Day 59: Sun Room (4th Shift)

[contentincloset]

After an intercom broadcast like that, Kurogane felt somewhat better about the little information he'd gotten from Harrington the previous night. The man only sounded competent when he needed to but was an idiot otherwise. Unfortunately that was furthered proof of the General not employing the brightest of staff members, making another option for

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[lovecrafty]

Rose had successfully evaded lunch by virtue of claiming an urgent need for the bathroom, and evoking the mysterious feminine complaints of a thirteen-year-old (who did not, as it happened, know such things except from alarming pamphlets and used them only as fuel for creative flamewarring and, today, unpleasant group activities).

These nonexistent cavellations ceased with the changing of the shifts, and Rose popped her head back out into the sun room. It looked like she was only the second person to emerge, and so she claimed a seat of honor atop her earlier creation and waited for the rest of them to arrive.

Ilia she knew, and Rapunzel would either have unfathomably long hair or a buzz cut for ironic purposes, either of which would be fairly obvious. At least on
a girl; they had enough wannabe shounen-ai and bishounen heroes here to support a legion of hairstylists.

[mission discussion group!]

[thecamellia]

The voice over the intercom, Harrington’s, continued to raise questions for Tsubaki. What had happened last night, exactly? Harrington was, or had been, the one collecting information on the traitor--possibly traitors. It didn’t seem safe to just blurt the question out on the bulletin board without heavily coding it. But even then, the military had to know all the tricks in the book and were watching for messages like that. People who had intimate information couldn’t volunteer without fear of people like Aguilar picking up the trail

[hairraising]

Rapunzel wasn't sure what to feel as she stepped out of her lunch meeting with Albedo. Well, other than hungry. She hadn't touched a speck of her rotting gruel, and now it felt like she was paying for it. Her stomach rumbled loudly as she spotted Tsubaki in the Sun Room.

"Tsubaki, hey!" she waved to her roommate, making her way around the (fun-looking!) blanket forts to meet her. "Ugh, did you get the rotten stuff at lunch too? I couldn't eat a bite!" she whined once she got close enough, arm slipping around her stomach for emphasis.

Her eyes shifted around, looking for people who might be looking for them. "Any sign of the others yet?"

[lovecrafty]

Tsubaki! Rose heard that name loud and clear, which was one of the advantages of her perch. And that had to be Rapunzel.

"Rapunzel, Tsubaki. Over here." Rose waved, but didn't get down. "I'm Rose Lalonde." They were both a lot older, as seen from the perspective of someone only thirteen, though neither of them was Ilia's age.

"You perceived the food as rotten, too? I wonder what differentiates us from the remainder of the population. We were successful in our endeavor, so I doubt it's a punishment."

[vitale]

Two good shifts out of three so far wasn't bad, really. Speaking to Claire had put her in a good mood ... then speaking to Edward made her sad ... then speaking to Rose made her feel better. So, needless to say, she was in a pretty contented mood.

For now, anyway. Who knew what was going to happen in the span of time between now and nightfall. Anything, really.

Bella sat herself down on a couch, looking around the empty room. There was another patient there, but so far ... that was it. She wondered if there were any more people in the games room. Honestly, she was not in the mood for games; all she wanted to do was relax until nightfall and then ... see what happened with Edward. She was still ... worried. Scared. He said he wasn't going to leave her, but he had said that before and left her anyway -

Bella shook her head. No. He said he wasn't, and I believe him.Sighing, the teenager lifted a pillow and pressed it against her face, leaning back against the couch with a groan. Perhaps it was the hunger getting to her. She honestly

[anemptydecapo]

[yo what up bellaellaella]

The day was almost over by now. In between his inability to wake until the second shift and the strange conversations that took place afterword, the very notion that the day was coming to a close sounded ridiculous. His mind continued to wrongfully tell him that it was still morning, like that of an irresponsible college student's. You won't fall asleep until at least 7am, said the pulses of energy running behind his eyes. The assassin took to rubbing at his eyelids with the palms of his hands as he entered the Sun Room, suddenly far too used to the back-and-forth dance he'd been doing from this room and the cafeteria

[vitale]

( nuttin much, bro. just death glaring at lj for not sending us notifs yo. )

"Bella.

The sound of her name in Venom's voice caused the teenager to freeze, holding the pillow against her face for a while longer before letting out a sigh, her shoulders dropping as she pulled the pillow away from her face so she could properly look up at the man who had just approached her. Turning her gaze up to him, she watched him with weary brown eyes.

Well, there goes the semi-good mood I was in.

He wanted to talk about Claire. Her heart sank at the sound of her friend's last name, and Bella brushed some hair behind her ear, eyes cast down towards the ground. She couldn't just say no, even though she wanted to, especially considering he wanted to talk to her about it. But really, what did he expect? Her to suddenly realize she was unjustified in her anger and sadness?

