Day 54: Sun Room

[mustbethesuit]

[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

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[bitpartgod]

There was a little whumph sound and the couch gave a little next to him, tugging Kibitoshin out of his thoughts. Looking up, he found that suddenly he was sitting next to another patient. She was blonde and maybe a little bit younger than Franziska, but the first thing he noticed about her was that she looked and sounded utterly exhausted, like she were wading through treacle.

How odd. Surely she wasn't always like this? No, of course not. Maybe this was what it looked like after you'd been sedated? ... goodness, did that make her one of the troublemakers who'd started the fight? But she seemed so small and friendly-looking! But then again, so had Franziska, and look where that had got him.

He shifted a little, uncertain- but after a stern reminder that troublemakers weren't always bad (he had Sechs for a friend, after all!), he managed an earnest, bleary-eyed smile. "No, no, go ahead!" His voice sounded thick, like he had a bad cold. Which he sort of did. Urgh. The expression turned faintly pleading. "Ah... hang on a second, please."

Fishing one of the tissues out from his pocket he turned away politely and blew his nose hard. A cat, pawing at his slipper, give a mewl of terror and bolted in the opposite direction- right towards, as it turned out, Peter, who was waving at him. Oh, that was a relief! Giving a little smile, he waved back- then remembered that he'd left someone hanging and quickly turned back. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

[no_dont_go]

He seemed kindly enough, allowing her to rest beside him. And well-mannered, something she picked up on rather quickly. Not too many people she had met had been so polite, though whether that was an aftereffect of living here too long or their own personality was hard to judge.

His sneeze startled her just the tiniest bit. It was an odd human maneuver, one she didn't see too often back in Japan. She made a note to try blowing her nose sometime, if circumstances dictated its necessity. And who knew if that was possible with this body?

"I am not okay, as such," she said, pondering his words and answering as sincerely as possible. "I would say, though, that I am satisfied." She leaned back, her eyes lazily drifting to the ceiling, through the glass roof. The sky... how beautiful it looked. How far away. How enviably.

After a moment of gazing, she realized belatedly that she herself had been rude to this rather polite individual. Turning her head, she managed a small nod against the sofa. "I am called Aigis. May I ask for your name? And are you okay?" He had asked after her. Just as well she ask after his own well-being.

[bitpartgod]

Ah- when she put it like that, it had probably been kind of a silly question to ask. Obviously she wouldn't be okay-okay if she'd been sedated. Still, just like she'd answered, she seemed happy enough to loll back on the sofa and stare at the ceiling as well, which presumably meant she wasn't one of the worryingly boisterous people who'd started attacking the nurses. Kibitoshin certainly imagine Sechs just relaxing after a sedation. He'd have easily kicked up merry hell even with half of Institute's drug supply pumping through his system. Though now that he thought about it, so would Goku. And probably Franziska, too, on a third thought.

"It's Kibitoshin," he answered, smile brightening, "and I'm fine. I just need to recover from- well. This." He gestured vaguely to his eyes and nose which, when he'd seen them in the bathroom mirror, had gone a slightly painful cherry red and presumably were still the same. They didn't exactly hurt anymore, but blinking still gave him that horrible sandpaper feeling. Poor Aigis probably understood exactly what he meant.

He paused, glancing back up to where her eyes had been fixed on the ceiling just a moment before. Yes, it was cloudy, but it was hypnotising all the same- all grey and white and, yes, even blue sometimes, and so distant. The smile turned a little wistful. "It feels really far away now, doesn't it? I could fly before, but..."

[no_dont_go]

Hmm, it seems the sedatives had really taken their toll. Aigis hadn't even noticed her acquaintance's injuries until he had pointed them out. Yet another person she wished she could heal. Too bad it was impossible to summon Athena during the day... not to mention Aigis wondered if she would have the strength. It had been hard enough to bring her out when she had been at full health, that last night with Heat. What damage would calling her do to her body now? When she was like this, so weak and limp as a rag doll?

"Kibitoshin-san, it's nice to meet you." She nodded against the couch a second time. Lifting her head was too much effort right now. "It is troubling to see you injured. And so many were harmed today." That was perhaps the one thing she did regret. Those poor patients...

His comment about flying surprised her, to say the least. She exerted just enough effort to pull herself against the couch a bit more, turning to keep her eyes on Kibitoshin, then leaned against the back of the couch again. "You fly? So, you were a pilot?" She had a feeling that wasn't quite what he had been getting at, but the logic built within her said this must be the only true answer. Human beings did not fly, after all.

[bitpartgod]

With the introductions out of the way, it didn't take long for the Kaioshin's expression to crumple into wide- and watery-eyed concern. "Ahh, I know! Isn't it horrible? It seems a little excessive for a food fight." He shook his head. "But don't worry about me, I can heal myself later if I need to. Maybe other people, too! That might be a big help!" Though he was going to be out with Sechs tonight, wasn't he? ... there was no such thing as being too ambitious, right?

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Not exactly." So Aigis was another person who'd never seen anyone use ki energy like that? Or, galaxies above, even heard of ki energy full stop? Oh, dear. That probably meant he was about to sound very strange indeed. "I can use my- well, it's sort of like inner strength or energy- to make myself fly. Not a lot of Earthlings can do it, though, so you've probably never heard of it!" he added quickly, hoping that he sounded more on the strange side than the crazy one.

Even so, Kibitoshin made a swift dash for safer grounds as quickly as he could; it would probably benefit the both of them if he kept the conversation simple. Aigis really didn't need more to have to think about. "It's what I use to heal people, too." And teleport, and use his Magic Materialism, and-- keep it simple, Kibitoshin!

[no_dont_go]

Indeed, it was excessive. Perhaps a bit on the patients' side as well. Sechs had gotten rather carried away, using chairs and the trays to attack the staff. She was sure that did merit a bit of a fight back but the tackling to the ground, sedation and later, gassing, had been more than getting even or keeping things under control.

"You can heal others?" There didn't seem to be many doctors within the patient body, but she supposed just being a doctor did not make one immune to incarceration. He seemed rather enthusiastic about helping others. A small smile came to her lips.

Her smile faded as she used all her concentration to understand his quick explanation. Inner strength, used to fly and heal? What an amazing person this was! "I also have the ability to use energy to heal others." Athena was an amazing Persona, able to both fight and support. "It is much harder here to evoke that kind of power, but thankfully it is not impossible. I have never been able to fly..."

Was that possible with Persona? She couldn't imagine it.

[bitpartgod]

There was a smile- brief and a little bit hazy around the edges, but definitely a smile! Kibitoshin returned it in full force. It was nice to see that he'd managed to make himself clear enough to be understood by someone as badly sedated as Aigis was, seeing how he even managed to confuse himself when he wasn't totally on the ball.

"Really? That's great! The more healers there are around here, the better!" Though that was worth thinking about- if she could heal, was she still an Earthling? He'd seen humans do a lot of things, but the only other race he'd seen heal in person were the Namekians, and unless Aigis was secretly a boy (wait, could she-?! ... no, no, that was a silly thing to think, even for him) there was no way she could be one of those. He paused. There wasn't really a tactful way to ask, but... "Um. If you don't mind me asking, are you from Earth? I've never met a human who could heal before."

Not that it really mattered, if she was still subject to the rules of this place, but he couldn't help but be curious. He'd met so many humans here that it was nice to branch out a little. He might even learn something about a new culture in the mix!

[no_dont_go]

Aigis nodded at his exuberant statement. With all the dangers this place provided, healers were essential to survival. This place seemed to have as much use for them injured as they were whole, but they did make a big show of bandaging their victims up when day returned. A vicious cycle much like their old goal of studying Tartarus. No matter how many Shadows they killed, it was all for naught while the real menace was on the loose.

His next question threw her off for a moment. How could he think she was human? Then her sluggish thought process caught up and she remembered she had not told him yet. "I am from Earth, but you are mistaken. I am not human. Or rather"--she lifted a hand up in front of her, shaking a little--"I was not before coming here. It has been a strange transition."

It did strike her as odd after the fact that he had asked if she was from Earth. From what she knew humans were the only sentient beings in the physical universe, so Earth was the only likely candidate for her planet of origin. Unless perhaps Kibitoshin was from a future in which interplanetary travel was possible, which was not quite so absurd an idea as it might have been before she had come to Landel's.

[bitpartgod]

From Earth but not human…? Aigis’ answer seemed confusingly contradictory until Kibitoshin really thought about it and remembered the kind of planet Earth actually was; yes, there were mostly humans, but there were also dinosaurs and animals and robots and strange things he’d never even seen before. It wouldn’t really have been all that strange for Aigis to not be human, even on the version of Earth he knew personally. Though really, he couldn’t imagine her having been a dinosaur in a past life.

Anyway, it gave them something else in common aside from the healing thing, and that was always good. Conversationally speaking, that was. There wasn’t anything good about not being in his old body anymore.

“I know what you mean. I wasn’t human before I came here either. I just can’t get used to not looking the same anymore, though I guess my changes weren’t really that dramatic. They were more… cosmetic, I guess.” Just his skin and ears, really, but it was still enough of a change to be unsettling- he still didn’t feel entirely right. He couldn’t even imagine how it must have felt to someone like Sechs, who had to put up with an entirely new type of body. It must have been like losing a limb, or worse. “What were you before?”

[no_dont_go]

"Cosmetic?" It was getting harder for her to keep up with the conversation, as if the drugs continued to sap more of her strength and concentration as time wore on. She wanted to rest, to recharge, so she could better understand and respond to Kibitoshin but that would have to wait as he was here and talking with her now.

She understood at least that he had also looked different before coming here, but that was the extent. That he was interested in her didn't surprise her, but she wondered if she had the energy to make a coherent response.

"I was... am--no, was, a battle android," she finally replied, sighing. She breathed deeply, blinking, trying to regain her focus. "My body shape and facial features were generally the same as they look now, though I am not composed of the same materials. I think."

She sat up, her hands reaching to touch her face. She squeezed her blue eyes shut then opened them wide, wide, wide in hopes of waking her body up. Her processors were way too sluggish for this. She refocused her gaze on her new friend, hoping to give him the attention he deserved. "What of you, Kibitoshin-san?"

[bitpartgod]

For a second there Aigis' eyes lost focus entirely, like she'd spotted something in the distance, and even if she'd repeated what he said Kibitoshin had to wonder if she'd even heard the rest of his sentence. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to try talking about complicated things like where their bodies were after all; she really did look very tired.

At the same time, though, he couldn't very well just leave her hanging. In fact, he couldn't leave himself hanging, either, because what she'd just said really was a surprise.

"You're a battle android?" He blinked, looking bewildered and just a little unsure. Maybe he'd been wrong about her all along- maybe she was some kind of scary attacking machine and she only seemed sweet and normal because she'd been sedated. He couldn't help, briefly, thinking the same thing he'd thought when Sechs had told him he was an android; pleasant, peaceful androids seemed to be more the exception than the rule. Even Android #18 still liked fighting and she had a teenage daughter now, and while Sechs wasn't evil, he was hardly a nice person.

... w-well, there was still no reason to jump to conclusions, right? "No kidding! You're the second one I've met!" he finished, forcing a smile whilst trying not to imagine that the sleepiness he was seeing in her eyes was actually a carefully concealed murderous glint.

Maybe he needed to get off of that topic.

"Me? I'm a--" Hmm. Did he really want to get onto this topic when Aigis was so tired? It was difficult enough for one-hundred percent alert people to keep up with the definition of a Kaioshin, so what chance did she really stand of getting it? "I'm from a different dimension," he finished lamely. "I should explain it some other time. You seem kind of tired."

[no_dont_go]

If there had been any hesitancy in Kibitoshin's voice then it completely bypassed the android in her semi-conscious state. She had been able to keep up with most of the conversation. If she remained up-right and focused this could continue on for a while longer.

"I have also recently met another android." Aigis tilted her head to the side, trying to remember what she and Sechs had talked about. There hadn't been much, unfortunately. "It was too brief a meeting."

"A different dimension." She nodded slowly to show she understood. The Dark Hour was in a sense a dimension all its own that happened to brush up against the realm of the living. But certainly Kibitoshin wasn't a Shadow or else she would have sensed that about him. Or would she? Either way, the concept of others coming from different dimensions did not phase her. Heat had also seemed to share that particular circumstance.

"I'm afraid you are correct. This drug is taking a harsh toll on my body." She managed another smile, though, and returned her blue gaze to her hands in her lap. "But I would like to meet with you again sometime, Kibitoshin-san. You seem to be a kind person." Someone willing to heal others and able to gauge her condition then respond accordingly. Thoughtful and polite. Yes, a kind person.