DAY 55: Sun Room [2nd Shift]

[autophoenix]

[ from here ]Either she was the only unlucky person to experience a freezing shower, or she just hadn't built up the tolerance for it that the more seasoned patients had. Whichever it was, she was the first person into the sun room and while normally she wouldn't mind that, the soldiers were majorly creepy and she was kind of hoping for some kind

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[savagesolitude]

Roxas did not give her a lasting cure for her foul mood. Not entirely. Claire was less skittish and in better spirits than she had been when she woke up, but the moment she left his company the scowl came back on her face. It was too hard to stay cheery in the light of all this. That wasn't who she was anymore.

A different soldier than before came to collect her, ushering her towards the courtyard and eying her lack of a beret. Claire didn't think she had ever been there, but she wasn't ready to explore it just yet.

"Wait!" Thin fingers wove into the fabric of his sleeve. He turned to look at her, not an ounce of shock in his eyes. Fortunately, he did nothing to shake her off. "I need to tell someone something. On the board." She looked hastily towards the Sun Room. He was dragging her the opposite direction. "I need to write some notes-"

"Be quick," he said abruptly. Then he turned on his heel and led the way.

Claire wasted no time. She pounced upon the first piece of paper she could find and posted a note looking for Goku. Not far from that, there was another notice addressed to her about the shadows. Andrew had seen them again. Claire boggled for a moment at the revelation. A flash of a dark figure passed her mind. She scribbled down a reply, suppressing a shudder. If the lights came on again tonight, she would run. She would have to keep running or find a place where she cast no shadow, and that would be impossible.

She pushed the terrible thought from her mind and skimmed the rest of the board, deciding that the only other post of worth was the one tracking missing persons. Frowning, she added her own report. She had never learned her roommate's name, and she sincerely doubted the woman had a single friend amongst the patients here, but she was a person and she was missing. Claire gave a bare bones description of her and jotted down one for Rika as well. The poor girl.

She had paid no mind to the man that had drawn up beside her a few moments ago. She wasn't writing anything secret, he could look if he wanted. But when he cut in with a word about Rika, Claire turned to stare.

Blonde yet again. Long hair for man, German accent. (She was fairly certain it was German. Could have been Russian, but she was sure that 'Fräulein' was something they said in Germany.) Even without the help of the uniform, he seemed very well put together in spite of the long scar on his cheek. One of his hands was bandaged as well. Had he been hurt recently or was he just getting better?

"Yeah. I met her on my first night here. She gave me a knife," Claire said quietly. Her brows furrowed for a moment as she considered the man. "I was supposed to meet someone about her yesterday, but I missed it. How do you know Rika?"

[rocksthecourt]

...Gave her a knife? Normally, something like that would be extremely alarming, but gathering some sense of weaponry in this place was necessary for self-defense, unfortunately. Something that had taken him a while to accept. But the fact that a little girl like Rika would think to hand out something like that was surprising enough on it's own. Let alone a knife. Then again, he didn't know the circumstances. There was probably more to the story. In any case, the point was Rika was one of the first people she'd met here. And considering the way she said it, she didn't seem like she'd held any ill opinion of the girl.

What caught his attention more, however, was her next statement. She was supposed to meet someone yesterday about Rika, but hadn't been able to? That was... That's right. Hadn't he arranged to discuss investigating Rika's disappearance with someone on the bulletin board? Yesterday at lunch, it should have been. Was it possible this was the same person? He tilted his head a little, considering.

"I ran into her and another child in the basement about a week ago or so." More monster than child, really, but the details weren't necessary. "...She'd gotten a little hurt that evening, so I spoke to her a few times after that to check up on her. I didn't know her terribly well, sorry to say." He'd been more worried for her than anything else. Especially since she'd gained the attention of the wrong kind of person. ...And now she was gone.

It's here he realized, he'd been speaking rather bluntly with her. Normally, he was exceptionally friendly when regarding women. Right now, he actually had to think about smiling. That was rude of him, even if he really didn't feel like it. So he offered a small simple smile as he continued. "You... wouldn't happen to be 'Claire' now, would you? Did you plan to meet with someone signing their name as 'K' on the bulletin board?"

[savagesolitude]

"The basement?" Claire parroted back. "What basement? Is there something under the hospital?"

Come to think of it, she had heard the word tossed around here and there. She'd paid it little mind, because there wasn't anything on her map about it. Though all things considered, if this man had been down there and was still as stuck as the rest of them, there couldn't be much to it.

Instead, Claire focused her attention on the rest of his story. It was impossible to tell if he was lying for sure, but he didn't appear insincere. The story was told matter-of-factly, not a bat of an eyelash. Still, it was fairly suspicious that he would jump in out of the blue like that. And there was nothing in the story specific enough about Rika to ensure that he did know her at all.

He could have been looking for an opportunity to catch Claire.

After what had happened with Damon, could she really afford to trust every patient that trotted on by? Hesitantly, Claire rubbed the bandages through the cover of her shirt. The second she let her guard down and risked her neck for him, Damon had turned on her and ripped into her arm. Sucked her blood. If she couldn't trust a man with the face of an old friend, why should she trust one that she didn't know at all.

His finishing question wasn't enough to clear him. Claire's eyes narrowed by a hair as she regarded him thoughtfully, head rolled back to an assertive tilt. "K?"

She let the silence hang for a moment. What a neat coincidence. He just happened to be strolling on by in time to catch her writing a note about Rika. And why would he agree to a meeting about Rika if he barely knew her in the first place?

"Can you tell me what Rika looks like?" she asked softly, her voice jarring with the stony stare. "Seems a bit odd. You barely knowing her and then asking to meet me."

[rocksthecourt]

So she didn't know about the basement either. It had taken him a while to learn about it, too, and it was only through second hand discussion like this that he'd found out at all. Not many people must have made a habit of visiting, he supposed. Less seemed to speak about it. For what reason, he couldn't guess. "Yes," he said simply. "There's at least one other floor underneath the institute. I've only seen a small portion of it myself, but it gives off the impression of there being a large mess of hallways and rooms. There's a good chance it runs beneath the entire building. But I can't say for certain."

If she wanted to ask more on it, he'd be more than willing to share what he knew. Klavier was free with his information when it came to this place. What reason would he have to hide it? Then again, other people didn't have much reason either, but they did anyway. Sigh. Anyway. Let's not add more to his growing list of irritating things to dwell over.

Her reaction indicated recognition at the name "K," meaning this very likely was the same woman he'd been speaking to over the bulletin. She basically confirmed that when she asked him that question. It provoked a small jerk of a smile on one side of his mouth. It was the same sort of suspicion as the one on the board who hadn't wanted to travel alone with a strange person at night. Under normal circumstances, detours in conversation like this would be secretly annoying, but he knew they were necessary in this place. Actually, it made him optimistic regarding her intelligence. She was wary and wasn't willing to trust random people here any more than he was. She was trying to test him to see if he was lying about the affiliation. That's fine. It's not like he had anything to hide.

"That's right. I'm K. ...Though it's 'Klavier' in person." He gave her that same small, flat smile. It was probably obvious that it was fake and just there for civility's sake but... Klavier couldn't even say he cared right then. He was trying, ok? "She's a young girl. ...Around ten or eleven, I suppose? A bit of a high-pitched voice, so she may be younger. Blue hair. Purple eyes. A very reserved manner of speech. A quiet way of smiling." He watched her reaction as he spoke, waiting patiently to see a click of recognition come across her face. Or if she reacted any other way.

"Well. It does sound strange, I admit. But that would be... because I don't really want to speak to you about Rika herself, per say."

[savagesolitude]

The basement and the top floors. Claire furrowed her brows. Most people were able to get up the second with relative ease, but the other two were largely unexplored. You had to wonder if there was anything worth getting at all, or if it was just a wild goose chase. Claire wanted out. She wasn't looking to solve any mysteries. All she needed to be gone from here and with her baby again, plain and simple. Any detours would only slow her down.

Maybe she should try fishing around. This man might not know much, but maybe someone else could tell her if it was a waste of time or not. She let the subject drop for now.

Klavier was definitely a foreign name, as if the accent wasn't enough of a hint. Claire still couldn't place where he was from, but she supposed it didn't matter in a place where none of them belonged. Just like on the island. And he seemed to have Rika's description dead on, so there was even less reason to judge him. Even if his last sentence was a little confusing.

Claire's brows drew together. She didn't bother returning his smile, nor did she give anything besides a short nod to acknowledge his answer. "Then why did you call me out? Was there something else?" She frowned. "I'm sure I've never met you before..."

Quite suddenly, a bark of a voice cut in between them. "Greene, Gilmour. Adults are in the Courtyard."

Claire whirled to face the soldier, temper bubbling already. "But there are other adults here-"

She stopped short. Behind the soldier was the window. What was once a dreary scene of grey on green was now blanketed in white. Her eyes widened and her temper faded away. "Snow?" She blinked. "Oh my god, is that snow?"

The only time had ever seen such a thing was on the telly, especially when the Christmas specials came on and they played stuff from America. Claire couldn't help herself. She leaned around the soldier to get a better glimpse, gaping like a child. Then Klavier found himself on the receiving end of the most imploring puppy eyes in the world.

It would be cold. She knew that. It would probably be miserable and wet, and...but she wouldn't know unless she went out there, would she?

[IDK IF THE PLAN WAS STILL TO MOVE THEM OUT TO THE COURTYARD? A;LSDJGG LET ME KNOW IF THIS IS NOT OKAY.]

[rocksthecourt]

[alksdl THIS IS TOTALLY FINE]

There was a vast difference between being yelled at by a defense attorney with the inability to control the volume of his voice and these people. Although he wasn't going to flinch or show any reaction to it, Klavier had to say the way these people addressed them was really grating. He never spoke to his subordinates like this. A little respect can go a long way, you know. But that was the difference between civilians and the military, he supposed. He knew he was never cut out for the army.

Still, he wasn't planning on arguing, even if they were being obscenely rude to both of them. Claire, on the other hand, seemed ready to fight against the point until she actually got a good look out the window. The sudden cutoff was enough to make Klavier turn and look himself. Oh. It was snowing. Better than rain, he guessed, but still it meant it would likely be very cold outside. Maybe it would be a good idea to argue staying in after a-- "Snow? Oh my god, is that snow?"

Klavier turned to her, surprised. As opposed to him, she looked inordinately excited about the snow. Claire even turned to him with this pleading look in her eyes. Klavier froze. He hated to admit it, but he was kind of a sucker for looks like that. I mean... really, how was he supposed to say "no" to that? Apparently, she really wanted to go out into the snow.

He blinked at her, astonished. Then something broke and the smile shifted to something entirely genuine. He even gave a small chuckle. "Shall we take this outside then, Fräulein?"

The soldiers would be happy they were being spared an argument.

[to here]