damned_institute | Day 61: Sun Room (third shift)

The moment dear Landel-san announced that it was time for lunch, Erika wasted no time and headed straight for the Sun Room's bulletin board to check if there was any response to her message left for her dear friend. Predictably, there was nothing for her on the board, and the detective scowled as she realized she might have to write him off as a loss. She had lost a good number of potential allies in this place, but losing this one was a bit of a blow, if only because he had useful things on him. On the other hand, if he was gone, and that ring was still here...

Perhaps it was not a great loss, then. Still, Erika was mildly annoyed as she wandered away from the board and back towards a nearby couch. She was spending a lot of time in the Sun Room lately, which seemed to be a bit of a waste as she could have spent in going around the Institute. On the other hand, she had a sandwich here that was waiting to be consumed and after spending a week with little access to "real food", Erika was more then happy to enjoy her time spent eating.

Still, at some point she was going to have to manage her time a little more effectively. There was no reason why she couldn't multitask, so Erika kept her gaze on the door of the Sun Room so she could watch people filter in on their way to other rooms. She wouldn't get everyone, no, but perhaps she would find someone useful that she could bother for the rest of the shift. A familiar face, or maybe someone new. She'd decide on that eventually.

[ hau Seishin ready for round 2. /killed ]

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[Whoops, go us! XD;]

"Definitely," she answered firmly, crossing her arms in front of her. "We can't let him win, no matter what." Just the thought itself sent a shiver down her spine. The idea of a complete creep like the Head Doctor getting his way was so sickening it was almost unthinkable. Even having no real idea what he intended, Leanne would work diligently to ensure it never came to pass, whatever it took.

It didn't take a genius to know his plan was bad news.

"I know there are people who've been here a lot longer than us," she began slowly, uncrossing her arms and leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "And I guess they haven't figured it out yet either. But there's gotta be someone besides that guy who knows... something"

She sighed, before brightening some. "And don't worry," she said, switching gears, her tone lighter now. "I'm not about to let any of them catch me off guard. So you be careful too."

[Yaaaay! orz]

Zero nodded his head in agreement; Leanne was right. With as many people held captive here as there were, there had to be at least a handful who had been here long enough to know something worthwhile. He had encountered one or two of them before - Guy, the man he'd spoken to on his first morning, came to mind first - but he hadn't been able to speak with them long enough to learn much from them.

Of course, this was assuming the long-term prisoners had a lot of inside knowledge. It might be a faulty assumption, especially when Landel's usual policy on sharing his plans was considered, because whatever the survival rate was here mostly didn't affect how much the long-term prisoners knew. How much vital information had Landel slipped in the past? If the answer was 'none', then all the long-term prisoners really had to offer to newcomers was the history of past events here. While that did help a little, it couldn't compare to actually knowing what Landel and his comrades were up to...

How frustrating, this whole experience...

At least Leanne still appeared to be in a positive mood despite how bad their situation was. If nothing else, Zero could respect the girl for her seemingly endless cheeriness. The energy could almost be infectious. As she swore to be careful, the once-Reploid promised her in return. "I will be. I'm sure we'll figure this out eventually."

...It then occurred to him that it might be wise to actually start eating the rations his nurse had given him before he ended up wasting this shift just talking. So he dragged his paper bag over to his lap and opened it up, peering inside. Once again, unrecognizable substances. He pulled out what he assumed was the grilled cheese sandwich his nurse told him she'd chosen for him and stared at it with disinterest. "...I still don't understand all of this," he mumbled to himself before he started slowly eating it.

"Great!" Leanne grinned, nodding once. "We'll show that Landel guy, right? There's just no way we're not."

Bold words, definitely, and she really had no way of knowing if they would manage such a thing, not with how they were being kept so in the dark. (And wasn't that really just the worst thing about it all? Not knowing.) But, if she were to be honest with herself... She needed to believe in them, needed to convince herself that everything would turn out all right. She'd gotten through certain death already, hadn't she? How much more difficult could this be?

...Her train of thought was completely derailed, however, when Zero spoke next.

"Your... sandwich?" Leanne asked, brows furrowing. Surely, he meant something else, right? But he was staring right at it... "What's so weird about it?"

Zero nodded in agreement once again, but with more confidence and more energy than before. The girl's excitement really was contagious in some way... It was a healthy kind of contagious, though. A kind of contagious he really needed from time to time, especially in this kind of situation.

But then Leanne expressed a little confusion about the statement he'd muttered to himself, and the once-Reploid glanced up from his sandwich to stare at her for it. What did she...

...Oh. That's right. She didn't know yet.

Not that it was a big deal or anything. He didn't feel like explaining it all outright, so he'd hint at it and only explain further if the girl asked. "Oh... I'm not used to human customs and behaviors," he said, completely nonchalant. "Like food. It's been a difficult time adjusting..." With that, Zero went right back to his sandwich.

"You're not... used to it?"

She set her own sandwich down again on her lap, peering curiously at Zero. Had she... She'd misheard, hadn't she? Human customs? But he looked perfectly human to her! Ridiculously long hair, sure, but any human could still grow their hair out that long. How could he possibly be anything but human?

"Uh..." Leanne began, realizing she had no idea how to even begin to broach the question. She spoke carefully, slowly, suddenly feeling completely out of her depth in the conversation. "What are you talking about? Doesn't... everyone eat? I think even monsters eat food. You never ate anything before coming here?"

The once-Reploid paused at his sandwich again to stare at the girl, saying nothing for a moment. Looks like he really had to explain this further, huh... Not that he faulted Leanne for being curious or confused. He would have felt the same way in her position.

A little amusing, though, that she brought up the word 'monsters'. Maybe another would've taken offense at that, but Zero wasn't bothered. It didn't apply to him, and she didn't understand.

"No," he answered calmly, keeping eye contact with her, "because I wasn't human before I came here. I was a Reploid...an android built with a mind like a human's."

Simple enough answer. He'd say that much for now, and allow the girl to respond as she wished.

There really was no tactful way to say she only understood about half of that, was there? Androids...? It sounded like something out of a movie, and one she didn't get all that well at that. Leanne would hardly say she didn't know anything about technology, but she couldn't deny the years in Aetersyl had affected her in that matter. She just didn't know as much about it as she would have liked to, though even someone like her could tell that... androids didn't exist in Basel. No human-like machines did.

Leanne looked down at her lap, brows furrowed, before quickly looking back up. "So, you're like a... uh..." And there really was no tactful way to call someone a machine either, was there? He... wouldn't be offended, right? "Like a machine? I don't think Reploids exist where I'm from..."

And to think she was actually talking to one. What kind of movie had she just walked into?

Fortunately for Leanne, Zero wasn't offended by the term used at all. She hadn't used the word in a negative context...and besides, 'machine' was almost exactly what he used to be, after all. Or, more technically, he'd been a number of different machines all working together to form one entity...one giant, human-like machine.

A war machine.

...But anyway. "Yeah," he said, still looking and sounding as unconcerned as ever. "I was. But I became human when I woke up here...I'm still trying to figure out how that happened, and if I can turn back to normal somehow." Just a few of his many questions about this place...

"There are other androids around here, but it doesn't seem like anyone knows what a Reploid is specifically... I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, though, considering everyone's from everywhere." Leanne...did know that all the prisoners here came from other time periods and other worlds, didn't she? Hopefully he wouldn't have to explain that, too... How long did she say she'd been here, again?

Edited 2012-03-18 22:41 (UTC)

Day 61: Sun Room (third shift)

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