damned_institute | Day 57: Sun Room

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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.

[Free!]

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It seemed she'd have to start from the beginning. She gave Byrne a half-smile of amusement, then nodded. "Marc was the other voice. Before I arrived here, there was another voice on the radio. Alec Doyle, known as Mr. Radio or Jack, he gave help and hints and left gifts for the patients here. It turns out that Doyle had previously worked for the institute, and broke away to assist us. Days before I arrived, he was murdered by Landel.

"Marc is his second replacement. The first was a woman named Jill, who acted suspiciously and whose hints often led to traps instead of anything useful. Supposedly, her identity was revealed as Lydia, the head nurse here, which adds more weight to her lack of credibility. We haven't heard from her in a while now."

Renamon tilted her head, returning to the main point. "Marc is relatively new, though his position seems stable. A portion of the populace has even come into contact with him and deemed him worthy to an extent. Though... Now, he's teaming with Landel to take down Aquilar, it seems. So I'd doubt his priorities." An eyebrow lifted, something shadowed crossing her face. "Dealing with a demon to take down a devil never turns out well in the end."

Of the basement, well... She'd allow this to set in first.

...It would seem that he still had much more to learn about the people in this place. Much, much more.

Byrne's expression at the moment was something of a mix between surprise, interest, and confusion. Mostly interest, though. The thought that there had actually been an institute staff member who rebelled against the Head Doctor gave Byrne a small amount of hope. Forget the fact he was dead, someone on the inside was actually human enough to stand up for the patient populace. That proved Landel didn't have a bunch of mindless slaves working for him.

"...Looks like I'm gonna have to start paying closer attention to the radio broadcasts from now on." Byrne crossed his arms in a thoughtful pose. For a brief moment he considered asking Renamon just how these folk could be heard over the radio to begin with, but did it really matter? This wasn't a court of law where everything needed to be explained in a ridiculous amount of detail; this was a battle for survival in a place were nothing made a damn bit of sense. It wasn't worth it trying to make things even more complicated than they already were. He would ask a more beneficial question instead. "Has Marc done anything major to help out the patients, though?"

She angled her head in a give. "Sometimes. The majority of the time, it's only commentary. I don't even usually have it on me at night. I only heard last night because I ran into someone carrying theirs when it went off." The strange blond haired man. She idly wondered if he was still here. Of the second question, she wondered. And paused to think. Given time, Renamon might have considered otherwise, but head full of the night's events and light painkillers, nothing came to mind that stood alone. "Not yet, I'm afraid. That I know of. I heard rumors of his movements during the night with the portals, though I know nothing that's actual fact regarding that."

Though, here again, she doubled back. If she spoke of the portal night, here was enough to spark memory of elements and a decorative sword. It was possible Byrne knew as much as she, and if so, would not need to be informed. "Do you know about the basement they were speaking of?"

Portals? What was this about portals? ...Well. That was another thing to add to the 'common happenings around here that defied every natural law' list. A curious look briefly flashed across Byrne's face when Renamon mentioned the portals, but he decided not to say anything about it just yet. There were likely many nights with strange occurrences that he wasn't aware of. Those stories could wait. He would rather stay on topic with this basement issue and get that out of the way first.

"I wasn't aware that there was even a basement here," he admitted. "I never saw stairs leading down to it, unless they hid them away somewhere in a different part of the building. What's down there? It must be something important if Landel and Marc were going on about it."

To his look, she gave a half-smile of understanding. Something else that he hadn't heard of, then. She knew he had came in only a few days ago, but she had thought he might have possibly heard about it elsewhere. The man did not bring it up, and so the Digimon continued on subject. There was time enough to explain that later. "I'm afraid the entrance is a bit cliche. A trap door, found in the freezer of the cafeteria's kitchen."

That she had only been through once. The other time she had made it through the trials had been somewhat of a cheap adventure, dropped into the midst of them without any warning after touching the entryway's doors. Portals. She could nearly sigh at the thought. "There's a series of trials down there, quite unrealistic when put into focus of a building like this's underside. The main room is made up as a large ballroom, with four hallways trailing from it. Two can be opened, two can not be without certain conditions met it seems. One of the halls that can be opened allots one item--a decorative sword--while the opposite gives you a shield."

Of which, she could claim the former. "I've participated in two trials." She blinked at him near sedately, a smile testing the edges of her mouth despite the subject. Here, again, would be a test of his trust. "The first was a series of four rooms, each themed to an element and very nearly impossible to get through without quick reactions, speed, strength, and cleverness. Imagine lava, a room of ice, and more." That was claimed as unrealistic, and yet, here she would continue. "The other trial was a test of cleverness--solving a riddle given by a sphinx." A beat. "Yes, the mythological kind."

A very indignant, cranky sphinx.

Trap doors. Decorative weapons. Trials. Lava, a room of ice. And a sphinx.

"Sounds like a bad dream," Byrne mumbled under his breath, "or like a fairy tale." Yes, that was the kind of stuff you read to your kid at their bedtime. Harmless fairy tales, impossible stories, and therefore hard to believe when applied to the real world. But Landel himself had mentioned it over the radio along with a man that (supposedly) a lot of patients trusted, and Renamon was backing those claims up with her own experience. Logically then, it must be true, no matter how impossible it seemed.

Which, honestly, was a conclusion that applied to nearly everything else he was hearing about.

Byrne shook his head in amazement, but he kept an expression that would show Renamon that he believed her. "All I can wonder is why?" he asked, this time loud enough for her to hear. "What's the point of it all? What do they want from us?" Though a question like that would probably never be answered any time soon.

The Digimon only watched him when he spoke up, expression mixed between neutral and understanding. That was the question to ask, after all, and no matter what hints were given, they would never know for certain. Even as the military seemed to make certain aspects clear, it was still something that could change with time--a different arc, a different story, a different method. "Something that we have," she said quietly. "Humans only use others if they can gain something out of it. There's something that we can give to them, and until they are satisfied, we'll remain here. And others will keep coming here."

She blinked downward in thought, the conversation reminding her of when she spoke to Mello weeks ago. "It's possible to gain the upper hand in scenarios such as these. But only if we know what is desired from us. And only if we can deny them that." Nothing else. Nothing more.

Byrne shook his head, frowning deeply. "We're just their playthings. Running around like lab rats in their maze." Indeed, the sickos running this show were after something that these people all had. But what? Maybe they were running specific experiments on different kinds of people to get some kind of data for some top secret government project. Maybe they were aiming to create a powerful army of super humans or something.

Or maybe they were just bored.

Hell, there could be any number of reasons why these people were here. Figuring that reason out was probably hopeless, but Renamon was correct in saying it would help everyone out quite a bit to know what it was. If not to counter-act that reason somehow, then to give the patients some sense of relief. In situations like this, it was more torturous not knowing than knowing. And their captors knew that.

"Whatever they want, it's better they don't get it. I can't imagine them putting together this elaborate of a scheme for any good purpose." Certainly this facility wasn't designed to find a cure for cancer.

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Day 57: Sun Room

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