damned_institute | Day 54: Sun Room

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Day 54: Sun Room

[From here. All your top posts shall be mine.]

Peter entered the Sun Room with a dour expression. Goody, he was the first one here. Fancy that. Pick of the couches was his then. Eeeny meeny miney...moe. Peter stalked over to what he knew from experience was the fluffiest couch in the room and eased himself into its downy soft embrace. Ordinarily he would have just pounced on that sucker, but yeah. His arm was in a sling for a reason. He sighed and wormed his way into a full body sprawl. He didn't care if it was irresponsible of him. This shift's only mission was to remain as still as possible.

Of course, being the first one in here had some stipulations. With great opportunity came great responsibility. Which today, came in the form of a soft meow from below. Then the sound of puncturing fabric, advancing upwards towards him. More meows, independent of one another and even more tiny punctures.

Peter Parker was now officially the cat sitter.

"...Oh hi... lonely kittens," he said uneasily as the first scrambled over the edge of the cushion. It padded towards his face. "No no, kittens don't belong near faces." He gently picked it up and put it on his chest. Two more crawled over the edge.

He had never really had a pet growing up. And he didn't hang out with a lot of people with cats or dogs, either. So of course, he didn't have a good idea of how to properly handle most animals without ticking them off. It looked like he was going to have to make up for lost time now, as the cats' numbers swelled to four. Two were exploring his legs, another batted at a fraying string on his sling, and the first stumbled back towards his face and mewed plaintively. Peter frowned and gave it a ginger pat on the head. That seemed to to the trick. He put it back on his chest again and scratched behind its ears.

"You guys had better not start doing that claw thing on my leg. I can't reach right now, but revenge will be mine if you do."

"Meeeeew!"

"I'm still petting you! Geez."

[For Elle Bishop.]

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[ from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/1035037.html) ]

The sun room was already surprisingly well populated by the time she got there. No sign of Winchester blood, but hey. Beggars couldn't be choosers and at least she was out of the garden. After the tear gas and the ape in the kitchen, she was starting to wonder if maybe they had a host of poisonous plants hidden in there between the daisies and petunias.

Some of the faces of the people who'd populated the room looked familiar, like the guy who was still seriously lacking in the haircut department, but mostly they were unfamiliar. Taking a seat on one of the couches and getting comfortable with her arms up over the back, she checked out some of the people sitting around the room. Most of them looked to be, like her, still suffering the stifling effects of the tear gas.

Instinctively at seeing them in other people, she sniffed a little, the corners of her mouth twitching at the way it irritated her nose, which had gone from running endlessly to stuffed up in an attempt to keep itself from being assaulted by further gaseous attacks. Hopefully someone who looked like they could provide as many answers as Senna had would show up soon, without the shrill attachment of a tiny blonde.

You'd think a sun room would at least have windows that weren't in the ceiling or something. A girl could only stare at the naval paintings for so long before getting sick of their attempts to relax their patients. A kitten, particularly brave, began to crawl up onto the couch's arm on the opposite side of where Ruby was sitting and she looked over slowly, eyes narrowed and eyebrows raised expectantly like she was daring it to keep creeping forward.

[ the littlest angel ]

[From here.]

Now that the relative population of soldiers had dwindled (at least from what Gabriel could see) he was free to dip back into his outrageously charming asshole persona. It was a lot easier to be smug when the threat of a gun butt in your face wasn't really close at hand. If he was really pathetic, he could've taken some kind of sick joy in the congratulation Nurse Piccowang had given him for being such a good patient; apparently ~~hiding~~ taking reasonable cover under tables during total riots was a commendable gesture.

He should've gotten a medal for some other crap he'd done, then. Just call him a regular Houdini, master of stupidly flashy escapes that were totally called for and not cowardly in the least and was his nose ever going to stop running? Half of his shirt was now wet and blotted with waaaay too many fluids. He hadn't even known the human body had so many liquids in it. Of course, he'd never been trapped in one, either.

Gabriel appraised the sun room with a sniffle, not particularly thrilled with the prospect of being trapped there for an hour. This whole schtick was already getting way old... and there were cats everywhere.

Okay, so he liked cats. But still.

The archangel hopped over the back of a couch, flopping onto the cushion and sending a curious kitten running and screaming. Least the furniture was nice. He could just stretch out and relax next to -

- a body that a demon should have been in. REPEAT: A BODY THAT A DEMON SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN. DEMON MEAT. NOT GOOD.

Should have being the tricky key words there. Angeldar was still broken, so Gabriel couldn't be sure. But hell, what were the chances it was just anonymous human number 53,984? Especially considering it was Ruby. Rubes. The Rubster. Half of the whole damn reason Lucifer had had his chance to be such an enormous dick.

