TP5: Kippei and Shinji

[shattermelt]

Kippei spent a couple of long days checking on all the evacuees who might be his responsibility, attempting to determine that all of them had in fact, gotten out, and stubbornly refusing to allow himself to check on the whereabouts of Ibu Shinji until every other Fudomine resident who might have been affected by the order had been accounted for.

When he finally allowed himself to look, he realized that he really had no idea where Shinji might be found, whether he had been involved in trying to fix the problem or possibly been hurt when the breach itself had been discovered. Kippei had no idea, though he suspected that even if Shinji had been hurt he would still be in there helping to fix it or clean up or whatever else needed doing.

All that area was quarantined, however, and even ambassadors were not being allowed inside. At this point, Kippei did not care--after finding that no one he asked knew where Shinji was or how he was or had a contact number for him, and having ascertained that he was at least, not in medlab, Kippei reminded himself that Sada would need to know exactly what happened to her brother--never mind what he himself wanted, since that, he felt, was irrelevant.

Only mechanics and engineers and station security were being allowed into Grey and Brown sectors at the moment, which meant only their clearances were working on the access points. Kippei found a low-ranking member of security who probably would not be missed too soon, knocked him out from behind and searched his pockets. Unethical, illegal, and possibly stupid, but oh well. He wrapped a hooded cloak around himself in vague disguise, and headed into Grey to look for Shinji.

Comments

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji half sat half collapsed on a bench seat in outside one of the small quarantine rooms. He had been in and out of that room more times than he ever wanted to, and he was still clean, but he as also filthy. Covered in grime and burns that were mostly superficial, sweaty and feeling oddly like liquid. It was hot as hell and a total mess, but they had contained it, thanks to the hellishly good teamwork of the head engineers. Shinji thought they were more than a bit odd, but he was never again letting one bad rumour circle about either of them, his admiration close to adoration.

There would be shifts for seventy two hours to finish clean up and continue observations, but the reactor was fixed, probably better than before. Shinji had a reprieve for twelve hours, but nowhere to go for it that wasn't contaminated as hell and he really didnt feel like bunking down with every second person from the downbelow in the middle of a garden. That was just a little more surreal than he could handle. That, and he really wanted a proper bed...and a shower. Oh god, water. And food! Sighing heavily, Shinji leant back against the warm wall and wished for a fucking miracle.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei had long ago discovered that if you just walked in like you had a right to be there and knew where you were going, nine times out of ten you could get away with it. So he didn't bother trying to avoid anyone, simply kept walking toward where most of the activity seemed to be, then stopping what looked to be a junior mechanic and asking him if he'd seen Ibu Shinji.

The kid looked tired as hell, probably too tired to wonder who he was or what he was doing here, and simply muttered something about quarantine rooms and gestured vaguely back in the direction he'd come. Kippei guessed his shift was finally over and he just wanted to go eat and rest and whatever.

He was rather impressed with the amount of work that appeared to be getting done--men were busy everywhere he looked, almost, though the sense of hustle was tinged with fatigue, and no wonder. It was quite the mess they were cleaning up. It was easy enough to stay unnoticed in the busyness, and he found a semi-official decon area that he assumed was the place the kid had been talking about. Now to find Shinji... he stepped in a looked around, narrowing his eyes against the heat and lingering acridness in the air.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

The door opened and Shinji looked up and thought maybe he was seeing things, because what he was seeing was an apparently illegal blind man, squinting through the heat. When he asked for a miracle he meant of the omg, great kind, not the fuck me its doomsday kind. Blinking back the heat, and realising he was not, in fact, hallucinating, Shinji looked back at the floor and figured whatever the hell Tachibana Kippei was doing here, he could just walk on by. Hopefully he wouldnt even notice him.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei's eyes quickly skimmed over most of occupants of the room, having no interest whatsoever in anyone that was not who he was looking for. His gaze came unerringly to rest on the slender figure slumped against one wall, and he strode over without a second thought--without, in fact, even thinking what he was going to say, considering that Shinji likely was not going to be pleased to see him. Not that Kippei had wanted to come chase him down in the first place; it was for his sister's sake, he told himself, and he almost believed it.

Whatever he might have said in the way of explanation got discarded instantly in any case, as he noted the other man's exhaustion and general state of disarray. "I knew you were going to do that," he said flatly, not without some grudging admiration, but mostly annoyed without exactly knowing why. "You look like you need a medic but you've been down here working your arse off the whole time, haven't you?" He eyed the burns and some other minor injuries and shook his head. Nothing he couldn't probably treat himself with a standard medkit, but Ibu obviously hadn't even taken the time to do that.

"Are you done here?" Presumably he was ending his shift like many of the others Kippei had passed on his way here, heading for Green and the gardens and grumbling tiredly about the makeshift accommodations. He didn't bother waiting for an answer, gesturing impatiently for Shinji to follow him. "You're coming with me."