damned_institute | Day 57: Sun Room

It figured that night would end before Rita and Taura could progress any further. Rita wasn't particularly disappointed to wake up abruptly, as they had reached a dead end. Really, the institute was doing them a favor by bringing them back to the starting point, where they could regroup.

What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time, and the fact that her equipment had been confiscated once again. Rita didn't have time to mess around... which was precisely why the cheery voice broadcast over the intercom only served to grate on her nerves more than usual. In fact... how was the Head Doctor even giving that announcement? She doubted he'd managed to take the institute back in such a short amount of time, though the broadcast itself was suspicious for a number of reasons. Even though she could clearly hear the man's voice, it didn't necessarily mean that he was there. She had to look at things critically.

Still, it seemed almost as if everything had returned to normal... with a few exceptions. The different staff was one, and her lack of possessions was another. It didn't seem like the staff was expecting to fool the patients into thinking this was the same old institute, so why...?

Even as she went about preparing for the day and walking to her first destination, Rita kept her most pressing questions in mind, coming up with multiple hypotheses to explain what was happening. Since she didn't expect that the Chapel would hold anything of interest to her, Rita opted for the Sun Room instead. She was interested in seeing the bulletin board, for one.

When she entered the Sun Room, Rita brought a pen and her journal with her. If no one approached her, she would at least have a chance to document her discoveries from the previous night. First, however, she checked the bulletin board, only to find it completely empty. That confirmed a few suspicions of hers. Content to see evidence supporting her ideas about the strange occurrences, Rita sat down on a couch, opened her journal, and began to write.

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And... No. Being deposited in a large room with numerous others was nothing close to gaining answers. Mikado stood there for a moment, dumbstruck, as the man who had escorted him just left. The attempt to follow him out the door was stopped by another man, who shooed the boy towards the center of the room. Uh. He. Had no idea what was going on now. A holding area? If it was a holding area, what was it for? And why were everyone dressed the same? It was as if--

He looked down belatedly. "Ahh!" He pulled the shirt out from his chest, staring at it. Okay, he was dressed the same. Obviously, this meant something that he couldn't discern. The men who escorted him and stopped him were dressed differently, and weren't... All that willing to answer questions. He'd do better focusing on someone dressed like himself, maybe?

What was going on?

Nearby there was a boy that looked around Mikado's age, maybe a little younger. Mikado approached hesitantly, stopping a few feet away. "Ah... Hello," he greeted, smiling nervously, the expression soon deteriorating back into pure nerves. "Do you know what's going on here?"

Hope jerked his head toward the sound, still a bit jumpy from... well, the last few days, really. Everything the last few days.

He hadn't expected to see someone else closer to his age, though, despite all the things he had prepared himself for mentally (and it was a lot of strange things in his head, from a sudden Behemoth attack to fairies of all things. Because with his luck lately (and it was bad), it could happen).

"Ahh-- hello?" He responded tentatively, hands going to grip at the hem of his shirt, unused to not being able to just tug on his gloves when he was nervous. Another patient? It looked like it, from the way they were both dressed, if patient was even the right word. But people had said hospital, even if it wasn't like anything he had ever seen before. Not to mention the staff here were crazy, always trying to call him by a different name.

Was that a trick question, though? Hope wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that... although it wasn't as if he knew an answer, anyway. Instead, he opted to shake his head, looking more at the ground than anything else.

"I just got here... yesterday?" The night before? That was if that hadn't been some grand delusion... "I-- don't really know."

And Mikado supposed that was a long shot. The other had got here before Mikado had, but not by much. So people were being gathered. Was it possible there had been a nation-wide emergency, and people were rounded up for their own safety? His hand slid to his chin in thought. A possibility. He wished he saw someone he knew here.

Mikado moved to the chair across from the other boy, and dropped into it, eyes looking around the room nervously. No. None here were familiar. How would he ever get an explanation at this rate? Mikado glanced back at the other, moving a hand in concern. "Oh, no, that's okay. I guess we're in the same situation then."

