Day 54: Recreational Field

[mustbethesuit]

And thus concluded a perfect start to a perfect day. Making him explode from every facial orifice was a totally justified response to Peter not doing anything at all.

The nurses' hearts had defrosted just enough to permit them a change of clothes and a desperately needed wipe down. Nurse Joyce - Rachel had been apologizing the whole way back to

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[notachick]

So this is what 'tear gas' looked like up close. Okita felt a little bad that he was using Claude as an example of what to avoid, but he was a little relieved to see it didn't produce any lasting consequences beyond red eyes and sniffles. The way people had been coughing in the cafeteria had been unnerving. If the Institute had a system in place to release the gas at any time now, Okita would have to be far more careful about getting involved in any daytime insurrections. "I'm glad you're alright," Okita said, quick to follow up on Guy's concern for his friend.

Poor Claude... He'd been caught on the wrong side of the fight. It was good to know that the Institute's policies had changed, however. If it was just because the soldiers were here today remained to be seen, but now that he had seen the sort of weapons the place wielded, he would need to research them more.

Turning his head away, he noted the soldiers again. He, like Claude, disliked that the soldiers had guns, but Okita had a different reason for it. As a samurai, he disliked guns in general. Certainly, he couldn't disagree with how important the weapon had become in recent years, but it was a dirty tactic. There was no honor in shooting someone you could barely see from yards away. It gave them no chance. You could never see into their eyes. You could never feel their soul through their steel. It was cold and impersonal and it frankly scared him. Would the world become full of people who could kill without blinking an eye all because they held guns in their hands? "...I never thought so either, but there is obviously something abnormal happening here."

Oh, and now the soldiers were looking their way. Not good. Turning back to the other two, Okita positioned himself a little to the right to better block the soldiers' views. "Do you two know anything about it? I'm afraid I don't remember last night at all."

[razing_phoenix]

If anything, the fact that Claude hadn't done anything wrong made it even worse. He shouldn't have been gassed in the first place, but it was like the soldiers had just tossed up their hands and decided to deal with the lot of them like they were berserk animals rather than intelligent people with good reason for their actions. It bothered Guy, but voicing that anger would just get him in trouble.

He nodded in unison with Okita when his roommate expressed relief that Claude was doing better. While the use of the gas was still completely out of line, at least it was something that was easy to recover from. But there was still that potential for things to escalate, to get more and more severe until--

He didn't really want to think about the possibilities.

Seeing how the three of them had all been here longer than most, Guy figured they could all agree that this went beyond the scope of what they'd become used to. Still, that didn't mean that they couldn't adapt if they got to the bottom of it. Though when Okita asked about the previous night, Guy couldn't help feeling a bit awkward about it and he deliberately avoided making eye contact with Claude.

"There wasn't much," he spoke up with a shake of his head, putting his attention on Okita instead. "Landel was acting really nervous about today and talking about that Eagle guy, but as usual, he was vague." It seemed like things could only go on for so long before they got something approaching a proper explanation, though.

[full_score]

"Thanks," he said to Okita with a nod. "I'm glad you guys are all right, too." The soldiers had been pretty rough with some of the patients this morning, tear gas aside. Granted, a lot of them had provoked the staff by attacking them or throwing food. But he had to wonder if there were some others who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, or who intended to stay out of it, but found themselves swept up into the fighting when they saw a friend getting shoved around. Claude wasn't so sure he could have kept to himself if they'd started beating up Ippo, after all.

Hearing that Okita didn't remember last night was a bit disconcerting, but, sadly, it wasn't unheard of in Landel's. He looked over at him, a hint of concern in his eyes. He hadn't forgotten that Guy once implied that things weren't going well for Okita these days. Still, Claude knew it probably wasn't his place to question him about it in public.

When he looked over at Guy, he realized he was making it a point not to look at him. Or was he? Maybe he was just being paranoid after last night...

