DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

[violent_varmint]

There was something fishy going on in the Institute today. All over the bulletin board, people were talking about having "woken up", having been "cured"... and it seemed as though ZEX was one of them. Tanaka wouldn't have recognized the note at all if it hadn't been signed - his wording, his handwriting, even his name had changed - and a part of

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[tostepforward]

It had been nice to feel normal again, or as normal as she could feel with the awareness of what she'd been doing and saying for the last while. But that feeling had evaporated after talking to Julian at breakfast, and now Yuuko was feeling inexplicably guilty. Because she was getting better and would be leaving him behind? Or maybe she was just clinging too much to her delusions. If so, that needed to be corrected - she had to get back to her life, her real life.

She shook her head once, firmly, trying to dismiss that lingering guilt, but instead her attention fell upon a rather familiar shock of red hair. Oh. Him. It didn't make all that much sense now for her to have such an intense hatred for the man; with that hair it wasn't as though he really could be Japanese or anything, much less a Choushuu assassin. And even if she'd only dreamed that part about stabbing him she still...well, felt bad about it. Just because she'd fixated on him, or something

[tostepforward]

"Ah. Well." Yuuko glanced away briefly with a vaguely uncomfortable air, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she slid her hands into her pockets. "That's...it isn't 'Sen'." Or Ayumu, either, but this was going to be hard enough without getting into more and unnecessary details.

She looked back again, her smile slightly forced but the apologetic expression underneath entirely sincere. "It's Yuuko. Actually. My name is, I mean." Only then did she move toward the spot he'd vacated for her, although she still didn't quite sit, just in case he changed his mind.

[wantsyourzex]

Well, Asch had mostly taken the news pretty well, all things considered. It was probably hard to find out your friend was sane again while you were still crazy. Poor guy.

Tanaka, on the other hand, might be a different story, and honestly Max was a little worried. They'd been the last two sharing the same delusion since Caleb had left and Fwiffo and Talana had disappeared (probably released, although he'd never found out for sure). Tanaka probably wouldn't be happy about being left behind by Max either.

Well, it wasn't like he'd exactly wanted to wake up in the first place. He'd rather be ZEX than Max, but he didn't really have a choice now. Not unless he had another breakdown or something. Hopefully they could just talk things over reasonably like adults and it'd all work out fine

[violent_varmint]

The moment ZEX entered the room, Tanaka could tell something was wrong. The most obvious was that he'd clearly had some kind of unusual medical care overnight; whether this was the result of a monster or something else, stitches on the skull and a bandage over one eye weren't exactly normal accessories.

But that wasn't the thing that bothered Tanaka the most. No, what worried him was how ZEX was carrying himself: smoothly. Comfortably. Like a human, or at least like someone used to being vertebrate. And if that wasn't enough, ZEX had jumped when he noticed him waiting. No, not just jumped... apologized. The Admiral may have been many things, but apologetic might as well have not been in his vocabulary, from what Tanaka had seen.

So this wave of "sanity" had enveloped even ZEX. Tanaka... wasn't sure what to think of that. Brow furrowed, he muttered, "Do not concern yourself," and motioned ZEX over towards one of the couches. "I have a feeling we have much to discuss... Max."

[wantsyourzex]

Well, Tanaka was staring at him, but that probably wasn't that unusual. He still had some of his hair missing (which was a real tragedy as far as he was concerned) and he probably looked less than normal, even if everyone here was insane. More importantly, Tanaka didn't seem particularly angry, which was good. Max had never been good with angry people; they made him nervous. Particularly if they were angry at him.

At least Tanaka knew his real name. Maybe Tanaka was back to normal too! That might make this a bit less awkward, at least. He sat down where he'd been directed without question, scratching at his new bald spot a bit self-consciously. He still had a headache...

"Uh, sure. What did you want to talk about?" Max tried his best to sound friendly. "Did you..." No, if Tanaka hadn't woken up yet, he might not appreciate the question. "Um... never mind." Quick, think of something else to say "How are you?"

[violent_varmint]

"Skeptical," Tanaka replied, taking a seat across from the Admiral. "I don't have to be a genius to notice what's going on here. A dozen people have woken up 'cured', and then you start posting under a new name and acting like you actually think there's something wrong with you." In short, a complete turnaround in character from the combination of stubborn pride and awkward lechery that the pervert usually excreted.

