Day 57: Arts & Crafts Room (Fourth Shift)

[gald_digger]

When she left the lobby, Anise still didn't know what to think about her visitor. All this time, she thought the one person the institute would never truly get to was the Colonel, and that if he was gone, then maybe he was hiding somewhere, plotting a way to rescue the rest of them. Now that she thought about it... maybe that was naïve of her. She

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[scintillatingly]

Being outside had been nice, but as the sun had started to lower into the sky the cold had become too much and Sora had decided to retreat inside. Just judging by the faces of the people leaving the Sun Room after the third shift, the movie didn't seem like it was a good one, and so Sora decided to skip out from that once again. Instead, he moved into the Arts and Crafts room, partly because he was curious to see if there were any special activities going on (nothing had been announced, but who knew?) and partly because he'd gotten attached to the room after running a club named after it

[thatdemonbitch]

Ruby was about six centuries too old for arts and crafts. Kristen was only about fifteen years too old, of course, but that didn't excuse the faculty for insisting that she get some stress relief by heading in. After the suggestion was made, though, it wasn't too tough to convince her. Not because she was exactly eager to go messing with construction paper and deco-scissors, but the bonus was plenty of chatting going on. Chatting meant getting something she could use outta these people

[scintillatingly]

Someone had come to sit across from Sora before he even knew it, and more than that, the person in question took his blue marker. The boy glanced up to see a dark-haired lady who seemed a little too old to find any of the stuff in here that interesting. Then again, he wasn't the sort of person who believed you could outgrow anything, so he wasn't about to judge

[thatdemonbitch]

Recognition colored her expression suddenly and she sat back, giving up her hold on the blue marker to fold her arms over her chest. For a moment, she just inspected him, like she was sizing him up. No wonder they called themselves the Arts & Crafts club, it was made up of a bunch of kids who were in over their heads -- or, not so much over their heads, in Roxas' case. That sword … she'd never gotten the chance to ask him about it.

"Arts and crafts. Cute." There was something humorous to finding him actually playing with markers upon realizing that he was in the, apparently aptly named, club. She realized he probably had no idea what she was talking about, and after a beat, clarified. "The club on the bulletin board. That's you, right?"

It didn't fully excuse how she knew him. Maybe she'd seen him with Roxas, though -- if they were in their little club together, they had to hang around each other, right? It was the best explanation she could muster up, anyway. Ruby didn't like having to come up with her own

[scintillatingly]

It looked like his name had filled some sort of blank in the lady's head, since she started looking at him like she was trying to figure it out. She also dropped the marker, so Sora took his chance to subtly slide it back over to his side of the table for later. He knew that the drawing wasn't all that important, but it was still something he could keep with him and look at when he was feeling particularly homesick

[thatdemonbitch]

The hesitation in the way he called Roxas his friend caused Ruby's eyebrow to raise slightly on her forehead, because it didn't take a genius to figure out there was something else there. Not anything she could discern or press about right now, but definitely something. And it wasn't just her experience in reading people that got her catching on, either.

The news made a sufficient distraction from her curiosity, though, because she felt something she wasn't entirely too familiar with. Like the disappointment had come back with a vengeance. And friends. And armaments. It was like a weight of tension had leveled in her gut, and was crawling its way up into her throat. She didn't like it, and she especially didn't like the underlying sizzle she could feel of the Grace racing through her as a result. At least it had dulled over the past day.

"Disappeared? How's that work, did somebody come haul his stuff and check him out?"

[scintillatingly]

Oh no. She didn't even know what happened to the patients who disappeared

[thatdemonbitch]

Brainwashed. Fan-freaking-tastic. Right about now, she was calling it lucky that she'd just gotten killed on her last round in this little rodeo. Abandoning her sense of composure, she slammed a fist on the table, reaching her other hand up to wipe over her mouth and defuse some of her frustration. There was a humming of electricity underneath her skin that came with the anger -- not quite pain like it had been before, but a familiar reminder that something still wasn't right inside of her

[scintillatingly]

Sora hadn't been expecting such a violent reaction, and yet if Ruby had been close to Roxas, then he certainly didn't blame her for being upset. The only sign he gave of being startled was jerking slightly in his seat, but he settled down soon enough, making sure to send the woman an understanding glance. Roxas being gone left him feeling incomplete in a weird way, and while that feeling eventually faded, it hadn't yet.

"It could happen to any of us," he said with a sigh. In fact, it happened to most people. For some reason it hadn't happened to him yet, except for that one day when he'd thought he was Matthew. It was scary to realize that they could do it so easily, and yet here he was despite that. He didn't get it, but he was going to call himself lucky for now

[thatdemonbitch]

"Right."

