Day 37: Sun Room

[hismastersdance.livejournal.com]

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

Comments

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

Breakfast hadn't been pleasant by any stretch of imagination, but it hadn't gone as badly as Subaru had feared--both Hinasaki-san and Sagara-san had accepted his apology without any obvious issues, which was a definite relief. Still, the topic of inugami always brought back sad memories for Subaru, and so he showered extremely quickly then retreated to the Sun Room to sit and think. Or brood, to be more accurate.

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

Knives had no desire to be out among the general population of the hospital yet. Despite this, his nurse had forced him out into the open. He found everyone around him disgusting. His neck was wrapped up to cover his self-made wound.

He had not died. He really hadn't expected to die, but it was still rather disappointing to still be in existence.

When he entered the Sun Room his nurse spotted Subaru and went up to him, leaving Knives in the corner with some orderlies at the moment. "Mr. Yoshida you and Mr. Williams are friends, aren't you?" She lowered his voice. "He had a bit of an accident the other day and he could really use a friend." She spoke to Subaru as if she were speaking to a child and gestured towards Knives. "Do you mind spending some time with him?"

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

An accident? Subaru's eyes went wide at the sight of the bandage around Knives' neck--that looked serious! "A-ah, I don't mind. Sh-should he really be up and around, though? Not that I mean to question your expertise, miss." He shot a nervous look at Knives, noting the particularly foul mood, and wondered if it was because he was being dragged over to the man who failed to help him a few nights gone.

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

The nurse frowned at the question. "Just make sure he doesn't do anything to irritate the wound." She waved over the orderlies. One of them moved to grab Knives' arm but the blond Plant jerked back.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own, filth," he said. Talking make the wound on his neck scream, but at least he still could speak, even if his voice seemed a little hoarse. He moved to Subaru and folded his arms, looking at the human boy.

[silent-shades.livejournal.com]

[Squeaky clean from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510881.html?thread=41294753#t41294753).]

Rude collected his journal and found himself a comfy seat. He'd perused the Bulletin Board briefly, but his attention span was failing him today so he began work on what he already had in his journal, listing the chemicals and equipment he'd taken last night and seeing what sort of bang he could make with it all.

He had his shades on once more. He'd noticed a few patients looking at him when he wore them. But, really, he didn't give a damn. They were just jealous, as Reno would say whenever he was stared at long enough. Unless it was by a lady. Then what he said couldn't be repeated in decent society. Oh wait. They were Turks!

[showtime-matsu.livejournal.com]

It may have been a quick shower, but it did feel nice to know for a fact he was clean, not some weird pseudo-clean that came from going unconscious every night. His hair wasn't entirely dry, but Matsuda didn't really care. It was perfectly fine to let things air dry on occasion, right?

He glanced around for someone to talk to. There was a few people sitting around by themselves, but one guy with sunglasses really caught his attention, so he went on over.

"Hey there!" he commented cheerily, waving a bit before peering down at the man's journal. "What're you working on?"

[silent-shades.livejournal.com]

Rude didn't pay attention to the loud patient until he leaned down and peeked at the journal. Until then, Rude had assumed the guy was bugging somebody else.

He slowly turned his head. The journal was ok open. It was just a list and a few notes and...this guy didn't look smart enough to understand it anyway. He looked.... friendly or some weird shit. You know the sort. The one's who haven't yet been crushed by life. Still happy to the point of stupidity.

"..."

Oh right. They weren't gotten rid of that easily. Rude checked around. Nurses were till too goddamn close. Fine.

"Bombs." What? It'd be interesting to see the reaction at least. And what could the guy do? Tell on him. And get a bomb shoved up his ass come nightshift. Besides, the guy might surprise him and actually know a thing or two.

[showtime-matsu.livejournal.com]

It took him a moment, but the guy finally answered. The response was...well, nice and simple, to say the least. Matsuda could tell that it was a list of chemicals and stuff, but past that he didn't really know much about making bombs.

Using them, however, was one of the few things he was good at. He might not have a gun here, which was more or less his specialty, but he'd set bombs up before with the rest of the task force. He'd gone through plenty of training with them, too, knowing how to disarm them and set them off.

Had they been back home, a guy not on the police force working on bombs using stuff he found lying around probably wouldn't have been a good thing. In fact, it was probably something he'd have to arrest the guy for. But here? That was an entirely different matter.

"Oh, neat! That's a good idea," he replied, nodding along with his words. "They'd be really useful here, for sure."

[winged_moon]

[wandering in from showers]

The room was starting to fill up with other patients, some clearly having just returned from the showers like he had. Yukito absently pushed a damp lock of pale hair from his face as he found an unoccupied place for them to sit, wondering if perhaps the whole shower thing would've been somewhat less awkward if he'd been in his own body instead of Yue's.

But still, again, thoughts that probably weren't worth dwelling on, lest he become as gloomy and brooding as his other self. This place was bad enough, as Fai had said, without making it any worse himself. "We'll be happy to go with you tonight, Fai-san - though I'm sure it'll be Yue-san instead of me." Yukito shrugged a little and gave an almost apologetic smile. He'd just have to make sure the guardian wasn't all grumpy the entire time. "I don't really know how to fight or anything, after all."

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

When they reached the Sun Room, he felt a little chilly, but he was clean and he couldn't really say it was a bad feeling. He followed Yuki into the room and took a seat, draping himself lazily on his chair.

"That's okay," he assured Yukito. "Hnn, where should we meet then?"

[winged_moon]

"Hmm. Good question." Yukito tilted his head to one side slightly, tapping a fingertip against his chin as he considered. "I suppose that depends on where we're going, doesn't it? My room's M11, so it'd probably be faster to meet around there if we're going upstairs. But I think it'd be better to meet by your room if we're going outside." At least, he was fairly certain he knew where the other's room was. Only Yue had been over there.

He though a moment longer, then laughed quietly. "Although it'd probably reassure my roommate a lot if we met by my room. He almost wouldn't let us out last night, because he was worried about Yue-san going off on his own." Clearly, Ken had had good reason for it, too. Hopefully he wouldn't be too annoyed about the injured leg and all.

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind meeting at your room, that's easy to find," he told Yukito, not really answering the question about what they'd be doing. He wouldn't know himself until later, when Homura posted the assignments on the board. If it was easier to meet at Yuki's room, they'd just do that and save a lengthy explanation. "It's not that far either."

[fuyunohanabi.livejournal.com]

The Sun Room was as busy as always, but Rangiku still found a quiet spot in one corner. She'd grabbed a comb from one of the nurses and set about brushing her hair out, wincing as it caught on knots and snarls in her hair. It wasn't the best quality comb and her hair was rather thick after all. At least the sun from the sky lights would help to dry it. What she really wanted was to go outside and nap in the fresh air for a while.

[For Mitsuru!]

[marin-karin.livejournal.com]

The intercom had gone off far too soon. She should try to talk to Shiki again sometime, and hopefully it would be a less-serious conversation. After she found out what Amada was doing, of course.

She was surprised to have been given a choice, but decided that as pleasant as a shower might be, she had woken up clean and needed to use this time instead to establish more contacts.

As she went back into the Sun Room, she spotted Akihiko talking to a redheaded girl with a sketchbook. She didn't look too familiar, but after a moment it clicked. Chidori. So Strega was here, too? One of them, at least, but thankfully the one who Mitsuru guessed likely posed the least threat.

For the moment, she wouldn't interrupt their conversation, and instead went over to a corner so that she could keep an eye on them. There was a woman a few years older than her nearby, combing out her hair, so Mitsuru went over. Making the acquaintance of other people took priority over watching the two of them, after all, and Akihiko could take care of himself. "Pardon me, but is this seat taken?"

[fuyunohanabi.livejournal.com]

There was going to be a puddle of water on the floor by the time she finished brushing her hair. Ugh, great. She'd normally have dried it some more before attempting to brush it, but things just couldn't be easy here apparently.

She managed a few more strokes of the brush before someone approached her. Rangiku paused what she was doing and looked the girl over for a few moments. She looked young but mature, an interesting combination. Rangiku smiled warmly at her and shook her head. "Go ahead. Hope you don't mind me finishing brushing my hair though."

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

[[for River???]]

Breakfast had gone well enough. Sasuke had hoped to find Naruto next -- might as well get everything out of the way, after all -- but his nurse told him that he needed to "Relax so that your silly wounds can heal." Apparently he'd been very careless with some kind of soup. Apparently that meant that he'd managed to spill soup all along his left side and apparently that soup had been hot enough to result in severe burns.

Sasuke had to wonder where the woman found her excuses. She wouldn't take no for an answer, however, and refused to read him anything from the bulletin board until he'd taken "A nice breather sitting right here."

The woman had walked away before Sasuke could try lodging another protest, and he glared at the sound of her feet for a while.

There was a meow and a bit of pressure nearby; apparently he'd taken one of the Institute cats' place. Sasuke suppressed the urge to sigh and let the animal rub against his arm -- whatever they were at night, it would probably be frowned upon to try to dispose of one during the day.

Well, maybe he'd be found instead.

[theycutitout.livejournal.com]

"He likes cats." The voice of a small girl interrupted what were clearly deep thoughts, even if those thoughts weren't permeable. Thick and black like mud, but mud could be scraped away. Anyway, it would be a way to pass the time since her nurse had led her here for the current shift. River was beginning to understand the process.

"It's like clockwork. You fight. There's darkness. Food. Talk. Food. Talk. It's a pattern, and they're all used to it," she said, a little defeated. It wasn't anything. It wasn't, and they weren't what they appeared to be. No one was. Tenderly, River reached over to pick up the cat and place it in the other boy's lap. "He's not real. You know it, don't you?"

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

Sasuke blinked when someone approached and spoke -- a familiar voice, but one he hadn't heard in a while. The way she spoke was also familiar, if more disjointed than usual. River had flitted in and out of more or less lucidity before, though, so Sasuke didn't take it as anything unusual.

"River," he nodded acknowledgment of her presence.

The fact that she placed the cat on his lap was also not unexpected. Sasuke permitted it, stifling a sigh, and focused instead on unravelling what the girl was saying.

"This place lies to us," he said after a moment, and frowned. River was rehashing basics; had something happened? "But we're real. How has your progress been?"
The question might have passed for asking after her wellbeing from anyone else. River was probably the only person Sasuke was going to speak to today who wasn't going to be irritating in some way.

[littlegoblinjr.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510881.html?thread=41423777#t41423777)]

Entering the sun room, Harry finally managed to ditch the nurse. Checking the bulletin board he was surprised and honestly relieved to see Logan was still alive and kicking. Scrawling out a note took a ridiculously long time using his left hand, at least if he wanted anyone to be able to read it.

Moving himself over to a corner Harry hunched in on himself, trying to ignore the indignity of being trapped in a wheelchair like some sort of invalid. Hopefully he would be left alone for now, he was in no mood for company after the nightmare of the previous night. Especially when his father's voice was back stronger than ever, determined to remind him of just how badly he'd screwed up.

[opposingheaven.livejournal.com]

It was damn good to feel clean again. The nurse had insisted on cleaning and bandaging the gunshot wound on his shoulder again, but seemed not to notice that the chunk which had been torn out of his arm was now little more than a pink shiny new scar. She also seemed to think that a gunshot wound was something that he'd managed to do himself at dinner with a knife that hadn't been able to adequately cut butter, let alone flesh.

He entered the Sun Room after his shower and found a free couch, putting his feet up on the little table next to it and stretching slightly. He was excited about the prospect of getting a gun, it had to be said. He just hoped that things went to plan that night.

[For Celes!]

[lady-general.livejournal.com]

With the weak little bristled hairbrush in one hand, Celes had taken a walk around the Sun Room, smoothing out her curls as best she could. Eventually, though, her laps around the room slowed and she stopped near a couch. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a cat of a man, who looked terribly comfortable.

"May I sit here?" she asked, fairly sure he'd not been one of those people she'd seen in the cafeteria the night previous. If he had been, and he was bitter about it, she was well prepared to defend herself with the hairbrush.

[opposingheaven.livejournal.com]

Kenren watched the woman approached surreptitiously from beneath half lidded eyes, admiring her grace. She was pretty stunning. He wished that he could see her in something other than the drab grey of the Institute. It was pretty criminal that she had to wear something so formless.

Ah well, not much that he could do about it now.

He shook his head when she asked if she could sit. "Sure, go ahead," he replied, smiling at her. How could he resist a request from such a stunner as her?

[gothamnight.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510881.html?thread=41343137#t41343137)]

As they entered the Sun Room, Bruce found the place perhaps a bit too quiet for him to lower his guard, but at the same time filled with enough distractions that a wandering eye would not pick out too easily a dark-haired man and a redhead with a crutch in a private conversation. There were nurses and doctors on the balcony, but by now, Bruce had largely realized the futility of trying to keep his identity and intentions absolutely secret. He and Wally sat themselves down on some of the couches, and Bruce took a look around.

