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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Alright, she'd been wrong.

She couldn't accept anything. She couldn't immediately accept the fact that L had sent her off to work with a group of Death Gods.

She only blinked in response, her expression remaining the same only for the sheer fact that her mind was already overloaded as it was. She simply couldn't manage any further shock.

"I see," she said. It seemed to be her most common reaction when she simply didn't know what else to say.

Naomi suddenly very, very badly wanted to lie down and take a nap. Death gods. She was sitting across from a young woman who claimed to be a god of death. How much stranger could her day honestly get?

"I appreciate your candor." This was all madness. Complete madness. If it weren't for L.... "And I appreciate that arrangements can be made."

The shinigami watched the woman next to her carefully. She couldn't tell if she was accepting of the knowledge she's just been given or not. And then the woman spoke.

Nope. Not accepting it. Not yet.

Given enough time here, though, and she would. "I do not expect you to accept my being shinigami anytime soon. It is a hard concept to grasp given the majority of humanity cannot even see us much less interact with us, but this is no typical prison," Momo said. "Rest assured, though, that it is our duty protect what humans we can."

Momo inclined her head and smiled softly at the bewildered woman. "I will give Hitsugaya-taichou the information. Do you have any further questions for me? About anything not just Arts & Crafts?"

Momo's attention was caught for a brief moment by Signum crossing the Sun Room. She followed the knight's passage for a moment and then blinked in a bit of surprise. Signum was talking to a shorter, blonde... Signum. It was slightly unsettling how much the two women moved alike and had the same bearing.

The shinigami looked back to Naomi. She'd ponder the knight's new acquaintance later.

Protect what humans they could. How ironic. They were gods of death, or so they claimed. That didn't strike Naomi as a job description that called for much protecting.

"I think all of my questions have been answered," she said, slowly. She had a wealth of information to bring back to L, at least. And she had been accepted into the group easily. Though apparently anyone was.

"At least all the questions I can think of. Everything's somewhat overwhelming."

But she refused to let it get to her. She had to stay in control. The moment she let one thing get to her, everything would. This place, the things L had told her, even losing Raye - the wound still fresh and raw - would come crashing down on her. She couldn't afford that.

"Understandable," Momo said in regards to the overwhelming. Everything about the first day at Landel's was indeed overwhelming and she couldn't picture how much more it was to a human.

"Keep an eye on the board, Shouko-san for a posting. If you develop any further questions, please find me and ask. I won't answer all questions, but I can assure you that I won't get offended by any particular question." She paused. "I will leave you to your thoughts then."

Momo got to her feet and bowed politely before turning away. She scanned the room, her gaze finding Hitsugaya, but he seemed to be engaged in a non-too-happy encounter with someone she didn't know. Deciding to leave him be, since he definitely seemed to be in captain-mode, Momo's eyes again strayed to Signum and the ~~other Signum~~ blonde woman she was engaged in conversation with. The shinigami opted not to push her way into that conversation, passing by them with a warm smile to Signum as headed to the library (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/212694.html?thread=15217622#t15217622).

Maybe she'd find someone to talk to there that didn't seem as put-off as the solitary prisoners in the Sun Room.

"Thank you again, Naomi responded, nodding as the woman got up to leave.

So that was that. And now the former FBI agent found she had nothing to keep her mind away from he sheer insanity she'd been plunged into. Slowly, to keep herself sane and stable, she occupied her mind by listing the States, in alphabetical order.

Maybe someone normal would take pity on a woman all alone and offer some mindless chit-chat.

Sheska needed a break. And paper. She wouldn't have realised about the break if she hadn't hit the last page of her journal. She was going to have to ask around about getting more, although she was a little unsure of asking the staff. They might want to know what she'd been writing!

Sheska wandered over to a table, looking rather sad, and sat down. She heaved a huge sigh and realised she'd invaded somebody else's space.
"Oh!" she blushed. "I'm sorry. Do you mind?" She put the journal down and looked at it. She couldn't think of any place else to go.

"No, it's fine."

Naomi held up a hand to the rather frazzled young woman who had dropped down near her. The girl looked as unsettled as she felt. Was it her first day as well? or was she simply a nervous person by nature? Naomi couldn't tell at this point.

She looked to be bookish and mousy at first glance. Perhaps it was an unfair assumption, but the short brown hair, large glasses and nondescript figure were all stereotypes of a certain sort of girl.

And the fact that she was carrying around that notebook only enforced the immediate impression.

"Are you alright?"

For some reason she felt very loved and wanted, being asked that question. She knew it was just a stranger being polite, but she missed home and needed what comfort she could get.

"I ran out of paper," she explained, almost teary eyed. At least, it was an explanation she'd understand herself, anyway.

"I haven't seen you before. I haven't paid much attention though. Are you new? Do you know where I can find paper?"

"I am new." Paper? The girl was this worried about paper? Or was it just that her lack of paper was the final straw? Naomi could understand that. Sometimes it was the smallest, simplest things that broke a person.

"I don't know where you'd find paper, I'm sorry. Maybe if you ask one of the nurses? I'm sure they'd give you paper."

