Day 21 - Sun Room

[soul_defender]

Ichigo was only too eager to leave the cafeteria and its fresh memories behind when the softened chime of the intercome rang clear. What had begun as another ordinary meal, a rather agreeable one despite the lack of the proper utensils, quickly became somewhat unnerving. His conversation with...what was his name again?...took so many sharp turns,

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[hopeless_havoc]

Havoc wandered into the sun room figuring it was a better place for a nap than the music room. Although if he took less naps, he might actually have some contact with people. He hardly saw the colonel and Hughes anymore, but it was his own fault.

Havoc plopped himself down in the first available chair he came to, stretched out his long legs and tilted his head back. He didn't close his eyes just yet though, instead he stared up at the ceiling. Hell, he was too bored to sleep.

[ontheabyss]

Well, at least there was some plan for tonight. Lyta didn't really care at that point who took the lead. She just hated the fact that she hadn't even been considered - even though the whole damn thing was her idea!

She didn't want to go to the music room. She didn't care about music. But the sun room was open and she didn't feel quite so trapped there. Ignoring her blank-minded nurse, as usual, she took a seat next to some blond guy who looked bored out of his skull.

She didn't blame him.

[hopeless_havoc]

A flash of red hair caught Havoc's eye and he turned to see who it belonged to. Someone he didn't know. Not surprising considering there were always new faces around. He gave the woman his usual grin while lifting his head. "Don't know if I can handle much more of this excitement, how about you?"

[ontheabyss]

Lyta just blinked.

"Excitement. Right." Oddly enough, there wasn't the usual mental miasma of emotion coming off of this guy. Everyone else was either wound up tight or angry or terrified. It gave her a headache, all that strong emotion everywhere, seeping in no matter what. At least no one had tried to touch her/

She just shook her head with an almost-smile. Why did she end up with the guys who tried to make jokes about everything? And she wasn't talking about just here at the institute.

[hopeless_havoc]

"Yeah, I can tell it's just too much for you," Havoc joked, waving his hand around to indicate the rest of the room. "Though I guess the quietness of the day balances out the..." Havoc paused, obviously searching his head for the right word. He quickly gave up but continued anyway with, "not so quietness of the night."

[ontheabyss]

Oh yeah. This one was a real winner. Why hadn't she just gone off and sat by herself? Not that that worked, either.

"Well, actually, the nights don't bother me too much," she said, her smile tight and almost patronizing. It wasn't intentional by any means. But she could handle herself. And she'd had enough people insinuate that she couldn't. Every other guy she met was telling her not to off on her own, to be careful, to stay in a group... like she was some five year old going off to school for the first time! Even Renji, though he'd been at least polite about it.

[hopeless_havoc]

"That's good," Havoc said, not letting her coldness bother him. Women had been plenty cold to him before and hadn't deterred his socialness. "Some people don't handle it too well here. Not that I can blame them. So are you military?" There was something about her that made him think she was a soldier of some kind. Maybe it was just her attitude. Whatever it was, Havoc couldn't put his finger on it, but he didn't doubt for a minute that she could handle herself.

[ontheabyss]

And again, Lyta had to blink. He thought she was a soldier? Where did he get that idea? Maybe it was just her demeanor - she wasn't exactly a people person these days. But really, could anyone blame her?

"Military? No." Not even close. More like the opposite, really. "I mean, I've fought in wars, but I'm not in an army. Why do you think I might be in a military? Or is it that where you come from, if a woman can handle herself she has to be a soldier?"

Alright, her tone was a little offensive, but she wasn't going to sit here and shoot the breeze with some guy who had some stupid, outdated view of women.

[just_shiny]

Kaylee was in a pretty good mood, all things considered. Well, she usually was, but life at Landel's had dampened her moods somewhat. It had been nice to talk to a fellow mechanic in the library, even if the subject matter had turned weird and, frankly, disturbing. Other Worlds, and not just planets in the 'Verse. Alfons had been from Earth-That-Was, or so he claimed...and he'd given a date that simply could not be believed.

