damned_institute | Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

Momo's mind was turning over all the possibilities surrounding this "field trip" to the surrounding town when she settled down in the corner of the Sun Room away from the Arts & Crafts room. She curled her legs underneath her as she waited for Shouko-san to find her. The shinigami had no idea what she looked like, so she kept an eye on all those entering the room.

It was still very cold, or at least she was cold, and the momentary thought of getting her coat from her own room passed through her mind amidst the field trip thoughts. She pushed it away and decided to deal with it being as cold as it was since she'd already been late to one meeting today and didn't want to start making it a habit.

As she waited, she pondered the next day's possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, once away from the institute the shinigami will have access to their full reiatsu. And if not, maybe they'll have a better idea of how they are being limited so much. Maybe Aizen would be able to find her then. He'd save her... right? Right?

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"I'm not a child," Allen said with a frown. He took a half-step forward, standing somewhat protectively in front of Rinali. He turned his head slightly to answer her, but didn't move his eyes from the Akuma.

"Akuma," Allen hissed under his breath. "But he claims he's some kind of vampire."

"She's none of your concern," Allen said firmly, his will to stand much greater than his ability. It compensated for the difference, at least for the moment. "Akuma, walking dead. Borrowed bodies that aren't even real. There are... souls trapped inside."

"The Order takes any who are accomodators for the Innocence. They could be any age. The Innocence chooses its master."

Rinali frowned and took a step back instinctively. It was nice to have Allen try to protect her, but not at the expense of his own health. "Allen," she whispered back. "It's ok, I can take care of myself."

She didn't bother responding to the Akuma, but instead watched him carefully. Neither she nor Allen were in any condition to take on even a level 1 Akuma, and this man had to be at least level two...but possibly level 3 judging by his very human-like albeit large size. Their only hope was that the Akuma was just as weakened as they were, and under the control of the nurse-staff.

Time would tell.

Alright, so there was some similarity between an 'Akuma' and himself. Perhaps those creatures were vampires or some sort? There were a wide variety of monsters in the world after all. "I assure you my body is my own. Though yes , I absorb other's lives into me," he replied in a mock-friendly gesture, arms open with the very same grin still plastered on his face.

But still, he had never heard of a Vatican branch employing 'Innocence', or at least people wielding it. The way Allen explained it, the 'Innocence' must've been some sort of weapon used against 'Akuma'. All foreign terms to him. Maybe these two were from another realm? There had been some talk about such before, and it was getting easier and easier to believe, a most unnerving prospect.

"Come now, are we really going to fight?" he chortled at the girl. As if they were in any shape to take him on in the first place. "I promised to meet up with him on the bulletin board, and that is what I intend to do." The vampire's grin became predatory. "I've already fed last night."

The man's explanation didn't leave Allen feeling much better. Absorbing the souls of others was worse if anything! It gave him the chills, thinking of how many must be trapped within him.

In spite of Rinali's brave words, she didn't have her Innocence with her. It wouldn't make sense to put her in danger with no weapon. "And now we've met. If there's nothing further, I really think you should leave," Allen said as calmly as he could.

Rinali shook her head at the Akuma's taunts, but didn't answer. She couldn't think of a response that wouldn't serve to worsen the situation. Besides, Allen had said it all. He was remaining as calm as possible given the circumstances...they were face to face with an Akuma. And he was grinning at them...it was decidedly not a friendly grin. She couldn't help but feel like prey before the predator, and she didn't like it. Hopefully he'd listen to Allen and leave.

Well, Allen did have a point. They had met, spoken, and exchanged less-than-friendly words with each other. What they thought about vampires or Akuma wasn't of too much importance, since they didn't even look fit enough to defend themselves.

"True, and I have other matters to attend to anyway," he replied airily, turning to leave. Now to see if they would try jumping him while he had his back to them. Alucard secretly hoped they would. It would be so much fun!

Allen watched the man leave, unable to relax until he was out of sight. Once he was no longer a threat, Allen all but collapsed into his seat. Today had been a terribly long day and he was still exhausted, but there was more to be done. Ravi and Kanda would probably be coming along shortly if they'd got the message.

"Sorry about that," Allen apologized. He didn't know what else to say. If he'd had his full strength with him, he'd have dispatched a terrible Akuma like that in no time. But now it was probably going to continue threatening people, "feeding," whatever that was, but hopefully he wouldn't be able to take any more souls. Worse was the thought that Rhode might have made a friend of that man.

Rinali sat down once the Akuma left. He was clearly a threat, but what was there that they could do? Her without her innocence, and Allen as weakened as he was...

"That's okay," she replied. "You did what you had to do. He was claiming to be a vampire?" The only report of a vampire with any validity to it was Crowly, but he was an exorcist like them. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of Akuma acting as vampires and taking in multiple souls to grow stronger.

"That's what he said. I don't know if I'd believe it, but... even after hearing I was an Exorcist, he didn't attack. He's either a really crafty Akuma or something else entirely." He might be a foe Allen could think about taking on when he'd gotten his strength back, but right now, taking him on would be foolish, no matter how much he might want to.

"I'm a little more concerned about him befriending Rhode. I can't see that ending well," Allen sighed and sat back in his chair.

Rinali nodded. "I'll add him to the list of people we should be wary of. I'm afraid there's not a lot we can do about preventing him from befriending Rhode. If he does, then we'll just have to make more allies of our own to protect people from their kind."

Hopefully Kanda and Ravi would show up soon. They should both know about Rhode and this 'vampire', assuming they didn't know already.

Lunch had been pretty interesting, running into Kanda like that. Unfortunately Ravi had lost sight of the Japanese exorcist when everyone was taken elsewhere from the cafeteria for the next shift and he'd decided to drop by the bulletin board to leave a message for Allen - both to actually hear from the kid and to let him know about Kanda showing up.

What Ravi hadn't been expecting was finding out that Rinali was here now, too.

On one hand, that wasn't exactly bad news - at least she wasn't stuck inside the Ark when she couldn't use her Innocence. But did that mean Crowley was in there by himself, along with Chaoji now? Not to mention they had four exorcists stuck in this place when they had things to do back home.

Those time issues weren't so great, either.

At any rate, meeting up seemed like a pretty good idea (even if there was the question whether Kanda would actually agree to turn up and join them).

After a brief trip back to his own room, still accompanied by the nurse, Ravi let himself be led to the Sun Room again. Maybe the others were already there by now.

As he stepped inside, he glanced around until his gaze fell on Allen and Rinali. It looked like some guy was talking to them and then said guy turned away to leave.

Ravi made his way over and gave the other two a smile as he made his way closer. His gaze stayed on Rinali for a moment - her hair wasn't short. That probably meant she had to be from a time before that fight at sea, right?

"So Yuu's not here yet, huh?" Ravi remarked, taking a seat. "Well, we're gonna track him down sooner or later. What'd I miss?"

How long had Ravi been waiting there? Had he seen much of that Akuma? He seemed to be alright, in spite of their adventures last night, which left Allen a little bit more relieved. "Just a rather nasty brand of Akuma," Allen frowned slightly at the thought of that tall, gangly man.

He sighed, thin shoulders slowly rising and falling, "At any rate, we probably ought to decide a plan of action or... or something. I've been mostly working with the Arts and Crafts people at night, but that was before we had other things to worry about."

Rinali's eyes lit up as Ravi arrived. "Good evening, Ravi!" she said with a smile. Her two closest friends were here with her now. There was little more she could ask for. She couldn't remember how Ravi had been faring on the boat while she fought the Akuma in the sky, although he seemed okay now.

She felt sorry for Allen. However long he had been here, he had obviously spent too long trying to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders. Without his friends around, he often seemed to be like that. "Well," she said in response, thinking over what she'd learned today. "Let's focus on our major concerns here. First of course is finding a way out of here. Second is keeping an eye on Rhode. What else are we worried about?"

Akuma? Ravi raised his eyebrows. "You mean that guy from just now, Allen?" That wasn't so great to hear, if that guy really was an Akuma - not just something like Rukia, Hitsugaya and those guys. He still didn't have his hammer back, Allen's arm didn't seem to be working the way it should, Kanda was Mugen-less and Rinali probably didn't have her boots, either, right? Actual Akuma turning up around here was bad news. Besides, with things like that weird kid from the other night, the ghost lady and cleaners with hot pokers around, not to mention a Noah, Akuma were among the last things they needed.

Well, they'd just have to figure out what to do from here. It looked like both Allen and Rinali were fine, at least, even with everything that had happened.

Ravi gave Allen's and Rinali's words a nod. "Sounds good," he agreed. "Well, seeing as those guys're still working on a way out, too, not like it'd hurt to keep working with 'em, right?" He shrugged. "What's Rhode been doing, other than hugging Allen and being a pain in the ass?" Didn't she write a message on the bulletin board in what looked like blood not that long ago? "She anything like Tyki or that other big guy?" Ravi asked.

"I'm not... sure," Allen said hesitantly to Ravi. "He didn't seem to know much about us. But... I don't think any good can come of him." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Part of him was satisfied that Ravi seemed alright. The other half wanted to ask about last night. If Ravi was suffering from the same sort of ailment.

"Not much yet," he admitted. "She attacked another child in the game room the other day. I'm not sure about everything she's done at night though. I think her Noah side is stronger then." He rubbed his arms, feeling a slight chill in spite of the fairly warm room. "Also, some of the people from Arts and Crafts want to know if we'll come with them tonight. They're going to rescue anyone who gets taken for... for experimentation. They have other teams that are looking for ways out or where our things might be."

But some of them should probably keep an eye on Rhode. Make sure she didn't hurt anyone. If only there was an easy way for them to keep her locked up in her room. "Maybe it would be easiest if we broke up into teams of two. Two of us go with the rescue team, two after Rhode."

Rinali listened quietly as her friends strategized. Something seemed a little strange about all of this. And then it hit her...they were talking about an 'Arts and Crafts' club. It couldn't really be what they were about if they were staging a rescue operation, could it?

No, that didn't make sense. It had to be a joke. She'd make a point to ask about it after they finished their plans.

"Two teams makes sense," she said after some thought. "I'll go whatever you need me to, Allen." She would have preferred to go on the rescue operation, if only because being near Rhode made her uncomfortable, but it really was Allen's call. He'd been here longer, he knew where she'd do best.

Ravi rubbed his forehead, making a face as Allen elaborated on the situation with Rhode and that guy from before. "Looks like we got him to keep an eye on, too, not just Rhode." What Allen described was pretty strange - there was no real reason for any Akuma to pretend they didn't know anything. On the other hand, some Akuma were actually smart.

It was probably better to be safe than sorry anyway.

"Experimentation, huh?" Those plans were new, but it made sense for some people to go take care of that, if there were already enough others taking care of the usual scouting stuff.

Ravi nodded, agreeing with Rinali and Allen on that suggestion. "Yeah, sounds good," he replied. "Out of all of us, I'm guessing you're the only one who's still got a way to use your Innocence right now, Allen, so it'd just make it harder if we're all gonna wander around in a group at night." Sure, they weren't completely defenseless without their weapons, but it did put them at a disadvantage. Splitting up into teams that would even things out at least a little seemed like a good idea.

"So we just gotta figure out who's gonna do what, yeah?"

Allen tried not to feel too overwhelmed; Ravi and Rinali both had more experience than he did in the Order, but it seemed like they were still looking to him to make decisions. What if he picked the wrong one? What if one of the others got hurt? Was it because he was the only one who still had his Innocence? If he weren't a parasite type, he'd be in the same boat as everyone else. It wasn't because he was better or smarter or good at leading, it was just a matter of luck!

"Yeah. I'm... not really sure." Renji and Rukia probably wanted to talk with him about the other night. And he couldn't say he was looking forward to that. But both of them were competent fighters. So whoever they wound up with would be safe, wouldn't they? Besides, Rhode did seem to actually listen to him, odd as that seemed. He'd prefer not to play babysitter, but he didn't want anyone else to have to do it either. "I told Rukia I'd let her know which of us will be coming. I guess... I probably should go with them. Whoever wants to come with me is welcome to." As long as it wasn't Kanda. He didn't think he had the strength to deal with him at the moment.

"I'll go too," Rinali volunteered. "If you'd like." Hopefully Allen wouldn't feel the need to refuse her. She wanted to feel useful again, to prove that she could function even without her boots. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Allen still had some ability to use his innocence. What happened to hers?

Did it even exist anymore?

She might have taken more initiative in this, but she was never much of a leader. She could lead if it came down to it, but she liked it better in Komui's shadow.

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Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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