Day 50: Chapel

[full_score]

The last thing Claude heard was the Head Doctor's voice faintly filtering into the corridors of the ship before he found himself tucked beneath the sheets of his bed. It took a moment to register he'd even changed locations, but then he he abruptly sat up, fought the wave of nausea that washed over him, and felt the blankets beneath his fingers.

Comments

[blood_and_pocky]

[free, no limits]

What a night!

Maybe it should've been something of a reassurance, being able to anticipate his mood once he inevitably opened his eyes to his cell’s white walls and was met with the morning intercom announcement. But his growing string of nonsuccesses was growing more burdensome with each day gone, plaguing him like a burning brand in the back, always there, always just out of reach. This was starting to go beyond pathetic. Aidou had practically been living in a foul mood since his imprisonment, but always with the understanding that he would be able to go out and face down an obstacle however many tries it took.

Now, though, he was beginning to feel he needed to do something greater to get around nights ending too soon, and the genius, the miracle genius, couldn’t immediately think of what. The noble had spent almost a month warding off the feeling, but it was there in the cloudy blue of his eyes: dismay.

Crap! Hadn’t he come this far in order to go all the way? Outlast any enemy? The phantom witch, the shadow

[akarusa]

Hokuto felt... better, somewhat, in the morning. She had recovered enough so she even the nurses acknowledged she could get around without a wheelchair; if she was really lucky, she'd be well enough to do something that night.

When given a choice about where to go, she selected the chapel; no real reason, she'd just seen Subaru in there enough so she thought... well, that it might bring her some peace, if nothing else. Maybe if she meditated enough, she'd even be able to check up on him.

She didn't want to dwell on that too much, though, so when she saw someone who looked like he needed cheering up even more than she did, she gravitated towards him without a second thought. "Good morning," she said softly, sitting down next to him. He looked familiar enough so she knew he'd been around for a while; even if she hadn't recognized him, she thought the expression on his face made the time he'd spent here clear enough. By now, she just knew.

[blood_and_pocky]

Even in daylight, no corner was safe, and company--different, unfamiliar, non-vampire company--seemed to find its way to him exactly when he least wanted it. Unacceptable, to have an audience during a moment like this, a private affair of teetering on thin ice that certainly no human eye should see. He shouldn’t have had to put up with it. It wasn’t right.

Nothing was right.

And in the face of this ever growing truth, he didn’t know what he needed, what he was missing in order for him to assemble the many pieces circling around and around in his mind. But he did know he was finding comprehending his circumstances hard enough when he was alone with only himself. Some girl’s pity, or false cheer, or gods forbid, misplaced empathy, would make things that much more unbearable

[akarusa]

"So to speak, anyway," Hokuto murmured, looking at the altar rather than her companion. "I only got a glimpse of the board, but it looks like I missed a lot of excitement. Not that excitement's really a good thing around here."

She wasn't about to push him to tell her about his night, she just thought he looked like he needed someone to talk to; if he wanted to open up to her, he would. If not, even the superficial connection of idle chatter sometimes helped.

[dreadofthegrave]

For once, Battler was actually glad for the disorienting style of awakening that the institute always provided. It may not have been any less jarring, suddenly waking up in a room with no recollection of ever sleeping or anything leading up to that point, but unlike that last bizarre jump, he could at least say that he wasn't cold and wet. Of course, the previous night had been pretty exhausting, so even though he was thankful to be dry, rolling out bed was still done with some reluctance

[gald_digger]

Was it just a dream

[dreadofthegrave]

Lost in thoughts of the previous night, it was no surprise that Battler wasn't paying too much to his surroundings, so even though someone had joined him, he remained of it until they spoke up. "Mm?" He turned towards the speaker-a young girl with some kind of stuffed animal on her back-before grinning

[gald_digger]

The stranger looked kind of preoccupied at first, so Anise wasn't sure how he'd respond, but once he grinned at her, the girl was able to ease into a more natural smile. It looked like she wasn't interrupting anything too serious. In a chapel, there was a chance that she could have bothered someone while they were praying or something, and Anise was pretty sure that would make for a lousy first impression.

The mention of something 'cute' had her blinking in confusion for a moment, wondering which of her many cute features he was interested in, but it soon became apparent that he was looking at the doll on her back. Beaming, Anise pulled it over her head and held it out to show. "This is Tokunaga!" she eagerly told him. "Mama made it for me."

A sort of weird look crossed her face when the older boy introduced himself. What kind of a name was Battler...Oh well. Anise was happy enough to meet someone who properly appreciated Tokunaga's cuteness, so there was no point in letting something like that bother her. "And my name's Anise! Nice

[finalwitch]

From an anomalous familiarity to a familiar anomaly, morning came. Like the days before, she was once again in the drab white hospital room, sheets draped to her chest and a ceiling regarded with apathy. Except now, a suspicion hung closely to her mind, and the young woman found herself rising. Her fingers groped in the dull light, searching for the item she had gained in the final hour of the night before.

