damned_institute | Day 65: 3rd Shift: Courtyard

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Day 65: 3rd Shift: Courtyard

[From here.]

It was chilly out in the courtyard, making Lloyd glad for the odd but relatively warm clothing he'd found himself in when he woke up. He could have stay inside the building, he knows. His nurse had told him he had a choice of several rooms he could eat his lunch in, if he wanted. The cold felt good, though, and the tree he was sitting against felt solid and comfortable. He still felt lost, but trying to get straight answers from the nurse was frustrating. The man had retreated to let him eat in peace, promising to come back when Lloyd was finished and he'd had a chance to "clear his head." The teen was just fine with that.

Lunch itself was actually pretty good. He'd gotten a chicken sandwich, and his spirits lifted a little when he saw that there was a brownie with it. It had taken him a minute to figure out the box with juice inside, having never encountered anything like that before, but after that it was easy to just settle down and enjoy his food.

Well, for the most part. Worry for his Dad still ate at him, and he had no idea where any of his friends were. He still felt a little off, too, like some intangible part of him was missing or weakened, but he chalked that up to leftover side effects of whatever it was Yuan had done to him. He was confident that would disappear soon enough, once he finished recovering. He already felt well enough that as soon as he was done eating, he was determined to leave. If his doctor had his things, he'd ask for them first, and maybe he could talk to some of the other people here, see if they knew anything that could help, but one way or another, he needed to find his friends and make sure his Dad was all right.

[To here.]

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"I just wanted to get my stuff back before I left." Lloyd frowned a little bit, giving Kyousuke a curious look. Something about what he'd just said didn't make sense. "Why wouldn't they let me go to his office? Isn't he supposed to see people there?" Unless maybe he had another room where he saw the patients he was helping. If that was the case, Lloyd would just go there instead.

As far as he was concerned, though, it should be as simple as that. He was only here until he was completely recovered, which he figured would only take another day at most. Really, though, he felt good enough that he thought he could probably leave today.

... He'd thought as much. That sounded similar to what he'd been thinking when he'd first woke up: that he could simply walk out and find his way home from there. Sora had mentioned there were others that were new here, but somehow Kyousuke hadn't expected to run into any of them himself. He had to frown, not sure if he wanted to deal with this. He wasn't good at being delicate, and he didn't know much to begin with. But he couldn't really leave someone totally in the dark, could he... He'd just have to lay out what he did know, then.

"... That would be true, if this were a normal hospital," he said plainly. "Nobody's here by choice, and they won't let anyone leave. ... I don't know why. Someone who's been here longer might be able to tell you. But if I can tell you one thing, it's that it's dangerous here."

He had no idea how that would be taken, or if it would go over well, but it didn't matter. Even if the other boy didn't believe him, he'd end up seeing it sooner or later.

Kyousuke's words doused any contentment Lloyd had still been feeling. "Wait. I thought we were taken here because we were sick." That was how hospitals were supposed to work. "I mean, yeah, someone probably had to bring me here because I was too sick to get here myself, but you're saying they won't let me leave even now that I'm feeling better?"

He had to be misunderstanding. That wasn't the way that doctors or hospitals were supposed to work. Once you got better, you left so that other people who were sick and needed help could take your place.

Something in his stomach sank with foreboding at the warning in the boy's final words. Lloyd tried to shake it off, but he couldn't keep from asking anyway. Tension prickled between his shoulderblades. "What do you mean, dangerous?"

... Sick? That made him think of the illness going around that Sora had told him about. But this guy didn't look nearly as bad off as he had, and didn't seem to think anything was wrong with him. ... Good. That was one less concern.

"That's just a farce," he said seriously. "The people here are more like prisoners than patients." He furrowed his brow and looked away for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. How was he supposed to explain something he knew so little about and barely understood himself? Most of his knowledge was vague, and didn't offer much by way of explanation. But still, a start was better than nothing at all.

"During the day, it's like this. They keep you here by a different name, and pretend you're insane. Arguing with them is a waste of time; they'll just say you're unstable. It easier to act at night, because you can go wherever you want, but it's not that simple. There's monsters in the halls, and they could kill you.

