Day 45: Sun Room

[notthistrain]

Despite the bit of bravado he'd displayed for Yuffie's sake, seeing her that way really had done a number on him. It was a good thing he'd found the bulletin board afterward. Having it confirmed that this state wasn't normal (was, in fact, new as of that morning) made it much easier to think positive. They'd get back the Yuffie they knew one way

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[vitale]

With the help of Inspector Lunge, Bella felt as if she was … at least prepared to take on the rest of the institute. Well, not take on, exactly - but she was prepared for what happened at night. It was always a plus, being able to expect something before it happened.

At least, that was what she kept telling herself.

Entering the Sun Room, she glanced around, still not recognizing anyone - oh well. Perhaps it was for the better.

On the wall she noted what appeared to be a bulletin board, and she quickly hurried over to it, flipping through the random notes that were placed up on the wall. Perhaps she could find someone she knew, by a stroke of luck? Or she could at least find … well, something to tip her off on what the hell was going on.

Okay Bella, think, she thought to herself, frowning. What do you have to do first? Or … what should we do first?

[ free ]

[whos_da_man]

Junpei decided that the best way to get over the scary-creepy apparition that had just grabbed his knees (so he thought) in the cafeteria and freaked him out was to find a pretty girl to flirt with. With a note from Okita in his pocket about the upcoming night, the teen scanned the Sun Room for a babe alone, possibly in distress, to flirt with.

Bingo. This chick had like a neon sign over her head that blinked Babalicious.

Sliding up next to her, positioned so the bandage on the side of his neck wasn't particularly noticeable (he really didn't need her asking about it cause then he'd have to worry about spilling Evangeline's eating habits), Junpei gave the chick a charming smile.

"Hey there. So, what's a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?"

[vitale]

When someone suddenly slid on next to her, Bella turned her head and blinked, giving the boy a look - a quirked eyebrow and pursed lips, the epitome of “What?” - before speaking. “Uh. Put in this strange place like the rest of you, I guess. What about you? Minus the being a pretty girl part.”

A smile crossed her lips for a brief moment, and she ran her fingers through her hair, pursing her lips as she looked up at the bulletin board. “I’m still just … trying to wrap my head around this whole idea right now, so sorry if I’m kind of … quiet.”

That wasn’t exactly true. She was completely used to the idea - monsters, of course. She would be tossed into a crazy place where evil things roamed the halls. Danger magnet ahoy - she was just still trying to think about where she would get a weapon or something to keep herself safe. She supposed she could wander around tonight and at least try and find her way around …

She’d get to that.

After another moment, she turned towards the boy and shrugged. “I’m Bella.”

[whos_da_man]

"Such beauty should not be confined in an evil creepy place like this," he replied, undaunted by the reaction. "I, unfortunately, got dropped in here like it's the Twilight Zone."

By her comments, Junpei easily deduced that she was new. Sucks to be her.

"I'm Junpei," he replied, flashing her another charming grin. "I've been here a bit, so if you need anything clarified, I can give it a shot." He gestured to the board. "This thing's starting to become useless. The lame nurses take anything interesting or vaguely important down."

[vitale]

Oh boy. “Thanks, I guess,” Bella said to his first compliment, easily brushing it off (she still didn’t understand what was wrong with the boys who she met anyway. Once they saw Rosalie they’d never look twice at her.) before smiling at the mention of the Twilight Zone. “This does seem like an episode of that, doesn’t it. I was thinking more of a horror movie setting.”

Junpei. Sounded foreign - almost … Japanese? She’d have to remember it. … And try not to say it wrong.

“How long have you been here for?” she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side as she looked up at him. The mention of the board being useless caused her expression to drop, and she frowned. “Oh. … Well, I didn’t know what I was going to post anyway. Maybe just a note asking for someone, but … I’ve kinda decided against it.”

[whos_da_man]

"This is far worse than any horror movie I've ever seen," Junpei replied. "Probably because it's right here and happening to us with that whole possible death thing."

It took the junior a bit to recall how long he had been there. "Umm... like five days, I think. It's kinda hard to remember since time is all wonky here anyways."

Seeing Bella's expression fall, Junpei tilted his head a little. "Hey now," he said softly. "It's still good for somethings, like finding people. You just need to be careful how you word things."

[vitale]

Bella wished she could agree, but … well, this wasn’t the strangest thing she had experienced. It just added to an already weird - albeit happy (though this certainly didn’t make her very happy.) year. So, in response, she simply nodded.

“Wonky?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she chewed on her bottom lip. Uh oh. “What do you mean?”

“It’s fine, “ Bella quickly added, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s kinda better if I don’t ask, you know? I don’t want to find out that someone I care for is here. Because if they were, then I’d just worry nonstop.” A pause, and she continued. “And if they weren’t, then I’d just be disappointed.”

A lose/lose situation. She didn’t want to sound selfish, but … well, it was true. If Edward were here she would be thrilled, albeit she’d feel terrible. She would much rather he be somewhere safe. … But if he wasn’t there, she’d just feel even worse then when she started off. At least the slight change of hope would keep her wondering.

[whos_da_man]

"That I can totally understand," Junpei replied. "I've had friends here and then they disappeared. It blows. But, it is nice having that support. You'd be surprised how much the little things matter here."

He offered Bella another smile before going on to explain the weird time thing. "Well... it's wonky because, as crazy as it sounds - and I'm not making this up - people are from different times. There are people here who are from way in the future with all sorts of sweet technology, and then there are people here from, like, the Dark Ages. Hell, even my friends were all from different times, mostly in the past compared to what I last remember before ending up here."

