damned_institute | Day 27: Lunch

Rukia was certainly amused by the child. 'Fight the spoooky monsters' sounded like something she would have said when she was a kid. She grinned at Renji, not bothered by his attempts to pawn the kid off on her, but elbowed him gently in the ribs all the same. While she wasn't a huge fan of kids, she certainly liked drawing. And children were so appreciative of good art!

While Renji explained things to the kid, though, Rukia thought back to something Keman had said that didn't quite make sense. "Keman," she said, her expression serious, "What did you mean when you said that Valyn gave you his magic?"

Magic! Ed had been right! That or there really were people here with insane brains. She smiled big at Rukie-Rukie. "Ed is very pleased to meet you! Ed loves to draw."

But she refocused her scattered attention on Tattoos. How much to tell? They didn't seem to know her at all, but then she hadn't mentioned her hacker name. And pretty much nobody recognized her without that. Well, friends are made when trust is paid!

"Ed is a computer hacker from Earth!" she beamed and then wondered for a moment which planet this was. Not like it really mattered with a bunch of nasty nurses holding them all prisoner. "Perhaps you have heard of Radical Edward?" She cackled gleefully at having shared her big secret. "Ed used to be a bounty hunter," she continued, then her voice and facial expression dropped suddenly into what seemed like dramatized melancholy, "but it was time to say goodbye."

Her mood brightened again as she thought over her many accomplishments with pride. "Ed caught a bounty head once all by herself and got some yummy yummy mushrooms for a prize!" Then she sounded like someone quickly and methodically reciting a personal ad. "Ed likes chess, technology, good food, and Ein!" Where was Ein? She looked around for a moment, realizing the dog had been missing since she'd arrived. No pets allowed?

"It's hard to explain," Keman admitted with a shrug. "I didn't even know that he could do that until last night. I'm not elvish, so I don't know how it works, but he gave me the energy he normally uses for his magic, strengthening mine. It made sense, even if I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I've got a little skill with a knife, but Valyn is much better than I am at actual hand-to-hand combat. I mostly rely on my offensive magics to get me through a fight."

He turned to the child. "I'm sorry...I haven't heard of Radical Edward. I don't even know what a 'computer hacker' is."

Maybe it was a colloquialism in his/her world for "complete psychosis"?

At any rate, he/she didn't seem to be anything more than a regular human, as far as he could tell. Renji and Rukia on the other hand...well, he was withholding judgment. They looked young, and human, but...

Renji responded to Rukia's elbow in the ribs by very gently stepping on her foot. While they were playing that game, he might as well...

And then he was just even more confused. He shot Rukia a look, hoping she had understood what the kid said, since she'd been in the modern human world far more than him. "Sorry, I haven't heard of you," he said. "But I don't get out much." He rubbed his forehead. "What's a computer? And hacking? Does that mean... you destroy things with an axe?" He kind of doubted that, though, considering those skinny arms that Ed had.

But the other activities Ed listed, bounty hunter or no, made him (her?) sound more like the brainy sort. "Maybe you would be better at helping the alchemists," he said. "Or if you know first aide, Tamaki's people need a lot of help as well. We get a lot of injuries at night."

Sometimes, as much as he liked them, kids gave him a headache.

And that thing about sharing magic was interesting. Renji wondered if it was possible to share reiatsu like that, but he kind of doubted it. He probably would have heard of it before now. "That sounds useful," he said.

"Nice to meet you, too, Ed," Rukia said, amused by the strange boy. Catching Renji's look, she attempted to explain. "I don't know what a hacker is, but a computer is a machine that can do lots of things, like... you can send messages using them, or find information. They're hard to use, though." At least, Rukia had found the computers at Ichigo's school to be confusing sometimes .

She wiggled her toes under Renji's foot and took a few bites of her sandwich while Keman spoke, then asked, "What sort of offensive magic can you use?" She wondered if it was anything like kidou.

So Ed was a bounty hunter? That sounded a bit far-fetched... "So how did you catch someone all by yourself?" she asked, grinning.

Ed stared at them, agape. Don't know what a computer is? At least the girl did, somewhat, but... but... wow. Well, the things they were talking about sounded like so many fairy tales. This place was really, really strange. Blinking, she caught her wild train of thought up and answered the Renji-man.

