damned_institute | Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

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Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room. He told himself it was so that he could watch the bulletin, him still being fairly new and needing all the information he could get, but the thought rang hollow.

The real reason he was here, he knew, was because he would be out there. Maybe it was weak of him, but he needed a chance to breathe. Ever since he'd arrived it had been nothing but one shock after another, and seeing Zack standing in the cafeteria that morning talking to Aerith had been the final card that caused his tower to crumble. He needed to just sit back somewhere out of the way and start rebuilding.

Being able to watch the bulletin from here was just a perk. Cloud made himself comfortable on one of the sofas, watching people come and go but not really paying attention to them. He took the time to try and rate this on a scale of the biggest messes he'd ever gotten thrown into.

(for Sheena)

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Cloud gave a light 'heh' and held the injury up for her inspection. It wasn't even bleeding. "Might take me out of action for a while, but I think I've had worse."

He held out his other hand, the one not recently chewed on. Any reason not to dwell on his current problems was a good one. "Cloud Strife. You look like you ran into something nastier than a rogue kitten. Anything I can do?" She looked capable enough, so the question was really more for the sake of politeness than anything else. Though knowing a little more about what enemies they were up against at night never hurt. Yuffie had gathered a lot of information, but other perspectives were always welcome.

It took Sheena a moment of staring at the hand before it dawned on her that she should shake it. With her own uninjured hand, she took it wit a firm grip. At the introduction, Sheena grinned and chuckled. What a small building. She hadn't expected to just run into Yuffie's friend.

"Nice to meet you, Cloud. I'm Sheena Fujibayshi. Now we have faces to go with the handwriting." She nodded at the couch. "I should... probably sit down."

That was a coincidence, but an entirely impossible occurrence. Cloud moved out of the young woman's way so that she could take a seat on the couch he'd just vacated. When she was situated, he sat down next to her. (Not too close, of course. He didn't want her getting the wrong idea.)

"Yes we do." He smiled. "It's a pleasure to actually meet you." People who could get along that well with Yuffie were few in supply. It was good to see that the ninja had made friends while she was here, though it made him wonder what type of person this Sheena was exactly. It also made him wonder if he should be careful with what he said, if only because he might be teased about it later.

It took Sheena a few moments to find a comfortable spot where there wasn't too much pressure on her back. It did feel nice to be sitting down and made her wonder if she was going to be up to her planned nightly activities. Well, she'd at least have her injuries as an excuse to Yuffie as to why she would be made of fail this upcoming night. The other ninja couldn't tease her that much given the obvious injuries. She'd just get teased about how she'd gotten them. Bouncing off a window? Such a blow to her ninja ego.

Sheena smiled at Cloud and then blinked. "Woah... she was right about your eyes. That's... unique." Even in the Sun Room she could see an unusual luminescence to them, as if there was a tiny flame flickering within them. Honestly, it made her think of Celsius' eyes, but Cloud didn't look like he was one with a great ice elemental.

Cloud leaned away automatically at the scrutiny. He was used to people commenting on his eyes by now, of course, but here the person commenting probably didn't even know what caused them to look that way in the first place. Not everyone on his world knew the true nature of mako or materia, but they at least knew what they were.

Should he go on to explain that he'd been pumped full of enough of the planet's life force that it would never completely leave his system? That these were the eyes of someone in SOLDIER but he'd never made it that far?

"It just means I was a lab rat, is all." He gave a weak smile. No, it wasn't worth getting into. Not now, anyway. "And it's not like I'm the only one that's like this where I'm from."

Oops. Maybe Sheena shouldn't have said anything. The initial reaction told her it was a sore subject. Instead of pressing the issue, she just gave a wan smile and replied, "Yeah... kinda know the feeling."

Though in her case, she was the only summoner in both worlds, the first n four thousand years and there probably wouldn't be another one for four thousand years after her. It made her feel... weird. Enough on that.

"...so how'd you meet Yuffie?"

Well, she tried to mug us, so we beat her senseless and she decided to follow us around so she could steal from us later. "We met on the road and just happened to share similar goals." It was sort of true, at least. There had been times when she was more trouble than she was worth, but in the long run she'd helped out just as much as anyone else. Sometimes they'd needed her boundless energy when their course seemed to get harder and harder.

"What about you?" He wasn't going to ask about her response, about whether she meant she'd been experimented on same as him or not. That wasn't the best topic to get on with someone you hardly knew.

