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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[for Dean~]

The good conversations always got cut off short. Dammit. Oh, well. Maybe Reno could track that guy down later. It was definitely hella useful to have a name he could pull out as an instant cure for boredom should he ever need it.

He sat down on one of the couches and eyed the people around him casually, letting the few snippets of conversation float by without concentrating much on them.

The Bride chose the chair that would allow her to still see the green-haired man that was watching her, but focused almost all of her attention upon Skuld. The ex-assassin knew how this game worked and how to not be noticed. She'd have to see how long the man was going to watch her.

"Actually, I am familiar with alchemy," the Bride replied. "It was a dead end pseudoscience from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century where common goals were to transmute lead into gold, create the Elixir of Life as well as a universal solvent. Scientific experimentation debunked the the theories behind alchemy and it is no longer in practice, something only continued on by bygone philosophers."

Beatrix raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Despite what my education is telling me, I'm not going to say you cannot do alchemy. What I would like is for you to explain to me how you have managed to accomplish what millions of others could not accomplish over the course of hundreds of years." She would give this girl a chance. Being suddenly teleported by something that acted like a cross between a hologram and a mannequin tended to make one think a little outside the box.

"Hmm... it's somethin' like... an assignment really," he shrugged his shoulders. "For the arts n' crafts group. Just lookin' into some ideas I s'pose." He glanced up from his notebook at Usopp. He wasn't sure if the man was trying to keep him from getting it now or just really was concerned about someone getting hurt by making it.

"Mm..." he nearly purred, "M' a lil' better with a sword, I'll admit." He paused, twirling the pen in his finger for a moment, "but it sure would be useful 'round here. Could bust open some doors... maybe do some damage on the bigger monsters... an' I'm sure it'd make a pretty good distraction, ne?" Not to mention the potential fires or chaos it would cause. It seemed like a fairly nice thing to have around.

"Hm?" Kadaj looked up, visibly confused for a moment before his expression cleared. He knew perfectly well what game she meant, but he honestly hadn't expected her to speak to him. "Yes. Are you? It's fun, isn't it?"

He glanced back at the board again, but since that he had a more readily available source of entertainment, he turned away again fairly quickly. "My name's Kadaj. What's yours?"

"Mm..." she looked thoughtful for a moment, distracted from her anger by his questions. "Taller than me. I don't know how much. He was wearing white, I think. Um..."

She held a hand up to demonstrate the next part. "He had his hand over my mouth... right here. So probably... I bit him right on this part," she said, pointing to the knuckle joint of her forefinger. She tilted her head to the side curiously, "does that... help?"

"Yeah," she agreed, grinning. "I like it. And I like reading what other people have written, too."

"Kadaj," she said, repeating the strange name. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Rukia." She bowed her head in greeting, but remained curled up on the couch. "You've been here a while, haven't you?"

"Oh..." he answered quietly, his voice fading once again. It hadn't been expected, not at all. But the look in Kurogane's eyes, the intensity... Kurogane was not a man who told lies.

His eyes dropped slowly to the floor, unsure of himself, unsure of what to even do with this new knowledge. To Kurogane, he was an important person? Important... in the same way that Ashura was to him... It was almost as if his mind couldn't quite accept it. That it didn't properly fit with the rest of the logic there. But what was said, couldn't be taken back.

Yuuhi swallowed a lump in his throat, suddenly humbled and very unsure. "I... see." He wanted to ask why, for what reason could there possibly be for someone like him to be important to Kurogane? But no words came. Just a heavy feeling in his chest that wouldn't go away.

Hitsugaya jotted down a few more notes as she described the situation. "It does. Did he say anything to you? And I assume he ran after you bit his hand?"

He had not just said that! Even after the fact Kurogane could not believe that the words had come out of his mouth while he'd been caught up in his rage. But Fai's reaction was once again making things clear. He'd said it, out loud, and now he couldn't take it back.

Releasing Fai's wrist, he pulled back a little, turning his eyes away just as the other had done.

"Fai was important" was what that statement had amounted to but... did he really think that? The magician was certainly important to those kids and that manjuu, but what did Kurogane think himself? There was what he knew: Fai was an idiot that didn't listen to reason and had to be watched like he was a child! Kurogane should have given up on him a long time ago.

So why the hell hadn't he?!

"Get it now?" He tried, not about to pass up the opportunity to speak sense to Fai even if they were both in an uncomfortable situation now. He didn't get it himself, but maybe something from Kurogane's outburst had managed to penetrate Fai's thick skull.

Sora's smile widened when it turned out that Renji was waiting for him specifically. The moment the redhead moved over, the boy took a seat next to him, pulling his legs up onto the couch to cross them.

The yell caught his attention as well, but if Renji wasn't doing anything about it, then chances were that nothing was wrong. Granted, without a distraction, it meant they had to breach the topic of Nowe's visit.

"Yeah," he agreed, which he did mean. Even if talking about Nowe was going to be difficult, they needed to get it out of the way so he could stop thinking about it. "So..." He trailed off, not sure where to begin.

