damned_institute | DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

Entry tags:

DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

There was something fishy going on in the Institute today. All over the bulletin board, people were talking about having "woken up", having been "cured"... and it seemed as though ZEX was one of them. Tanaka wouldn't have recognized the note at all if it hadn't been signed - his wording, his handwriting, even his name had changed - and a part of him still wondered if it had been an imposter, trying to pull the wool over the Captain's allies.

But it'd be easy enough to find out the truth. Whoever it was had agreed to meet him, and Tanaka was waiting for him just outside the cafeteria doors, ready to catch him as he came from breakfast. If "Max" was an imposter, then he'd discover the identity of a hidden enemy. And if he was really ZEX...

...well, he'd have a whole new set of things to worry about.

[for a ~~spoiled rich brat~~ brainwashed Admiral]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kid friendly? But everyone here used the bulletin to check on their friends or to make sure that they stayed safe at night. There wasn't a lot they could talk about there that was kid friendly. She'd thought it strange that they would let them have that much freedom, but apparently now they were going to check it more carefully. At least, that's what they'd said on the intercom.

"Ah... you're probably right," she nodded.

It was strange too that he asked for her name, but didn't give his first. Then again, there were so many customs here that maybe it was different where he was from. Who knew? At least he seemed friendly. "Kagura Sohma. It's nice to meet you. Ah... I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Kagura, huh? Reno."

He half-turned to glance over the room, not so much distracted as...yeah, okay, he was kinda distracted, but when was he not? Anyway, hanging out around the board was awkward and probably not the best way to spend the entire shift.

"C'mon, we're gonna kill our time by playing twenty questions. Or something."

Reno pushed off without waiting to see if she was even gonna follow, figuring she either would or wouldn't, and that'd kinda be his signal of whether she was down with him or not. Not that he ever got rejected.

Usually.

He flopped down unceremoniously on one of the couches.

Just Reno? No family name? Or was that his family name? It got so confusing trying to keep track here. But even more curious was the man's behavior. He'd asked her to play a game, but then walked away to a couch. She hesitated, but followed him a moment later, found a spot that was clear of his legs and arms, then sat, nearly straight-backed. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable, it was simply how she usually sat.

"Ah... I'm s-sorry, I'm not sure how to play. Could you explain it for me Reno-san?" she asked, a slight blush coloring her cheeks. It sounded simple enough, like she ought to know it, but with all the different cultures, maybe it was similar to something she knew.

Reno glanced over at her, eyebrow cocked in partial curiosity, and partial amusement.

He had a feeling he was making her nervous or something, judging by the way she freaking actually blushed, and while he wasn't really trying to chase her away—if he were, he'd have accomplished that even before she'd managed to get his name—he wasn't up for toning it down, either.

Which, frankly, he thought was kinda a favour here, 'cause he could've yanked her leg by doing that. But he didn't feel like it. Not a hell of a lot of fun toying with someone when they were an easy target.

Unless that someone was Rude. Rude was a special case, though.

"Well, I didn't exactly mean it literally," he replied. "But if you really wanna know, it's, uh. Someone has an answer and someone else asks their way into finding out that answer. In, y'know. Twenty questions."

What? Explaining rules weren't his thing. Anyway, the last time he played that game, he'd been drunk off his ass, so he was pretty sure he'd been playing it wrong.

Had she said something wrong? Agh, why was she so terrible at this? It wasn't her fault the Sohma household was so closed off from the rest of the world, but... it sure made her feel out of place sometimes.

"O-oh, you mean like... just getting to know each other then, right? Ah... um..." while she grasped the concept, talking about herself wasn't one of the things she was best at. Usually it was polite to ask about someone else, not be boastful and talk about herself.

"Do you want to start? I um... I'm not so very good at this," she said quietly, fidgeting in her seat. "Everyone here has something exciting to talk about but... but I'm fairly ordinary."

"I was just playin'," Reno said, somewhat because he was kinda taking pity on her, and mostly because he didn't actually wanna spend the next thirty minutes doing twenty questions for real without a single shot of booze.

"But we can do the intros. I'm sure you've got interesting ordinary things to say. I mean." He shrugged. "I dunno. Where'd you come from?"

He'd gotten all sorts of bizarre answers with that question, even if it was a standard one. But hey, no one had beat riding on giant birds as a sport yet, so Reno figured until then, he wasn't gonna be too surprised by much.

Despite offering to let him start, he still wanted to know about her? That was a change. She was unprepared and it was kind of hard to meet his eyes unless it was every so often, but she tried to be polite and sociable.

"Ah... I'm from Earth, a small island nation called Japan. I grew up on our family's estate and... and just last year I started college. I haven't really decided yet what I want to study."

She glanced down shyly, "I.. I'm sorry if it's boring. What kind of world are you from Reno-san?"

Ah, higher education. Well, she had said she was pretty ordinary.

Reno had run across a few people who claimed they were from Earth, apparently another planet, though he couldn't see a lot of differences between them as far as he could tell. He'd always figured they'd be, like. Y'know. Aliens. Rows and rows of Jenova's heads, maybe.

But that'd be really fucking disturbing, so the reality was better.

He waved a hand, dismissive. "Boring's not exactly bad. You get to keep your limbs and stuff on a regular basis."

Which was true enough, though he'd never thought about taking that option on his own. He was pretty sure he wouldn't know what to do with himself. No, he depended on people trying to kill each other and maybe it was good it didn't look like they were gonna run short anytime soon. Even if Tuesti was acting like they could rebuild or whatever, like they'd be rebuilding into something better instead of the same old shit, just with a different packaging.

"Gaia. Come from Gaia, city called Midgar. It's kinda--" He made a squishing motion with his hands. "--flattened, but y'know. We're working on that."

Reno did have a point. Up until now, she couldn't say she appreciated having all her fingers and toes quite like she did now. Here was far from boring.

"Mm... w-well... yes it... it does get really dangerous at night. I miss it back home. It was always quiet," she said softly, trying not to divert too far from their topic. Besides at least they weren't... did he say "flattened??"

She blinked a few times in confusion, stuck for what exactly to say to his last remark. "Ah... flat? Was there ah... a really bad earthquake? Did... something happen?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject