redcladidealist (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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damned_institute2012-07-28 09:43 am
redcladidealist) wrote in damned_institute2012-07-28 09:43 am
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.]
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.]
no subject
"We’re tough," she said with a nod. "We’ll make it."
At the end of the day, there was only one course of action for the prisoners--keep strong until they made it through. So long as everyone did that, things would be fine. That, at least, was one fact Tsubaki never doubted. They’d all be okay. Until the day they went home safely, though, they just had to deal with the Institute as best they could, including frightening situations like the infection.
Shifting her lunch bag so that she was holding it with both hands, Tsubaki brought up the thing that was doubtlessly on most people’s minds. "Did you happen to hear about the clue in the Medical Wing? There is a cure if we can find it!"
no subject
"Yeah, definitely." She nodded in return, smiling brightly. Funny, how it was so much easier to smile just then. "We're not gonna let this stupid illness bring us down."
Leanne shifted slightly on her feet at the mention of the Medical Wing, briefly tapping her chin with her free hand. "Yeah, I heard about it! It doesn't sound like it's gonna be easy, but... I think we can do it. We're gonna have to keep looking!"
no subject
Because of that, if the cure itself was going to put the infected at risk--blindly cutting someone open was risky no matter how you looked at it--Tsubaki was a bit hesitant to advocate for the direct approach. Sora seemed intent on going straight for the kill, so to speak, but she wasn’t sure so sure about Leanne…
"I don’t really get what the clue is supposed to mean, but it sounds like a lot of people are getting ready to test it out." Tsubaki gave the other girl an uncertain look. "Were you thinking that, too?"
no subject
Just how many people did she have who would say something like that to her? Only the small handful of people she'd say the same to: Zephyr and Vashyron, and she loved them dearly for it, and now... Tsubaki? Not for the first time, she felt a rush of gratitude for the girl, who had so quickly offered her friendship and help.
"Yeah," she managed to say. "To be honest, I don't really get how it's supposed to work, but we've gotta try something! And this is the only clue we've got."
no subject
But the meaning was there, she knew. And she was glad if Leanne’s resolve was strengthened by knowing she had a friend to rely in.
She moved closer impulsively, because a conversation couldn’t really get more intimate when it was about Leanne’s health. “Does that mean you’re looking for a surgeon, too?” Tsubaki couldn’t hide how nervous that made her, the thought of Sora and Leanne and countless others trying to get at whatever was (or wasn’t in their stomachs.
no subject
It took a fair bit of self-control to keep herself from rubbing her arms, a sudden chill having taken over her. The thought was almost dizzying, something she never wanted to have to even think of getting done to her. But more terrifying still was the thought of what would happen if she wasn't cured.
There just wasn't a choice.
She looked back up at Tsubaki, lowering her voice now that she was closer. "I guess so... It looks like it's our best bet right now."
no subject
Tsubaki let her lunch bag hang from her arm, reaching out with both hands to hold one of Leanne’s. If she added the days up, it’d only been about a week since they’d met, but it’d been a long month of watching people be hurt and sometimes disappear entirely. She didn’t want to watch what people were left suffer over this callous experiment. It was enough watching.
“I understand your feelings,” she said, “and finding a way to make you better is the most important thing. But we should figure out what’s in there before doing something drastic. Like… we can take a picture of your stomach like the people on the bulletin board did, right? Maybe you don’t have anything that needs taking out. The Head Doctor only said some people are going to get really sick.”
no subject
She couldn't even begin to express how much she appreciated it, even though...
Deliberately lightening her tone, Leanne shook her head. "I get what you mean," she said, her voice soft. "We don't really know anything about all of this, I guess."
She breathed out a sigh, but soon flashed a smile at Tsubaki. "But I'm not just gonna sit around with that thing inside me either, if it really is there."
no subject
At the very least, there was still time to work out a method that would verify the clue's accuracy once and for all. If they could at least prove there was something foreign in the sick prisoners' bodies that needed removing, that would save a lot of unnecessary pain if people opted for a surgery and ended up finding nothing...
Assuming the physical trauma of the whole thing wasn't too much. Strange that now of all times she sorely missed Professor Stein's dissection skills.
But she wasn't going to worry about that, no. There were options. Ways to make a cure safer if not painless. Straightening, Tsubaki let her hands drop, fixing Leanne with a look that didn't let any doubt show through. "Do you have anyone looking into things with you? If you want, you could come with me? We could go to the Medical Wing, figure something out. I'm sure there must be others considering taking an x-ray, as well. I'm helping someone heal from some injuries tonight, but he also appears to be sick, so I bet he'll be thinking along those lines, too."
Or there was just... the chance for company. There was always that, too.
no subject
Then again, in the end, she hadn't even had to truly ask here either, had she? Tsubaki was offering to help, perfectly willing to do whatever she could, as she always did.
"I'll go with you, yeah. Thank you..." She looked up at the girl, her smile widening. "Going to the Medical Wing can't hurt anyway."
no subject
If the man on the radio or whoever was sending out the clues really intended to help them, hopefully any further information that came from him wouldn’t mean too much of a detour.
Tsubaki put her hand to her chin to think for another moment. Eventually, she said, “If you don’t mind waiting, how about I come to your room in the girls’ block?”
no subject
Besides, this wasn't even a certain death, not like before. There was no reason to be afraid now, not when they could do something.
"It's fine! I'll wait for you before we go there." Leanne nodded, already feeling much better than before she'd run into Tsubaki. "My room's F9."