Barnaby Brooks Jr. [Bunny] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
baniichan) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2012-02-28 09:56 pm
baniichan) wrote in damned_institute2012-02-28 09:56 pm
Day 62: Breakfast
A misplaced sense of familiarity met Barnaby the moment he opened his eyes, and the sight of the blank, white ceiling from yesterday morning greeted him. After rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands, Barnaby sat up and felt around for his glasses. Had he blacked out again and wasted an entire night? Where was Kotetsu? And what had become of the man who had seemingly vanished before his very eyes at the end of dinner?
Once Barnaby slipped his frames onto his face, the world came into clearer focus, even if he didn’t get any answers out of it. He was in his room, and someone had apparently stripped him out of his street clothes in favor of the hideous hospital pajamas. Barnaby wasn't sure what he found more offensive -- that someone here had once again touched his things without his permission, or that he’d been undressed while unconscious for the second time since his arrival.
The thought made his skin crawl.
Just as he looked over to find a lump in the bed next to him, though, his assigned nurse came to retrieve him. He would have to confirm Klavier Gavin's whereabouts later. For now, he had no choice but to allow the nurse to escort him into the cafeteria. Strangely, she seemed to be under the impression that he and the other patients had slept soundly the whole night. While he might have assumed it was an act, Barnaby got the feeling that she genuinely believed what she was saying.
Regardless of her intentions, he knew she wasn't going to be any help. Instead of trying to ask her anymore questions, Barnaby left a note on the bulletin board concerning his roommate. If his observations from yesterday were any indication, he'd get some responses, at least. While he could have taken the time to leave something for Kotetsu, Barnaby didn't feel inclined to do so, especially when he knew he probably wouldn't check the board anyway.
He had no appetite this morning, but his nurse wouldn't leave him alone until she'd assembled a tray of fresh, fluffy pancakes for him. Honestly, Barnaby didn't see why some people felt the need to butt into his personal choices like this. At least there wasn't anyone forcing him to eat -- for now, at any rate. He sat down at an empty table close to the wall after setting his food down, privately hoping that she wouldn't try to find a "friend" for him to eat with this morning. He was tucked out of the way, so maybe she would forget about him for a few minutes as long as he didn't draw any unnecessary attention to himself.
Hands neatly clasped on the table, Barnaby didn't look at anyone in particular as patients filtered into the cafeteria for their morning meal. There were too many questions buzzing in his mind for him to focus on the names and faces of people he didn't care about. If Kotetsu wanted to find him, he could. It wasn't like Barnaby was going anywhere.
[For Kotetsu.]
Once Barnaby slipped his frames onto his face, the world came into clearer focus, even if he didn’t get any answers out of it. He was in his room, and someone had apparently stripped him out of his street clothes in favor of the hideous hospital pajamas. Barnaby wasn't sure what he found more offensive -- that someone here had once again touched his things without his permission, or that he’d been undressed while unconscious for the second time since his arrival.
The thought made his skin crawl.
Just as he looked over to find a lump in the bed next to him, though, his assigned nurse came to retrieve him. He would have to confirm Klavier Gavin's whereabouts later. For now, he had no choice but to allow the nurse to escort him into the cafeteria. Strangely, she seemed to be under the impression that he and the other patients had slept soundly the whole night. While he might have assumed it was an act, Barnaby got the feeling that she genuinely believed what she was saying.
Regardless of her intentions, he knew she wasn't going to be any help. Instead of trying to ask her anymore questions, Barnaby left a note on the bulletin board concerning his roommate. If his observations from yesterday were any indication, he'd get some responses, at least. While he could have taken the time to leave something for Kotetsu, Barnaby didn't feel inclined to do so, especially when he knew he probably wouldn't check the board anyway.
He had no appetite this morning, but his nurse wouldn't leave him alone until she'd assembled a tray of fresh, fluffy pancakes for him. Honestly, Barnaby didn't see why some people felt the need to butt into his personal choices like this. At least there wasn't anyone forcing him to eat -- for now, at any rate. He sat down at an empty table close to the wall after setting his food down, privately hoping that she wouldn't try to find a "friend" for him to eat with this morning. He was tucked out of the way, so maybe she would forget about him for a few minutes as long as he didn't draw any unnecessary attention to himself.
Hands neatly clasped on the table, Barnaby didn't look at anyone in particular as patients filtered into the cafeteria for their morning meal. There were too many questions buzzing in his mind for him to focus on the names and faces of people he didn't care about. If Kotetsu wanted to find him, he could. It wasn't like Barnaby was going anywhere.
[For Kotetsu.]
it's all good now! |D
Leanne couldn't be completely sure it'd be the same with Zero, but surely, surely he'd appreciate it more if she treated him normally, wouldn't he? Almost embarrassed at how she'd initially reacted, she attempted a small smile.
All right, understanding. She could do that.
