damned_institute | Day 24: Intercom, Dinner

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Day 24: Intercom, Dinner

The intercom jingle rang out both inside and outside the institute on speakers loud enough to broadcast clearly across the recreational field.

"It's been a busy day, hasn't it? Well, fortunately for all of us, it's nearly over, and we can all look forward to some rejuvenating shut-eye--that is, after dinner, of course."

The Head Doctor chuckled.

"Supper for tonight is going to consist of individual servings of chicken pot pie, with mashed potatoes and peas as sides. You may ask your nurse about the usual selection of drinks, and... Oh! Some of you might find that you have some new guests in your rooms belonging to... Group 5, I believe...? Please see to it that our new patients spend their first night at Landel's Institute as peacefully as possible!"

He paused, then added:

"Oh, and Nurse Hondor? Could you please report to my office? Thank you."

The intercom clicked off.

[ OOC: Remember how dinner shift works--everyone posts to this post with individual threads for each room. New characters waking up during this shift will do so in their respective threads, though if your roommate's player is unable to play with you during your intro, feel free to work something out so that your roommate is taking a nap or something. XD; ]

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Kuja observed the man's reaction, watching his clumsy movements as if he had trouble trying to get his limps to cooperate properly. Added to the strange way of speech - as if this man also wasn't used to such a simple task - the sorcerer couldn't help but to cock his head in curiosity.

Apparently, this man was new to the stage. He had made his grand entrance along with the other new pawns. The questions were all the more natural, and the sorcerer figured it wouldn't hurt to answer them.

"From what I have gathered, you are in Landels Institute. It is a hospital for the mentally ill. The nurses will probably tell you that you are not the one who you think you are, that your memories and life had been fake." Kuja spoke, flicking a hand through his silver hair. "However, everything seems to be a mere play. A play where their actors play magnificent roles. But roles are merely roles in the end. When the curtain falls, the actors will show their true faces."

A short pause as he watched the other man with his blue eyes.

"I've heard that the staff will cast away their masks during nightshift. Monsters will roam the hallways." Kuja continued, his voice unmistakably holding the theatrical air within it. It always had, as it came almost naturally. "I have just arrived to this stage, however, meaning I cannot say for sure as I have not experienced any nightshifts myself. This is all I know, however."

"As it seems we will be sharing this room, an introduction would be more than proper, don't you agree?" A slight bow with his head. "I am called Kuja."

ZEX turned over to look at the source of the voice, the double vision easing slightly. He reached his hand up to his face to investigate, felt those features he had studied so carefully and so lovingly now, and even though he adored humans, loved everything about them he had never realized how hard it would be to have two eyes. How did they ever manage?

ZEX pressed a palm against his eye, and that at least helped him feel a bit more grounded. No more doubling, and maybe that'd help the headache that was growing.

ZEX listened, all the while studying the human as best he could from his current vantage point. If he'd been in any other situation, if he hadn't been so violently and suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar body in an unfamiliar place, than he would have been able to appreciate the human's beauty more fully. As it was, wariness underlied his interest, and while the human was beautiful, gorgeous even, this wasn't the time. He had to get his bearings first.

Who would have thought that having one of his fantasies become reality would have so many...unpleasant side effects?

"A mental institution?" ZEX blinked, and struggled to push himself up off the floor. His head bent down and he started back, fearing that his neck would break but...no, if he was human then he could do that kind of thing now, his neck would be flexible... "How did they...how did they do this?" ZEX tried to gesture with one hand, and instead ended up flopping it around somewhat awkwardly. There were so many bones and it refused to bend properly- "I'm...I'm human. How..."

ZEX shook his head gingerly, still unused to the flexibility of his new neck, and he looked to Kuja, wishing that he had his head tentacles to properly convey a greeting. "I'm...I am Admiral ZEX, leader of the VUX armed forces during the War..." The words were automatic, comforting and he spoke softly and slowly, sounding them out with his foreign tongue. "A sad necessity of those times...belies a much kinder, gentler being..." ZEX looked down at his free hand.

"How did this happen...?"

"You mean to say you weren't?" Kuja asked, cocking a silver eyebrow. Not that he was unfamiliar with inhuman species - Gaia was crawling with creatures whose humanity could certainly be put into question - but this had been quite peculiar. It would explain the man's clumsiness, however. Kuja's memory of falling out of his bed by the mere loss of a certain limp was fresh into the sorcerer's mind.