"Ooooh alchemists? This sounds very interesting to Ed! Who would Ed talk to for information and being of the helpful kind?" She was meeting so many new friends in this place, it was okay for it to be really, really strange.

Then to answer the Rukia-person quickly she added, "I landed on him!" That was the short version. Long stories could come later, Ed wanted to know about these nifty new people trying to turn lead into gold. Although, she wasn't sure how that would help anyone... maybe the term was a secret code. And she ever-so-much loved secrets and codes.

Why was Ed looking at them like that? "I'm-I'm sorry. Was I supposed to know what a computer hacker was?" Keman was genuinely concerned. He didn't want to offend anyone!

After a few minutes of experimentation, he decided that he liked the bread and cheese best when it was dipped in the soup. It was AMAZING that way. "Mry murftik?" he asked a round a bit of sandwich. Keman swallowed. "...Sorry. My magic? Well, it's all elementally-based. I can call fire and lighting, and I can melt and reform stone and metal. I used to be able to do a lot more, but this place..." he trailed off. No further explanation was needed. "As for usefulness? I suppose. It was useful up until the point when Valyn got hurt, then it was a nuisance. I couldn't give it back to him. My magic doesn't work that way. I can't heal, either. It was frustrating." To have so much more power than normal, and to not be able to even use it. Sometimes, Keman wished he really was a halfblood. Then he'd at least be able to cure people.

Ed started going on about how he (Keman was just going to go with "he" for now; it was too confusing otherwise) had caught the bounty, and the dragon's eyes widened. "...Landed on him...?"

Renji was used to the disbelieving looks. He got them a lot when it came to the matter of technology. "If you want to help the alchemists, you should talk to Colonel Mustang," he said. He pointed Roy out, because he was helpful like that. And because, just a bit, he thought it would be hilarious to see Roy and Hitsugaya deal with Ed.

...from a distance.

...a safe distance.

"All of us work together," he said. "We just have different specialties."

What Rukia and Keman were talking about, he mostly spaced out. He wasn't much for talking about magic. It barely made any sense to him. Which probably explained why he was just so bad at it.

Rukia noticed the way that Keman was eating his sandwich and soup, and decided to try it. "Hey, that's good," she muttered happily, taking a few bites while she listened to what the others were saying.

"Hm," she said to Keman, "Your magic sounds really different from kidou - what we use. Do you have to use incantation, or gestures, or anything?" It was nice to talk to someone else who was interested in this sort of thing; usually Renji just zoned out when she got on the topic.

She was also curious as to how Ed had caught someone by landing on him. Since Keman had already asked, though, she decided to address what Renji had just told the kid. "You know, Ed, I don't think there are any computers here. You might be able to ask one of the nurses, but maybe you can think of some other things you're good at." Rukia offered an encouraging smile.

Ed giggled at the funny one who's name must be Keman. She'd caught it only because she'd been paying attention to the magic references. With the emphasis on hacking she also now remembered the Renji-person's question... and Rukie-Rukie brought up computers again as well. Ed addressed the table at large. "No no, no hacking with axes, computers are fun but not for everyone!" She looked suddenly thoughtful as she added, "The bounty head was a very silly man. Easy come, easy go."

Then she saluted Tattoos again and grinned very big. "Thank you kind sir! Ed shall commence with the pleasantries immediately!" She zoomed off like an airplane again, this time making noises to match.

Incantations? Gestures? "Not that I know of," Keman admitted. "I can't really explain it. It's pretty unconscious. You learn the magic, and you practice it, but once you master it, you can just call on it at any time."

That was how his magic worked, anyway. Shana's and Mero's and Valyn's all seemed a little different.

Then Edward babbled something so rapidly it didn't sound like the standard tongue at all and traipsed away, leaving a very confused dragon in his wake.

"...You know, I'm not entirely sure that was the wisest course of action. Neither of those fellows look..." Like they had senses of humor. "Like they like children very much. I mean, the white-haired one...he looks like a child himself, but he's actually much older, isn't he? It's the same with you and Rukia, come to think of it."

Renji grinned as Ed went zooming off, and nudged Rukia with his elbow. "Well, yeah," he said. "I'm pretty sure taichou kind of loathes kids, actually. That's what makes it funnier." Even if it got him yelled at later, it was worth it. He figured Hitsugaya and Roy would figure out how to pawn Ed off on another group pretty quick.