She knew better than anybody that it could happen to any of them at any time. She knew because she'd gotten the firsthand account of when it happened to her out of Sam. Sure, Roxas being out and about and released was a little less serious than her going all Michael Meyers on everybody's favorite antichrist, but it was the principle that really bothered her.

When the nurse stopped by and dropped off her little envelope, though, that caught Ruby's attention a whole lot more than fixating on what kinda position Roxas was in did. She'd rather just push that to the back of her mind and deal with it later. This, on the other hand, she could only grill Sora about now. After all, it wasn't every day they got mail.

"Who's Donald? Ex-boyfriend?" There was a wry, comical edge in her voice as she raised an eyebrow at the reaction that the brat seemed to give off.

[scintillatingly]

"No," Sora said with a frown, though he wasn't looking at Ruby. His eyes were fixed on the letter. "He's a friend. Actually, he's not even a boy, he's a duck, but..." He probably wasn't making any sense. He was rambling, partly because he was nervous and partly because it was hard to explain stuff like this to someone he'd only just met.

Even though part of him didn't want to read whatever Donald had written him, he knew that he had to. His friend had taken the time to write it and while he wasn't aware of himself right now, he was still worried for Sora. He had to honor that.

The letter was pretty long, which Sora was grateful for even with all the horrible implications. He read about names that he didn't recognize but that probably belonged to people he knew; about a play he'd never heard of; about his mom and how she and everyone else missed him.

I'm sorry, he thought to himself, almost as if the words could get to his friend if he tried hard enough. Maybe if he'd been back home, the power of his heart would have been strong

[thatdemonbitch]

A duck? A genderless duck? Ruby couldn't help the confusion that leaked into her expression, although she tried to keep it neutral because she wasn't entirely sure how Sora wanted her to respond. By now, that was kinda second nature for her -- reading people, responding in the best way to make sure they stayed useful

[scintillatingly]

At first Sora thought that Ruby was trying to brush off what he was going through, which was not what he needed right then, but then she moved on. The names she used were completely foreign to him, but she made her point eventually and it was actually one that he agreed with. She could have gone about saying it in a nicer way, but...

He nodded firmly, tucking the letter carefully into his pocket before looking back to her with a clear look in his eyes. He already knew what he needed to do and had decided on it the second that he'd seen Donald, transformed though he'd been, walk through the waiting room doors last week.

"I know that. I'd never leave my friends behind, so I'm going to find him and everyone else and get them back to normal before I ever get home. Don't worry." It made Sora wonder if Ruby had any friends who had been brainwashed that she didn't even know about, but putting that thought into her head would just be cruel.

[thatdemonbitch]

Much more unsettling than the thought that she might have friends who were brainwashed, Ruby couldn't help but let this think about the story Sam had told her about her death here. Being more or less possessed, acting erratic. Sure, she didn't think she was part of the Landel Institute illusion, but it was brainwashing all the same. And the fact that they could do it to a demon and to this kid's friends and to Roxas -- it was downright unnerving.

"Sounds like you've got some pretty big aspirations going." It was clear by her tone that she was impressed. After a moment of studying him more, she spoke up decisively. "Tell you what, Sora," she grabbed a small scrap of craft paper and wrote her room number down on it in big blocky letters, then slid it across the table to him. "You need any help with those big dreams of yours, you look me up."

[scintillatingly]

Instead of turning around and calling him immature for thinking he could accomplish so much, Ruby actually sounded kind of impressed. It wasn't what Sora had been expecting, and he quietly took the piece of paper from her, recognizing it as a room number but not really knowing what he should do with it. Maybe it was meant as a show of good faith. Either way, her offer to help was enough to bring a smile to his face.

"Help is always good! I actually run a club here, so if you ever need something to do with your night, you can always take an assignment." He didn't know if that was the sort of help that she was offering, but it was more or less the perfect time to mention that, wasn't it? He didn't want Kairi to feel like she was the only one trying to recruit people, after all.

Either way, this turn of events was serving as a good distraction from the letter he'd just received. With people like Ruby willing to help, saving his friends was seeming more and more possible.

[thatdemonbitch]

"I'm a little too booked up for community service," Ruby began dismissively, but she sat back and fixed him with a look of consideration. "But, when you need it, you'll know where to find me."

After all, she wasn't going to take a sabbatical from pushing her blood down Sam's throat to help out this kid with his charity work. But, if he got in trouble, that was a different story. She opened her mouth to add something, but the nurses came by to start ushering them out of the room. Ruby stuffed the marker she'd used back in the box, raising her eyebrows at Sora.

"Later, Alligator."