damned_institute | Day 53: Sun Room

When the intercom came on to announce the shift change, the feeling of dread returned. Anise had calmed down considerably since the morning, and she felt more ready to discuss the previous night with Ilia... but not as ready as she wanted to be.

Since the Music Room was bound to be noisy and crowded, Anise opted for the Sun Room instead, hoping that Ilia would come to the same conclusion. She took a seat on one side of a couch in the middle of the room, and waited there. If Ilia didn't show up after a while, she'd go try the Music Room.

Even though this talk had been on her mind all day, Anise still didn't know what she would say. And if she explained the truth behind her shadow's words last night... what would Ilia think? On the one hand, Ilia had shown herself to be a compassionate person, and it was hard to picture her treating Anise differently. But on the other hand, Anise hadn't known Ilia that long... and Ilia was a soldier. She would understand the gravity of Anise's actions, and the sorts of consequences that usually waited for people like her.

With these worries weighing on her mind, Anise leaned against the arm of the couch as she waited.

[For Ilia.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Claire stumbled on the courtesy. Greetings had fallen out of her vocabulary after a long lack of new company, so she spent a moment boggling at the man before murmuring the same back.

She nodded at him when he asked after her health, gaze flicking him over from head to toe. Immaculate, just as he was the last time. "Same to you."

She had a difficult time imagining Muraki getting involved with the sticky messes of survival. He seemed too clean for that. Or poised, rather. That was a better word for it. Too calm, too soft. No scars, so no previous brushes with danger either. Claire would not be the least bit surprised if the man spent the whole night in his room hiding away from danger.

The kitten enjoyed Claire's full attention, its eyes drifting shut as she stroked and scratched and rubbed with gentle fingers. The warmth against her chest wasn't the same as holding Aaron, but it was close. Something alive. She smiled down at the tiny thing and fancied that she could feel its heartbeat.

Her attention remained with the kitten as she spoke. "You wanted to ask me about last night?"

The girl had been too long away from company, and it would be tragic if she slowly returned to normal social graces. Muraki preferred her this way, charmingly awkward and to the point. He would have loved to keep her, he really would.

He didn't miss the tenderness with which she regarded the kitten. He would have thought someone who spent part of her life possibly hunting small animals for food would have little regard for pets, but apparently Claire was full of odd little surprises.

Muraki leaned back and crossed his legs. "If you're willing to tell me, I'd like to know what happened with the shadows last night. It seems like there may have been more to it than I'm aware of."

Edited 2010-12-11 20:16 (UTC)

Her fingers paused, stuck in a soft tuft of fur. The kitten's eyes slid open and implored her with a bleary stare until they started moving again. It drifted off to sleep while Claire's expression grew dark.

The shadows. She had known Muraki was curious, of course, but it was an awful thing to think about. The brightness of the day did nothing to close the wounds opened last night by the shadows. They had terrified her. Cut her to the bone. Worse still, night was fast approaching again. All Claire would have to save herself with was her torch, and that didn't give near enough light to dispel the shadows completely. If they came back, Claire wasn't sure what she would do. They were only half-corporeal, impossible to kill. And they could touch her all they wanted.

"I don't know what happened. The lights came on. We were in a town, and it was all half lit. Even though the stores were empty. And I kept seeing this flicker from the corner of my eye, like the shadows were moving. Then they just popped out of the ground, like daisies. They looked just like us."

Her feet drew closer to the couch and her head drooped a fraction, almost as if she was trying to rub the kitten with her cheek. She wasn't half so distraught as this morning, and Muraki seemed like he would be less open to embraces than Bella was, but the subject was still a sore one. She couldn't face it without wanting to cringe. "Andrew's kept laughing about bombing people. I don't know why. I think he was in some kind of army, I couldn't tell. It was talking about how one Kraut was the same as the other, or something about Germans. It scared him, though, it scared him so bad. And my shadow was...it said the most horrible things. That I left Aaron on purpose. That I would be a horrible mother to him. That my friends left me because...because I was crazy and they didn't want me around. Even after they came back for me. It said I should just die and be with Ch-Charlie...that I wasn't good for anything..." Claire pressed the kitten closer, her strokes erratic, hesitant. The kitten mewled plaintively in protest, but she didn't listen. "They tried to kill us. They had the same weapons we had, and Andrew's broke his hand with a crowbar. Mine tried to stab me. I was trying to fight back, but they couldn't be hit. Everything just went through them like they were made of air."

