damned_institute | NIGHTSHIFT 33: F11-F20 HALLWAY

Signum frowned; first in concentration as she searched her normally-clear memory for any recollection of Raine, then at her question. She knew her, alright... "She created me. At least as I am now."

The expression was replaced by a sly smile of her own at Momo's comment. "Then feel free to make whatever use of me you wish," she responded, serious voice and bowed head serving to obscure the telltale smirk. Mostly.

Raine nearly fell over; she'd never learned much about Reinforce, but THAT was unexpected. "What do you mean?"

She was reasonably certain her much-missed friend wasn't a goddess, she would have said so... still, Raine supposed it was possible Signum was something like a Summon Spirit. Reinforce had specifically said she wasn't, but that didn't rule out her creating one.

Momo's head shot up and she blinked her eyes, looking at Signum. Her hands stilled in their motions as she stared at the knight.

Did she just... say what I think she did?

"..." The shinigami barely caught sight of the smirk on Signum's face.

Oh my-- She DID!

Momo's face flushed bright red at the nature of Signum's teasing and she quickly busied herself cleaning the sword. She made a point to not look up and see what Signum's reaction to the small localized sun her face had turned into. She hadn't expected that from the knight at all...

That was the problem with Signum; in whole she was strongly devoted to high-minded ideals like honorable conduct, civil service, and personal devotion and derived from these her sense of personal fulfillment... but when she did decide to actively entertain herself, it was usually at someone else's expense.

"I was part of her," Signum answered Raine, leaving Momo with her thoughts for the moment. She'd come back when the time was right. "A component to guard her master and watch over her while she sleeps."

Part of her? Raine found that very interesting, but friendship still had priority over academia. "Does that mean you have a connection with her? I was told she's gone, but... it was by a nurse."

There was almost no hope and she knew it, but she had to ask. Once she'd gotten close to someone, she had a hard time letting go.

The dayglow shinigami finally stopped illuminating the room, pleased with herself for not making eye contact with Signum and possibly getting more teasing sent her way. It was... oddly refreshing, if a bit embarrassing, to see Signum's sense of humor. Momo smiled softly as she finished cleaning the blade.

Her eyes moved to her two friends as they conversed, finding the topic and information interesting, but opted to keep it between the two of them. She was curious how Signum would react, hearing that Reinforce was gone, and how she would answer Raine's question. Momo knew from her experience with Signum's spirit threads that she held no spiritual connection to another, not like both Saber and Archer once had, but she knew there was a lot more to the knight than she could even guess at.

The shinigami slid the broken blade into her belt and moved back over to her own desk. She moved the various pieces of paper off her stained journal, each containing a drawing in a different state of completion, and turned to a fresh page. Sitting back in the chair, she put pencil to paper and began to draw, eyes flickering between the page and the half-elf.

Even so qualified, Raine's words stopped Signum cold, and she turned a disbelieving stare on the half-elf.

"She's gone? They said that?" she asked, suddenly advancing on the woman. "For how long?" Her tone wasn't quite threatening, but it had a rare intensity to it. Not many things were urgent to the immortal knight, but this clearly was.

"I'm not certain." It hurt to talk about, but Raine didn't look away; it sounded like Signum was closer to Reinforce than Raine ever could have been. "I last saw her three nights ago; we were preparing to face down Kratos, who happened to be on Special Counseling, and I don't know why she left, or where to." Though technically it would have been very difficult for Rein to run for the stairs without Raine noticing.

"I didn't ask where she'd gone until dinner the next night, when I was told she was sick, in the hospital wing. When I asked again later, I was told she was--gone." It took a lot of willpower to keep her voice even as steady as it was, but it wasn't as if she didn't have practice.

Momo paused, watching Signum a moment, before putting her pencil down. She reached over and gave the half-elf's arms a small squeeze of comfort. Well, as much of a squeeze as her cast let her.

The shinigami's eyes found Signum again as she did a few calculations in her head. "That's the same time they took you, Signum-kun," she said quietly.

From all she'd been able to gather, Reinforce was the only other one from Signum's world at the institute. To take both of them at the same time and then return just the knight, only to take her again for Special Counseling the very next night... Momo couldn't even guess at the possible intentions of Martin Landel. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Signum didn't even notice Raine's discomfort; the revelation was making her head spin. It really shouldn't have- the Book had been brought here, after all. That was proof enough that on some level even it could be manipulated by their captors, and she thought she'd fully accepted her creed of action without regard for the seemingly unlimited powers they possessed. Worse than this fresh reminder of their enemies' capabilities, though, was the thought that they hadn't simply spirited Reinforce away, dismissed her from their plans or turned her into the sane human they claimed to be trying to produce. If they'd taken control of the Book... or, even worse yet, done a poor job of it, or killed her...

Those would turn Signum's nagging little fear into terrifying reality.

"I... I see," the knight said, once again seeming to drift from there here and now. "Thank you for telling me."

Raine frowned a little, looking at Signum closely; she wasn't entirely sure if the reaction was grief, fear, or something else. However, this wasn't a good time to ask. "Just ask me if there's anything else you need to know." In return, she might do the same.

