Day 43: Waiting Room / Lobby 1

[arc_wrench]

Well, today was certainly turning out to be... interesting. A few things seemed to be going as planned, for once! Soon, he might not have to deal with so many actual meatbags quite so often! It made his personality core very nearly glow with excitement

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[damned_visitors]

To think, he'd be called down to this place. It was bad enough that he knew people in here, where they all lived and sat and ate together in the same place, but to be called to it? Unforgivable. And for such a petty reason

[damned_visitors]

Akatsuki Shinro had been Matsuda Hiro's friend back in college, and Matsuda Hiro had been... Well, he'd been important and useful, for a short while. Then the man had decided to go insane and start hanging around with little boys. For someone like Ritsuo? That association was hardly good for his reputation. And when the delusions had spread from Hiro to Shinro? Well, it wasn't surprising considering Shinro's past, but it was unacceptable. It was...filthy.

But that was precisely why Ritsuo had come to see Akatsuki Shinro, wasn't it? To remind him of who held the greater power over their little pawn. The smile turned a little more pleasant outwardly and a little more deadly at the edges as he said, "Ritsuo. Not Seimei. I do dislike rude people who can't even keep names straight."

And to call Ritsuo filthy? Him? Narrowing his eyes, he shot Shinro a withering look before falling back into the casual smile. "I came because I had to. It's unfortunate you're in the same place as him. I'd been hoping he would improve, but

[moral_liberty]

A visitor. Someone had come to see him

[damned_visitors]

The dark-haired boy paced nervously outside the lobby. What should I say? What is there to say? I...

He didn't hear the nurse saying it was time to go in. He was still too lost in thought; was his best friend really okay? What was going to happen when they had to be separated again? He replayed the phone call again, the one that had started this whole mess. "You're too close. It's not healthy for boys your age to be this...dependent on each other."

Then the next day, the phone rang again, and... Tears blurred his vision for a moment. The nurse came to him then, and said the words, "He's waiting for you. It's okay, Sean. It's really okay."

With a nervous nod, he entered the room and sat down next to his friend. "What are you playing?"

[moral_liberty]

The music in his head stopped. Before Kaworu looked up to see him, he knew who it would be, and his mind and heart had both started to race beyond his control. Memories flooded his head, with bits of advice meant for other people, or things he had been told about the future. He knew Shinji's destiny and its realization, and this was not a moment that was supposed to take place. Kaworu was not supposed to see him again. He hadn't even seen Shinji's face when he died, but he could hear his voice, demanding answers. He could remember how nothing Kaworu provided seemed to console him. For a second he was there again, or maybe he was in a dark bedroom, or a bath, or outside a terminal. He couldn't tell anymore.

But then it went quiet, and Kaworu didn't feel anything at all. There was nothing else.

"It is a hymn I have not played for some time." His hand had since stopped moving, and he couldn't hear anything but Shinji's question. "You are not supposed to be here," he said softly, but his smile was almost unsure.

[damned_visitors]

"I see...you - no. We always did love that kind of music." The boy's voice was shaky as he spoke. How many afternoons had they spent just listening together? The opening notes of another came to him, and he whistled those opening chords - Ode to Joy, better known as Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee without realizing he was doing so. That...yes. The first time they had met, hadn't Addison been humming that?

The questions began to come to him, then, one after the other. Why? The one word echoed in his head. It was the basis of so many questions - why am I not supposed to see you? why am I not supposed to be here? why did you...

"Why? I don't understand why you did that to yourself. We were friends, you understood me! And now..." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. "Now you're here." And I feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest.

[wantsyourzex]

Another visitor.

He knew so few people... it was most likely DAX. His Captain, after all, was dead and wouldn't be seeing anyone anymore. DAX had visited him before... no doubt it would be him again.

ZEX wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. His false life, the person Dexter told him about... Previously, what had held him here was his refusal to leave his Captain behind. That obviously wasn't a problem anymore... he had no Captain. He might not have even had a world anymore, or even a life back home. He could return to a dead body, or if not that, the dead bodies of everyone he knew and loved. What was there to go back to? Neither life sounded particularly appealing.

DAX... if only it was the DAX he knew. He'd always felt comfortable talking to him. But if nothing else... he knew this DAX had DAX's voice. Hearing a familiar voice might make him feel better... at this point he was desperate for anything to make him feel better. This numb emptiness made him feel heavy and hopeless

[damned_visitors]

Dexter was unfortunately several minutes late -- a fact that put him in even fouler a mood than was the norm, despite it being no fault of his own. The fact was Madame Vyer had apparently forgotten which day it was, or else didn't care about Dexter's self-imposed promise to visit her son. Either way, she'd kept him from leaving on time; but of course Dexter would say nothing of this, unless asked directly, seeing no point in offering excuses.

He frowned deeply as he was escorted into the room, seeing Max, if anything, in an even worse state than he had been the week before. Striding quickly across the room, Dexter set a hand on Max's shoulder, putting his own personal concerns aside for the moment as he focused on his former charge, asking in a dry voice, "Sir...what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

[wantsyourzex]

ZEX didn't notice he'd been kept waiting - time at this point meant little to him. After all, his mind seemed all too happy to fill in any idle moments with graphic memories of last night. What had happened, how he'd died, how it felt. What he'd said. What he should have done.

He was lost in his thoughts when someone touched him, and he looked up, blinking slowly. ZEX's eyes hurt when they closed, apparently not happy with all the water his body felt compelled to force out of him for some bizarre reason. How this behavior related to how he felt was a mystery... It was like human grieving was designed to be as nonsensical and irritating as possible.