Similar goals when it came to Yuffie could mean a lot of things and few of them probably had actually been truly similar to Cloud's. But Yuffie did grow on a person and if her focus was right, she'd be a great ally.

"On the board, actually," Sheena replied with a gesture toward the bulletin board. "It was one of my first days here. She posted something that later mentioned ninja, so I had to find out what village she was from. Which started the age-old tradition of village rivalry of which was better, Mizuho or Wutai. Of course, Mizuho is better, but she doesn't understand that. One of these days we're going to settle that." The entire time Sheena spoke of the rivalry and settling things, she had a bright smile on her face. Yes, Yuffie was her rival, but she was her friend and the Mizuho ninja knew she could count of Yuffie when needed.

"Oh, that reminds me that she and I need to finish our sign next Arts & Crafts da--"

The ninja's words suddenly cut off as, across the room, she saw an unfamiliar pink-haired woman cry out Yukari's name and then throw herself onto the youkai. What the hell? Eyes narrowed, Sheena's eyebrow twitched and she grit her teeth. Who was that being overly familiar with Sheena's youkai?

Ah, so that was the connection. They were both ninja. It made sense, really, and it was good to know that it was a friendly rivalry. At least Yuffie had someone else to toss jibes at while she was here, though he was sure she was going to be making up for all the time he was gone.

Cloud had been about to continue the conversation when Sheena stopped talking abruptly, and he followed her gaze across the room. As he was unfamiliar with either of the girls he thought she was looking at, and because matters between angry women were best left between angry women, he kept quiet on the matter.

He didn't even ask about what sign she meant, simply waited until she was finished with her glaring.

In the midst of her glaring, her mind sifting through the possibilities of who that pink-haired woman might be, Sheena leaned back against the couch more. Distracted as she was, the ninja had forgotten about the wounds on her back. Pain flared and, with a barely audible cry, Sheena lost her focus on the youkai and sat back up.

"Damn bird," she grumbled as she re-situated herself. Glancing over at Cloud, she blinked. "Uh... what were we talking about?"

"Yuffie," Cloud replied easily enough and with a smile. "And something about a sign and Arts and Crafts." Which had him curious, just because the ninja was involved. Any sign she had a part in creating would be certain to be an attention grabber. He'd let Sheena go on before he assumed too much, however.

He did keep an eye on her injury with some concern. Truthfully, he was more interested in what had caused it. Her mention of a bird reminded him of what he'd seen on the field the night before. That meant it was possible she'd been one of the combatants. It was a bit late for apologies now, and chances were there wouldn't have been anything he could have done to begin with. Given how long it had taken them to get out, she might have even been attacked before they arrived.

"Oh...yeah." Sheena said again after casting another quick glance in the youkai's direction. "We need to finish this sign we're making for when we bring this place down. To give it a proper farewell."

She then grinned. "It's got glitter and reads 'Love and kisses from Mizuho and Wutai'. The perfect sign for when we make Landel fall to his knees and beg us for mercy. He's already shown he's afraid of what we can do together since he made us both evil the night we were going to do some serious damage to this place."

Cloud laughed outright at that, not loudly but without any false cheer. It was no wonder the two of them got along so well. He was all for the positive attitude, and it would be pretty damn gratifying to be able to leave something like that behind once, yes once, they managed to start bringing this place down.

"That's great! I might just want to help you out. Talk about boosting morale." He didn't say anything about her admission to being brainwashed along with Yuffie, considering it a topic best not discussed in detail unless the other patient wanted it. Still that was an interesting coincidence to take note of.

Sheena chuckled. "Now, now, now, Cloud... What kind of qualifications do you have for getting in on the ninja sign of awesomeness?"

Her eyes twinkled a little. "Sure, I hear you have some fashion sense, but what about your sense of glitter?"

More laughter followed, and Cloud held up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "You got me there. I've got no glitter sense at all. Absolutely none. Guess I'll have to leave it up to you guys."

And he had no problem with that, really. Glitter was one of those things you were still picking out of your hair several months after having it spilled on your shoes. It got everywhere. They were free to have all the fun with it they wanted, though, if it meant it kept their spirits up.

A sly little smile touched Sheena's lips. "I bet you'd look dashing in glitter."

Maybe she'd talk Yuffie into giving Cloud a glitter shower the next time there was Arts & Crafts. Just then, the intercom went off and the nurses started bustling around.

"It was nice talking to you. We'll have to do it again sometime,' she said as she slowly got herself to her feet.

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Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

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