Day 32: Lunch

[damnrudecock]

Sanosuke hadn't quite been ready to part ways from Kenshin, but his nurse was insistent, and she was offering food. That second thing was what really got Sano off the couch and headed to the cafeteria. And at the very least, the thing about Okita had been settled, which meant the fighter could focus on his meal

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[screwthegods]

The last shift had been a mixture of success and failure for Homura, which seemed to be the normal state of his existance. With a single question, Junior had become more invaluable than Homura had thought. And at the same time, two of those who expressed an interest had failed to show up at all. With any luck, they'd both been pulled into one of the therapy sessions; since the nurses left their "patients" with little choice in the matter, it would be a satisfactory explanation for their absences. Otherwise, it didn't bode well for their welcome inclusion into the History Club

[opposingheaven]

Kenren had taken the last shift in his room, not feeling up to socialising for once, rare a situation as that was. The questioning by that kid had affected him more than he'd thought it would, bringing memories and not-memories to the surface until he'd needed some quiet time to himself to sort through everything and decide which were his and which were Gojyo's. No-one should ever be on first name terms with their future reincarnation.

He felt a bit more together now at least. He entered the cafeteria when the nurse came for him and let the nurse choose whatever she wanted for his plate and then looked around for a seat. He spotted Homura and noted the bruise across the other god's face. Oh, this he had to hear. He was too intrigued not to. Besides, someone who knew him as him would help maybe.

He approached that table and sat down opposite Homura, setting his tray down and then sitting there. "Hey. You look like you had a rought night."

[screwthegods]

The familiar face across from him wasn't at all unwelcome, and Homura chuckled at Kenren's observation. "I'm assuming you mean these." The demi-god motioned to the left side of his face, still bruised, though greatly healed thanks to whatever it was that worked its magic on injuries in this place. "This is actually from yesterday morning."

Yes, between Sanzo and Okita, Homura's poor face hadn't stood a chance of coming away unscathed from that particular breakfast.

"Konzen--Sanzo," Homura corrected himself, knowing Kenren's preference. And really, Homura mostly called Sanzo that name just to annoy the monk more, though he was very aware of the difference. "was rather unsatisfied by how I treated him the night before last. He ambushed me in the hall. He has a gun now, by the way. You should be careful, in case he decides to be mad at you as well. We aren't immune to regular bullets any longer."

One of the demi-god's powers that he would greatly miss, and probably soon if Sanzo had his way about it.

[opposingheaven]

"Well yeah. They kinda' stand out," Kenren replied with some amusement. War gods were used to bruises though so he didn't doubt that Homura could mostly ignore them. It just amused him that anything had managed to get Homura in such a sensitive place. "Huh, I guess I just haven't been paying enough attention then if you've had them so long." He hadn't been ignoring Homura, he just hadn't been looking.

He raised an eyebrow when he heard about who exactly had done that to him. So, Sanzo had got close enough to deck Homura? That must have taken something from the monk. Or Homura must have been seriously off guard, even for an ambush. "Well, if you do insist on picking on mortals..." Kenren replied, a faint smile on his lips. "He's pretty volatile and has the skills to back it up this time." He laughed at the comment about bullets. "Yeah, I'll bear that in mind. Haven't had much cause to talk to him the last couple of days though. Not since Hakkai."

[screwthegods]

"Isn't that disappointing to here?" Homura teased Kenren, but really he did understand. The demi-god found himself incredibly busy these days, which suited him. It was better than sitting around in boredom, after all. But it did mean he didn't often have time for more relaxed conversations such as these

[opposingheaven]

"Well, you know. I'm a social butterfly and all. Can't tie me down to just one person," Kenren replied with a smirk. It wasn't the strict truth under normal circumstances. But these weren't really normal circumstances. "I need to be entertained." Last night had definitely counted as entertainment

[screwthegods]

Homura laughed lightly, leaning back in his chair. "I think I can name one person who might not be so happy with the sentiment, Kenren Taisho." Still, Homura could understand the need for amusement. It was why he acted the way he did, from the time he was in Heaven until this very moment. So many people didn't like him for it, but that was their concern. Homura was used to being hated

[opposingheaven]

The thought of that one person hurt, especially after the visitor that he'd received, but he still grinned and nodded in agreement. "Yeah well, he's a special case," Kenren replied with an odd smile. Tenpou was always a special case. "Maybe I wouldn't need so much entertainment if he were here." Tenpou had a way of making everything entertaining after all.