Sheska stared, slightly open mouthed, at the woman for a moment. She wasn't sure how to settle newcomers. Vice-Captain and his group had just appeared at night and she'd fallen into the whole thing blindly.

"Oh. Well. I'm Sheska. But the nurses tell me I'm someone else. They do that to everyone, I think. I'm not sure. What's your name? Do you have friends here? Oh! And there are monsters at night, so you have to be careful."
She wondered if she should tell the woman about the groups. But what if she was a spy? What if she'd already said too much? No, that was silly. Maybe.

"I can't ask them," she whispered, leaning in. "They might start asking questions." She gave a secretive and slow nod. The paper was part of a top secret operation.

"It's alright, I know what this place is," Naomi said, holding up a hand. "I've been here all day, I've spoken with people who have been here longer already." She didn't need anymore explanations. She didn't want any right now. She wanted normalcy.

"I'm Shouko Maki. And no, I don't have friends here." She had L, but she wasn't going to mention him. And not as a friend, certainly. He was... well, she didn't know what he was. Her superior? Something like that.

"There's paper in the Arts and Crafts room," she offered, not knowing what else to say. "Why would it be a problem if they asked you what you needed paper for? Couldn't you just tell them you're a writer?"

"Oh that's good! I think. It's horrible, isn't it? This place I mean. I'll be your friend. I'm probably not from the same place as you, but at least we can say we know each other now," she smiled.

"I suppose I could!" she smiled. But then she frowned. "They might ask to see though. So a Dr can...analyse it or something." She flipped through the pages, heaving a great sigh. "I suppose it's not too bad though. It's just about first aid. I'm working on it for a club here. Have you joined any?"

"Yes, it's very horrible," Naomi agreed, nodding. And... the girl was offering to be her friend. The former FBI agent had never been one for friends, really. She was more of a solitary person. But... she was a member of one of the clubs that L was so interested in. There was a chance she'd have more information.

"Thank you." She offered a small smile. She could be nice and friendly when she made an effort. And it helped to get information.

"It's nice to have friends. And I've joined the Arts and Crafts club. Is that the one you belong to?"

"I'm in the St Francis Aide club. At the moment, anyway. I think I'll probably move on afterwards. I have more stuff to write for someone from back home. And after that, somebody else might need information," she said, quietly. She was blushing, it wasn't often she felt so useful.

"The Saint Francis Club?" Naomi cocked her head. She wasn't entirely familiar with that club. It was the medical aide one, wasn't it?

"You write down information?" It was just Naomi's nature to ask questions. Even though she was trying to keep a low profile and not let on that she was an FBI agent. But she was used to asking questions.

"Ah, I'm sorry to just keep asking questions. There's just so much I still don't know."

There. Perfectly plausible.

"Yes! Mr Tamaki started it, so he can learn how to take care of anyone who's been injured. I... write information, yes. It's a bit of a strange gift, I guess, but I remember things I've read. Perfectly. So that's what I'm doing. I want to help as many people as I can and reading's all I've ever been good at," she smiled, much more confident now. "That's ok! I want to help. You can ask me more, but I don't know a whole lot myself yet."

"That's quite a talent," Naomi said. Quite a talent indeed. She could remember perfectly things she'd read? Maybe it was worth it to be her 'friend'. And if she was willing to part with this information....

"People get injured a lot, I've noticed." Which was perfectly true. She'd seen a large number of bandages, casts and wheelchairs in the single day she'd been at the institute. "It's good to have a way to help them. Is that all that the Club does?"

"Thank you," she said, turning a deeper shade of red. "I wish it was this useful back home."

Sheska looked around as she nodded. "Well, people can go there to learn about first aid, but it's a clinic too, I guess. It only started last night but we got a patient! I hope he's ok."
She forced a smile back on her face and looked at her new friend. "What do you do? There's a lot of people here that can fight."

"I'm a homemaker," Naomi said, immediately. So there was a clinic. That was good to know. And they actually serviced patients. She filed all of this away for later, prepared to make a full report to L.

With something more than 'our partners are Death Gods'.

"Where is this clinic? I've heard how dangerous the nights are. How do they offer their practice and remain safe themselves?"

Sheska almost got very excited and asked what it was like to make homes. But then she realised what a homemaker was and settled herself before she could cause any embarrassing scenes.

"I think people are safe if they stay in rooms. I could be wrong. But I guess they're ok if they stay in the room, M35, and practice. And then hurt people can come to them. Maybe they'll get good enough to go on patrols!" she said, getting excited at the idea.

"I see." That was a good bit of information to have. The rooms were safe places, apparently. She'd read something to that effect on the board. She wondered why - what made them safe?

Though she realized as Sheska spoke that it sounded as though none of these people had any actual medical training. That was another interesting bit of information.

"How do people find them? Are there maps of this place anywhere?"

"Well, they posted on the bulletin board so people knew what room it was. I'm not sure about maps. I found my way there in the dark.... it was so scary!"

She looked around the room and wondered when she could steal some paper from the arts and crafts room. If it was possible.
"Do you think I'd have to hide it?" she asked. "The paper, I mean. I might look suspicious carrying a bundle around with me." She looked at the journal and supposed she was suspicious enough.

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Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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