Day 65: Sun Room

[fallenbeanpole]

His nurse had whisked him away from breakfast as soon as the intercom’s voice faded.  Surprisingly, she didn’t take him to the shower rooms, instead bringing him to the Sun Room (as she called it), explaining that since this was his first day he would be allowed to skip the showers.  Besides, it would be good to let his injuries heal a little more.

 

He’d passed through this room on the way to breakfast, but hadn’t really paid much attention to it the first time.  Now that he was standing here, the Once-ler understood why it was called the Sun Room.

 

Despite the fact that it was cloudy outside, there was still far more natural light coming in through the ceiling windows than he had seen in a long time.  The Once-ler stood still for a few moments, simply staring up.  It seemed almost like a dream, really.  The valley never got brighter than twilight, even at noon.  There was too much smog in the air to let any more light through.

 

After a few minutes, he shook his head.  Anybody who saw him just standing in the middle of the room would probably have questions about it, and he did not relish the thought of explaining himself to a stranger.  He glanced around the room itself, spotting the bulletin board Soma had talked about during breakfast.  The Once-ler decided that was a good place to start, and hobbled on over to get a closer look.

 

[For Nina, I believe?]

Comments

[maverickhunterx]

It's been a while. Where is he? He did seem off...maybe something happened?

Or maybe that 'Landel', or whoever it was had done something. As it was, he noticed that several of Zero's messages had been removed in the interim between waiting and pacing about the room on his gimp leg. Come to think of it, a nurse had come in at some point...

So many questions about this place. X had so many questions and he didn't even remotely know where to start--

--at the sound of a voice, he was knocked out of his thoughts with the power of a sledgehammer to the face.

Blinking out of his reverie, he stared forward, almost looking stupidly at his new companion before shaking himself out of his trance. Come on, this was hardly the way to respond to someone who just greeted you. The least he could do was...

Blink again at that greeting.

...What?

Uncertain, X clenched his injured fist (ow, ow) and almost shyly pumped it in response.

"Yeah. Um...solidarity to you, too, uh...brother."

Was that...what he was supposed to say?

[vstheworld]

Scott would have finished the gesture of solidarity with a fist pound but... Yeah. Not a good idea. Instead, he opted for a quick thumbs-up from his good hand as he lowered the injured one. "That's the spirit! More of that energy!" said Scott, glad to find that smiles were coming to him a little easier than they had been the past few days. He was going to need more of those if he was going to keep up the strength needed to make it out of here in one piece.

"So how'd that happen for you?" he asked, nodding toward Mysterious Boy X (as he randomly named the guy in his head) and his injury. "I got mine in an awesome sword fight," he went on, neglecting to mention that the fight had been with gravity and that by "awesome" he meant "I fell on my own sword".

X is so out of his element, the poor thing.

[maverickhunterx]

Energy...? He was using energy? From X's perspective, he felt like he was a fish, flopping around on a concrete slab while staring at water at the other end of the room, hoping in vain to teleport to it to get some sense of understanding. Still, if his companion was willing to accept his flailing, then no harm done.

And considering the circumstances, his smile was comforting. X couldn't help but smile a little back--

--only to fade into a momentary look of alarm as the words sank in.

"Sword fight? With who?" Such simple words, but clear concern and worry etched themselves into his tone. "What did they look like?"

It's probably not Zero...if it was, then he would have ended up far worse than just a hand injury, unless he's some sort of amazing swordsman himself. But if it's not...there were more people like that, wandering the halls last night? What kind of place is this?!