damned_institute | Day 38: Patients' Library

The intercom rang out, disrupting what had turned out to be a rather pointless breakfast conversation, at least in Brainiac 5's eyes. He couldn't wait to put more distance between himself and Scar's blather of how logic, of all things, might not work the same way in this dimension. It was almost enough to make him believe that the man may very well have been a lion originally after all, as he'd never heard anything so very... ignorant and uneducated.

He quickly finished up the fruit he'd been nibbling on - he was no longer as hungry as he had been - and looked around automatically to see where Clark was. Unfortunately with the press of people around, some being led off to the library and others to the mentioned 'therapy sessions' - if that was what they really were - he had lost sight of the Kryptonian. Still there wasn't many places he could go, so Brainiac 5 would be able to catch up with him eventually to check on his condition and try and learn more about what had happened last night. That the Chapel had healed him - admittedly by passing his injuries to another - was interesting, but far more important in his eyes was what had happened to Clark and his powers. They hadn't been working correctly and that worried the Coluan boy more than he would normally have admitted. Without Clark's abilities... he wasn't sure what they would have to rely on in order to escape.

Another problem he would have to deal with was Grell... or, if he was to believe the notes on the bulletin board, the person pretending to be Grell. But that was going to require more careful planning before he made a move. Come to think of it, he had agreed to meet another in the library today on that same post that had sparked this whole mess. At least then he would have something of interest to look forward to, as he doubted any of the 21st century books were likely to be worthwhile to someone of his advanced intellect.

Following the nurses led him to what must have been the library; a reasonably large room filled with a range of archaic books on tall shelves, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the room. The Coluan boy couldn't refrain from wrinkling his nose in distaste as he entered the room, not liking the cumbersome books and the dust that he knew would have gathered on them; he much preferred the clean arrangement of his C.O.M.P.U.T.O. systems back in the Legion headquarters. It was much more practical then shelves and shelves of books on fictional worlds and dated information.

Trying to avoid as much of the room as possible, Brainiac 5 settled himself down on a chair to wait, keeping an eye out for a tall, dark-haired man with a red... something on his forehead.

[for Homura]

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Ophelia actually tensed for a brief moment when she first saw the face of the man who had been sat down in front of her. She could have sworn in that moment that she had been confronted with a yoma and hadn't been able to sense it coming. The moment quickly passed, however; this was certainly one of the oddest-looking humans she had yet seen, but human he was, not yoma. At least as far as Landel's was concerned, anyway. Who knows what you might have been back home, Ophelia thought with a raised eyebrow.

She noticed him writing something down in one of the slim books in front of him as she continued her badly-drawn sketches. It wasn't until the man had been looking straight at her for over a minute that she deigned to look back up at him. "What is it? You're staring at me as though doing so for long enough will cause me to spontaneously combust." A pause, and the Claymore cracked a playful smirk. "Or flirt with you. Both are equally fantastical ideas."

Ryuk smiled a little when she spoke but continued to watch until she gave him a good idea. 'Spontaneously combusts' he wrote, trying again. Maybe default deaths were the problem. Maybe he had to be creative here.

Then again...it could be her name. He was about to ask it when she made such a frightful suggestion as flirting. The pen leaped from his hand and he stared is slight horror before collecting himself (and the pen) and hiding behind his Death Note and watching her from there.

Ophelia couldn't help but laugh out loud at the man's reaction. She had been expecting perhaps annoyance, but to get so jumpy over her small amount of teasing was nothing short of hilarious.

"Did I hit closer to home on that second one, then? Were you staring at my beautiful face, hoping I might notice your creepy stare and make a pass?" She leaned in a little closer with a slightly darker grin. "Or were you thinking something perhaps dirtier?" She was utterly disinterested in any sort of flirting or sexual encounters, but she would needle the man on that point if it would get her another reaction like that. Perhaps this man would prove to be another interesting toy for her to play with.

Woah woah woah! What was this girl? She was playing dirty. or, you know...one of those girls who... liked it and didn't care who they got it from, right?

