damned_institute | DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

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DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

Where was Blitzwing?

Lugnut ignored the nurse's fussing over his foot, even as it howled objections to his ill treatment of it the night before, pounding through the town in search of his wingmate, reportedly helpless and injured by an attack the night before-- and not finding him, not seeing even a glimpse of his crazy triple-changing ally.

Snarling at the nurse, but restraining himself from shows of violence-- Blitzwing would mock him if he showed up drugged already, and he would be useless to Megatron like that--he made his way impatiently to the cafeteria, stopping for just long enough to post an urgent notice on the board.

Where was he?

Looming in the middle of the cafeteria, he took the tray the nurse handed him (filled with disgusting human fuel, didn't she know he didn't have time to eat, not when his wingmate was missing?) and ignored it, watching for Blitzwing, where was he?

He refused to think about what might have happened to a wheelchair-bound, drugged, incapacitated warrior, with the swarms of monsters flooding around him, clawing and biting...

[for Scourge]

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"Yes. You're right, I know." Getting out. How nice that thought had been in the beginning, how simple. Kio had been here long enough now to realise that no matter how far he would run, he could not escape the Institute alone.

"The Cake Club?" Kio thought about it a second and Mori's name came naturally back to him. How he'd fought. So quickly, so valiantly, for him and Wonka. "I think I'd do better foraging. I could see which group includes more than a fighter and stay with them." His face took on a grim look when the pictures were brought up. He silently opened his journal and showed Soubi the last page of the diary: taped in there were the pictures from the file. "I know you want them, but these at least are no lies. Let me have this."

It pained Kio to see his friend agonise like this. "Ask him tonight. Let him be, and apologise tonight. He knows you care, you just have a harder way of showing it."

Eyes widened just a second, enough to show the fear he was pushing away. Who was Sheena and why did he trust her? Words? More than one? Kio remembered tending Soubi's wounds and how it had torn him to give back that key. He'd bandaged and cleaned, staying up at night to listen to his friend's breathing and check for a fever. He could do this. "Tonight. Go to Ritsuka's and apologise. We meet in the main hallway. Bring Sheena. I'll do it, Sou-chan." Not because he would take any pleasure in it, but because it would destroy Landel's evil.

"That sounds right. And you're not foraging. I'm putting you under the care of the Cake Club. I'll drop you off at night and they can train you to at least defend yourself. Agreed?"

Soubi looked at the pictures and frowned. So that was where Kio hid them.

"You're very sneaky. And I told you the truth... now you have to at least give me the one of...those people." Soubi wasn't comfortable with Kio having a picture of Ritsu, but it didn't matter as much as the photo of his parents.

"I tell it to him straight and he still gets angry," Soubi sulked. "He only just lifted the ban on 'I love you' and now I can't use the words for fear of upsetting him."

Soubi reached out and grabbed Kio's wrist. "You mean it?" he asked, a little surprised. Kio was an artist. He had a steady hand...maybe this would work! "I....still have to secure permission from Ritsuka. And get a hold of the things we'll need."

Kio glared. He didn't want to be with the Cake Club, because all they seemed to do was go to the Kitchens. They would never find a way out by bribing Landel's with sweets. "No. I want to go and explore this place, find a way out."

Soubi pointed at a picture Kio assumed was of his teacher. Soubi seemed to be the right age for it. He didn't have his ears, but that was a subject best left alone. The one picture Soubi wanted was of him and adults. Parents. Another taboo subject, as usual. It was a time when he'd been happy. Kio wanted to see that image forever in his mind. "Sou-chan, let me keep them. They're my photos. I wouldn't show them to anyone." The words 'I love you', which Ritsuka seemed to allow, made Kio look at his plate. Still, he said he would help. "Don't use them for a few days. Let him forgive you. He's as stubborn as me, you remember?"

There was no pain where Soubi grabbed him. There was that familiar twist in his stomach again. He would manage. "I mean it." His expression darkened somewhat. "You say something to Ritsuka now, he'll forbid you to do it. Talk to Sheena. We..." he quickly pulled out the map of the Institute. "We find the stuff in these rooms here," he stated calmly, pointing to the Examination Rooms. "I need a scalpel, some gauze and disinfectant. Have Sheena ready for tonight." Kio had never seemed more serious. "Tell no one, Sou-chan. It's tonight or not at all." His eyes glittered with determination.

Edited 2009-08-10 20:30 (UTC)

"Leave the 'exploring' to me. Just...learn to take care of yourself so I don't have to worry or run around after you." He gave Kio a stern look.

Soubi couldn't look at the pictures for long. "They're not yours. We can take new ones...just...give me that one. It can't mean anything to you. It...it barely means anything to me. That's why I have to....put it away somewhere," he admitted. He needed it hidden. Not destroyed. That had been a mistake before.

