interest in the cookie, and wordlessly offered the one from his own bag.

Daemon choked on a laugh at Badou's first comment, momentarily debating on whether to correct the man or not. He decided on not for the time being, but his expression still showed his bemusement as Badou went on to ponder something else.

"I do not know these terms. What is an elf? And vampires?" he asked, leaning forward curiously, glancing between Alle and Badou, as well as glancing over at Renji, who was being conspicuously quiet. He suspected where the Shinigami's thoughts had drifted and would be happy to distract them in another direction if it was possible. He didn't let his own thoughts dwell on it. Not here, not now. His companions didn't need to deal with his temper, which simmered ever-ready just below the surface.

Renji shrugged at Badou and Alle. "Sure, no problem."

He smiled wryly. "Daemon's one of the few guys around that are older than me." He laughed. "And fuck that vampire shit. Vampires are lame. They're a metaphor for the clap that thinks it's cool."

Renji fell silent again, but he was a little distracted now at least.

People were giving him food. Did he look undernourished or something? Not that he was going to complain. He burned through calories quickly; probably a quantum brainwaves thing, not that he'd ever really enquired. And he wasn't going to turn it down. He smiled as he took the cookies offered by badou, setting it aside as he nibbled on his own. "To be fair," he said thoughtfully, "you are pretty much the only 'gingers' that I've met. I don't know if Sumeragi counts. And Feldt's hair was pink rather than red..." He trailed off, suppressing a wince when he realised that he was talking in the past tense, as though that was a life that was completely over.

He gave them both curious looks. how old were they? Renji had said that everyone was a kid compared to him but that didn't really give him much to go on did it?

His head fell against Alle's shoulder once as if he was trying to use it to gently bludgeon himself. "Just say 'Yes Badou, you're amazing.'"

Of course, being amazing didn't prevent him from almost choking on an apple slice apple slice at Renji's comment about vampires. To be fair, his only exposure to them had been a cute girl in highschool who liked to bite. "Yeah that's kinda accurate." He made a placating gesture at Daemon, though he didn't seem to know what they were talking about yet. "And for the record, man, I wasn't trying to compare you to an STD. Vampires are uh... ok forget vampires. Elves are supposedly inhumanly pretty human-like things that live a long time and do magical shit. I dunno. I only saw Lord of the Rings that one time."

And before he managed to insult a mystical race he decided to steer right back to the supposedly safer topic. "So how old are both of you anyway?"

"Old," Daemon commented dryly, still looking amused and slightly baffled at the exchange. "And that still doesn't explain what a vampire is. Although the elves..." Were there Blood in other realms that were called by a different name? The concept had never occurred to him before and he looked startled for a moment, then curious.

"These things exist in your world?"

Renji laughed. "I'm a lot older'n either of you but nowhere near Daemon. Dude's a wrinkly old fart that just moisturizes really well." He grinned at Daemon. He'd probably end up getting punched for that later or something. "I dunno... you lose track after a while when you're not in the human world. A few centuries for me."

He shrugged. "Far as I know, vampires are mostly based off the shit in this book called Dracula by Bram Stoker. They might even have a copy of it here since it's a classic. But they like... drink blood and turn into bats and stuff. Can only go out at night since the sun burns 'em to a crisp. Got a thing for hot young virgins and turn them into vampires too. I think the author had like a real problem with women having sex. Which is sad. Or maybe he just wasn't getting any. Dunno." He scratched his head. "And that's actually somethin' I've never really understood about a lot of Western literature. Because it's totally okay for guys in it to get laid all they want, but nasty shit happens to women that do the same thing. So... who are the guys supposed to sleep with anyway, if that's the case? Because most of 'em ain't gay, either."

Edited 2012-02-02 14:42 (UTC)

"But if I do that then it will go to your head and I'm sure you'll be insufferable," Allelujah said, smiling slightly even though he still looked a little baffled at Badou's behaviour. He wasn't entirely certain why Badou was trying to give himself shoulder-shaped bruises except for his essential Badouness forcing him into it.

The talk about vampires, for the most part, just earned blank looks. He might have heard a few things here and there, but he had never really had the opportunity to pursue reading beyond what was required for his basic education and for some reason, vampires and elves hadn't been considered essential education for the pilot of a giant death robot.

Maybe it was like the zombies and he should have brushed up on it.

"What are you talking about? My confidence is a delicate flower, it needs nourishment." He settled into a slightly less undignified position. Nothing seemed to phase Alle, but he had to admit he was more than a little surprised at how old both Renji and Daemon were. Must be one hell of a moisturizer.

"Damn," Badou muttered. "You should bottle that shit and sell it." He shrugged it off, though, because really... this was the institute. One of the best and worst things about it was that everything was possible.

Case and point: now he was listening to a centuries-old guy dissecting Dracula and it didn't even make his top twenty list for weirdest shit that had happened this week. Actually, it was even kinda familiar. He'd paraphrased a book report once that went along those lines.

