Hirashi Garden Lab. [Prvt]

The lab was dim as always besides the soft green the old and forsaken tubes shed in the lab pathway. The soft sounds of Moerus sandles against the ground as he made his way deeper into the lab. As he got the stair well that led downstairs, he removed his top layer of clothing as he placed it on a coat rack, the black undergarments that were tight on his body all he was wearing. The outfit resembled something along the lines of a proper Kidou corps members uniform. He smiled to himself as he sang a soft song. “Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's” he smiled and moved down the stairs as he collected his tools along the way. The clean silver tools glistened in the green light as he walked down the steps “You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin's. When will you pay me? Say the bells of Old Bailey. When I grow rich, Say the bells of Shoreditch. When will that be? Say the bells of Stepney. I do not know, Says the great bell of Bow.”

The massive doors opened as the blinding bright white light filled the stair well. In the center of the bare room was a raised table. On the table was the body of a recently deceased member of the gotei. He had requisitioned his body for study. “Here comes a candle to light you to bed,” he said softly as he pulled the covering from the body, revealing the remains of the man who had died from a hollow attack, but had not been devoured. “Ill leave the last lines of the song out…. Would be a bit disrespectful to the dead I hope you understand.” He smiled softly and touched the mans head. “You know, I feel a lot more comfortable in this stark place. Theres no eyes to watch…or judge.” His smile slowly turned slightly malicious as he picked up his scalpel. “Now then… Lets learn what secrets you held… And how it can help the Gotei.”

Were she anyone else, Mana might be of the opinion that she needed to get out more. Frankly, the idea puzzled her. What was so great about the outdoors? It wasn't as if she was uncomfortable with it as such, agoraphobia not being one of her issues...just a lack of understanding of the point. She played a part in maintaining the greatest archive of knowledge in existence, a hallowed place where secrets that burned worlds sat quietly on the shelves. That seemed more interesting and important than, say, sunbathing. But at the same time, it HAD been weeks since she'd been able to get away to do anything related to her other duties with the kidoushu. That sort of negligence was almost criminal in her eyes. Not that she thought she'd wasted any time, but it was frustrating only being able to be in one place at a time, some days.

So. She'd made a list of things to do around the corpse. At the end of that list, appended while she was going about her day, was an impromptu request for tea with Moeru. Though technically speaking colleagues they'd barely shared three words to one another, so it was a bit of a surprise when she'd received the invitation. Tea...actually sounded rather nice. She enjoyed it when she had time, which was to say "not very much", as of late. And making connections was something she needed to do more of anyway. It was perhaps a bit sad that she needed to convince herself of the value of doing so, but at least she was doing it at all.

The directions she'd received were detailed, although it was still a touch...odd. "Secret Underground Lab" didn't exactly scream trustworthy, but at least it was mentioned ahead of time. Walking down the cool stairs, she found herself faced with something out of a science fiction novel, which made her stop a moment. Ominous green light, tubes of strange fluids, someone she barely knew...This had all the makings of an uncomfortable scenario, to say the least. Still, her curiosity was piqued. Obviously, Moeru must know how this looked, and yet she'd been invited regardless. That was atypical, to say the least, and warranted investigation. And perhaps a backup team, she thought to herself a bit ruefully.

Making her way to her host's room, she raised an eyebrow (made all the more obvious with the shortened kidoushu veil blocking most of her face) at the sight of a stitched corpse sharing the table. Interesting choice in decor, I must say. Are we going to get to the tea before or during your rant about how you're going to 'show them all'? Normally, Mana wouldn't have jumped straight to sarcasm, but this whole situation was surreal. Best to go with the flow.

Punctuality is a virtue to be aspired to. Mana noted calmly, though an over-eagerness might throw off the plans of one's host. Ah well, still better than the alternative. She took a second glance around when he mentioned the relative self-sufficiency of the facility. As is preparedness. But you implied that this place wasn't originally your own. Was it inherited, or claimed? She sat gracefully, trying to make small talk as she did so. It took a concentrated effort, but came out smoother than she might have expected. Somewhere, deep in her mind, she could feel more than hear her avatar chuckling at her, making a big deal about having tea. Mana managed a mental sniff at the attitude. Putting aside the fact that, at least in Japan, a proper tea ceremony (which this wasn't, but still) was a complex, easy-to-screw-up and fairly big deal, Higi herself had never even spoken to another person, much less had to make small talk.

Still, the fact remained that Mana was a bit out of her element; the the Great Spirit Archives wasn't the sort of place one looked up "How to Make Friends and Influence People". Not knowing her host very well made conversation topics limited. At the very least, as the tea was served, it would serve as something to cover up the silence. Drinks were good at that, she found.