"... But it's not just them. The other night, I was attacked by another patient. From the sound of things, they weren't doing it willingly; they'd been brainwashed. You'll probably get attacked if you try to use one of the exits, but I've heard even if do get past, you'll only wake up in bed again in the morning."

He clenched his fists and looked down, disgust and contempt coursing through him. Honestly, he didn't know if everything he was saying was true, but he'd seen enough to believe everything he'd heard. And, whether this guy believed him or not, he was sure he'd eventually see it, too. The thought was unsettling. How many people here dealing with this, and for what reason? ... No, the reason didn't matter. It wouldn't redeem anything about this place.

"It... can't really be that bad, can it?" And yet there was a note of uncertainty in Lloyd's voice that said he wasn't dismissing this kid's claims, either. What reason would Kyousuke have to lie to him, after all? On the other hand, though... "Why would a hospital do something like that?" He couldn't see a reason for that, either.

He shook his head, unconsciously clenching his hand around the empty paper sack. "If something like that is happening, why isn't anyone doing something about it? Is it because of the monsters? Or is everyone here too sick to fight back?" There was no question in his mind that he at least had been sick when he arrived, or at least there'd been something very wrong with him. It stood to reason that other people were sick when they came here, too. Even this boy could be sick, though he didn't seem to be showing symptoms. The thought made Lloyd frown with concern.

"What about you? Are you sick, too?"

Despite the concern, though, his mind went back to the mention of being brainwashed. The thought disturbed him, horrified him. But asking about Kyousuke was more important right now.

Edited 2012-07-31 11:09 (UTC)

Kyousuke crossed his arms, his expression becoming distant. ... He'd been dreading this part of the conversation. Anyone would have questions, but he didn't know how to answer any of them. He was starting to feel a little sympathy for Murphy, for having to deal with him demanding answers, but not for the first time, he wished he could have had this all explained to him by someone who actually knew what was going on. Maybe that was unreasonable, but Kyousuke didn't care.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But whatever it is, there's no justifying it."

He listened to the rest quietly, with building tension and frustration. The questions themselves were fair enough, but they brought on a certain sense uselessness, and anger, both at himself, and the people around him. He made a glance around, at the little groups forming around the courtyard. Why weren't they banding together more? He clenched his fists, but he tried to force the thought down and relax more. ... He didn't have the right to make judgments quite yet. He hadn't seen much, so maybe he was missing something. And part of it was his own fault; he never had been very good with strangers.

"Most people go out at night," he answered, keeping his thoughts to himself. "If you want to do something, that's probably your best bet." It was something, at least. Maybe there was something more concentrated then, but he wouldn't know. The guy he'd been running around with the first night hadn't seemed particularly competent by Kyousuke's standards.

Or maybe it was just too hard for anyone to do much right now. Somehow, he hadn't thought to factor the illness going around into things. "Some people are too sick to do much, but it isn't natural like you're imagining." He paused for a moment. This part... he wasn't sure he wanted to talk about at all. But he supposed anyone stuck here had the right to know. "... Supposedly, the people sick here are going to turn into monsters."

If there was anything here that scared him, it was that. Just the idea of someone turning and attacking... or getting attacked themselves because of it. The idea of being out into that situation with innocent people was worse than anything else.

But the last question caught him off-guard, and he had to jerk his head up in surprise. Was that this guy's first thought in all of this? "... I'm fine," he said strangely. There were a lot better things to be concerned about.

If you can't help the people right in front of you, then how can you expect to help everyone else? That was one of the lessons Lloyd had had to learn since leaving Iselia. It didn't matter to him that he didn't know where this place was, or even Kyousuke's name. That lesson still applied here just as it would with anywhere else.

"Good," Lloyd murmured with a hint of relief. "Then at least there's two of us who can do something. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to just sit here while people are suffering." Cold fear tried to squeeze at his chest at what the nature of that suffering was. He'd seen people who'd been turned into mosters, and he hadn't been able to do anything. And if people here became monsters and attacked someone...