1923?

The mechanic had spent lunch lost in thought and totally without the usual exuberance she put into eating good food. She had barely even registered the taste.

When she was escorted into the Sun Room, Kaylee had to stop herself from making a bee-line toward the Captain. No, he was busy...plus she still had questions she needed answered, and sitting just a couple of meters away was a person that she knew could help who was also busy, but she wasn't going to go into that.

Giving the person one of her characteristically sunny smiles, Kaylee walked over.

"Lyta, right?"

[hopeless_havoc]

Havoc's smile drooped at the woman's accusing words. "Hey, I didn't mean to offend you!" he said quickly, his hands going up in front of him as if to protect himself. "I was just asking a question. A lot of people I've met here are some sort of military." Havoc wasn't sure what else to say. He had a feeling that anything he said to this woman would be the wrong thing. Luckily for him they were interrupted. And Havoc was grateful.

He turned at the sound of a new voice and couldn't help but smile. How could you not smile at someone who had such a great smile as that. Especially here. And especially considering his present company.

[ontheabyss]

Lyta rolled her eyes. The guy couldn't even stand up for himself, he backed down the minute she raised her voice. "Calm down," she said, her expression her usual less-than-pleased one.

Lyta, as well, was somewhat grateful for the interruption. Even if it came from that ridiculously bubbly girl she'd met her first night.

"Yeah." Great, what did she want? At least Zelos wasn't around this time. Lyta could only take so much of his incessant flirting with anything with breasts - and his refusal to shut up and have a normal conversation.

[just_shiny]

Kaylee seemed perfectly unfazed by Lyta's apparent annoyance. No, she was paying more attention to the good-looking guy she was with--tall, blond, a couple years older than Simon, great smile. She liked him already.

"Oh, good, I was scared I'd forgotten your name. I'm Kaylee," she said, mostly for the benefit of the man next to Lyta than the redhead's own. "I heard some real weird things in the library, and I was wonderin' if you could answer some questions...especially since you said you were from Earth-That--Earth, and all."

[hopeless_havoc]

"Hi, Kaylee," Havoc said, his grin spreading. "I'm Havoc. Do you want to sit down?" He quickly got to his feet, gesturing to the now vacant chair. "So you two can talk."

He leaned toward Kaylee and mock whispered with a laugh, "Though she's kinda cranky so be careful what you say. I think I'm lucky I'm still in one piece."

[ontheabyss]

"No, you didn't forget." Lyta tried not to roll her eyes again as the guy - Havoc - jumped up to give Kaylee his chair. "There are other chairs," she said, not bothering to bite her tongue. When had she ever.

"I don't know how many questions I can answer for you," she admitted, honestly. "There's a lot of stuff I don't get. This whole place is weird, and I've seen a lot of crazy stuff. But... yeah, go ahead, ask."

[just_shiny]

"Oh you don't have t'get--" But it was too late. The tall guy--Havoc, apparently--had already done the gentlemanly thing and vacated his seat. Grateful, Kaylee sat and gave him another one of her best grins.

"Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Havoc! You can stay, if you want...questions I got ain't exactly for Lyta only. Just trying to separate the truth from the gos se here."

The mechanic didn't answer Havoc's friendly little jab at the redhead's bad mood, though she did laugh. "Anyway, first off...what year is it, on Earth?"

[hopeless_havoc]

Havoc grinned back at Kaylee as he sat cross legged on the floor by her feet, fully intending to take her up on her offer for him to stay. Of course Havoc had a tendency to grin at most people, but her smile was so infectious and refreshing to see here that he couldn't stop grinning. He probably looked like an idiot but that wasn't too unusual for him either.

"Nice to meet you too, Kaylee!" He didn't say anything more, just leaned back on his hands to listen as the two women talked.