"Well," Rinali said after some thought. "It's close to that, but not entirely accurate. We use innocence, a special material that comes from God, which to most people might appear supernatural, and we fight an enemy called Akuma which also might appear to be beyond the natural world; however my brother thinks it's all scientific, and that some of these things are just technologies that we haven't entirely come to understand. But...what an exorcist does is binds with this substance to create anti-akuma weapons which we use to combat the Akuma...which are the weapons of the Earl of the Millenium which he is attempting to use to destroy the world."

She glanced at Allen as he pushed off Aidou's feet. She did agree that he was being a little more lax than she was accustomed and was proper, but at the same time Aidou wasn't from their time. Things changed. She shot Allen a slightly irritated glance, then glanced back to her new friend. "Allen is right, Aidou," she said with a slight smile. "If we lower ourselves on account of the situation, it's the institute that's won, not us in defying it."

... Oh, right, he was supposed to be polite. "It's nice to meet you too, Rukia," he replied, giving her a short nod back. "And yes, I've been here awhile. I think it's been two weeks now, but it's hard to tell, you know?" It still sort of bothered him that he didn't know for sure how long it had been, but at least now he had the weekly visits with Mother to help him keep track of time. Now, if only those were biweekly visits, or better yet, triweekly...

"How long have you been here?" he made himself ask, forcing away those thoughts. He'd gone over them more than enough times already and doing it again wasn't what he needed right now.

“I am not asking your group for very much, fortunately” L said casually as he continued to post messages onto the bulletin board. “I am just looking for specific information on the creatures in this institute. I would simply like a report on what creatures or beings your group is encountering each night, the number of them verses the number of patients present upon each encounter, where the encounter took place. The specifics of the area, and in the event that I notice any anomalies or have any concerns, the names of those present at the time by request so that I might ask some more specific questions.

“My payment will be in my findings. I plan to make maps detailing the areas in which they can be found, as well as provide any additional observations, should I see anything of significance. I have a lot of interest in this institute, specifically in finding gaps within their system that can be exploited. The monsters seem like the best place to start considering the fact that they are the patient’s main obstacle during the night.”

Renji leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. He didn't know where to start. He didn't really want to think about it, because it hurt, a lot. But at the same time, it gave him and Sora one more thing to fight for.

"He said that he misses you," he said, finally.

After lunch, Hikaru figured that he'd probably end up going to the Sun Room and taking a nap, or something along those lines. Sure, he and Kaoru had gotten a lot of sleep last night, but rest was decidedly lacking in this place, and he figured he'd take what he could get.

...The sight of the blonde girl who he'd seen with Tamaki clinging to Light like some sort of extremely perky limpet drove everything else out of his mind. Sneaking up on the "happy couple," he crouched low on a nearby chair, trying to watch them without being seen. God, he hoped Kaoru would hurry up.

This was just too good to pass up.

"It's... only kind of a science," Skuld began, debating how to explain. "It's also part... I guess you could call it magic. Not everyone can do it, and what works for one person might not for another. The arrays are the same, but the way a person calls the power to them can't be explained too well." She wasn't even sure how humans learned it; for her it was kind of instinctive.

She was looking at the Bride thoughtfully, and a little puzzled. What did this have to do with anything? If she didn't believe... well, Skuld didn't like that, but she was supposed to help the woman out anyway. It didn't matter if she thought alchemy was fake; she'd see later it wasn't. If she wanted proof, though, that would have to wait.

Checking in with Hughes almost always had Roy feeling better, even if all they seemed to talk about was how bad things were and how long they had been held here. It wasn't like he was in denial about their situation, after all, but just getting to talk to his friend (regardless of what they were discussing) tended to pick his mood up.

He couldn't explain it, but he figured it was one of those things that didn't require any explanation.

The last shift before dinner required him to track down a patient based on a rather limited description, so Roy had to do a good amount of searching around before he found someone who met the description. Even then, he couldn't be sure, so he was properly professional as he walked up to the seated man.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe we spoke over the bulletin board earlier today...?" He could have asked his name, but he honestly wasn't sure how to pronounce it, and he didn't need to start off this meeting by butchering the man's name.

She made a face. "I know what you mean! I think I've been here... nine days? But I'm really not sure." She rubbed her forehead, still trying to remember exactly how long it had been. "The days and nights seem to blur together after a while." She wished that she'd had the presence of mind to make note of each passing day from the beginning, but she supposed it didn't really matter that much.

She paused, a thought occurring to her. "I wonder who the first prisoners here were?" That was potentially a very morbid line of thought, though. Hopefully Kadaj wouldn't be too put off by it.

Everything felt so conflicted inside him. He should rebuke Kurogane for saying something like that, deny it, push the man as far away from himself as he could. But at the same time he wanted it. He wanted to hear it so terribly. As a child he remembered thinking so many times that he wanted to escape, even if that escape was death. Wanting to die, but once... just once... to know that someone cared about him. His wish had been granted and he couldn't even acknowledge it.