He swallowed. No. I'm not going to let that happen. He wouldn't let anyone become another Marble or Clara, not if he could help it. He wouldn't let anyone suffer like his mom had.

"Okay, first we have to find out if the doctors are doing anything. Even if we're prisoners, they can't want us to become monsters, right?" He knew that was hope speaking, knew that there were people who not only would let people become something like that, they might even help the process, but Lloyd didn't see any sign of an Exsphere on this boy, or on anyone else he'd seen so far, and he couldn't think of anywhere else besides Human Ranches, where Exspheres were cultivated, where anyone would want someone to turn into a monster. So until he had no other choice, he wanted to hope for the best in this case. "We can ask the nurses, and if they won't tell us, then we'll have to find the head doctor somehow. If that means sneaking out and looking for him at night, then that's exactly what I'll do."

Hope didn't keep him from being determined to do something about this himself.

"I'll just have to be careful until I find something I can defend myself with."

"... Heh." Despite himself, Kyousuke was able to smile in faint amusement. ... What an interesting guy. He seemed to be the type who wanted to act first and ask questions later, which he didn't think was the most prudent attitude, but it was also the most decisiveness he'd seen all day, and there was something refreshing in that. If nothing else, this guy seemed to have his heart in the right place, and while that wasn't everything, it could go a long way.

"I don't plan on just watching either," he agreed. "But the problem is what to do. You can't just rush in without a plan." Considering what the other side was capable of, he was sure that would be nothing short of suicide.

But as for the rest, he could only frown. Doctors, huh? If only it were that simple. If they had help like that, fixing the illness would be straight-forward enough, but it wasn't that easy. "... I told you before. Calling this place a hospital is just a farce. The staff here aren't your friends, and they're certainly not your allies. They're the ones keeping us here, and they're the reason people are sick. And even if you meet the Head Doctor, what do you intend to do? ... I doubt he's going to stop this just because you tell him to."

He could really sympathize with wanting to do something. He wanted to, too. Even just waiting for night to come was starting to put him on edge. But there was a right way of acting, and before they did that, they needed to think things through. Putting up a fight for the sake of putting up a fight wouldn't get them anywhere, only put them in a lot of danger. He didn't mind being danger, exactly, but that hardly meant he was about to do it in futility.

Though Lloyd didn't know it, Kyousuke had him pegged fairly well. He would much rather be doing something that sitting around making plans. Plans were good, but sometimes they took too long to make and you ended up missing your chance to act.

"I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but I know that if no one does anything, then things definitely won't ever change. If no one tells the Head Doctor to stop, then he isn't going to stop. Maybe he isn't going to stop anyway, but we have to try everything we can." The best case scenario that he could see, maybe the Head Doctor didn't even realize how bad things were getting. If all it took was someone pointing it out, they had to give it a shot.

On the other hand, though... He hesitated, searching the Kyousuke's face uneasily. What he was saying really didn't sit well with Lloyd. "...you think the doctors are the ones who infected people here? Why? Even if they won't let us leave, they've been nice enough so far." At least the ones that Lloyd had seen, and the nurse that had talked to him. "Why do you think it was them?"

Just barging in and making demands, huh? Frankly, Kyousuke couldn't see the sense in it. They didn't have any leverage to begin with, and he had his reservations about the deceptive sort of simplicity it held. A single man in the same building with dozens of rightfully angry patients? He'd be surprised if there hadn't already been several attempts at doing a lot more than just talking to the man. ... If shutting this place down was that easy, it wouldn't be a problem to begin with.

"Nobody said anything about not doing anything," he responded sharply. As if he was about to be stuck here forever. "I'm just saying to use your head a little more. Things don't always work out a certain way just because you want them to." Though he somehow doubted saying that would do any good.

The rest just left Kyousuke bewildered. Did he really want to believe in the staff just because they were being amicable? Not even Tenma was that naive. Not to mention, keeping them confined spoke for itself. Actions rang much more clearly than words, if you asked him. But maybe the other boy simply had trouble accepting what wasn't normal to him, or maybe he was the kind who had to see for himself. Whatever the case, it couldn't last long.

