Day 44: Arts and Crafts Room, Second Shift

[gothamsfuture]

Astor hadn't talked much after introducing himself, which hadn't bothered Terry. With all the crap their little hospital of horrors piled on the patients, he couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to open up to some stranger. Plus, not talking meant he could get a decent meal in, and then check out the bulletin for the latest in Landel's news and

Comments

[see_my_back]

Just as predicted, the nurses were their usual pushy selves and insisted that Sakura spend some of her free time in the arts and crafts room. No, of course she couldn't go to the Sun Room where she could actually read the bulletin or converse with others in what was more or less the hub of the information network. That would be way too easy.

Instead she was stuck at a table with construction paper, glue, glitter, and other useless stuff. At least in flower arranging class, they'd been learning something useful. But here? First of all, Sakura didn't have a creative bone in her body. Her family's crest was a plain white circle for crying out loud! Sure, she could organize things by color, value, height, whatever, but make it just to have it look pretty? Ha.

There was absolutely nothing even remotely practical to making anything with this stuff. She sighed, picking up a white piece of paper. Maybe she could at least write up some explosion notes. They probably wouldn't work, not without chakra, but at least it would give her

[mitase]

After his conversation with Artemis over breakfast Hanatarou was even approaching cheerful: he was going to help someone out tonight, someone he might even be able to consider a friend. Someone actually wanted his help enough to ask for it, too, even if it was probably just because he was the first healer Artemis had run into or something. He'd still asked

[see_my_back]

If she didn't know better, she'd say the guy across from her was one of Hinata's relatives. Shy, quiet, dark hair falling in his face, everything fit. He even looked like he thought she was going to eat him or something. Was she really that scary? Just because she'd had a bad morning, geez! It couldn't be all that bad!

Still, when the nurse sat him down and dropped what looked like garbage in front of him, then mentioned making flowers, she had to admit, she was curious. She might not be able to make them, but she could arrange them in a way that was supposed to be pretty. Or at least that's what her teacher said.

"Can you really make flowers out of that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and tapping her brush on the edge of the plastic cup full of water they'd given her to paint with.

[mitase]

Hanatarou automatically froze up when the girl began to speak, but - she sounded actually curious, not mocking. At least, that's what he thought. He hazarded a cautious glance up at her, then down at the pile of supplies the nurse had left, and forced a tiny smile.

"Um. K-kind of...?" he replied, reaching out to pick up one of the wire things and examine it closely. "They don't, um, look all that much like real flowers. Not really." But he'd pretended, because working with even fake flowers felt kind of like home.

Everything here was just a false imitation - the flowers, Hisagomaru, even his own abilities - but he was willing to accept what he could for now. At least until he managed to get back home again.

[host_club_honey]

Honey seemed to be one of the few people who actually enjoyed Arts and Crafts. When the nurse led him into the other room, he was practically beaming at the chance to play with all the different crafts. As tempting as it might be to try fingerpainting again, he'd promised Mr. Pennyworth that he'd work on those bat symbols. And with all the glitter they already had on hand here, he might even be able to save the ones he'd pocketed earlier. They could always be good for something at night. Like maybe making a trail like Hansel and Gretel. So no one got lost

[fuzzy_diablo]

"Oh come on," Kurt whined as his nurse all but pushed him into the Arts and Crafts room. "This is kid-stuff! Can't I go, I don't know, take a nap or something

[host_club_honey]

The nurse brought over a friend and Honey made sure to smile at him when he sat down. He would've said more, but the other boy looked really intent on his fingerpainting. It wasn't until he held up the handprint on paper that Honey heard him speak. He looked from the print to the boy's face for a moment, just in case it was a trick question. But maybe he just needed some ideas for what to paint.

"It's a really good start," he said, trying to sound encouraging. "But there's lots more space on the paper."

[fuzzy_diablo]

"More... space?" Kurt looked at the page again, then back at the kid, then back at the page. Well, he hadn't said, 'Wooooah, two fingers!' or 'Your hand looks weird' or something like that. So this was failed experiment number... he'd lost count.

He looked forlornly at the page, frowning a little and looking around at the table of supplies. More space on the paper...

"Euh..." Kurt leaned over to the kid again. "What should I put on the paper? I didn't really think I would put anything else on it..." Logan would laugh if he could see him now... Arts and Crafts Failure Seeks Advice from 10-Year-Old. He would've never heard the end of it.

[euphemise]

Euphemia was in no mood to argue with her nurse when she gently nudged her towards the arts and crafts room. While it was true that she'd rather like a nap, she could always ask if it would be all right for her to have one later. So, she smiled and went along with it.

She couldn't say she had much interest in the crayons and - while it was pretty - glitter, but there was paper there and she knew a little about origami. Certainly there wouldn't be any objections to making some things? It might even cheer people up a little if they were just left around for them to find.

With that, Euphy nodded and set herself to folding cranes.

[for exorcist-Kagura, IIRC?]

[cursed_exorcist]

[from here]

After she had finished her shower, her nurse had shown her to the arts and crafts room. Looking around, Kagura wasn't exactly sure what she should be doing; she wasn't exactly in the mood for drawing. Even though she tried to ignore it, her drama with Yomi last night was still fresh in her mind.

"Sara, why don't you help Diana out with her origami," said her nurse.

