damned_institute | Day 29: Courtyard

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Day 29: Courtyard

Though he hadn't been able to stomach much of the cafeteria food, as the day went on, he did feel marginally better. The fever seemed to have broken and he'd held down what little he'd eaten. It made him a little anxious, to sit around so much, and even if it was difficult, a walk outside sounded like a nice break from the usual. He had no interest in the visitors. Likely as not they were the same as the creature he'd run into a couple nights ago in the form of Aizen Sousuke.

He folded his thin arms across his chest as he started his walk around the courtyard. The air was crisp, getting colder by the day it seemed, but it didn't dissuade him from taking a leisurely walk while he gathered his thoughts.

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Brunch had been... interesting, though forced flirting with someone simply to get a little 'information' out of them had been tiring - and Nami hadn't really come out of the deal with anything at all but a vague promise. Rather annoying, but she'd pulled the flirty card enough in the past to where it had become second nature to her to fall back into that routine when it was needed.

In any case, she couldn't take a break just yet. Her maps weren't quite finished (they kept getting interrupted) but she was quickly realizing that if she didn't get the information about the basement soon, they wouldn't be going anywhere.

The pirate had looked around a little bit for someone who fit one of the descriptions from the bulletin board, and while she disliked the thought of working with some other organization, information was information. And answers were answers.

Luckily, there weren't that many other women here, much less 'well-endowed' women, and Nami could only assume that the one stretching out here was the 'Matsumoto Rangiku' she'd learned of.

If not, then.. well, maybe she'd learn something else.

"A little cold to be laying out like that, isn't it?" Nami asked the stranger, voice rather friendly.

Mmmm, this was nice. She hadn't had the chance to just be lazy for a while now and she'd start to get cranky and irritable if she didn't get at least a little rest. She'd even dozed off for a short so she was in a pleasant, calm mood when she was interrupted.

Rangiku opened one eye a crack when she was approached, looking the young woman over for a moment before, reluctantly pushing herself into a slightly more difnified position, although her sprawl was still lazy.

She smiled sleepily at the woman. She didn't really feel the cold much after all. "I thought I'd take advantage of it while I could. Sunlight is good for the skin."

Nami settled down on the ground, her back against the bench, taking the woman's smile as an invitation to sit. There was a certain freshness about the other redhead, something she couldn't really pinpoint, but it made Nami comfortable, even though she wanted more than anything to talk business.

Maybe all she needed was a little rest, too, nearby someone she didn't have to have forced flirting sessions with...

But no, she couldn't doze off now.

"Isn't it?" she replied, staring up at the sky. She wasn't showing too much skin herself - the nurse had made her get her coat, saying something about how she'd been sick in the past and they didn't want her catching cold. "I do get a good amount of sun back on my ship.. it's nice. I don't imagine we get too much time outside here, which saddens me a little."

Finally, the navigator turned her head back, looking the woman over once more. "It might seem strange for me to ask, but you're Matsumoto Rangiku, aren't you?"

The shinigami stretched, enjoying the feeling of it after being cramped inside for most of the day. She should probably do some training, something to keep in shape, but nightshift was more than enough exercise she thought.

"Not as much time outside as I'd like," Rangiku replied. "The Sun Room just isn't the same as being outdoors." And she still couldn't beleieve that she'd been there an entire week. It was worrying how the time had blurred. A ship, hm? That sounded nice. Not that she'd ever been on one, but the sight of the ocean and beaches... sounded like a lovely antitdote to this place.

She chuckled softly when the other woman asked her name and nodded her agreement. "That's me. I'm assuming you saw one of my captain's bulletin posts."

"It's not. I was glad for the time we had in town the other day, but I haven't been here long enough to really hunger for the wind and the sky. The sea I already miss, though," she sighed. The pond simply wouldn't cut it.

She returned the soft laugh. "He really is active on the board, isn't he?" Nami had read a good deal of what was written a little earlier, but she hadn't really wanted to spend the entire morning sitting in front of a board, watching people and nurses go back and forth putting things up. There were better things to do, anyway.

"I asked because he told me to find one of you - I was asking him about the basement, and he didn't see fit to tell me anything useful on the bulletin." Which Nami thought was stupid; who did anyone think they were fooling? If they had the technology to bring them here - they should have the technology to listen in on their conversations. It was either talk about it or don't, and she simply didn't have time enough during the night to go mingle with people.