He shook his head at Daemon. "No elves or vampires in my world. That I know of, I mean. We might have some..." He stopped short of saying fetish mutants. "They might have made something like that minus the magic, I guess. We've got kids with horns and wings, why not a few well-preserved old guys?"

Throughout Renji's entire explanation, Daemon's expression ranged between comical and exasperated, finally settling on a grimace caught halfway between as he buried his head in his hands for a moment. Then he gave a sort of choked sounding laugh, as if he was stifling a sudden fit of very unmanly hysterics that had no place here.

"Well, it's good to know the stories like this have spread so far into other realms," he finally managed, still not picking up his head. "We have similar legends in my realm. Although I can assure you, at least, the bat part is false. As for the virgin... ahh... I don't think that has anything to do with the... condition. Possibly more to do with the person behind it."

Although the comment about sex intrigued him and he shot Renji a baffled look. "Women are criticized for having sex in your realm?" he echoed, sounding utterly bewildered by this concept.

Amusement flickered in his golden gaze at Alle and Badou's exchange, his lips twitching faintly as he watched them before he listened to Badou's explanation. "Hmm. Interesting. Although yes, there are those with horns and wings in my realm as well."

"Not in my realm," Renji said. "Well I mean... there's always jackholes that'll get one anyone's case because they're not gettin' enough themselves. But the Shinigami ladies can do whatever the fuck they want. And whoever they want." He rubbed his chin. "In the mortal realm the people that seem to get all weird about sex are the Westerners. Though I ain't gonna say Japan's perfect. Some of the shit that came out during the Tokugawa Bakufu just like... made me do that thing, where you smack yourself in the forehead."

He shrugged. "And it's not that I'm well-preserved," he told Badou. "It's that I'm fuckin' immortal. Because I'm already dead."

"I'm sure one of the shifts today was in the greenhouse. maybe we should get some manure," Allelujah replied, a slight sharpness to his grin that hadn't been there before. At least Badou had stopped trying to use Allelujah's shoulder as a bludgeon. He couldn't help but feel a little oddly uncomfortably when badou was so close.

"I don't think there's anything like that where I'm from," Allelujah admitted. "No magic or things that aren't human. Mostly." Just people like him. "We have robots?" he offered because some people seemed to find those something exceptional when for him they were every day things.

And all of this talk of sex was... were people really this obsessed about it? It had never really... if people on the Ptolemaios were having sex, then they never mentioned it.

Badou raised his eyebrows and looked mildly offended. "But Alle, I'm already full of shit."

And Daemon's explanation only made them climb higher. The condition of... he wasn't going to ask. He didn't want to know. This was one of those times where information was not a thing he needed. And he had no idea what Renji was talking about either, at least as far as countries and history went. He shrugged. Germany wasn't exactly famous for its nunneries.

As for the rest of it...

"So let me get this straight: You're dead." He nodded at Renji. "He has giant fighting robots." A quick twitch of the shoulder to indicate Alle. "And you're apparently really, really old."

Badou raised his hands in mock surrender. "I fold. Had to gun down some old Chinese takeout once, but all I've got going for me is my good looks."

Well, his half-average looks and a giant bandage across the side of his face, but it was slightly better than volunteering that he bruised like a peach.

"Well, he's not quite dead," Daemon countered with a laugh, glancing over at Renji and poking him in the shoulder. "He's... something else. I'd compare you to the demon-dead or the Guardians in my realm, but that's not quite right, either. You don't need blood to sustain you, and as far as I've witnessed, sunlight has no harmful affects on you. But as for the other, yes I am. I'm not sure how time has passed here in comparison to home, but on my last nameday there, I was 1,763."

This was admitted with a casual shrug. In his world, in his race, he was still young, not even to the prime of his life yet. His father had lived over 50,000 years, and that was before he'd become a Guardian, and Daemon had never had the courage to ask him how long ago that had been. At some point, he wondered if you just stopped keeping track.

"That is old to the short-lived races," he explained. "My people are one of the longer lasting races in our realms. I'm still relatively young."

"You forgot the part where I'm a god that hunts corrupt souls." Renji grinned wickedly at Badou.

"Oh, no. I'm actually very dead," Renji said, more than happy to contradict Daemon. "Died when I was pretty little, my spirit went to the shithole afterlife I guess I deserved, and I was just lucky enough to survive there and claw my way up to a less shitty place. And now, I don't drink blood or some shit. Just gotta eat like everyone else. More if I've been fighting, cause all that reiatsu's not free."

He shrugged. "For all you guys know, there's shinigami everywhere in your home. Mortals can't normally see us. And we can walk through walls. It's a fuckin' awesome gig."

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tender_cruelty - 2012-02-11 23:58 (UTC) - Expand

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Day 61: Sun Room (third shift)

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Sorry, he decided to brood instead of contributing to the conversation. >.>

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Yes, this is Renji doing literary analysis. /facepalm

Re: Yes, this is Renji doing literary analysis. /facepalm

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