"Sorry," she repeated. "But I'm glad to hear you're okay. No dog's gonna get you next time, huh?"
yay! /o/
... He sighed. There was a small desire to tell Leanne the truth. To tell her everything that had gone wrong, so that maybe he could find some peace through comfort. But the desire was too small for him to act upon it. Revealing his true feelings about something like this wasn't something he was very...good at, anyway.
Besides, he knew he needed to simply stop over-thinking things and letting it get to him like this. And Leanne, someone so cheerful, didn't need to hear something that could potentially lower her spirits.
Thus, Zero would change the subject as quickly as he could. "Did you have a productive night this time?" he asked. He remembered her telling him yesterday (with a little disappointment) that she'd completely slept through the night before last. Perhaps she'd gotten something accomplished this past night and would like to talk about whatever it was.
|D
It wasn't quite an angry huff or a glare, not even close, but as far as Leanne was concerned, what it meant was the same. She wasn't about to get any real answers anytime soon.
Well, it wouldn't hurt to let him change the subject either, would it?
"Yeah," she began, voice soft but steadily rising back to its normal pitch, a hint of excitement entering it as she began to explain. "Did you know there's a town out there? It's... I got to go there last night!"
no subject
In fact, the one detail she mentioned caught his attention immediately. So there was a town near the Institute, huh? "No, I didn't know," Zero replied, looking much less surprised than he really was. The most Leanne would get by the way of a surprised look was a few blinks - not that that was anything unusual, of course. "Where is it? And what did you find there?"
The thought of a nearby town raised more questions in the once-Reploid's mind than just the two he'd asked. Could any civilians actually be living in this area? If so, what were they doing here, and did they know about this place? He would wait for Leanne to explain a little more before he overloaded her with his questions, however.
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...Definitely not something she wanted to do too often, she decided with a grimace, especially not if she wasn't going to get any warning every time. "Teleporting wasn't... really nice though."
"But the town was empty last night! We got a few guns from there, but we didn't see anyone. It was kinda spooky..."
no subject
(But wait. If this person had the ability to teleport, then why wasn't she using it to escape from here? ... One question at a time. Better focus on the town itself first.)
So, if they had to teleport to the town by the means of...some unknown device, then that could mean the town was quite far from the Institute... And that wasn't all. This town, wherever it was, had no inhabitants when Leanne and the girl she'd been with had gone there. Supplies, but no people. That sounded rather suspicious. "I wonder why it was abandoned," Zero wondered aloud, frowning. There could be a lot of reasons for that, and few of them were good. He shook his head, then asked, "You didn't run into any trouble, right? No creatures, no corpses, just an empty town?"
no subject
Renamon had called it technology and, certainly, nothing else quite seemed to fit it. But she couldn't deny she still didn't have the slightest idea how blood could be used in something technological. It seemed... almost wrong to her somehow, even if Renamon had only used a drop or two.
Still, it had gotten them there safely, without running into anything she'd been warned about.
Leanne shook her head, a frown coming to her face. "It's not really abandoned. I think they're supposed to take us there sometimes, during the day. I guess it's just a normal town then." And didn't that just make what she was about to say all the harder, knowing that it was regular, ordinary people who were affected, people who probably weren't all that different from the ones in Ebel City. "We didn't run into any of that at all, but Renamon said that... At night, it's not that different from how it is in here."
no subject
Still, making it all the way to a town was pretty impressive...even if that town wasn't the safest place to be at night, according to Leanne.
"Not surprising," Zero responded, still frowning. "Why shouldn't the nightly rules of the Institute apply to the areas surrounding it..." It made sense, after all. If Landel could control this whole Institute through whatever technology he used, who's to say he couldn't control the neighboring town, too?
And the prisoners were supposed to be taken to this town some days, huh... Wonder why. "So what else did you find there besides guns?"
no subject
"...If Landel's really in charge of all of this," she continued, bringing her voice under control again. "I guess it makes sense for it to happen there too."
"Not much." She shook her head, shrugging slightly. "We were just going to see if we could find any more guns, besides the ones she'd already found. And we didn't get that far before we woke up here again either..."
no subject
Leanne seemed pretty upset about it all, in any case. Though nowhere near as vocal (or outwardly emotional) about it, Zero shared her sentiment. There was no excuse for any of Landel's actions here, especially if innocent people were being affected by his power. The sooner that madman was stopped, the better.
"I see." The once-Reploid paused, thinking. Just the thought of that town made him highly curious to know more about it - made him want to go there himself, eventually - but he wasn't sure how many of his questions could be answered here. Leanne said she didn't get far...so what could he ask that didn't rely on one having spent a lot of time in that place?
"What did...the town look like?" he asked after another moment's pause. "Was it modern, did it look technologically advanced at all?"
They were important questions to him. Zero wanted to know what the world outside the Institute's walls looked like...mostly for curiosity's sake, admittedly. But it could also tell him a little bit about what human life was like here, so he knew what to expect once he finally got out of here. Surely it had to be more advanced than his own homeworld if people like Landel could put machines into organic bodies and drag in people from other time periods...