damned_institute | Day 44: Sun Room, Second Shift

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Day 44: Sun Room, Second Shift

[from here]

He really had beat the rush. Suzaku found a chair as close to the corner and as far from the bulletin as he could, and turned it to face the wall before curling up in it. His nurse frowned at him again, but she was still being cooperative, and frankly he didn't care what she had to say in the slightest. He didn't care even if he got sedated. All he cared about was finally having a few moments to himself, to sort out what Euphie's love meant and what the hell Lelouch's problem was.

It felt like he had all the pieces of a puzzle and was just too stupid to figure out how they fit together. What Lelouch had said about Shirley at breakfast and the tone he'd taken with Euphie on the board, Lelouch asking how Suzaku was, Lelouch dying. . . "All we can do is move forward and look out for the ones we care about." Euphie struggling to get out her last words, pain overtaking Suzaku's consciousness while he fought pathetically to carry out Lelouch's order. . . The last couple days, when he'd felt like he was finally figuring this out, seemed so far away now.

There were a couple things that were certain, at least: he hated what Lelouch had done, he always would. But he -- he didn't hate Lelouch, and he hadn't for a while now, and that wasn't going to change. And he didn't have much time, because everyone but Suzaku was terrifyingly mortal. And Lelouch was an idiot, but he still wasn't sure about the how and why of that one yet.

[for the Saucinator]

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Argilla blinked again, tilting her head to one side slightly and regarding him curiously as she gave him an utterly bemused look. "You know that I slept the entire night?" she replied with an even tone. "I thought humans would consider it rude to watch a woman sleeping unless you were intimately involved with her." She didn't know where that knowledge came from, but it felt right. It didn't bother her particularly however.

The next comment from him made slightly more sense although she didn't understand what he was getting riled about now. "I would hardly have called the creatures from the town alive," she replied, frowning a little. "And that wasn't last night unless you are missing a day."

Junpei snapped. Both hands came down on the armrests of Argilla's chair.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MITSURU-SENPAI?!"

There was no reaction from the demon when Junpei shouted and slammed his hands down, no flicker even of unease, definitely no fear. What did he hope to accomplish by this? She certainly wasn't intimidated by him, a scrawny child. "I didn't do anything to her. Why would I do anything to her?" Mitsuru had just disappeared that day. A little unnerving perhaps, but that just happened here.

Junpei wasn't trying to be intimidating and, if asked later, he had no idea what he'd hoped to accomplish. He was just lashing out and the woman that had been Mitsuru's roommate who also happened to eat people, monsters and whatever else she felt like, seemed like a good target at the moment for his anger.

"You eat people," Junpei hissed, some instinct telling him that yelling those words in their present location would probably be a Really Bad Idea(tm). "I have every damn right to think you did something to her."

Argilla's expression hardened at the accusation and she reached out, grabbing Junpei's wrists with a viciously hard grip, fingers digging into his skin. "I eat demons," she replied, an edge of anger to her voice, eyes flashing yellow for a moment. You have no right to think I did anything. You know nothing about me." She squeezed, her grip on his wrists tightening. "Eating a human would be pointless. They don't contain enough data to be worth even a snack."

Junpei registered the pain in his wrists, but it wasn't enough to knock some sense into his anger-filled mind. Still, his forearms tensed up, and his fists clenched even harder.

"I don't know anything about you other than what I saw you do and what you just told me," Junpei snapped back, stupidly pushing against Argilla's grip. "They were people once."

The muscle along the teen's jaw twitched. "How do I know you're even telling me the truth?! She's GONE."

With a snarl of rage, Argilla moved with the speed of a striking snake, twisting Junpei's arm behind his back and pressing him down against the arm of the couch, holding him there roughly as she leaned in close. She kept her attention on the nurses, knowing that she'd have to let him go soon, but needing to make her point first. "Do you think we asked for this? Do you think that any of us asked to be infected with this virus?" she hissed angrily. "We were given no choice, we were created to kill and then those creators wanted to destroy us. Those people you claim were human once? they're the ones who wanted us dead just for existing. They're the ones who created this virus in the first place." She took a breath, pushing him away roughly and glaring hard at the nurses who had moved a little closer, daring them to do anything.

"I didn't hurt your comrade. She was asleep last night and then gone this morning, just like many others in this place."

The second Junpei found himself staring at the couch and not Argilla, pain shooting up his arm from its position behind his back, his eyes widened and he made himself stay still. Mostly. He'd been angry before, but now he was scared and a tiny tremble was detectable. How the hell could she be so strong and so fast.

Cause she's a plague-chick that eats people. I really hope she's not contagious. Not that it matters since I apparently want to eat people at night now...

Maybe it was the fact that Argilla didn't hurt him anymore than she did that convinced him she was telling the truth. Maybe it was the emotion in her voice when she talked about what had been done to her. Maybe it was the simple fact that anger wasn't controlling Junpei anymore that allowed him to stop trying to lash out. It could have been a lot of things.

