damned_institute | Night 44: Pantry (2nd Floor)

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sheena

Night 44: Pantry (2nd Floor)

[from here]

Sheena eased the pantry opened and stepped in to take a look around. She left the door open, but there wasn't enough light from Lunge's flashlight reaching the area, so the ninja took her own out from where she had it tucked and turned it on. The shelves were well stocked and there was even a little ladder to help the shorter people see the stuff on the top shelf.

Locating the flour, sugar and spices, Sheena sorted through them, setting a few off to the side that closely resembled the three satays she needed for curry. Once that was done, she opened the bottles and smelled the contents.

There we go - red, black and white satay. Or whatever this world calls them.

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"I didn't realise ninja were so open about themselves," Lunge answered, but Sheena had already moved into the pantry.

He followed her, wary as ever, choosing to hover in the doorway rather than completely commit himself to the room; there was nothing of interest to be found in there, he wagered, which only made the young woman's choice of destination all the more interesting to him. "What are you making with those?"

"Curry," Sheena replied, recapping the spices and depositing the bottles into a pillow case she'd had folded and concealed in her obi.

'And it depends on the ninja," she explained. "For instance, I'm a guardian fighter, not an infiltrator, so I'm openly known outside Mizuho by my style of dress and mannerisms. I'm also the chieftain's granddaughter, so I'm kind of a figure head too."

She moved to look at the canned vegetables, examining the options. Fresh produce would be nice, but she had to work with whatever was available. Thankfully, her cooking was quite adaptable.

"Like, I know there's a group of ninja from the same world here and the way ninja work where they're from are as mercernaries and there are many, many, many ninja villages there. On the other hand, there's at least one ninja here that's been completely concealing the fact that they are ninja. I don't even know if that one's male of female yet, but I know there's one out there." It was the one she sensed in the stairwell earlier, but she had no idea who it was other than the one that was obviously asking anonymously on the board about why the other ninja were so open.

"And Yuffie's kind of like me, in both talent and station, which is why we're rivals," Sheena added on.

And there came that classic dexterity again, all in a flick of the wrist- though how she had managed to conceal so much in her obi was beyond even Lunge's understanding for now. Still, even if she wasn't- as she put it- an 'infiltrator', she was certainly far more skilled than the average patient.

"You sound as though you've been here for a fair amount of time," he observed. "How long, exactly?"

The information, meanwhile, he safely stored away for later use, fingers playing the air for a keyboard for the few moments it took. While he had been aware that there were other units operating within the Institute, that there were entire groups of ninja of all things... and the trouble was, the evidence was standing across the room from him, examining tinned goods.

Hmm. There was the alternate universe theory to consider. But then, how useful was it to pick holes in something that, ultimately, seemed rather trivial in the grand scheme of things? He had priorities.

"Yuffie?" He stopped his calculation long enough to ask, even though the answer was of little consequence. But more he knew about the patient populace, the better, and a blank document was drawn up in waiting.

"Umm... I'm not entirely sure," Sheena replied. "Maybe a week and a half? Time flows really weird here and it's easy to lose track of days with the whole not-sleeping but kinda sleeping thing they do to use when the night ends."

A couple cans of vegetables found their way into the pillowcase to mingle with the spices. A can of pineapple joined them next.

"Yuffie Kisaragi - princess of Wutai on some world called Gaia. I'm sure you'll meet her at some point. She's quite well-known, been here much longer than me and has a penchant for delivering rousing speeches on the cafeteria tales in the middle of meals." Sheena giggled in memory of the incident. "She's a lot of fun."

While Sheena may have only needed the memory to lift her spirits, Lunge was somewhat less moved. "I'll take your word for it." 'Fun' wasn't an adjective usually applied to him, or his work, or anything remotely relating to him. Phrases like 'killjoy' and 'miserable bastard' were far more likely, albeit behind the closed doors of the break room where no one thought he could hear them. They were wrong. Nonetheless, he committed the information to memory.

That she was so uncertain about her stay, meanwhile, was not surprising. Time was fluid here, loosely knitted together by a series of shifts from night to day so seamless there barely seemed any boundary between them at all. In all his time here, Lunge wasn't even more he had seen or heard a single date.

Hmm. A week and a half... "So you were here for the undead attack two nights ago?" Keeping the disbelief out of his voice by this point was child's play. "There's something I've been wondering about that."

"Yeah, I was. Got the bite to prove it," the ninja replied with a vague gesture toward her left shoulder. She shuddered a little. "I hate zombies," she added on in a quieter voice.

Lunge's question told Sheena that the man really was new. If he hadn't been in Doyleton for the zombies, that meant he came in on the last group of patients. No wonder he was wandering around by himself. The man was lucky he'd come across her and not some of the other people stuck in here.

