Day 63: South Street (Morning)

[revolutionise]

Utena knew exactly where she was headed first, no question. She really doubted Marc would be in the abandoned building still, but despite that, she still felt it was worth looking over just in case. Who knew? Maybe other rebels had been there and left traces behind. She wouldn't know until she checked.

And even if they hadn't, it just felt... well, natural to go back to that place. Thanks to Marc's temporary residence there, the building somehow felt more connected to the patient body than any other place in the area. Like it was theirs by right or something. She knew it was kind of silly to think that way, but that didn't stop her. So she walked from the unloading area down to South Street, a purpose in her step and pink fabric swishing around her legs as she walked.

Maybe I can burn this stupid skirt when I get there, if nothing else, she thought, cheeks flushing slightly.

[Leanne]

Comments

[survives]

The conversation really had helped, keeping her mind off everything she'd rather not think about, if only for a short while. Even the slight motion sickness was easily ignored while she was occupied, just a slight discomfort. However, as soon as she stepped off, Leanne found herself alone, her thoughts once again her only company.

And her thoughts were exactly what she wanted to escape, the uncertainty of just what was wrong with her. She grimaced, pulling the jacket a little tighter around her torso, making sure the sleeves still covered her hands. What she needed was another distraction. Anything at all would do, just as long as she could think about something besides her health.

Luckily, one did present itself then, in the form of a pinkhaired girl she thought she recognized... dressed in even more pink. The girl from the Greenhouse! "Hey!" she called out, waving as she once again found it in herself to smile. "It's you!"

[revolutionise]

Utena looked back over her shoulder when called to, cheeks still pink to match her ensemble despite efforts to the contrary. "Oh! Hey! From the Greenhouse, right? You're..."

She laughed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry! Did I get your name last time? I'm Utena, by the way," she said, stopping and turning to face the older girl.

[survives]

"Leanne!" she said by way of introduction, now finding it incredibly easy to laugh as she moved closer. "I'm Leanne! Sorry I didn't tell you last time."

Then again, she'd been a little entranced by the flowers that time... and getting splashed. Was it really so strange that it'd slipped her mind? "But it's good to see you again, Utena! And outside too!"

[revolutionise]

Utena gave Leanne a reassuring smile and waved her hand as she answered: "Oh no, it's fine! It's totally fine. That splash kind of took the spotlight then, didn't it?"

This was good. Utena didn't feel super self-conscious around Leanne, even in an outfit that wasn't to her taste. It wasn't until the other girl mentioned them being outside that she thought about it again, and even then, she didn't feel as embarrassed as she had been around Locke. "Mmhm, it's good to be outside again, for sure. Though, they could work on the outfits they give us to go out in, huh?" she commented, lifting up the side of her skirt and nodding toward Leanne's own very bright jacket.

As they started walking together, Utena realized that they were still headed in the same direction she had been moving in to begin with, and a thought occurred to her. "So I'm headed somewhere a lot more interesting than most places in town. Want to check it out with me?" she asked. Maybe Leanne wouldn't get to meet Marc, but the more patients knew more about him and the more private spaces they had on their side, the better.

[survives]

Leanne fell into step easily next to Utena, the smile still on her face. "Yeah, I guess so," she answered, her tone light, attempting to show she didn't hold it against the girl at all. "At least I didn't get all of my clothes wet, huh?"

She couldn't quite help another laugh as Utena pointed out their current clothing though, almost glad to see she hadn't been the only one stuck with clothes she didn't exactly like. "Tell me about it. They're definitely not what I'd wear back home," she agreed, shaking her head. "Who picked them anyway? The nurses?" That sounded almost perfect, actually, just the type of thing the cloyingly sweet nurses would have picked.

Her attention was completely diverted, however, at the mention of somewhere more interesting than the town. Now that? That was something she couldn't afford to miss. "Yeah, I'm in! What is it?"

[revolutionise]

Utena had to grin when Leanne showed as much interest as she did. "Somewhere they can't watch anyone," she said, lowering her voice and raising a hand to obscure her mouth in case any nurses could still see them. She gestured for Leanne to keep following, and they sped up their pace a bit.

As they moved down South Street and watched the buildings get more and more dilapidated, Utena continued on from the other part of their conversation: "Anyway, yeah, I'd peg the nurses for sure. Mine said they're going based on what I 'used to' like." Utena crossed her arms behind her head, rolling her eyes. "If it were up to the real me and not that 'other' me, I'd be dressed in something a lot cooler. More boyish."

[survives]

Leanne nodded, glancing quickly at their surroundings before speaking again. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Utena meant by they and she definitely wouldn't want them to listen in on their conversation either. "Okay, gotcha," she said in a whisper, leaning in slightly. "I'll wait till we're there."

As they walked, she found her attention caught more and more by the state of the buildings around them, so different from what she'd seen that night. It really was a completely different atmosphere, seeing Doyleton during the day. It didn't help that she and Renamon hadn't strayed this far that time.

At the turn the conversation took, however, she made a face, crossing her arms in front of her. "I don't think I like whoever they think we are. It just sounds all..." She lowered her arms, breathing out a sigh. "It sounds all wrong, you know?"

[revolutionise]

Utena shivered in agreement. "You don't know the half of it. A few weeks back, they actually made a few of us think we were who they told us we were," she explained. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought the air around them had grown a touch thicker and colder all of a sudden. "Of all the dirty tricks they've pulled... That has got to be one of my least favourite so far."

She sighed, resting a hand behind her neck. "I guess that's part of why I want to find more places where they can't get at us so easily. You know what I'm saying?"

[survives]

It took conscious effort to keep following Utena then, to not just stop and stare in shock. As it was, Leanne couldn't quite keep the incredulous tone from her voice, couldn't quite keep the dismay from it. "Seriously?" she began... then stopped. Quickly catching herself, she lowered her voice, feeling her face grow warm at her outburst. "They... They made you guys think you really were crazy and all of that? That's sick!"

She shook her head, suddenly unsure if the chill that had come over had been caused by their current topic... or by whatever was happening to her. "Yeah, I gotcha. I guess we really need places like that."

[revolutionise]

"We really do. Because you're right: it is sick, and that's not even the half of it," said Utena, pressing her fingernails into the heel of her hand as they walked and gritting her teeth. "I almost convinced a few people I was telling the truth, too! Some people could have gone around thinking my name was 'Yomi' instead of Utena!"

Ugh, she could have punched something right now, if Leanne hadn't been standing next to her. "I didn't even recognize my closest friend for who she was until we were both really hurt at night, too," she added, shaking her head and scrunching her eyes shut for a moment. "And even then, night ended right after that, and everyone was back to normal the next morning anyway, like it had never happened."

[survives]

Leanne stayed silent as Utena explained, crossing her arms in front of her. That was... How in the world had they even managed to do that? Somehow kidnapping them all there, what happened at the end of every night: she could accept those things, even if they made little sense. That was only moving them around place somehow, in some way she just didn't understand. But this? This was entirely different. This was their own minds that had been affected, everything they'd believed.

The depths of Landel's power over them were beginning to seem more and more unbelievable every day.

"That was it?" she asked, almost surprised at how faint her own voice sounded. Clearing her throat, she continued, her voice coming out stronger this time. "Like... Like when the military left and all the nurses and everything just acted like it was nothing? I don't know how they can do that...."