Day 64: Sun Room

[overlimit]

This time, when Rita awakened, the drowsiness and disorientation cleared much faster than it had during the night. Being in a familiar room with traces of light helped with that. Instinctively, she tried to pull herself up, but the motion sent a piercing pain through her chest.

"Oh, Paige, let me help you!" a nurse cried from the doorway as she rushed to Rita's side. For once, Rita wasn't about to put up a fight, though she grumbled a bit as she was eased upright and to her feet. Her right arm was in a cast, which was kept immobilized in a sling. Wherever skin was visible, bruising could be found, and a particularly deep shade of blackish-blue could be seen peeking out from the edge of her shirt collar.

As they began to walk to the Sun Room, the nurse continued talking. "I hope you're not too disappointed at missing the field trip. But I have good news for you! The doctors say you'll be good as new in no time, so long as you take care and don't aggravate your injuries." The woman went on to list a number of activities the mage should avoid or ask for help with, as though Rita couldn't figure those things out for herself. Finally, they reached their destination and Rita was left in peace.

First things first: the bulletin. Since it was early in the day, there weren't many messages from patients yet. That was fine; it would mean her own message would be more visible. First, she needed to notify Taura of her situation, and then there were a few magic-related topics she wanted to inquire about...

Rita picked up a pen and a slip of paper, bent over one of the tables near the bulletin, and began to write... but the letters came out jerky and illegible.

"Dammit," she hissed, scrapping the paper and beginning again. Using only her non-dominant hand was more difficult than she imagined. This time, she wrote very slowly, taking care to write each stroke of each letter neatly. The result was still awkward-looking, but at least it was a readable start. She just needed to be patient... though that was a virtue Rita certainly lacked.

[Taura!]

Comments

[dualistic]

Harvey woke up suddenly, drawn from the abandoned town and its undead residents back into the warm bed that he had gotten overly used to over the weeks. The transition was more jarring than usual, if only because he'd moved such a far distance away from the institute. This just went to show that no matter how far they tried to run, there was really no way of escaping.

Still, with any luck he'd gotten himself some more ammunition, which was bound to come in handy at some point, even if it was only by way of shooting Landel and Aguilar both in the head. He didn't have the time right now to check if the rounds had safely made their way into his box, though, seeing how a nurse walked in a second later.

"Come along, Mr. Eckhart. You always choose to go to the Sun Room on Sundays, don't you?"

Harvey was shocked that she remembered. These nurses didn't really seem like real people a lot of the time, so the idea that they could retain that sort of information was unsettling in a strange way. Still, he only nodded, letting her lead him straight into the Sun Room, where he quickly noticed the pattering of rain overhead.

While he had no interest in offering any suggestions or voting on what movie they watched today, he did want to see what else was being posted on the bulletin board. He didn't hesitate to step up to it, pausing when he realized there was already someone in the way.

"You almost finished?" he asked, not putting much effort into sounding polite. At least he wasn't being outwardly hostile, which was really more than anyone could expect of him at this hour.

[stop_the_rain]

Murphy looked away from the board when he was addressed, and shuffled out of the way with an inclination of his head. He doubted the movies meant anything - they weren't even the ones from the movie theater. He was just standing there taking up room at this point.

"Sorry," he mumbled, not used to this sort of environment. Unless he was at workshop, in the yard or in the caf, Murphy was used to being in his cell. This 'roam around normal rooms' kind of confinement was hard to acclimate himself to.

He rubbed the back of his neck and debated a moment before speaking up. Hell, it didn't hurt to ask questions.

"Uh...is this updated all day?"

[dualistic]

If things had gone his way, the stranger would have moved away and found someplace to sit and he would have been able to read the morning messages in peace. But things hadn't gone this way since he'd woken up in this place -- no, since before that -- so he wasn't overly shocked when the man asked a question instead.

Harvey's gaze had caught on a familiar name -- his roommate's -- and the message attached to it. Lunge was gone? That shouldn't have been a surprise seeing how the past few days the man had either kept to himself or slept through dinner, but it was still something of a shock. They had been roommates for longer than any of the other people he'd been forced to share a space with in this place.

Maybe the most frustrating part of that was that he would have to start all over again with someone else, but he could deal with that later. For now, this guy was asking him something.