"Yeah, he only said enough to let people know an important visitor was supposed to come today," Claude added as he turned his gaze onto Okita. "That might have been his biggest mistake. I don't think it's a coincidence that someone just happened to start a food fight this morning."

What they'd hoped to accomplish was beyond Claude, though. It wasn't like Landel's superior, or whoever it was, was going to say, 'Gee, Landel, you sure do a lousy job of keeping your captives in line, so maybe we should send them all home!' If anything, Claude worried that things were only going to get worse for them.

[notachick]

Well, that was odd. Okita listened not just to what his two friends were saying, but also what they were doing. He couldn't help but notice things about people since his life depended on being able to read even the smallest of signs. The twitch of a finger, the shift of one's weight, even the simple act of changing one's focus away from one thing to another could all signal an attack. Which was why he perked up when he saw Guy shift his gaze away from Claude. Claude himself seemed to be looking at Guy, so why not the other way around?

Tilting his head slightly, Okita decided not to comment on it right away. He needed to watch a little more and see if he was right and, if he was, what he could do to discover why. His curiosity always did get the better of him, but he just couldn't help it. He was simply endlessly interested in other people, even if it was at a superficial level for most.

The other two were still being helpful with their information, though. A man named the Eagle was supposed to be coming today, apparently someone important enough for Landel to mention him at night. Someone he was supposed to impress perhaps? Which would mean tonight they were going to be reaping the consequences of that one idiot's actions. He was really going to need to get Hijikata a weapon and fast.

But again, all the attention was turned on him and that wasn't what Okita wanted right now. Instead, he turned the focus toward the pair in front of him, keeping a sharp eye to each of their reactions. "Well, it looks like I missed a lot! What did you two do last night? Anything fun?"

[razing_phoenix]

Guy's thoughts about the food fight were more or less the same as Claude's. He could understand the basic idea behind it, but getting into an uproar when there were unknown factors involved and when even more people were watching them just didn't make sense. It had been guaranteed that they'd end up in some sort of serious trouble, and things had turned out even worse that most had probably imagined.

Still, it was all over and done with now, so he wasn't going to dwell on it or try to track down the person who'd started it all. Hopefully what had just happened would be a lesson to some; if they were going to try and be subversive, they had to be smarter about it.

However, his thoughts on that whole matter were completely derailed when Okita spoke up with another question. It was completely innocent, but it totally threw Guy off balance for a second. He paused, staring at his roommate as he fought for a decent response that wouldn't be a lie.

"Oh, we decided to stay in," he said, even though that wasn't much of an explanation at all. Maybe it would be all right to leave it to Claude to fill in the details, since Guy was currently drawing a blank; that, and he wasn't sure how much the other blond would be comfortable with him saying.

[full_score]

Claude had been prepared to talk more about the mysterious visitor and what it could mean for the institute. That was why, like Guy, Okita's question caught him off guard. He, too, lapsed into silence for a moment, considering how he ought to answer. Unconsciously rubbing the back of his neck, he glanced over at Guy as his friend explained that they chose not to go out last night. He felt kind of sheepish to admit that they hadn't explored like most people did, but that didn't change the fact that they'd really needed to take some time to sort through things.

"Yeah," he said with a nod before giving a shrug. "I mean...well, you know how it is. With the staff breathing down your back during the day, sometimes it's better to discuss stuff at night."

That was probably oversimplifying the issue, but Claude didn't want to go into details about their shadows' appearance and needing to sort through their personal baggage with each other as a result. Hopefully, his explanation said just enough while still staying reasonably vague.

[notachick]

Guy was so honest. Okita kept himself from smiling when he saw his roommate's reaction, instead turning his head toward Claude as if he was lost about what was going on. Not just Guy, but Claude too seemed to be keeping things quiet, making Okita wonder just what had happened last night. He hadn't known the two of them were together, but at this point, anyone could see that they'd been each others' companions for the evening.

