damned_institute | Day 39: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

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Day 39: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

Yue was all too pleased to leave the cafeteria by the time lunch was over, even if he still wasn't satisfied that Fai was properly taking care of himself. It was clear that Touya hadn't accepted the answers he'd been given and intended to find out just what the guardian wasn't telling him, and being watched so closely was beginning to get uncomfortable.

It was clear that the truth would have to come out at some point, especially if they were going to be spending any amount of time together. Avoiding him was entirely out of the question, but at the same time Yue stubbornly refused to consider the idea of just outright telling him about what had happened in the last week. It was a dilemma indeed, and only served to make him even more irritable than ever.

How could he admit any of it? That he was weak and crippled, betrayed and altered by his creator? That he'd almost broken the promise he'd given in exchange for Touya's power? The latter he couldn't help but be reminded of every time he saw this Touya, who had only just gone through it, and would remember it even more clearly.

Fortunately Yukito was staying silent for the moment, although he could feel his other self's disappointment at being unable to speak to Touya so far, and it didn't make him feel any better.

In the midst of all this Yue was rather dismayed to realize that the nurse wanted to lead him to the music room, of all places: that was the room where he'd met the Sakura-who-wasn't-his-Sakura the week before, and needed neither the reminder nor the inevitable noise in that room. He abruptly halted in his tracks and refused to continue on. The nurse seemed initially disappointed, but finally agreed to let him stay in the Sun Room instead; the guardian found a corner in which to stand, arms folded across his chest and lost in his own ~~brooding~~ thoughts.

[for Sokka]

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It took her a moment, but Momo looked up.

"Hello. How was the meeting?"

Rangiku stretched, kicking off her slippers and wiggling her toes for a moment before turning back to the matter at hand. "The meeting? Uneventful," she said with a shrug. "There's a couple of people I'd recommend avoiding though, and keeping a close eye on them if they try to join. I rather got the impression that at least one of them is hoping to worm his way into control of a club."

Momo nodded. "Was the one you speak of called Mello?"

Rangiku nodded seriously. "Him and someone else. Called himself Porky," she said with some distaste. "Said that he was going to help because some of the clubs lacked leadership and organisation. Strange that he should be so confident since I believe thta he's one of the new patients brought in today and last night."

"Fowl-san is concerned about Mello, but so far I don't think we have to worry about him," Momo replied.

"There are a couple new people who seem to be jumping to conclusions over the club organizations given they've seen so little. There is one, Lelouch Lamperouge, that is compiling a club listing. He, unlike the other one you speak of, seems to at least have his heart in the right place. I think we should fill out the form he requested all clubs do. I am simply unsure how to phrase things." Momo sighed. "We need to streamline our efforts and goals more. I think we're being to broad, too general and its spreading us too thin."

Rangiku snorted at that. Her own organisation wasn't the best, but she still knew how it worked. Soul Society had worked well for centuries after all, and would probably still be running the same way long after she was gone. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. ""It sounds like an idea," Rangiku agreed. "Although I still think it would be wise to not give too much power to someone like that." She might ask Gin to see if he could find anything out.He would likely be able to give her a feeling about a person if nothing else.

"That would make sense. The question is what to focus on exactly," she said, tapping her lips.

"To be honest, Matsumoto-kun... I am tired of reacting. That's all we've been doing. We need to strike and stop playing by Landel's rules."

Momo was silent for a moment before she looked away. "Signum-kun fell in battle protecting me last night. I have very little left to give, but I'm giving it all to see the end of this place. I am even giving up my honor."

She looked back. "I've spoken with both Fowl-san and Ichimaru these last two shifts to get other perspectives and thoughts."

That was more promising, Rangiku had to admit, and a tiny smile curled her lips. "I agree. We're just surviving at the moment, letting this place dictate what we do."

She gasped softly when Hinamori mentioned the death of Signum and she reached out to hug Hinamori, pulling her close. She might not admit it, but sometimes being strong hurt. "I'm sorry, Hinamori-kun," she said quietly. They kept losing people, Hinamori especially. "Honour has never saved anyone's life," she added, a little bitterly. "It's all very well in Soul Society where the shinigami have the luxury of living that way, but not here or in Rukongai."

"What did Gin and Artemis have to say?"

Momo was stiff when Rangiku hugged her, but she didn't fight it. She supposed she would have taken comfort in it except there wasn't anything left to comfort.

"Fowl-san brought to light the situation concerning Mello; Mello had attacked him a few nights back giving the impression it was because Fowl-san was smarter than him. Honestly, this Mello sounds too much like my cap--" Damnit. "Like Aizen."

