Dayshift 22: Chapel

[claire_ity]

Claire woke up in her room just like before, with little idea of how she actually got there. This time, though, she noticed something different about the room. There was another young woman, a blond, sleeping in a bed across from her. Before questioning that, though, she made sure to hide the items she'd gotten that night in her closet, shutting

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[sanguinarily]

"..uwaa." Soujirou eyed the ceiling of his room with some surprise. Of course that smoothed out in fairly quick succession. Morning, again. He sat up and stretched, smiling at the... well, no longer empty room. His eyes fell on the body of his roommate with more mild surprise. That person had not been there when he had gone to sleep. Ah well, it was hardly shocking, nothing really was shocking anyway.

The intercom echoed a bit and he listened with some vague pleased feeling. Surprise, hm? Well, he wasn't one to turn down surprises. Soujirou straightened his shirt, and the sheets on his bed. He was standing when the nurse came and offered her a bow. When she asked if he wanted to go to the chapel he answered brightly and said the chapel sounded like fun.

He was, of course, an agreeable person. The chapel itself wasn't quite what he was expecting. He wandered around the perimeter of the room, observing the stained glass windows and the organ. Soujirou didn't know how to play, but he thought it was rather impressive looking. He didn't sit, not yet, anyway and instead continued to slowly wander.

[brilliant_azel]

"Hi. I mean, good morning." Azel came up beside Soujirou, having noticed the other enter as he sat at one edge of the chapel, deep in thought. But when he spotted someone he knew, he immediately got up and approached him. He hoped the boy remembered him. He really, really needed the company of his friends right now; the fragile determination he had to survive this place was starting to crumble. He wasn't good on his own; in more bitter moments, he'd blamed Calintz, for always being there when he needed him, for cultivating a dependence in him that couldn't be met by anyone else.

Azel missed Tamaki; he hadn't seen him for several shifts, but the blond was nowhere to be seen, at least not in this place. He thought perhaps he'd been forgotten, been left behind again. It only fueled his depression, so he tried not to think about it.

[sanguinarily]

"Azel-san!" Soujirou greeted with a smile. A familiar face, that was nice. Though if he remembered, Azel-san was very sad for his lack of human interaction. Or that his friends had found other people to talk to. Which was a shame, really, as Soujirou thought that train of thought was very silly and not worth any time.

"Good morning to you. How are you today?" He continued to smile and stopped walking. It would be rude to continue to walk when there was someone to talk to right here. That and Azel-san seemed like the kind of person who was more of a stop-and-talk than walk-and-talk. Or so Soujirou assumed.

[brilliant_azel]

"I'm all right, all things considered." Azel said, Soujirou's smile bolstering him a little. "Is it okay if I stick with you? I really don't want to be alone." Maybe it was better just to say it, just to be honest with how he felt and why. Being evasive about it wasn't helping anything, much less himself.

He glanced around the chapel; it reminded him of a place, but he couldn't put a name to that place. Only that there was something a bit haunting and surreal about the walls around them. The beauty didn't fit with the horror of Landel's.

[qui_gonjinn]

((Hope you don't mind if I jump in))

Qui-Gon had been in worse shape in his life and when he woke up the next morning, he decided he couldn't dwell too long on the fact he had nearly ended up as spider-food only hours before. There was the present, the now, and the now dictated that he should try to capitalize on this Chapel and the offer of meditation.

There was that, and the possibility that "something" was going to happen there. Something important.

Qui-Gon told himself it was for the meditation, but he knew that he could meditate anywhere and would have preferred the sun on his back than this Chapel. Feeling the world around him had always helped him find his center...but he was determined to find out what was important enough to be worth a mention by the Head Doctor.

The graying Jedi followed his nurse into the Chapel, pausing for a step to glance around. It wasn't the most extravagant setting he had found himself in through his years of being in service for the Temple, but it wasn't by any means a study in utility. Still, it was quiet and he recognized some people already inside. No sign of Obi-Wan yet. Nursing his bruised chest and making sure he sat down carefully, Qui-Gon nodded his greetings to Azel and his friend.

