damned_institute | Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

It was rare that Homura's nurse try to persuade him to a scheduled activity, but then, it was rare that Homura didn't go. But the demi-god had plans, and the poor woman had little other choice but to leave in a huff as he once again settled himself near the bulletin board in the Sun Room.

His conversation with Kenren the previous shift had left the demi-god with a lingering sense of anxiety. Perhaps it was something only those from his own world could do, but none the less, he was all the more ready for night to begin now. Goals and memories, the truth of his past and the possibility of the future: all thoughts lingering on the forefront of his mind, more than enough motivation to move forward.

Impatience was something of a rush for an immortal, he'd discovered. Homura liked the feeling, the excitement even before he had arrived in this prison. And now while he waited, he savored it again, a yearning that shone so much brighter than the boredom of Heaven.

[Waiting for History Club Q&A time.]

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Renji nodded. "We didn't get very far into the basement last night, Thursday found some... impressions, I guess, one one of the sets of doors. One of them looks like that sword we got would go there. And she said she knows of another group that got a shield that sounds kind of similar. And would go into the door as well." He frowned. "She was supposed to talk to them today, but I haven't heard back from her yet, so I don't know if she got any results. But probably you should put me and her and maybe Max on the basement again tonight, and we can see if we can find these other people."

Sailors... interesting.

"Yes, airplanes and jets large enough for a crew of more than two usually have a navigator as one of their crew to help them stay on course and use the onboard computer systems to make sure they are in the correct airspace and don't accidentally cross the path of another aircraft," she replied.

"What kind of ship do you sail in?"

"...Wolfram. And feel free to stop calling me a kid any time now."

He shook his head slightly, sitting down and intending on listening now that... Reno, right? Now that Reno was more occupied, and Rude didn't seem to be all there. What kind of name was Rude, anyways? Maybe he could learn some more about the place since Reno seemed to have been here a while.

"Thank you," Momo said quietly, relieved the knight wasn't upset with her. She hoped she would never have to break her word like that again. Plus there was the fact that the shinigami had never really elaborated to Signum that she could track someone via their threads.

She looked back up and gave the knight a smile. "Hokuto-chan has been doing reasonably well, though she's been worried about you as well and I think Saber's disappearance hit her pretty hard. She was with me and Archer-san last night; we were on rescue duty." Speaking of rescue duty...

"Oh, your new roommate, Willow, was one of the patients taken last night. I am unsure what they did to her, but it's a lot like she has an enormous amount of reiatsu or magic and she has very little control over it. She's very much afraid of herself right now, especially since whatever is going on reacts to her emotions," Momo told the knight.

"Hokuto-chan taught her some meditation, so hopefully that will help, but if you see her with solid black eyes, be careful. it is the exterior sign that she's not completely in control..."

“Nice to meet you, Naminé-chan,” Shion told the girl happily, her eyes watching the younger girl’s every move. All she had to do was get the information out of the girl, and then she would pay.

Listening to the young girl speak did cause the teenager to freeze, surprise crossing her features. Somewhere random? And she wasn’t crazy?

… So this wasn’t another chance at living?

Shion couldn’t help but feel her mood dampen almost instantly at the thought that all of this wasn’t so she could gain another shot at life, and for a moment a frown crossed her lips. If she wasn’t dragged to this crazy place because she was being given a second chance, then … why was she here?

“I … see. All right, I believe you. is there anything else I need to know?”

Mion didn't exactly look like she did, with that strange expression on her face, but Naminé really could not blame her. Either way, she was listening, and that always was a good sign. Then, hopefully, Mion would heed her warnings about nightshift.

"Yes, there's more. You must be careful when night falls. The doors will unlock, and you'll be allowed to wander the institute at will. But, there will be monsters and other patients who will try to stop you. On the other hand, you can gather supplies or find information much easier. Keep your radio, there's someone on the other end who sends us clues and such."

Someone new, but Mion wouldn't need to know that. She probably wouldn't care too much about the sacrifices Jack made for all of them.

"I wouldn't go out alone. Actually, if you haven't met anyone yet, you can come with me and Alita tonight. Alita is a tough fighter, and we could use the company."

Monsters, at night.

… Shion could deal with that. After all, it was starting to sound like she was in hell now that she was informed. Was this a punishment instead? It appeared that way, but … so many people? So many people being punished?

