damned_institute | Night 64: Main Hallway, 1-Center

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She paused again by the Sun Room, probing the darkness. There were no flashlights around to break up the shadows, and no natural light to guide her eyes. After all her many nights moving around the building without her own flashlight she’d become more than adept at navigating in total darkness, but caution still pricked at the fine hairs on the nape of her neck every time she reached an area that was not heavily populated with foot traffic.

If Landel had half a mind to prevent them from reaching the secret in the Medical Wing, now would be the time for him to act. Tsubaki couldn’t trust that he hadn’t heard I.R.I.S.’ relay, if the intercom’s abrupt cut-off had been any indication.

As she passed the doors leading to the entryway, she once again felt her eyes wandering toward them. Would what had happened there happen again? To someone she knew next time?

Would someone be injured because of the transformed prisoner?

Keep going, the assassin in her said. No time for doubts.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[from here]

Soma finally stopped for a breather just before the Sun Room doors. From here it was a straight line to the medical wing, and she was fairly certain she'd seen a sign for the X-ray room when she and Kratos had last explored the wing. So that was all right then.

She leaned against the wall, half-closed her eyes, and willed her head to stop pounding.

[Once-ler!]

[from here]

...well, he'd certainly thought he'd heard activity out here. As it were, there was only one other person in the hall, and she seemed to be... armed? But she also wore the same smiley face shirt, so perhaps they were in the same boat after all.

Walking over, the Once-ler leaned down to bring himself closer to the girl's height. "Excuse me, miss? You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you? I just woke up in a weird room and..." his voice trailed off as he noticed the large rash on her arm.

"Are you all right?"

It was, Soma thought grimly, a sign of how ill she felt when she couldn't even sense someone coming up from behind her. She looked up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Then she kept looking up, because the stranger was...tall. Very tall.

And new, from the sound of it. Soma pushed herself off the wall with a grunt. "I'm fine," she said, despite all evidence to the contrary. "It's probably not contagious." Then, because the last thing she wanted was more attention directed at her glaring weakness, "You said you just woke up here?"

"Unless this is all some vivid hallucination I'm having, yes, I suppose I did just wake up here," the Once-ler responded. He highly doubted that. Even after all that had happened, he hadn't gone crazy. Well, except for that one point.... He brushed the thoughts aside, focusing on the matter at hand.

He straightened. "So where are we, exactly? Some kind of run-down one-star motel whose owners kidnap people and dress them in absurd clothes as a practical joke? What's the point of all this?" He gestured at the hall around them.

Well, if she said she was fine, the Once-ler wouldn't press the issue further. Good to know what ever she had wasn't contagious, though.

Soma steadied herself and took a deep breath. Right. An introduction. She could do this. If nothing else, it gave her something to focus on. Something familiar, as ridiculous and pathetic as that sounded.

"You're right about the kidnapping part," she said. "They call this place Landel's Institute. It's supposedly a mental facility. During the day, the nurses will call you by a false name and pretend the person you really are is a hallucination or worse."

She shook her head. "It's just as well you got here at night, when you can see this place for the prison it really is. We're not certain why we're here or even when or where we are. All we know is that monsters roam the halls after dark and the man in charge of this place tries to pit us all against each other for fun."

"Landel's Institute," he repeated. That confirmed one place he wasn't. There was no Landel's Institute in Thneedville; the plans for the town hadn't even included a mental asylum. But kidnapping? What point was there in kidnapping a man who had willingly cut all ties to society?

Oh, so no one actually knew why they were here or where the place was. What did she mean by when, though? The Once-ler was about to pursue this avenue when the girl brought up something he really hadn't expected.

"Monsters? Being pit against each other for fun? I'm sorry, but this is all starting to sound a little crazy," the Once-ler said, the disbelief evident in his voice. "And this all happens only at night? What, is this some sort of horror movie brought to life? All fine and dandy at day, then the sun goes down and whoop! Everything's evil now!"

He clapped his hands together. "Forgive me if I'm having a little trouble believing this, since frankly that's even less likely than motel owners kidnapping people and dressing them in tacky shirts for fun."

"If it helps," Soma said dryly, "we think it's a government-funded military project designed to combat some unknown threat. And you're probably not in the same universe you went to sleep in."

Initial irritation aside, though, she wasn't really angry. This was how introductions went; she'd gone through enough of them to know that by now. She hadn't believed Conklin when he'd told her what was going on, and all he'd said was that he'd never heard of the HRL.

Hopefully the katana and the handgun strapped to her side were points in her favor rather than against. She hadn't seen enough horror movies to know.

"Listen," she said, "you don't have to believe me. I didn't believe it either when I got here. But you really shouldn't travel alone at night. I'm going down the hall to get medicine for this--" she indicated the rash across her arm-- "and you should probably come with me, just to be on the safe side."

Government-funded military projects and different universes now. He was starting to wonder if the girl had a few screws loose. It was just all so unbelievable. Then again... he hadn't believed the Lorax at first, either. His face fell slightly at the memory.

Perhaps he should just go along with her. If she was nutty, well, that was no skin off his nose. But on the off chance that she was right, he'd probably regret not staying by her.

The Once-ler sighed. "I'm still not sure I believe you, but I guess there's no harm in going along together. Besides, you really should get some medicine for that rash; it looks nasty."

Something occurred to him. "Actually, I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I'm the Once-ler." He offered his hand for a shake.

The man seemed disappointed about something for a moment, but it wasn't really in her nature to ask what. He was pretty much a stranger, after all.

Soma shook her head. "It doesn't hurt or itch, it's just there. The cold that apparently comes with it is worse. Probably an experiment they're performing on us. I don't want to find out what it is."

She shook his hand firmly, then began to move down the hall again, gesturing for him to follow. "I'm Soma Peries. Is that...a title where you come from?"

The question caught him off guard; he'd never been asked that before. "Not really? I've always been the Once-ler," he replied. "Although people usually drop the 'the' when talking to me directly. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Soma."

The Once-ler easily kept pace with Soma. It was one of the advantages of being so tall. "So, where are we headed to?"

Soma blinked, but nodded quickly. Maybe it was a cultural thing. In any case, she wasn't feeling up to puzzling it out. "Once-ler it is, then," she said. "And it's nice to meet you too, I guess. I'm sorry it isn't under better circumstances."

She gestured down the hall. "There's a medical wing just down the hall. Apparently the cure's in there, though I'm certain Landel won't let us have it without a fight."

[to here]

Night 64: Main Hallway, 1-Center

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