damned_institute | Day 66: Breakfast

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Day 66: Breakfast

What Guy had seen on that scan resulted in some mixed feelings. While he had expected to find something in Claude, seeing how he was sick, it hadn't been quite the same as what they'd seen when they had scanned that other ill patient two nights ago. What did that mean? It was possible that the shape of it just looked different because of where it was in Claude's stomach, but Guy couldn't help but feel that there was a deeper meaning to it.

Yet another thing that he didn't understand, then. With a sigh, he got himself up out of bed and went searching immediately for the single leaf that he'd taken from the X-ray room last night. It was stored carefully in his possessions box, which meant that he didn't have to worry too much about that.

While he wanted to quickly sketch the leaf's general shape to post on the bulletin, Guy wasn't given that chance, as his nurse showed up before he could even grab for his journal. He had to relent and let her lead him to the cafeteria for breakfast. While Guy considered stopping by the bulletin to leave a note, that could wait until after he ate. He suspected that Anise or Luke would try to find him as soon as possible to tell him about their findings, so leaving a note for them would be redundant.

He did need to ask about the clue from last night and see if anyone else had further insight on it, but that might be something Claude wanted to do, seeing how he had a better idea of who that baptist was and what it all might signify.

After collecting a small amount of food onto a plate, Guy took a seat near the cafeteria's entrance, keeping an eye out for any of his friends so he could flag them down as they walked in.

[For Anise and Claude.]

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Flora blinked in pleasant surprise. How polite, Lingormr seemed like quite the gentleman. "I might have one or two." She gave him a small smile that was slightly sheepish. She knew exactly where to start with them, though. "Thanks for offering, I appreciate it."

"Firstly, is there a way for people to communicate in here? I'm looking for some friends that I met, but I don't know where they are and if they're okay, and I don't think getting up and walking around to find them will be as simple as that." Flora glanced to the entrance, in case one or both of them would show up if she simply willed it hard enough, and then to the orderlies when that didn't work. It looked like getting on any one of their bad sides without her powers was a bad idea. Her first priority didn't change, though. She needed to find out how to contact Lee and Lloyd and make sure that they were okay.

Watching him go back to his food prompted her to look at her own. She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of being fed by the same people that kept her and other innocent people here captive like this, but she'd need her strength. Flora picked up her fork with her left hand took a few careful bites of fruit.

"During the day, there is a board in the Sun Room to which one might pin handwritten messages. Though do keep in mind that our captors read everything we write down, so being circumspect is wise." Loki smiled slightly. "At night, unfortunately there is no such mechanism, so it's best you make your plans well in advance."

He raised an eyebrow. "Which friends?"

Something about that struck her as strange, and Flora tapped her fork against her lips in thought. "If this place is a prison only masquerading as a hospital, why would they allow that at all?"

"Rock Lee and Lloyd Irving." Saying their names prompted her to check the door again, and noth--wait. Flora's eyes lit up. There he was! Her shoulders sagged as she breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to see him up and about. What she really wanted to do was ask him if he really was fine and give him a hug (even if she actually wouldn't, she knew he'd been hurt), so much so that she tensed and almost got up herself to do just that. She resisted the urge in the end and relaxed, promising to catch up with him, later. She hadn't forgotten where she was, and wasn't about to just ditch the other man.

"That's him. Lloyd, I mean. I'm just so happy to see him." Flora took another bite of her fruit with a calm smile. With one of her worries down, she was feeling a little hungrier all of a sudden.

Loki smiled thinly. "Because it amuses the man in charge of this place to watch all of the little rats squeak at each other as they run his maze."

"Ah, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with either of those gentlemen. As I said, I haven't been here terribly long myself."

Loki made a mental note of the person. "I can see. It is a relief." Loki stirred his fruit meditatively. "Though it seems that people don't tend to stay dead, here. Or other times, when perfectly healthy they vanish entirely and we're only informed that they've been 'released.'"

Flora's lips pressed into a thin, disapproving line. She should have guessed that, maybe, but it didn't make it any less awful. "Maybe they'll end surprising him." He couldn't be invincible. Powerful, definitely, but he had to have some kind of weakness.

Her eyes widened and her expression was grave. People were dying here. She waited for the shock of it to hit her, but it didn't. She supposed it wouldn't after last night--that creature attacked to kill--but even before then, she knew. That knowledge cost her something, but the price wasn't her will or determination or desire to help. "Just what can hurt you in this place? How are people brought back to life?" The fact that they were was something of a relief, but it didn't negate the fact that people were still dying.

"How can anyone be so cruel?" She was as much remarking on the situation as she was asking an honest question, more so with the second. Flora had encountered no shortage of malice. She knew what some people were capable of, but it didn't matter who it came from or how many times she was faced with it, she was never any closer to understanding it. But then, sometimes there just wasn't anything to understand, and some things were just unacceptable.

"One might hope," Loki said calmly, dissecting more of his fruit. "No prison is perfect."

He had to assume that she meant you in a general sense, though he could definitely answer the question pretending to be a frail human. "I know there are monsters, of course. I haven't encountered them, but I've seen the evidence, writ large on the bodies of our fellows. There is also an activity called 'special counseling' in which a prisoner is compelled to attack his fellows." He grimaced. "Of that, I have personal knowledge. There are those sick, because a device has been put in their stomachs. And of course, there is always madness. That seems rather the chief aim here, at times."

