Day 62: Sun Room (Second Shift)

[complicatedliar]

The line of questioning that Rita had begun at breakfast still plagued Loki, as did his own uncomfortable feelings about the entire concept of people being transformed into monsters. It wasn't a useful line of thought, and he needed a better direction to consider.

Hopefully, conversation with Soma would provide that. While she seemed quite stern at times, Loki found her presence oddly relaxing.

Though he had to wonder if perhaps he wouldn't end up seeing her this shift after all, since she might be included in the group that was being herded to the showers. (As much as the statement also was one he greeted with relief, since he was wondering when he'd get an opportunity to bathe. The thought of being trapped in a building with a great many mortals and no bathing facilities had been too horrifying to contemplate.) He'd always been a bit bad at guessing the ages of mortals, mostly because they were so ridiculously short-lived.

Having already established a neurotic fear of the cold with his nurse, there was no difficulty convincing her that he'd be much better off in the Sun Room. Loki settled into his habitual seat, taking a moment to coax one of the cats into his lap. All settled in, he propped his notebook on the arm of the chair and went back to writing.

[Soma?]

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[oyaji]

At the same time, Tiger returned, a little pale, but no worse than when he entered the bathroom. His nausea hadn't dissipated, but it hadn't gotten worse. Taking a deep breath before Barnaby saw him, he tried to put on a better face before clapping a hand across his partner's shoulders.

"Augh, Bunny, I dunno--Whoa, hey!" Immediately, Kotetsu moved forward and offered his hand to the stranger for extra assistance. "You okay?"

[baniichan]

That was certainly something he didn't see everyday. Eyebrows faintly raising in muted surprise, Barnaby could only watch as an unfamiliar man clumsily rolled across the floor and came to a stop in front of his feet. As distracted as he must have been to lose his balance so spectacularly, there was something to be said about how polite the patient remained even in the face of such an embarrassing spectacle.

"Not at all," Barnaby assured him, mirroring the man's manners. "Are you--?" But before he could finish his sentence, Barnaby felt the weight of Kotetsu's hand on his shoulder.

The sight of a person on the floor was practically the old man's cue to butt into the conversation, but Barnaby actually didn't mind in this case. As much as he wanted to know whether Kotetsu was feeling better, it was strangely comforting to have him as a sort of buffer for these unexpected encounters, particularly given his poor state of mind today. Barnaby almost felt like he was reaching out for the fallen man in his stead, and he decided to observe their exchange before saying anything further.

[osoreirimasu]

Oh, there were two of them. Japan tilted his head slightly toward the newcomer's direction - a darker haired man with a beard. No, not a beard. It looked like he had two pairs of cat ears drawn onto his face. No, that was a beard and now Japan felt a little embarrassed at his mistake, vowing to never let this stranger know that he saw cats on his face. A hand was offered along with two voices asking after his well-being, and Japan reached out, taking the hand to pull himself up.

"...Ah, yes... I believe I will be--" He was halfway to standing when he felt a crick in his lower back which stopped him dead. Japan froze, the color draining momentarily from his face, as the pain stabbed in and then slowly receded. "Nngh.....! Y-yes, I believe I will be f-fine...."

He was simply old. A nation as old as him never got away without a few aches and pains, even if he had just rolled across the floor like Doraemon out of a cannon. Letting out a soft breath, Japan pushed himself to a full standing position, one hand on his lower back and bowed his head. The color was coming back to his face at least. He could tell that much and with a bit more time, he would likely be able to leave these poor gentlemen to their previous conversation. "I apologize. I wasn't watching where I was going. I hope I did not cause inconvenience."