"Fowl-san is going to continue to monitor Mello and keep me appraised of that situation. He also requested to put together a specific task force of his own, which I've granted as long as I know who is in this group and get a report. He believes we need to change our marketing strategy and present ourselves to the rest of the patients as a resistance force and not just as a club. I agree with him."

She then sighed. "As for Ichimaru, he spoke against continued rescue groups as they are a waste of manpower and, with this new group taking up that mantle, I concur. He also thinks we're being too open with our communication on the board since the enemy can see that as well. I have already taken steps with Kira, to keep sensitive information from our enemies, passing certain instructions along only through word or mouth or a note handed directly between people."

"He brought up one other thing which I have also agreed up." As much as she was loathe to admit she agreed with anything Ichimaru had to say. "He believes we've been ignoring the possibilities of striking during the day."

Rangiku frowned a little when Hinamori remained stiff and unresponsive, but she still hugged her close, wrapping one arm around her and stroking the younger woman's hair with the other. "He sounds like he needs to be kept an eye on," Rangiku agreed, deliberately ignoring the mistake. "And that does sound wise. Club names are all very well, but they make everything sound like a game." Which this most definitely wasn't as kept being proven time after time.

Rngiku sighed softly at what Gin had said. It was very Gin. "As long as people are still going to help those taken," Rangiku said. "It must be terrible to stumble out into the corridor and have to make your own way back downstairs." That would be terrible, utterly callous. She Raised an eyebrow though. "During the day? I suppose I can see the merit of that."

"There are others here that understand and work with mundane explosives. Ichimaru is going to speak with them," Momo continued. "A coordinated attack during the day, if possible, mayb be effective, unlike that riot a while back was."

She met Rangiku's eyes after checking the placement of the nearest nurses. "I've given Kira a mission that will effect the daytime," she said, lowering her voice. "The greenhouse contains medicinal plants. Though it ill take time, we can gather a decent quantity of them. He says they aren't very strong, but enough of them can make someone very sick." She paused. "We have access to the staff's food supply upstairs; we can poison them."

Gin working with explosives? What a terrifying thought when he was already far too skilled with a zanpakuto and kidou. There was a reason why he'd graduated the Academy so quickly after all. Still, she could see the merit to it. He was good at getting information and better at remembering it and putting it to use.

"Medicinal plants. There is no guarantee that they'll even work on the staff food," she pointed out. "Everything else seems to return to its state during the day, no matter what happens during the night." She wasn't convinced that there was much that could be done.

"Is there any reason we shouldn't try?"

Momo was well aware that there was a couple potential flaws in her plan. That was one of them.

Rangiku shrugged. "No reason not to try, just good reasons not to get hopes up." She didn't even expect Hinamori to have told anyone much except her and Kira, but any more than that and people would have expectations which she wasn't convinced could be met.

Momo nodded. "I'd like to keep a lot of information about our potential strikes on a need to know basis. It's mostly to keep the enemy from discovering our plans, but too many people knowing before it's ready and it'll never happen."

She sighed. "Aidou-san has given us usage of his services for the night to replay a debt to one of our fallen. The catch is, he's an arrogant brat that insists we make use of his skills and knowledge appropriately. I am having some difficulty deciding what to do with him given that."

She opened her journal to her notes. "Senna-san says there are ruins of a town not too far outside the walls. The best I could come up with is having Aidou go with her there to see if they could find any usable information." She glanced up. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"That sounds wise," Rangiku agreed with a nod. "Key people knowing increases the liklehood of success. We just need to balance that need for secrecy with the need to not alienate people. Secrets can be problematic." It was a fine line when working outside of an established organisation with rules and traditions.

"Aidou?" Rangiku asked, quirking an eyebrow at the younger woman. She'd heard the name, certainly, but had never met him or heard all that much about him, except that he had a difficult personality.

"Yes, he's one of the patients that's been here the longest, quite full of himself and is a decent fighter. I helped him once in a fight, so he does have skill," Momo replied. "As well as issues when a woman does not fall for his non-existent charm. He pouts."

She sighed. "I don't want to potentially burn a bridge we may need later, but other than phrasing him going to the ruins because of his intelligence and ability to spot falsehood, whether that's true or not, I'm at a loss."

Rangiku snorted at that. "That's always the way. The ones who think they have huge appeal don't but get sulkiest when a woman has more sense." That type were truly irritating. She'd dealt with enough of them to have realised that. She was just glad that she didn't need to deal with him.

"I think that is probably all that you can do. The radio sounds infrequently at best and no-one can say for sure if there'll be clues of use."

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Day 39: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

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