"I've been here a week today," Rangiku replied. "It's long enough to want to see the sun at every opportunity." She didn't even get the walks back to her rooms from the office here, or an open window to let in the breeze.

"He is. He's trying to organise things but he tries to do it all on his own even though I'm here too, among others." Not that Hitsugaya hadn't done a lot of the paperwork side of things anyway back in Soul Society, but she could help. Things were a little more desperate here.

She listened quietly to the woman's words, nodding slowly. That explained it and she was the one who'd made it down there anyway. "I've been down there once," she said. "Although I didn't get down there in the most dignified manner." She still had bruises from falling that far, she was just glad that she hadn't broken anything.

"A week," Nami repeated. She hadn't been here near that long. "It's been three days for me. Two nights. And it's like at night, they'll even punish you for wanting to go outside," she said bitterly, remembering the swarms of beaked monsters that had gathered about. Where had they come from so suddenly? Had they changed, like the nurses had, from birds?

She shook her head. "He.. can't do that. He'll overextend himself like that. Sorry if I'm being too forward, you know, but really. I tried to do everything myself once," she said, remembering that time, remembering Luffy and Zoro, Sanji and Usopp, all together, destroying Arlong Park after she'd reached her limit... "I don't claim to know him - maybe he can do it all by himself, but..." She trailed off. Not every group of people could be like the Strawhats, but it was important to be able to rely on people. Nami knew this, now, more strongly than ever.

"But tell me about it, this basement thing. How'd you get there - I was sure it was in the refrigerator, but I never actually found the door. I need details, that's all.."

Yes, a week, and it felt more like a year, she would swear. "It seems to be the open spaces that they guard the most," Rangiku replied musingly. "Or at least they guard the walls and the Sun Room well." The basement and the walls. Weak points?

She shook her head, an amused smile on her face when Nami talked about her captain. "I know. He can't do everything by himself. But he always wants to prove himself and here, I think, he needs some control more than ever." She shrugged. "And if he doesn't stop soon I'm going to knock him out myself to make sure that he sleeps." Because all of them really needed some sleep.

"The basement..." Rangiku said, bringing her mind back to the topic at hand. "In the cold room, there's a loose tile in the back corner of the room. it's slightly discoloured. If you pull it up then there are stairs. Lots of stairs heading down and then a huge cavernous room."

"That's what I noticed. I found a way from the patient dormitories to the cafeteria while evading the Sun Room, and so far that seems like the best way to go. I do wonder why, though." The navigator was an expert at, well, navigating, and it was like her to find the easiest way from one point to another. Running from monsters wasn't really her idea of fun, but she'd already dealt with the fact that they were going to a place with more than enough monsters.

"Well, knock him on the head if you have to." Nami grinned. She knocked her captain on the head all the time, when he was doing something stupid. ...But it seemed as if he was doing such things all the time. It was Luffy, though - she wasn't too worried about him on principle, but sometimes .. well, she needed to keep them all in line, really. (Except for Robin. Where was she?) "You said he's your captain, though - you sound vaguely like pirates, you know." Really structured pirates, but pirates nonetheless. That was just the way some crews worked. ...Sometimes. Rarely.

Though talking about the basement had proved as interesting as she'd thought. "Stairs and then a cavernous room? What's beyond that - or does anyone know?"

Ah, so someone else had though of that as well. Good to know. She wished that she could tell people about it, but broadcasting it too widely was probably just asking for trouble. "At least the fields at the back are more open so it's easier to avoid attacks." Which was a good thing here. It wasn't like fighting Hollows. Here, they might as well avoid unnecessary fights.

Rangiku laughed brightly and nodded in agreement. "I will. I'll probably have to." It would be nice if she could believe that he'd listen to reason, but she'd known him for too long. He'd listen to reason for everyone but himself. "Hm? Pirates? No. More like... a military I suppose. There are thirteen squads, focussing on various different things, each commanded by a captain and helped by a vice-captain and seated officers. I'm Hitsugaya's vice-captain," she explained. It was a little more complicated than that when you took into account the nobility and scientists and normal shinigami, but that was the basic jist of it.

"Beyond the cavernous room... I'm afraid we didn't get any further that nighyt, and I haven't managed to get back there yet," she said apologetically. "My companion and I were rather injured after the fall down there."

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Day 29: Courtyard

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