Day 60: Music Room (Fourth Shift)

[norainu]

It wasn't often that Renji felt less like punching people in general as his day wore on. This was a new experience for him. A not unwelcome one, if he was being honest. And the fact that he felt less like punching Fai? Kind of mind-blowing. The sort of thing Zen masters would probably use as a kouan to reach an all-new level of non-punching enlightenment.

So he was back from the dead, almost everyone he'd known was gone, and yet bizarrely his day felt like it was looking up. Kind of. Renji wasn't sure what to make of this. Maybe his grumpy meter was just nearing empty. That was as good an explanation as the next, considering how this place made him feel.

Whatever the reason, he ended up in the music room. And he remembered oh yeah. He'd always kind of hated this damn shift. He grabbed a little book of music and a drum and retreated quickly to the far end of the room. He put the drum down in front of him just so he looked like he was doing something and opened the book. But he had no idea how to read music, and really, he was more interested in the ongoing puzzle of what the hell had happened in the last four weeks.

And brooding. Of course. There was always brooding to be done.

[Okay Tolten, let me lay it out for you. When there's a mommy and a daddy... or sometimes a daddy and a dadddy. Or, hell, sometimes a mommy and a mommy if you buy the right kind of wood cuts (and a third mommy if you go to just the right shop)... but anyway when they love each other very much, or at least a suitably large amount of money changes hands, there are some things that happen...]

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[hiddenbadass]

Mike ignored the glance at his arm. It was interesting to here how long the kid had been there. He wondered just how much of that knowledge was obtained first-hand by the kid.

"I've learned to be a bit more cautious," Michelangelo shrugged. "There's too many guards durin' the day to bother with being a pain. No use tryin' to escape only to end up on their shit list. Night has better cover for an escape attempt, anyways."

His attempt at escaping had failed, however. Mike wondered just how far their ability to knock out patients extended from the Institute. If Donny were there, he could probably find whatever it was and shut it off. The genius had always been good at exposing the weaknesses of technology. Unless, of course, it wasn't technology, in which case it was always a tossup on if he could figure it out or not.

[purgatio]

Words said and words spoken. He'd heard it all before, in some method or the other. The only attribute of interest was said at the end, and Albedo suddenly wondered how long this man had been here. The boy looked at him curiously. "Escape attempt," he repeated, and it wasn't clear how he felt on that phrase.

Silence was a beat between them, and he blinked suddenly, looking at Mike more intently. "Are you serious?" asked with no hostility. "You really think that you can escape?"

AND FINALLY I REPLY.

[hiddenbadass]

"I'm said I tried. I didn't say I was gonna try again," Mike corrected, shaking his head slowly. "Many of the people here are fighters. If it was possible to escape, they would've already escaped long ago. People here are competent, for the most part."

There were a few exceptions to the rule, but for the most part, it ran true.

"Last night should've been the time we all made a break for it. Yet, they kept us inside, even when people seemed to get their powers back. A place with that sort of power isn't exactly easy to escape from."

[purgatio]

"For the most part," Albedo repeated dryly. There were certain exceptions to the rule that Albedo could likely name by rote. "There's a bit too many civilians who think they know best for my liking." One individual in particular, but my~ Albedo hadn't seen him for a while. Perhaps Klavier went up and got eaten. The boy smiled softly at nothing, charmed by the prospect.

He inclined his head to acknowledge the point. "True, though any escape would likely have just brought us back in the morning, and really--" He went on, giving a shrug and a wave of his hand. "A physical escape is near useless, really. You have people from different times, different realities. Likely this world is no one person's initial place of existence--an escape like that would just shift things to a larger prison in the end."

[hiddenbadass]

Mike snorted at that comment; he hadn't run into anyone like that here, but he'd seen the type. "Tell me about it."

"Better out here than in here," Mike replied without hesitation. "I can't go back anyways. This Earth is better off than the one I left. Shell, this place is better than the place I left."

He wasn't going to give specifics out to a stranger, but he'd give enough to give his point across. This place might be a prison, but it was a prison that had decent food once again.

[purgatio]

Ah, now here was a welcome comment. Albedo raised his eyebrows, smiled at the other. "Better here than there, is it? I'd have to agree. This place is a nice vacation, really." The things known as monsters here were not anything that was capable of sparking Albedo's fear.

The only things able of that here came in the psychological damage, and that was more on the bonds of blood than anything this institute produced. "It's rare to find that mentality. Most seem to gnash their teeth and wail over the aspects of this place. When it's really not all that bad."