claire_ity
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damned
Dayshift 22: Chapel
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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Either he'd had one of those break-downs like the ones he had experienced in Shadow Moses, or someone had been moving him around and doing stuff to him. The fact that he was in new clothes and had new bandages indicated the latter.
Wonderful. Add to the fact that he'd woken up in the room with someone else in there, sleeping in another bed. Fox had been briefly tempted to do something to his unsuspecting room-mate, before coming to the conclusion that the man had probably just as little choice in the manner as he had.
His reason for going to the chapel was two-fold. First, it was on the second floor, a place he hadn't seen enough of for his liking yet. Second, because he knew Snake wasn't the religious type, and had hoped to avoid him. The fact that Snake now had an eye-patch and was sitting and talking with Otacon... oh well. He'd just sit somewhere else while he sorted everything out.
Instead he sat down next to the next person he recognized, the morbid girl from the other day. Fox was very glad his bandages were hidden. Her comment about cats and scars the previous day, that was just strange.
He sat down just as she said 'Rough Night'. Fox couldn't agree more.
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Brock looked up.
There were a surprising number of people starting to collect in the pews and Brock wondered how many actually were religious and how many were just...there. He glanced at those around him. The redhead was looking like he'd been run through a grinder and then had his ass kicked, the two blonde girls looked highly illegal, there seemed to be another teenager glued to Red's shoulder and someone else had just joined them. Brock was very relieved that he could look at the teenagers and not feel anything in one way or another about them. Apparently his attractions were centered to a select few the symbiote felt any interest in.
"I'm Eddie Brock," Brock said. He left it at that for now, closing his eyes and keeping his hands together as he prayed.
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His lips set into a grim frown. Again, coming back to Kurosaki. He hoped that he was alright. They had done the best they could - and Sora and Nowe were okay, which was the most important thing. But he was still furious with himself for leaving Kurosaki to take the brunt of the punishment instead of doing it himself.
He looked at Eddie when he introduced himself, the frown deepening a little. It still bothered him, and goddamnit, he couldn't figure it out.
Maybe it was just leftover... whatever from last night, But he doubted it.
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...Eddie?
"Uhm, excuse me," she said. She felt terrible for interrupting his prayer, but he'd been at it for a while and she was curious. "Eddie, from the bulletin board? You're the one from New York?" She hoped she was right on this.
Claire gasped when Renji told her what happened, leaning over to look at the slumbering boy. She'd been slammed into a wall in a very similar fashion, but she had her healing...this boy, though...she couldn't imagine the pain.
She turned to listen to Elena, getting more and more anxious. The nature of this place was starting to truly hit her. She felt way in over her head.
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He put a hand on Claire's shoulder, she looked very anxious and overwhelmed. He'd seen that look on many faces. Usually soldiers, sometimes children. "If you let it get to you mentally, it's that much harder to fight physically. They're playing with us, testing us. Seeing how far they can push us before we break. I know the type." He considered this for a moment.
"Physical damage is easier to forget. I've had body parts cut off and reattached, eventually you forget what it felt like. Psychological damage is much more difficult to deal with. It's not as immediate, but it builds up, and you remember it more clearly." Realizing he probably wasn't doing such a good job at comforting, in fact, he was probably doing the opposite, he decided to move for a better point.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is survival is a two-part effort. Even if you manage to get through something without a scratch, if you let it overwhelm you, they've still won. It's better to take the hits as you get them and keep going, than to let them manipulate you through fear and doubt." Probably best to stop there before he dug himself in deeper. He could've said more about the resiliency of the human mind, but that would mean bringing up things he didn't want to talk about with strangers.
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"Yeah, I used to live in New York," Brock said, opening an eye and glancing aside at the blonde with the long hair - Claire, he supposed. "
He hadn't been paying too much attention to their conversation, but the part where they started going on about men with pyramids for heads had caught his attention. He was of the opinion that they were losing their minds, but decided that he was in some fucking bizarre mutant crazy house and that would answer all his questions.
A sigh. He wasn't going to get much done if he kept unconsciously eavesdropping on these people. At least he wasn't looking at them and thinking how absolutely delicious they would be. Not yet. But one of the people, Red, was looking at him as if he wanted a taste and Brock found himself staring back.
"And what's your deal?" he asked. He had to admit it felt weird to be on the receiving side of these kinds of stares. Gotta tone it down then, he thought.
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He glanced at Claire for a moment, and reached out to touch her arm. "Trust your friends to guard your back as they trust you to guard theirs. Understand that death, pain, and life are all the same thing. Overcome your fears with your will, and they will become your strength." He smiled. "When we stand resolved, together, there is no chance of defeat."
That said - coherently, he hoped, but his head just hurt - he turned his attention back to Eddie.
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Renji reached out to give Elena's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "There's a lot wrong with this place. There is nothing wrong with you," he said. "Be strong." He smiled. "It will be okay." As hoarse as he was, there was still confidence and strength in his voice; he truly believed what he had said. He let go of her shoulder; he wouldn't interrupt if she wanted to talk to Claire.
There was still the puzzle of Eddie to examine, after all.
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She focused back at Eddie. "I'm Claire - the girl from Texas. Nice to meet you in person." Good to know there were more people from America - she'd be sure to remember his face. Renji was unsure about him - but technically, wasn't there something "wrong" with her? She didn't know anymore.
What she did know was that Elena was starting to look miserable. As much as Claire wanted to be social, she understood just as well the need for some kind of talk that wasn't about death and horror. She considered it for a moment. "Hey, guys, mind if Elena and I have a little girl talk?" she asked, and then looked at Renji. "Won't go far."
The last part was only slightly teasing at his protectiveness.
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Maybe he was trying to flush it out. Make them just blurt it out in a panic if it looked like he knew their little secret. Brock wasn't about to fall for that - he'd used that very trick before in his reporting career (before it crashed and burned) and he wasn't about to fall prey to his own tactic. The blond just stared back at Red.
"You can try figuring it out as much as you want," Brock sneered. "But there's nothing wrong with me."
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His arm, still around Nowe, tightened slightly. "Human, and not. So tell me, Brock-san, what exactly is right about you?"
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He did seem genuinely puzzled when he looked at Brock though, as if he was unsure where to focus.
Brock stubbornly folded his arms over his chest, figuring that prayer was really a lost cause now, and glowered at Red.
"I'm not in prison, for starters. And I'm not insane, so I think that's a big plus," said Brock irritably. "What's it to you? You're awfully noisy about my personal life."
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