At first, Okita thought that perhaps Guy and Claude had merely found something they wanted to keep to themselves, but as soon as the two of them spoke, he knew that wasn't it. They were covering something up and very, very poorly. Vague answers only worked if there wasn't an awkward pause the size of Lake Biwa preceding them.

Still, it wasn't his intention to pry anymore than necessary so he smiled at them both, rocking back on his heels with his hands behind him. "Oh, I know what you mean. Sometimes people just need some private time, hm? Were you able to talk about everything you needed to?"

[razing_phoenix]

It was hard to know what Okita's thoughts on the matter really were, but... it was hard to know what Okita's thoughts on most things were. The important thing was that his roommate didn't seem to be judging them for wasting a night or anything along those lines. Or if he was, he was keeping it to himself. That was probably for the best anyway.

The next question was one that was easier to answer, just because it didn't require going into a whole lot of detail. "Yeah. It basically took all night, but we talked through everything." He nodded decisively, though he couldn't quite bring himself to send either Okita or Claude a smile after he'd been thrown off balance like that.

Though it was odd; they'd been in his room, so where had Okita gone, if he couldn't remember anything? People usually stayed in their rooms during those times when the night got away from them, didn't they? The thought was unsettling, but at least his roommate seemed to be in good shape.

[full_score]

Okita didn't act like they were strange for staying in a night to just talk. That was a relief. Claude wondered how many people occasionally took a night to discuss things or make more detailed plans for later. Given how highly organized and tightly-knit some of the patients here were, there was a chance it happened more often than Claude originally would have thought.

Claude did his best to return Okita's smile, even if it was hard to meet his gaze right then. "There was a lot we needed to go over," he said with his own nod. Then, with a brightened expression, he added, "But now we can really focus on finding a way out of here. I'm anxious to dig up some new leads."

Last night was still rather awkward, if not a little exhausting, for him to think too hard about. That made focusing on the future all the more appealing. Not to mention it was the most productive thing to do at this point.

Of course, Claude, too, had considered how odd it was that Okita didn't remember much of last night. Unfortunately, this wasn't his first experience with this sort of thing. He'd had roommates in the past who dealt with similar lapses in memory. Claude just had to keep his fingers crossed that Okita wouldn't wind up the same way as them.

[notachick]

Guy still wasn't smiling and that set Okita on edge. Had their conversation topic for the night been that bad? The swordsman was prone to keeping secrets certainly, but Okita wasn't used to seeing his roommate unable to rebound from something so small as being asked what they'd done the night before. Normally he was so upbeat when they met, able to roll with the punches the Institute seemed to dole out on a daily basis.

And Claude, too. Neither of them were meeting his gaze or returning his smiles and that dampened his mood significantly. It hadn't been his intention to make them unhappy and it seemed that was exactly what he'd done.

But Claude seemed to perk up again, suggesting that they could uncover new things about the Institute so Okita turned his attention temporarily toward his roommate's friend. "I hope so," he replied. "These soldiers being here makes me a little uneasy. You don't think they're going to try anymore more than they did this morning, do you?"

[razing_phoenix]

All in all, Guy's feelings about the matter mirrored Claude's. He was glad that they'd worked things out, but now it was time to get back to business. That was why he'd made such specific plans with Anise, after all. He didn't know if heading over the wall was the right choice, but they had to start somewhere. In fact, he would have mentioned his plans to Claude right then if he hadn't been distracted by Okita's question.

"I'm not sure," he said, keeping his tone low as he gave the soldiers close to them a side glance. The roll call seemed to be over now, at the least, so the military men were just observing them for now. However, their gazes were far sharper than those of the nurses. Guy didn't really like feeling like he was having ten different holes bored into his back.

"I mean, they've got us all under control at this point, so they might just keep an eye on us for now. But it's hard to say if this is a one-day thing or if they're still going to be around tomorrow." Or that night, for that matter. Guy quickly had to force the image of mutated soldiers out of his head.