Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

[redcladidealist]

After eating breakfast, Lloyd gathered up his journal and pencil and followed his nurse out of the cafeteria. He made a quick stop at the bulletin to leave a note for Lee, then let her lead him on to take his shower with the rest of the adult men. Not sure how old Lee was, Lloyd kept his eyes peeled for him just in case, but again he didn't catch even a glimpse of his friend's shiny black bowl-cut hair. Okay, no worries. Maybe he was with the kids in Arts and Crafts.

Cleaning up quickly, Lloyd grabbed a towel and dried himself off, then got dressed and headed back to the Sun Room to wait out the rest of the shift. His nurse hovered at his side until he'd situated himself at a table, then she backed up and withdrew to the edge of the room to keep an eye on him from there. He was fine with that. Of course, it would have been better if she left the room completely, but at least she was far enough back that it felt like he had at least some privacy.

While he waited, trying to catch sight of Lee, he pulled his journal back out. As far as he knew, no one else had been to the third floor before. There weren't any maps yet. That was something he could fix. Picking up where he'd left off, the teen went back to his work on the sketch.

[For Tsurugi.]

Comments

[sixth_attack]

Sechs blinked. "Y-your leader?!" That was surprising news to Sechs. To him, Zero always seemed to be the independent type, not one to take orders from others. "Geeze, this scientist person must be extremely grumpy to have such control over 'Zero the Grump'o' here..." Sechs thought to himself.

"You kidding me?!" Locking his wolfish glare at the cold droid, Sechs' disappointed slump shifted into a predatory stoop, bringing his eye-level closer to Zero's. "So now that your leader is here, you're gonna just abandon the rest of us?" he growled, his tone strained between furious and betrayed. To think that he was actually feeling good around Zero and even trusted him before...!

Straightening up, Sechs defensively crossed his arms across his chest and frowned furiously down at the shorter droid. "Keep in mind, whatever we may find in the basement is gonna help us -- including your dear leader -- get outta this hell hole!" he snarled. "You really sure you're not going with us this time?"

[dividedby]

"I know that." ...He said that with the same gruff tone as before, but Zero couldn't honestly say he'd thought much of Sechs's point until it was brought up just now. It was true... Their mission to the basement wasn't technically complete yet, and Zero had made a commitment the day before to help out.

But things had changed since then. He hadn't expected Ciel to show up again, much less as a prisoner. No matter how much he wanted to go back to the basement or help his new friends, he felt that he had a duty to follow Ciel before Sechs and Aigis. And he just couldn't bring himself to put her in such a dangerous situation as the basement, especially not when she'd just gotten here today...

So Zero held his ground, refusing to break eye contact with Sechs now. "You're both capable of fighting without me. I helped you get started, and I trust you can both finish it. But I won't let Landel brainwash my friend a second time."

He'd revealed a little bit more about the situation than he normally would have, but when Sechs was reacting like this, Zero felt the need to justify himself more fully. Even if he didn't understand, though, the former Reploid's expression made it clear that he wasn't changing his mind.

[sixth_attack]

Except for the sound of his agitated panting, Sechs remained silent against Zero's response. The Replica's eyes were narrowed, his brows furrowed and his frown twisted into a pained grimace. For a moment Sechs looked just about ready to explode or storm away from the other droid --

Yet the word "brainwash" gave Sechs a reason to pause. He barely reacted, only his eyebrows perked slightly as a painful recollection flashed through his mind. He knew Alita was out there, brainwashed and living a false life. Fai was another acquaintance Sechs thought to have died, but recently returned with his memories wiped. In that quiet moment, Sechs got the hint from Zero -- but it didn't ease his jilted anger towards him.

"...Fine!" Sechs severed his eye contact with Zero and turned to the side with a huff. It was decided then; Zero was out of the mission. Despite what Zero said, Sechs couldn't ignore the nagging feeling that just him and Aigis would not be enough. He wasn't sure if he could find a third person to join before the end of the day either, and it didn't help that it was already nearly evening. That setback in the plan only gave Sechs more reason to begrudge Zero for his decision. Yet before he left the blonde droid to his business with the bulletin, Sechs needed one more thing from him.

"We're gonna need that artifact from ya to open that door downstairs," he snapped bitterly, giving Zero only a brief sideways glance. "So meet me at the same place as last night, give the sword to me and then you can go on with your little scientist friend. Alright?!"

[dividedby]

"...Alright." Zero wasn't opposed to doing that much. Sechs and Aigis would need that sword to get farther in the basement, so he wasn't about to keep it to himself and prevent them from going anywhere.

As for Sechs's bitterness...he could understand it to a degree, but it still wasn't going to make him change his mind. Zero wasn't even going to allow himself to feel too guilty over the whole thing. He knew he would ultimately feel more guilty abandoning Ciel or letting something happen to her in that basement - or, worse still, allowing Landel to manipulate her a second time. Whereas Sechs and Aigis, he knew they had been here long enough to know the ins and outs of this place, and they were also skilled at protecting themselves. It was only obvious to Zero where his priorities should lie this coming night.

As for now, he supposed he could still do something helpful by making a second bulletin board note to Ciel. So he finally broke eye contact with Sechs to start doing just that, not intending to add anything else to the conversation with Sechs for now.

[sixth_attack]

"Good," Sechs retorted with a final snort. If Zero wasn't going with them, the least he could do was give one of the keys to that door. They were too close from finding answers to be stopped now and Sechs was angry enough to take the sword from Zero with force if he had to. He was no longer a team player in Sechs' book.

Without giving Zero even a glimmer of a glance, Sechs stomped off to the other side of the Sun Room, cursing and grumbling under his breath as he made as much distance between him and Zero. He picked a chair and kept his back to everyone around him, glowering as he berated himself for trusting anyone in the first place. He didn't plan on talking with Zero anytime soon for this.

"Great... Now what?" If the mission fell apart any further, Sechs would just have to go on his own. Embarking on missions in solitude wasn't new to the former G.I.B agent, but that was when he was still robotic. Now he was too vulnerable and he hated Landel all the more for it, even feeling some of that hatred towards Zero for reminding him of the institute's limitations he suffered.

For now, the Replica could only hope that Zero would keep his word tonight and that Aigis stuck with the plan without having her own change of heart. Going alone with the mission wasn't exactly the most comforting alternative to think about...