So of course he met her with a smile that would make grown car salesmen weep in envy. "So, been here long?"

All that time in the Pit, Ruby had lost her expectations for manners and even the easiest 'excuse me,' so she managed to keep her annoyance with the short, sleazy-looking guy who dropped into the seat beside her without so much as a word to a minimum as her eyes slowly dragged up from where the cat had been to meet his gaze. Gee. The welcoming committee musta been in full force today.

"Longer than anybody in their right mind would wanna be," she responded narrowly, not bothering to return his wide, fake smile. Was this what people looked like when they went off the deep end and lost track of whether or not they belonged here for real? 'Cause, uh, she sure hadn't seen anybody else trying to screw up the corners of their mouths like this joker was. She raised a challenging brow, as if just expecting him to come forth with an answer back before she actually realized not everybody was as well trained as Sam and Dean.

Working herself out of that rut of familiarity was harder than she thought. Between last night and now this … she sniffed, reached up with one hand to brush a knuckle under her nose, sniffling. Her pride cried out in bitter agony at the gesture, and she kept a firm look fixed on her new friend all the while.

"What about you? Not that anybody's taking roll, but I think I'd remember seeing you around." Probably not. He was a little too short to pass on her radar, on top of the whole amnesia thing. Still, he'd take the compliment if he knew what was good for him and she'd get an answer. Not only that, but the wording would hopefully make her seem like she'd been around much longer than one day, eliminating any indicator that the dead period might have happened.

Dammit. Even when he was clueless as all hell, she spent half her time worrying about what was gonna happen if Dean caught wind of the wrong info. Well, at least that much, she was used to. Unlike the rest of the laundry list of annoying shit this place had to offer.

He tried to reign back the most sardonic look he could manage, but on the inside his wealth of sarcasm was bubbling over into tears. Which he could thank the tear gas for. That was a human thing he could've totally done without for... ever. "Right, I know. I just have this unforgettable face, it must be reaaal easy to remember in a sea of blue-haired Yu-Gi-Oh rejects." Yeah, he'd seen them. And he could... tell why some of them were rejects.

Okay, so there was a chance she had a point.

Interestingly, maybe he wasn't the only one with a broken radar. Gabriel hadn't been around demons for a while (avoiding the family kind of stretched into... avoiding everything that family might be involved with) but there wasn't the normal cowering and shrieking that, you know, should've been happening. Or the running out of a vessel but, considering his own predicament, that option wasn't too likely.

"As for me? Couple of days, nothing bad. It's been a fun ride. Very Running Man. Less 80's power ballads, though."

His remark did a good job of harkening back to Ruby's interest at breakfast in Senna's purple hair. Of course, teenagers with bad dye jobs wasn't exactly news, but it did put a comical spin on it. Guy had a sense of humor, and considering he sure didn't carry himself like the kinda guy who thought he wasn't big news to keep an eye on, she found it pretty interesting he'd dismiss her comment that way.

Sniffling a little more, to her dismay, she reached up and rubbed the end of her nose, frustration abound. Where were the goddamn kleenex in this place? You'd think a friggen hospital would be better equipped for histamine reactions. Not that kleenex were really what she should be focusing on -- more like the fact that he'd just owned up to being around a couple days, which meant a little talk might do her some good. Particularly considering he didn't seem to call her out on insinuating that she'd been in for quite some time.

Maybe he'd also been around long enough (not like it was that long anyway) to have caught a glimpse of her pre-mortem. That was an unnerving thought.

"Hey, when blue's the new black …" she shrugged, letting him figure the rest out. WIth so many people who looked like they belonged in a manic panic display ad, the normal ones had a way of sticking out. That, and more seriously, not every man below six feet carried themselves the way this guy did. She waited a beat to let that implication stick before continuing.

"They probably didn't have time to work the power ballads in with all their other fun torture methods. Between the tear gas and the monster menagerie, who's got time to blast REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake over the intercom? That's just taking it too far." The amused tone was making it pretty clear she wasn't taking the situation too seriously. In fact, everything about it appeared casual, right down to the way she reached out to offer him her hand.

"Ruby."

Comparing it to black would imply it looked good. So Gabriel wasn't exactly a fashionista, but purple hair on teenagers... okay, honestly, he didn't give a shit. But it was something to comment on and he was grasping at straws right now. When he got right down to it, he wasn't sure what he had to say to a demon after they got past all the grovelling and evacuating. Maybe it was a good thing he'd avoided them for so long since he'd also avoided a lot of awkward silences.

Oh, hey. If they were gonna talk the 80's though, he could bullshit his way past everything with his vast personal knowledge of hair bands and Poison.