He then shrugged. "Also, with the nights the way they are, some nights you can get all sorts of stuff done, cover a lot of ground and other nights it's like you blink and, poof, it's suddenly morning. That's what I mean by wonky."

[vitale]

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Bella told him honestly, a frown crossing her lips. “Did they … die?” a bit too rushed, but she wanted to know. She didn’t doubt that people died often around here, especially with the monsters …

She listened to Junpei’s explanation, a confused expression crossing her face. “Wow,” she finished after he was done, a small smile crossing her lips. “That must have been pretty confusing for you. And I can only imagine how weird it must be from the people so far in the future, or in the past. Where I came from, it was 2006.”

All in all, she was proud of herself for taking things so calmly. Though, for all she knew, her calmness would probably vanish once night came - darkness plus clumsiness plus disorientation plus the paranoia of something creeping in the shadows …

“Oh,” she finally said, frowning. “… What is there to do here? Do people try to get out?” at this her voice took on a hushed tone, not wanting to attract attention.

[whos_da_man]

"I don't think so," Junpei replied quietly. "People usually just disappear, but only a few have been confirmed as having died. I really don't know what to say as far as that goes. The nurses tell us they've been 'discharged', like they got better and were allowed to go home. No one's figured out what that really means, but sometimes people show up again, but they don't remember anything from before. It's... confusing."

Junpei decided that Bella had a really pretty smile. He also decided he'd tell her. "Hey... you have a really pretty smile, Bella," the teen said. "And I'm from 2009. People are definitely trying to get out. No one's taking this mystical abduction lying down. There are some groups working to get out - they go by the names Arts & Crafts, History and Cooking Clubs. They're... uh... lame codenames," he explained with a gesture toward the board. "Mostly people are exploring, trying to arm themselves against the monsters and stuff or something along those lines."

[vitale]

Disappear? That was even more frightening then just dying - at least that way you knew how things ended, but a disappearance

[whos_da_man]

"I really, really, really want to believe they go back home, but I'm not that kind of idiot. I know it's probably really bad, but if I don't hold onto that hope... well, let's say I'd rather not wallow in my own emo longer than I have to."

Okay, now Junpei had something else to add to his list of Bella's babe-a-tude. First the hot looks, then the pretty smile and now that cute blush. He was totally hitting the right angle. Sweet!

"Sometimes you just have to smile... even when it seems out of place and stuff," he replied with a tilt of his head. "Cause sometimes it's you either smile and laugh or you scream and cry. So, don't worry if you don't have a reason. I know seeing your smile makes my day a little bit better."

He glanced over at the board. "They work, for the most part. There are other groups. Me and my friends from home have our own codename - S.E.E.S. So if you see that up there, it's us."

[vitale]

“True,” Bella said with a smirk. Wallowing in emo never got anyone anywhere, she would know; she did it for months.

Junpei reminded her of Mike a little - at least in the friendly, complimenting aspect. “Thanks. You’ve made me feel a lot better about this whole place too. At least it’s good to know that there are some nice people here. For a minute I was afraid there might be actually crazy people wandering around as well.” A pause, and she frowned. “ … Well, I mean, it’s possible, but I don’t want to think about that.”

“S.e.e.s?” she parroted, tilting her head slightly to the side again as she tried to possibly think what it could mean. … She got nothing. “What does it stand for? What do you guys do? I mean, do all the other groups all do something different? Or do you guys all do the same thing just different ways.”

[whos_da_man]

"Well, there are some crazy people, but I think they were crazy before they were yoinked here. I'm glad I could help. Anytime you want to talk, hang out or something, just let me know. I never pass up an invitation from a prety girl," Junpei said with a wink.

"It seems most of the big groups I mentioned before are pretty much doing the same thing, just in different ways," he explained. "S.E.E.S. is the name of the club were all members of in school. It stands for..." Junpei's voice faltered a moment.

"Okay, weird question time, Bella. Do you believe in things like magic, monsters, psychics and other supernatural crap?"

[vitale]

“Great,” Bella said with a laugh, grinning. “Oh well. Nothing we can help now. And thanks, that sounds good. It’s always nice to have a friend in a new place.”

At his comment about believing in supernatural things, she could have laughed. Still, by some grace of god, she kept her face serious, and she nodded her head. “I think after being taken from my home and brought here that anything is possible. But, sure, I believe in those kind of things.”

At least, Bella did now. If he had asked her two years ago she would have said those kind of things were nothing more than make believe, or were simply characters in those horrible harlequin romance novels her mother so loved.

But now things were different, and she was a believer in anything.

[whos_da_man]

Score! He officially had an in now with Bella liking the idea of them hanging out again. But back to more serious things, and serious Junpei suddenly seemed.

"Okay, so S.E.E.S. officially stands for Student Extracurricular Entertainment Squad. What it really stands for is Student extracurricular Execution Squad. You see... there are really twenty-five hours in a day. During the extra hour, called the Dark Hour, monsters that are like negative emotions all compounded together come out to prey on normal people, sucking their will to live out of them. It's called Apathy Syndrome," he explained in a hushed voice. "Anyways, almost everyone doesn't experience the Dark Hour, so they don;t know it's even there. But there are some of us with the Potential that do experience it. And out of them there are some that have the unique ability to manifest their psyche into what we call Persona. It's those people, the members of S.E.E.S., that go out during the Dark Hour and fight the Shadows, trying to stop Apathy Syndrome from spreading