Maria's diary. Onee-chan's diary. It was still there, hidden between the folds

[finalwitch]

A voice called her out of her admittedly malignant stupor, and Ange glanced in the direction of its source. The owner proved to be another male, one closer to Rolo's age than her own. Yet another of European descent, though he held that rough countenance she'd seen in most Americans. Still, he appeared relatively decent and hardly threatening. His Japanese also proved impeccable; the way he called out on that fountain was nothing less than what one would expect from a teenage boy in Japan

[anemptydecapo]

The tombstone was completely illegible, its letters too soft or too blurred to be anything other than gibberish. The stone itself had been rocked out of its upright position by some unknown force, keeping the sun from properly displaying its shallow script. They were too shallow to even be deciphered by touch, its cold surface refusing to tell what it was there for. Without the words conveying its meaning, it now meant nothing at all. It was just there; a rock out of place and nothing else

[stringless_doll]

It was bright when Nataku opened his eyes. He'd slept too long again but it had been a quiet, dreamless night. He had never gone so long without a nightmare. He wondered sometimes, when he had too much time to himself, if this place was just a dream of sorts while his body slept in the heavens somewhere between life and death. Maybe it wasn't a good dream, but it was better than what he had left behind. There were friends and second chances here. There were people so much like him

[anemptydecapo]

It was becoming more and more difficult to achieve any sort of meditation here, even in a silenced room like this. The quiet was doing nothing, not when surrounded by other bodies with their own stresses. He should have opted to stay in his room this morning, if only to be alone and refocus his scattered thoughts.

Last night had been torturous enough, but placed on top of the night before--

...mopping the... what?The assassin dropped his hands and leaned back into the pew, straightening himself in response to the words that had brought him out of his thoughts

[stringless_doll]

Oh, he had eyes. Nataku wondered if all of them were blue.

Most of the greetings he'd received so far had been fairly superficial regardless of what he chose to say. The silence, though relatively brief, was sort of unnerving. He was being watched, and judged. Though the man's expression didn't change - at least, not as far as he could tell through all of that hair - his negativity was almost palatable. He couldn't say there was no reason for it, but getting worked up over a silly thing like that? Come on.

"I didn't...think that far ahead." Nataku admitted, somewhat sheepish. "I was sort of hoping you'd fallen asleep. But since you're just sulking, can I stick around here? I don't really have anywhere else to go."

[mitase]

Hanatarou woke with a sense of lingering chagrin, remembering just how easily Tsukasa had opened the door that defied his attempts to do it. And Senna had seemed like she really wanted out of the room, too, so that was a particularly bad time for him to display just how very useless he really was. He sighed, absently ruffling his hair. Hopefully she was okay; he didn't want her to be upset

[deadlyjuliet]

Back here then. Grell had thrown a fit enough to ruin his day in his room, but when the nurses came, all they'd found was a few displaced pillows and blankets and little Geoffrey sitting despondent on the edge of his bed. Underneath it all, Grell raged and wanted to twist their necks, take off limbs and decorate the room with their entrails, but on the surface, he smiled nervously at the nurse and said he'd had a particularly bad nightmare.

When given the choice, the death god obviously chose the Chapel. What better place was there to go after having been home than the one place he felt closest to it? Perhaps God was not here, or perhaps he was simply overlooking this place for some reason that fit into His Great Plan or whatever, but Grell still found himself drawn there in the hope that He would be listening. God would not forsake them all, right

[mitase]

It was relatively peaceful for a while, with only the quiet hum of other peoples' conversations in the air and nobody sitting nearby. Hanatarou pushed away the lingering worries from the night before-- Senna wasn't in the room that he'd seen, so he could check up on her later, and none of the rest of it could be dealt with right now either. He could just sit and enjoy the quiet for a moment and maybe get some rest.

He was actually on the verge of dozing off, despite the somewhat awkward position he was in, when he suddenly found someone else sitting next to him. And talking to him. And... that voice was kind of familiar, and not in a good way. Or was he imagining things?

Startled, the healer opened his eyes and blinked at the newcomer, then immediately jerked upright out of his slouch. "Er, G-Grell-san. Hello...." He'd managed to avoid the rather... unusual shinigami for a while now, but apparently that had changed. "Is... is what normal?"

[deadlyjuliet]

"Your terrible posture, dearest," he responded jokingly with a shrug before he leaned back and crossed his legs. The little shinigami was so cute, really. So tiny and so easily scared that it made Grell feel oh so terrifying even when he didn't mean it. He was polite, too. Perhaps they taught better manners over in Hanatan's bureau than they did to other branches. And with him, Grell didn't need to pretend or hide who he was or put up any sort of pretense. Everyone likely knew his crimes anyway and it wasn't like it had been so serious in the end. He was looking forward to a very long and nasty probation and punishment, but eventually he'd be allowed to go back to work.

Eventually.

With a smile and a wink, Grell settled in and turned his gaze fully to the god beside him. "You seem a bit upset is all."

And now a bit nervous if the way he jerked upright was any indication. The boy needed to grow a spine. He carved souls out of the living for goodness sake! Perhaps Grell could teach him confidence and flair. Oh, wouldn't