Day 61: Sun Room [Fourth Shift]

[baniichan]

All things considered, his discussion with Harvey Dent could have gone worse. Even though neither of them had been given much choice in whether to spend the shift together, they'd been able to make the best out of a bad situation by remaining civil to one another. He'd also given Barnaby a better idea of what to expect when he inevitably talked to more patients here.

There were still too many unanswered questions, though, not to mention too many things that set him on edge. Unfortunately, he already realized his nurse wasn't going to be of much assistance. In fact, she seemed more preoccupied with getting him to go to the greenhouse for this shift.

"That's where most of the male patients will be," she explained. "Wouldn't you like to plant some flowers with them?"

And possibly get soil under his nails? Please. Not that he was afraid to get his hands dirty when the situation called for it, but Barnaby had no intention of doing so just to amuse his captors. "No, thank you," he answered with a polite smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. "If it's all right, I'd rather stay in here."

The nurse didn't look too pleased. "But you spent second shift here..."

Barnaby's gaze didn't waver. "Is that not allowed, then?"

"Well, yes, it's allowed, but..." The nurse sighed. "I suppose it wouldn't be a problem if you stayed. Go have a seat. I have to help pass out some letters, but I'll check on you later."

"Thank you." He could only hope that, by "checking on him", she didn't mean bringing someone to sit next to him.

With that, Barnaby settled down on one of the couches, letting out a quiet breath as he leaned back against the cushions. According to the schedule posted to the bulletin board, there were only four activity shifts in a day, followed by dinner, and then presumably lights out. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could be left alone for the rest of the day. After two shifts in a row of talking to perfect strangers, Barnaby was starting to grow tired. With his powers gone, his memories unreliable, and apparently not a single soul who knew him, he felt vulnerable, fragile, and small.

Barnaby hated it.

All he could do now was soak in these few precious moments of quiet so he could better brace himself for whatever happened next. Hands resting at his sides, Barnaby closed his eyes and tried to look like he was napping.

[For Ramona]

Comments

[thesadist]

Instead of getting up, Daemon opted to stay in the Sunroom at shift change, not wanting to face the chilly weather outside, even for the brief trip to the greenhouse. Instead, he stayed settled in his chair, munching thoughtfully on the last of his apples.

His thoughts were occupied with Renji at the moment, a slight frown crossing his lips as his mind wandered to more unpleasant memories and a revenge he'd never gotten to take. Technically it wasn't his revenge to take, but that didn't lessen the desire any.

[Waiting for Renamon]

[diamondstorm]

When the shift changed, Renamon moved briefly to the bulletin board, flipped through the new notes and took note of a few. By the time she was done looking, the patients within the room had shifted, and Byrne was gone. In lack of one associate, Renamon found instead another who had marked himself as intelligent as well. Daemon was one that Renamon would willingly share what Castiel had gave her, and see what he made of it.

She moved across the room, stopping a short distance from the man and bowing her head. "Daemon," she gave in greeting. "Are you free?"

[thesadist]

Daemon glanced up in surprise to hear himself addressed by name, but a smile slipped across his face when he recognized Renamon. "Of course," he answered her with a friendly smile, motioning to the chair Renji had abandoned a short while ago. "Have a seat. Is there anything I can help you with?"

[diamondstorm]

The man's affability was nearly catching, and she smiled slightly in return, slipping into the seat gestured to. "Actually, I was given something by one of my associates," Renamon started. "And I thought you might be interested."

The paper was still folded in her hand after the shift before, and she unfolded it quietly, offering it to Daemon to read. "There's a few points of note," she added in a murmur. "But I'll wait for your impressions."

[thesadist]

Daemon took the note with a curious look, flashing a quick glance at her face before he let his eyes brush over the words. A flare of recognition lit golden eyes as he read the account and he devoured the information with a hungry gaze, reading it through three times before he lifted his gaze to Renamon's once more.

"Do you know who wrote this?" he asked curiously, his mind already committing the words to memory. Although perhaps an actual copy would be better... "And do you mind if I made a copy of this?"

[diamondstorm]

She nodded an acquiesce to his question. "Go ahead." As to the other point, that was even easier. "The associate I mentioned. It's his. And all the details he had on the subject were written down. I questioned him further," she added with a wry look. She actually felt a little bad for pelting Castiel for questions right after.

As for his name, she wasn't in the habit of giving them out. In essence, she didn't distrust Daemon, but it held that she had maintained a rapport with the angel and didn't want to ruin that.

[thesadist]

Daemon nodded, not missing the fact that she hadn't given him a name, but he didn't press her. "I met the female patient there that night, the one your associate mentions briefly," he pointed out, drawing out his journal and a pencil as he quickly scribbled a copy of the note on a blank page in his journal, his handwriting precise and neat and holding the faintest hint of a flourish.

"I'd missed the fact that the woman had been Jill. That's interesting," he mused, looking thoughtful. He wondered what that meant, if anything. The tie-in with the voices on the radio were still sketchy at best. He knew Renji didn't trust them, but while the hints were usually vague, Daemon had found them helpful a time or two. He wasn't willing to write them off as untrustworthy just yet.

[diamondstorm]

Renamon blinked up at him when he said he had come across Lydia, but waited until he finished speaking. "It seems she's had a few identities. Jill, the head nurse for longer than I've been here, and now her supposed actual self." Which could change in a moment's notice, depending. Even if Jill and the head nurse were the people she had been under Landel's control, there was no guarantee that her current self was any more genuine. Or even, under her own control.

"But you said you met her? Lydia?" That night. Meaning that they had literally been running about that night that things shifted. "Can you tell me your impressions or what happened?"

[thesadist]

"I can tell you what I know," Daemon nodded in agreement, going back to copying down the last few paragraphs of the note as he explained.

"I'd met Harrington the night before, found him in the chapel, thought I'd take advantage of the night when they placed one of their own somewhere reachable. He's... an interesting man. I think, if situations were otherwise, I might have liked him." Did, secretly, but that like did not extend if they ended up pitted against one another in the future. He had his loyalties.

"He was actually somewhat helpful, answered a few questions. Hinted that if this place was to be taken down that it was Landel that needed destroyed. Not Aguilar. Not a figurehead or a stand-in. Landel is the real power here. He also hinted that our captors are not normal, not as normal as they try to shove at us during daylight. Harrington could call fire, I saw him do it." He suspected that might be a grudge Chipp held for a while and he couldn't blame the man. "He also hinted that Landel possessed some sort of ability as well. It's what made him the power he was, but he didn't give me enough information to speculate on that."

Daemon finished copying the note, gave it one last glance-over before folding it up and handing it back to Renamon with a grateful smile. "Thanks," he added before continuing. "The following night was the one your note mentions here. A friend of mine had just shown back up. We'd been here together the first time around, then both missed several weeks before waking up within a few days of each other. Our powers were back, though, which was a change. I was still trying to find a way upstairs, a way onto the third floor, because as far as I know, no one's been there yet. And the night our powers returned seemed as good a night as any to try it. We were aiming for the roof and had gotten most of the way there when we got stalled on one of the outdoor patios. Bats, swarms of them. We'd paused to get rid of them when Harrington and a woman rushed out."

"I stepped in to intercept them," Daemon admitted, leaning forward and steepling his fingers under his chin. "Neither my companion or I knew what was going on and bumping into one of the General's men two nights in a row seemed suspicious. I asked him if he'd found his mole - the reason he'd been in the chapel the night before. The woman was the one that answered me. She said that Harrington had been the mole on the inside, that he'd infiltrated Aguilar's ranks. She didn't explain why, but after this note, I suspect he came in for her, and that perhaps she'd been a mole for a lot longer than we're even aware of, although it doesn't say when Landel compromised her."

"They did say they were getting out to rejoin the rebels, wherever that may be. They said there were people on the outside working to put an end to this place. Which, I suppose, is better hope than none," he admitted, lifting one shoulder in a slight shrug. "We got interrupted by more bats and they were in a hurry to be off. Since our powers were back and they seemed mostly normal, my companion and I helped them down from the patio to the ground and kept the hungry things busy until they scaled the wall and vanished. That's the last I saw of them."

[diamondstorm]

Daemon's information corresponded with a bit of hers. She absorbed his story, taking it in, and then nodded her understanding. "I might have a little to add on that," she started. "From my understanding--which is mainly generalizations--it seems that Lydia might have been turned into the head nurse, from Doyle's reaction when she was first introduced and the commentary from a few other patients. So you're likely right. She was probably taken in a bit before I came here." Which was to say; "Probably around five weeks before now, give or take."

That spoke on Lydia, though there were two other points of reference. "I actually met with Marc, once. The new man on the radio. He made reference to Landel's powers, and that he could do much that no human could. That his abilities weren't defined but that there were many. However, Marc seemed to be under a geis that hindered any talk about Landel. I couldn't get any details from him."

Though that gave the final point to be raised. Her eyebrows raised but slightly. "'Rebels?'" That there was an actual group supposedly, somewhere.... "Do you know if Marc is part of them? Or any details about that organization?" Why were they fighting this, if it was for the good of their world? It was possible that, like she said to Byrne, the destruction of their homeworld was an exaggerated front. Information against that would be wanted.