Leaning back into the couch, the archangel planted his delicately slippered feet on the table in front of them, gently pushing a roaming kitten out of his way. "Now Speedwagon I wouldn't mind. Kind of a fan. Could be worse. Imagine Boston or getting mutilated to Final Countdown." Actually, that was a good one. He might remember that for later. Maybe not mutilation, though. Something a little more subtle and appropriate.

Giving his most charmed smile - not Hindu goddess charming, but pretty damn close - he took the hand warmly. "Glenn."

Hey, stick the basics, right?

Boy, this guy could write the book on how to be a sleazy car salesman, couldn't he?

Really, it was almost fascinating in a few ways; even though she could sense something seriously off in that smile, he was still slapping it on and trying to get as far as he could with it. It was hard to say, though, whether it was just bravado while he was freaking out or if it was just a constantly emanating wave of sleaze. She pulled her hand back after a minute and shifted to get more comfortable facing towards him on the couch.

"Hey, now, Final Countdown could do us some good. Look what it did for Rocky. One good musical montage and we'd blow this popsicle stand, Glenn." It had become pretty obvious that she was trying to size him up, arms crossing over her chest, eyebrow raising. Something about this guy was nagging her, and it wasn't just her discomfort with somebody invading her space while she was dealing with this embarrassingly human moment.

On the bright side, it felt like her congestion was slowly fading into the background, which meant at least that element would be … well, mostly gone soon, anyway. She couldn't really say completely, considering her little vessel-lock issue. What she wouldn't give right about now to just smoke out through one of those vents and forget this mess never happened.

Unfortunately, even if she could up and bail, she had one very tall, very optimistic reason to be tethered to the damn place. And he'd made it clear he wasn't budging until she'd more or less solved world hunger. It was about the same difficulty level as hauling a guy from one timeline out back into another, anyway. Or so she imagined. Then again, she'd never put real effort into solving either issue. Not when she had her own problems to deal with, like Glenn here.

She had no idea. He was a master of sleaze. He'd practically invented it (he was old to, anyway). Gabriel just liked to imagine it wasn't so much sleaziness as it was his shining personality trying to escape through his meat suit and getting a little corrupted on the way out.

"You may have a point," he assessed, taking his own hand back to prop behind his head. "I'd prefer punching meat instead of becoming it. I'm already over this whole monster thing." Which only hinted to him being a very well-adjusted individual. That was angels: totally well-adjusted to earth and all its little surprises. Or, in his recent case, very tall, very powerful surprises that he preferred watching from afar. Might as well let the hunters take their aggressions out on things that weren't him.

It was sad, but - "You know, it's nice meeting someone actually from this planet, appreciating for the oldies or not. Last kid I met didn't even know what Evil Dead was. I, for one, was absolutely appalled."

There was no attempt to hide the surprise his admission warranted. Her eyebrows both raised in expectant interest as soon as the words 'monster thing' were out of his mouth. Hell, she considered herself to be pretty damn well-adjusted and even she wasn't gonna go so far as to say she was over it. Then again, she had plenty of reason to want to punch the only one she'd run into in the mouth -- knocking her and Roxas around like freaking toy soldiers the way it had was frankly humiliating.

Even though he appeared to dismiss it quickly by trying to move onto his great relief that they could have a good back and forth about some long out-of-style bands. Nuh uh. No way, bucko, he wasn't getting out of that one that easily. She started out compliant, fully intending to lead him back around to the subject of his apparent early adaptation.

"Think they've got a suggestion box around here? Clearly somebody's gotta haul a copy up so we can educate the kid." There was a certain degree of genuine interest and low levels of passion carefully entwined in her words. So far, she knew enough to get the idea that this guy was big on camp and classics, but that was enough. A couple common interests, some earnest agreement, he'd be eating out of the palm of her hand in no time, eager to tell her all about why he was so at ease with monsters chowing on his ankles.

"You know, for a guy who just dropped in a couple days ago, you sure seem to be coping pretty well. Usually there's some extensive whining involved." Her interrogation was dressed up as a compliment -- an expression of interest. She wanted to know more about him, that kinda flattery alone oughtta get her somewhere. Sure hadn't hurt earlier.

By golly, it almost sounded like she was suspicious. Who could be suspicious of little old him? He was just so warm and welcoming, it was flabbergasting.

"I leave the whining to the teenagers. There's a hell of a lot of 'em, if you haven't noticed." Of course, it was kind of hard not not to notice them considering the aforementioned poorly dyed hair. Annnd with that admission, he was more than ready to push the conversation off of him. He had a habit of talking too much (for other people), but it didn't necessarily mean talking too much had to get him in trouble.

