Her room is completely barren (decorating takes time and effort. Slowly does it!), but perhaps it's fine the way it is.

Tzei flops onto the bed, closing her eyes and enjoying the fact that no one currently wants to violently murder her for triad betrayal. It's a good feeling. In the corner of the empty room, her yet-unopened suitcase lies forgotten.

"No need to burn this one ♩"

-----

Hika had gone down into the basement, because she was curious what was down there, and maybe even who. She had worked her way to the end of the halls, and was turning to go back when she head a sing-song voice nearby. She tilted her head, and moved towards where she had heard the voice come from.

Who was burning things and why did they need to, or not, as the case might be?

She saw an open door, and peered inside, cautiously. "Ah... Hello?" She said, her tone a touch formal, and a touch cautious.

-----

"Huhhh?"

Did she leave the door open? This place is far too relaxing. She kicks her legs in a rather lackluster show of effort, still looking up at the ceiling.

"Hello! Who's that? Come in. Come relax. Come sit over here. Are you a colleague? A shadow? Something else? It's fine either way ❤"

-----

Hika's brows rose and she moved into the room with care, her lips curved into a cautious smile. "I believe I am a colleague, unless things have changed in the last few minutes." She moved closer to the other woman, studying her with veiled curiousity.

She took in the other woman's features, and then said "I am Hikaru... But please feel free to call me Hika." She chose to keep her last name to herself for now, because what one does not say need never be unsaid, after all. "I am a newly awoken trainee here."

-----

She squints at her new colleague and belatedly remembers to smile. Smiling without coming off like a sociopath doesn't come easily, but she tries.

"I just woke up too. Congratulations on not dying! But maybe we'll be dead soon anyway? Ahah. Just a joke."

Her sense of humor leaves much to be desired. She rolls over (the better to see you, my dear) and flaps a hand.

"Ahh... I'm Tzei. C'mon, come closer. So, Hikari. Hika. Hi-chan. Why did you join?"

-----

Hika blinked at Hi-chan, but chose not to argue. The other woman was clearly a touch strange, given everything Hika had heard so far. "I do hope not to be dead soon. I have far too much living left in me." She brushed her hair back, eyes half closed for a moment, considering the whole strange situation they were in. "But yes, congratulation on waking as well. Hopefully the transition will be fairly simple."

She stopped moving once she reached the end of the bed, and tilted her head at the potentially invasive question. There was a lot of details in the answer to that, and Hika was not sure how much she currently felt safe revealing to a complete stranger. Finally she said "Everything I had been working towards was becoming hell, and I had a choice of going home to Japan" the word home was said in a way that made it clear that Hika neither thought of it as home, nor wanted to go there. "Or choosing to let life go entirely, as far as I could tell. This came close enough to the second option while giving me the chance at a new life."

-----

"Ohhhh?"

Tzei cranes her head at an uncomfortably odd angle to look over at her guest.

"I get it, I get it. I'm here for a free extra life too. I mean, if it doesn't work out, I can always try for a painless death. I'm not picky."

She rolls around, rearranging her somewhat ill-fitting skirt so it's not bunching up over her knees. That's what she gets for wearing her old school uniform for, like, seven years after graduation. Across from her, her guest looks much more put together. So easy on the eyes.

"Soooo. How's that transition going so far?"

-----

"Indeed. Painless death is certainly preferrable, if I'm going to go, to the alternative of pain." Hika sighed, and said "Wasn't sure I could find painless, with ease, though. This is far more... preferable, in the end, to that option." She did not wish to discuss the whys of why she had been considering the dark option. "Instead, I get to find out what sort of science this place gets up to..."

The comment about the transition had her blinking, for a moment, potentially regreting choosing that word, because of it's multitude of associations for herself, but since she had said it... twas her own fault. "Simply enough. I have not met many people, nore had much to do, as yet, so it's a question that perhaps I will be better able to answer in a few weeks' time. And you?"

-----

"So you're one of the smart ones."

Suddenly, they seem even easier on the eyes than before. Her smile widens, and she finally sits up properly.

"If you find out anything useful, tell me about it, okay? Of course, I'll help you out if you need anything. Brothers in arms, right :hearts: ?"

She pats the bed.

"It's peaceful. It's soooo peaceful. Which is just fine. We get paid whether we fight or not ♫ but a-ny-way..."

Rolling off the bed, she finally goes to open her luggage. Digging through it, she pulls out a porcelain tea set, tea leaves, and...a portable steel stove.

"Want some tea :hearts: ?"

-----

"I would like to believe I am one of the smart ones, yes." She smiled a little. "Or at least intellgent, though they're not the same thing. When Tzei pats the bed, she settled onto a corner of it, comfortably perched, her legs carefully crossed for maximum comfort.

The request was an interesting one, though, and Hika considered, then smiled and said "So long as it will not cause me harm to share, I believe I can agree to that." The last thing she wanted, after all, was to risk ******** up her new life by telling someone something they were not supposed to know.

"What division did they place you in? I am in life." She reached back and brushed the edges of the Life Division symbol, and smiled a little. "At least my degree in the sciences won't go to waste. Perhaps I can get into more interesting things then the dead end lab job I was in." Dead end... but not for the reason she was implying.

The question of tea had Hika sitting up straight, eyes bright. "Oh! Yes, please, that would be wonderful."

-----

"Oh. Uhhh, it should be deathhhh...Yeah, that sounds right. Straight up brawling isn't for me ♪"

She gestures to the corner of the bed, where her fluffy white coat is pulling double duty as an extra pillow, and turns back to her stove.

"I think I brought some fuel...you never know when you need to start a fire...ah, there we go ♫"

In a few short minutes, the teapot is steaming and the sweet smell of chrysanthemum tea fills the tiny room.

"No electronics (not that I need that), no loved ones (not that I have those), no weekends off (not that I plan to work)...this place sure is a hard sell, ahah. Here, be careful, it's hot :hearts:"

The delicate little teacup is handed over on its equally delicate little tray.

-----

"Death... I think the pamphlet indicated... Espionage and the like, is that correct?" Hika asked, sounding very curious as to that issue. It was not something she would ever get into... Leading a life where she was constantly working to present her true self, despite her body's natural inclinations to be something else, left her not wanting to live a life behind masks.

She watched as her new... friend, perhaps?... made the tea, and she took a full breath, enjoying the smell of the tea, her eyes half closed as she remembered having it at home in San Francisco.

When Tzei spoke again, however, Hika opened her eyes to refocus. "Ah? Yes, I suppose it seems to be, but... I suspect they search out those in a desperate situation, to make it easier to convince us it is a good idea." She accepted the cup, and bowed her head in thanks, then took a slow, careful breath of the steam, indulging in the aroma. "Thank you, I have not had good hot tea in longer then I care to think about." She had never had time, really, between work and her Master's program.

-----

She blows over her cup, trying to sink the floating petals to the bottom. No one likes inhaling those.

"Ohhh? You like tea? It's easy to make if you can grow the right plants. You can make tea, essential oil, seasoning...I used to grow 'em on the roof. Lots of light. I brought seeds."

She also brought a huge plant light, just in case there's a chance it'd work, but no luck so far. But what was the other girl saying? Something about work?

"Ahaha! They said something like that. Sneaking around, gathering intel... They really were scraping the bottom of the barrel when they hired me. You look like you had a future though, huh? So pretty. So smart. What happened with you?"

-----

"I love tea. My mother raised me to enjoy teas from an early age." She closed her eyes, a moment of pain crossing her face at the mention of her mother, then she mentally sat on the thoughts that were triggered.

"I wonder how well teas would grow here, on this island, with all the strangeness they've indicated is here." Hika's voice sounded fascinated, as she focused on that instead. "It certainly has a lot of light here, but... Who knows? Maybe it would grow well." She really had no idea, because gardening was not something she'd ever had much time for.

She blinked at the self deprecating way Tzei spoke about herself. "I am sure you have skills that they are looking for. I am sure we all do." The question, though, once again brought a spasm of pain. "My parents had disowned me for... Choosing to be who I am. I went into the workforce, and discovered discrimination for what I am, in multiple ways, and sexual harrassment, too. I could choose to continue to work there, and be silent, or speak up and be fired... Or quit. I could not take the stress anymore, and was prepared to make one of two equally unpleasant choices, and then they came to me. This place was... a more palatable choice."

-----

"Someone once told me tea tastes like cat piss. I can never forget it, but I drink it anyway. Hah! Maybe Shadow teas will taste better."

She downs said tea and pours herself another cup.

"Huhhh. So you don't have parents anymore. You don't need 'em anyway ♪"

People who don't appreciate the wonders of the many enjoyable facets of human sexuality. She can't understand it. She pats her colleague's hand reassuringly.

"Just grab a finger and bend it back suuuuuper far. Ta-dah! No more harassment. Unless you're into that kind of thing ♫"

She's talked an awful lot, and her bed looks horribly comfortable. Finishing her tea, she crawls back onto the soft, soft mattress.

"I'm gonna sleep. You can stay or you can go. Door's always open, Hi-chan ❤"

And with that, she's out like a light.