"We're allowed to post things up all day, if that's what you mean," he said with a shrug. "It definitely gets the most activity first thing in the morning, but if you put something up you'll have to check back periodically for responses." It was a pain, but at least they had some way of interacting with each other that wasn't face-to-face. Seeing how he didn't have the most charming of appearances, what with half of his face being swathed in bandages, that sometimes worked in his favor.

[stop_the_rain]

"Yeah, right. Thanks. That's what I meant." Well, Murphy figured he'd already started asking this guy questions, why stop now? There wasn't anything wrong with finally getting some information the normal way. Clearing his throat, the ex-con angled his body a bit towards the other man, head dropping a little bit. The stance was just something he'd picked up in prison, assertive without being confrontational or challenging. He didn't even think about it, really, it had just become ingrained in him.

"Uh...is this in code?" he went on, because that made the most sense to him. He wasn't entirely sure what was actually happening to him anymore, but he figured he was pretty okay for the moment. This was the real world, or close enough for him, and so maybe he was in a loony bin....

But it wasn't the same on as last night. Or it was, but it was a different level of it. He could deal with the level filled with other crazies and neatly planned out activities.

"I mean, are people communicating in code? I'm sorry to just start bugging you like this, but...I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."

[dualistic]

Maybe it would have been better to just ignore the guy, since now he'd gotten dragged into a full-on conversation with someone who clearly didn't know the first thing about this place. It was cold, but Harvey generally didn't like talking to the newcomers. There wasn't any useful information he could get out of them, and they usually didn't have anything else to offer. He wasn't in the business of making friends, so he found most conversations where he was giving out all the information to be a waste of time.

He could have just walked off, but chances were that a nurse would notice -- and there was always that small chance that the stranger would want to repay him for his help at some point. It was an investment if nothing else.

"Some of it's in code," he said with a nod. "If we're too obvious with the stuff we talk about, it can run the risk of being taken down." It was hard to judge what the nurses would see as a violation and what they would leave alone, but it was usually better safe than sorry.

"How long ago did you get here?" Harvey asked. If he was going to be stuck playing tour guide, then he might as well get an idea of what he was working with.

[stop_the_rain]

"That's...a pretty good question."

Murphy shook his head, wishing he had a better answer for the guy.

"Maybe last night. Maybe a couple of days ago. Guess it depends on if you mean 'here in this hospital' or 'here in hell'." Not that he wasn't absolutely sure they weren't the same thing, but he was starting to think so. Or maybe it really was all the same thing, and there were just different levels of it. Like the analogy he'd used for Nina the night before.

But either way, he refused to consider the idea that this was just a normal asylum and he'd gone crazy. He knew it was technically a possibility - he'd been questioning his sanity since the diner - but if that was the case, these were some hardcore, in depth delusions.

He'd never been that creative a guy.

"Uh, I'm Murphy by the way. Look, thanks for helping me out, I appreciate it."

[dualistic]

It was good to see that this Murphy guy was willing to take a moment to stop with the questions and actually offer some thanks for the help. There were probably other people here who could give him more detailed information with less of an attitude, but Murphy had decided to talk to him specifically, so he was going to have to deal with Harvey's way of doing things. He didn't seem to mind much so far.

Since neither of them were paying much attention to the bulletin at this point, Harvey started to edge away from it in order to give other people the chance to get their time in.

"I'm Harvey," he said. "And it's fine. This isn't hell, but with some of the stuff we're put through it may as well be. What did you see while you were out last night?" If the guy had woken up in one of the rooms here then he'd probably missed a lot of the action, but Harvey was almost hoping he'd seen something. That would make it a lot easier to explain things, since he wouldn't have to be handling the man's skepticism at the same time.

[stop_the_rain]

"Some of the first floor," Murphy admitted to Harvey. Then he shrugged and looked away for a minute. "Dead bodies. Monsters got them. That was the last thing we ran into before...you know. All of a sudden you're waking up somewhere else, not sure how it happened....does that happen to everybody here?"

Maybe it didn't. But he'd rather focus on that than bloody corpses. He'd been up close and personal with worse than what they'd seen in the Entry Room, but that didn't mean Murphy was a-okay with gruesome dead bodies.

But really he was just trying to figure out if he was in some other demented 'lesson', still stuck in Silent Hill because Anne couldn't let go of her demons, or if this was just one more stop on his road to freedom.

If there even was such a thing for him anymore. He scrubbed his hands over his face and sank down into a nearby chair, deciding that just sitting for a minute would be a really good idea.

"They replaced my journal and my flashlight and my radio, too," he went on, remembering how he had been a little confused they were all right there. But the journal was empty, and the radio just always seemed to buzz and fizz when he turned it on, regardless of what was around.

[dualistic]

Dead bodies? So some poor saps had been mauled last night, from the sound of it. Murphy was talking about monsters like he was used to the idea. While that made things easier on him as someone dispensing information, he had to wonder what sort of background the guy had, if he was so quick to accept the idea of monsters when he hadn't even been here a full twenty-four hours.

Maybe it was better not to question it, seeing how it only worked in his favor at the moment. Regardless of what Murphy had been through before, the monsters here were definitely real.

"Yeah, it happens to everybody," he said, leaning himself against the wall close to where the other man was sitting. He crossed his arms over his chest and glanced across the room, not looking at anything in particular. "Eventually night ends and you'll wake up back in your room without warning, with everything you had with you back where you found it."

They didn't seem to confiscate much these days, either, so Harvey probably didn't have to worry about whether or not his ammo had made it back with him. Still, that was likely the first thing he was going to look for when he got back to his room later that day.

[stop_the_rain]

"So...it's on a schedule?" Murphy frowned a little, but nodded. Whatever grasp he'd thought he had on his situation was rapidly slipping away. But he was glad to hear he wasn't going to have to re-gather all his supplies next time. The fact that there would be a next time was just something Murphy assumed. Getting out of places one was imprisoned in wasn't easy. Getting out of crazy haunted places that seemed to have been abandoned by God? 'Easy' wasn't even in the same galaxy.

"Where is this place? I know that's a stupid question, but... I've had to ask a lot of stupid questions recently. Kinda out of my element, I guess."

And at least that would help him sort things out a little bit. It didn't occur to him to just ask 'hey, what's going on here?', simply because he'd been asking that for days and never got a straight answer. But if he wasn't in Silent Hill anymore...

Then what was this? Some sort of punishment? For what?

[dualistic]

"You could say that," Harvey responded with a shrug. "It's nothing too complicated, just night versus day. But time can be... strange here." He didn't really know how to elaborate on that, since it was something that you just got a feel for once you'd spent a few days here.

Asking where wasn't really a stupid question, although Harvey could see how it would feel that way to someone who was brand new. Not that he could really narrow it down, but any answer was probably good enough for Murphy at the moment.

Besides, the guy had picked to talk to him, so he was going to have to deal with what he got.

"We don't know much about where. The most that's been figured out is that it's somewhere in the States, but..." The whole issue of alternate realities made that even more confusing, but he didn't know if he should get into that. There was such a thing as overloading someone.

[stop_the_rain]

"Anywhere near New England?"

Murphy didn't think he could have...could have what? Been magically transported that far? What did he really know about it? He could be on the other side of the country for all he actually knew. All he had were guesses and pretty good ideas, really.

And he was being a pretty big ass, in trying to figure out more. This Harvey guy was trying to help him, and giving him the straightest answers he'd gotten in a long time. And all he could do was bark more questions at him. He didn't want to be one of Those Guys. He'd seen what happens to Those Guys in prison - it wasn't good. And this might have been a hospital, but from what he'd seen so far, it was a prison just the same.

"Shit, I'm sorry. All the questions. But hey man, look...anything I can ever do for you, let me know."

And hey, it was never too early to start trading favors.

[dualistic]

Hadn't he just said that the extent of what he knew was that it was in the States? Why was this guy bothering to try and dig for more information when Harvey clearly didn't have it? He sighed and glanced away for a moment, although he had to admit that New England was a decent guess, based on the weather that they'd been exposed to so far. Still, there was no knowing for sure.

Surprisingly, though, Murphy realized pretty soon after asking that it had been a stupid question to pose, and followed up with an apology. While he didn't need to go that far, some acknowledgment was still appreciated.

"Sure," he said after a pause. "But like I said, there's no real way of knowing where we are. They'll let us outside eventually, and then you can make your own conclusions." As far the offer of help, Harvey kept it in mind, but he doubted that it would ever come up. For the most part, he had things under control here.