Day 57: Sun Room

[bodhiandspirit.livejournal.com]

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.

[Free!]

Comments

[the-prosecutor.livejournal.com]

Letting out a bitterly amused breath, Edgeworth glanced down at his own uniform as well. Humiliating as it was to wear such horrid garments, they were leaps and bounds more comfortable than the military uniform had been; and in truth, Edgeworth was incredibly curious as to why their clothes had been changed once again.

Glancing back up at Niikura, Edgeworth found himself feeling stuck on one of the final things that he had said - there had been a takeover? Edgeworth assumed that the military presence here was relatively new, but he hadn't been entirely sure until then that it hadn't been a voluntary choice to allow them into the institute. Aguilar, he repeated in his mind to keep the name fresh, his expression turning thoughtful. "I can't say that I've been here long enough to develop a preference in the uniforms, though I have to agree that the colors are-"

Just then, the intercom jingle interrupted Edgeworth's words, and he stopped as he glanced upward at the ceiling. He suddenly felt like an elementary school student - intercom announcements like this were incredibly demeaning in the prosecutor's mind, and he hadn't had to deal with them after he had left his elementary school in favor of homeschooling with the von Karma's - and unsuppressed displeasure crossed Edgeworth's features as he waited for the announcements to finish.

Once they were done, the prosecutor began to stand, his gaze lowering to Niikura as the patients around them reluctantly moved from their chosen locations to what Edgeworth assumed to be the cafeteria doors. "The menu doesn't sound horrible, at least," he said, his mind moving to the horrid pink gruel he'd had to down the night before. Real food sounded heavenly, though the less than eager faces of most of the patients in the room were already beginning to hint to the prosecutor that he might not have much to look forward to.

[oneman-onekill.livejournal.com]

Niikura's attention likewise strayed as the intercom came on. Now that he was a little more awake, he could actually pay attention to what Landel was saying--wait, that couldn't be right. Landel was out. He and Mark were in cahoots. "Hmmm..." Were they reusing a recording from a previous day? It would certainly explain all of that static at the beginning; all previous intercom messages had never had that sort of issue, at least not the ones that he'd paid attention to.

He made a face. "I wouldn't get my hopes up. No one's gonna be able to enjoy all that stuff for real unless they're whatchamacallit. The right rank." Niikura stood up with a groan as he stretched his stiff legs. "So for us, it means time for more pink oatmeal. Fun times." Dismally, he knew that he'd eat it all too.

"Anyway, nice talkin' to ya. Don't be a stranger." With a half-hearted wave, the teen limped into the slow-moving train of people making their way to the cafeteria.