The lights he remembered, but he hadn't known it had gone so far as the town... or that there was an accessible town to begin with. Maybe Grell had looted one of the hardware stores for his chainsaw. Muraki would have to look into it.

Her description of the shadows wasn't what he expected at all. Shadow users were uncommon, but he had enough experience with them to know that it wasn't what Claire had faced. Stranger still, she hadn't been physically injured by them, and that was more-or-less their primary use. They had upset her instead. It was another case in which that seemed to be at least part of the desired outcome. What did Landel gain from it? And how did he know enough about Claire and her soldier friend to attack their insecurities?

Oh. Maybe he'd just listened to her speak for ten minutes.

He lifted a hand slowly, giving Claire the chance to reject his touch before he rested it on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. His other hand went to hers, encouraging them to slow. "Shh, Claire. It was a trick. You know that. Please, don't strain yourself." He looked worried, and he was. If she got herself too upset, she might stop talking and shut down. The last thing he wanted was to deal with a weeping woman all afternoon when she wasn't giving him any information. "I'm sure you would be a fine mother, even as you are now, and a good friend as well. As for the shadows... hopefully they won't become a regular problem."

There was a sudden pressure on her shoulder, paired with gentle fingertips falling over her hand. Claire looked up at Muraki, lips pressed together in a trembling line. "How do you know it was a trick? It hit Andrew in the hand. It pinned me to the ground. How can it be a trick if it could touch us?"

Her head dipped lower, and she plucked the kitten from her shoulder to cradle it in her arms. "Even if he doesn't use them again, he'll just think of something else. There's always something worse here, something twice as crazy as the thing before and I don't know what to do anymore."

Not even John could compare by now. The polar bears were strange, but they were still bears. Regular old animals, just in the wrong spot on the globe. And the Others and Jacob, the Black Rock, the hatches - none of it seemed strange anymore. Hardly any of it was magic. They were all things that could be explained by humans messing around with the island, and even the things that weren't were so few and far between that this place could topple them in a second. It was too crazy. How were any of them supposed to get anywhere against odds like this?

"None of this is going to stop until he's dead," said Claire. She chanced meeting Muraki's eyes, her own grown narrow and wet. "We have to kill Landel, Muraki. All the nurses, too. Anyone who's helping him. Otherwise we'll never go home."

Muraki shook his head once, a mute apology. Though the shadows might have become corporeal, it was still a trick to him, something meant to scare and mislead, maybe to distract her from what she would find in the town. The harder they were hit, the closer they would be to finding something useful, which meant Muraki might be looking in the wrong direction entirely. The shadows hadn't really bothered him, after all.

The girl, however, seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. The doctor sighed silently and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. It was a purely physical gesture, meant to calm her down, but the words were less intentional and far more true. "The world is a dark place full of nightmares. Only monsters thrive."

There was no denying that the institute was a horrible place, but Muraki found it hard to see the difference between it and any other. In a way, the intricacies of it were fascinating... as well as the simplicity. Here, some of the monsters didn't wear a human face.

Muraki's eyes were clear and intense. "Yes, we do." He agreed quietly, without hesitation. Good. She was already willing to kill. "But something like that will take patience and planning. We'll share information, and maybe together we can find a way to return home."

His tone softened, though his eyes didn't waver. "In the meantime, take what respite you can during the day. Right now, at least, you are completely safe."

Day 53: Sun Room

no subject

no subject

no subject

TELL ME IF YOU NEED EDITZ

NO EDITZ NEEDED.

GOES FOR THE FUTURE TOO