Day 36: Game Room

[himetsuru]

After having stood around in the Sun Room for a moment after the staff had wheeled Shiki away, Falis wasn't sure what she wanted to do next. She knew she didn't want to be in that room anymore with the vultures circling overhead so, after a few paranoid glances up at the staff walking the balconies, she picked a random room she hadn't been in yet

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[rappigs]

Welly welly welly welly welly welly well.

Emperor Peony Upala Malkuth IX felt like he hadn't moved in a long time. Man, were these bones getting weaker or something? He wasn't a creepy vampire like Jade, he wasn't going to disintegrate in the light or anything. But as he struggled to pull himself out of bed, and promptly fell to the floor, tangled in sheets in which he had slept similar to an eggbeater last night, he couldn't help but look around.

Hmm, maybe it had been a while since he'd been awake. He certainly felt refreshed, that was for sure. Like he'd slept and slept and slept. Mm, how nice.

When the nurse came to tell him how long he'd been sleeping (through all of yesterday!) it didn't even strike Peony that other people might have been worried about his absence. They were big boys; they could handle themselves. Even cute little Anise was more man than the rest of 'em

[tyki_pon]

[for Cheating Boy A]

"You've been really lucky that your friends had decided to visit you, João!" The nurse babbled on as she escorted him to the game room. Now that he had visitor shift over with, he was finally allowed to go there.

Though 'lucky' wasn't the word the Noah would use for describing those visitor shifts. Despite how he had acted around them, the whole ordeal didn't sit all that well with him. He shrugged, eventually guessing that thinking about it too long wouldn't be helpful.

The hobo sat down at a random table, absent-minded-ly doing some card tricks with one of the decks lying around to keep himself occupied. He had a deck of his own right now, of course, but with the staff watching their every move they simply remained in his pocket.

[broken_exorcist]

Today had been disappointing, and it was hard to keep much enthusiasm, but he tried. Rukia's disappearance had hit him pretty hard, combined with the mess last night, it was just difficult to imagine that things would be getting better anytime soon.

Without much to do, he'd drifted off in the Sun Room, though it was rare for him to feel so lethargic. Must be the lack of sleep in this place. With a yawn, he tottered into the next room, ushered by a nurse. There weren't really any familiar faces, not any he'd been formally introduced to at least. Except for one.

Allen sat across the table, watching the card trick for a moment before he put on a faint smile. "Hey. Haven't seen you for a few days."

[tyki_pon]

Tyki hadn't actually noticed Allen approaching before the boy had sat down and spoke up, too deep in thought to notice much of what was going on around him. He was surprised for a moment, but soon recovered his composure.

What a funny thing for the boy to say that, though. "What? Thought I had already kicked the bucket?" he said, but the grin that had appeared on his face proved that he was just teasing. His white side wasn't much of an ass compared to his black, anyway.

[broken_exorcist]

"Oh- well, no, nothing like that," Allen replied, caught off-guard by the man's answer. He rested an elbow on the table, placing his chin in his hand.

If this guy could make a living hustling cards, he could probably make one anywhere. Allen ought to know. He did look like he'd been having a rough time, though that seemed to be true of many, if not most of the patients. "I don't know if I ever caught your name. Um, I'm Allen. Allen Walker."

[meironohosoku]

There weren't many people in this room, but they were all strangers to her. She glanced around nervously, then picked up a deck of cards and retreated behind one of the couches, sitting with her back against the back of the couch. She knew the nurse would scold her for hiding, but at the moment Hanyuu didn't care. Even though she was afraid of ending up alone again, a few minutes of solitude wouldn't do any harm.

After fanning several of the cards in her hand, she looked over them carefully. Were these marked, like the ones back home had been? Hanyuu couldn't tell; she'd never paid close enough attention to see how the individual cards had been marked.

The spirit sighed, realizing how sad that seemed now. Over a hundred years she had watched and laughed along with them, yet never had she considered trying to memorize the various marks. Well, paying attention to the people holding the cards was much more important, wasn't it? And besides, it wasn't as though she expected to ever actually play with the other club members. And now that

[wild_right_hand]

Tokito's first instinct was to grab one of the Game Boys, even if it was a clunky old one and probably didn't have any good games. But a moment's thought immediately revealed the problem with that idea: his hand was still stiff and a little achey from the fit he'd had, and he'd probably crush the life out of the Game Boy if he tried to use it. Then there would be awkward questions, and maybe he'd get in trouble, too.

The second-best option was, of course, hiding alone in a corner somewhere, but someone would probably be nosy and come up to him if he did that. Tokito scowled to himself and gave the nurses hovering around him a suspicious glare. Worse yet, they might try to make him socialise. Stupid nurses.

