damned_institute | Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

Though perhaps not entirely as successful as he wanted it to be, Homura walked away from lunch feeling satisfied with his efforts. Roland and Fai both had shown interest in the goal, and that was enough for the moment. Homura could be patient, had already been for five hundred years, and felt no harm in waiting another five hundred if he had to. He would have his goals realized, no matter what obstacles he faced, be they from the prison or those trapped within.

But now was time for business of a different sort, and the demi-god made his way to the Sun Room, near the common board. He made sure he could be seen from the entrance to the cafeteria, knowing that one stranger and one member of his own group both wanted to meet with him. It worked out well enough, especially given that the stated purpose of the History Club was simple.

Revenge and escape.

For now, Homura had no intention of revealing that it'd grown more complicated than that.

[Waiting for L and Junior]

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Kurogane seemed to be getting upset, but there wasn't a lot he could do to change that. He didn't want to talk about things right now, not until he'd sorted things out, but he didn't want to upset Kuro any further either. Usually it was lighthearted, a game, but this seemed a little more serious.

Yuuhi scrunched up his eyes again, "Can't remember~!"

"Like hell you can't..." he grumbled, but didn't get any more angered. That was all he knew he'd be getting for now. "But I mean what I said. You're not getting that file."

He wasn't quite sure what Aidou was trying to get at, if anything during their first meeting Aidou was the one who had been disrespectful, openly demanding answers and with no regard for anyone but himself! It was no wonder Allen had no respect for him in return. He raised a suspicious eyebrow at the boy, frowning at his continued lack of respect. Just because he'd been in the foul company of Master Cross, didn't mean he'd needed to lower himself to that level. He was quite happy he'd managed to stay far away from most of the vices that his master suffered from.

"It shouldn't matter," Allen pointed out, since Rinali hadn't. "You ought to at least have respect enough for a lady not to behave in such a manner. Unless you feel Miss Rinali isn't worthy of your respect?" he asked the question innocently enough, more than happy to argue whatever small point if it meant showing this little upstart that he wasn't to be trifled with.

"It's as she says, the Akuma aren't human, they don't have a will of their own. They're just puppets," he didn't want to say much more than that and was somewhat relieved when Rinali didn't mention his curse to Aidou either.

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/326670.html?thread=26581006#t26581006)]]

Kagura was a little bit wary approaching the other girl after the strange way she'd been trying to get her attention (at least she assumed the girl was trying to get her attention, she'd be a little embarrassed if it was anything else). She walked over shyly, wondering what it was the princess wanted.

"Ah... hime?" she asked, looking at the other curiously.

Kagura was hesitant to keep quiet at all about the attack, but if it meant catching the bad guy, then she'd do what she was told. She nodded her agreement, giving a brief, informal bow before she excused herself from the conversation.

[[going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/326670.html?thread=26556942#t26556942)]]

"Then perhaps we owe both owe Rinali-chan an apology," quipped Aidou, turning to Allen and addressing him seriously for one of the few times in the conversation. "Unless you mean to say suddenly putting your hands on someone else without permission is deemed acceptable where you come from. I forgive you, though." And then he turned back to Rinali with another smile and a shake of his head. "Let's forget it already. I've been taking lessons in etiquette my entire life, and it's boring after the first course. Super boring. But if you really want to see propriety in action, sit in on one of my dinner parties."

If not for Rinali's presence, he would have slapped Allen, the universal punishment for disrespect. Inwardly, Aidou was getting mad and had said enough on the subject. Boring was right. Why the hell had they been talking about mannerisms for so long? At first, he would have entertained the idea of assenting to Rinali's idea of 'proper' and dropping his feet, but by now... He had no intention of acceding to anyone over anything regarding etiquette, especially not humans.

"But," Aidou continued, acting very well-behave indeed by calmly furthering the conversation, "you said stronger ones 'appear' sentient--does that mean they can think for themselves? And the Earl you're talking about, I assume he must be, perhaps, if he's the master stringing along the puppets. So why want to annihilate everyone?" So far neither had properly answered his question, and Aidou thought it was the fundamental key to the entire explanation. At least in his experience, where the pyramid level of vampires was concerned, E classes were driven to mindless violence because they needed to feed. It was an instinct that drove all classes of vampires.

It didn't make sense to Aidou unless either person before him could say more than 'because they do'.

"Heading down?" Albel asked. "You mean the basement, fool?"

He heard the entrance to be somewhere in the kitchen, which meant most scum went through the sun room. More often than not, some tough opponent would be standing guard.

Falis was happy to see her tactic of getting Kagura's attention had worked. The girl was acting all shy and that just wouldn't do. Ah well, some girls were just like that - Milano was a prime example. Maybe it was something about never having to deal with drunken assholes in a Grandelian bar...

"Heya Kagura," she replied to the greeting. She turned sideways enough to block the nearest nurse's view with her back. She then reached for the bandage on Kagura's neck. "Let me see them," she said, her voice brooking no argument. "I'll be able to confirm if it was a vampire and get to work on hunting it down."

"My dreams are the same as always, I think." Though the dream of sakura was always clearer now, than it had been when he was still under Seishirou's spell of forgetting. And the added element of Hokuto's death... well, that was a year old already, and familiar as the rest of it, by now.

"It might never go back, to be honest. With most of the vegetation dead and gone, and with no seed stores... the environment may never recover." It was a melancholy thought. His home world may never be lush and green again; for all the science and power man had thought they'd wrested from God, He'd just turned around and slapped them down into a prehistoric age. Just in time for the asuras to get caught in the crossfire.

...now there were only three, and Fred was all alone. Though he didn't want to admit it, that thought tethered him where he was. He wanted Greg alive, but Fred needed his own life as well. So what course could he take?

"My room's M40; if I'm not taken, I'll leave a note behind so you won't have to worry about it. If I am, then... I don't expect you to fight against Indra. Just to explain the situation with Hitsugaya. And above all, not to reveal who you really are." He looked at Argilla with a concerned, conflicted look on his face. He knew that she could generally handle herself, but like the other members of Embryon- save Gale- she was rash and impulsive. If she took on Indra, she'd be eaten, it was that simple. And he didn't want to risk her identity becoming obvious, even if she went with Hitsugaya. On the other hand, if he stood the shinigami up, then the chances for an alliance would plummet.

A difficult decision to make. That was the reason he didn't describe the shinigami. Not yet. Not until he'd made up his mind on all those small particulars.

Diva smacked the offending hand away, staring up from under ruffled bangs. All the excitement had mussed her long hair somewhat. "Don't touch me," came the clipped remark, as she half-turned away again. Not often did she have the desire to comply with others.

Whatever happened, however much they weakened her, she could at least kill one man who got on her nerves. And given the flow of time, where she stood to surpass eternity, the Chiropteran knew she'd win no matter how long it took, or deaths she had to rack up over the years.

... No, Light definitely wasn't thinking the same thing she was. He could guess what was going through Misa's mind, though, and he was just beginning to wonder why none of the nurses or orderlies were showing up to separate them when a familiar voice penetrated the "romantic" atmosphere surrounding the pair.

Hikaru couldn't have had better timing.

Jerking his head around to face the twins, Light gave the pair a half-irritated, half-embarrassed look before glancing down to see what Misa's reaction to all of this was. She couldn't be happy about the interruption, and while that in and of itself didn't particularly bother him, if she threw a tantrum because their time together had been "ruined," he didn't want to have to deal with it. He wouldn't be the target of her anger, yes, but unless he could leave the room or go temporarily deaf, he wouldn't be immune to her whining.

"... Misa, this is Hitachiin Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun. Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun, this is Amane Misa, my girlfriend." That should probably keep them happy for now, but Light wasn't naive enough to think that it would make what was destined to be one of his more awkward conversations in this place anymore enjoyable.

Nothing was for certain, but what Renji said was enough to convince Sora that they had to try against all odds. It was a lot easier knowing the Renji would be right there with him - Sora just didn't do well on his own.

"Yeah, there's gotta be a way. Something... sort of like this happened to my best friend, and I ended up spending a whole year searching for him, but I did find him in the end, and things turned out all right." This would too. There simply wasn't any other option, and Sora wasn't going to allow any to enter his mind.

