Day 51: Arts and Crafts [Second Shift]

[gald_digger]

They actually listened to some of the suggestions people put in that box? Anise thought the Head Doctor had to be joking when he said that, but she soon heard him mention something that she herself had suggested: sewing supplies. They were really going to get some? Anise could finally get a real needle, so she could make repairs to Tokunaga

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[jouer_sans_voir]

The "patients" here seemed to tend more toward the younger ages, more likely to be in their teens or twenties than beyond. Because of that Nunnally was always interested in those who were outside of that range; the only one she'd actually spoken to so far was Mihai, but this man seemed entirely unlike him in personality. He seemed polite enough, though, and perhaps he could offer some advice.

"I might have accidentally skipped a step in the instructions, or perhaps simply misunderstood one of them," she said, turning the book a little so that he could more easily see the pages. "Just having someone else look at it might help." It was so easy to overlook a sentence and not realize it, so perhaps all she needed was someone else to look for her and see what she'd missed.

The question gave her pause, though -- anyone from Britannia or the Japan she knew would certainly have reason to recognize her face, but she had never met anyone from her home that she didn't already know. When he went on to explain that he'd seen her with Lelouch she relaxed slightly and nodded. This must be one of the contacts he was working with here; she'd only met a couple, and he certainly would have more than that. And this man, introducing himself by title as an inspector... well, she could imagine that someone like that could be useful in his work.

"My name is Nunnally," she replied, with a politely friendly smile. "Yes... I wasn't feeling well for the last couple of days, and he was keeping an eye on me." It was a bit of a deception in that implied illness rather than what had truly happened, but she had no wish to explain the exact details.

[herr_inspektor]

Modest, wasn't she? Willing to admit her mistakes, even before she knew that she'd made them, and even more willing to ask for help. While Lunge wasn't particularly interested in whatever it was she was doing in here (judging by the amount of paper it looked like the Head Doctor's promised origami session), he recognised that it provided a useful opening for him to exploit and use to gain her trust- something she seemed to have a healthy (or perhaps 'unhealthy') amount of anyway. Of course you can talk to me. I'm the authority: older, polite, helpful, with an impressive title of some sort. That he felt a twinge of guilt at the 'exploitation' as he ran his finger down the page to find the start of the instructions was something he could very neatly ignore for the meantime; it barely qualified, after all.

"They look fairly complicated," he agreed. "It's easy to misunderstand the terminology. Let's see..." The page the book was open on showed detailed instructions on how to make an origami frog. The first step was, apparently, was to fold the square of paper into a 'square base'- his fingers typed briefly against the table, and after a moment a set of instructions scrolled into the forefront of his mind. One of the basics, then. He took a sheet of paper and glanced back at the young woman, keeping a questioning tone to his voice. "It says to start with a square base. If I remember correctly, that should be something like this?"

As his hands worked to fold here and crease there he carried on listening, nodding. 'Wasn't feeling well' was usually code for something more sinister here, but seeing as she hadn't been taken to the medical wing at all it couldn't have been life-threatening- injuries, perhaps, or strain of some sort. Both made sense, given that she did seem rather young for patient and perhaps a little on the frail side as well, but neither of those truly meant anything in the Institute. Looks could, on more levels than imaginable, be deceiving.

"Is that right? I thought that he seemed distracted when we last spoke." Their last conversation had been three days ago which made sense chronologically with her testimony, unless she was downplaying her side of the story, of course. You're the sort of person who doesn't want to cause a fuss, aren't you? Not one over you, at least. He gave her a casual smile. "He must care about you a lot." But how much? What was he likely to have told her, if anything?

[jouer_sans_voir]

"Yes, that looks right." The problem was that when Sayoko had taught her before, she'd explained the folds but hadn't used the names that this book used for them. Nunnally could sometimes tell from the diagrams how to match the words with the movements she remembered, but other times it was more difficult. This was one of the former -- the folded square was familiar, the base of the crane pattern she knew as well. "Now you... lift this, here, and press it down?"

The gesture he'd made while thinking was a little peculiar, almost like he'd been typing... a mnemonic of some kind? Interesting. But whether he knew much about origami or not, at least he was willing and able to help her, which was nice of him. Or perhaps he wanted to know more about her simply because of her brother? It had happened before, and he was certainly setting himself up in a position of prominence here.

Nunnally only smiled, though, taking a fresh sheet of paper of her own and imitating the folds he was making without giving any indication of her own thoughts. "He seems to be so busy here, working on so many projects. I hope I'm not distracting him too much of his work... but I suppose it's in the nature of a brother to worry about his younger sister, isn't it?"

