damned_institute | Day 50: Chapel

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Day 50: Chapel

The last thing Claude heard was the Head Doctor's voice faintly filtering into the corridors of the ship before he found himself tucked beneath the sheets of his bed. It took a moment to register he'd even changed locations, but then he he abruptly sat up, fought the wave of nausea that washed over him, and felt the blankets beneath his fingers. The room. He was back in his room now. Under different circumstances, he might have wondered if last night had been some horrid dream, but the sharp pain in his eyes gave him a rude awakening. Hissing through his teeth, Claude buried the heels of his palms against his lids, only to discover two cold compresses had been taped over them.

"Good morning, Thomas," he heard the nurse's cheerful voice from beside his bed. Her sudden presence nearly made him jump out of his skin, and he sharply turned toward the source of the greeting, heart beating rapidly in his chest. "I'm sorry you're not feeling well today, but hopefully you can still enjoy some of the activities we have planned."

'Not feeling well' was a bit of an understatement. His hand hurt, his stomach kept turning with every movement, and it felt like someone had dumped a bunch of sand into both eye sockets. Right now, Claude just wanted the nurse to leave him be, but it didn't look like that was an option. Taking his uninjured hand, she gently tugged him out of bed, despite his protests that, no, really, he just wanted to stay in and sleep, please.

"I think getting out of your room a little bit will do you good," she told him. "I'm sorry your eyes are probably hurting, though. If you're ever feeling uncomfortable, don't hesitate to ask one of us for some pills."

"What about eye drops?" Claude asked tightly.

"Oh, no, too much of that could damage your eyes," she cautioned, and the sheer irony of the situation hit Claude so hard that it would have been laughable if he didn't already feel like crying right then. The nurse was as oblivious to it as always, however. "I know you usually go into the chapel during this shift. Would you like to go there again?" Claude didn't answered immediately, but that didn't deter the nurse. "Yes, I think that sounds best..."

In truth, he probably should have requested the sun room -- it was closer, for one, which meant the nurse didn't have to lead him as far of a distance. For another, lying down on one of their sofas sounded like a good option. But by the time Claude came to that conclusion, he was too stubborn to say anything, and he made his way up to the second floor, his footing slow, but steady.

The nurse deposited him on one of the central pews, next to the aisle, before leaving him to himself. Thankfully, it was still early in the shift. As he paused to listen, the room was mostly silent, save for the footsteps and hushed voices of the occasional staff member or patient who trickled in. But it was probably only a matter of time before others came. For some reason, the thought of being stuck in a crowded room made him tense, not necessarily because he thought anyone would pay him any mind, but because he simply didn't want it right then.

Somehow, the full implications of what happened last night hadn't sunken in: experiments, healing himself, the issue of whether he could actually go home after this, not being able to see, the ship, father. Instead, he just felt saturated with all of it, paralyzed by the horror of what they'd done to him, and the uncertainty of what it all meant beyond this moment. Claude took a shuddering breath, uninjured hand balling into a fist in his lap.

[For Guy.]

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Momo had stayed in her room, waiting to hear something from the radio so she could investigate, but had ended up falling asleep. How embarrassing. At least she hadn't made plans with anyone. She was also a bit wary about leaving the room before Raine. There was something about the look in the healer's eye when she looked at Laevatein that made her nervous. The broadsword meant a lot to Momo and she'd been charged, in a way, with its safety. That was something she wasn't sure she could guarantee with Raine.

At least she was refreshed come morning. Now, the missing presence of Hitsugaya didn't bother her, at least not as much as it used to. Now it was just another void in the back of her mind. It was sad that all she could feel anymore was Senna, Hanatarou and that one shinigami from another world. There used to be all sorts of reiatsu swirling around her. Now she just felt... alone.

Sitting down at a pew, the vice captain contemplated this. Why were so many shinigami gone? How many had truly died? And was there an order or method to which ones remained and which disappeared?

[free]

Carter's eyes opened, and almost immediately he whirled in bed to try and grab Kairi's hand. Where was she, she was gone, was she okay...that poor girl, all alone with nothing but a little sword that she probably didn't know how to use. That just wasn't fair. The young sergeant sat up, yawning out of habit and scratching his head. At least he'd gotten some dog biscuits out of it, if he ever wound up in the kennel again he'd try and feed some of those poor trapped animals.

"Breakfast?" he asked the nurse eagerly, only to be met with a choice of chapel or sun room. Wow. He hadn't been to church in...it felt like years. Probably not proper church since he'd left America, and nobody at Stalag 13 seemed interested in doing any praying when people weren't shooting at them. He'd fallen out of the habit of even saying his prayers at night. But surely this would be a chance to catch up! He might even see Kairi and then he could tell her more about America and Christianity (because natives didn't know that kind of thing) and he could make sure she wasn't too shook up by all that jumping around.