Kagura could certainly fold cranes, but she didn't want to intrude on the other girl. Unfortunately, with her nurse ushering her forward, she had little choice in the matter. At least, the nurse had chosen to give them some space.

"Um, hi. I'm Kagura. Need some help there?"

[Sorry for the delay]

[euphemise]

[and sorry for my own fail! ^^;; ]

Euphemia turned and smiled at the woman that had sat down next to her. "I'm Euphy," she said, and then nodded, passing a pile of paper over. "They say the more people the merrier, right?"

She paused, trying to figure out if she wanted to try and string these together now or wait a while. She decided waiting would be best.

"So, where are you from, Kagura-san?" She added the honorific without thinking too much about it. It was simply a matter of respect in her mind - even though she tended not to use them with friends after a while.

[cursed_exorcist]

[No worries. At least we're even now!^^]

"Yeah," Kagura cheerfully replied, returning Euphy's smile with one of her own. The pink-haired girl seemed like a nice person that Kagura could get along with. She even knew how to use honorifics. Kagura hoped they could become good friends. "I'm from Tokyo, Japan. What about you Euphy-san?"

[chainsaw_royal]

Hime would have liked to stay reading the bulletin board before, as the numerous accounts of the events that transpired the night before were both fascinating and mystifying. However, they were also many, and she was not even halfway through the main body of them before her nurse insisted she move on to the Arts & Crafts room. Having seen what happened to more rebellious patients, the Royal chose to hold her tongue and go along with it for now.

"Here, Sarah, why don't you sit with Jonathan? Perhaps you can help him with anything he needs, considering his current health," suggested the nurse. Hime only gave her an irritated look, but it only met the back of the woman's head since she was already on her way to round up the next patient. Once again stuck babysitting another, Hime sighed once before dismissing her displeasure; there was no point in subjecting the poor boy to her temper because of these people who dared push her around

[chainsaw_royal]

Hime noted that the boy seemed both preoccupied and uncomfortable with her questioning. Not that that was about to steer her away from the subject; again, she was intent on learning as much as she could about the many and various threats of the Institute.

"Oh? You were caught up in that?" she asked, leaning an elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. "And just what was that all about?"

She had been hoping he'd been one of the "mysterious deaths" that had been reported, but then she recalled that those who suffered such incidents bore no sign of injury come morning, so finding them would be more or less by chance. At least Kagura's doppleganger story made more sense now.

[tsunagari]

Arts and Crafts was actually a welcome diversion. Sai had plenty to think over, and painting was a nice mindless task. Nevermind that the supplies offered were sub-par at best.

He had an aimless look about him as he was led in to find a seat. Rather than sit alone, as he knew he had a look about him at the moment that would prompt others to pry, he sat down across from someone who already looked discontent.

"Do you not like art?" he asked Terry, getting himself a clean sheet of paper and a black marker.

[gothamsfuture]

Terry had noticed the kid coming over, thinking that it was pretty sad how pale some people got just as the guy sat down. He definitely had a night life, but even Terry managed to get out in the sun every now and then. This guy looked like he'd spontaneously combust if he set foot outside.

But complexion aside, Terry welcomed the conversation. It was either that, or stare at glitter for however long the torture lasted. "Art? I don't mind it. But you can't tell me this counts as art." Waving a hand over his evidence, Terry let out a sigh. "It's almost as bad as Family Studies. Almost. Either way, I think I'd rather be playing a vid game or something."

Whoever this guy was, he seemed more comfortable with the supplies than Terry was. "What about you?" Terry nodded his head just enough to indicate what the guy was holding. "You're one of the few people who've walked in without looking horrified. Are you an artist?"

It might be worse if the guy was. What self-respecting artist wanted to use this junk?

[tsunagari]

"A vid game?" Sai's hand was already moving, quickly creating a design of a very lion-like animal on the paper. It was done within seconds, and the ninja then stared for a while at the image as though he expected it to leap from the paper. There was very little chance of that, seeing as he couldn't summon the slightest bit of chakra during the day.

"I'm something of an artist, I suppose." The paper was set aside and a new one pulled in front of him. That one he didn't get started on immediately. "The materials don't really matter when you're just doing something to keep your hands from being idle." And that's all this was. It wasn't even usual for him to use art as a means of taking time to ponder things. It was strange. "I don't usually sell my art in any case."

[gothamsfuture]

Right. Not everyone was from the age of electronics. Terry didn't exactly relish the idea of trying to explain it, since he didn't know of this guy even had a clue about what a tv was. But he'd brought it up, and it wasn't really fair to leave the guy confused. "It's just games you play on a screen. Uh. Kind of like moving pictures." Which would make Terry sound like a complete twip if the guy knew what a tv was after all, but he didn't want to assume.

Luckily, a distraction was quick to appear, and at the pale kid's hands no less. "Woah. You always draw that fast?" Terry might not have been so impressed, except what the guy had drawn was actually really good. Seemed like the sort of thing Dana's dad might like. "You might want to rethink marketing them. If nothing else, you'd be able to get orders out quickly."

The remark about materials made sense, but Terry still wasn't going to open up the glitter. He'd feel a little self-conscious even doodling around a guy this good. "Name's Alex, by the way. Nice to meet you."