A frown. A situation that was offering no information on itself. Shouldn't the people in charge at least be letting them know what was going on? "I'm Ryuugamine Mikado." Maybe an introduction would help the other boy relax a little. If anything, he looked more upset than Mikado felt. And that... Was impressive.

"I'm-- Hope. Estheim." He wasn't sure if last names would really matter here... probably not, especially with how the dogtags he had seen yesterday had insisted his name was-- something else. He shifted, though, rubbing his wrist against the side of his sweat pants nervously. He had never been really good with talking to people, even in school. "Hello."

Still, it was easier to know that people here were just as confused as he was (okay, maybe not as confused, or at least about the things he was confused about. And, for that fact, perhaps panicked for a different reason). It was unnerving to go without his gloves, the brand on his wrist in plain view unless he tried to shove it against his clothes, pretending to himself that it didn't exist at all. He wasn't so much concerned about... what was going on or what would happen during the day so much as he was concerned about home and stuck in the memories of the past few days.

And Lightning. This entire time he had to think about her, and he still couldn't figure out how-- what-- the whole situation was messed up. No way back, no way to finish his Focus (although there was a nagging doubt in his head that he would have gotten far on that idea anyway). And with her here and behaving so strangely...

He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts away. He didn't want to think about it. Not right now, anyway, not while he could be thinking or even talking about other things. Something else.

"Sorry." He murmured, somewhat distractedly. "I'm just. I guess I don't really get why we're here."

Estheim was... a bit uncommon to say the least, but 'Hope' likely took the prize for unique names. And Mikado had thought 'Izaya' was strange. He repeated it once, mostly to himself for the sound of it. "Ahh, were your parents into western culture?"

...If they weren't, he probably just made a fool of himself--but really, why was he even worrying about that in the middle of who knew where, in a safe house or prison? Some kind of hopelessness crossed Mikado's face at the thought. And here he was thinking things were going to settle down for a while. The thought of something like serenity was too dumb, really, and not all... That likely with someone like Masaomi as a friend, for one thing.

And anyway, if it came down to it, Mikado probably wouldn't choose that with the option given to him. He wanted things to remain as they were forever, and he wanted things to keep moving forward. He had thought on it and--

And, well. Here he was, in a place he didn't know. Talking to someone who was in the same situation that neither of them likely wanted to be in. At the other's apology, he slid a hand to the back of his neck in habit, waving off the apology abashedly. "I don't either. They wouldn't even tell me what this place was for."

"Western?" What did west have to do with... anything? Not that he wanted to think about parents right now. Still, there's a very slight headtilt while he tried to figure that out, even though he just filed it away a little later.

Instead, he latched on to something that he could answer, even if the answer felt... unsettling and crazy. But he had his fair share of crazy recently, at least enough that he didn't really question it anymore. Being here was just as crazy as the rest of his life right now... or maybe not as crazy. He wasn't so sure.

"We're at a hospital." He leaned forward a bit, his voice slightly quieter even although not a whisper. "At least, that's what I heard. I've never seen one like this before, but--"

He bit his lip in thought. "People seem really sure this is another world."

"Uh." He had guessed wrong, then. Something cultural, maybe. Maybe just a whim picked at birth and there wasn't anything behind it. It would have... been better to just not say anything, wouldn't it? "Never mind. It's not important. It's nice to meet you, Estheim-san."

Something to pick up at another time, maybe, if he ever saw Hope again. For now, Mikado was a little preoccupied with what was in front of him, which, largely, was a lot of nothing and confusing details put together. Really; nothing here was familiar, and some of the hairstyles of the people present put anime and manga to shame. Or at least matched it. Did that girl have pink hair? That had to have taken a lot of bleaching with the length. And those tattoos on that other girl....

He almost didn't hear when Hope continued speaking. "What? A hospital?" So he had been right? But the other boy was correct--it was nothing like a hospital that Mikado could recall. His brow furrowed in thought, going over the aspects. If he thought about it, maybe....

His gaze snapped up to Hope, disbelief passing through him. "What? They can't be serious."

Edited 2011-06-27 07:07 (UTC)

Day 57: Sun Room

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