The Journal Hidden Death Note fell flat on the table and he held his hands up in defense, shaking them.

"No, I just can't talk to girls!" he explained, frantically. Misa had tried to hug him once. Until now, that had been one of the scariest moments in his life.

Shinigami just didn't DO these things. Even if they did, he didn't think there were any he'd be interested in. They were like humans at times. Some too dumb, some too stuck up. But, unlike humans, there weren't so many.

Ophelia raised an eyebrow when she noticed the second journal fall out of the first one. Secret notes? Perhaps he kept some on all the women he watched. This guy really was a creeper if that was the case.

She snorted slightly when the man protested against her accusations. Even if he wasn't perverted, he certainly didn't react well to someone implying that he was. The game now appeared to be "How Much Blood Can I Get to Rush to His Cheeks Before He Bolts?" and she was more than confident that she could rack up a good score. She would have much preferred a game where the blood rushed out of her opponent's body rather than through it, but she would take what she could get in her current state.

"Oh, and why might that be?" she asked, leaning in another inch or two closer. "You'd rather watch than talk? Understandable. Some men are quite into that sort of thing."

For such a pale guy, there was a lot of colour beginning to crawl up his his face. It almost made him look the colour of a dying rose.

"Watch?" he asked, stupidly. Oh, like Jealous, right? Watching young women. Stalkers. Or FBI. COuld be Fb- "Ah. No. I... don't know many women."

He looked around for some sort of escape. Ryuk wasn't exactly polite, but he seemed unable to really find a way out of this. Light had always impressed Ryuk when it came to his way with the ladies (a dumb species, sometimes), but now Ryu was just about ready to worship Light as some sort of God. Just not one of Justice.

It was becoming more apparent to Ophelia that the man was merely inept when it came to women, but he didn't have to know that, now did he? Not when she was having so much fun with him.

"Ah, is that the reason, then? So you don't know how to deal with them in person, and so content yourself with staring in silence and imagining instead. How gorgeously tragic," she purred, fighting to keep from laughing hysterically out loud. "I'll bet you're a virgin, too. Am I right?" she added, neglecting to mention that she herself was a virgin (though she didn't much care).

This woman was getting away ahead of herself! Ryuk wasn't like that at all. Sure he'd had a peek at those magazines Light had bought, but it was sheer curiosity. Ryuk didn't know if he could even get aroused. As for love? He wasn't killing himself or any girl.

"Hey, I'm not stu- WHAT?!"

That was unfair! Shinigami probably didn't have a virginity to lose!

"Ah, uh..." he looked around again. Matsuda probably got picked on a lot like this. What would he do? Shoot her? No, not yet, he took his time.

Ryuk scribbled 'Ophelia - Bookcase falls on her' on the off chance that it might work now. Hey....

"Stop, Ophelia," he said, in his creepiest Shinigami tone.

Oho, now there was an interesting new element in the game. Although it would have been simple enough to assume that Ryuk had been watching her in an earlier shift and overheard her name then, the tone of voice he used then reeked of inhumanity. It sounded almost like yoma did when they tried to use human speech in their real bodies, but a lot raspier.

Good thing she wasn't scared of yoma.

"Or what?" she asked simply, her smirk getting decidedly darker.

Well. That didn't work. She must really believe Ryuk liked watching girls. Yeah right, as if he would. Boring.

"Or...." something caught his eye. A bookcase shook a little and he jumped out of his seat, triumphantly. "Or Death awa- Fall, dammit."

Ryuk stared at the bookcase and then at the nurse who walked past, rubbing her sore arm. He lowered his hands and sighed. He never realised how tough life was. Still beat bumming around as a Shinigami though. Mostly.

Girls like Ophelia put him off a little.

Maybe he could push the bookcase himself? Or beat her with just a book. Killing people couldn't be that hard, right? The mental trauma it caused most people wouldn't affect him. He might just lack the energy or strength.

You never knew until you tried. The anti-motto of the lazy Shinigami.

"Uh. Nevermind." He sat back down, for some reason.

Edited 2009-01-12 22:24 (UTC)

Day 38: Patients' Library

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