"... You'll see," Kyousuke shrugged. "The Head Doctor isn't the person you've been hearing over the intercom. When they stop keeping up appearances, he lets his true colors show clearly enough." He could elaborate, but there was really no point. It would be easier for this guy to hear it for himself. Whether he chose to believe it or not before then wasn't Kyousuke's problem.

Use his head a little more? Lloyd made a face at the suggestion. It wasn't that he was against thinking at all, but more that for a moment Kyousuke had reminded Lloyd of Kratos, someone he didn't want to be reminded of right now. "You sound like this guy I knew." A simple statement that he'll leave at that. He didn't want to talk about Kratos. His tone should make that clear enough.

Fortunately, something Kyousuke said effectively derailed Lloyd's train of thought. "The... intercom?" He echoed the word with a question, like he'd never heard it before. Or maybe he had, but he didn't remember what it meant. It wouldn't be the first time someone used a word he should have known the definition to already, but that he hadn't paid attention to in school. One thing he did know, though... "I haven't heard anyone but the nurse who talked to me when I woke up and the people I saw in the halls. And you, of course." That was kind of a given. "I haven't even seen anyone who looked like he could be the head doctor."

His unfamiliarity with what an intercom was would definitely be showing through right now. It was also an indication of how new he was. He'd woken up just after the most recent announcement, and there hadn't been a new one yet since.

... Apparently, Kyousuke wasn't the only one who thought so. Admittedly, he was a little curious, but he could take a hint, and it wasn't any of his concern anyway. He did lift an eyebrow at the response, but offered no comment of his own, and simply shrugged it off.

That... was strange, though. Did he not know what an intercom was? ... Or by the sound of it, he'd just woken up simply hadn't heard it go off yet. That made a bit more sense.

"He makes announcements between shifts," Kyousuke explained. "It sounds normal enough during the day, but don't let it fool you. ... He's a lunatic."

There was no other word for it, really. He thought back to that first announcement he'd heard... At the time, it was mostly incomprehensible to him, but it was still enough to leave a very distinct impression. Kyousuke wasn't normally one for hasty judgments, but in this case, it definitely felt warranted.

The question of what an intercom was slipped away at this new piece of information. Lloyd rubbed his chin with one hand, a thoughtful look on his face. "If he makes announcements every day, then that means if we want to find him, we just have to go to wherever he is when he makes them. Where do people go when they want to listen to him?"

That right there could be the key to all of this. Even if the doctor had guards or something to protect him, it was still the best chance Lloyd could see to talk to him, or find a way to stop him somehow, if that was what it came to.

"And when does each shift happen? I don't know how long I've been here, but only woke up right when it was time for lunch. What happens at each shift, too?" When, where, what might happen to throw them off - knowing all that would be important for anything they might plan to do.

... Wait, what? What this guy even listening to him? Not thinking things through was one thing, but surely he couldn't be quite that dense. Or maybe he was giving too much credit; common sense was difficult to account for.

"Didn't I just say they use an intercom?" he responded impatiently. "You won't be seeing him when he does it. It's probably from some office somewhere."

The last bit was just a guess, but that had always been what he'd imagined for heads of establishments. At the very least, he knew if the man actually showed his face, he'd have a large crowd of very angry patients to content with, so it wasn't much wonder he had yet to encounter him himself.

As for the schedule, he could only shrug. "It looks like there's activities between meals, but I wouldn't know what they are. I haven't been here for a full day yet."

The impatient tone all but implied that this was something Lloyd should know, that he was stupid if he didn't. Lloyd folded his arms defensively. Not that this was the first time someone had called him out on not knowing something he should, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Look," he said. "I don't know what an intercom is. Is that some kind of magitechnology or something?" The word sounded like something they might have found inside a Desian base.