[herr_inspektor]

Younger sister? Click. It had rung a little oddly with Lunge that Lelouch would take the time out of his schedule, organised to a T, to attend to someone for so long- but having a familial relation involved cleared matters up considerably. This time he didn’t attempt to hide his surprise, a blink and a slight widening of the eyes, deciding that it provided a far more natural reaction than anything he could have manipulated in. “You’re related? I should have guessed. It’s an obvious conclusion to draw in hindsight.”

After a moment he let his eyes drop back to the book, skimming the instructions while his hands worked the paper in the way Nunnally had demonstrated. She’d done well, so far- no need to apply too much pressure. “I had noticed, yes. He should be careful- it's easy to burn out in a place like this and it would be a shame if he were to overwork himself.” No guile there- the young man was useful as a contact, and in a place like this you needed as many eyes and ears in as many places as possible. His eyes wandered briefly to the girl's, more casual than accusing. “He doesn't seem like the type to ask for help, eith- ah.”

Apparently, he hadn't been focusing well enough on the paper. What should have been a neat diamond now resembled a lopsided pentagon. That wasn't right. Frowning, he opened it out, folded it again, and- the pentagon again. "Hmm." He'd gone wrong somewhere, that was fairly clear, but... he couldn't let himself get distracted. "You must worry about him a lot as well."

[jouer_sans_voir]

He hadn't realized that? It was a mild surprise for Nunnally as well, and she scolded herself for automatically assuming that everyone would know just because everyone had known at home. She was neither in the safe, simple setting of Ashford nor amidst the Britannian nobility. This place was far more dangerous than Britannia, though for different reasons, and she ought to be more aware of that. Still, her smile remained unchanged as she gave the man a small nod in response. "Yes, though he favors our mother more than I."

She also didn't want to see Lelouch work too hard and wear himself out, and wished that he didn't seem so reluctant to allow her to help. It was understandable that he didn't want her to wander the halls at night (though she would if she felt it necessary), but at some point he had to accept that she was capable of taking on some tasks, especially during the day when there should be little or likely no danger to herself. None of that she felt the need to articulate, however, since it was mostly a matter between the siblings and difficult to explain without bringing up matters she didn't think anyone not from their home needed to know.

"I would hope that he can find more people who are willing to take on some tasks, to lighten his own load." Hopefully this man was one of them, if he'd been dealing with Lelouch in the past, but her attention shifted from him to the paper he was folding. "Oh, there! That's similar to what I did," she said, pushing over her first attempt to demonstrate. "So it's not just me, then."

If both of them tried to see what had gone wrong, then they could hopefully figure it out? Her attention was more on that than the conversation, but she nodded almost absently at the question phrased as a comment, frowning thoughtfully at the book as she replied. "Of course I do. He's my brother, after all. And this isn't a very nice place."

[herr_inspektor]

The reference to their mother was a curious one that gave Lunge pause, but ultimately it wasn’t anything he had any use for at the moment. Better to store it away and examine it in a more specific light when the time called for it, if it called for it at all. He wasn't, after all, interested in profiling Lelouch- just checking up on. More immediately interesting, though, was that she didn't seem to be involved in any of those 'tasks'. It would have made sense for Lelouch to want to divide Nunnally from his work- for protection? Or something else?

"There are a few, or so I've seen. I myself have been recording the radio and intercom announcements over the last few nights. One is missing due to unforeseen circumstances-" L would have picked up on that flicker if he were here. Watch that, Inspector- "but otherwise the database is complete so far." The fact that it was performed as such strictly on his own terms and more for his own benefit than Lelouch's wasn't something, he decided, that he was in any rush to admit. Perhaps it was just a touch on the obvious side, saying as much, but he hoped it would also imply a sense of inclusiveness or, at the very least, openness- though it was difficult to judge just how much she was buying into anyway. For all he knew he had been rumbled from the get-go. "They should be of some use."

The paper in his hands, on the other hand, wasn't of use to anyone. Fortunately, it was more of a conversational tool than anything else; he switched smoothly back to the craft discussion. "It looks like it," he agreed, glancing down at the paper Nunnally had pushed at him that did also look remarkably like a pentagon. His pride would take it, just. "Perhaps you fold it more like this instead."

Keeping one eye on the book, he lifted and pressed at the paper a couple more times until it flattened into the neat little diamond shape. Eyes still down, he switched again. "Naturally. It's dangerous here for anyone, worse still when you're alone or investigating. I take it he's been keeping an eye on you most nights?"

