damned_institute | Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

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Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

Despite the rough start and the heavier snowfall, the buses managed to stay on route and on schedule. With minutes to spare, they arrived at the gates of Landel's Institute, back to the waiting arms of the military. All pretenses seemed to drop at this point, and the soldiers again took on their patented gruff exteriors. Patients were filed out of the buses in an orderly manner, eventually being escorted to their rooms for dinner in much the same. There, as promised by the personnel, well-behaved patients found their purchases among their returned possessions. A few even found new faces, though whether they brought as much joy as bought goods remained unseen.

The woman manning the intercom seemed to have missed the notice about the day's trip as her announcement remained no different from the usual. "Attention all subjects and personnel," she said. "Lights Out will commence within the hour."

A pause.

"I repeat, Lights Out will commence within the hour. All personnel: please report to your stations. The General will begin his address once preparations are underway. Thank you."

The intercom clicked off.

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Brainiac 5 stopped as he opened the door to his room just in time to see Peter slam the drawer shut in his desk as though he were particularly upset about something, and a flutter of uncertainty started in his stomach. When they'd spoken earlier that day, Peter had seemed happy enough. Aside from the initial problem that they'd first discussed, his friend had been relaxed and happy to spend time with him. He wondered what had changed that.

Well, he wouldn't find it out by standing here staring at Peter's back. Closing the door quietly behind him, Brainiac 5 slipped into the room and set his tray down on his desk, a concerned expression fixed on his roommate.

"Peter? Is something wrong? I thought today was better than before, and I... enjoyed our lunch as well, but if something happened, I'd like to hear about it."

Peter would and had done the same for him, after all, and the Coluan found that, unlike some others here where the objective would have been to search for more data on this place or potential topics of interest, he was more concerned with doing what he could to help his friend.

The click of a door spared him from another moment of sour brooding. Brainy had finally come in from the buses. He spun in his seat to offer a smile, ready and willing to brush all thoughts of Senna aside; a futile effort, from the looks of things, because Brainy had already spotted the grey cloud hovering over his head.

The smile dropped a fraction and Peter's stomach cringed with a flicker of guilt. Brainy had a powerful set of puppy eyes when he needed them, but when even the slightest frown on Peter's part could draw them out in full force, he found himself becoming a permanent resident of Guiltsville. "Hey, no, it's not that." Peter shook his head and rubbed at the short hairs at the nape of his neck. "I just heard today that somebody I know might have been released. I don't know."

The hair draping into his eyes was peevishly blown away as he shook his head a second time. This was getting ridiculous. Moreso than usual. Peter faced his roommate again with a tight grimace, part apology, part disgust. "Man, this is getting so old. I don't mean to sit here and be such a bummer all the time. Honest."

He blinked, surprised by the apology, and shook his head immediately. "It's not your fault, Peter. You have ever reason to be worried about... other people you know disappearing. You wouldn't expect me to apologise if I were equally affected by the same."

A little more understanding of Peter's mood now, Brainiac 5 sat down at his desk, pulling the bowl of gruel towards him and eyeing it dubiously. He'd eaten a little today already, but he knew it hasn't been as much as he really should have and this... substance was going to be the staple for the next few days as well. He would have to get used to it sooner or later.

He dipped his spoon into it, lifting the implement to his lips and sipping at it while trying not to allow his instinctive dislike to make him reject the substance. He didn't have the room for being picking here.

Swallowing the mouthful with only minor difficulty, he glanced side-long at Peter again. "Did you... want to talk about them?"

"Yeah, I know, but it's just...When was the last time we had a conversation when I didn't dump a bunch of crap on you and spend an hour whining about my life?"

The instant the words left his mouth, Peter's chest took violent revolt to them. He winced and shook his head furiously. "Not that I mean like - this stuff is important, and this girl could be dead for all I know, and it's so sick to just brush that off because you don't want to deal with it, but like..."

Oh, great, and now he was getting another guilt stab for shoving his problems at Brainy. Again. There was no middle ground here. He could either feel terrible about what was happening with Senna or he could feel terrible about being a crappy friend to Brainy. The latter might not sound like as severe a consequence, but frankly, at this point it was. Because this was literally every single night of their's. And it was always Peter's fault.

"Look, can we talk about something else? I just - call me a jerk, but I want a break. Can we take a break, Brainy?"

At first, the Coluan wasn't entirely certain what his roommate was trying to say; Peter seemed to be all over the place with his words, confusing both Brainiac 5 and himself. Finally the other boy stopped, taking a moment to organise his thoughts before managing to say what he really meant.

Brainiac 5 blinked, forcing himself, in turn, to stop before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, which was that Peter didn't whine and certainly didn't dump things on him. He appreciated that they were close enough for Peter to want to share such things with him, instead of keeping them to himself. But... Peter also said he wanted a break, and Brainy wasn't sure if saying that he didn't mind wouldn't just... make things more complicated. If Peter wanted to forget about it for now, then didn't he deserve that much?

He nodded, silently agreeing with the request before smiling wryly. "I didn't think lunch was such a bad conversation either, Peter. So I could just answer with 'earlier today'."

Hoping the smile would convey the intended humour, he continued. "Well... I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about your life back home. What kinds of things did you do for fun?"

Peter snorted at that, a hint of mirth reaching the corners of his mouth. "Okay, yeah. That's one. But you have to admit, we've been the very definition of depressing this past week. Or at least I have."

He spooned up another mouthful of pink goop, feeling very grateful that it didn't taste at all like it looked. But the bland flavour hardly did him any favours when he was looking for distractions. Thankfully, Brainy jumped on that bandwagon with no questions asked.

The topic switch, though perhaps obvious in a Conversation 101 kind of way, caught Peter off guard. Accustomed to theorizing about the Radio Man and discussing nightly plans and what Landel might be up to, Peter had to admit that he had been rather lacking on get-to-know-you material. He knew a lot more about people's opinions on the institute than he did about their own lives. Brainy was an exception there, if only because Peter saw him much more often than anybody else, but there were still quite a lot of blanks to fill in. Though he was more than happy to do the filling first.

"Um. Hah, okay. I can do that." He worked his teeth into his bottom lip. Truth be told, he didn't have much time for lollygagging since picking up the Spider-Man gig and getting a job at the Bugle, but he tried to get out when he could. "I'm not exactly Mr. Popularity, but I do like just hanging out with my friends. Not at parties, but going to the show or to parks. Just talking. I don't have as much time on my hands as I used to, but I really like to read too. Or fiddle around with my dad's old lab equipment. He was a bio-engineer, which is the same field I'm hoping to get into."

A flutter of a grin flashed on his cheeks, but settled into a muted smile. "I'm a huge nerd, basically. If I could have a lab with a mini-fridge and a bathroom in it, I would never leave."

Technically it was hardly Peter's fault when the institute persisted in throwing difficult and often painful situations at them near constantly; Brainiac 5 doubted he was 'the very definition of depressing' in any kind of normal situation. But since he'd successfully steered the conversation onto a topic that was both easier and more interesting to him, he elected to keep that comment to himself.

Instead, he listened with interest as Peter spoke, distracting himself from the taste of the food they were forced to eat and the constant stress of their surroundings by trying to imagine what Peter's life was like back at home. He said he didn't have many friends, which the Coluan could understand. Just as he could identify with the pleasure taken from reading and research.

It sounded like it might have been interesting to visit Peter in his own life, had the option been open to them both. Much like he'd occasionally entertained the idea of taking a time bubble to go and visit Clark in his time period. It seemed like it might be... nice. Relaxing. A chance to talk further without the threat of imminent death.

He returned the smile as Peter finished. "I have the next best thing: my room and my lab were interconnected, to make my work easier and more efficient. It also meant the Legion knew where to find me most of the time, which I suppose they liked."

Peter groaned in envy. "Oh, dude. I would kill for that kind of setup. Really. That would be my house." Except maybe not, because he did like the cozy feel of a living room and a kitchen and a laundry room. But there would be a lab in there, and it would be next to his room. He didn't care what kind of funky chemical smells would seep over into his sheets, it would be worth it.

Though that did open up questions as to why Brainy was afforded such luxuries. "So, your own lab, huh? Do you have a job already then? Or are you just loaded?"

He was aware that Brainy performed as some form of superhero in his world. You didn't hang out with Clark Kent and not put on a cape at some point. The question was, how much of that was extracurricular and how much was work? Plus there was the workings of his very alien planet to factor in, and whether employable ages had changed over the past thousand years or so.

He cracked a smile at the other boy's reaction and shook his head. "Not exactly. The Legion is partially funded by the United Planets, so being a Legionnaire is my job. That, and anything useful I happen to come up with when not involved in missions is generally received well enough by the UP."

Though money was hardly a factor there. So long as he had enough for everything he needed in his laboratory and for any upgrades the Legion might need, Brainiac 5 cared very little about how much money he had available to him. He was far more interested in the possibilities his work uncovered, or, as the case may be, coming up with a way to stop something from destroying the solar system for the third time that cycle.

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Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

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