Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

[scarefaux]

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he

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[thatdemonbitch]

All in all, Ruby could say without a doubt that she was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Even if you put aside all the discomfort she was feeling from being crammed in her vessel with no exit strategy in a psychiatric hospital that would probably just cry self-loathing issues if they knew she called herself a demon, there was still all the messy death, the missing memories and the seriously skewed timeline issues to deal with that Sam had graciously dumped on her over breakfast.

To say her death vexed her would be the world's greatest understatement, and while, all in all, it may not have been Hell, it wasn't really ranking top 10 best days either. Not even close to the best way to start her day. On the way out of the cafeteria, the nurse attempted what she probably thought was comforting guidance by way of putting her hands on Ruby's arm to lead her toward the Sun Room, leading the demon to just forcibly jerk her limb away from the bitch and shoot a dismissive glare

[rischiarare]

Getting out of a bed was a struggle for the Nobody when daylight cracked its way into his room and roughly shook him by the shoulders - which ached. It then lit his legs - also aching - and briefly slipped over his arms before the fake florescence of the overhead lights bled the sun out. Unsurprisingly, they hurt too.

Whatever Scott's shadow had been, it was a lot tougher than a Shadow... or Roxas was a lot weaker. The latter was more a fact than anything else if he considered how he couldn't move like he used to, or summon a ball of light in his hands that would bleed and squirm like a live thing, or even just summon the Keyblade when he needed it. No, now it came when it felt like it, like the weapon had a mind of its own and only came when absolutely necessary. Still, the shadow, the way it had spoken, all of it had unnerved Roxas. The Heartless were monsters, sure, but they still had that small little light inside of them. It could be unearthed. And he knew Heartless; he knew how they moved and how they could be defeated. But

[thatdemonbitch]

Sure enough, it was the Arts and Crafts Club bulletin post -- well, that along with the History Club post and something that was apparently posted by the Spock (it was a clever pseudonym, if nothing else, and whatever friends the guy had seemed to go with it) -- that had caught Ruby's attention most. When she realized that Roxas was asking her to move aside so he could get to that one specifically, her original annoyance at being interrupted shifted to something of interest

[rischiarare]

Roxas just gave her a look - the one where he just stared at the other person, his mouth turned down, trying to figure out what she was talking about. He knew it wasn't exactly anyone's fault that Roxas was so far out of the loop, but he couldn't help but get annoyed with the sheer amount of questions he had to ask to keep up. By this point, he just kind of glanced over stuff he didn't understand, trying to formulate it out himself. Paper cranes... okay, that had to be origami, right? He'd read about how cranes were the "original" shape to fold, but what did that have to do with wishes?

Once she announced her newness, though, any irritation he had vanished. It was bad enough for him, not knowing what half the stuff around him was, but it was even harder being new and not being prepared for what the institute was and would be. "They're groups of patients who work on different projects, but the names are just codes. The staff is kind of picky with what goes up on this board." He wrote a quick reply to Sora as well as Scott, checking

[thatdemonbitch]

The flash of frustration didn't miss Ruby's perception and she couldn't help but wonder exactly which part of what she'd said had set him off. Regardless, he seemed to accept it after she outed herself as a newbie, and for that she was grateful. The last thing she needed to do was step up from news about getting stabbed to pissing off the next person she spoke to. After all, it wasn't like she'd made any friends with the nurses thus far.

Besides, judging by the fact that he was replying to that exact post-it, he'd be the best source of information she could get on the subject. Didn't beat a direct line to the men -- or, apparently, boys -- themselves. Unfortunately, that meant doing what she could to keep it friendly and get him eager to help her out. Which meant playing the damsel card that Ruby hated."I got your basic FYI," she explained with a casual shrug, trying to work up some apprehension in her expression to give a good reaction the monsters, while keeping it as subdued as she could. It had to be noticeable, but look

[rischiarare]

The Nobody followed her words well enough with the occasional nod to show he was listening until she mentioned something weird again. Why would anyone be wasting time putting paint on the hallways? Unless paint served to ward off monsters or something, there wasn't any point in that. Either way, it was good to know someone was telling the newer patients what was up, preparing them for the night. He knew some of the people here had woken up during the night, and he couldn't really imagine how hard that must have been. Waking up during the day had been confusing enough as it was without the threat of something lurking around the corner - literally. Despite that, it was probably good the people here didn't seem unprepared for anything dangerous. Like Scott, even the normal people knew how to defend themselves

[thatdemonbitch]

How benevolent. Ruby was sure she was getting cavities just hearing about all the community service his little club did, but she kept her smile rooted in place as he explained, expression open but analytical, filing away the information he fed her. When he offered the invitation into the club, she almost wanted to scorn him for it. It was ridiculous, how trusting people could be with a smile and enough faked uselessness.