Which brought him to the point: what was "Max" really like? What kind of person would he be dealing with, now that ZEX's usual foibles and vanities were swept away? And what - if anything - could or should be done to reverse it? Tanaka's gaze narrowed, and he stared right in the Admiral's eyes as he continued. "I do not have the slightest idea who you are now, but I do know that you are not the ZEX I knew yesterday. And I need to know what kind of human you've become."

[jokers_wildcard]

[unknowingly waiting for Sechs]

Normally, Harley didn't pay attention to most of what was going on around her. Not that she was dumb, she just didn't care about whatever most people considered important. But even she was able to tell something funny was going on around here with the people. Everyone was so serious today; melancholy and lifeless sacks of flesh, like the kind of stuff you find outside. People tended to be grumpy or angry or mopey here, no doubt about that, but this was... different. She didn't like it. In fact, it was making her really uncomfortable

[sixth_attack]

Refusing to be stuffed into a boring room full of even more boring books, Sechs was escorted to the sun room by a particularly stern nurse. Ignoring the nurse's scolding over his outburst in the cafeteria, Sechs angrily limped off from his uniformed tormentor in search of a lone corner to brood in. He had more important things to furiously think over than listen to the stupid nurse's lecturing.

Damn that bastard! Fine! That big idiot Teisel can just keep on pretending to be some lowlife named Todd! Sechs didn't care! He didn't care about anyone! Especially someone who would lie like that to him!

Yet no matter how forcefully Sechs confirmed to himself that his conversation with Teisel/Todd didn't matter, what happened between them still bothered him to no end. Could it be possible that Teisel was sincere about being "confused" and that everyone else including him were crazy-- No! It was Teisel's problem, not Sechs'! Yet despite it all Sechs still couldn't shake off that deep feeling of betrayal and disappointment. So much for

[jokers_wildcard]

Oh great. Because this was exactly what she needed: One more mopey stick in the mud to come drag down the atmosphere. Did she miss some memo about everyone having to act all broody today? Just look at him! It was like he didn't have a soul or something. A doll like all the 'normal' people outside the asylum walls. Brainwashed zombie. Blegh.

"Hey, kid. Who died?" she blurted with about as much compassion as a brick wall. Chances were nothing was actually wrong and he was just being a grouch like everyone else this morning.

[sixth_attack]

Sechs raised his head slightly and shifted his eyes to glance towards the monotone voice. Well, so much for being alone... For a moment his quagmire of a mind stumbled at the unexpected question. Did he look like somebody died? He was pissed off, not grieving! Maybe it was his disappointment that leaked into his body language... "Huh? Died?" he mumbled, "no... Not really..."

Looking away, Sechs tried to return to his lone glowering but the stranger's attention to him got him all distracted. Sechs wasn't so sure about talking with the stranger, he never met her before and what if she was also "sane" like Teisel/Todd? But he really needed to get his frustration off his chest... He might as well give it a shot, and if she gave him the same sort of crap that "Todd" gave him then Sechs would just whack her over the head like how he almost did to Teisel

[whos_da_man]

[closed to Rey]

Junpei headed from his interesting meeting with Sho into the Sun Room. A quick look around showed him no short blonde vampires, so he let out a long breath and then wandered to the bulletin board. After a moment of reading over the notes, he pouted. No one other than that anonymous dud had responded to his call for mobile suit pilots. Rey didn't count since Junpei already knew him.

This totally blew. How was he going to learn more and get better insight into where the suits might be if the other pilots didn't talk to him?

Turning back to the rest of the room, Junpei fiddled with the collar of his shirt, pulling it up a bit more in an attempt to hide the bandage on his neck. Stupid vampire. Well, maybe he could will a pilot to present himself.

