damned_institute | 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)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"They told me I slept through breakfast." Most likely those words had never before carried such hurt as they did now. This was rank betrayal; the staff had let her eat meals late before!

"Last time they brought me something anyway," she confided, just so it was clear to even a less gluttonous soul that an injustice had been perpetrated. A favor, once extended, was not to be lightly withdrawn... or so Yuyuko was inclined to think when her breakfast was at stake, anyway.

"How positively cruel of them," commiserated Yukari in a not-quite-shocked voice. Ah, why did this child have become a hungry ghost? Not that she really minded. The princess's stomach could often lead them to unintended results, or so she would claim. "Well, this place is designed to torture us. You can't expect them to always let you have your way."

Yawning and stretching, the youkai squirmed in Yuyuko's grasp as she pulled herself into a semi-sitting position from just lying down. As much as she valued a morning nap, an unexpected meeting with a half-expected specter took priority for the moment.

"And just what have you been up to, that I haven't seen you these past pair of days?" she asked with a lazy smile.

Yukari of all people should have known the answer to that. "I was napping," the ghost said, looking suspiciously at Yukari. Well, she had been asleep when Yuyuko had found her, so she probably hadn't been given a napectomy by the evil doctors just yet...

But if they took breakfast from Yuyuko, it was probably only a matter of time.

The ghost sighed unhappily. "A kind of torture where they take the things you like best? Isn't that the worst for us?"

And her nurses let her get away with that? Yukari was positively jealous. She only ever got as far as second shift before they rolled her out of bed, and sometimes not even that far! Getting a whole forty-eight hours of sleep was something she dreamed of in the few hours of sleep she did get.

"It really is," the youkai agreed. "They keep me awake during the day but all the interesting things happen at night. I have to choose between being tired or bored."

Both of which were states of being that she generally tried to avoid experiencing.

"Well, at least there's a lot of interesting people," she said with a sigh. "I never get visitors at my house."

Yuyuko pouted. Yukari got one visitor, at least, though Yuyuko's duties did mean she couldn't visit all that often. Of course, she wasn't in the best position to empathize either; her realm guaranteed her an endless stream of new faces.

"More interesting than your lot back home?" Yuyuko asked, curiosity piqued. Gensokyo was certainly a colorful place; she had trouble thinking of this gray-on-gray institute as being more stimulating. Perhaps it deserved better attention.

Yukari had been facetious in her complaint; after all, she had purposefully made it so no one could find her house unless she wanted them to. Well, short a few unexplained instances where the ghost before her appeared there, but that could probably be attributed to subconscious whims or strong sake.

"Well, perhaps not that interesting, and certainly not as pleasant," she admitted. "But it's a change of pace and a number of things you can't find back home. Just last Saturday the town we were visiting was suddenly overrun with animated corpses with a taste for the living. It was all very exciting."

She said it flippantly, though inwardly she had to admit it was not an experience she cared to repeat. It was harder to take an objective laugh at preposterous situations when one was stuck in the middle of them and possibly in danger of dying.

Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject