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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[[Reserved for Momo]]

Well. Signum wasn't any closer to getting any questions answered, but she couldn't complain that her meals had been boring. Their origins weren't the only strange things about the other prisoners.

But with the day wearing on she needed to concentrate on getting her orders and information on the basement, so she headed for the Sun Room and planted herself firmly in front of the bulletin board. It was here that she could learn the most.

Momo decided against the Music Room and decided to head into the Sun Room to finally get another look at the bulletin board. Because of her pointless therapy session, the shinigami hadn't gotten a chance to read it since she reported to Hitsugaya that morning.

She was thinking about Nakago and those experimentations when she started toward the board. It took her a moment to notice the tall pink-haired woman standing right in front of it, but once she did, Momo stopped right where she was.

Signum.

For a brief moment, the shinigami wondered if she was imagining her friend's return and contemplated checking the woman's spirit threads to make sure. That thought was quickly dismissed because there was no need. It was Signum. There was no doubt in her mind that the knight was right there. Momo took a few slow steps toward the woman, her mood starting to skyrocket. Elated, her pace increased and in short time she was practically running toward the knight.

"Signum!" Momo called out a moment before she reached the knight's side. The small shinigami, broad smile on her face, gave a bit of a hop and threw her arms around her friend, hugging her tight. Not once did she hesitate. Not once did she even think about the vulnerability she had when hugging another like she had once before. It didn't matter. Her friend was back and appeared to be alright. Momo was happy.

Signum turned to the footsteps and familiar voice just in time to watch, with a slightly detached feeling of confusion, as the scene pictured in the note played itself out in the flesh and Momo... jumped on her. Sort of. She managed to avoid getting her arms pinned, at least.

It looked like the note hadn't been some aberration. The psychic malaise that had gripped the shinigami for the last few days (or at least, Signum's last few days) appeared to have vanished entirely. In fact, she didn't think the young woman had been in such high spirits even when they'd first met. Theirs wasn't exactly an environment conducive to mental recoveries, but Momo appeared to have overcome her doubts completely.

She smiled her ever-so-slight smile and patted her friend's head. "I see you're back as well. Has it been long?"

Such shows of confidence aside, she had a lot of questions to ask. She didn't expect anyone to know where she'd disappeared to, when even she didn't, but how long she'd been gone and whether anything important had happened in her absence... these she needed to know.

Catching sight of the smile, Momo giggled and then grinned at the pat on her head. She gave the knight one more quick squeeze before releasing her. The fact that her friend had noticed the shinigami's change in outlook was also good as it told Momo that Signum seemed the same giving her hope that the doctors hadn't done anything terrible to her whil she was gone.

"A little over a day," Momo said, taking Signum's hand in an attempt to pull her toward the nearest couch to sit down. "It's so good to see you. I mean, I knew you were still here, but I didn't know where."

She sobered up just a little. "What happened?"

The knight shook her head as she lowered herself purposefully to the couch, hands set on her knees. "You know as much as I do. It was the same as the nights; I woke up with missing time. There was just more of it." In that sense, it wasn't such a surprise that this had happened; it was a simply a small extension of a phenomenon that was part of everyday life, such as it were, at the Institute.

"Was anything different while I was gone?" she asked. Signum was of the opinion that action was much more likely than scrutiny to be of use in fighting their captors, but it couldn't hurt during the day to see if any pattern could perceived in irregularities in their environment. "Did many other disappear?"

Sitting down on the couch, Momo thought for a moment. "There were others that had been in the riot that also suffered from whatever they had done to you as well, though not the missing part. The one shinigami involved had lost her ability to use kidou as a result." Momo wasn't sure if Rukia had recovered her kidou yet or not.

"I'm not sure how many other disappeared but... Saber is gone." Momo sighed. "Not like you were - just missing - but gone."

"Saber is?" Signum started. The other knight had been a strong ally, and someone Signum had felt a strong kinship with... which left her wondering whether their common traits had played any part in their disappearances. And, if so, what had allowed Signum to return while Saber had not. Had her resolve been less, or more? Or had they been separated by nothing so highly valued by the knight? Mere luck, for example...