[denied_future]

Well, that'd certainly been an interesting way to start off the day, Rey decided. Though if the intercom was any indication, it seemed Soma's sudden 'recovery' wasn't exclusive to simply her. Frankly, he was just glad that he himself wasn't one of the victims. He refused to be anyone but Rey, even though he didn't have a purpose anymore. Even though the doctor was right when he said that there wasn't anyone left who cared about him--

--And Rey really needed to let that go (so much for concluding that it meant nothing). Such a thing had always come easily to him before, but this time, not quite. It wasn't even the remarks about him being worth nothing more than an experiment that got to him--he could brush those words off easily enough. It was the fake Gil's words ("you betrayed my trust") that hurt the hardest. They brought down that same sense of overpowering guilt he'd felt back on the Messiah, when he pulled the trigger and watched the man fall, which was no doubt the doctor's intention. It wasn't even Gil, Rey knew, but what was

[whos_da_man]

Oh, hey, Junpei discovered he had the will of a god. He totally made a pilot present himself. Too bad it was the one he'd already met. Apparently, he needed to be more specific when he willed something to happen.

"Sup, dude?" came Junpei's typical greeting as he grinned at Rey, "And it's like failing hardcore."

He jerked his thumb at his post, specifically the anonymous poster. "I've got one biting, but I can't seem to land him yet. Do you think you can talk those two others you know into talking to me?"

[denied_future]

Rey looked at the post Junpei was pointing to, before scanning the other notes. Despite the different handwriting, there was a possibility that the person Junpei was talking about was Allelujah, if one went with the assumption that there were only four pilots here, including himself and the unnamed one Soma had mentioned. The man was a terrorist, according to Soma, and had every right to be cautious.

"For one of them, that's impossible," Rey finally answered. "Have you noticed what's going on with this place today?"

It would be rather hard to get Soma to talk to Junpei as a pilot when she believed that to be a delusion, after all.

[mizuhomaiden]

[closed to 'Violet']

Sheena left the cafeteria in a hurry. She didn't understand what was going on with Raine and was way too upset to deal with anything. She quickly ducked into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, wincing a bit at the stinging sensation that accompanied it thanks to the slashes on her face. At least when she blotted the wetness away, she didn't really look like she'd been crying. Her eyes were still a tinge red and someone really perceptive might pick up on that, but she looked better. More composed. At least she was keeping the freakout internal for the moment. Something terrible had happened to Raine and Sheena didn't know what to do about it.

Leaving the bathroom, the ninja decided to avoid the library as clearly Raine would head there, even as Jeanne. Besides, Sheena needed to put things in motion to keep her friend safe tonight when the doors unlocked if that didn't knock Raine back into being herself. With the new restrictions, it took a bit, but then ninja posted a note for Harley,

[mind_the_sukima]

Had she been aware of this wish and had she been Yukari, she might have found the mixed blessing she would be presenting to be amusing. But seeing as she was neither, Violet simply wandered out into the Sun Room feeling ambivalent. On the one hand, she was glad that she was feeling better today, but it was the same clarity she had gained that presented her with the ability to evaluate her past actions, both since arriving her and before that. It was... a little embarrassing. She knew she was irresponsible sometimes and fully believed in having fun, but given the situation, it was a little much.

At least talking with David, she knew she wasn't the only one regretting their actions. It had been good to hear it from someone in a similar situation. Now though, she just wanted to sit down and sort things out in her mind. Going over to one of the couches, she flopped down on it and leaned on one of the arms, chin in her hand as she stared at nothing in particular. This was quite the mess she was in...

[mizuhomaiden]

There she was.

Sheena caught sight of Yukari as the youkai plopped herself down in a couch. Without hesitation, the ninja crossed the room and hopped up onto the back of the couch. Sure, the staff might get ticked at her, but she didn't care.

Sitting on the back of the couch, one leg on either side of the youkai, Sheena started to gather Yukari's hair into her hands, drawing it back from her face so she could work the tangles out. The ninja didn't say anything, instead focusing on the hair in her hands and taking comfort in the youkai's body heat.

[mind_the_sukima]

Violet sat up with a jolt as someone jumped on the couch behind her, their legs sliding down on either side. When she felt her hair being gathered up, she tilted her head back, already having a pretty good idea who it was. Her hunch confirmed, she gave the girl a little smile and settled down again, content to let her play with her hair and more than happy not to say anything. Saying anything would mean starting a conversation and at that moment... Violet needed to sort things out before she talked to anyone. Especially this girl.

For now, she was fine with just enjoying her presence and pretending for just a little longer that things could remain this way, the way they had been... even if it had been someone else, not her. Not Violet.