He shook his head. "I know not the exact mechanisms for revivals. I could think of several potential methods, though the means is of course another question entirely."

Another of those thin smiles. Loki knew he could be that cruel, had he a reason to be. He was not so fond of others that he felt it necessary to empathize with them, though he didn't really take pleasure in pain. It was more a question of what needed to be done.

All of which were thoughts he was most definitely not going to speak out loud. He shrugged. "In my experience, people are often cruel, and for little reason. I find myself unsurprised."

"They really aren't," Flora agreed with a nod. It was a fact that she knew very well herself, one that had been both a curse and a blessing on a few occasions.

"I had a run-in with one yesterday, myself. Its welcoming skills could have used some work." Flora grimaced. She's fought monsters for years, has even done it without her powers, but this environment was incredibly different and she didn't have any of her friends here that she'd seen. This was a different game altogether, and she'd have to play it smarter.

Flora drew a quick breath and raised her hand to close to her mouth in shock. She didn't even have time to reply before Lingormr went on, saying something that struck a chord with her. Her face fell into the deepest sympathy, voice softening. "I'm so sorry, that must have been awful for you." Flora hadn't been controlled like that before, but she'd been on the receiving end when Bloom had. There hadn't been anything to forgive her for, of course, it wasn't her fault at all. Flora could have only imagined what she went through, but she saw plainly how much being robbed of control of her own mind and made to attack her best friends tore at her at the time.

A fresh wave of concern, then anger rose inside her. This place posed as a hospital, a place of care and healing, but all it did was hurt everyone inside with one horror after another. Maybe she could do something about it, though."This sickness, it's not fatal is it? What are the symptoms?"

Flora took a hold of her cup, but didn't drink from it. "I've seen it happen a lot, myself. I wish it didn't, but it does. Sometimes, people just don't understand how their actions can and do hurt others and just need to shown that, somehow." Flora smiled gently, and her faith in other people was the light in it. It felt moments later, and her eyes hardened slightly. "But some do. And in my experience, those people who enjoy it and don't regret their actions always get their dues in the end." Her voice rang with her certainty. It was as much something she believed in as it was a reminder of what she needed to do when she left this place.

"You mentioned that you could think of several potential methods for revival...what are they?" That kind of magic capable of that was almost non-existent. And they'd lost what they had, but maybe....

Loki's mouth twisted into a crooked smile. "I thank you. It was not an experience I wish to repeat."

"We know not if the sickness is ultimately fatal, though the implication is that it turns those infected into monsters. So perhaps in that case, death would be a mercy. Those afflicted are fatigued, nauseous at times, I think... most visibly they have a rash upon one of their hands."

He laughed softly. "If the cruel get their comeuppance in the end, you must life in a far more just universe than I can imagine."

Loki idly traced a little pattern on the tabletop with one finger. "Most would have to deal with manipulating time itself, though I am aware of spells that can take a spirit from what realm it retreats to upon death. For those, constructing a body for it to inhabit is really the simplest part."

Lingormr seemed to have experiences that made him think otherwise. She didn't want to tell him he was wrong, and she didn't think he was, really. It was just too bad, she guessed. "Well, I like to think that the universe is a pretty just place. It might be very difficult and take a very long time, but things will always turn out alright, in the end. You can't completely destroy evil but as long as there are people to fight for what's right, it won't be around forever, and you can overcome it."

Flora leaned forward in her seat rested her chin on laced fingers, very much interested. "You're a wizard?" So did she end up in the magical dimension, after all? How strange. This building looked more like something she'd see on Earth, but she's hardly been everywhere in the universe. Maybe it was possible for there to be some quiet place with retro architecture out there, somewhere. The only other explanation she could think of was there being another wizard on Earth that was kidnapping people for some reason, but they'd have felt him, wouldn't they?

She followed his fingers on the table for a few moments before breaking way to look down at her food, considering the magic in question, quietly. This wasn't Flora's first brush with time magic, but it was fascinating just the same. "Something like reversing the effects of event on someone?" she guessed. Could you really do that when the event was death, though?

No, the universe was not a just place. Not at all. But Loki didn't think this was a good argument to have, not when he was still operating under an assumed identity and working to maintain allies within the prisoner population. He smiled wryly. "One might hope."

He nodded. "Though I prefer the term magician. Though to the more... modern prisoners, that apparently conjures images of birthday parties. I'm uncertain why."

Loki shrugged. "I mean making it so the event never happened to begin with. Tricky."

Flora looked positively baffled. "That's really strange. I mean, I've seen displays of magic at parties and other events, but I'm not sure why anyone would get that idea." she tapped her lip thoughtfully. "Maybe where they come from, their magicians specialize in entertaining?" That sort of made sense. "The people of a lot of worlds have something that only they can do and they often pride themselves on it, but it still doesn't explain why anyone would jump that that." Unless.... "Where are you from, Lingormr, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Is that really possible? I've don't think I've heard of going that far." Flora could see into the past, she even knew of ways to reverse time on people, but rolling back time itself? That was a new one. Colour her very interested. "That does sound very tricky."

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Day 66: Breakfast

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