damned_institute | 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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"This place is a hospital." Yuffie pointed out in return. "Syringes n' stuff make great lock-picks if you know how to use 'em."

The hint of smugness colouring her tone made it clear that she knew how to use them, though she didn't have a clue as to whether or not this chick could.

This alchemist chick. Whatever an alchemist was. "Hey, back up!" Yuffie said, leaning back slightly to stare at the girl, interest sparkling in her eyes and her voice. "You can make weapons?" She paused, scratched the side of her nose, and offered a grin. "I'm Yuffie, by the way."

Edited 2008-07-31 04:00 (UTC)

"Sure, if you have those!" Skuld retorted. Of course she could pick locks; she didn't have training, but please, why would she need any? She did it once in a while at home... mostly on Urd's stuff.

"Yeah, it's what I use alchemy for, here," she added. "Making someone immortal wouldn't do that much good, since it usually just keeps them from aging." Plus that was something else she wasn't supposed to do. Sometimes it was okay, but it wasn't a decision she could make all by herself.

Yuffie? It sounded kind of familiar... oh, well. "I'm Skuld."

"If you don't have 'em, find 'em!" Lock-picking was a great hobby. Not only did it promote mental stimulation and dexterity in the fingers, it was also a not-so-surefire (but close enough!) way to get both free stuff, and into places where nobody wanted you to go.

"Skuld, huh?" Yuffie began picking at her breakfast, but she was too absorbed with the kid- uh, Skuld- and the piece of paper to pay much attention to it. "Now that's one I haven't heard before."

Just like 'alchemy' wasn't really something she'd heard of before. "M-making somebody immortal? Wait, how--" Yuffie shook her head sharply, her grin brightening. "Uh, nevermind. So, what kind o' weapons can y'make, Skuld?"

"Pretty much anything," Skuld said confidently. "All I need is enough materials." She could guess why Yuffie was asking, so she admitted, "Just one a night, though, and I have a pretty long list of requests right now."

If Yuffie wanted to know how she could do it, mentioning she was a goddess might be fun! For the moment, though, she just said "What kind of powers do you have?" Here, it was pretty much normal, and she really had to feel sorry for the people that didn't have any.

Yuffie muttered a curse under her breath, shoulders slumping. Damn, no fair! "Do most people ask for swords?" She wondered out-loud, masking her disappointment with curiosity.

That wasn't the only question she had, but then Skuld had a query of her own. The ninja blinked, cocking her head to the other side. How was she supposed to answer that, exactly? Did Limit Breaks even count as powers..?

Probably. Maybe.

"Oh, I've got all sorts," she answered confidently. "Even without any materia, I can still kick ass in this dump."

"Not so far--I've made some blades, but haven't gotten to any of the swords on my list yet."

Despite having quite the ego herself, the ninja's boast made Skuld wonder. "How long have you been here?" Even if she'd had her bughammer that first night, she still would have wanted to run from that scorpion. It wasn't being a coward, it was being practical.

Some blades? Huh, interesting. Yuffie would've thought that more people would go for swords; the ninja wasn't a sword user herself, but it seemed popular, and pretty damn effective if Cloud was anything to go by.

Then again, Cloud was totally compensating for something when it cames to swords. It was obvious.

A thoughtful hum was the only reply she gave to the first statement, and for a moment she occupied herself with munching through her pancakes. "Last night was my second night," she said after a moment, swallowing. She winked. "But I've got a bit of a history with fightin' monsters."

"All this?" She continued, gesturing lightly with one hand. "Just business as usual for the one and only great ninja of Wutai."

Skuld grinned. "Yeah, not all of this is totally new." Even the monsters--since she'd seen most of them in movies or video games before, lots of times. Hey, it counted. "Usually I like inventing new machines, but crafting other things is a snap."

She couldn't resist adding, "So just business as usual for the supergenius goddess of the future."

The pancakes were pretty good. Good enough that Yuffie had already half-demonlished her stack, anyway, and by the looks of things, the rest weren't gonna last all that long either.

"Uh huh?" Yuffie drawled, not entirely disbelieving but somewhat skeptical. What part of it wasn't 'totally new' to Skuld? She propped her chin up on the hand she'd gestured with-

-... and nearly fell face first into her pancakes when Skuld proclaimed herself a goddess. "No way are you a goddess."

Instead of being insulted, Skuld just smirked. "How would you know? Have you ever met one before?" Confidence was everything; if she just kept it up (more like Urd than Belldandy, but--never mind that part) she should get the ninja to believe her. But, if she didn't... Yuffie's loss, not admitting that there was a goddess on the side of the prisoners.

Okay, so Skuld's powers were nothing special right now, but she knew why she was here; that should count for something.

Day 34: Breakfast

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