"Fine," she said in a soft voice, once again turning her gaze to the silver haired man. "What do you want to say?"

[anemptydecapo]

So she wasn't going to turn him away. It was a step in the right direction.

When Venom spoke again, any emotion in his voice ceased to exist. Every syllable was practiced and without bias--the complete opposite of the near-sobbing that occurred the afternoon last. It was just a progress report. There was no need for either anger or sadness, only the truth. "It's only my intention to explain what took place," he began, head tilted straight toward the girl even as his eyes drifted shut behind his hair. "I am not going to tell you you are wrong in what you feel in regards to the events. However--" The words tapered off, and one of the hands he'd attempted to still found its way to the wound on his side. "However, I would rather you know the entirety of the story before coming to a decision.

"Is that reasonable?"

[yin_yang_fox]

The day had been satisfactory, more than she could have hoped. Much came in the way of shared information, both hers and others, and the Digimon was far more content than she had been in a while--far more determined to move appropriately and with intent. There was still too much to uncover, too many open paths to explore. With the military and Marc both opening themselves to speak with others.... It opened an entire new line of communication and information network capabilities. It was too much to hope for another Yamato (then, again, with all the man had done before he had turned, perhaps Renamon should not hope for one like him), but it was possible there were those within the military discontent with the goings ons. Especially if the drop about traitors being correct.

It was something to consider, by any means. As well as the rest. The sun room was still a mess of blankets and chairs, but she found a couch off to the side. There was still much to work over, especially with what Nigredo had had to share.

[Byrne~]

[corvus_veritas]

On any other day, Byrne would have had a lot of things to say about Major Harrington and his inability to keep a professional tone off the intercom. Today, he could care less.

He'd say today just wasn't his day, but that statement applied to the past five or six days he'd been here as well, so it was more like this wasn't his week. It was becoming more and more difficult to remain optimistic, what with his best friend getting into trouble and the food possibly being rotten - possibly, if he wasn't going mad. Was he going mad? Were they breaking him, slowly but surely? He didn't want to submit to Aguilar's game, but it was hard to fight back when he was being hit where it hurt the most. He and Badd both

[yin_yang_fox]

Of the people to approach her, there were only a few left that she was genuinely fond of--the man that did so quietly was one of them. She returned the expression, nodding in turn. "Not at all."

Byrne looked somewhat worn around the eyes, but that was something the Digimon understood explicitly. If Renamon remembered correctly... Byrne would be approaching his first week here. He had already lasted longer than many. She was not yet sure if that was something to be glad of. At the least, she thought to herself, he was still here. Still fighting, in his own way. She watched him, not unkindly. "What have you been doing the past days?"

[corvus_veritas]

Byrne didn't hesitate to seat himself on the couch once given permission to, and he let a long sigh escape his lips. "Well." He laughed, although he sounded more exhausted than anything else. "There's been too much going on, and some of it I'd rather never think about again."

Namely, almost everything that had happened in the past two days. His 'experimental study', Badd's kidnapping and brainwashing, the food supposedly being rotten today, that scrap with Niikura this morning, the ghost child from last night (oh yeah, and that mark on his arm too - wow, forgot about it again). But with everything that had happened to him, he found himself not wanting to trouble Renamon with any of it. At least, not right this moment. He did want her opinion on a few things, like the nightly torture sessions, but he didn't want her pity or anything. It was bad enough that he'd reacted the way he did at Gren earlier

[blood_and_pocky]

[Aigis, poke the hungry vamp if you dare. :|]

The end of the day found Aidou in the Sun Room, collapsed in a chair with his legs dangling over the arm rest. With night fast approaching, he should have been happier than he was, but in reality all he felt was a bit… overburdened. A little time to think, that was all he needed. Just a little.

Or a lot. But that would be admitting to a weakness on his part, and the noble wasn’t about to allow that. Great genius didn’t always mean a great tolerance for new and increasingly impossible phenomena, so he just needed… a few minutes of solitude to harden his stomach to the possibility--no, the fact--that the Institute was arbitrarily raising the dead or else making someone like him believe that they were raising the dead, or creating some kind of doppelgangers, or zombies, or--

The vampire folded his arms over his eyes and growled to himself, using his forearm to block out the diluted sunlight beaming down from the sun roof.

