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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Very haughty. Very upper-class. Although Mark squinted faintly as he looked up at the other man. Was something wrong with his eyes? Or was it merely a fashion choice? Perhaps it symbolized something, like the Cetagandan face paint. He never could keep all those designs straight in his head...

Barrayaran all the way for this one. "My name is Lord Mark Pierre Vorkosigan." Not pushy, calm, folding one arm behind his back as he paused in his writing to address Yuber. "And I assume that you are Yuber."

Something else about the man was off, other than the eyes, but Mark couldn't quite put his finger on it yet....

The attention he was receiving from the other patient didn’t faze the knight in the slightest, and while he waited for them to respond, he wrote yet another note (http://community.livejournal.com/damned_bulletin/121599.html) onto the board while he waited. He did have a contract with Cloud after all, and it made little sense for him to go back on his word and leave the blonde swordsman in the lurch. Yuber never knew when Cloud’s services could come in handy to him, and he wasn’t willing to risk anything just yet.

When the name was given, he had to resist snorting softly in reply when it was obvious they were of aristocratic nature – or so their name appeared to him – and it left Yuber with the subtle hint of aversion at the back of his mind. Aristocrats were always far more trouble than what they were worth – even for someone such as himself.

“You would be assuming correctly.” Yuber said after a moment, before he felt a single brow rise up in question as he asked. “I take it that your standing in society is rather high considering your title?”

Perhaps a miscalculation? The other man looked faintly disdainful, although that might also be due to Mark's looks. Titles like "Lord Vor-something" weren't too impressive on him, particularly in clothes that fit him as ill as these. Oh, for a nice black suit...

"Is that a joke on my height?" Mark raised both eyebrows in response to Yuber's one. But he smiled almost wickedly as he answered, "Well, in some circles I'm considered insane," which was the truth, "and a murderer," also true, "but my rank seems to be high enough that I have remained primarily on the loose until now." Little side-trips to Jackson's Whole or willingly burying himself in data at ImpSec aside. "I don't believe that I am here because of those charges, either, so it seems in a sense I'm still 'at large.' So to speak. Does that help answer your question?"

What do you have to say to that?

At the remark about height, Yuber found himself blinking once in confusion before he began to laugh at the insinuation. The smooth sound only lasted for mere moments, but it was enough to put the knight back into a better mood as his attention returned back down to Mark. “Hardly, I’ve seen men my height taken down by beings far shorter than you.” He murmured. Making light of such restrictions was hardly just a human trait, and he’d often seen other races doing the same thing. Granted the other races seemed to direct such slights at the human race rather than their own, but it was generally the same thing.

The information that poured out of the other patient caused his raised brow to rise up slightly higher, and the utter sense of ease they spoke of such feats sparked his curiosity. “Quite an interesting little past you have there,” Yuber said as his lips curved up into an amused smirk. This one most obviously was one of Chaos without any doubt, “and quite the chaotic nature as well.”

It was a relief to know that this one wasn’t bunched together with those foolish aristocrats, and he found his ire fading back into the background as he turned to fully regard Mark. Placing one hand on his hip, the other moved up to flick a few of the golden bangs away from his eyes as he murmured. “It does indeed answer my question. If you had been of aristocratic nature I would have taken leave of your company.”

"Aristocracy is essentially a mass delusion." A note from his mother, or perhaps his grandmother. Yuber laughing over the comment of height, combined with the comment about beings shorter than Mark, was pleasant. He didn't care for being underestimated, even if he was rather used to it. At least Yuber knew better than that. Not that being underestimated didn't have its benefits at times...

"But I am genetically related to the ruling class, where I'm from. Does that make such a difference to you?" Mark resisted the urge to snicker at Yuber's gestures. Dramatic guy. "I do have an interesting past, and I suppose 'chaotic' is a word for me." But not complete chaos. There were times when he'd rather have an orderly list of things to do than anything else, but other times when pointless rules were to be ignored or circumvented. Still, between the five of them... they worked together well, but he was nonetheless more chaotic in mind than an average person, he supposed.

“Money does do rather interesting things to the human mind.” Yuber murmured before his lips twitched up into a smirk. Power also made humans far more amusing, and the knight found it rather entertaining to watch their pointless power struggles. If it weren’t for those types, Yuber doubted that he’d see as much action as he did.

The smirk on Yuber’s face remained steady as he looked down towards Mark. “Being genetically related is hardly a strong enough connection to such a social class or their less desirable traits.” The knight said after a moment. He’d hired himself out typically to the aristocratic or royalty type more often than not, but in the knight’s eyes, so long as he was paid accordingly it didn’t matter who he ended up working for. Chaos was Chaos after all. “So, how long have you been within this establishment?”