How was he so sure she wasn't working with Landel? It seemed like a stupid mistake to make, but she was going to let him make it. That didn't, however, mean she wanted to be a part of a club that was willing to be that stupid about recruitment

[rischiarare]

Roxas was pleasantly surprised when she agreed - everyone else he had asked had either not answered (mostly because they had been interrupted) or had just turned him down. The success brought a small smile to his normally expressionless face; he made a mental note of shooting Sora a sentence or two on the bulletin about it. Once he got her name -

By this point, Roxas had realized her references and stuff weren't going to stop, so he just nodded along to her comment about menageries (he thought it was an institute or an asylum. Maybe menagerie was just another word for that?) glad that she was taking to the idea so fast. She seemed pretty well-adjusted to the fact that she'd need a weapon having not even hesitated about getting one, so maybe she was used to fighting. The best weapon he knew to get by his own experience was a pipe from the bathrooms, but maybe Sora had some better ideas. He knew there was a shed outside, so maybe there was something out there. "Oh, um - good! Welcome to the club, then." That was a good enough

[thatdemonbitch]

It was impossible not to notice how much happier Roxas looked after she agreed to join his little club. It was almost endearing -- almost. Still, she felt a smirkier kind of smile curve her lips because, hell, bringing joy into a child's life was apparently pretty damn validating, and it was hard not to. It was the same proud half-smile mingled with excited puppy-face that Sam made -- used to make. Not so much on the smiling anymore, even with Dean back

[rischiarare]

Since the subject was weapons, his thoughts flashed to the gun he had hidden under his mattress back in his room, snatched from the Sheriff's Office out from under zombified hands. He'd made a kind of unacknowledged promise with Sora about it, though - it definitely needed to go to someone who was trustworthy. She seemed like a really nice girl, but he obviously couldn't be sure yet. Maybe if she helped out a little, he could offer it. Roxas obviously couldn't use it; actually, he really had no idea how to outside of pulling the trigger, which was the gist he'd gleaned from Xigbar's weaponry. The big difference was that Xigbar's guns looked nothing like the ones Sora and he had snatched.

The Nobody's smile lessened measurably at the line he'd been hoping not to hear, the whole kid spiel. "I'm used to it," he said with a shrug that matched her nonchalance, not trying to sound a little smug about it but doing so anyway. "Fighting monsters, I mean. And I know how to, so I'm not afraid

[thatdemonbitch]

"Hey, I'm not judging. If you're good, you're good, age be damned. Just surprising, that's all." The response was quick -- the last thing she wanted was to offend the kid. So far, he'd been looking to be pretty damn put together, and as much as it was a slight twist in her gut as far as knocking around her ego went to put faith in somebody who looked like he hadn't been around much more than decade, she knew that if a hunter were that age, they'd be plenty capable and it was just a matter of accepting the fact that they could be handy when they learned how. He was too useful for her to offend that quickly

[rischiarare]

Ruby's reassurances worked completely: Roxas immediately perked back up, nodding as if that was completely all right with him. As long as he wasn't treated like some kind of... well, some kind of kid, he wasn't offended. Besides, he knew how he looked. He wasn't really the most intimidating figure around.

As for meeting places... well, it was a good thing she explained herself a little bit after that one quip or else he'd be lost again. "You know that big hallway, the one right outside all of the patients blocks? It's right beside those nurse stations." Which he was still kind of annoyed were locked every night - he'd tried them with a passing hand on the knob every night he walked by to no avail. There had to be something important in there, right? Why else would they go to all the trouble? "I can meet you out there." The Nobody figured that was the best course of action. If she was new, she probably wouldn't know her way around the boy block or anything.

"It's not in the conservatory, though -" whatever that was - "it's in the

[thatdemonbitch]

If she could kick the sink hard enough. Hah. Power limitations or not, she didn't exactly foresee herself having problems with one dinky little bathroom sink. She kept the laugh to herself, though, and instead offered a warmer kind of smile to the kid. For a minute there, she almost felt bad for him; he was useful -- smart -- the kind that had better things to do than get locked in some crappy hellhole. But it was a little late to start feeling empathy for the victims, so it faded as fast as it came. After all the shit she'd done in the past six hundred years, she wasn't sure she even had the right to feel sorry for them anymore

[rischiarare]

"Those're the ones," Roxas nodded. Good, so she had at least a basic lay of the land, at least around where her room was. "They're locked, though, so don't bother trying to get in." That was a project for another day. Besides, there had to be a key for the door lying around somewhere, right? There seemed to be a lot of stuff that just "accidentally" got left behind (if the radio clues were right a mental voice told him. He still couldn't be one-hundred percent sure

[thatdemonbitch]

Locked? A part of her wanted to give it a swing on her way by, just to see if some good old fashioned telekinesis would make them rethink the lock. But exerting herself prior to her little meet-up with the Justice League didn't sound like the greatest plan, so she'd have to leave that for her hunt for Sam's room at a later date. Priorities and all that.

"Sure thing," she nodded compliantly, appearing for all intents and purposes, pretty easy to get to agree and be a team player. Appearing to trust Roxas' judgment. For the most part, truth be told, she was putting some faith in him. The kid seemed genuine enough and he seemed to know what he was talking about, even if he was lacking in the reciprocation of trusting her abilities.

She just chuckled at the remark about running and filed away that info on Landel. Weird at night wasn't exactly low in terms of possibilities, but it was something. She could start a chart and work on figuring out what the hell the big boss around these parts was that he could turn his institute

[rischiarare]

It was the best they could do, and Roxas figured if she wasn't capable enough to get to that hallway, she would've spoken up about it. Maybe everyone here was a fighter, some kind of fighter. Every patient he'd happened to meet seemed like one.

The intercom jingle echoed through the sun room, making the Nobody instinctively look up before looking back to Ruby. It was already lunch time, and for some reason the word "pizza" was making Roxas's mouth water. Giving a small thumbs-up and a grin, he said, "Sounds good. I'll see you there, okay?" If he didn't have a chance to find Sora before dinner rolled around, he'd have to just write another note to catch his attention. As leader of the club, Sora probably watched the board like a hawk anyway. He had a feeling he'd know somewhere to get a knife, and then they'd have one more relatively safe patient taking on the institute. It was a small gesture, but it was a good start to something bigger.