Finally rising from his chair, he slowly walked towards ZEX. So this person had been in a war, too. He had never heard of something called 'VUX' though. This man must have been from another world.

"I...I wasn't. At least...not until I came here, apparently. The last thing I remember is...a nightmare." It had to have been a nightmare, since he distinctly remembered being torn to pieces by a ravenous monster, and he was definitely alive at the moment, although...not in a form that he recognized. "I'm...I didn't know this kind of thing was possible."

ZEX stared again at his hands, struggling to move his fingers individually. He was able to keep one eye squinted shut with some practice, which freed both the things, although he wasn't sure what use they would be...there were so many of those things, the fingers, and they were so difficult to coordinate. Again, he marveled at how humans somehow managed.

"Technology is certainly fairly advanced, but to switch bodies, entire species...that's...well, I wish I had known about it sooner." ZEX tried to flick his tongue as he normally did to indicate amusement, then remembered he no longer had a trunk or prehensile tongue. What did humans do to indicate amusement...something with the mouth, wasn't it? ZEX tried to smile, and did a passable imitation of one.

He could hear things more clearly, although the vibrations in the air were harder to detect, and he turned to look at Kuja as he walked towards him, still cautious about turning his neck too far.

ZEX didn't knew about matters such as 'body switching', but neither did Kuja. He watched the man with mild curiosity. Either he was speaking the truth and this stage had an anything but a logical story, or there were patients with questionable sanity.

But the curtain had fallen for Kuja. He was fairly sure the plot had ended, as he should have 'come to a stop' as the Black Mages would have put it. Yet, here he was, on this incredibly strange stage with an unfamiliar plot with no recollection on he had arrived.

"This cage is not a logical one, it would seem." Kuja spoke, folding his arms. "I have no recollection of coming here either."

He hated not knowing. He hated not knowing what the next act would be.

ZEX looked around himself, again studied his new hands and arms. They moved so strangely, and it was going to take him a while to get used to this, he knew. At least he still had two legs, although standing might be difficult as well...his head already felt entirely too light, and without the constant motion from his head feelers, he felt...peculiar. They fed him information and indicated so many moods, so to be without them felt almost like being...crippled. His entire body felt so still.

"Yes, I'd say logic failed some time ago," ZEX said carefully, trying to see if he could work an amused tone into his voice. Human words, how did he know how to speak... "You mentioned monsters? That's...not good." He still had yet to try to walk. ZEX tried to push himself off the floor, overbalancing and falling against the bed awkwardly.

[ooc; Sorry for being late, I'm up for backthreading if you like?]

If the story was true, then how did the Head Doctor do it? How could someone change one's entire being? Added to the fact that his magic had gone completely dry, it would seem the puppeteer wanted to have his puppets at a clear disadvantage. But for what reason? To make the audience doubt their very own sanity? That their memories are merely fake?

...memories were all he had. Kuja didn't want to believe they were fake.

"The appearance of monsters is indeed a rather unfortunate thing." Kuja replied, still watching the other occupant of the room. The genome wasn't quite sure what to do with this situation. Should he...help?

Helping...it seemed like something Zidane would do.

[ooc: I'm cool with it. :O]

"I would think so." ZEX pulled himself up on the bed, and slowly began to push himself up on his legs. Everything about his body moved so strangely, so unexpectedly and it was trying to say the least. He managed to find some kind of balance as long as he kept his hand against the wall. "If whoever it is that's in charge would go through so much effort as to transport someone from as far away as Cerenkov here, wherever we are, and move me to an entirely different body...it seems odd that they'd allow me to get ripped apart by monsters. Or any of us to be killed, as I'm sure there must be others in a similar position...there must be some kind of plan behind this. Perhaps testing us for some unknown purpose."

They could want information from ZEX, if he'd been abducted by humans...he did have information from the War that could be useful to that New Alliance of the Free Stars, but ZEX didn't want to think of his dear Captain doing something like that to him. He couldn't rule out the chance of being a political prisoner though, or that they wanted information...

Then again, this could be some cruel joke by the Umgah. This seemed like the kind of thing they would do.

"I have indeed heard of experimental trials." Kuja mused, bringing his hand to his chin. "And an act called 'Special Counseling', where the canaries are used as mere puppets...brainwashed to cause havoc."