And then he heard his voice, that perfect inflection and dialect that defined DAX, living proof of his home and his world and his life, and he latched onto it with all his strength. He shivered for a moment, nostalgia and longing and homesickness almost painful, and his eyes watered again. He wanted to go home, he wanted DAX to take him home, why was he like this, why was this happening

[damned_visitors]

"Who's gone?" Dexter asked, frowning all the more. He shook Max slightly, before releasing his shoulder and sitting in the chair opposite him. "Sir, pull yourself together and talk to me."

To say he found seeing Max this broken disturbing, would be an understatement. Max had his moments of childish rage and sorrow, of course, but they always quickly passed, as though his mind refused to dwell on anything that didn't please him in some way. Much as it had always irritated Dexter in the past, he found he preferred it to seeing Max in his current state.

[full_score]

Even though he hadn't had much of an appetite when he'd first gotten his food, Claude was pretty full by the time his nurse escorted him out of the cafeteria. Then again, having to defend his sausage and eggs from Kagura had left him with little choice except to scarf it all down before she could get to it. After all, he'd been here long enough to realize that if he skipped his meal now, he'd have to do without food until dinner later

[damned_visitors]

It looked like most of the visitors had already showed up; it was a little bit of a crowd in here, what with grey-shirted people being emotional with whoever had visited them. And it meant she was a couple minutes late. But, in her defense, the road up here wasn't exactly the easiest to navigate! She thought rural places could be kind of interesting, so she might have stopped to purchase something or other on her way

[full_score]

Claude had to admit, he hadn't expected to see his mother confidently striding through the doors of the lobby. And yet, as soon as she did, he figured he should have. Back when "Ronald Appleby" had come to visit him, he'd mentioned that Mom was here, too.

That still didn't leave him any less shocked, though. Without thinking, Claude rose from his chair. "M-mom?!" he blurted.

She looked and acted almost the same as the last time he'd seen her (well, except for the 21st century fashion, but it was still very much something she would have liked), which was both comforting and unnerving. He realized that Landel had taken her and brainwashed her into believing she was someone else, and yet he was too caught up in the fact that this was his mom to let himself feel upset at seeing her face right now.

"Mom," he said once he'd found his voice again, "I--I haven't seen you in ages!" He hadn't even been sure if they'd ever see each other again. Once he'd realized he was stranded on Expel, it'd been hard to imagine the day they'd ever

[damned_visitors]

"The one and only!"

It was amazing to see her son's face again, the light in his eyes when he hopped out of his chair... his untidy-as-usual hair. Iris' heart felt like it was jumping into her throat. It was similar to the way she felt when Ronald would come home after a long time on the campaign. Warm and devoted.

Back then, when Tom had taken after his father and enlisted, it had felt like a little hole had grown in her heart. Of course she had kept busy doing this and that, working from home as needed. But seeing her son again, and getting better, was a little bit of magic that would likely prove to be the milestone of her year.

"You're right. It has been too long," she said, reaching out to brush some of her beloved son's hair out of his eyes, then ruffling it up again, affectionately. The way he kept it was cute, and reminded her of the way she kept her own sometimes-flyaway bangs.

Iris was going to hug him, but she gave him a quick once-over first. Quickly noticing the bandage that just peeked below the bottom of Tom's shirt

[For HK-47]

[damned_visitors]

Even though Peter was the first one here, his visitor took his time coming in. You didn't rush an old man, after all. All these people hurrying about their business, like being there five seconds early would make a difference... Josiah sighed and settled into a chair opposite Peter. He rubbed his graying beard (the only hair he still had) as he looked him over.

"You look cheerful, sonny," said Josiah in a gruff voice, but there was a grudging note of affection in it for his old co-worker. He blamed it on senility. "Has the food gotten better here?"

[Greeting: HELLO, VICTIM~]

[arc_wrench]

HK immediately spotted his 'visitor' as soon as they entered. The geriatric Jedi! Excellent. This one would be entertaining to annoy.

Especially if they were under the impression that he was delusional. Well, full psychotic speed ahead, then! "Greeting: Hello, meatbag!" he said cheerfully, maybe with just a note of returned fondness... for all the time he had spent pestering the bald one. "Negatory: No, it has not. But every so often, there is chocolate. And I have made interesting new friends." Giant, transforming droid friends, one of whom was a fanatical follower of their Sith-equivalent, and the other was a tattooed, legitimately terrifying bounty hunter. The fun kind of friends.

[damned_visitors]

"Isn't that something," Josiah said, bushy eyebrows shooting up. He seemed unfazed by young man's speech quirk, and general off-key behavior. Perhaps someone had warned him about Peter's lack of progress, or maybe Peter had never been the picture of normalcy.

Still, he didn't look discouraged. "Maybe there is some hope for you after all. Explains a thing or too about your good mood too. One of these friends wouldn't happen to be a pretty lady, hmm?"

[arc_wrench]

"Agreement: Yes, it most certainly is." Damn, the meatbag wasn't reacting yet. He'd have to try harder!

...Or maybe just cringe. "Statement: That is not why I am in a good mood. The only female meatbag I know is one that I am quite sure would remove a few of my vital organs if she were displeased with anything I did." Hopefully the lingering dread of what was likely to come this evening when he was locked in a small box with Lockdown wouldn't show on his face. But while he was very good at controlling some facial expressions, some just always managed to slip out on their own.