Except the chapel wasn't really...a chapel. Carter wandered, confused, until he found someone sitting alone and crouched by their pew. "Do you think they're renovating?" he whispered, throwing a bewhildered glance towards the stained glass windows. "There's sort of...pieces missing, out of the chapel." Where were all the crosses?

Momo looked up and tilted her head, attention on the man that was questioning her. "No... this is the same way it's always been." As far as the shinigami knew.

"What were you expecting? And do you wish to sit?" He was certainly drawing attention kneeling like he was.

"Oh! Sure." Carter grinned and edged in to sit next to her, hands automatically folding in front of him. He looked at the pew in front of him and was consternated to not find any Bibles sitting in little slots.

"It's just that there's no crosses here, or books, and I don't see anyone doing any praying. So it's kind of a funny kind of chapel, isn't it?" he said, head bowed as he tried to at least look vaguely religious.

Sliding a bit over to give the man more room, Momo offered a small smile.

"I believe this is supposed to be a universal style chapel given the diversity of the patients. Given most, to me at least, appear to not be Christian." She tilted her head a bit. "But I take it you are. I'm afraid there won't be anyone performing a service."

"Well, sure they are." Carter looked over his shoulder just to make sure the other prisoners hadn't changed since he last saw them. He pointed to a random head in the pews. "Most of them are white or black people, and most of those are Christians. There's a few Japanese people and Kairi's an island native, so they might not be, but I think most people are Christians. Maybe a few Catholics too."

It wasn't something one really talked about much where he came from. He knew there were people who believed other things besides Christianity, he just hadn't thought about what they might do in their chapels.

Momo was silent for a long moment, given she was one of the Japanese he was referring to not to mention being a death god. How did she want to deal with this man. She was amazingly tolerant for a shinigami, so she decided she'd just see about educating the man.

"The racial diversity, or lack thereof, in a place that appears to be that of 'whites' - Caucasian - does not automatically translate to religious homogeneity," she explained, her tone light and informative. She was by no means attempting to appear superior. "There are not as many patients from Earth as it looks like. To those not, why would they believe in the Christian God if they aren't even from a place that believes in such a thing. There are some that don't even believe in gods... and some that are gods."

Carter hadn't wanted to say anything about Momo being Japanese, given how much Haseo yelled at him for it yesterday. According to his sample size of one person, Japanese people got very testy when you tried to explain things to them, or asked them questions that they thought were stupid. It was best to...um...Carter hadn't figured out what didn't make Haseo upset, but perhaps women Japanese were more easy going.

"I don't know what Homogeneity is, we don't have that religion in America." Carter bit his thumb thoughtfully. "But I guess aliens wouldn't know about Christianity so they wouldn't have it. Huh. Just seems funny to have a chapel at all without having something to put in it." He refolded his hands, wondering if he should even be praying here.

With a bit of a chuckle, Momo shook her head. "No, homogeneity isn't a religion, but a word to describe a group of things that are all the same. Such as whites and blacks all being Christian, as you had put it. My apologies for using an uncommon term."

Casting a glance around, she gave the man a small smile. "I guess I can understand that. I'm personally not religious - spiritual, yes, but not religious - but I will admit that most humans are. Perhaps this room is mean to help one pray if they feel the need or not." A pause. "It does looks quite different during the night, though."

Carter visibly brightened, encouraged by her friendliness. Yes, a scientific note, Japanese women were nicer. He nodded happily and tucked the word away for lately use in an inappropriate context.

"I've never been up here at night, I didn't even know we had a chapel," he said. "But last night, wow, we were all over the place, in a doctor's office and then in the woods and then in a pet store. By the way, have you seen a girl named Kairi? We were together and then I woke up and she was gone. She's a nice girl, I don't want anything bad to have happened to her." And she'd been the first person not to tease him about Mary Jane and tell him to move on, or compare her to fish or wars.

As the shinigami had stayed in all night, she wasn't aware of the portals as the others were. She cocked her head, brow furrowed. What was he talking about?

"No... I haven't seen Kairi in a long time. I wasn't aware she'd returned to the institute," she replied. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're referring to. What do you mean by 'all over the place'?"

"I...I don't know. You'd have to ask someone who knows a little more about how this place works." Carter put his chin in his hand and made a thoughtful face at the pew in front of him. "But every time we went through a door we came out somewhere new. And not in the regular way, when you go into the next room, but a completely different room."

If that made any sense, Carter still wasn't completely sure what had happened to them.

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Day 50: Chapel

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