"Where I'm from," or the world his name and title were from, "the aristocrats aren't always particularly wealthy, despite the titles." Mark was an exception--the wealthiest member of his family, in fact, but that had absolutely nothing to do with his title. It was all him, done by his own hands. It did change one's perspective, Mark had to agree--money was power in a very real way. How many problems unsolvable with plasma rifles or reasoned discussion could be solved with a hefty credit chit?

Though that doesn't do a lot of good when the plasma rifle's pointed right at you by someone who really means it.

"I have been here a few hours." Mark answered bluntly, giving Yuber an expectant look. "And you?"

“Only a few hours hmm?” Yuber ignored the expectant look thrown in his direction. The fact that Mark had only be in the institution for only a few hours meant that he would hardly hold any relevant information… yet… the possibility of some future use out of the human occurring was something the knight wasn’t yet willing to pass up.

Looking as though he was seriously contemplating the question, Yuber made a soft thoughtful noise before he murmured. “Today would be my fourth morning here.” Granted he’d already known the answer after his previous conversation with Reno, but it was still odd to the knight to consider the fact that he’d already been here for that long. He’d already given up caring who had actually summoned him and was simply wishing to tear this institution up. “But it seems as though the days all meld into one after a short while.”

"And if you weren't here, what would you be doing? Possibly." It was a blunt question, but Mark had after all spoken up as well. The strange-eyed man might choose not to reciprocate, but Mark had not said what he had out of a serious expectation for an exchange of information. If Yuber answered, that was good, and if not--

There were many people here. There seemed to be three kinds of currency here, cigarettes, weapons and information. The last was free from the board, if anyone cared to take it, a devaluing factor that Mark would ignore for now in favor of having any currency at all. The information in conversation was not free, it was rarer, and if Yuber did not offer profit then there were still many patients here, perhaps hundreds. Sometimes speculations didn't work out, it was a fact of business.

“If I were not here?” Yuber asked, unmindful of the blunt question. He shook his head slightly in mirth before his expression changed and turned decidedly more predatory in nature. “I would be lending my assistance to those select few who offer me correct payment, and in exchange, aid them in potentially realising their goals.”

"Ah. In other words, a mercenary." Mark liked some mercenaries more than others, but he didn't care for the job as a class in general. Then again, that was one of the tools money could purchase. "But here, there is no currency--how will you find an employer? You must be finding new occupation."

“Some have called me as such yes,” At the mention of currency, Yuber didn’t bother to hide the amused chuckle he felt at the thought. Tilting his head to one side in an appearance of thought, the knight grinned, “Currency is hardly the motivator to those who have no need for it.”

No, the only payment he was in need of was simply the opportunity to do what he was created to do. There was nothing else that was needed of his employer. “As for an employer… I’ve no need to search for such a thing.”

The only people who had no need of currency were those who lived off the castoffs of society, or possibly some of the more primitive enclaves on Barrayar. Even people with no name and no identity needed money. They might not always have it, but they needed it.

Something was wrong with this other man, and Mark was beginning to have the feeling that the problem went deeper than the man's odd attitude. He frowned openly, as though he'd finished measuring and it wasn't adding up. "Care to go without the riddles, or is that part of the fun?" Don't bait him, you idiot, of course it's fun, that's why he's doing it. "I suppose there is little use for an employer here. And I wouldn't have anything to hire you with if I were interested. But, out of curiosity, what kind of wages do you usually look for?"

He could see the confusion running wildly through Mark’s mind, and it left a small sense of satisfaction within the knight as he remained silent. Smiling down in open amusement, Yuber reached up to flick some blonde hair back over his shoulder in a casual gesture as he murmured playfully. “Ahh but because I’m currently not looking doesn’t mean I haven’t already obtained one.”

Resting the back of his hand on his hip, his weight came to rest more on one leg than the other as he easily answered. “I only take one kind of wage in return for my services, and that is simply the opportunity to create further Chaos. I’m in need of nothing else.”

The faintly feminine gestures for a moment distracted Mark, even though he'd become used to a wide variety of sexual expression living on Beta Colony. When Yuber's words hit, at first they weren't so disturbing. That also suited some of the mercenaries he'd met. The "I like to blow shit up" part of the job application.

But he'd been reading very disturbing things on the board all day. True, 'magic' could be brushed off as some kind of advanced science, and some of the people here might truly be mad... there might even be worlds where non-human sentients of different forms lived. And alternate dimensions were not a terribly strange thought by modern standards. But something was wrong with Yuber, had been wrong from the start of the conversation, wrong even beyond the strange eyes.

My god. He hasn't got a shadow. Mark was staring at the floor, obviously stunned, for the moment not moving or even responding out loud. Yuber was not speaking of throwing plasma grenades for fun and profit. There was something more going on here.