He cleared his throat, and shrugged. "Yeah, we are," he said. "I actually told Valyn what we are the first day he and I met. Guess he didn't tell you?"

Rukia watched, one eyebrow raised, as Ed scampered off to bother Captain Hitsugaya and Colonel Mustang. Somehow, she didn't think they would appreciate the interruption...

Nodding slowly at Keman's explanation, Rukia said, "It certainly sounds different from the way we do things, but some people are so good at kidou that they don't need incantations or gestures, either." Like my brother, she thought, wondering what he was doing now.

Rukia couldn't quite hide her snicker, or the smirk on her face, as Renji elbowed her. Captain Hitsugaya wasn't going to enjoy the interruption. It wasn't that Rukia didn't like the captain; it was just that he needed to loosen up a little sometimes. Maybe the white hair caused him to act like an old man prematurely.

She was surprised at how fast Keman figured out that the shinigami were older than they appeared. Most humans didn't catch on to that very well, in her experience. She smiled at the young man approvingly. "You catch on quickly; all of the shinigami are a lot older than we look. I'm afraid a lady can't divulge her age, though," she added, winking. "You're obviously no ordinary human, either..."

Keman tilted his head to the the side like a curious bird. "Hmm? Was he supposed to?" The dragon had been able to tell almost from the get-go that Renji and Rukia weren't normal humans. He was curious to find out what, exactly, they were, but it wasn't a terribly pressing issue. He figured that if they wanted to tell him, they would. The same went with his own rather peculiar heritage.

"May I ask what a shinigami is? I'm not familiar with the term." Keman knew from the time he had spent looking for Shana that politeness got just as many answers as forcefulness, and it made more friends in the process.

He grinned. "'Not a normal human...?' I'm not a human at all." He brushed his hair back from his ears, revealing the pointed tips. "I'm a dragon."

"Not a supposed to thing. I'm just kinda surprised he didn't," Renji said. "I mean... not like we go announcin' it since some people get kinda weird, but..." He shrugged. "Shinigami means... uh... dunno. I guess the closest is death god. We were human at one point. We died. We became shinigami. Go into the living world and find souls that've lost their way, stuff like that." He glanced at Rukia. He could explain things, but she was normally better at it than him, anyway.

He was curious, so he propped one elbow on the table and closed his eyes. He felt sluggish, since he'd tried to heal Valyn at breakfast (fat lot of good that had done, anyway) but it came, eventually. He opened his eyes; they looked a little unfocused because he was trying so hard to look at something that wasn't really tangible.

Keman's spirit thread was green and metallic; sparks ran up and down it. He'd never seen anything quite like that before.

He blinked the sight away, then pinched his nose shut with his fingers. "Definitely not human," he said. "Haven't seen anything like that before."

"But not everyone becomes a shinigami," Rukia said, adding to Renji's explanation, "Only those of us with more, um... spiritual power can become shinigami. Like Renji said, we go to the living world to bring lost souls to Soul Society - the afterlife - or to condemn the worst, most unredeemable souls to Hell. We also fight Hollows, which are human spirits that have lost their humanity, and try to destroy the living and the dead around them. We free them, sending them to Soul Society." Rukia considered drawing something to explain, but lined notebook paper was such a poor canvas...

Rukia's eyes went wide when Keman revealed his oddly shaped ears and declared that he was, of all things, a dragon. "Really!?" she blurted. She had come to realize that anything was possible here, but... a dragon?? Glancing at Renji, she realized what he was doing; would a dragon's spirit thread look different from that of a human?

Apparently it did, and if Renji hadn't seen anything like it before... Rukia concentrated for a moment, taking a look for herself. "Wow," she murmured, wincing a little at the throbbing in her temples. She quickly let go of the image, and the normal cafeteria came into view again. Renji's nose was clearly bleeding again. Rukia sniffled, feeling a slight trickle, and held a napkin to her nose just in case.

"A dragon, huh?" she said, voice a bit nasally. "Too bad you're stuck in a human body here."

"Wow," Keman said, delighted. Whatever sort of explanation he'd been expecting, it certainly hadn't been something like that! "That's amazing!" Of course, he took everything they said at face value. Why wouldn't he? They had no reason to lie to him, and he had no reason to believe that they would.