A pause, his expression changing into a slight frown.

"Though of its plot, I do not know. Surely, there must be a purpose. There must be a meaning the Head Doctor is doing this."

What could this man want to achieve by this?

"That doesn't sound good at all." ZEX did not like the idea of bring brainwashed...he'd worked so hard to be able to live and believe as he saw fit, and the last thing he wanted was for some outside force to influence his behavior. He'd had enough of that with VUX society as a whole.

"I'm sure there must be some kind of purpose, although I can't really...guess as to what. Perhaps he wants to harness whatever special skills we may have. Some Ur-Quan commander with a sadistic streak, perhaps..."

ZEX looked at Kuja. "What kind of skills do you have that they may want, out of curiousity?"

Kuja wasn't too fond of such an idea either. Freedom was something he had always desired, after all.

However, the sorcerer had never heard of the organizations ZEX mentioned. The thought hadn't occurred to him before, but such was highly likely. "Considering the situation, I don't believe any of your possible enemies are the ones pulling the strings."

"There are a large amount of canaries caged here, one even more peculiar than the next. And to be honest, I have not heard of those organizations you have mentioned. I think the possibility of different worlds should definitely be considered. After all, there are many stages one could hail from."

He paused at the other man's question, not sure what to answer. Even though he had been a defect, he was the first genome that possessed a soul. He was created for the purpose of destruction, an Angel of Death, but to be replaced by Zidane when he came of age.

But the genome was by no means proud of his heritage, to be associated with the ones called 'genomes'. It was a subject he preferred to avoid, after all. Kuja wasn't prepared to tell the story of his being to a person he had just met.

"I am sorcerer, meaning I am very skilled in both black and white magic." he began. "However, this stage is limiting my performance, meaning I cannot play the role I am meant to be playing."

"In other words, I can't even summon the slightest spell."

Which, in fact, was more than just an ironic twist of the plot. Disregarding the fact Kuja had no experience in psychical battles at all, his fragile form was hardly fit for such acts.

"Heh, I don't know if I'd consider them enemies, exactly...after the war, I kind of kept to myself. But this does seem...overly sadistic for the Ur-Quan. They preferred to just get things done...I'd leave sadism to the Umgah."

ZEX sat down on the bed, still trying to shake off the dizziness and waiting for his body to become easier to use. That didn't seem to be happening. This wasn't good.

"Ah, my apologies. They aren't organizations...they're other sentient races in my quadrant. I'd rather not bore you with my history with them though, as I doubt it'd be very helpful."

ZEX blinked at Kuja curiously with one eye. "Magic? I'm...I'm afraid I don't understand the concept. What do you mean?" ZEX had never heard of sorcerors or magic or any of that kind of thing in his studies of human culture...

Sentient races, hmmm? That was rather interesting. However, the next question definitely sparked the sorcerer's interest.

"You haven't heard of magic?" Kuja asked, genuinely surprised. Magic had been a common concept on both Gaia and Terra, so the genome had assumed such was common on most stages. It would seem such wasn't the case, however. Now how could one clearly explain the concept of magic? There were many forms of it, after all.

"With magic certain matters can be either influenced or manipulated." he began. "There are many forms of how one could perform magic, however, but the act is not an easy one. Even though there are those who have a natural talent for such, it still takes quite some time to gain the ability to perform spells."

Kuja paused his story as he thought of more things to tell without making it overly complicated.

"Spells can be divided into various categories." he continued, a thoughtful expression on his features. "There are spells that are harmful to their targets, for example, but also those of the healing nature. Then there are those who have the power to manipulate one's strength or weaknesses, or even possess the ability to create or summon various creatures."

Of course, there were many more forms of magic, but Kuja just didn't feel like telling them all. Such would take a rather long time, after all.

"No, I'm afraid I haven't. It's a human concept, I'm guessing? I never saw it mentioned in the historical records the Melnorme sold me...perhaps it's...not necessary in my time period." ZEX thought it might sound a bit odd to say not in fashion.

"So magic is some kind of tool then, if it can shape or influence matter." ZEX tried to visualize such a versatile tool. "I take it that spells are certain attachments that can perform different functions as required? What a marvelous device...strange that humans would find no use for it."

The spiritual was fairly lost on ZEX, who had little equivalent for it in his own culture. There was the Creator, but ZEX had never been a believer of hers.

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Day 24: Intercom, Dinner

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