Renji nodded, then looked at Sora and gave him a smile that was full of confidence. "We'll find him. I promised. And I know you would've too, if you'd been there." His confidence had been wavering, but Sora had shored it up; his positive attitude always made every situation seem less desperate. Renji was used to fighting when there was no hope ahead, but it was a thousand times better when there was hope.

He nodded again. "We'll do it no matter what."

It seemed that all of a sudden he had a whole lot of explaining to do, and for that reason he ended up turning toward one of the nearby Sun Room sofas so that he could take a seat. Both of the other men seemed polite almost to a fault, so he could only hope that would take the hint and seat themselves as well.

Turning to Armand, he figured he would answer him first. This meeting was originally with him, after all, and while he didn't mind Edgeworth's presence, he had to keep his priorities in order, especially with a potential recruit.

"Well, as you can imagine, it's not as if I can be picky. I'm usually willing to let whoever wants to help join in, but I will take whatever skills you have into account when giving you an assignment. I can't say there are any tasks that are completely danger-free, but some missions are certainly harder than others."

That seemed like a brief enough explanation. He didn't have hope that Armand was a skilled fighter of any sort (he could tell that just by looking at him), but hopefully he would have some amount of expertise to contribute.

Turning to Edgeworth, he raised an eyebrow, not sure if the man was using some coded talk that he wasn't privy to. "You mean materials for a weapon?" he inquired, careful enough to keep his voice low. "I do recall having your name on my list, if that's what you mean."

"Yeah, it is." Of course he knew. Kadaj wished he didn't, but there it was. Wasn't Landel's such a wonderful place?

He went quiet again at what she said about Kaien, bowing his head for a moment and suddenly seeming very intent on the blue rug in the center of the room. "... I don't know how they make them believe," he said, brow furrowing. "I think it is them, but--" He broke off, eyes shifting to the other side. "If it wasn't Mother, I don't know where I'll go when this is over." And if it wasn't Mother, did that mean she was out of his reach forever? No, it had to be her. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

It seemed like they were just picking each other up - at Renji's smile, Sora returned with one that was even brighter. He wasn't sure what it was, but having support from a friend made it possible for him to handle any situation, no matter how bleak it might seem. He wasn't about to question it, since it was usually the way he got through all of those hard times, and he was just glad to have someone like Renji around to make sure that he didn't start losing his grip.

"Yeah, definitely," he agreed, reaching forward to clap his hand on Renji's shoulder. It was a little awkward because he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but he had to express some outward sign of camaraderie between them -- and a hug just didn't seem like it would fit in this context.

He looked so sad; Rukia was sorry for having let the conversation move in the direction it had. "Sorry," she said quietly, then with more energy, "You're right, though. No sense in us talking about this!" It was unproductive at best, and even though she looked young, it was Rukia's part as one of the adults to keep the kids' spirits up. She didn't like kids as much as Renji did, but she still remembered what it was like to be one, and how sometimes all she had wanted was someone to tell her it would be all right.

"Besides, we'll all get out of here. With so many people working together, it's just a matter of time before we find the cracks in the walls, so to speak. We'll destroy this place, and then you'll see your mother and friends again."

Leaning forward, she lowered her voice conspiratorially, "I know some people have been to the basement. Have you?"

Renji grinned, though the expression was still kind of sober. "I think... don't be surprised. If he comes back next week and sees you. He said that he might. I'd hate to see you get as surprised as I was." It was harder to deal with, that way, and he didn't want to think about Sora getting that kind of shock. Though it sounded like he'd probably already gotten just that, in a different situation. "He was sad when he had to go. That's got to be good, that he still wants us around."

Armand sat down again, though now he had to keep his hands in sight, which bothered him. He had no idea what to do with them, so he crossed his ankles, which felt awkward with bare ankles in the annoyingly flimsy slippers the Institute provided them, and rested his elbows on his knees. When Mustant explained, he waited even past when the man turned to Edgeworth before he realized that was all of it. So simple. He caught himself before his jaw fell open.

"That's it?" he finally asked. "I have two men I usually spend the nights with, but we seem without direction. I'd like to feel as if I were working to some purpose. I don't feel I should abandon them every night, though." But he felt he had become a liability to them. Not something he wished to explain. "I meant to try to speak to you days ago, and kept putting it off."