… Yeah, that sounded a bit right.

Go out with the child? Shion nearly spat on the girl. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll find someone to wander around with. I mean, don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine. You go and have good luck tonight with whatever it is you’re looking for, okay?”

Shion flashed the young girl a smile for a few seconds, her grasp on the girl’s hand still tight. Lifting up her other hand, she encased the girl’s small hand within both of her own, her smile still bright and cheerful on her face as she looked down at Naminé. “Thank you for all of the information. You’ve truly been helpful to me! Thank you for all of your help.”

Leaning closer to Naminé, Shion’s smile stayed as innocent as ever for a few more seconds … before suddenly a grotesque grin crossed the girl’s face, her eyes wide. “Except, you made a terrible mistake. You’ll never be him! You’ll never be anything!”

Before Naminé could move, Shion’s free hand was grasping onto her wrist, while her other hand quickly grabbed onto the younger girl’s fingers … and instantly moved to snap them back, relentless in her strength. Her eyes, wild and glossed over, watched the blonde’s face as the soft snapping sound of fingers filled the air. “But really, thank you for what you’ve told me. You’ve been so helpful.”

And with that said, Shion stood up, releasing Naminé’s hand.

"Oh, OK. Good luck!" Naminé really didn't want Mion to do that, but since the witch herself often started out her nights like that, she was sure Mion would find someone to travel with. She seemed nice!

Seemed nice, that is, until Mion grabbed her wrist, her grip on the other girl's hand never faltering as she leaned forward. Mion's face twisted into a terrible grin as she started hissing something. She probably would have asked who "he" was, but that was before the pain set in.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The normally quiet, reserved girl felt her knees buckle right under her as she collapsed to the ground, held only by Mion. She felt the joints snap out of place, and her shrill scream probably covered up that sound, but anyone who bothered to look her way would see the girl falling forward as Mion let her hand go, whimpering slightly.

Larxene had threatened to snap her fingers numerous times, but now she finally understood how powerful that threat really was.

"It's a shame that wars always have civilian casualties," Edgeworth said, frowning. "I suppose it can't be helped, but it's still an incredible shame."

At the next question, he folded his arms, smiling a bit. "It's more likely than any kind of alchemy I could think of. And you'd be surprised what people can come up with when pressed." Now that he thought about it, it was surprising that he hadn't seen more people with makeshift weapons of sorts - pots and pans from the kitchen? The thought was as sad as it was amusing.

What was...that change? That was the kind of smile a guilty defendant with no shame would have, the kind he'd seen over and over again across courtrooms. It faded as quickly as it appeared, the words losing their harshness. Sedatives? Drugs? That wouldn't have such a transient effect... He nodded along with the first sentence, frowning again at the sudden change.

"Ah, yes - the European Union, the American Union, and what was the other you'd mentioned, the Reformation League? My, the world changed. At least the UN is still there. A peacekeeping mission of sorts, I presume?"

"It's okay, I wasn't offended," she said, trying to assure the girl who looked pretty clearly insecure, "That makes sense that there wouldn't be very many girls around here." She had to wonder what the girl might have done to merit her being held here. She'd skimmed over the bulletin briefly,(surprised by how blatant the notes were; didn't they fear getting caught plotting by the staff? Or was the staff just so complacent that they didn't care?) and her fears about the place had been confirmed; a prison and laboratory facility where heinous human experiments were conducted. In what she'd researched, military labs were a secret affair and they used prisoners and war criminals as experimental subjects. This awkward girl looked like neither. She didn't even appear capable of hitting somebody, let alone commit any sort of federal offense. She felt a seed of righteous anger. She couldn't just let this sort of thing go on.

Her serious thoughts were assuaged when the girl complimented her hair. She relaxed a bit, breathing out and smiling more comfortably,

"Thank you," She said, patting her hair and feeling a bit self conscious of its unbrushed state, "Yours is lovely too." She scooted to the side, patting the couch cushion.

"My name is Winry."

And that was as far as it went.

They wasted no time swarming around the scene, one of the orderlies grabbing Shion by both arms to hold her still as a nurse prepared a syringe in nearly record time.

"Miss Pace, that isn't the way you treat other patients," She chided as she stuck the needle in and injected the sedative.