Then again, she might not. If Reinforce was anything like, for example, Mithos... she didn't think she'd want to know.

Remembering that Momo had asked her a question, she turned and said, "Being accompanied at least most of the way would be a good idea. I don't like the idea of having to waste my last spell on defending myself if I'm attacked." She had a feeling that somehow or other, she didn't need to mention her overall lack of physical fighting skill.

The shinigami's eyes did not leave Signum as she responded to Raine. "Please sit then, Sage-sensei. We will leave as soon as Kratos-san arrives."

Momo continued to watch Signum a moment longer before looking back to the sketch before her. She'd been right earlier; the knight was afraid. The shinigami furrowed her brow as she wished there was something she could do to alleviate her friend's fears and, yet, she knew there wasn't anything she could do. That bothered her - bothered her a lot.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/407981.html?thread=32382637#t32382637)]

Kratos counted the room numbers under his breath as he walked down the hall. 14...13...12- there! He stopped in front of the door to Momo's room. It had taken him a while, but he had made it- and intact as well.

Stabbing Tamaki's sword into the ground, he reached up with his free hand and knocked thrice. "It's Kratos."

Signum took it upon herself to open the door when Kratos knocked; she was already standing, and more importantly the best-armed of the current occupants. Besides, any opportunity for distraction was welcome. Or re-attraction, in this case, since her problem lie in the loss of her normally steady focus on immediate problems and their solutions.

Kratos' sword, at least, was a welcome sight with Momo now mostly disarmed. The man himself... well, she'd see. The knight took a half-step back into the room, waiting for her companions to confirm the visitor's identity before she relaxed her guard any further.

And it seemed it was time to get moving. "Kratos," Raine said, nodding to him, partly for Signum's benefit in case they hadn't met.

Even if they had, she doubted they'd talked... Signum so far seemed like the quiet type, and Kratos definitely wasn't much for conversation.

She was glad to see he'd gotten Tamaki's sword, but also a little apprehensive about it. She had no idea who was in the clinic at the moment and didn't like leaving Tamaki alone too long, especially unarmed; she'd never heard of anyone hostile coming in, but it could certainly happen.

"Is this everyone?" she asked Momo. She had little doubt they all wanted to get on their way as soon as possible too, the group probably even more than Raine; M35 wasn't all that far, and as a healer, people came to her. For groups that were trying to explore various locations, time was of the essence.

Momo got up at the sound of the knock and, upon seeing the man on the other side, she put her hand lightly on Signum's arm to indicate all was well. Well, as well as it could ever be in this place.

"Kratos-san," the shinigami greeted with a warm smile and a gesture inside, quite happy to see that the man had a sword though she would have pegged him for using something other than a slender blade. "Come in. We're just about to leave. We will be escorting Sage-sensei partway to the clinic before continuing on our mission."

The shinigami returned to her desk and started gathering up the papers once the door had been closed behind Kratos. "Sage-sensei, what you are about to hear is privileged information that you must keep to yourself as I must brief Signum." She met the half-elf's eyes to make sure that was understood.

Momo tucked the journal into the back of her hakama and then picked up the key she'd gotten from Mustang. "Our mission tonight, Signum-kun, is to exit the building through the front door and then test the strength of the main gate you encountered after Doyleton. Should we find it possible, we are to continue on in search of further aide. The tricky part is getting through the front door, but I have acquired the key that unlocks it."

She held up the key before pocketing it. "The last time we tried to get through the front door using this, my first night here, the immediate outside was guarded by a very large winged lion-like creature that defeated four patients, one of which being shinigami, though she is the weakest of us here. At the time, only one was armed and the rest had minimal magic and the night ended just as I was engaging it in combat."

Momo knew she didn't have to tell Signum that this night was going to be very dangerous. "I hand-selected this team for a reason." Her face flushed a little. "Ummm... aside from the giant bird thing..." She shook herself.

"Questions? If not, let's move."

Kratos took the invitation, pulling the sword out of the ground and entering the room. "Miss Sage," he said, inclining his head slightly toward the Professor before moving on to the woman who'd opened the door. "And you must be Signum." Momo had described her as a very strong knight when they had talked in the Sun Room; he would trust the smaller woman's judgment.

He found it somewhat of a relief that they were escorting Raine: it meant that she would be safe for at least half of the journey, and Tamaki especially needed her to arrive unhurt. The boy was swordless now, and Kratos had left him with only one other boy, who, admittedly, didn't look like a fighter. Ironically enough, he had never bothered to think of what could happen in the clinic when neither he nor Raine were there before last night.

"I am," the knight acknowledged, moving back into the room to let the newcomer in and turning to listen to Momo's briefing.

What she got was a reminder of exactly why belonging to an organization like this was good for more than just camaraderie. A critical mission to attempt a breakout, the resources to enable it, and even something passingly resembling intelligence, though she held no illusions that Momo's gryphon would necessarily be there to greet them. And Signum as the vanguard, where she belonged. It wasn't enough to take her mind entirely off the disturbing news of the Book's disappearance, but it certainly helped. She wondered why there hadn't been more attempts at this, if they'd had the key even when Momo first arrived, but this was certainly the right night to start trying again if the increasingly chaotic messages from the radio were to be believed.

