Day 57: Arts & Crafts Room (Fourth Shift)

[gald_digger]

When she left the lobby, Anise still didn't know what to think about her visitor. All this time, she thought the one person the institute would never truly get to was the Colonel, and that if he was gone, then maybe he was hiding somewhere, plotting a way to rescue the rest of them. Now that she thought about it... maybe that was naïve of her. She only thought those things because she didn't want to believe that the institute had that much power...

Thinking about it too hard made her feel so anxious it made her stomach churn, though, so Anise decided it would be best to distract herself in the meantime, and then think about it when her head was clearer. She'd probably have to tell Guy and the others what happened, too.

While she really wanted to see the movie she helped select, she also really wanted to see if the Arts & Crafts Room had those new sewing supplies the Head Doctor talked about a while ago. When she arrived, she asked her "nurse" about it, who cheerfully replied that yes, they had them, and that Anise was among the ones fortunate enough to have the privilege of using them. Was that a good behavior thing, or a military rank thing...? Well, in either case, it meant Anise got to check out the new materials they brought in, so she wasn't going to complain.

There were some pretty floral patterns among the pieces of fabric, so Anise selected those. Anything that she made had to have a few cute elements, after all. She brought the pieces to her table along with some needles, thread, scissors, and a roll of a thick cord-like material.

Before she could begin, however, that "nurse" returned, dropping an envelope on the table in front of her. "This is for you," was all she said before walking away again. When Anise picked the item up, her eyes widened in shock. There, on the envelope, was the name Dolores... written in her Mama's handwriting. Much of the other information on the outside had been blacked out, but... was this from her parents!? Without a moment's delay, she tore open the envelope and began reading the letter within, her hands trembling as she did.

[For Claude!]

Comments

[tasteoftruth.livejournal.com]

Badd threw one hand up in frustration. He wasn't angry at her, just with the situation the institute had forced him into. "If they wanted to break us, why not just brainwash us and be done with it? They have power over our lives and our freedom, what is the damn point in psychologically torturing us?" There were children here, and weaklings like Meekins, and people like Skye who'd had enough torment in their lives.

Badd's hand fell again and looked again at the horrific picture. His double looked happy there, happier than Badd could ever remember being, and if it didn't mean betraying Byrne and Kay he would have liked to be that man. They made the alternate life seem so alluring.

Why, why, the question always came back to why and it was on the verge of driving Badd insane.

Of course there was one other explanation for all this insanity. "Is this hell?" Badd murmured. He wasn't a religious man, but the universe rarely cared about Badd's opinions.

[mugenreppa.livejournal.com]

And she may as well have said it; he was getting angrier anyway. And here she'd finally thought up an answer for why the institute would do this kind of thing when they have other ways. "Because they're bored," Mele muttered under her breath. That was what Long did; messed up lives because he was bored. But before she could bring the thought of Long further down the conspiracy chain, the guy's next utterance interrupted her.

She'd wondered if this was hell the moment she got here. She'd dismissed the idea for...some reason or another, but as a metaphor, it was really, really...appropriate. Except for one, tiny little thing...

Still... "You're angry, right? Get even." Rage was still power, after all. Mele couldn't even get angry, and that was why she was losing to her emotions. What else was there, jealousy? hatred? She couldn't do those, either. Except...she could. Get jealous of 'Airi.' But that was part of the problem. "Use hatred if you have to."

[tasteoftruth.livejournal.com]

"I've got enough hatred to start a world war!" Again, probably shouldn't be letting the young idiot get under his skin, she was trying to comfort him. But she was being so damned obtuse.

He managed to get his voice lower. "And you can't load hatred into a gun and you can't bludgeon someone with it. You need a clear head if you want to get anything done." That was why he shut himself down when a murder started to get its hooks into him. Even Byrne's murder he'd taken with a deadpan expression and only the barest of flinches. You couldn't let rage take over or they'd already won.

[mugenreppa.livejournal.com]

Of course you could— Oh, right. "Then what's the point of letting them rile you up?" Were they talking in circles or what? If you couldn't use it and you couldn't discard it, then what? You broke.

But obviously it was different for someone who wasn't a Rin Juken practitioner, but Rin Juken was how she'd become strong. Pointless to impart her philosophy to someone who didn't know this stuff, but she hadn't been thinking. She didn't know any other way— Well, there was the Gekiranger way, but she certainly didn't know the specifics of that. It was all mushy stuff, anyway.

"Take your own advice and clear your head!" It went for her, too. If she couldn't use it and she couldn't discard it.... Unfortunately, as she was starting to realize, this nameless emotion—this...heavy weight—wasn't unfamiliar. It'd been there for...more times than she wanted to admit. So she wasn't going to admit it. Ho hum, nothing important or depressing to see here; move along. "The heck is your name, anyway?"