Dayshift 62: Sun Room [Third Shift]

[avengingfists]

Last night had been a nightmare. That had to be what it was, but Ilia couldn't deny reality. In her anguish, Ilia had slept through the first half of the day plagued by nightmares. In her dreams she saw Rose's broken body all over again with Gamzee standing over her, his club raised to strike again. Somewhere, she could hear Martin Landel laughing.

Much like the battle last night, Ilia was overcome by her powerlessness. Was she really so useless? Why did it have to be the children who suffered pain and death? Why was she left alive here? She didn't wish for her own death, but if she could have given up her life to save Rose... But nothing could be done now

Ilia had failed to save an ally in need. If only her Captain could have been here, then just maybe his uncanny luck and drive might have saved them. He had a miraculous touch that could solve anything. Ilia now understood why she would never be on equal footing with him.

Miserably, Ilia roused herself at her nurse's insistence that she come eat. She didn't take a moment to brush her hair or wash her face. She just followed along as directed, trying to ignore the hallow feeling in her chest. Ilia wasn't hungry, but she took one of the bags offered to her and trudged to the bulletin. She addressed a few notes then added one herself. It wasn't the prettiest note, but Ilia couldn't produce the level of prose that Rose deserved. Instead, she wrote it quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. Short. To the point.

Her task done, Ilia found seat in the corner and sunk down into the cushion. Burying her face in her hands, she concentrated on breathing. She couldn't face the sun today.

[For her children Claude and Anise]

Comments

[madeinthehrl]

Soma smiled and waved Rapunzel over, scooting over on the sofa to make room for her. "How are you, Rapunzel? No, nothing out of the ordinary's happened. I'm just liking having something to do during the day."

She glanced around. Her nurse was deep in conversation with another nurse, and nobody else seemed to be paying them much attention, except for the small tabby taking an interest in her sandwich. She pushed it gently with her foot. "Did you and Tsubaki make any progress on what you found the other day?"

[hairraising]

"All right. A little up and down — you know how it goes here," answered Rapunzel, her smile becoming strained but only for a moment. There was no need to elaborate on just what Landel's did to make people feel down. As she said, they both knew well enough, Soma even moreso than her. So instead, Rapunzel forced down the strain and smiled all the more, just to spite the place. "More up than down right now, thankfully."

She shook her head at the second question. "No, I ended up sleeping through last night. Oops," she said with a short laugh. "I did start sharing the information today, though! Nothing on the board yet, but I figured starting word of mouth wouldn't hurt." She tilted her head, silently asking Soma if she agreed with the logic.

[madeinthehrl]

Soma nodded slightly. "That's good to hear." There was something else there, she thought, but if Rapunzel didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't press, either.

"And that's all right!" she was quick to assure her friend. "We don't get enough sleep here as is, and it's good to stay in and rest sometimes."

She nodded again at Rapunzel's unspoken question. "I think it's a good idea. I've been spreading what I've learned myself. I feel like the information you have and the information I have all fit together somehow, and if we figure out exactly how, we'll have the key to this place in our hands. I'm...just not sure how it all ties together yet."

[hairraising]

Rapunzel was glad to hear that she was on the right track with her approach, even though it still made goose pimples raise when she thought about the vague information they knew so far. "Guess we just have to keep looking out for opportunities wherever they come, right?" she said with a shrug. "Every little bit counts — that's how I see things, anyway. You get a little bit more every day, and eventually you have enough to do something worthwhile."

She grinned a bit, lifting up some of her hair over her shoulder. "Or lower yourself out a window. Whichever comes first."

[madeinthehrl]

Soma nodded. "I'm going to talk to Tsubaki next shift, actually. I don't know what we can do with our information at night, though. It seems like most of the time, we're just waiting for more data to fall into our hands. Do you think we might be able to get more out of that disc you stole?"

Like a fairy tale, she wanted to say, but didn't. Instead she tilted her head slightly, her expression curious. "Is that what you did?"

[hairraising]

"That's true," Rapunzel had to admit. The mission that had led to her and Tsubaki finding the information in the first place had come out of the blue; there was no way they could have planned for that. Maybe now that others knew about the possibility of missions, they could, but even that was uncertain now that the military wasn't officially here anymore. She could only shrug in the end. "I don't know. Do you think it's worth checking it again? You know more about computer discs than I do," she admitted with a minor measure of embarrassment.

On the topic of something she did know more about, Rapunzel nodded. "About eighteen years too late, but yeah, I did," she said, allowing herself to smile again. That smile quickly turned into a small, but proud grin as she added: "Aaaafter I tied up a thief that climbed in my window, hid his loot, and forced him to escort me somewhere in exchange for giving it back."