Day 55: Courtyard [2nd Shift]

[sheepwood]

After what seemed like an eternity of being amused, irritable, bored, in pain, in excruciating pain, and any combination of those, Guybrush was met by the same soldier who had led him to the cafeteria. He wasn't offered a trip to the Sun Room to check the bulletin board, but didn't push for it anyway. That would have been more walking, and moving

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[madeinthehrl]

Compared to the sickening cheerfulness of her old nurse, the brusque efficiency of Soma's new soldier escort was positively refreshing. Here was someone who knew she didn't need to be coddled, and who left her to her own devices with the implicit acknowledgment that she knew what her duty was.

It didn't mean she wanted to stay here, though. Aguilar's new military institute may have had most of the signs of a supersoldier training facility, but that didn't make it all right for her to stay. This was better than the pretense of a mental hospital, but that wasn't saying much at all. And if this, wasn't a facade of some sort as well, then it was at least a colossal waste of money. If they had the technology to pull civilians from different times, they must have had the technology to build their own supersoldiers. It didn't make sense.

The jacket she'd been given was warm enough, and there was something oddly comforting about the sight of the light flurries falling from the sky. Soma tucked her hands in her pockets to keep them warm and leaned against the wall, lost for the moment in thought.

[Senna! ♥]

[windstwilight]

[from here]

And hell if she was going to stay inside on top of everything else. Took a bit of cajoling, but in the end, the soldier-chick took a glance at Senna's tag thing and allowed it. Senna squinted at it suspiciously. Maybe the ranking thing was handy like this. But man! It was annoying that it changed to begin with. She tromped outside, frowning at life in general. And of course. It was cold. Not nice, fall cold, but oh, hey, is that a snowflake cold. Blah. What a downer on top of everything else. More than life, Senna needed a pick-me-up.

And somehow fate saw fit to actually give her that for once. Soma. Their last conversation hadn't been that much for the happy side of things, but maybe that could be changed a bit. They were what was left, any-- Ugh! Don't think about that! Something else. Senna bounded over to the other girl, shifting weight from one foot to the other to maintain warmth. "Hey, Soma!" Senna greeted with a wide smile. "Enjoying the scenery?"

[madeinthehrl]

Soma turned at the sound of a familiar voice and smiled automatically as Senna came running up. It was always good to see the other girl, even if she had a feeling that smile wasn't entirely real. That was all right--neither was hers. And it was better to keep those thoughts at bay, wasn't it? "Senna," she greeted, relaxing slightly. "How have you been?"

She nodded in response to the other girl's question, staring up at the grey sky. "It reminds me of home. I like it, really."

[windstwilight]

Home, huh? "You live somewhere cold, then?" She wondered. Maybe that explained her friend's light hair color. It would be nice to visit, she thought. Maybe. If anything like that was possible. "I'm not sure what I think about it. Haha, it might be too chilly for me."

The other thing was far harder to reply to. She sighed, and slid her hands behind her neck, before leaning against the wall next to Soma. The sky was grey. Not that many obvious clouds in that mess. She missed Hanatarou suddenly. She wondered if her friend had ever decided on what to do about those groups. Didn't matter now, she guessed. Still, it'd have been nice. If he stood on his own feet proudly at the end. "I've been," she said finally. "Stuff's been tough lately. And I think I became the guardian of this little kid." She laughed, a little self-depreciating. "But uh. What about you? You seem okay, at least."

Okay... could be a lot of things, though--actually being alright wasn't usually one of them.

[madeinthehrl]

"I've been living in Russia for the past few months. Or I was, until I got here." Soma pushed herself off the wall, inclining her head slightly. "But if it's too cold for you, we can go back inside. I don't mind."

She paused, thinking. A lot had happened over the last few days. "I've...been working some things out. Coming to terms with them." No idea if she'd anywhere near succeeded yet, but goals were good. They gave her purpose. A soldier without a purpose wasn't much use. "Keeping myself busy. I've been working with Arts and Crafts as usual."

[windstwilight]

Senna leaned more heavily against the wall, grinning. "I'm fine. Cold air is good sometime. Makes your mind wake up, I think. And anyway," the girl went on. "It's nice to be outside, at least." Russia, was it? "It seems like it'd be tough to live there."

Ah. Good old A&C. "Everybody doing well in Arts and Crafts? I haven't really kept up with the comings and goings lately." Sora, was still around, she was pretty sure. How many others, were hard to say. But it wasn't too necessary to figure out right now. She was more intent on the other thing Soma had mentioned. And put it together as it was said--linked it to a conversation over uneaten food and the horrible declaration that Soma could really fit in with the LDGC now. Senna glanced over to her, expression open. "You know," she started slowly. "Just because you were a product of something, doesn't mean you have any less right to live."

And maybe Soma already knew that. But Senna knew it, too. And so she borrowed another's words--pushed off the wall to face and smile at her friend. "You smile, right? Cry and laugh and run. That means you're you, in the end. No matter what other stuff you got."

[madeinthehrl]

Soma thought for a moment. Was it? In a way, she supposed; there had been a controlled environment in the space colony, and a regulated schedule, and there were neither of those things at home with the lieutenant colonel. But she was free there, and there had been something nice about learning to live as a civilian, despite the cold...She shook her head. "It's not so bad. And Arts and Crafts is doing all right, although sometimes I wonder if we're just running in circles. We haven't really found anything worth reporting."

She was quiet for a long moment after Senna spoke. They were similar words she'd heard before, back when she'd first arrived here. They'd made sense at the time. They still did. And she knew the lieutenant colonel would have agreed, wherever he was now. But that had been before she'd been taken upstairs, before she'd learned how the soldier who called herself Soma Peries had been created.