Then, the shinigami did...something. He couldn't quite explain it, but when Renji opened his eyes again, he felt...off. Somehow...exposed. The feeling vanished as soon as Renji broke the contact to take care of his bloody nose, but reappeared, briefly, when Rukia followed suit.

"Wh-what did you just...Are you all right?" Keman leaned over the table, concerned. "You're bleeding!"

He blushed a little. "And...ah...no. I'm used to being in two-legger form. People don't usually take kindly to large, blue dragons wandering around in polite society, so I shift into this form when I'm around them. I've been in two-legger form almost constantly for nearly a year. I don't mind it." He smiled. "In fact, I rather enjoy it."

"It's a living," Renji said, but he couldn't hide the pride in his voice. He was good at his job, and he'd gone far. "There are several other shinigami here," he said. "Hitsugaya-taichou's one of them."

He waved off Keman's concern. "Did you notice?" he asked. "Sorry. Was just lookin' at your spirit thread. Looks kinda cool." He grinned, still pinching his nose shut. "Trying to use any kind of power here does this to us. It's fuckin' annoying."

"For a year?" she asked, still holding a napkin to her nose. "But why? Isn't it more... fun to be a dragon?" Thinking about it, it seemed like a childish question, but Rukia was sure that if she could have wings and sharp teeth as a dragon, she would prefer that to a human form.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but how do you and Valyn know each other?" It wasn't any of her business, but Keman seemed friendly, and would no doubt be more forthcoming than Valyn.

Her nose stopped bleeding quickly, so she balled up the napkin and set it on her tray. With one hand she started eating again, while she let the other slip beneath the table to rest tentatively on Renji's leg. It just felt like the thing to do.

Keman blinked. "Spirit thread? What's that? And what's it look like?" He felt strange for asking all these questions...but...

Well, he supposed he'd just have to answer their questions too.

The dragon smiled. "I suppose," he said, with a little laugh. "But...in our world, dragons aren't supposed to exist. We live in hiding, away from the two-leggers, and we only go out among them when we're shifted. It's too dangerous, otherwise. As for how Valyn and I know each other..." Keman trailed off and frowned. "It's a long story."

He took a deep breath and began.

"I don't know how much you know about my world, but...in it, all the humans are slaves, and the elves rule over them. However, humans and elves are cross-fertile. And halfbloods are more powerful than both races. So the elves, fearing that the halfblood would try to wrest power from them (as they nearly did in the Wizard War, before they were defeated), forbade that any be conceived. But...they still were. A pleasure slave could be accidentally fertile, or a field hand raped...you get the idea." Best to leave the unplesantries out, even if this was sounding rather like what he had told Max at breakfast. "Most of these halfblood children (and their mothers) are killed at birth or soon after. But...some escape. My sister was one of them.

"Her mother was a concubine who fled to the desert rather than face death for bearing a halfblood. My mother, a Shaman for our Lair, was out doing meditations and found this woman. She died in childbirth, but Shana survived, and Mother brought her back to raise her.

"Most of the other dragons in the Lair didn't like having a two-legger around, and as Shana grew, she got more powerful. One day, a little over a year ago now, I was being beaten by a bully, and Shana...lost control, and hurt him. Not nearly as badly as he had hurt me, of course, but it was enough. Shana was banished.

"I ran away to go after her, but it took months and months to find her. By the time I did, she had joined the other surviving halfbloods living in the forest. We met Valyn soon after.

"Valyn..." Keman frowned. "Valyn is unlike any other elven lord I've ever met. He is against slavery, and actually recognizes humans as people and not livestock. This was probably due, in part, to Shadow. Shadow is Valyn's cousin, and a halfblood. Valyn managed to use his influence to hide Shadow for as long as he could, but right as they were about to be discovered, they fled, and then they found us in the forest. One...one thing lead to another, and the four of us (Valyn, Shadow, Shana, and myself) sort of...inadvertently started a war...?"

Renji listened to Keman's story; it was pretty much what Valyn had told him days ago, though with some new details filled in. He let go of his nose and sniffed experimentally; it seemed okay.

"A spirit thread's... kind of a way to look at your soul," he said. He decided not to mention the fact that it allowed him to track people as well. That, they were keeping mostly quiet. He grinned. "So I guess that's what a dragon soul looks like. Because it sure didn't look like a human's thread."

