Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

[heraldric]

After the couple glasses of water Leon managed to gulp down during breakfast, the mage felt immensely better. He was still a bit tired, but that was nothing a little lounging on one of the sofas wouldn't cure. Stretching his arms above his head, he couldn't help but wish he'd had the chance to grab one of his new doctor's coats before leaving his

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[tyki_pon]

Experience had taught Tyki Mikk that Rhode was going to pester him until he had gone mad followed her demands, which didn't leave him with much of a choice. It was how he ended up making her homework even though he never got any sort of education. He didn't have much of a choice.

"Yeah. Yeah. Just calm down already!" he sighed, holding up his hands in defense. And she had a point, he guessed. Even though the general panic was still too bothersome.

Guess he should get started already...

It was supposed to be easy, to reject the substance below him. He should be sinking through the couch right now, eventually going through the floor and ending up on the level below them.

Except nothing happened. Tyki blinked, only to look down on the couch he was still slouched upon. The piece of furniture was still very solid; he hadn't passed through it, not even an inch.

"..."

He tried again, to will himself at least through the couch. Even a larger amount of concentration didn't do anything; he was still slouching on the couch as if he hadn't tried anything at all.

"What the hell?"

There was a pause, as the Hobo stared blankly at the couch from behind his glasses. "I...can't!" he admitted, too surprised to add anything else to that statement. How was that possible? He wasn't supposed to have any trouble to use his abilities, even in his white side. He seriously doubted the couch was being stubborn.

"This is bad." he said, more to himself than to Rhode. The Tease were gone, too. It didn't take a smart ass to figure out both had probably disappeared as soon as he got here. There was definitely something wrong with this 'Landels'.

"What kind of place is this, anyway?"

[sugarsweetblood]

He... couldn't?

No!

No, no, no!

The shock was more than just slightly apparent on Rhode's face as she stepped back, then sunk to the ground. It couldn't be happening! Not Tyki too! He wasn't supposed to come here and get trapped! He was supposed to be the rescue - him and the others: Sheryl, Lulu, even those darn twins! And the Earl! What if they all got caught too? What if she never got out of here?!

Tyki's own questioning went ignored over to Rhode's internal panicking.

[tyki_pon]

At first, Tyki wasn't sure what he was supposed to do when Rhode sank through the floor. It wasn't very often she did.

Was this place that bad?

"Oi!" he said, reaching out to ruffle the girl's hair. "I bet everything will be just fine!" He gave her a reassuring smile, one he often gave to Ease when the boy was worried he wouldn't come back. Tyki's white side wasn't all that bad.

Even though he wasn't quite sure how everything would be fine, though. He didn't even knew what was going on! But if Rhode had expected him to rescue her, it meant she was held prisoner. His own position probably wasn't any different, and the idea wasn't very appealing. Especially now that his powers were gone...

So who were these people? Were they with those Exorcists or something?

[sugarsweetblood]

"How?!" she yelled, emotions mixing in anger and fear, "They caught me Tyki! And now you... What if the others get caught too?! You didn't even know I was here, did you? That means they don't! So they don't know to be careful!" And if they got caught...

She shook her head hard, not wanting to have to think about it, but the "whats" and "ifs" just kept coming to her. Nothing had ever panicked her so much before - two Noahs were caught by some unknown power that might even be connected to the Exorcists (even if some of those were still in the same situation), they were all but powerless against it, and if Tyki's own words were any indication, no one even knew to come get them!

Even after getting what she wanted, seeing the real Tyki there, she wasn't going to get out. Not now, and maybe not ever!

[tyki_pon]

Tyki was slightly taken aback by Rhode's panicked reaction. It wasn't very often he had seen her so upset, and he couldn't help but wonder what the hell was up with this place.

For now, it seemed it was up to him to try and calm her down.

"I dunno what's going on 'round here, but they're gonna notice we're missin', right?" he finally said, somewhat carefully. "We can always look for a way out ourselves. We'll be fine, so calm down."

A few walls had never stopped him. Granted, it was going to be a little more difficult now that his powers were gone, but there was always the old-fashioned way of using a door. How hard could it be to steal a few keys from the nurses 'round here? If growing up on the streets as an orphan had been useful for anything, it at least made him a little resourceful.

"So tell me what's goin' on, okay?"

[sugarsweetblood]

She pouted up at him, not completely comforted by what he was saying, but gradually feeling better as a result of his words. Tyki didn’t know yet, what this place was like - how it tricked and tried the people here no matter where they were from. It was a nightmare, even for her who loved seeing humans running for their lives. Because she was stuck as a human too.