As Kurogane let go of his wrist, he drew it in tight to his chest, covering it with his other hand as though he'd been wounded. What could he do? Surely... he tried to convince himself, surely Kurogane would not have said any of those things if he knew what Yuuhi really was. But...

He could only nod slowly, staring at the ground in front of him. He was afraid to say more, afraid that his words might betray him.

Magic? The Bride wanted to scoff at that. She really, really wanted to, but If she scoffed at magic, was she scoffing at teleportation as well? If it hadn't happened to her, she would have, but... even those skilled in ninjitsu and those trained as high level assassins only made it look like one had vanished into thin air. And yet, it had happened to her the night before. If it hadn't been for her completing her sentence when she appeared in the basement, she would have assumed she'd been drugged, but... she did finish the sentence.

"Magic is a catch-all phrase for things people don't understand. Seeming to balance upon a thin branch, punch straight through several inches of hard oak, lower metabolism and breathing through intense meditation so as to appear, even to cursory checks, dead - none of that is magic and yet people believe it is," she said. How the hell does a person teleport?

"Obviously the arrays are a focal point, something I understand completely, but alchemy has to have a basic set of principles, structures, or it wouldn't work. Especially, if there are others besides you that can perform such actions." The Bride's words were carefully considered as she slid the various facts and pieces she knew around in her mind to try and form a complete picture. Preferably one that would explain teleportation to her.

"The way a person harnesses the power may be different, but the power has to be the same thing. For example, every single person capable of breaking a piece of wood with their body, be it from their forehead, to fist, to knee, may have different ways to align their energy, but the end result is still a perfect alignment of the body's energy projected in a straight, sharp path through the very object one wishes to break." She paused a moment. "Whatever is being harnessed is what I don't understand. The only thing that universal that could be 'harnessed' to exact such a change, especially as broad a change as alchemy is, would be divine energy."

Beatrix shook her head in disbelief, barely refraining from rolling her eyes. "If you believe in that sort of nonsense," she added on with a bit of a sigh. She'd been raised Christian, but after learning how to kill a man with her bare hands, she figured she was doomed to hell anyways and stopped giving two shits about God. And then the first time she killed and didn't feel anything afterwards... well, it simply didn't matter then; God probably didn't exist.

Of all the things Sora might have expected Renji to say, he hadn't prepared himself for that. (Then again, how could he really prepare himself for any of this?)

He tensed in his spot on the couch, his hands gripping his knees as he gave Renji a wide-eyed stare. "So... he remembers me?" he asked, voice a lot softer than his usual boisterous tone.

Kadaj shrugged. "I think Alex was one of them, but she's not here anymore. A lot of people aren't." Like she didn't already know that. Nine days wasn't as long as he'd been around, but it was fair to assume that she'd seen enough by now to not be surprised by that.

After a short pause, he added, "I think Roy or Hughes might know. They're part of the Cooking Group-- heard of it? If not, well, there's always asking on the bulletin. I think people would flock if you called out the first of us, though, so it might not be the best idea. You might scare them off."

Renji nodded, clasping his hands tightly together. "He remembers both of us," he said, voice uncharacteristically soft. "And... some of the stuff we did, I guess. Like talking during the day. But... he thinks the rest didn't really happen. Kept calling us those names that aren't really ours."

The nod Fai gave said a lot, and yet nothing at all, and made things all the more difficult. Understanding things on a level beyond simply knowing had never been Kurogane's strongest attribute, but he'd always convinced himself that it didn't matter. Other's problems were not supposed to be his concern; their pasts traumas... he'd never allowed for his thoughts to linger on his own, so why worry over the background of someone else?

But for Fai the past was everything, whatever his consisted of. It was something he still refused to let go of no matter how much he got yelled at for it. That refusal had flustered Kurogane to the point where the shinobi had finally exploded on him, and now it was time to sort out the resulting debris.

Kurogane grabbed a chair and slumped into it with a huff, hand pressing to his forehead. Shouting had given him a headache, or at least that's what he convinced himself was wrong. He wasn't about to admit, even to himself, that the reason he couldn't think straight was the result of what he'd just said, because he couldn't grasp his own words and make sense of them! Why had he even said that?! Why?!

He kept his red glare fixated on Fai for any other reaction. He couldn't stare at the ground all day.

Rukia nodded, very much aware that a lot of people who showed up there didn't stay around for long. Alex didn't ring a bell, but the other names definitely sounded familiar. "Roy..." she murmured. "Oh, Colonel Mustang, right? Yes, I've met him; he made an excellent weapon for me."

She shrugged. "I guess it doesn't really matter who was here first, or even here the longest, but I can definitely see people going a bit nuts over it. I certainly wouldn't want that kind of popularity." Letting out a small, somewhat embarrassed laugh, she added. "I guess I was just thinking out loud before."

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Day 31: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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