An illusion, it's probably an illusion of some kind...

He could almost smell the bout of panic that waved all throughout Mark’s body beside him, and Yuber found himself hard pressed not to react to the sensation. It was always rather thrilling to feel such things from others, and it often brought out his more predatory nature as his expression darkened to mirror that feeling.

Allowing the more arrogant side of his nature to show, his eyes narrowed in dark pleasure as he regarded Mark in open amusement. “Is there something the matter? You seem to have lost your will to speak.”

There was panic, yes, or fear, but the chaos inside of Mark was not entirely that. At the face of this strange, unnatural being, he found himself struggling to hold back the defense mechanism which served to save his life on occasions but which would be utterly inappropriate here.

He is not attacking, he is just being strange while standing there, this is NOT a job for you!

The Other made a disgruntled noise but backed away a bit, not trying to take control but still ready at any moment.

Lord Mark himself took a deep breath. In the face of his own lack of dignity in this place, but more importantly in the face of Yuber's obvious amusement at his discomfort, he began to work on settling himself down. There was nothing here in this man stranger than what he'd read on the board--he had to prepare himself to face such things.

"I apologize. I was startled for a moment." Mark looked back into Yuber's eyes again directly, chin jutted up as though challenging. "Where I am from, there are no beings like yourself."

The battle being waged within this particular little human was an interesting one to watch play out. Despite their complete and utter uselessness individually, Yuber had to admit that they did offer himself – and the other True Runes – quite a large amount of amusement, and the opportunity to allow them all to battle each other. Granted it was something the humans were unaware of, but even the most noble of the True Rune’s couldn’t help but play the little battle game with using humans as their chess pieces.

All too soon the uncertainty within Lord Mark disappeared, and Yuber was met with a challenging gesture from the other. This particular human was rather interesting to watch indeed, and the black knight found himself rather pleased to have stumbled across such entertainment.

“It seems that human’s are a common occurrence throughout the various realms.” Yuber murmured after a moment. The amusement remained in his voice and on his expression, but it lost that small hint of darkness as he added. “But you are correct… I am not human.”

"Common but not universal," Mark corrected with a glance at the board. "Some persons seem to be utterly and completely disoriented by their forms here. And what are you? You seem rather tall for an elf."

And Mark was, of course, a dwarf. Though not in the folkloric sense...

He couldn't let every little strange thing here upset him. This was practice for the next encounter, where Mark would be less humorous to his target.

And he had gotten information, hadn't he? He had turned a small profit.

[sorry about posting blip ^^;;;]

“I suppose being forced out of your original form could be rather… disorientating, if one wasn’t use to such things.” How he would have reacted if his form had changed was something even Yuber was unsure of. There was a small part of him that knew he’d be rather indignant at such a slight to his very existence.

“I’m hardly a foolish elf.” His entire demeanour changed into something far more casual at the mention of the elves, and he waved off the statement with an elegant hand gesture. Slipping his hand back on his hip, his smile was broad across his lips as Yuber stated. “I am the incarnation of Chaos. I exist neither with the living nor the dead but in the realm between.”

[It’s no problem ♥]

Of course whoever was changing people couldn't be bothered to add a few inches to Mark's height. Well, that was fine--being visually striking could be useful at times, and he'd rather look like himself most of all. He'd fought hard enough to be himself.

"I haven't met elves, so I don't know how foolish they are or aren't," Mark responded smoothly. I've faced down men who could move worlds before, just via different means. This isn't something I can't handle. "But here, it seems you are changed after all. Or are you still neither living nor dead? That must be convenient, with all the reports of monsters."

Elves, humans, dwarfs, lizards… they were all nothing but violent fools who looked down on the other races. Yet without such an arrogant view point from each race, Yuber was more than well aware that it would be far more difficult to gain entertainment out of the mortals.

Tired of standing, Yuber’s gaze flickered over towards the settings of the Sun Room as he sighted most couches and chairs already occupied by others. One in particular caught his attention, and he found his smile widening ever so subtly as his interest was caught. Given there was only the single human there, Yuber doubted that they’d mind a little… company… granted, he wouldn’t have cared either way.

Turning his attention back onto Mark, Yuber regarded the short human thoughtfully for a moment, before deeming them worthy enough to continue entertaining him. “Changed? Hardly.” Chuckling softly Yuber indicated over to one of the nearby couches as he offered. “But I’d much prefer to be in a more comfortable environment if you chose to continue your riveting questions.”

He didn’t bother waiting for an answer, and after giving Mark a mysterious smile, Yuber began making his way over towards the young human he’d spotted.

[Moving over to annoy Light here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/212466.html?page=2)]

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Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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