Once released, the teen stumbled a bit before he slid down to the ground and sat with his back against the side of the couch. Bringing his knees up, Junpei propped his elbows up and stared at a spot on the carpet.

"They're all gone," he said in a quiet, hollow voice. "I don't... know what to do."

Argilla folded her arms over her chest, glaring down at him, still angry at the accusations which had been levelled at her. He knew nothing about her and her tribe, he knew nothing about what they had been through to just survive and escape the destruction of their world. And to have him believe that she would have any interest in devouring her roommate when she was sane and had gorged herself the other day as well.

Her expression softened a little when he spoke though. He was hurting. "You continue to fight to honour those who have fallen," she said sternly. "They are your tribe. They deserve that much."

"I know that," Junpei replied. "I just don't know what to fight. My senpai always knew what to focus on. My ideas are always dumb and never work. Both my senpai are gone, my girlfriend is gone and so's the kid. Yuka-tan, Minato and I... we're so the fail team."

He let out a long sigh before finally apologizing. "Sorry."

"You didn't try to kill me. You're not an enemy, just annoying, Argilla replied in response to his apology. Now that they'd cleared that up, she didn't really care as long as he left her tribe alone.

She blinked slowly at him, not understanding this fatalistic attitude. "You are a tribe. The thing that you are fighting is this place. That is all that you need to know. You fight in whatever way works for you, be it on the front lines, exploring this place and fighting monsters, or working as medics or collecting supplies. If you need a leader, then you cleave to a new tribe."

Huh. That was an oddly simplistic way of thinking. It had never crossed Junpei's mind to think like that. It made it seem too... easy.

"I want to set this place on fire," he replied, a little darkly. He really, truly did.

He then looked up at Argilla. "Okay, I'm going to ask you something personal, but I have a reason for asking. Were you always infected with the virus or was there a time when you didn't... you know."

A faintly savage smile crossed lips at his vehemence. "Then set something on fire," she suggested easily. "Agi spells are useful for that, although they aren't my speciality." Heat would appreciate it though. She preferred the earth.

That was a question that she hadn't been asked before. She cocked her head to the side slightly regarding him. "It is difficult to explain," she replied. "There was a time before we were infected, but it was different. None of us felt anything, no emotions. We existed only to kill. The virus came and did this to us, but it awoke us as well."

"Agi spells and me - we're real tight," Junpei replied. It wouldn't occur to him until later that Argilla knew the same kind of magic S.E.E.S. did.

And the whole no emotions thing was weird. How could something exist without emotions? Junpei kind of liked emotions even if they did suck a lot.

"Oh. Did you just know what you had to eat when you got infected or did it grow in you and eventually you figured it out?" Junpei watched Argilla carefully.

Agi spells suited him well, she thought. He was hot headed and apparently prone to badly thought out bursts of temper. A little like Heat without the power and hunger to back the anger up. She hoped that they never met because she didn't doubt that there would be blood.

"When we were first infected, we went crazy for a while, mindless, and devoured members of the opposing tribe. After we regained our selves, we quickly figured out what we needed to do. It was that or go insane and lose our minds entirely to the demonic nature. I nearly did so when I refused to devour others."

"Oh," Junpei replied, very quietly.

He sat there, looking down at his ankle. He'd almost bitten Mitsuru in Doyleton, and who knows what he would have done to Ryouji the night before if he'd shown up. Junpei's hunger had been almost unbearable last night. He knew it wasn't normal. He was pretty sure it was because of the zombies, but he didn't know how to handle it. What if it didn't go away? The bite on his ankle was pretty faded this day.

"Did you just know what you needed to eat, or did anyone that moved looks tasty?

Argilla moved to sit down again, perching on the edge of the couch so that she could still see Junpei's huddled figure. She shrugged at the question. it had been a confusing time. "Everyone in the Junkyard became a demon. Everyone. There was no other food. But we just knew that normal food didn't satisfy us and later on found that only things which were already infected with the virus worked as sustenance."

"Oh." This really wasn't helping Junpei and the whole I'm-a-zombie-at-night thing. "I was bit by a zombie in Doyleton and got infected. I'm glad I didn't leave my room last night because I probably would have attacked someone." His voice dropped to a whisper. "I was so hungry..."

Argilla sighed softly, feeling bad for the boy suddenly. Those creatures had been strange and she knew what it was like to suddenly feel an all consuming hunger for the flesh of your comrades. "Try eating something," she suggested after a moment's thought. "A monster. If it is anything like the demon virus, then feeding will suppress the urges and allow you to control them. You won't hurt your friends that way." It made perfect sense to her at least.

Eat a... monster? Argilla was suggesting he eat something like Evil Koro-chan on Mutated Steroids. Just like when he'd first seen her...

Junpei's face paled and for a moment he really thought he might throw up what little he'd had for breakfast. Leaning over so his head was almost between his knees, the junior put his hands on the back of his head and drew in deep breaths as he tried to keep from yacking all over Argilla's shoes.

"Irk... I think I'm gonna be sick..."

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Day 44: Sun Room, Second Shift

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