Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

[notthistrain]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room

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[itstaichoutoyou]

"At ease," he said, noticing the way she tensed up in his presence, but perhaps it was too much to hope Senna would relax in his presence.

"Your absence was noted, but in light of the event that happened a few days ago, it's understandable that you would feel... disoriented." He suspected the previously absent members had fallen victim to the brainwashing that had occurred a few days ago, including Senna, but he didn't want to drag the details out of her if she didn't want to talk.

Seeing Senna so distressed caused Hitsugaya to feel awkward and useless. He wasn't good at comforting people, because he just didn't know how. Very few people had looked out for Hitsugaya in his life, and that had greatly shaped his solitary personality. He was a firm believer of not depending on others when he didn't need to, but he also knew there were times when people felt weak and needed to lean on someone else. However, he doubted that Senna would want to confide in him.

"Do you need anything?" Although it was a pathetic attempt to console his fellow shinigami, he felt he should at least make the effort for a comrade.

[windstwilight]

At ease. Like there was anything easy about this. Loss of time, loss of friends, fake or real memories... Hitsugaya himself coming back... Eh. Wasn't something applicable.

The girl looked at her lap for a moment. "Disorientated's a good word," she said. "'s'been a trip." At least he didn't seem mad or disappointed. And he wasn't telling her that she had been kicked out while she was missing, so really, that was all she could ask in this case.

When Hitsugaya asked, Senna looked up, smiling at him for the first time. "Yep!" she chirped. "I completely need something productive to do tonight. I feel like I wasted enough time." And that was exactly what she needed most right now. Something to do. Something to keep her moving. "Besides," she added. "That town is really fishy."

[itstaichoutoyou]

"I can set you up with a task tonight. That's not a problem," Hitsugaya replied, glad to see she had gotten her spirit back.

"I understand the feeling. Lately, the nights don't seem long enough to get anything productive done." Sighing, Hitsugaya pressed his fingers against his temple. He remembered what happened last night, and for a moment, self-loathing simmered beneath his stoic face. Luckily, Senna's voice brought him out before his anger could boil over.

"Fishy? Well, our entire situation is strange. Is there anything about the town in particular that stands out?" Besides being attacked by an army of zombies.

[windstwilight]

"Sweet, thanks," she beamed. One thing down at least. Keeping busy would be great. Senna leaned more into the couch, eyes shifting to the empty space beside her. Anyone else, she would have told them to sit down. With the Shinigami captain... She'd let him decide. She still held the mindset with realizing--the less attention you draw, the better. At least from this direction. Especially since... Again, he didn't know who she was.

Though... He seemed the same. Complaining about the night's work was an echo of time past, and a part of her smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Time shifts around here. Doesn't help anything." Hell, one night she didn't even get out of the patient halls. That had been a bummer. She shook her head to herself.

Hitsugaya's question made her tap a finger against her cheek in thought. "A couple things. It feels strange for one. It had a weird monster I had never seen before--it was a lot smarter than your average one, too." Her finger moved to point in his direction. "Plus. Compare it to the town we visit once a week. Even that night, it was better off than those ruins. It's like..." A bomb hit it. Or something. "It was completely trashed. Demolished. People..." The girl shuddered slightly. "What used to be people all around. How'd it happen? Why'd it happen? There has to be some clues, right?"

She hadn't been all for the town when she was first set on it. Being outside was great, even in the creepy forest. But after spending almost a week going there... What had happened? There had to be some answers to be found.

[itstaichoutoyou]

Since Senna seemed alright with his presence, Hitsugaya took a seat. When he had been standing, he had felt a little self-conscious and worried about drawing unnecessary attention.

"How intelligent was the creature you came across?" he asked. The only smart creatures he had come across within the institute were that robot and his doppelganger. Hollows had varying levels of intelligence, but the less intelligent ones were usually easier to defeat.

"I've only been to town once, but the change... I can't explain it. The only thing I noticed was that everything went to hell as soon as the sun set, in other words when the night began. Whatever's happening here, the trigger seems to be the night. It's as if the night affects everything, the institute, the town..." The zombie army had definitely caught Hitsugaya off guard. He hadn't been expecting the town and its residents to transform like that. In the worst case scenario, this entire world could be under the control of their captors. Or was this some sort of natural occurrence, something about this insane world that twisted everything in it?

"It's possible that the town residents are unknowing prisoners or guinea pigs too." If they were truly just monsters, Hitsugaya couldn't see the point of letting them live human lives. Then again, nothing their captors did made any sense to him.

[windstwilight]

She shrugged loosely, trying not to stiffen when he did sit down. It's all fine. "It wasn't going to win any chess competitions," the girl remarked. "But it wasn't just mindless. It attacked the building we were in, inside of just us, to bring it down on us and trap us inside." And that thing... had really been creepy.

Senna blinked as Hitsugaya continued, catching up. "Oh. You meant that town." She tilted her head, considering. "Yeah, I've only been there once after dark, too. I just thought it was like here--the people get affected the same as the place." He was right, though. It was impossible to know if the people in town were in on it or just helpless. That thought pissed her off more than she would like.

Senna drew a knee up to her chest, wrapping an arm around it while she talked. This... wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. Huh. "The ruins, though. I can't see how they would be anything but what they are. I mean..." That place was beyond creepy. "It's just a wrong place. And... I think it's been like that for a long time." Her eyes clouded in memory of the details there.