Time to see just how far they'd be allowed to go...

But first there was something she needed to clear up. "How do we relate to the birds?"

Raine frowned slightly; were these the birds she was thinking of, from the night after the field trip? If so... well, choosing this team had to have been awkward. At least Kratos could leave his answer at "I've been married," and Signum had (she guessed) lived long enough so there probably hadn't been much point in actually asking her much.

Except... hadn't Reinforce somewhat implied they didn't have the most normal lives?

"Oh... ummm..." Momo's face flushed a little. "The giant birds that nest on the roof, they... seem to like to target... ummm... those that haven't..." Why was this always an embarassing subject to talk about? They were all adults; this shouldn't be this awkward.

Momo gave Signum a small smile, her face still quite pink as she picked at the cast on her arm. "They feed on... pure flesh, so I had to ask... some... personal questions when forming team."

"And having a small fight with Shiro-chan in the process," she mumbled.

Kratos sighed, running a hand through his hair. He remembered Momo fumbling through this particular subject back in the Sun Room; he had made it a point not to flush when he answered. Granted, it was an important question: fending off giant birds in addition to a large lion-like creature did not sound appealing at all.

He glanced at the door briefly. Hopefully this was the only question.

"You didn't ask me." Signum said flatly. So... what. The shinigami had assumed that, having been physically nineteen for a few millenia, Signum had doubtless found time for a few romantic interludes between battles? And her obvious discomfort with the subject had prevented her from checking? But in this case it looked like being wrong on that little detail was going to matter. Hopefully the unwarranted assumption wouldn't ruin the whole plan...

"Hinamori," she sighed, "I'm far from pure, but so far as I can remember sex has had nothing to do with that." At the very least she was sure about this last life, and her time in this particular iteration of her body. If that made any difference.

This could certainly be a problem; still, Raine couldn't exactly blame Momo for the fairly reasonable assumption. Honestly, I might have done the same. Having become jaded enough to swear off of... that sort of thing at the tender age of seventeen, she did tend to assume most people over the age of twenty had at least--experimented. Though she supposed it depended on one's culture; some of the books she'd picked up implied that even mild romantic contact was restricted in some places.

She said nothing for the moment; Signum was the only person in the group she wasn't familiar with, so she didn't exactly have much in the way of suggestions. If she had to stay out of the mission entirely, Raine would ask if she wanted to come to the clinic, but until then she'd just listen.

...and it seemed Momo's day of awkward conversations was destined to continue.

The shinigami stared at Signum for a moment, eyes widened in surprise, before she speaking. "Oh... Really? I thought-- But you're five thous-- And you're so very pretty and..." Her mind finally caught up to her mouth, stopping her sudden verbal diarrhea, causing her face flushing again.

"I... didn't think to ask," she said, dropping her eyes briefly before looking back up. "Lunch was also a bit more focused on last night than this night. I'm sorry." And she was. It'd never crossed her mind that Signum could possibly be a virgin given how old she was and, well, any guy Momo knew (other than Hitsugaya) would have at least made an attempt at the beautiful knight. And now Hokuto thinks Signum's had sex and... it was probably better that the girl continue believing that.

"Even if I had known before choosing this team, Signum-kun, I would still have you as my second. You know the layout of the area beyond the doors better than anyone in Arts & Crafts, and--" The batteries on her flashlight took that moment to die, causing the light to flicker once and then cut off, plunging the room into darkness. Momo's unfinished sentence ended with a heavy sigh. "Just a second, I've got more..."

The shinigami moved back over to her desk in the darkness, easy to do since she'd been standing right next to it, and took the spare batteries from her desk. Replacing the old batteries with the new, the flashlight was restored to working condition and the room illuminated once more. The dark did do one thing - it allowed the shinigami to stop blushing.

She looked at Signum and gave her an impish smile. "And you're you," she finished the hanging sentence. "You can handle a couple giant birds trying to eat you. At least we know who the giant birds will be targeting if the assessment of their hunting habits is correct, and I've figured out a very effective tactic for fighting them. Nothing about our mission has changed."

Kratos raised an eyebrow at Momo's words. Five thousand? Had he heard correctly? Signum was... older than him? (To tell the truth, it was fairly refreshing to know that he was not in fact the oldest being in the institute.) And she hadn't...that. It wasn't shocking, no; from his years before Cruxis in Tethe'alla he could recall knights who had dedicated themselves to only their duty for life. They were far and few, true, but still they were there.

Staying celibate over thousands of years was nothing new as well: he'd sworn off of relationships when he'd become a seraph-- at least, until Anna, which had still been after some four thousand years.

"Anything else we need to clear up?" The topic of the birds seemed to be exhausted, and Kratos wanted to get rid of the nagging anxiety he still had about Tamaki and the clinic as soon as possible.

NIGHTSHIFT 33: F11-F20 HALLWAY

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