"Good morning," he said mildly, glancing from Azel, and the other young man next to him, dipping his head in a friendly gesture. He laced his hands before him, more out of habit than anything else, and settled himself into the wooden bench.

[sanguinarily]

((A-okay with me~))

All things considered. Soujirou wondered what those things were. He hadn't encountered much trouble himself, but even as he answered Azel's question someone else came upon them. Someone with some sign of injury. "...Of course, Azel-san~," and he nodded to the newcomer.

Interestingly enough, this was the oldest person he had met at Landels so far. The rest seemed fairly young. "Good morning," He offered, with another slight bow of his head.

[brilliant_azel]

"Good morning." He said to Qui-Gon, smiling softly to the other; it was all he could muster, and even that took some doing. He was used to having one group of friends around him; people who he could trust and people he loved, each in a different way. But they didn't change. They didn't go away. They stayed with him; when he woke up, he would find them. When he went to sleep, they would be not far away. He would give his life to save any one of them.

The fact that no one here seemed loyal... it bothered him. He was ready to give his loyalty to someone who would make use of it, but no one had reached out to him in that way. Darman had come close -- but even he had not once looked at him since the incident.

The trouble was writ clearly on his face as he stayed close to Soujirou, looking up when other people entered or milled about.

[qui_gonjinn]

Qui-Gon's Force perception hadn't recovered much after the incident last night, but he could still catch some wisps of eomotion coming off those close by. The black haired boy felt grounded - if he had to choose a word for it, and quietly confident. Azel's signature in the Force was still pale, but it was almost blue with aching sadness at the center, tinged with some kind of longing. Qui-Gon could understand that. From what he gathered, everyone here had been stripped of their homes, their friends, their family. It was difficult to get used to, and while he had to admit that during the day Landels was one of the nicest prisons he had ever been in (unfortunately he had found himself in several), he wouldn't argue that anyone should be stuck here, no matter their background.

He wanted to help Azel, but he couldn't just give him a confidence boost through the Force without consent. Writing that journal entry to Obi-Wan the other night had helped him see that sometimes good intentions could go bad. It would be best to wait, and just lend his support in other ways.

Besides, he had already come to the conclusion that he wouldn't try to escape from Landels until he knew he could help the other prisoners do the same. It felt wrong to consider otherwise.

He would do what he could to help those in need. Qui-Gon knew that betrayal was perhaps inevitable in the galaxy, and that sometimes it was necessary, but he couldn't turn his back despite what he knew, what he had learned.

"This is rather excessive," Qui-Gon said to the two young men conversationally, glancing around at the Chapel. The stained glass cast pools of colored light on the stone floors and the wooden benches. "I must admit I'm curious about this 'surprise' the man on the intercom mentioned."

[sanguinarily]

Soujirou took the chance to look around then. Excessive? People tended towards excessive when they could, he'd found. People liked to feel comfort, especially at the expense of others. He didn't project any of his thoughts, however, and gave Qui-Gon a brilliant smile.

"But it is rather nice," He pointed out, "Far better than a dungeon." Which could have been taken as a joke, or quite a literal statement. It was usually fairly hard to tell with the tenken. The surprise... had Soujirou been the kind of person to feel anticipation, he would be anxiously awaiting its reveal. Instead he was waiting patiently.

[brilliant_azel]

Azel blinked out of his thoughts and looked at Qui-Gon, then took a closer examination of their surroundings. It was as if he'd been in a place like this before, but something was off about it. Strange -- but the more he tried to capture the memory, the more it darted away from him into the recesses of his subconscious.

"It's pretty, I think. But... don't you think it's kind of elaborate for what it's attached to? I mean... I was expecting something far simpler." The swordsman observed. "I don't think any surprise they have to offer us is going to be good. But I had to come and see for myself."

