damned_institute | Day 30: Music Room (Third Shift)

Entry tags:

Day 30: Music Room (Third Shift)

The last intercom had spelled out everything.

Misbehavior. Someone had started a riot - quickly quelled from the sounds of it. He didn't want to say it was good thing he'd be stabbed, but from the looks of it, it was probably best he was absent from whatever shift this had happened during. The warning siren, and all of the habub about it; blood had probably been spilled. In his current condition, he might have been tempted.

Well, there was no might in that. He would've been.

Despite protests from his nurse as well as his own body, Edward politely asked for an escort to the music room, wanting nothing more than to get out of his little cell. The cream-colored music room was quiet, spacious, and had plenty of seating.

He was surprised to see it empty this time, and made no hesitation in moving to sit at the large keyboard. It was no parlor grand, but it was accessable. Couldn't really complain about it.

Edward sat for a moment, lost in his memories. It had been a while since he had played anything... something old sounded satisfactory. Maybe a song from his childhood? Popular song, maybe. Gus Edwards?

Nodding to himself, he let his fingers settle against the keys, keeping his back straight for the hole in his chest. Without an entrance, his fingers began dancing along the keys to the tune of By the Light of the Silvery Moon. A quirky little tune, but a personal favorite.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"What sounds good to you, Dalia?"

Skuld sighed; she was pretty sure there was no use protesting the use of that name. "Um... the music room." Having already thrown a fit ~~twice~~ this morning, while she was still very agitated, that didn't show as much as her confusion and worry.

Once in the room she just stood there for a moment, the picture of a lost little girl. They had things to listen to, but she didn't want to passively turn on a tape right now; after a moment's search, she spotted a few instruments. Good--that was what she'd come in for, and she would have been in an even worse mood if they didn't have any.

Finding a kind of flute, she studied it for a moment before going to sit down somewhere off to the side. Closing her eyes, she played a few soft notes to get a feel for the recorder. It wasn't the kind of flute she was familiar with, but it was close enough, and she hadn't been planning on anything very complicated anyway.

Once she had it down, she started playing a soft, slow-paced melody; it was just the first thing to come to mind. Belldandy liked them more than she did, but she was homesick already.

The problem with a music room and concentrating on thinking within one is well, the music. Everyone seemed occupied with conversation or the near by instruments and other musical devices causing a relatively high noise level. Tear let out a sigh. Maybe she did need to just relax and not think so hard on her next move. At least for a few moments she could try, a very small few moments that is.

After a moment Tear could hear the faint sound of the recorder playing. Though it wasn't as if she recognized the tune, it still sounded rather calming and nice. The girl who had been playing it wasn't too far from her either. Going to the girl didn't seem like a fantastic idea but it did sound rather soothing all the same. She was rather hesitant to stop the girl's playing so in a rather soft, barely spoken sound she said: "That sounds very nice. Did someone teach it to you?" She attempted to let out a small comforting like smile. Her specialty definitely wasn't confronting others or even speaking to them so saying anything was rather challenging.

Skuld opened her eyes to see if the woman was speaking to her; finding she was, she played to the end of the measure before answering. "Oh, I've always known how to do this." At least, she didn't remember having to learn.

Her hands had been bandaged, and had probably stopped bleeding a while ago, but moving her fingers that much had been starting to hurt. She put the recorder down in her lap and tried not to clutch it too tightly. "But my older sister taught me that song. She plays it all the time." On the radio, at least; they usually listened to music more than played it themselves, but she'd heard it enough to memorize the notes.

And there was a magic to music; she wanted to think that she'd played that particular song because Belldandy was listening to it, right then.

Older siblings must have had a universal habit of teaching the younger ones forms of music, that or this was rather coincidental. Tear gave her, or at least tried to give her, a rather more noticeable smile. "Is your sister here?" It seemed a bit of a personal question so Tear said it as nicely as she could. Little chit chats really were not her strong point.

It took her a moment but Tear eventually saw the girl's bandaged hands. "What happened?" She was sounding a bit concerned. It didn't appear to be anything horrible but bandages normally meant an injury bad enough to need a bit of care. Pretty much meaning that it wasn't your average paper cut, or at least she could assume so.

Skuld looked away, grip tightening on the recorder until she winced and had to let go. "No... I just got here, but I didn't see her in the cafeteria." She couldn't sense if any other gods were around here, but Belldandy would have, right? And come to her... and gotten her out?

Me, and everyone else, she amended silently. Goddesses couldn't consider just themselves; they had to protect everyone. She wasn't a Goddess First Class yet, but the only real distinction was power; she should act like one, regardless.

And more than likely, that meant staying here until she was sure every last person had gotten out.

She glanced up long enough to see Tear looking at her hands; she dropped her gaze to her lap. What could she even say? "I just--hurt myself trying to do something." Demanding answers or action from the Almighty. The damage was minor, just four curved cuts on each palm from her fingernails, but the nurse who bandaged her up had done it by wrapping a strip of gauze all around each hand so you couldn't tell if the back or the palm was cut up. "It's not really a big deal." Even if it kind of looked like one.