She sighed. "She'll be missed." That was all she could say; she didn't know whether leaving the institute meant death or freedom, only that she had lost a warrior and respected comrade.

Momo nodded. "I hold hope that she was returned back to where she was taken from."

The shinigami looked at her friend for a long moment. "I am sorry, Signum," she began. "I broke my word to you and searched your spirit threads yesterday without your permission. I was worried and I... needed to know if you were being held elsewhere in need of rescue or gone..."

Her gaze dropped. "That is no excuse, though. Please forgive me."

"Hmph." Signum stared inscrutably at the young shinigami for a few seconds, then nodded. "You're forgiven. Under the circumstances, it was understandable." She'd discarded a far more important oath, once, for one she'd loved... she understood how they could be broken even when earnestly made, even if she wasn't sure what she thought of the idea of Momo thinking of her any way close to the way she thought of Hayate. And besides, Momo was no knight.

And speaking of not-quite-knights... "Do you know how Hokuto has been holding up?" If Saber had also been gone, she hoped the girl hadn't been going out alone...

"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..."

"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...

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."

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.

"It's fine. I'll keep ask-" she managed before spotting the onrushing Hokuto.

When, Signum wondered as the second person in as many minutes jumped at her, Did I start giving the impression that I'm someone to be touched? It had never, ever been like this before. She stood apart from the world around her, and others sensed that distance and did not attempt to cross it. Hayate was the only exception... which was suitable, because Hayate was the one thing that bound her to the world of the living.

Maybe she really had lost that aura of untouchability because she had left the world she didn't belong in for one where nobody belonged more than anyone else. Or maybe, she admitted as she caught the girl, it was only Hokuto's own stubborn friendliness that had brought this on.

"It's good to see you again, Hokuto," she said, completely deadpan.

Hokuto half-fell into the knight's lap when they collided; giggling, she managed to sit up and let go. "We were worried. People just disappear with no warning here, so when we didn't know what had happened to you..." she smiled a little and shrugged, helplessly.

"I have your sword," she remembered to add. "We moved it for safekeeping." Just in case Momo hadn't gotten around to telling her yet.

It was really good to see Signum--and nice that she had hugged her back, if only for half a second. Yes, the woman was standoffish and not inclined to touching people, probably by choice. But if it was simply habit, they'd made it clear enough that cheerful affection was welcome.

Signum shook her head, half in wry amusement at Hokuto's... enthusiasm, half in far more serious response to her words. "If I disappear, any problems I still have will be my own. I know it isn't easy, but try not to worry over such things. It isn't productive."

She nodded appreciatively when Hokuto told her about the sword. "I'll come get it first thing tonight."

"I worry anyway," Hokuto said softly. She'd never spoken of any of her friends back home to Signum, or just about anyone else, but she thought of them often. They were stressing over exams and future prospects, while Hokuto was fighting to protect the people around her, but she still worried; it might seem like they had it easier, but she still knew of too many students and workers who had thrown themselves under trains.

More brightly--she wouldn't be remotely surprised if Momo took her aside at some point and told her to just be honest with her feelings--she added, "I can bring it to you. I want to check on Willow anyway, since I haven't seen her today." And Haku, if she could, but unless she happened to run into him tonight that would have to wait until the next day. It wasn't the obligation of duty, but friendship, no matter how recently they'd met.

For that matter, so did Signum, though even for Hayate such thoughts came seldom. She had a great deal of faith in her master, and knew she was well-protected even without Signum by her side... but even the most reserved of the Guardian Knights held a fanatical level of devotion to the woman in her heart.

"That will work too," she answered. "Even though we're in different teams, we'll both be working on the same objectives so I'll be counting on you," the knight continued. Hokuto wasn't her subordinate any more so there was nothing to do but trust in her...

Well, that and tease her about it.

She grinned and gave a quick, half-joking salute. "I'll be there." And on time--and in her usual outfit, because nothing was going to stop her from changing out of the hated uniform. Besides, it wasn't exactly complicated to put on.

It seemed shallow and she knew it, but it was a morale boost for her, so that was the important part!

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Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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