Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

[notthistrain]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room

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[antiheroed]

Along the way, Riku picked up the same nurse that accompanied him when he first woke up. The woman's fingers latched around his bicep in a manner that frustrated him, and he wanted nothing more than to brush her off. But it seemed she wanted to drag him in an opposite direction. Outside, maybe, but he shook his head, still trying to be as placid as possible. The information from Shinji made that difficult, so he kept his mouth shut for the moment

[angels_inflight]

Finding out that Axel had returned here was both relieving and distressing. It was a relief because she knew of Axel's fate back "home", but distressed because his fate here really wasn't that much better. It bothered her, it couldn't be helped. Still, it was surprising to know so many people she knew were slowly trickling back. Or maybe they never left in the first place, and she just never noticed.

The day was not done surprising her when she stepped into the Sun Room, thinking of retiring with a slight nap to restore her strength for tonight. Any drowsiness that she might have had was dashed in an instant, though, when she saw a familiar figure standing by the bulletin board.

"Riku?" Naminé hoped that she was wrong, that she somehow mistook someone else with Riku. But she was sure of it now that she was actually closer, one hundred percent. But... How? When? First Axel had returned, and now Riku, after so long?

[antiheroed]

It wasn't a voice that he expected to hear. Naminé was supposed to be back with Kairi, but he turned toward her immediately, startled at her sudden presence. She wasn't transparent at all; she looked the same as she did when he worked alongside her, trying to bring Sora back from his sleep, and even afterward, when he protected her from Ansem the Wise's desire for execution. That wasn't right. He couldn't profess to know for certain that she couldn't be here-he knew practically nothing, of course-but it didn't make him feel at ease.

Not that he minded seeing Naminé herself. They were friends, and just as naturally as he protected Sora and Kairi in some way, he did the same for her. Her presence made her the second person he found who was mostly incapable of combat in a place that could ask for that. That could have been his paranoia speaking, but it seemed too easy so far

[angels_inflight]

It really was him! Naminé wondered what "time" he was from, though she could take a guess when he seemed just as surprised as she was, asking her how she got there and if she was fine. Naminé nodded, also keen on hiding her little "adventures" during nightshift from Riku for the time being. There were more important things for them to talk about.

"I'm fine. And... I've been here for quite some time, actually. When did you arrive here?" It was important to get that out of the way first, she supposed. Naminé surely would have noticed Riku if he came sooner, right? She probably had a lot to tell him, and she was determined to make sure he knew everything about this place. Naminé didn't want to lose any more friends.

But... First, Axel returned, and now Riku? Naminé wasn't sure what to make of this sudden appearance of many people that she knew, though this wasn't the first time this has happened. Still, it was a little unsettling.

[liveforthispart]

...Goddammit. Why was it every time he was in the middle of talking to someone, he either found himself waking up or was suddenly getting dragged away by his nurse? It was really freaking annoying. Always shoving him around and lecturing him and stuff. Who did they think they were, anyway?! This time, he hadn't even gotten to finish his conversation before he woke up! Argh!

With how long he'd been here, he should probably be getting used to this by now, but he just felt more confused and pissed off as the days went by. This place was so different from anything he'd ever had to deal with. It just kept getting weirder, too. And all the while he felt like he should be doing something to help, but he couldn't think of anything. He hated feeling so useless

[cryingweapon]

After receiving a small 'talk' from the nurse about 'staying away from abusive man like Mr. Cross' and having time to dry her eyes, Chise was given a choice of either the Greenhouse of the Sun Room. Both rooms equally received the same amount of sunlight, but only one of them had a bulletin board. Realizing that she needed to report on her mission, she quickly headed towards the Sun Room.

Walking towards the board, she thought about what happened last night, how she had failed, and the feeling of despair. It just wasn't possible, was she really that weak? When she tried it on a wall several days ago, she was able to create a small hole. There was absolutely no way a door could remain completely intact after not one, but two consecutive shots from her cannon. Maybe she was that weak.

Distracted by thoughts of depression, Chise didn't look where she was looking and suddenly crashed into a poor, unsuspecting person with an 'Oof!'. The collision was hard enough to send her falling on her butt.

[liveforthispart]

Kanji himself had been looking the other way when someone just barreled right into him. Purely out of reflex, Kanji whipped around and threw a somewhat defensive glare at whoever the hell thought tackling him out of nowhere would be a good plan. Only there was no one there to glare at... until he looked down.

A girl. Kinda small. It hadn't really done much else but startle the hell out of him, but it looked like the hit was enough to make her fall to the ground. Kanji blinked down at her in surprise and promptly snapped his mouth shut, seeing as he was about a second away from yelling "Hey! Watch it!" Didn't seem like the best of ideas all of a sudden.

"...Hey, careful. Gonna end up breakin' your nose like that." That was... kind of the closest he was going to get to saying "I'm sorry" in this kind of situation. Not like he was the one who did anything wrong but whatever. After a brief hesitation, he reached a hand down to her to help her get up. "...You 'lright?"

[cryingweapon]

Chise looked up to see who it was she crashed into, and instantly braced herself for the yelling that was soon to come. But the yelling never came. Instead, it was concern and a helping hand.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for running into you," she quickly apologized, taking the boy's hand. "I'm perfectly fine, b-but what about you? I didn't hurt you, did I?!"

She quickly looked over the boy for any signs of injury and came up with nothing. It was then she realized that he was tall...really tall. She barely even came up to his chest!

[lookitmemama]

It had taken some convincing and borderline tantrums, but Asuka's two nurses eventually gave up on the hope of sending her outside. She was having none of it and that was that. Playing in the dirt with plants was retarded. She wasn't some house wife that needed to learn how to tend her backyard garden.

So she argued that she was just too pale skinned to go wandering outside. Her nurses were still skeptical but they let her be, and Asuka triumphantly strutted through the sun room, looking for somewhere to lounge. Noticing a few patients periodically loitering around one of the walls covered in pieces of paper, the second child made her destination as well. As she grew closer, Asuka realized it was a board of messages all hand-written.

[Free~ No limit! Asuka's an attention hoar]

[usoppsenchou]

The note he'd left about the hat Usopp was still carrying on his back hadn't really gotten a reply. Then again, he still wasn't convinced Luffy would read this board, and in the crowds of people writing notes, responding to notes, taking notes off and such, he wasn't sure his note'd get much notice anyway. Maybe he should try to get Sai's attention, if the paintbrush by the leaf was what he thought, or maybe even see if he could get the deer-guy's attention

[lookitmemama]

The voice made her turn her head and the sight made her double take with blue eyes wide.

Wow...

That was a nose. It made her thank luck extra hard she had turned out perfect. The first thought that came to mind was to snub him, but it quickly was replaced with better ideas. Her first day she had paraded herself around like a bitch, which was of course true, but it hadn't gotten her anywhere. All it had done was made her enemies which she really couldn't afford, not until she knew exactly what was going on in this place. Her lesson with Junpei this morning had taught her how far a nice attitude would get her, even if it was totally fake.

So she mustered up a smile and turned to Usopp. "Hey... I'm Asuka Langley Soryu! Nice to meet ya. So..." The redhead brought the boy's attention back to the bulletin board with a wave of her delicate wrist. "... Is this how everyone communicates with each other? On paper?" Seemed like a giant pain in the ass.

[usoppsenchou]

Usopp was confused by the pause before Asuka turned and answered. She'd looked surprised for a moment, too surprised. Usopp had gotten comments on his magnificent nose before, of course, but never had anyone go momentarily mute from looking at him. Maybe she just wasn't very well traveled and hadn't seen many kinds of faces. At least she'd smiled after the surprise.

Following Asuka's gesture, he paused to consider. "I guess so... unless you count talking. I haven't seen people flashing signals down hallways with lights or anything." Although that might not be a bad idea, really. "So, does that mean you're pretty new here too?"

[tostepforward]

There were two interesting developments with regard to her quarry today: first a new arrival in whom Lelouch had been very interested, and then a comment from Okita in response to Homura's post which made her wonder what the captain had planned. Had he noticed something that he hadn't passed on yet, or was he going to change her assignment? Unfortunately Euphemia was already approaching the new arrival by the time Ayumu reached the Sun Room, but she moved over to take a seat where she could watch the pink-haired woman as well as the door.

It seemed that today was another therapy day, but she hadn't been selected for that at any point. Had this been a real medical facility she might have wondered at the lack of attention from doctors, but since she knew it wasn't, Ayumu was merely puzzled by how people were chosen to see them. Was there some criteria that decided it, or were assignments made at random

[theroadsofar]

No, Dean didn't feel "somewhat under the weather", like the nurse insisted: he felt crappy and he didn't really need it dressed up for him, thanks

[tostepforward]

And of course, just as she was trying to work the nurse had to start herding "Rick" (or whatever his name actually was) in her direction. For a moment Ayumu hoped that he might just walk on by and go sit with someone else, but no. She glanced up from the page as though startled, blinking from the nurse to him for a moment before managing a small smile and shy-looking nod.

Once the nurse was gone, however, she quickly closed the journal again and turned toward the man with no hint of recognition whatsoever. "I...wasn't really drawing anything," she offered, her eyes lowered bashfully. "I was just...ah. But, well, I'm not that -- my name is Sen."

Maybe if she pretended she didn't remember anything from that day he'd buy it. Possibly. But as long as he didn't expect anything was strange about her, that should be good enough.

[theroadsofar]

Dean didn’t miss a beat. “Brian

[witchdetective]

That session with the boy was certainly informative, and Erika decided the next step would be to confirm this place's location. Of course, she couldn't do that simply by stepping outside and looking around (that would be far too easy), but if she could just get a look at the local plant life, perhaps get a glance at any natural flora, she would be able to pinpoint a location

[repeatingfate]

Rika was all too happy to try and rest for a while, and even had a kitten climb up next to her. Said kitten promptly ran for the hills when a loud -- and eerily familiar -- voice rang out across the room, calling her - wait. What? Oh, no. Not this again.

I am going to make a sign and wear it around my neck saying that my name is not Bernkastel.

"You're mistaken," Rika said, sighing a little and scooting over on the couch. Really, she could handle it the first time it had happened. The second time it had happened, it had at least ended well. But twice in a row? She was a patient girl, really she was. But not so patient that she could let mistaken identity go on as long as it had.

"My name is Rika," she said, nodding once. "Furude Rika. If you're looking for a witch, you have the wrong person."

[witchdetective]

No, this girl was not Bernkastel. Erika gave the girl a glance, frowning at how eerily similar she was to her Master. In fact, it seemed very much like... When the girl properly introduced herself, that just added more evidence to Erika's rapidly growing theory about this girl who bore more than a passing resemblance to her Master

[repeatingfate]

Rika looked at the other girl, the one who looked far too much like her for her own liking. Except something was - no. More than something. Too much about her was wrong. They might have looked the same at a glance, but...their physical stances. The looks in their eyes, the looks on their faces. Their attitudes, so very opposite...

And their names. That was the most unsettling part about her - the fact that Erika's name was far too close to her own, both given and family names. Was she, then...

She could have been twisted like that, in a different kakera. Instead of giving up all emotion, she could have used it as a driving force, letting the hate fester and then letting it bleed out in the form of that force.

"No offense taken," Rika finally answered. "The story is quite complicated, though. Do you have the time for a long story?"