[itstaichoutoyou]

"Hm... I don't recall coming across any monster aside from zombies, but it sounds like they aren't just a mindless mob. Did the creature you encounter have any distinguishing features?" Apparently Senna had had a terrible time in town; he hadn't fared any better. Thoughts of the town reminded Hitsugaya of the comrade he had lost, but he wouldn't let it get him down. He'd had his time to come to terms with Matsumoto's death, but it still stung.

"Speaking of the ruins, I've only heard of them before, but that's the area your team had been exploring before your absence. If it's not too difficult for you to talk about, I'd like to hear what you found." He had gently phrased it as a request, because he could sense that the ruins were a sensitive topic for Senna from her words and mannerisms. Just because Hitsugaya wasn't familiar with the regular social norms didn't mean he wasn't observant of the atmosphere. However, as the leader, he needed to know what they found, so he could analyze the information for the sake of the everyone.

[windstwilight]

"Ah, no. That thing was in the ruins." Miscommunication was fun to deal with. She had been talking about the ruined town the whole time, he had been talking about Doyletown. Fun stuff. "It was... like an armored giant. It made the ground shake as he moved, and controlled lightning. Faster than me," she added, a bit solemnly. That had been the problem entirely. "It nearly brought a whole building down on our heads--would have, if morning hadn't came."

By now discussing the ruins was even preferable. Senna dragged her other leg up, sitting in a loose half-lotus. "Well, like I said before. It's completely demolished, not something you'd find ravaged by time, right? More by people. Or something." She shook her head. "There's maybe three to five buildings there. I know the inside of one really well. The first room is like a school, blackboard and all the stuff. There's an American flag, too, which I guess backs up the New Jersey theory."

The girl's eyes shifted, putting her thoughts in order. "But the back room shouldn't be there, I don't think. A lot of people have agreed. It's a decontamination station. And it's way out of place in an old school house like that."

[itstaichoutoyou]

American? That wasn't too surprising. The entire environment, from the institute to the town, screamed of western architecture. He didn't know where exactly New Jersey was, but he surmised that it was one of the locations that some of the other patients suspected they were being held. However, that was on a larger scale than they needed to focus on right now.

"Do you believe there's any further need to investigate the ruins?" The decontamination station in ruins sounded suspicious, but it seemed like Senna's group had covered most of the ruins and found nothing. "Perhaps this armored giant was protecting something?"

[windstwilight]

The girl cocked her head to the side. He was asking her opinion. She might as well give it. "Yeah. I think so," she answered. "I mean, we saw the town and all, but didn't have much luck exploring the other buildings. If that's in the schoolhouse, what could be in the others?"

Maybe nothing. But maybe something all the same. "It could have been," she mused. "Can't know. If he was guarding something, he was doing a pretty bad job of it by trying to destroy it with us. Unless it was something else in the town." Further up and further in. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to explore more of that creepy place. But there was definitely something there. She just wasn't sure what it could be.

[itstaichoutoyou]

"Then I'll leave exploring the ruins to your team tonight." Since Senna's group was the most familiar with the area, it didn't make sense to change the members at this point.

"If you're up to it?" Hitsugaya asked, giving Senna a choice. This was his way of offering a professional courtesy to his fellow shinigami, since it was clear to both of them that she had some issues she needed to work out, but then again, so did everyone else, Hitsugaya included. This place was terrible on the spirit.

[windstwilight]

There was a beat, but nothing more than that. Any discomfort was exchanged for a smile instead; something easier than any kind of truth. This place was terrible on the spirit, yes, but Senna couldn't allow that to win. "Yep, I am. No problem here." She tilted her head to the side. "Hopefully we'll get some more info for you."

She frowned at that, considering. "Who were you thinking of to send with me?"

[itstaichoutoyou]

Senna's smile looked a little fake, but Hitsugaya remained silent, since calling her on it could do more damage than help. He was just going to have to trust Senna could handle her issues. "I can't say for certain yet, but I'll probably assign Mercedes and Soma because you've worked together before. Or do you have a different team in mind?"

[windstwilight]

The girl shook her head. "No, they're more than fine. We've learned to work together pretty well." All of them and Hokuto, but she wasn't sure if Hokuto was still interested in A&C. Senna needed to call a LDGC meeting and see where everyone was standing at night. She still didn't know where Falis went at night. Senna didn't want everyone just running off to get hurt, like how Meche had described.

She shook her head. "So that works."

[itstaichoutoyou]

"Good," Hitsugaya replied. He'd thought as much. In the previous excursions, Senna had typically been assigned Mercedes, Soma, and Hokuto, so it only made sense that they would have good teamwork. However, this talk about teams had brought up another important issue for the club. "Speaking of club members, our numbers have begun to dwindle recently. What do you think about trying to recruit other patients?"

[windstwilight]

Recuit, huh? Senna thought about it. "It's not a bad idea," she answered slowly, still trying to get used to the fact of Hitsugaya asking her opinion. And it wasn't. Meche had been dragged in that way, and Senna agreed completely. Having all her friends in one place was a good idea to her.

"I think it'd be good," she said. "But are we recruiting them for something, or just to replenish numbers?"