"You said you'd been here a while, right? Least you implied it with your nice, vague answer. Seems like you're pretty well-adjusted, considering you've got all your limbs and there's bears or something stalking the halls." Not that he'd seen any bears, it just seemed appropriate. The one thing he'd seen didn't really look like anything else except big, and he hadn't exactly gotten close enough to do a sketch.

The way he called her on her vague answer just drew a laugh from Ruby's lips -- the genuine kind, too, not the subtle snerk or the muted chuckle. It was hard to say, though, whether she was laughing at him in general or at the situation itself. Of course, the point of most of Ruby's actions was that they weren't to be taken in one distinct way. After all, what good would she be if she couldn't let Sammy believe what he wanted to?

"Ape in the kitchen, actually. Enough to make a girl think twice about that King Kong rematch." There was a quirk to her smile at that and she shrugged. "When you stick around here long enough, you learn to stop counting. It's not so much about the how long as it is about the what more do I need to do to get out."

It wasn't entirely untrue, surprisingly. Sure, she wasn't even close to talking about her experience in the Institute -- hell, she'd been there a day and a half, what did she know? But, Hell? Well, it was the best comparison she had, and it was damn honest as far as Alastair and his racks were concerned. It didn't take long to stop worrying about what day you were on and focus only on how fast you could convince him to get you off.

He could see parts of why Sam would've fallen for this whole schtick. Pretty, witty, and smart. That was just Heaven's luck, wasn't it?

"Ouch. Bet that was a fun ride." So giant animals was another little fun quirk of this place. Well, that was a better image than giant lumbering vaguely human-shaped gold thing with really big nails. That was about the extent of his description. He figured the Winchesters had just had blind dumb luck in that fight, because he and Jo had stumbled onto the two of them getting their asses kicked. All he knew was... it shared a surprising similarity to nearly every creature ever: it didn't like pointy things shoved into its back.

"Sounds like it's pretty much easier said than done." Okay, his curiousity was piqued despite he was trying to keep himself from blathering too much, and it wasn't by the monkey. "What're were you up to in the kitchen of all places? Really not the time to get late night snacks."

"Universal Studios oughtta get some tips from Landel and up its game." The response was pretty automatic, the kind of thing that filled the gap while she actually put some thought to what he was saying and gave her brain a minute to process and find an appropriate response to his more serious question. After all, it was like a one in one hundred shot her genuine reaction was gonna be the one she needed to muster up.

And, go figure, this wasn't the one. She took a cool, tense moment to chew it over before letting a wry smirk tug at her mouth. Reaching her arms up and resting them across the back of the couch, she slowly raised an eyebrow in Glenn's direction.

"Ladies first," she invited in a kind of challenging way. "You wanna share how you spent last night?" It was a good thing Roxas hadn't requested the pay it forward option, because right about now, she would've been seriously hurting to have to offer the guy a little helpful info. Ruby didn't do helpful unless it got her somewhere, and this? Well, he was fun, she'd give him that, but she wasn't quite convinced that the fact that he had a smile that could sell a hummer would get her very far in this place.

"I don't question your reasons, you don't question mine. I think you and me could really have something here, Glenn, don't go ruining it by getting nosy."

His smile was obviously condescending as he turned to regard her and her raised eyebrow. Even if he wasn't totally aware of what she was, seriously? Landel's had made getting a straight answer a new sport. The polo of conversations. Chances are you could win as long as you got beaten to a pulp in the process. Less horses, though. Could use more. "Riiiight, girls and their secrets. Easy to forget, you know? I'd hate to ruin my first real blossoming friendship."

That could be another new sport. Friendship hopping. Landel's sunshine hours were boring enough to try it.

"I'd love to tell you, princess. I spent a few hours sitting on a toilet and wondering what god I pissed off to get stuck here." Hey, part of that was the truth, except it'd been about five minutes making an angel blade and he'd been standing up. That was basically the truth.

"How valiant of you," she returned snidely, not bothering to put up the pretense that she had any interest in swapping his less than credible admission with one of her own. A guy with attitude like his wasn't gonna spend his time hiding out in a friggen toilet, but she wasn't really expecting much in the truth department when she'd been flagrantly denying him the same.

The only slips she had gotten out of him were unimportant for now -- 'what god' was a surefire indicator of either a very smart creature, a hunter or a pagan. Not really narrowing, and not really useful in a crusade against Landel. Sure, he'd been amusing, but he hadn't taught her all that much, and she had a goal to focus on. That was what had her getting to her feet, ready to get outta there.

"Try and get out a little more tonight. Maybe you'll get a clue to the appeal -- kitchen's a whole lot better than the rooms or some bathroom." Walking around the back of the couch, she patted his shoulder with one hand. "You see anything worth a story, you lemme know." With that said, she didn't wait for a response. She simply joined up with a waiting nurse and headed back for the cafeteria.

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Day 54: Sun Room

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