After a moment, she nodded, then crawled up onto the couch with him, sitting close enough so she could cling. It was both good and bad that he was here: good because she finally had a family member there for her, but at the same time bad because now they were both trapped. And here she was supposed to be the one telling others that misery loved company.

"I don't know what. I though this was the Ark and that the twins were playing games at first, but it's not," as she spoke, she did cling to him at his arm, like a scared little girl that didn't want to let go of her favorite toy, "Something here took my powers, and all these monsters are out in the halls at night that aren't Akuma. I can't heal without my powers, Tyki, so I can't play with anything." Instead, things played with her. That ghost woman, and those bird things too. If Tyki didn't believe her, she still had the claw marks on her back as proof.

[tyki_pon]

When Rhode climbed close to him on the couch and clinged to his arm, Tyki let her. They were family, after all. At least she had calmed down a bit now, and Tyki listened silently to her story.

It sounded like one of those really bad horror stories, or something a superstitious villager would come up with after he had seen some strange building or something. Except Rhode wasn't a superstitious villager. He didn't see why she would lie to him about something like this, even when the story sounded as far-fetched as it did.

Especially the monster-part surprised him. He had never heard of any monsters aside from Akuma, and why would they be running around in a hospital? It sucked, because they probably would be pretty bothersome to deal with without his powers.

"I guess this ain't a normal hospital, then." he remarked after she had finished, stating the obvious as he scratched his head with his free hand. He wasn't quite sure what else to say, though.

[sugarsweetblood]

"It's not, and I wanna go home," she said again, not as forceful of a demand, but still the same demand she'd been making. "It's been a week Tyki - that's how long I've been stuck here. Didn't you say everyone would know if I'd vanished?" She clung a little tighter. "I was with you when I woke up here, you know!" A though that had just now come to her. That's right, she'd been here that long. Surely Tyki would have known about her being gone then. They'd been in that room on the top of the Ark. He wouldn't have been able to leave the Ark if she hadn't been there too.

[tyki_pon]

Except Tyki hadn't been with Rhode before waking up here. He had been in China, getting rid of people involved with that person. He had just killed Allen Walker. Rhode was supposed to be with the Earl, or at the very least with Sheryl.

He blinked in surprise. There was something wrong here...

"Wait a minute." Tyki said. "I was in China doin' my job before waking up here. I'm sure you weren't there with me."

[sugarsweetblood]

When he said that, she looked up at him, expression confused. "Nuh-uh, you were in the Ark with me. We were waiting for Allen Walker, who you didn't kill like you were supposed to," and for which she was pretty thankful, "and those other exorcists with him."

Was he going back to pretending not to know? That wouldn't help him either! It wouldn't help them get out if he acted like that anyway!

[tyki_pon]

But he wasn't pretending.

"Huh? That ain't possible." Tyki objected, giving her a confused look of his own. "I swear I was in China before I got here."

It didn't make sense. If he was on the Ark with Rhode, he would know it. Especially if they were waiting for exorcists. And Allen Walker.

"And I did kill that boy."

[sugarsweetblood]

"You were not!" she hissed, turning angry again. Arguing with her wasn't going to change that she had been with him on the Ark waiting for Allen Walker! "And you did not! The Earl scolded you all for not killing all your targets like he told you," she pouted at him more. He didn't sound like he was lying, and she couldn't rightly tell if he wasn't either because of her stupid human body, but what he said and what she said couldn't both be right.

So, of course, she was the one who was right.

[tyki_pon]

"What?! No way, that ain't possible!!" he argued. "I let the Tease eat a hole through his heart, so he couldn't have survived." Where did she get these ideas? Besides, if the Earl had scolded him, he would have remembered it.

Obviously, he was the one who was right.

[sugarsweetblood]

"He lived through that, Tyki. Obviously you lost your edge then," she taunted, still annoyed. Why was he arguing with her; he should know she'd win. She always won. "You know he lived! And that he was coming to fight you at the top of the Ark! Stop pretending you don't know!" she demanded.

[tyki_pon]

"But I ain't pretendin'." Tyki answered on an indignant tone. "How could he have survived? I'm sure I've destroyed his Innocence and killed him. Or are ya going to tell me his left arm suddenly grew back as well?"

Like he didn't have enough reasons to get a massive scolding right now. He really couldn't use one more. He sighed, leaning his head on the back of the couch.

"I need a smoke."

[sugarsweetblood]

"He's here, Tyki! Right over there!" she had, of course, spotted Allen when he'd walked in and pointed a sharp finger over in his direction. "You wanna tell me that's dead? Huh?!"

And then he went and leaned back like he didn't care.

"Hey, don't ignore me!"