He'd already been resting one arm along the edge of the table, the one he hadn't been pinching his nose with. After a moment or two, he slipped it under the table so he could twine his fingers with Rukia's.

"Most people in our world don't know Shinigami exist. Because they can't see us." He shrugged. "They've trapped us in bodies here. Among other things."

Renji went back to picking at his lunch, one-handed. "Valyn's a really good kid," he said. "While I'm sorry that you and your friend are here, I'm glad he's got some people he knows, now." Maybe they'd be more of a comfort to him than Renji had managed. Valyn was hard to read.

"Normal human spirit threads look like white ribbons," she explained, "Yours is sort of shiny, and green, and I caught a glimpse of what looked like sparks coming off of it. Like Renji said, never seen anything like it."

Rukia listened to Keman's story, fascinated. It was like something out of a Western fairy tale - dragons and elves and a war against the evil tyrants - but a good deal more grim. She wondered what it had been like for Shana to grow up among the dragons, and was abruptly reminded of her own life, as a commoner in a noble family. Rukia decided that she would have to meet Shana.

"That's... amazing," she said finally, finishing her sandwich and moving on to the remainder of the soup. "And did you win the war?"

Rukia glanced sideways at Renji, giving his hand a light squeeze. Suddenly she felt like a kid again, and Renji's hand over hers made her blush, just a little.

"A way...to look at my...soul...?" Keman's eyes went wide. Was that even possible? And it was green?

"Well..." he said with a crooked smile. "At least it's unique!" He liked being unique. All of the two-leggers looked so similar! It was nice to know that there was something that set him apart.

"I know how you feel, about being stuck in a body," the dragon said, frowning. "I don't know how this place is doing it, but it's completely sealed off my ability to shift back to my natural form. So...I'm stuck too."

He watched Rukia react to his story with a funny little smile on his face. It surprised (and amused, just a little) him that people were so fascinated with it. He hadn't had time, while everything was happening, to reflect on it, but now that he was so far removed from the events...

"I guess," he shrugged. "That's just how it happened."

As for winning the war? Keman sighed. "I've been wondering that myself. I think we did, but I was taken before it all really sank in. Valyn died, and then--"

He froze. "Oh know. I've said something I shouldn't have again. P-please, disregard that last bit." If Valyn found out that he'd been spreading rumors about his apparent demise, he'd probably get upset.

The dragon smiled at Renji, still rather pink from his slip-up. "He's very kind. And...for what it's worth, it isn't just me anymore." He pointed to a red-haired girl sitting a few tables away, holding a rather one-sided conversation with Valyn. His poor hand. "My sister arrived during the last shift."

Renji nodded. "We're used to being able to walk through walls. And flash step. And..." ...pretty much destroy anything they wanted with minimal effort. He shook his head. "It's... weird."

He was unperturbed by Keman's slip, such as it was. As far as he was concerned, Valyn was quite obviously alive, and that was what counted. "Did he actually die? I mean, do you know for certain?" He shrugged. "Not that it matters. He is obviously alive here. His soul is strongly connected to his body. Don't worry."

Renji looked at the girl Keman pointed at, making a mental note of her face. "I see," he said. "I am sorry." It seemed the best thing, any more, to offer condolences when someone's friends showed up.

Under the table, he squeezed Rukia's hand, moving his thumb lightly against hers.

"Have you decided what you will do tonight?" he asked Keman.

She smiled at Keman. "Yes, very unique. Unless the spirit threads of all dragons look like that!"

Frowning in concern, Rukia hoped that Renji was right, and Valyn hadn't died back in his own world. "Yeah," she said, "Maybe it was just a close call." She looked up at Renji, adding, "We've had plenty of those."

Rukia looked at the girl Keman pointed out. For some reason, she had taken it for granted that Keman's sister (obviously not by blood, but no matter) would be here. Perhaps it had been the way he talked about her, or perhaps Rukia was simply getting used to more and more people coming here. It was not a heartening thought.

Reaching for her glass of juice, Rukia edged a little closer to Renji. Despite all their worries, his presence was reassuring. She kept her attention focused on Keman, though; hopefully he would stay with friends during the night.

Day 27: Lunch

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