"I know," she said softly. "But I don't know if I have as much of a right to live as the girl who had this body before me."

[windstwilight]

Ah... "That sucks," she said in reply to the A&C point. A club was a good idea, better to get things done, but if Soma was feeling this way.... "What have you guys been focusing on lately?" She half wondered if people were still exploring all the areas. She hadn't heard any gossip on it at the least. Though that reminded her that she was supposed to check some things for Aidou. Ahh. Oops.

The silence spoke of wounds, and Senna knew it. And when Soma did speak, it only made that feeling worse. The girl stared at the ground for a moment, considering what to say. They were similar, now, but there was still distance. Senna had not been someone else before being 'Senna'. She had been nothing. Her existence was owed to an imbalance, and not another person altogether. So she didn't know, if Soma was right at all. But Senna couldn't just let that be. "You're alive now, aren't you?" she asked quietly. "You're the one that's alive. Because of that, you have the responsibility to live for the both of you, then."

She glanced up, watching Soma. "If you think like that, then you're not doing that girl any justice, right? Have a fun life, be happy, and do fulfilling things that you like and that matter to you. That's all you can do. You're here now, and you won't just fade away." No. Senna wouldn't let Soma vanish.

[madeinthehrl]

"My partner and I found some mines to the north last night. Abandoned, like everything else, and with clothes scattered around like the town we visited. But there wasn't anything else of value, and the lower levels are probably crawling with monsters." Not that she wouldn't go back, though. There might be something more down there. That creature seemed like it might have been guarding something--they just had to find out what.

Soma bit her lip, shaking her head. "I told you she was in my head that morning, didn't I? She's still there. She doesn't say much--she doesn't need to. And she's not angry, but...what she wants and what I want aren't the same thing at all.

"I can give up control," she clarified. "You said you met Allelujah once. He...knew Marie, when they were children. The day after the experiment, I spoke to him. Let Marie have control, just for a moment. And...that was the happiest I'd ever felt her be, that one instant, when she could move her own body and I was just a voice in the back of her head. With the terrorist who killed all our brothers and sisters. I don't know what to do anymore. What kind of a life is that?"

[windstwilight]

Yeah, it seemed like the majority of everything outside was abandoned, save one area. Senna thought for one moment, brow furrowing. "Somewhere out there, there's this tiny room," she finally said. "I don't know where--I got there that night everyone was teleporting around everywhere. But it's this trashy little joint, and that Marc guy stays there." She nodded, as if confirming it. "It might be good to look into."

...The other thing was far harder to comment to. Yeah, Senna had no idea what Soma was going through. Hell, Senna didn't know who had it worse, but fuck if she was going to sit down and compare. Nothing in Senna believed that Soma was the lesser of the two residing in her friend's head, but just as well... It wasn't the other girl's fault--Marie, was it?--that she had lost her existence. But the thing was. Both of them did still existed.

Senna looked up suddenly. "Then why don't you try to be friends with her? Think of her like a twin sister who'll always be with you." She shrugged. "Get to know her."

[madeinthehrl]

Soma looked up suddenly, interest spiking. "Ah--you've met Marc? What's he like? Did you get a ring the next morning?"

The prospect of that sort of information, at least, was enough to lift her spirits momentarily. It seemed practically every conversation they had these days started to spiral downward. That had probably been Landel's intent--just when things started looking up, something would happen and they'd find themselves back at the start again. There was no telling how that would change with Aguilar.

But she couldn't keep going on like this, caught between doubt and decision. Senna's advice made that clear. Just dwelling on it would get her nowhere. And all of these things...they weren't important right now, not with the sudden change in management and the sinking feeling that as much as she preferred the changeover now, things were almost certainly going to get worse.

She managed a wan smile. "I've been trying. If nothing else, she seems happy enough to talk to me."

[windstwilight]

She raised her eyebrows good-naturedly. Interested, huh? "He's a guy," she said vaguely. "Brownish-blond, tall-ish, skinny kid. Seems like he's trying his best to do what he can, I think. But he's definitely not the be-all and end-all." She nodded, as if agreeing to something. "It makes him more human. I think we can trust him," she added smiling. However, Soma's words were interesting. "Now what's this about a ring?"

She had gotten one, and gave it away. Was there something special behind it, in the end? She'd have to talk to Nigredo about it, see if he noticed anything in particular. However, she'd hunt the kid down later. Right now, she was watching Soma, and smiled back when her friend did. If Soma could still smile, even a little, Senna wouldn't give up hope. "Right. You two could be friends." Her smiled widened into a grin. "Can I be her friend, too? You should tell her about me! The three of us could have some fun." She made a face. "Or we could try, at least, if the military lets up a little."

[madeinthehrl]

Soma wasn't really sure what she would have expected Marc to be like. She had a feeling a skinny kid wasn't it. Still, it did match up with his eagerness, his willingness to stick his neck out for the patients. She wasn't willing to trust someone like that quite so easily, but if Senna thought he was worth it, he might be helpful somewhere along the line.

"I think some people got rings the morning after the night where all the rooms were mixed up. I got one. I think if you smash the stone, you go to the last place you were that night. It can be reset, too, if you place a drop of blood where the stone used to be. I haven't tried mine yet, but I've heard they're extremely useful."

Her smile widened a little at Senna's response, and she inclined her head slightly as Marie voiced her approval somewhere in the dark. "I think she'd like that," was all she said, mostly because she couldn't find a way to voice her thanks. The amount of understanding she'd received from her friend...she couldn't really comprehend why, but she was grateful for it all the same.