Judging from the expression Tear had picked the wrong question to ask. "I'm sure your friends are here, not everyone goes to the cafeteria during lunch." She was attempting, again, to make the situation better. But it was true, Tear didn't even bother to get lunch today so maybe her friends had done the same? It was a slim chance but one nonetheless, right?

Obviously it really wasn't her business to ask such questions. "May I see it? I may be able to help." She asked rather slowly. Maybe luck would be on her side this time? It'd be interesting to test if any of her healing abilities still worked. At least the girl hadn't injured herself during a nightly battle like so many others had. Not that any injury was great or anything. Just as long as it wasn't a missing organ then she may be able to help in some way.

"I don't know anyone here," Skuld said unhappily. "I just got here last night." Artemis, though the person she'd talked to the longest, didn't count yet; he was--maybe not the nicest person, but they had a lot in common. She could see them becoming friends, but so far he was just someone she'd had a conversation with over breakfast. ~~And blown up at, but she'd calmed down since then.~~

After a slight hesitation, Skuld tugged carefully at the gauze on one hand. It was tightly wrapped but not taped down, and she found she could slide it off. There were still little dots of blood in each cut, and the inside of the bandage was noticeably stained; she'd broken more than a few layers of skin. Her hands had been cleaned off, though, so it didn't look as bad as before.

That's not exactly what Tear had been going for but there was little she could do about it now. She was probably just as confused as Tear had been when she arrived, if not then more. But it seemed like she had upset her all the same. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm Tear." Her smile had faded a little. She had just seemed to have insulted the poor girl after all. Nice going, as usual.

The cuts didn't seem too horrible, it was true. But they still seemed rather annoyingly painful. Tear looked around a moment to make sure everyone seemed preoccupied. Was it really such a good idea? It was hard to tell and surely there was a surveillance camera of some sort so she would have to make it fast. "It will only take a second. But you should keep the bandages on for a while so no one asks, all right?" She gave it a moment for the girl to reply in someway then took her hand and whispered the good old 'O, healing power. First aid.' She waited a moment and then let go of her hand. She smiled a moment but then a wave of fatigue hit her. Tear should have seen it coming but better now then when it was a more severe injury that she was dealing with. Besides her own health was the least of her concerns.

It wasn't long before she had a bit of trouble standing so she tried to calmly and in a way casually walk over to her seat. "You should be more careful while you're here. Especially at night." She said trying not to sound as drained as she had become. She closed her eyes a moment to relax but any longer and she would have surely fallen asleep. "Will you be all right?" She asked after a little recovery time, her usual tone of concern back within her voice.

"I'm fine, but what about you?" Skuld had moved to stand a few steps away, worried. At least Tear hadn't fainted. "It was just some little cuts--you need to be careful, too!" She sounded angrier than she was; her overall distress had worn her patience down to approximately nil. She never should have let the woman do anything to her; she'd played enough RPGs to know about healers.

She clenched her fists again--more carefully than last time, at least--to keep herself from trembling. She was supposed to protect these people, not let them take care of her.

As bratty as she could be, though, after a few moments she got herself under control enough to sit down again, this time in a chair next to Tear. She braced her arms on the seat, curling her fingers around the edge of it so there was less risk of damaging newly-healed skin. "Anyway... I'm Skuld." She couldn't conduct herself like Belldandy did, but she could at least act the way her sister had taught her to. "Pleased to meet you." Her voice was soft and a little too flat; it was obvious she'd had this drilled into her head. But she was making the effort.

"I'm fine, really. But you should wear those bandages for now so no one asks why you made such a fast recovery." She was trying to switch the subject away from her health. The occasional concern was normal but she honestly didn't need it. She could have figured out the consequences ahead of time and she still would have done it. This was nothing compared to opening the passage rings back in Auldrant.

As for the girl's continuing comment Tear nodded. No reason to continue her worries, right? "I'll be sure to be more careful next time." But that didn't mean she wouldn't not do it again, of course.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." The forced response went unnoticed to Tear, mostly. She simply figured the girl, Skuld, was still a bit angry with her. Tear wasn't a master at introductions either so it wasn't a huge deal to her if they had a little trouble saying their names and such. In fact, Tear was surprised they even spoke as much as they had so far. Then again, they may have just gotten lucky.

Skuld nodded, and slipped the gauze back into place. Movement caught her eye and she looked up; a nurse was making the rounds. Skuld's eyes followed her for a few seconds--never having been in daycare or school, she wasn't used to being watched this closely. She was still young enough to need guidance and support, but she took care of herself.

"How careful do we have to be?" she asked softly. "I know we're supposed to be crazy, but I never heard how much they believe us on." This was all very new to her.

The nurse making her rounds about the room worried Tear a moment. Had they seen what she did? Although she kept her cool visibly she was a little bothered by the coincidental round that had proceeded her helping Skuld.

"Always keep your guard up." Tear finally said after the nurse left the area. She was rather pleased to have someone around that actually might listen to her for once, unlike the rest of her group who was always eager to get themselves in trouble. "Don't believe anything they tell you. They are trying to trick you." Her voice was serious in tone but she was trying to put a bit of care into her voice. Obviously it wasn't very easy for her but she tried anyways.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 30: Music Room (Third Shift)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject