damned_institute | Day 34: Breakfast

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Day 34: Breakfast

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

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Ururu felt a little worse for not eating when Brook pointed it out, especially since she knew her friends weren't doing so well. She would have to eat to keep up what strength she had, even if it wasn't good enough. She took much smaller bites than the tall man, and she didn't speak with her mouth full, but now that Brook had given his name, Ururu would of course do the same.

"It's nice to meet you too, Brook-san." He was like a very tall Jinta-kun, she decided. Except he wasn't pulling her pigtails or scowling. Still, they were alike, and that helped. "My name is Ururu."

Brook would have laughed out loud (and likely sprayed bits of food in doing so) to hear that he was being compared with a child the same age as the one in front of him. He'd been called worse, but it amused him when people made comparisons like that.

Instead he gulped down his first bite of food and with an empty mouth complimented, "That's such a lovely name, Ururu-san! Someone with such a pretty name shouldn't be looking so sad though! Yohoho! At least not so early in the morning!"

Ururu was glad that Brook liked her name, even if it didn't make her happy in the bigger picture. She shook her head, carefully chewing a bite of pancake before she spoke.

"My friends are hurt." The birds had gotten all of them; Ururu could remember that, even if she couldn't remember anything else. She looked down, squeezing her fork tightly in her hand. "I wasn't strong enough to protect them." Ururu knew it wasn't her fault, but she still felt guilty all the same.

When she mentioned friends and them being hurt, Brook immediately knew the reason for her melancholy and in response toned himself down a bit. "Oh my, how terrible..." he said with a cool look, smile momentarily fading.

Being worried over one's friends was enough to make anyone act as Ururu currently was. Worse still was that she somehow felt guilty over her friends being hurt because she wasn't strong enough. So young and yet she was already thinking in that way. It was sweet in a way, and yet terribly sad for someone like Brook who'd seen all his friends die before his eyes. He knew what it was like to feel so useless, but this girl... even if she had seen similar - and he truly hoped that she had not and never would have to see such a sight - couldn't beat herself up like this! After all, what was someone so young supposed to do where fighting was concerned? No, she was supposed to have a much more important job!

"If you tried, then that's what counts, isn't it?" he continued, moving a hand across the table and nudging her much smaller one that she had squeezing her utensil. "And they must be glad that you didn't get hurt yourself. I know that if I knew someone like you, I'd be jumping out of my skin to find out that they'd been hurt! Yohohoho!" he laughed, trying to bring things back to a more positive note, "And besides that, it's not your job to fight. You're supposed to be there cheering everyone on with a smile!"

Brook's age may have been showing right along with the stereotypes, but he'd never been one for discretion.

Brook had some very strange ideas. Ururu shook her head slowly, thinking that maybe he didn't understand. A lot of people saw that she was little, and that she was a girl, and didn't believe her when she said she was strong. But Ururu knew the truth, and she knew that she'd do her best to fight, no matter what anyone else said or thought. Fighting was something she was good at, maybe the thing she was best at. She wasn't very smart like Kisuke-san, and she wasn't good with kidou like Tessai-san. She was good at games, but Jinta-kun liked to say he was better, even if he wasn't.

But Ururu knew she was good at fighting. And she knew that's what she would do.

"I have to fight. I have to protect my friends." For her, it was as simple as that. And that was why it felt so bad not to be as strong as she should be. It made it harder to fight, and harder to protect. She took another bite, then after a few moments of thoughtful chewing, looked up at the tall man next to her.

"But what if I try and I can't protect them, and they get hurt? I don't think that's okay."

"Hmmmm..." My, this young lady was the stubborn one. Brook tilted his head in thought a bit before finding what he was looking to say, "But if you get hurt trying to help them, then that would make them very, very sad. And you see, even if it's unintentional, making them sad is also hurting them. You don't want them feeling bad because you got hurt helping them, do you?"

Of course it did work in the reverse, but there was no helping a vicious cycle. Hopefully she wouldn't question that, but she seemed to be a bright girl, so it was possible she would.

It was indeed possible, and Ururu didn't reply as she tried to work out the logic in her head. If helping them hurt her, then helping them hurt them. But if Ururu didn't help them, then they would get hurt, and then she would get hurt, and then they would be hurt, and that didn't seem at all good either. So did that mean that no matter what she did, she hurt her friends?

Ururu didn't like that thought. It was a bad thought, one that wouldn't go away when she thought it. No matter what, she couldn't help. No matter what she did.

No matter...what...