Eventually Tokito settled on choosing the least offensive person he could think of to spend the shift with. A little kid seemed just about right, as long as they weren't the bouncy noisy kind. This kid definitely didn't look bouncy, or noisy. So Tokito crouched and started helping her pick up the cards. "Hi."

[meironohosoku]

Hanyuu had thought she'd picked out a decent hiding place--even if it wasn't very hidden. She hadn't expected anyone to suddenly start helping her with the cards, and she jumped slightly when someone did just that. Thankfully she managed to hold onto the cards she'd managed to already pick up, so they were saved from having to go through a second round of pickup.

"Ah, h-hi," she said, managing to give him a quick smile once the surprise shook off. "And, um, th-thank you... For helping with the cards, I mean."

[wild_right_hand]

Tokito managed a smile, since the little girl seemed so very shy. He wasn't usually an impressive or intimidating sort of presence, but maybe any adult was scary for her? Picking up the last few cards, he arranged them into a neat pile and offered them to the little girl. "This is a good spot. Cozy. I'm Tokito."

[akarusa]

Hokuto had been planning to take her time with the necklace for Subaru, but eventually realized this was not a time when she should be quietly contemplating whatever came into her head. That happened, sometimes, here. There wasn't much of a pattern to consider, anyway, so she quickly finished it and stuffed it into her pocket, then went to see what else there was to do.

She thought maybe she'd lose herself in a game of Tetris or something, but discarded the idea when she saw her princess. "Good afternoon!" she smiled, sitting with her. "What's this?"

[himetsuru]

Falis glanced up and smiled at Hokuto, quietly hoping she wouldn't notice her shoulder simply because she didn't want to see that worried look in her eyes.

"A war game. I've never heard of it before, though," she said, looking through a box labeled RISK. She unfolded the map and tilted her head at it. Such a large world...

[akarusa]

Hokuto just wanted to relax right now; she studied it, then said, "Oh, this game!" Wow, she hadn't seen it in forever. "That's an Earth map, if you're curious--hmm, this one doesn't include the moon." Maybe that was a different game.

"Yeah, it's all about strategy; we played this in Literature once when we read some of the Art of War. It's amazing how fast you can go from rushing towards victory to being on the edge of defeat."

[himetsuru]

"Earth?" Falis was confused for a moment before it dawned on her. "Oh, so this is a map of your land of ancient technology. It's... big. How long does it take to get from one side to the other?"

She spread the map board on the table and poked through the other pieces. "The tides of war are exactly like that. It takes a great mind to create a winning strategy. There is no such thing as a perfect strategy. In war, units will always be sacrificed for victory." She scanned the direction and nodded. "That's basically what this game seems to be about."

[tender_cruelty]

Joshua had a visitor then? Allelujah watched as Joshua was led away by a nurse, a slight frown on his lips. He was relieved really that he hadn't got a visitor. He'd heard things about them that he didn't like to think about, and he couldn't imagine who they'd even choose. He didn't know the real names of the other Meisters or the crew as it was, and there was no-one outside of Celestia Being who he knew. Except-

He turned his attention back to the game, starting a new one now that Joshua was gone. He shuffled the cards and started to lay them out.

[For Brooklyn]

[manhattan_red]

Having apparently napped his way through the previous shift (something still very foreign - it made him feel so lethargic) the nurses thought it best to get him involved with others and thus shoved him towards the gameroom. After just waking, sending him outside might be a bit much on his poor eyes.

He wandered his way through under the careful watch of one of the staff members and eventually took a seat next to someone he hadn't spoken with before. He looked to be busy with a deck of cards and he didn't want to interrupt so he just waved back to the nurse in the hopes that she'd wander off now that her task was completed.

[tender_cruelty]

Even though he was apparently absorbed in the game of cards, Allelujah was still keeping an eye on everything that was going on in the room, watching through his fringe. There were too many medical staff here for him to dare let his guard down. He noticed when the man sat down opposite him, but continued playing, wondering, just a bit, why him playing solitaire seemed so damn interesting to people.

He ignored the man until he'd finished, not managing to complete the game, and then looked up at him a little warily. "Hello."

[manhattan_red]

With Allelujah thus distracted, Brooklyn had turned his attention elsewhere, glancing around the room at the other patients but trying not to look as though he was staring at any one in particular lest he draw their attention and create an awkward moment.

At the greeting, the gargoyle's head snapped back to the man he'd seated himself next to. He smiled immediately. "Oh, hey! Sorry. I probably should have asked before sitting down..."