The Desians... Were these people working with them? Given the cruelties this kid said these people inflicted on their prisoners, they sounded similar. How would he have gotten into their hands, though? Yuan was a Renegade. It didn't make sense for him to hand Lloyd over to someone who was working for his enemies.

Lloyd shook his head. None of this made sense. He felt like there were too many pieces he was missing. Did it really matter, though? Even if it didn't make sense, that didn't change the fact that something had to be done.

The last remark made him blink and look at Kyousuke in surprise. "Really? You sounded like you knew a lot."

He... what? Was that a joke? Explaining the things here was one thing, but he hadn't expected to clarify something so... ordinary. Wouldn't someone that age have heard announcements through an intercom every day in school? Or maybe he was from some rural area without much technology. They were few and far between, but places like that still existed in Japan as far as he was aware, and he could only imagine the same was true in other parts of the world. But still, one would think he'd at least still know the word. On the subject or unfamiliar words, Kyousuke couldn't say he'd heard of "magitechnology" before, but made no comment on it; he half wondered if the other boy was simply making things up to sound more intelligent, and if that was true, he had no intention of taking the bait.

"It's... a system of speakers and mics you can use to communicate between places," he explained with a frown. His tone was uncertain, but less because he didn't know what he was talking about, but more because it was such basic knowledge he wasn't even sure he could describe it properly. That, and he still wasn't sure if this was some prank he was misreading.

Being told he sounded knowledgeable about the place came as surprise too, since as far as he was concerned, it couldn't be farther from the truth. "... Not really. Only what I've seen and heard so far. All the important pieces are missing." That... wasn't pleasant to admit, but it was true, and it was better not to give the wrong impression. Knowing the basics of what was going on didn't amount to much without any hint of the aspects behind them or how to maneuver against them, after all. But it was still reassuring to hear, and could make him feel a little less like he was dragging his feet or wasting his time. ... He wasn't about to admit that out loud, though.

If Lloyd was joking, it certainly wasn't showing on his face. He frowned as he listened to Kyousuke's explanation. Some of the words were just as unfamiliar as "intercom" had been, but the idea of talking between places...

"I... think I might have seen something like that before, actually," he said slowly. "So it lets you talk to people even if they're not in the same room." The Tower of Mana had had something like that, and the Desians had had it, too. "You still have to go to the same place to use it, though, right? All we have to do is find that place to find the doctor, then." Not knowing all the details didn't mean he couldn't use it to formulate part of a plan.

He smiled a little wryly at the younger boy's admission. "Well, you still know more than me, so that still counts for something." He held out his empty hand. "I'm Lloyd, by the way. Lloyd Irving. What's your name?" He figured they'd been talking long enough that they should introduce themselves.

He... thought? Kyousuke really wasn't sure what to make of that. There were plenty of people in the world who just plain weren't very observant, but this particular lack of knowledge was almost surreal. But the other boy at least seemed to have caught on, so he refrained from commenting on it.

"... Not necessarily. Sometimes they can go both ways, but that's the general idea." Whether this particular system did, he had no idea. It didn't seem to, but that didn't completely rule out the possibility, although he couldn't think it made much difference either way.

He snorted at the comparison of their knowledge. Being stacked against someone who hadn't known anything hardly amounted to anything if you asked him, but he did allow a very slight smile. He stared at the hand being offered him for a moment, but ended up shaking it anyway; it wasn't like it was going to hurt anything. "Tsurugi Kyousuke," he returned. Just in time, it seemed, because the nurses were starting to round people up.

Even if it didn't necessarily work exactly the way Lloyd guessed, it was still a place to start. That was better than nothing.

"Tsurugi," he repeated, trying to plant the name firmly in his head. One conversation didn't necessarily make them friends, but it felt good knowing he was on friendly terms with at least one person here.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his own nurse making his way toward him. Damn. He could have used a little more time. Still, maybe now that he knew a little more, he could work around the nurse. He let go of Kyousuke's hand.

"I'll try to let you know if I figure anything out. Thanks, Tsurugi. It was nice meeting you!"

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Day 65: 3rd Shift: Courtyard

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