damned_institute | Day 58: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

Peter's lunch meeting with Tear had gone far better than he could have even expected. It was a good thing that he wasn't the sort of person who judged by age, seeing how the girl had proved herself to be very capable despite the fact that she was only a teenager. Not that Peter would ever admit it out loud, but Tear was a lot more mature than his own niece. He could only assume that Tear's circumstances had forced that onto her, though, which was the downside to the whole thing.

Or maybe it had something to do with her being a healer. She'd probably seen a lot of horrific things in her life already, things that some other people would never experience. Then again, Claire had seen her own body mutilated, so personality might have something to do with it too.

Either way, they had a basic plan. He was going to try and look into safe areas while Tear was going to work on their alliance with Search and Rescue. He wasn't too worried about the latter, but the former might be a pipe dream. Seeing how he had no interest in playing with beads and glitter, Peter chose to remain in the Sun Room.

It didn't take him long to draft up a message with his question, and once he'd posted it up (covering a few other replies in the process, but at the end of the day the board was low on real estate) he went ahead and found himself a seat. This way he could keep a careful eye on the replies that he got.

While he had already agreed to meet with Max tonight, Peter realized that the earliest this paramedic group could get going was the following night anyway. That was something to aim for, at least. Even if it was just him and Tear taking care of things at first, that was a start.

[For Haruno Sakura.]

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Anise fidgeted with her hair as she waited for Badd to reply, or to give a follow-up question... but the man was silent. Thinking he might have been deep in thought, Anise just continued to play with the ends of her braids... but then she saw the man's face contort as if in pain, and his hand clutch his leg. Anise quickly straightened her body, her feet sliding off the seat as she leaned in, watching the man with concern.

"H-hey, are you okay?" There was alarm in her voice, but she tried to keep from raising it too much. It was possible that he didn't want the soldiers' attention. He didn't seem as spaced out as he did a moment ago, but it was hard to tell if he was really okay or not. And he was grabbing his leg a moment ago... "Are you hurt somewhere?"

Damn, the kid had seen him trip out, hadn't she? At least he hadn't actually acted the memory out or he'd really have made a fool of himself. "No. I'm fine. It's fine," Badd said, shaking his head and raising a hand to stop her. "I'm not hurt anywhere. Just...thinking about a few things."

Hopefully it wouldn't happen again now that the little drama had hit its climax. Beyond that moment Badd himself wasn't that clear on what happened. There had been more bleeding, and an ambulance, and he'd woken up at the hospital, nothing he hadn't done before. It was all just memories anyway. Vivid and hallucinated ones, but he'd coped with them before.

"You didn't take any of those drugs last night, did you?" Badd asked, struck by a sudden concern. If he'd been stupid enough for it...

At Badd's reassurance, Anise's worried look softened, but didn't fully fade. She could maybe believe that he wasn't injured, but he really didn't look fine. Just thinking usually didn't make people react like that.

Her expression shifted into a more puzzled look when he asked her about the drugs. "Huh? No, I didn't..." A second passed as she tried to guess at why he'd ask that so suddenly, and when it hit her, her eyes widened. "Wait, did you...!?"

If it turned out that her suspicion was right, Anise wouldn't be able to scold the man or anything, though. Her exploration of the basement was just as dangerous, if not moreso. In the end, it was a choice between doing nothing, following the Head Doctor's lead, or following the military's lead. There wasn't a single good choice to be made.

Badd gave a short, jerky nod. "It wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done," he said, looking away sheepishly. He felt far more comfortable admitting his weaknesses to Anise than he would to a man nearer to his own age. Children saw you on pedestals, adults were always searching for the chinks in your armor. "But I didn't come off as bad as some. The guy with me...heh. If I hadn't thought I was hallucinating about him too, I might have tried to hurt him. He turned into one of the monsters."

You really had to pity the guy. There was no way to recover your dignity from turning into a gigantic sheep, even if the actual result had been genuinely horrific. At least he'd managed to keep his mind intact during the process. It was probably far more traumatic for him, but it meant he was able to keep himself under control. If he'd tried to attack Badd, Badd would have done what he had to and finally put his paper cutter to good use.

Since Anise wasn't really doing any better at keeping herself out of risky situations, she just nodded quietly as Badd confirmed her guess. She felt pretty bad for the guy. Whatever he was hallucinating, it looked seriously bad. All she could really do was hope that the effects would go away soon...

When he mentioned another guy who turned into a monster, Anise's lips tightened into a thin line, but she did her best not to react too dramatically. She'd seen people turn into monsters before, and... well, it wasn't something that got easier to watch after seeing it a few times. "I read something like that on the bulletin... It sounds pretty scary." Bringing up horrific past experiences would just be depressing for both of them, so she left that part out.

The intercom sounded then, but rather than the usual type of announcement, it sounded like some military code was being used. Code 1-8...? "They're probably up to something weird again," she suggested, an uncertain look on her face. "I think we have to go to dinner now, though. Take care, okay?"

Badd gave her a gentle, uncharacteristic smile. He stood, leaning on the chair arm despite the fact that the false pain in his leg had long faded. "You take care too, Miss Anise. Thanks for the information. You...really brightened up my day."

The night was going to be nasty no matter what happened, and the next day little better. Getting his hopes up that anything good existed in this place was foolishness. But...she was alive. That was enough to settle the homicidal impulses for a few minutes.

Day 58: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

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