[jouer_sans_voir]

Keeping a transcript of the various radio and intercom announcements could certainly be a useful task; patterns could be seen that way, and those who hadn't been here as long would have more to refer to in order to build those patterns. But... unforeseen circumstances? What sort of unexpected event could keep someone from hearing the nightly announcements?

Perhaps she'd imagined it, but there seemed to be something about the way he said the words that made her wonder -- the same sort of circumstances that had made her miss them that night? Perhaps she was simply oversensitive due to her own experiences, but she knew of two things here that could be quite unexpected, and could easily prevent someone from doing what they wished. They would also have unforeseen consequences as well, but... if she disliked having to explain what had happened to her, and if her suspicion was correct, he certainly wouldn't wish to speak of his experience. Nunnally glanced up at him with her gaze slightly more intent than before and nodded. "I'm sure they will be.

"But I think I see what you mean," she replied, shifting her attention back to the origami figure again without pause, smiling happily as she mimicked what he had done and found that her paper now matched the illustration in the book. "There! Like that." Nunnally moved on to the next step, the tip of her tongue between her lips as she concentrated. "He does what he can, when he can." When she hadn't run into "unforeseen circumstances" and he went in search of her... dressed as Zero. She still wondered about that, but hadn't found a time she thought right to ask.

[herr_inspektor]

There was a brief moment in which the Nunnally said nothing at all. It was only when Lunge looked up to read her expression (a pause: what is she thinking?) that he caught the tail end of her gaze and realised, suddenly, that there was something in it that should not have been there. An intensity he hadn't seen in her eyes before. Could it be that she'd picked up on...? But that would have been something only someone like L would have recognised, and he'd been careful enough- and yet that one moment of weakness had betrayed him.

He hesitated. What that meant, it seemed, was that he had been underestimating her from the get-go. He hadn't anticipated a notable degree or perception. If that was the case, did that mean that he should come clean about his motivation behind even starting the conversation, if only for the sake of damage control? Probably not. Nunnally didn't seem the type to hold any grudges over it- regardless of how involved she was in his affairs, with a brother like Lelouch it was difficult to imagine that she would be all that put off by a little harmless politicking.

Unless... what he'd seen in her face. Had that been, rather than simple recognition, understanding? In that case, the illness noted from before became rather more interesting: had she been taken as well (don't personalise, Inspector)?

And yet, in an instant, the moment had passed back over to origami and Lelouch, and she was back to focusing on her work. At first he didn't say anything at all, simply watching her almost warily and, perhaps, a little uncertainly, across the table- but then he nodded and tapped at his own paper. "I see. So these would be the legs?"

[jouer_sans_voir]

Though she wasn't looking directly at him there were still tiny cues to indicate emotion, a silent language Nunnally had learned to read well over the years. Soft sounds of movement or the lack thereof, the speed of one's breathing, all small things that most never bothered to pay attention to -- unless they had little else with which to populate the world around them. What it told her was that she had surprised him, made him think, which in turn made her wonder just what he was thinking.

Still, it likely wasn't important, nor was it her business to pester the man with questions. She merely smiled, the expression warm and genuinely friendly, and nodded to the audible question. "Yes, I think that's right." Another couple of careful folds on her own paper brought it to something that looked far more like the illustration in the book, and her smile brightened even more. "I only really know how to fold cranes," she admitted, sounding pleased at her success. "This is a little more complicated than that."

[herr_inspektor]

It hit Lunge then that he'd hit a snag. Maybe it was the smile that had caught him off guard: it was in its warmth so entirely guileless that, for a moment there, he'd been thoroughly wrong-footed by it. Disarmed in an almost literal sense, for what was his mind if not a finely-tuned weapon? Metaphor aside, the fact was that the idea of continuing left a bad taste in his mouth, and that worried him. It wasn't at all like him- or rather, the 'him' he was comfortable with being. That he needed to be here.

It had been there all along, of course, but between his 'session' and visitor it had managed to slide all the closer. It wasn't difficult to make the connection between the young woman sitting in front of him and the young woman he'd met the day before; younger, yes, and physically different in almost every way, but the weakness of the connection didn't matter. The feeling wasn't rational.

He would remove it. "I couldn't tell. You looked as though you knew what you were doing for the most part." Small talk. That was small talk. The paper, now almost recognisably a frog, grew another pair of legs. "Did your brother teach you?" Better.