As for his skills, he had no idea what he could offer. "I was studying the law before the revolution, and after that I had very few opportunities to do anything very useful for anyone, including myself. I can follow orders." He didn't always do so, and that was the source of his nervousness at the moment, but he still could not imagine the kind of pressure he'd been under last winter duplicating itself at this Godforsaken institute. "I'm small, stronger than I look and clever with my hands. And I can be taught."

"I feel tis only fair to explain that there are many modern devices and concepts I still don't understand." Like how to restore the fuel source to his portable light, or even if he'll have some kind of light tonight, having lost it in the battle.

Kadaj gave her a grateful smile. Maybe she wasn't so bad after all? He'd been beginning to have his doubts, but she seemed all right now. That was a relief. "You're right; it's only a matter of time now. They'll pay for everything they've done."

Time to talk about something different, though. The basement wasn't quite what he'd been thinking of, but now that she mentioned it... "No, actually," he whispered back, unconsciously imitating her. "I've been busy. Why? Have you? What's it like down there?" He'd need to bother Roy about it later if he was really missing out. After how dull last night had been, a little excitement would go a long way, and a lot of excitement would be positively miraculous. Wasn't that how it worked?

"If it's babysitting to keep your teammates from killing themselves, no wonder you cared enough to ditch them five or six times," Schuldig observed, rolling his eyes. "As if you have any room to talk about being a liability, with your tendency to just abandon the rest of your team at random intervals - there isn't one of you in Weiss who hasn't nearly gotten the rest killed somehow, or thought of just leaving the others behind to go off on his own, and you've always been the worst of the lot." He extended a few fingers, dagger-like, in Aya's direction. "And, for the record, saying 'well, whether he lives or dies, I won't interfere' means that you've washed your hands of any responsibility as to his life and whether or not it continues, particularly when I've made it perfectly clear to you that he will die without someone's intervention. How do you define giving up on someone? Are you giving yourself points for being a devoted friend because you haven't actually quit Weiss and walked off soulfully into the horizon this time?"

The telepath eased himself up off the couch. "I don't know why I expected help from you, when your primary skill beyond hitting things with swords is walking away from problems and letting other people deal with them, but thanks for nothing all the same. I liked my Weiss better."

"Eep!" The appearance of the twins startled Misa and she spun around in her seat, clutching at her heart dramatically. They'd been all alone just a moment ago! Wah!

Be nice, Misa. They obviously know Light...

"O-Oh, hello!" Clutching at Light tighter and actually tugging at his arm to pull him closer, Misa tried her best to keep the irritation off her face with a respectful enough nod-bow. "It's very nice to meet the two of you!"

They were so well coordinated, though! They way they mirrored one another, it was almost like they were performing. Annoyed as she was, she couldn't help but blink up at them in curiosity. "Did you just say Tamaki? OH! Are you the twins from his court?"

"No," she pouted, "I haven't. I heard there are stairs leading down to it, and, well..." She made a face, gesturing to the wheelchair next to where she was sitting on the couch, as well as the mass of bandages on her foot and knee.

"But I should be able to get around all right tomorrow night, so maybe my Captain will assign me to one of the teams going down there." She hadn't had much luck on the second floor, so maybe the basement would prove more promising.

Fortunately was right, especially if this stranger already knew Homura's tendency towards what was self-serving. It certainly wouldn't be hard to figure out, since the demi-god was very open about it. And it did seem like little to ask for, on the surface. But Homura was well acquainted with the type who could take advantage of any small detail, any opening in a defense. It was how he himself fought, after all.

"I couldn't promise you names. Some members of my group value their anonymity." Okita and Hijikata in particular; Homura doubted either swordsman would be happy if the demi-god gave out their names to some random stranger whose name Homura didn't even know.

"I am curious, however. Just why are you being so secretive about this?" It seemed like such a small thing to Homura, a simple request that could have been made anonymously on the bulletin with as much effectiveness. There had to be some reason for these extra steps, and Homura doubted it was just because of the staff. Considering how open the clubs themselves were with their goals, the idea seemed a rather silly thing to take such precautions over.

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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