damned_institute | Day 60: Music Room (Fourth Shift)

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Day 60: Music Room (Fourth Shift)

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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[ =) ]

Given the choice, a near stranger would be preferable. A complete stranger, welcome. And where Albedo might have balked in annoyance at someone being led to him (and to him, really? Of all people. The nurses had gotten lax), now the boy could only be content with the comparisons present.

...And there was actually a point of interest here. The boy's head cocked at the man's missing arm, attention diverted from the introduction. Perhaps it was a common sight, but Albedo was a regenerator, and had blown off his own head with a shotgun last night to prove his abilities were back in full. So the aspect of a missing limb was almost... quaint. The distraction was almost complete, and he moved to blink up at the man. "Albedo," he gave with little thought. There was an aspect more important than names that lay here. The boy inclined his chin. "What happened?"

If the tone was read a bit odd, one wouldn't be wrong. There was a detachment in his voice, that of someone discussing furniture rather than another person.

Great, the first kid he had interacted with in this place, and he ended up being a strange one. Most kids were afraid of him at first, but this one was treating him more as a mere curiosity. Mike knew where his gaze was going, but he refused to move his arm out of sight. He had gone through hell to get back to where he was after losing half his arm. There was no way he was going to be irritated--or intimidated--by a kid.

Except then the kid opened his mouth and asked that question; okay, so maybe he'd let himself be a bit irritated. Most kids asked that, or stared a lot at his arm and scars, or both, usually in terror. The lack of fear from Albedo was different, but not reassuring. Fear was the natural reaction that made the most sense. As much as he hated scaring them, it meant that they weren't too jaded to see it as normal.

Except this kid didn't seem jaded--he was just weird.

"It fell off," Mike replied, more than a little sarcastically; he then let out a sigh, trying to smooth his irritation away. "You shouldn't ask people questions like that. Most don't like answerin' them, me included."

...Ah, a touchy one. How cliche. Though it made it all the more obvious on how to approach this person. There was a thin thread of suggestion, to talk and discuss with another as he would Ritsuka or Nigredo or Yomi, but that fled in the face of patterns seldom lost. Albedo would shift as the scenario did, and for now, he would only play his role.

The boy blinked once, then his expression completely shifted, nonchalance falling into a relaxed amusement. He leaned against the wall nearby, head tilted congenially. His tone had slipped from detached to something closer to melodic, and yet the words given were opposite to the changes mentioned. Nothing of charm was held within. "I shouldn't ask questions like that?~" The boy raised his eyebrows, smiling politely. "Well, then, that clarifies, doesn't it. You lacked the fortitude to maintain your existence as it was, and you lost something because of that weakness of self." He gave a heavy sigh, as if commiserating. However, his eyes shone too much for any sincerity to be placed. "I'm duly sorry for your loss."

Patience. Mike had to remember patience. Even if the kid was obviously a little shit. He was trying to get under his skin, and Mike wasn't going to let him do that so easily. Besides, he had built himself back up after he lost his arm, made himself stronger than before, and he wasn't going to let some kid detract from that.

He pinched the bridge of his nose--the shape was still wrong--taking a few seconds of simple meditation to still any anger inside. Mike wasn't Raph. There was no way he was going to let himself get riled up. Especially not enough to do something stupid.

Mike opened his eyes again and looked down to Albedo before sitting in a chair nearby. "I'm not gonna take that bait, kid. Maybe I wasn't strong enough back then to avoid it, but I am now. Stronger and smarter. So either you can go trying to piss me off for your own amusement, which won't work, or we can have an actual conversation. Makin' enemies here for amusement's sake is stupid, anyways--we're already surrounded by 'em."

If that didn't work, he'd just have to deal. Mike wasn't going to just walk away because the kid irritated him. There was no way he was going to let him win.

Mm, that was nearly a pleasant surprise. Instead of rising in anger, the man only spoke. Perhaps Albedo had judged too quickly.~ This one seemed to have more control over himself than he appeared. The boy shrugged, as if it were meaningless, and dropped the expression, slipping into a mix of apathy and boredom. The man's words had at least given him a little credit--most refused to learn from their own mistakes, and lacked the ability to admit their failures. All right. Albedo could shift his game.

The man sat, and Albedo continued leaning on the wall, watchful. "I can't be blamed for trying. There's so little to do around here most of the time." The boy rolled his eyes, moving a hand idly. "And I don't really view these ones," said with a condescending look at the nurses, "as enemies. There's no challenge there."

He had more control than Albedo had first thought--he just had subjects that were off-limits to total strangers. The same topics were even off-limit to his family. There was no way he was going to open up to some kid that asked for mere curiosity's sake, especially not if the boy was looking for entertainment.

Still, he's had to make nice with worse people. Mike would do so for now. There was no use making waves and getting himself in trouble over a kid.

"Maybe, but they can still call orderlies at the drop of a hat," Mike replied, looking at one of the nurses before looking back at Albedo. "I guess it's a good thing I've forgotten how to be bored, then. If I was still your age, I'd be going out of my skull about now."

The boy tilted his head against the wall. "I've been here almost a month," he said dryly. "Going 'out of my skull' occurred far early on." The mention of orderlies, however, was a viable point. Despite that, he still only glanced at them. "Causing a fuss isn't enough to get drugged. Violence and much of it, is. And if you try to kill people, you get thrown in solitary, it seems."

Speaking from experience only. He was nothing but an angel.~

Albedo gave the man a bland look. "So you're the type to 'play it safe,' then?" He cast an obvious glance at Mike's missing arm. "I'd have thought otherwise."

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.

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?"

"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."

"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."

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.

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."

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Day 60: Music Room (Fourth Shift)

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