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]

"It's the truth. And the thing is, death doesn't stop people from hurting others, or from suffering hurt themselves. The only thing that ends with death is the ability to grow, to change. All you are after you die is the shadow of what you were in life. And a violent death... it can make even good people into angry spirits, violent spirits. Small children can become shades demanding vengeance, if the circumstances are right. Life is the road to the betterment of the species."

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

Knives now looked at if he knew Subaru was crazy. "Once humans die that's it, they are gone. It's the best thing about them."

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

Subaru shook his head again, firmly this time. "I'm an onmyouji. I know all too well that that just isn't true."

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

Knives seemed unimpressed. "Primitive human cultures believed in spirits and ghosts. I don't."

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

"It's not a matter of belief. In my time, I've known more dead people than live ones. I've spoken with them, fought with them, even taken very physical harm from them. Others here have had similar experiences." Subaru thought now of Miku's priestesses, and the fact that she'd borne cursed tattoos just a few days ago, tattoos inflicted by a spirit wandering these halls. "And what, then, do you call that thing we ran into two nights ago? It had no physical form. It wasn't a human spirit, no, but it was very much bodiless."

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

"I don't know what I would call it," he said. "Believing in ghosts is childish where I come from." Then again... just how had Knives and Vash discovered Tessla's body? It had almost seemed like she had led them to her. He shook his head and winced at the pain. It was better not to think about her.

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

Subaru frowned a little at Knives' wince. "You should sit down. I won't try to touch you, but you're not well." Really, what was he thinking? Arguing about ghosts with a man who's just slit his own throat.

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

Knives was silent for a moment until he finally moved to sit down. His body was stiff and tense though. "You worry about me as if I am human," he pointed out.

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't matter to me what you are. You're a being in pain. Isn't that enough?"

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

Knives was silent for a long moment and then finally he said, very quietly. "You and my brother would get along."

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

Subaru decided not to say how he thought his sibling would respond to Knives. Hokuto really could be very protective of him, even when she didn't need to be--she probably would be very suspicious of Knives. "Your brother Vash? The one who isn't... uhm... inside you?"

[gone-2far.livejournal.com]

"No," Knives said. "He's not." Vash, in fact, was too powerful for him to take into himself. If he tried then it would be him who actually disappeared.