damned_institute | Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

There were very few activity shifts, Cloud was sure, that could possibly make him feel more like he was being treated like a child. He took a seat at one of the tables and blankly examined the materials set out before him. A pair of the dullest scissors he'd ever seen were labeled 'ages 3 and up'. It was good to know where the patients stood in this.

He wasn't much of an artist, and he ignored most of the paints and other drawing utensils in favor of a few sheets of colored paper and instructions on how to make origami. That sounded vaguely familiar. Didn't Yuffie have throwing weapons made out of paper at some point? It was something to do anyway, and thus Cloud began the process of crafting what ended up being very elaborate paper wads.

Sadly, his attempts to keep from dwelling on the subject of his missing friend failed when he realized this was something Aerith probably would have enjoyed greatly. Tonight, he and Yuffie would go out and try to accomplish... something. It was depressing to think there really might not be anything they could do, that they might all end up the same as the flower girl eventually.

[for a hopefully more optimistic materia thief]

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The barrage of questions might have overwhelmed the average new patient, but Tear was as cool and collected as ever. That was the soldier Anise knew! The familiarity of her demeanor was kind of comforting, in a way. As Tear spoke, Anise's face lit up with a smile.

"Naturally!" she chirped in response to Tear's comment about her. Anise had been doing a good job of staying out of trouble! ...Most of the time. "Ehe, and I'm glad we caught you before nighttime. Luke and Guy told you all about that, right?" If they had, then Tear wouldn't have to guess at what 'that' referred to.

Though the girl was still excited, she remembered the books in front of her, and picked one of them up again. As she skimmed the pages for interesting-looking crafts, she seemed to suddenly remember something else important, and looked back up at Tear. "Oh! Did you see the bulletin board yet?"

Tear couldn't help but smile. Anise had, at times, an infectious enthusiasm. Combined with knowing the girl was both well and keeping it upbeat, the Melodist had plenty of reasons to appear relatively glad for this meeting. "They did, thankfully." If not for Luke and Guy's help, she would have been in quite a bind come nightfall.

As Anise returned to her task, Tear took to a nearby seat. In another's company, she might have watched out of propriety, but with her teammate, Tear was genuinely curious. What was she planning to do with all those books? What better way than to ask the person herself?

Only she was briefly sidetracked by another question, one that was considerably more important. Therefore, Tear answered that first. "Yes, I've been keeping track of it since breakfast," she said. It had been informative, but the information contained within tended toward the ambiguous scale. Lots of coding, though for good reason. "It seems to be used often. Is that the only method of communication available here?" Aside from face-to-face talking, of course.

Looked like Tear was on top of things. That was good! It meant Anise wasn't going to have to explain quite as much. "Pretty much, yeah. It's really handy during the day, but the nurses keep a close eye on it, so you have to watch what you write there. People use a lot of codes and stuff when talking about what happens at night."

Anise flipped through a stack of origami paper as she explained, looking for a good color to use. There were lots of pretty patterns, which only made it harder to choose. The floral patterns were really cute, and the abstract designs had such vibrant colors...

"...Oh, and speaking of codes, me and the others have been using Abyssman code names to talk to each other. Keep an eye out for them!" Tear might have figured it out anyway, but it was best to make sure she knew ahead of time. "At first we used them just to be extra careful, but now that we've got creeps like Sync running around, it's really important to keep our plans private." It didn't exactly help when Sync managed to find her at night anyway, but it did give him less opportunities to ambush them and sabotage their efforts.

That was unfortunate; another means of communication would help keep avenues open in the event one became unavailable. From the sound of it, however, the patients' resourceful use of the bulletin was keeping the board from being taken down. Codes could be a headache to decipher, but as long as they worked, she supposed she could be content with what was available.

"I see," replied Tear. Her eyes remained fixed on the decorative paper Anise was sorting through. She couldn't help herself: some of the patterns were attractive to look at. Of course, she still had no clue as to their use, but now was hardly the time to wonder about that.

Especially as Anise continued. Tear was surprised to hear the Abyssman code names being their group's signature way to communicate, but upon further consideration, it made sense. As silly as the names were, it would only be comprehensible to them. "I'll watch for them," she affirmed. "Though, I still can't believe Sync is alive." And here, of all places. "He hasn't been interfering, has he?"

In the pile of paper, Anise selected a golden yellow colored one, spotted with bright orange flowers. That would be good for making a duck, right? Anise set the others back in the center of the table and laid out her selection next to the open book, looking to the page for folding instructions.

Tear's comment about Sync made her pause just after her first fold, however. She couldn't believe he was alive? That meant she was either way behind Anise, or way ahead. Anise knew she ought to answer Tear's question before asking any of her own, though.

"Uh... interfering is one way of putting it," she answered somewhat delicately, her grin turning weary. "Since he doesn't really have a boss or a main goal here, I think he's made 'messing with everyone' his new goal. That creep's done a lot of damage." That last statement came out in a grumbling tone. Anise wasn't sure if she should give Tear the full story of everything that had happened with Sync's schemes when she had so much she needed to absorb already, but at the very least, she was going to make it very clear how big of a threat the God-General was.

"Hey, Tear?" This was probably a good time for Anise to ask her own question. She wanted to know what she could expect Tear to know. "What's the last thing you remember? Before you wound up here, I mean."

It took no effort for Tear to understand: Sync had more than interfered. His very presence had caused enough trouble for the God-General to be labeled as a viable threat. Though, the fact shouldn't really surprise her at this point. If there was one constant to stick to, it was that there would always be someone under Van's command getting in their way. She would just need to take that into account, on top of everything else.

Before she could properly vent out the building frustrations with a sigh, Anise brought up a question of her own. Its nature took the Melodist aback, but she eventually agreed on the logic. She canted her head slightly--a contemplative move--and then answered, "We had stayed in Belkend for the night, and--"

Here, unlike the previous time, Tear hesitated. The others hadn't really known about her intentions, but Luke had reacted well to her reveal. In fact, he hadn't questioned it. This, however, did not necessarily mean Anise would feel the same. "--I boarded the ship to Ortion Cavern with the fonimin gathering team."

At first, the look on Anise's face was somewhat puzzled at Tear's response. For a moment, she had to stop and think about just when that had happened. When it clicked, her eyes widened and she took on a more surprised look.

"Whoa... that's pretty far behind!" What all had happened between then and the point that Anise last remembered? Ion's death... that came to mind immediately. And with it, there was Tear's cure. If Landel was able to manipulate time, rather than just erasing memories, then did that mean that Tear was sick again? It couldn't be... right? After everything they'd been through, and what Ion had sacrificed, it just seemed too cruel.

"Um... did the others mention how all of us remember different things? My last memories are few months ahead of yours, and some of the others are years ahead!" Anise was used to being the farthest behind, so it was weird to think Tear remembered even less than she did.

Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

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