So, Okita had been on the other end of some of those bruises. It made sense. Okita seemed like someone who could be vicious when he was mad. "I guess you're going to be more wary at breakfast from now on," he said with a smirk. "Might be attacks with waffles netx time."

Part of him knew that he shouldn't really be trusting Homura on this one. There was more to this place than that and Tenpou would probably have kicked his ass in the most terrifying way possible (probably with tea and biscuits involved). But he wasn't here and Kenren was really starting to hate being messed with like this. "That's assuming he was. People are known to just disappear too," Kenren pointed out half

[screwthegods]

A special case. Homura could understand that, and felt the same way about his own person. Rinrei, whose level no one could obtain in his heart. "Well said, my friend

[opposingheaven]

Heh. It hadn't exactly been poetry or Kenren's eloquence at its best when he really needed to schmooze someone, but it said what he meant and got him understood. He thought that it covered everything anyway and that was the important thing. There was always someone who was an exception, who just stood out for one reason or another

[screwthegods]

"Better, in some respects." Homura knew Kenren was right about nothing serious happening, but there were other considerations. "However, I am trying to encourage others to join our little group. A display like that, however amusing, might make some of the wiser ones question our stability

[opposingheaven]

Wait, they had stability? That was news to him. The people he'd met were nice and interesting and all, but none of them, himself included, seemed to fall on the stable side of the spectrum. "Do you really want stable people? I mean, this objective doesn't really lend itself to stable people." It was half joke but as for the other half... eh, Homura could take that as he wanted.

He raised an eyebrow at the mention of someone definitely getting an ex-patient as a visitor. The others had been claimed to be former patients, but no-one remembered them being there. "Damn. I guess there's truth to the rumours that the visitors really were patients, but it's odd that some of them come back, like whatever happens to them doesn't take or somethin'. And we can assume it isn't anything to do with the experiments even because too many of us who've been through that are still here. Makes me wonder why they bother if they can brainwash people to such an extent as to attack their friends though."

[screwthegods]

"Our stability as a group, Kenren Taisho." Homura interlocked his fingers, placing his elbows on the table so he could rest his chin on his hands. He leaned forward in the casual pose, meeting Kenren's gaze, a faint smirk on his lips. "While the people within are more much interesting and useful than mindless followers, it does no good to try and accomplish our objective with all the parts fighting against each other. And that is the difficulty of trying to keep our group together as a group. Finding roles that suit everyone, satisfy everyone, and all the while accomplish a common objective

[opposingheaven]

Yeah yeah, he knew that. Really! What, he couldn't inject a little humour into the situation? People worked better together when they trusted each other and when there weren't risks that a supposed ally was going to try to kill you. His subordinates had all been pretty awesome and happy to join him in a drink and to not try to kill each other. "Mmmmm," he made a noise of agreement, thinking over the problem. "For roles, I think if you rotate what people do then they shouldn't have any arguments about anyone getting better jobs. As long as no-one actually dies I think you'll at least be getting interes from people who aren't happy with the other 'clubs'." And there'd always be arguments. It happened. Maybe he was just too casual

[screwthegods]

"That is easier, and what I intend to do with the lesser jobs." Gathering supplies, mostly, or files of the group's members. Simple tasks with less risk, and less need of proper weapons. "The problems are that we only have so many people with swords, and so many people suited and willing to do other jobs. Himura, for example, has decided that even the night doesn't change that the nurses are human. And I am sure you remember how that played into his actions a few nights ago on the bus." Oh, how it had indeed. An alternate personality, one who reeked of bloodlust, killing intentions. Homura hadn't forgotten, but at the same time, he couldn't take advantage of that personality. It went against Kenshin's choice, his will. Of course, that didn't mean that Homura couldn't with his own actions. "Which is why I'd prefer he not find out that we're hunting nurses at night." Tonight, even

[opposingheaven]

"Yeah, I remember what happened," Kenren agreed with a slight grimace. Man, that hadn't been good to see. He wasn't certain how anyone could object so strenuously to defending themselves against creatures that were attacking them, or even taking action against monstrous creatures created by the Institute. It had to be themselves first, otherwise they wouldn't survive. Even if he wasn't going to go out of his way to kill, he still wasn't going to sit back and not work against the Institute. "He won't hear anything from me though. No sense alienating him or pushing him to interfere." It was Kenshin's choice after all. Kenren could appreciate being allowed to choose whether to fight or not