damned_institute | Day 63: Lil' Tyke Toys (noon)

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anise

Day 63: Lil' Tyke Toys (noon)

Upon leaving the Bath and Beauty Shop, Anise quickly found a secluded space for herself and applied a generous layer of the concealer to her hand. It didn’t hide the rash completely, but it faded it to the point that it couldn’t be seen from a distance, and no one would notice it unless they were specifically looking for it. The downside was that the makeup rubbed off on things easily. She fortunately had long sleeves, which meant only a small part of her hand was readily visible, but she was going to have to be careful not to touch anything with that part.

Once that was done and she was reasonably confident that no one could see her affliction, Anise made her way to one of her favorite shops in Doyleton: the toy store. It wasn’t like her tastes were childish or anything! She just appreciated the cute dolls and stuffed animals.

And that was what she went for the moment she stepped inside. Some of the plush animals were ones she recognized, but others were completely different from anything she saw on Auldrant. It still looked like there were no signs of rappigs or cheagles. From a bin, she picked up the stuffed bear she’d looked at the last time she visited – a ‘panda,’ Honey had called it. He’d disappeared since then… and now Anise had to wonder if it wouldn’t be long until something happened to her, too.

It already had, even. What could she do? Some people were talking about ‘beating’ the infection, but was that really possible? Chances were that the Head Doctor was going to keep any real hope just outside their reach. Maybe the best thing she could do was prepare herself for the worst-case scenario… but just imagining that was so terrifying, she couldn’t move. For the time being, she merely stood still with the doll held close, hoping to get some comfort from it.

[For Badd! I hope this location’s okay?]

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He really needed a lollipop. Badd wasn't sure if he'd made things with Byrne better or worse, but it was better than letting the issue fester. Once he'd extricated himself from the conversation he made a beeline for the toy store, wary of Niikuras waiting to stalk him and vaguely accuse him of hanging around a candy counter for unsavory purposes.

Nothing wrong with a grown adult having a sweet tooth. It was better than a cigarette habit.

When Badd entered he initially mistook Anise for a local kid. He wasn't sure he'd seen any Doyleton drones who weren't adults, which in itself was a bit fishy. Walking closer gave Badd a better view of her face and hair, and the craggy scowl cracked into a smile.

"Hey, Anise." He lifted his hand in a slight wave, even as he eyed the candy hungrily. She seemed pretty intent on that doll...hm.

A few minutes passed with Anise standing rigidly, lost in her thoughts. It wasn’t until someone spoke her name that she remembered where she was. The girl’s head snapped upward, then over to see who was addressing her. She loosened her grip on the doll and did her best to hide the worry from her face, but she couldn’t quite hide the surprise at who she saw.

“Mr. Badd!” It wasn’t that it was strange to see him approaching her; it wouldn’t be the first time for that. But the old man looked pretty out of place in a shop full of toys and candy. She glanced around as if to confirm that this was indeed the toy store, then looked back to the man curiously. “Um, what brings you here?”

Badd jerked his head at the candy counter. "Sweet tooth," he admitted, slightly sheepish. "Stocking back up on suckers." He'd gotten a variety last time and the peach flavor seemed the closest to the ones he preferred. The flavor was comforting, a tiny taste of back home.

"What about you?" he asked, gesturing to the doll. "Looking for a new toy?"

A sweet tooth? “Really? You?” Anise never would have guessed it from looking at him. And suckers – those little lollipops? Those were pretty cutesy, even for candy.

When he asked about her own intentions, Anise looked down at the doll in her arms, then returned a sheepish grin. “Well… not exactly. I just like seeing the cute animals they have here. Some of them are totally different from any animals I ever saw back home. Like…” She lifted the panda doll to show more clearly. “Do you have things like this where you’re from?”

Badd chuckled quietly. "Only in zoos. Pandas live in China, we've got...pigeons and squirrels and things." And Gourdy, if you believed that nonsense. "So no pandas where you come from either?"

The clerk still hadn't come back, which bothered Badd. A kid shouldn't just go walking around unattended in a place like this. At least during the day she had a chance to stop, enjoy the silly animals, all that sort of thing...but he didn't trust this place not to pull a fast one.

Anise shook her head. "Nope. I'd never heard of them before coming here." And considering how she'd traveled all over the world, she could be reasonably sure that they didn't exist on Auldrant.

She paused, looking down at the bear while her mind wandered elsewhere. It was hard to set aside her worries about her illness. Anise didn't want anyone to know she was sick, but she wanted to at least find out what other people made of the situation. Maybe it would help her figure out what she should do.

"Hey, um..." she began cautiously, glancing up from the doll. "What do you think of all that creepy stuff the Head Doctor's been saying lately?"

Badd sighed. Kid her age...but no, no point in dwelling on that. She was dealing with it now and that would need to be confronted. "Couple of possibilities," he said, sticking one finger out and tapping it. "One is that he's telling the truth. That's not the option I want to think about but I'm keeping an eye on the matter anyway. I've seen a few people being ill or getting rashes." He wasn't sick, and Byrne hadn't said anything about it, and beyond that everyone was fair game.

He flipped out another finger and tapped the pair. "Second option, however, is that this is just another experiment." Even if she wasn't from another planet/time/whatever, she was probably too young to have heard of the Twilight Zone. Badd couldn't remember the name of the episode but he distinctly recalled an episode where an entire town had become convinced that one of their number was an alien monster. They'd gotten paranoid and turned on each other and the entire thing had ended in a bloody riot. The obligatory Twilight Zone twist was that none of them were monsters and the entire thing was a demonstration by the real aliens in how easy it was to get humans riled up.

"It'd be just like Landel to want to make us all paranoid. Psych experiment or maybe just a way of controlling everyone. We start suspecting each other of being potential monsters and then nobody trusts anyone. We spend all our time being terrified that our friends are going to grow fangs and try to eat us, and so we can't get anything done. And knowing Landel I'd cast even odds on either option."

Stay wary, but acknowledge your sources could be false. That was the way of the detective.

It took a lot of willpower for Anise to keep herself from hiding her hand when Badd mentioned the rashes. Moving to hide it would be suspicious. She had to trust that she'd already concealed it enough.

The second possibility he raised, however, brought a surprised look to her face. "You think he could be lying?" Of course he could be lying, but Anise figured the Head Doctor was usually truthful when it came to things that would harm them. But then again, he did seem intent on scaring the patients into turning on each other...

Anise wanted to believe that she could be okay. She really, really wanted to believe it.

"But... even if we're not scared of our friends, it's hard to just stay calm and see what happens. I mean, if they turn into monsters... it'd be like they died." She chose her words carefully so it'd sound like she was talking about her friends, rather than herself. Though without knowing who all was infected, Anise knew that some of her friends could also be in danger.

"I was with a guy last week who turned into a monster," Badd said, trying to raise her spirits. "He was fine in the morning and seemed to know what was going on."

He leaned against the counter, twisting a lollipop stick in his fingers. "But...I don't know what the rules are here," he admitted. "None of this is possible where I come from. I could tell you anything you want to know about crime scene analysis but monsters, that's a blank area for me."

That was the scariest part. He had to rely on flawed witness testimony and easily-manipulated senses and it terrified Badd to find himself unable to rely on the tools that had solved so many cases. He was a novice again, at the whims of a world he didn't understand.

Anise set the plush doll back with the others, and moved closer to Badd and the counter. "I... kind of have some experience with it. Monsters... and people turning into them, I mean," she explained in a quiet voice, not wanting any staff to overhear. Badd was probably looking on the bright side for her sake, but if there were things he didn't know, it was probably best to share her experiences - even if it was all bad news.

"One of them lost his mind and went crazy... and the others attacked people and got killed in self-defense." Her gaze was at the floor now. She tried not to remember those transformations too vividly, but the images stuck in her mind. Was she going to end up like Mohs? Maybe Anise deserved it as much as he did, but it was a fate so horrible she wouldn't even wish it on the person she hated most.

Badd opened his mouth to ask the details, but the clerk was there. And probably wanting to keep an eye on the old man lurking around the little girl.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I want sixteen of the peach lollipops." He pointed to the relevant ones, turning around to the counter.

"Will that be all?"

Badd hesitated. "Not quite." He reached over and took the little doll Anise had been holding, then set it on the counter with the lollipops. "This too."

Anise lifted her chin a little, glancing at the clerk when he spoke up. They’d been loitering for a while, so it wasn’t a surprise that they were being approached. The timing sucked, though. Anise tried to force some of the gloom out of her expression, straightening her posture as she did.

Badd was quick to reply, requesting a bunch of lollipops and…

Anise’s eyes widened when she saw what he was reaching for. “W-wait, you…” He was going to buy it for her? For a moment, she couldn’t think of what to say. She was used to people doing nice things for her after she worked her cute act a bit, but she hadn’t been trying at all! “… You really mean it?”

What else was he going to buy, ammunition? A new coat?

"You looked attached to it," he said lightly as he handed over his card to the clerk. He didn't display a smile, though his tone was soft.

The real answer was that she didn't need to work the cute act, she just had to exist. And exist in the same general age range as the little girl who'd plucked his heart from his chest with her raven's claws. Badd didn't fool himself into thinking he wasn't using Anise as an emotional proxy for Kay, but felt no harm could come from it. She needed someone to be nice to her right now.

Anise watched the clerk ring the purchase through. When it was finished, she picked up the doll and hugged it close to her chest. "Thank you!" she said, putting on the brightest smile she could manage. Being gloomy really didn't suit her, even if she had a good reason to be down in the dumps. Anise was going to have to try and keep her chin up - at least where others could see her.

"I knew you were a nice guy after all," she added in a slightly playful tone. It was hard to read Badd's feelings just from his face, but the guy was totally transparent despite that. Anise could tell he was a big softie.

She was hitting his buttons perfectly and probably didn't even know it. Badd succumbed to temptation and smiled very, very slightly in a way equivalent to a full beam on anyone else. "I have my moments," he said, acting as if he was admitting something something.

He really wanted to ruffle her hair right now. But unrequested it would be weird and requesting would be even weirder.

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Day 63: Lil' Tyke Toys (noon)

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