Why is this happening!?He didn’t even have the time to get lost in

[no_dont_go]

[Oh she dares~]Lunch had been a swift affair. Aigis had systematically gone through her food bite after bite, this time eating all she could despite her distaste for the meal. But she had endured, because that was what was expected of her. She could not allow something as silly as 'distaste' bring her to a state of weakness

[blood_and_pocky]

There were blood scents in the air were fresher, and dare he say it, cleaner than the ones from yesterday, but he couldn’t stop remembering the morgue, and the smells of old blood. Dirty blood. Even as his stomach rumbled, the memory clung to him, ruining whatever pleasure could be derived from the far more normal configuration of smells in the room.

Making time to find blood was a priority again, but the idea of biting into someone who had been recently infected with that zombie virus, or who had taken some of the Institute’s drugs… Augh! It was too disgusting to think about. Aidou didn’t need any help from the Institute to start hallucinating that his food source was tainted--it already wasIf he couldn’t trust his senses to tell him truth from falsity, how was he to tell what kind of blood he had been eating up until now? Ugh, like he needed any more doubts about the questionable prison diet he was on

[no_dont_go]

Aigis remained relatively still when he pushed himself up, only tilting back her head a bit to keep her gaze locked on his. Heightening himself did nothing to intimidate her, either. She was not locked into a mindset where higher meant intimidating or oppressive. It was one of the advantages of having been completely man-made before coming to Landel's rather than learning by instinct the dangers one learned as a living organism.

"I did not so much as seek you out as I just happened upon you." Aigis spoke clearly, calmly. She read anger in his eyes, but she felt no building of fury within her. For the time being.

"You do not seem well, Aidou-san. Is it only hunger that has put you in this mood, or is something else troubling you?" She had an inkling who else it was troubling him, but she felt it was courteous to ask.

[notachick]

Finally! Lunch was over and, yet again, Okita had merely picked over what he could. Meals here were so difficult and came with such strange things that he almost wanted that pink stuff instead. Almost. He'd had a taste of it once and while it was more acceptable than some of the meals here, it certainly didn't taste good. But today, it wasn't the meal that had the samurai fleeing from the cafeteria as soon as the shift changed - it was the forts.

Even with the strange announcement on the intercom, Okita wasn't about to let anything get in the way of his fun. He still had a pesky feeling he was forgetting something vitally important, but since he couldn't remember and no one was hinting at anything, he let it go. For now, he made his way into the Sun Room, palms clapped together and a grin that rivaled the brightness of the sun on his face. Forts were made for playing and that was exactly what Okita planned to do - playNow. To find someone to play with. Peering around the room, Okita started off on his search for a playmate

[boketa]

Goku ran from the cafeteria like a child who had been released from Sunday sermon: Gleefully. He had gotten his three bowls of spoiled slop and it was sure looking like a great day all around, and night too! The monkey boy couldn't wait until the sun went down so he could try his hand at another fight!

The one before had been rather messy. It had taught him a lot about his limits here in this strange place, and Goku was eager to test himself a second time. Despite being practically black and blue and mummy-wrapped under his stiff shirt, the monkey boy waddled through the Sun Room with an excited smile as he looked for Taura.

He bumped into another girl instead. Tilting his head up, a bruised face snickered at Okita. "Hey, I remember you!" He even pointed a stubby finger at the girl just so she knew exactly who he was talking to.

[ninelivesonce]

The two top people she needed to talk to, and they were together. Taura jogged over to what was, perhaps, the most innovative use of the sun room she'd seen yet.

Most of the people assembling it were younger, but some of them were grown, and all of them were having fun. Strategy without injury. Why hadn't they taught her and her siblings this game? It would have made too much sense, that was what. They'd figured out how to wrestle with each other, and with their guardians, until they'd gotten too big and strong for that to be a game, even as quickly as they all healed, but no one had come up with playing war.

It sort of looked like the encampments had broken down by gender, which meant she was crossing enemy lines, but that was backwards thinking to begin with. Hadn't they ever heard of herms? Bel would have laughed and laughed, and then it would have taken on both sides just to prove it could.

"Just the people I was looking for." She smiled, comfortable enough with both of them to let her teeth show.

[notachick]

Well, that was possibly the fastest (and most direct) way of finding a playmate ever. He hadn't taken more than a few steps further into the room when a little plaster mummy waddled by and bumped right into his legs. While others might have been surprised or even scared at the sight of a bruised up child, wrapped in bandages, pointing up at them, Okita merely smiled after a brief stint of curious staring.

"Hello again," he said, turning to crouch down more at his height. He reached out and took the little boy's finger - what had been his name? - in one hand, shaking it lightly as if they were shaking hands. "I remember you, too. It seems like you're having a bit of trouble today. Are you--"

Before he could finish his question, someone else approached - someone Okita had been hoping to see. With one hand still trapping Goku's finger, the leader of the History Club looked up at his tall friend and smiled wide. "Well, then aren't we lucky to have found each other. Hello, Taura-san. How are you today?"