"What do you want to know? I'll give as best an answer as I can." While she waited for the question, she climbed up the movable ladder to get a look at the top shelf contents.

His eyes wandered briefly to her shoulder, but he didn't need to see bandages to trust her word. Close contact. Unpleasant for her, extremely useful for him. Lunge didn't quite smile but his face opened receptively, rather pleased in the loosest sense of the word.

"It's nothing too complicated," he said, not once stepping out of his calm, reassuring officer role. "I was just wondering- were the undead able to talk in any way when you faced them?" He paused to give Sheena room to think before continuing to the second part of his question. "I also understand that several past patients also appeared. Did you run into any of those?"

"Not unless you count unintelligible moaning as talking," Sheena replied without really needing that pause to think. That night was clearly etched into her mind. She hated zombies as they scared her a little because of their unnaturalness, hated the fact that they were so prevalent around Mizuho, but was more than capable of dealing with them.

"I heard that some were claiming to see former captives there as zombies," the ninja said. "I didn't see any, thankfully." Besides, she was far too busy protecting that damn youkai and trying really hard not to die after she took the damage that she did to really pay much attention to what others might have been dealing with.

"I can tell you that the horse they had there in town became a zombie, too." She glanced down at the older man. "Why do you ask?"

Just as it had been with Eileen, the fear was all too apparent in Sheena's voice- it was as though the faster she said the words, the sooner they would be away from her. Fear was powerful; it went beyond emotion into instinct, and to evoke it was to reach into the core of a person. It was unlikely that she was lying.

Which left the possibility from before tantalisingly untarnished. Whether or not it would be valid after looking into the former patients' appearances he could not say, but if he operating on the basis that he was correct...

"Research," he answered vaguely. "I'm looking into the potential role of Jack, the previous radio host, in the night's events. Working out where he fits." Startlingly enough, the smile he suddenly wore was perfectly genuine, even if the way the shadows fells across his face suggested otherwise. "It's very interesting."

Research? Maybe Sheena should introduce Lunge to Raine. They could probably entertain each other for hours. Also, that smile? Very creepy, even if it was real. Some people just look like they never smile, like real, real smile, so when they did, it was unsettling.

"Huh. I never paid much attention to the whole Jack/Alec /Jill/whatever radio thing," Sheena replied. "I think he was gone before I ended up here. You know... you should talk to my friend, Raine. She's a professor, does that research stuff, too, and has been far longer than I have. Maybe you can put your brains together and come up with something." Sheena gave a small smile. "Couldn't hurt, could it?"

Well, not unless Raine was in a foul mood, had a book in hand, and Lunge said something to really piss her off.

The name was duly noted and recorded - the more points of reference he had, the better- and he nodded, the smile turning obliging and losing some of its chill. A 'researcher' with yet more experience of the Institute was always promising. As with Javert and Edgeworth, he supposed he could expect a certain degree of professionalism. "I'll look her up. Thank you, you've been very helpful."

All the while he had been speaking he had allowed his mind to keep operating; events linked to theories to possibilities, opening out in interconnected splendour like some great spider's web. Yes... he could see it now...

"Do you have everything?" he asked abruptly, letting the web fade behind his eyes. Not yet. It wasn't finished yet.

With a lithe jump down from the latter, Sheena chirped, "Yup!"

Tying the pillowcase in a knot, she tucked the end into her obi, securing the bag to hang from her waist. She rubber lower left leg, for the first time drawing attention to her ripped legging and the blood stain on the dark cloth. She'd felt a twinge when she landed; she'd been right in it not healing all the way inside. Damnit.

Nothing escaped Inspector Lunge's notice; he tilted his head slightly at her as she landed (a little off, perhaps) before letting his eyes wander down to the red stains on her leg.

"From your monster attack from earlier?" he asked, clinical as ever.

"No, I just make a habit of slashing my own leg open before I go out where the monsters are," Sheena replied with mild sarcasm. "Makes it easier for them to find me."

Seriously, what kind of question was that?

"I'm fine," she replied, the sarcasm disappearing. "I just didn't heal it as much as I'd have liked."

Sheena's sarcasm sank without a ripple into Lunge's expression; if he cared or even noticed he certainly wasn't giving it away. Behind that, however, his mind was appending her profile: practical to the point of bluntness; sharp, but not to the point of being antagonising. Feelings are made clear and expressed without hesitation. For a ninja, she certainly is open.

Hmm. Maybe he would delete the 'ninja' comment, pending the discovery of how far he could stretch his belief.

He glanced back at her injured leg again as he turned to leave. Hmm. No signs of it having been dressed or cleaned.

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Night 44: Pantry (2nd Floor)

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