Ururu began to shake a little. She also began to cry, large tears sliding down her cheeks as she sniffled, and whispered that very bad thought. "I-I can't help them." Saying it didn't help though. It made the thought solid, more real, and yet Ururu said it again as she began to cry harder. She was trying her very best, but she was only hurting her friends, wasn't she? And now Ururu didn't know what to do, if she should keep fighting, or if she should not fight, because no matter what, it wouldn't do any good.

She couldn't help the people she cared for. She couldn't protect them. And that was the worst thing.

He'd watched her carefully to see if she'd understood, but when her response showed something other than a thoughtful smile and a spoken "I guess you're right", Brook couldn't help but be shocked. Even more so when the exact reverse happened! "Eh? Ururu-sa--? Aaah! Tears!" His eyes widened at the big tears and puppy dog eyes. Holding up both hands, he did little less than flail in her direction. "No no no, don't cry! I didn't want to make you cry! Really! It's all right...!"

What had he done?! He'd come over intending to cheer her up, but instead he'd made her cry! How dare he! What kind of a Rumbar Pirate would ever make a child shed tears?!

He had to fix this-- right this terrible wrong he'd committed any way possible! And what better way than with a song?! He had no instrument to play a tune on, but that had never stopped him before (maybe because he'd never had to do without). It didn't take him long to pick a song from his list of many, and he began singing softly to her.

Today is the tomorrow you were so worried about
Looking over your yesterday
The clouds are gone and the sun is out
And everything has worked out you'll be okay

Tomorrow robins will sing, tomorrow robins will sing
It really is no big thing, cause tomorrow robins will sing
Tomorrow blue jays will fly, the weather forecasts clear skies
So dry those tears from your eyes, cause tomorrow blue jays will fly

Brook's flailing didn't quite make it through to Ururu, though the song seemed to have a much more soothing effect. The little girl thought it was pretty, and she wiped her eyes as she listened to the words.

"I'm sorry Brook-san." Ururu's tears hadn't stopped coming, but they were lessening by the time the tall man finished his song. "I just want to help my friends and make sure they're safe. Back home I'm really strong, but here I'm not." Not at all, but Ururu tried her best anyway.

Songs were wonderful comforts, but they could only do so much without the accompaniment. Still, she seemed to be crying less, which was good, but he still hadn't gotten her to feel completely better. Poor thing. "There's no need to apologize! If anything I should be apologizing for having upset you, even though that was not my intent!"

Now that he wasn't panicking over having made a little girl cry, Brook finally thought to offer her something to dry those tears. Her hands wouldn't stay dry forever! He took up a napkin and offered it to her. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to help your friends or wishing for their safety. Not one little thing. But there's no need to feel responsible if they do end up getting hurt. You didn't hurt them, now did you? Of course not! So there's nothing to be upset over! Yohohoho!"

Ururu took the napkin Brook so nicely offered, using it to wipe the last of her tears from her eyes. What he was saying then made sense too, that Ururu wasn't the one who hurt her friends. But still, she felt bad for it, because it still felt like she was doing things wrong.

"They're really nice. They don't get mad at me when they get hurt." No, the only one who got upset at Ururu here was Ururu, it seemed. Maybe Brook was right about it being okay to not feel so guilty. She would have to try harder not to, especially if feeling guilty made other people worry like it had Brook. "Thank you for trying to help me, Brook-san. That was very nice of you."

Ururu set down the napkin carefully, then looked up at the tall man. "Do you have friends here? It's really dangerous to travel at night, especially if you're alone." If he didn't have friends, Ururu would invite him along with her friends. She was sure they wouldn't mind.

"Well, they wouldn't be very good friends if they did!" Brook was happy that she was finally calming down. If he couldn't bring a bright smile to her face, then a tearless face was better than a sad one any day!

When she thanked him, he held up a hand. "No no, no thanks needed! I'm the one that made you so upset, after all! And for that I an sorry," he apologized, bowing his head to her as when they'd first met. Even if he was still working on his manners in certain areas, he was still ~~self~~ called The Gentlemen Skeleton, and he could be decent whenever needed!

His head came back up at the mention of friends. "Oh yes, I have lots! There's Luffy-san, and Zoro-san, and Sanji-san, and Nami-san, and Ussop-san, and Chopper-san! Let's see," he looked out at the room to see if he could spot them all. Certain ones of his friends weren't terribly hard to locate at all, "They're.... ah, well, actually I dont' see any of them right now, but they're all a whole lot of fun! Zoro-san has the green hair you see, and Luffy-san is a riot! Yohohohohoho!"

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Day 34: Breakfast

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