[qui_gonjinn]

Oh yes, this place was much better than a dungeon. It was still a prison, but if one looked past what happened after hours, in the shadows, it was indeed almost pleasant. He had even made the mistake of believing it a genuine medical facility when he had first woke up and found himself lying in a strange room, in one piece despite having a lightsaber run through him.

"I was as well," Qui-Gon agreed. He leaned back against the wooden bench, suppressing a wince from the large bruise covering his chest. His whole ribcage felt sore. "And you're probably right, Azel."

Qui-Gon didn't doubt that whatever "surprise" Landels presented, it would probably be something bad for the prisoners here. But since he had committed himself to helping who he could, how he could, he figured it would be best to investigate whatever was being unveiled in person. He smiled encouragingly at Azel:

"I myself came here for the same reason," he said, and paused, realizing he still hadn't introduced himself. He glanced at Azel's companion. "I realize I haven't said my name. I am Qui-Gon Jinn."

[sanguinarily]

"Either way, it is what it is," Soujirou replied noncommittally to the comments about the surprise. That people would choose a location for the surprise itself seemed a bit strange, but it wasn't as though he could argue with them. He had chosen the location rather arbitrarily.

Azel had said that it was pretty but ill-suited for its purpose. He wasn't that familiar with chapels, but perhaps its purpose wasn't what Azel thought it was for. Perhaps it was simply that Azel was used to another kind of chapel. That's how most of these things were for Soujirou, after all.

"Ah~. I'm Soujirou Seta, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jinn-san," Soujirou gave Qui-Gon one of his sitting half-bows.

[brilliant_azel]

Azel sighed, sitting between Soujirou and Qui-Gon, leaning against the former slightly, his head resting on the edge of Soujirou's shoulder. "Why would they announce something if it's meant to be a surprise? I mean... that's kind of odd, don't you think? It's like they're trying to lure as many people here as possible out of morbid curiosity."

[qui_gonjinn]

"It seems to have worked," Qui-Gon said, looking around the room.

He spotted Obi-Wan and frowned a little to himself. It was one thing to go into what was potentially a trap alone. It was another when your student (former student, he had to remind himself yet again) followed you in. It would be better to tell his Padawan to leave, but he had no grounds to tell him what to do anymore, not when he wasn't his teacher any longer. Shaking his head a little to himself, Qui-Gon turned his attention back to Soujirou and Azel.

"I suppose we can only wait and see, although I would have thought it easier to round up the other prisoners than dragging this out," Qui-Gon said, feeling troubled. Maybe they preferred the illusion of giving their "patients" free will.

The graying Jedi went silent for a moment, thinking.

"This is probably forward, but I've been giving this some thought," Qui-Gon suddenly said, keeping his voice quiet so it wouldn't carry in the chapel. "I know many want to escape from here. I would assume the majority would rather it be every man for himself, but I believe that it is only together that we could accomplish anything. If you two ever need any help, I am willing to offer whatever assistance I have."

[sanguinarily]

Soujirou blinked at Qui-Gon. In fact he seemed not stunned, but puzzled. Working out exactly why would be silly. Instead he merely asked, "...what's in it for you?" He didn't accuse, of course not, but it was a question that could only be taken as.

There were no altruistic behaviors in his world. Perhaps the 'if we work together we can achieve more', but Soujirou knew that heuristic to be a lie. People only worked with others so they could divide up the work and then step on the face of the person closest to the goal to snatch the prize for themselves.

It was a dog eat dog world.

[brilliant_azel]

"I... wouldn't know where to start." Azel admitted, looking between his two friends. He curled an arm around Soujirou's, for no other reason than he wanted to be close. He wanted to feel that connection with another living being, to help ground himself, to drive away the darker thoughts and sensations.

He hadn't forgotten the words of the bulletin board. End his life, end the suffering that went with it. Part of him, a very, very small part -- thought that might just be a good idea.

But it was overwhelmed in the larger determination to -live- and -survive- this nightmare, to be reunited with Calintz again.

"What do you think we can do, Qui-Gon?"