“Sorry I’m not being very specific,” he said as he turned back, focused on Wally now. The faint hint of a smile he’d tried to maintain dropped away. He stopped, feeling as if he should add something to assure the other man, but only one thing came to mind.

“You’re not the first person I’ve met who knows who I am, but you’re the first that’s really wanted to help me. So, uh...thanks.”

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

Wally carefully lowered himself back into the couch and propped the crutch against the arm. His injuries still stung from the washing and the subsequent redressing, but it was worth it to feel clean again. Nearly four days without a shower while running and fighting most nights had been getting to him, he realised.

He looked up, unable to hide his surprise at Bruce's thanks, but smiled warmly a moment later. "You kidding? You're you, why wouldn't I want to help? And you'd do the same for me in a heartbeat if it was the other way around. I mean, even if you don't know me, you're still Bruce Wayne." The mention of someone else knowing who Bruce was was troubling though. He couldn't think of anyone who would have reason to, unless it was Clark, but he was too young, wasn't he?

"Not the first person?" Wally asked curiously. "Is there someone you need to watch out for?" Normally the situation would have been more of a case of who didn't Bats have to watch out for, but here? Who else could have known about Bruce Wayne and Batman?

Anything he could tell Bruce that might be helpful? "Honestly, I've only been here a few days myself, so I can't really tell you much about what people have tried to do to escape. I got out through the front door on my first night, but we were attacked by some weird dragonfly-lizard things and next thing I knew I was back in my bed. I dunno if anyone's gotten any further than that. Or what happens if you do." He winced at how little he actually knew. If Bats had been here four days, he'd probably have known the entire layout, what pretty much everyone was planning, what had and hadn't worked, and have had an idea as to what was going on behind it all. Meanwhile all Wally knew was that you could get out through the front door and that monsters had sharp teeth. Really helpful there.

At the mention of locations, Wally brightened and gestured to the bulletin board. "There was a post up there with maps that other people have drawn up, they're supposed to be pretty accurate from what I've heard. I copied them down in my notebook, so if you can't find the originals, I'd be happy to let you copy mine. But I don't have it with me at the moment, so you'd have to get it off me some other time. They had some info on monsters too, but I'm not sure how helpful it is. It's one thing to read a description of something and another to see it for yourself, you know?"

[gothamnight.livejournal.com]

You’re you.

Wally’s comment made Bruce pause for a minute, unsure how or if he was supposed to react. Wally couldn’t possibly not be bothered by the fact that the Bruce Wayne with him was not the Bruce Wayne he knew—and yet, there was something unfeigned about the way he’d smiled and asserted confidently that he knew Bruce would’ve done the same for him as well. As much as Bruce wanted to warn the other man, wanted to make it clear for once and all that he was in all likelihood not same person Wally West trusted with his life...in truth, Bruce knew that would be a lie. Wally was right; now that he had met the Flash, and had the other man’s trust...Bruce knew that despite all that he might say or do, he would do his best not to betray or abandon him.

He hadn’t been expecting an ally in this struggle, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be grateful.

“...that’d be helpful,” Bruce replied to Wally’s offer, nodding in thanks.

“Though we’d probably need to meet somewhere more private to do that. In terms of ‘people to watch out for’...there’s at least one old ‘friend’ who’s a bit too interested in Bruce Wayne, and at least two who think the Batman’s a fictional character. If I were the Flash, I’d be careful of who I spoke to and how much I revealed about my identity as well.”

Bruce found himself thinking of that one person’s comment on the bulletin board—“Holy pedophilia, Batman!” indeed. Had Crane perhaps spoken to someone who thought of Batman as a fictional character? He had no way of knowing without compromising his identity somehow—at this point, it was probably dangerous for him to post on the bulletin signed as “Bruce Wayne,” because of the public nature of the place. Since the Flash was from his world, had he had a similar revelation?

“You could leave using the front door?” That was unusual. Though Bruce remembered about how last night, all the doors had been unlocked, he’d assumed that was because those in charge knew the patients couldn’t escape Institute grounds. And yet, if they left not only the doors inside the Institute open, but also those leading to the outside...that meant that they were confident their control extended beyond the Institute itself, and to the area beyond it. The Flash had been attacked by monsters that existed outside the Institute, then had blacked out and subsequently found himself in his bed...

“Have you talked to any other patients? What have their backgrounds before arriving or experiences here been like? I heard there’s people with superpowers and aliens around...”

Bruce glanced down at Wally’s knee.

“How much of your powers have they taken away?”