Meanwhile another nurse had arrived as she knelt down beside the girl, holding her hand gingerly as she tried to pull her to her feet.

"Come dear, let's go and get that examined properly."

Hitsugaya took down brief notes off to the side as Renji gave his report. "A worthless shield and a worthless sword," Hitsugaya said, almost to himself. "Seems an idiotic kind of key, but since when did anything in this place make sense? Alright, I'll keep your team together, then. Let me know what you find."

Now was a good time to let Renji know who to be cautious of, as well. "Also, I don't know if you noticed, but there was another vampire attack the night before last. Either someone actually ~is~ a vampire, or they're doing a good job of imitating something like it. We don't know much, other than it's probably a male, he was wounded two days ago by a bite to the hand...which has likely since healed...and he has a white outfit of some kind. Keep aware of anyone like that. In addition, I was attacked last night by a patient who goes by the name of Anya. She's a demon of vengeance in her world, apparently, and tried to kill someone else because someone had wished it, and she grants wishes of vengeance from women around her." He felt dumb just saying it. "I have assurance from someone who knows her that it won't happen again, but be wary if you see her nevertheless."

Shion struggled in the grasp of the orderlies as they grabbed her, a feral scream escaping her lips as she tossed her head back and forth – but soon everything was growing dim, and she could feel the world spinning in front of her. Taking a deep breath, the teenager became jelly in the grasp of the orderlies, her eyes falling shut as she let out the breath in a soft sigh.

The last thing she whispered before the world went completely black was the name of her lost love.

"I'll have to talk to them both, then," Signum responded with a nod, thankful to be getting an advance warning about her roommate. Signum hadn't been her best the last and only time she'd talked to her, and if she was a potential danger to those around her there'd need to be a discussion on what Signum could do to help.

And, for her last business-question: "Do you know anything about the basement? I made it there last night but wasn't able to open any of the doors." If Momo didn't know she'd have to post an open question...

"O-OK..."

Naminé barely heard herself, still sniffling as the nurse helped her up. She couldn't move her fingers... that was the hand she drew with too. She wondered if she would be able to draw with the other hand; probably not, she never tried.

Now that Mion had been sedated though, Naminé was supposed to have felt better. But watching the girl, she could only wonder just what she said that made Mion so angry with her...

Whatever it was, it must have something to do with 'Satoshi'. The witch was left with a broken hand and that name to contemplate over as the nurse lead her away from the room.

Kagura relaxed a little when she saw how friendly the new girl was. She was happy to sit and even gave the young woman a tiny smile.

"Oh- ah, I'm Sohma Kagura. But please, just call me Kagura. It's nice to meet you, though... I'm sorry its under such unfortunate circumstances. Has anyone... told you much about this place?"

Momo shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I don't. I know Renji, Shiro-chan and Fowl-san went there the other night and I gather it was successful."

She gave the knight a small smile. "I wish I could tell you more. They haven't elaborated any of what they found to me, but then again, I have been off duty for a few nights. Last night was my first night back in command."

"Children and those who can't defend themselves. They're always the ones who are hurt most," Allelujah agreed. But Celestial Being wasn't so much better. Setsuna was still a kid, even if he'd been chosen by Veda, and Allelujah had been younger than that when he'd been taken in by them. Even Lockon, who seemed so much older at times, was still little more than a child in comparison to most soldiers.

"I suppose so. I've never even heard of alchemy. Not really." Maybe a couple of mentions in some of the books he'd read. Brief mentions in fiction so he wasn't toally clueless about it, but he'd very little idea about it beyond those few mentions. His education hadn't exactly covered things like that.

His smile faded a little when he saw Edgeworth's expression, cursing his other half. They didn't need to alienate people here! Not before they could get out. He did take the change of topic gladly though, glad to have something to hopefully distract the other man for a while. "The Human Reform League," he corrected. "China, Korea, Asian Russia, India. And most of the smaller Asian countries too. They control one of the Orbital Elevators." And that colony which made him sick to even think of. "And yes, the UN still exists. I suppose it could be called a peacekeeping mission. They united to destroy us."

The Sun Room was a little too nice to relax in sometimes; Hokuto actually fell asleep on a couch. She was glad to see it wasn't time for dinner yet, at least; while she could, she went to see who felt like chatting.

And stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Signum; She's okay! And she was talking to Momo, and looked like she was maybe even in a good mood.

Hokuto really did have a lot in common with her fukutaichou... the only warning she gave was "Signum!" right before she half-tackled her in a hug.

"Nice to meet you, Kagura," She nodded.

"I just woke up here a little bit ago. I checked some of what's on the board, and it more or less confirmed my assumptions," She looked around nervously, still unsure of whether or not she was being listened to closely. Pretending to be a mental hospital seemed a fairly strong cover for a secret prison, as few people besides government-sanctioned inspectors were ever compelled to take strong interest in their insides. There was some strange business about 'different worlds', but that would have to be dealt with later, "I've heard about places like this, and the fact that I know so much is probably why I'm here. Either that or... somebody I know might be-" She hesitated, but brushed it off. She couldn't worry about Edward right now, "Do you have any idea why they might have taken you?"

Edgeworth nodded in agreement, carefully watching for that change in expression and voice as he did. "Indeed," he said, a serious look on his face. "You see all the things on television...it's enough to make anyone want to put a stop to it."

He propped his head on one hand, thinking of how best to explain it. "Alchemy, as I understand it from history classes, is something of a forerunner to modern chemistry. However, unlike modern chemistry, it largely focused on doing the impossible - the classic example is turning lead into gold." He smirked a bit. "It fell out of favor, setting chemistry back along with it, when an overachieving alchemist promised a king a fortune and couldn't deliver."

Orbital elevator?Edgeworth raised an eyebrow, curious. "Can you explain what exactly an orbital elevator is? I assume it's used for space travel?"

That frown appeared on his face again. "It's hard to believe...the lengths that people will go to for power." He shook his head, brushing hair out of his eyes.

Renji nodded. He hoped it was something interesting, but not in the "we're all going to die" sort of way. He'd hate to wish that on Thursday, even if he figured Max would probably think it was a hell of a good time, like him.

"I didn't know," he said, "but now I do." He frowned. "We know there're people around that don't have human souls," he said. "But they're not all the same. Maybe we should start looking around at them, first." He would keep an eye out for a white outfit. Fucking impractical, considering the environment, and easy to spot. "And... right. Anya. If you say so." He found the explanation rather... odd.

"You have?" Kagura replied, a little bit surprised to hear that someone had actually heard about a place as terrible as this. Maybe she was from the world here. Or maybe her world was just as terrible? Either way it didn't sound good.

"Me?" Kagura added, looking slightly worried and hopefully not as guilty as she felt. She had her own reasons to think they might be holding her here, but she couldn't very well talk about them! "I... don't really know. I was supposed to meet my boyfriend, Kyo-kun for a date and I woke up here instead! And... and I don't even really know where here is. Its so... frustrating. I can't really think of any reason... I'm not that interesting... or I don't think I am..."

He'd seen a lot of it up close but that was too much personal information too soon. Even the Meisters had only been told out of necessity, and reluctantly at that. He'd made it too obvious that that mission was personal to not give them an explanation. "And sometimes the governments seem unwilling to even acknowledge a problem. They could have done something about so much of it." It had been truly galling when the Human Reform League had expressed their horror at the Super Soldier programme when they'd been the ones to create and fund it.

So that was alchemy? "It sounds very archaic. I think I've only seen the word used in fiction before." He shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I didn't get much chance to study history when I was young." That should explain his lack of knowledge about so many things that people took for granted. What history he did know was mostly in relation to warfare.

He bit his lip, thinking of how best to explain such a massive structure. "It's a super structure," he began. "I'm not an engineer so I don't know the fine detail about it. It's like a giant tower, I suppose, reaching from the Earth;s surface into space to hold up the solar generators that are the main source of power. There's a sort of train inside though, which takes people and cargo up to the stations in orbit and to the colonies in orbit." It was something that was so utterly everyday to him, that it seemed strange to have to explain it. They were very impressive up close though, he had to admit.

"They united for something though. Maybe that is a start."

"Uh... okay," Skuld blinked. "But taking the sinks apart isn't that hard; I did it. If you kick them enough you can just pull them apart with your hands the rest of the way."

If he couldn't make it, though, it wasn't like she'd be left idle. She could contact somebody else if she had to, and obviously they'd be very glad to get bumped up. "Any idea when you'll know if you can make it?"

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Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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