Soubi sat up and pulled a strange face. "Ritsuka....already knows," he said, with an air of guilt. "That's what we argued about last time. Before...well, it... Once I have it ready, I'll discuss it with him again. I have a scalpel secured. I have bandages. If it comes to it, we can just use those things."

Why was it Kio could do this but not give back some lousy photographs...

Kio could glare like a million burning suns. "I never said you had to chaperone me, Sou-chan. If there are fighters in the group, and there always are, I'll be fine. I'm done foraging for cookies, I want to help others." Soubi couldn't stop him. At all. Just let him try.

"It means you were once genuinely happy. When you didn't need Aoyagi to smile. I want to cherish that thought, Sou-chan. I won't destroy it or show it to anyone. Please understand that I need this." His eyes spoke volumes. Kio was being selfish, yes, but he wanted this view into Sou-chan's innocence, before whatever it was that broke him got there.

"Ah." His voice held no emotion. "Discuss after it happens, Sou-chan. He won't let me go through with it otherwise. He'll stop us. I hated that thing that Seimei gave you. I will destroy it, no matter what it takes. Tonight. You, me, Sheena and an empty examination room." His eyes glittered again, but he pushed his glasses up, so the light reflected in them made them invisible. He could do this for them, for their friendship.

Looking at their barely touching fingers, Kio added in a whisper, "What do I mean to you, Sou-chan?"

"This has nothing to do with anything you say," Soubi pointed out, blandly. "It's happening whether you like it or not." He could always drag Kio along to the corridor of doom but...there was still the issue of spells. Not that Soubi was ever going to try again, not with Ritsuka there.

"All children are happy in their youth," he huffed. "I don't even remember those days, they don't matter to anybody. It's...foolish to hold onto such silly things. Especially when they're making me unhappy." He couldn't look Kio in the eye, he knew what look he'd fine and it was annoying because...it could be effective.

He shook his head. "I can't do that. This has to be his decision..." Soubi felt a nervous buzz. He would obey. As best as he could. There were some brief moments when he came close to clawing at his throat, desperate to tear the words away...

Soubi frowned at Kio and gave him a wry smile. "You're my friend...aren't you? You're the relationship guru, you tell me," he said with a sigh, sitting back. Stupid Kio. Soubi had never wanted a friend, on the one hand they got in the way of his duties And on the other hand....they were just another person who'd one day leave him....

"I'd like to see you try, Sou-chan," Kio retorted calmly. His roommate was gone, safely out of the Institute, as the nurse had told him cheerfully. Cured. So the minute the intercom opened the door, he could be out. Demyx and Soubi were still together. He'd run away if that was what it would take.

Kio's expression softened. He knew about the happiness of children. He was a father, wasn't he? "Regardless," he replied, clutching the journal tightly, "I want this happiness. Call me selfish, sure, but I want it." Stubborn, as usual. But to obey someone like Ritsuka when he was clearly so unhappy. "And meanwhile, you'll destroy yourself with guilt over it. My offer is not indefinite and I will not put this on the whims of a child. Sou-chan, I followed you to that school of yours. I stayed and tended you when Seimei left you for dead. In this, I will make it your decision or none at all."

He ignored Soubi's words, angry with himself. He was ready to do this. He wanted to help Sou-chan, to be the one to destroy the last vestiges of Aoyagi's power. But he could not wait for Ritsuka to understand. Already the rift between them was growing. Kio stood up, his food half-uneaten. "Think on it, Sou-chan. Tonight, main hallway. I will wait for 20 minutes or so, no more. It's the time it takes me to eat a lolly, when I don't hurry." Kio touched the pocket where it was hidden. Sou-chan's lolly. "Let me help you, Soubi. Please." With a long, lingering look, Kio called his nurse and headed out of the Cafeteria.

"Kio....do you really think you have a chance?" Ooh, a chase. Soubi was a little surprised at how exciting it seemed. Not that there'd be much of one.

"Ritsuka would like you again if you gave it back, Selfish," he huffed. "It doesn't belong to you and it's not true happiness. It's...child-like idiocy and naivete."

Soubi shoulders sagged a little. Kio could never understand how it was for Soubi. He shook his head. "I don't have that right."

He gave Kio a little, sulky, finger wave. "Hm, that talented tongue of yours," he said, wryly. "Tonight then."

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DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

Soubi, you thief, you make Kio cry! :|

Re: Soubi, you thief, you make Kio cry! :|

Did he steal the file?

Yep

Bastard :|

:|

I mean it, you make Kio :|

Kio makes Soubi ¬_¬