damned_institute | 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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"Yes." She'd hid many things, but she'd only outright lied a handful of times, and this wasn't worth it. "I haven't been able to confirm," or deny, but that was less likely with every bulletin post, "the insinuations about the end result of all this, though."

She took a bite of cantaloupe -- either it was completely tasteless, or her taste buds were the latest casualty, but she didn't especially mind. "We did make it over to his little scene in the X-Ray room, but it didn't answer any questions." Normally, that would be because it raised more; the scene they'd been greeted with, however, seemed unrelated to anything. The picture of the stomach made a grotesque sort of sense, but not the rest of it. Though Harvey might not know all the details, if he hadn't had a chance to read the bulletin before sitting down. "Have you been following along with that?"

So she was sick after all. Harvey had almost thought he'd managed to avoid the whole mess entirely, and it wasn't as if Lana's physical state was his problem unless he wanted it to be. She certainly hadn't come to him for help, and he couldn't blame her on that point. He wasn't exactly the bleeding heart type of guy -- not anymore, at least. Lana presumably had friends who would be of more use to her than he would.

"I've been following some of it," he said with a slight shrug. "Not closely, but none of it sounds good." And if Lana had been taking stock of the clues, but had yet to learn anything about how to fix it all, then that was an even worse sign. "So you're still at square one?" He wasn't going to get invested, but now that they were talking, it would have seemed odd if he switched the topic. And the luxury of not being involved meant that he could learn about this without it directly affecting him.

She wanted to argue -- wanted to say they had plenty of clues, and that they were tracking all of them down, but defensiveness was a normal human reaction to being at square one. "We might have stepped up to talk with a pawn or two. I'm not sure we learned anything, though. Aside from the fact that none of the people I've encountered has turned into a monster. Yet."

Landel's messages had threatened that, repeatedly, and the bulletin seemed to bear it out, but she hadn't actually witnessed the effect. "And we decided against attempting surgery on ourselves. If there is some sort of device involved, it's still there."

Just because Lana hadn't seen anyone turn didn't mean it hadn't happened, but she obviously knew that. Harvey realized that hearing about it and seeing it (or experiencing it) were two very different things, though. He could tell her that her time might run out at any point, and that there was no reason to relax, but once again, it would be redundant.

It seemed reasonable to rule out surgery as an option. Harvey had seen vague mentions to patients performing amateur surgery on each other, which sounded like a bad idea for so many reasons. "All right, fair," he said with a nod. "But in that case, what do you plan to do?" The thing was that there didn't seem to be a lot of options, from what little he'd gathered about the whole situation.

"I don't know," Lana said, smiling a bit. It was a smile completely incongruous with the statement; she didn't like being uncertain any more than she expected Dent did, but there was a reason behind it. She gave him another second, and then put him out of his curiosity. "One of people I was with thought he knew what it meant, but he didn't have time to explain. We should have more time tonight."

It would mean not tracking down any new radio messages, but they needed to press through on the lead they had, not get distracted. "Besides, I doubt I'd make a very effective monster." Strong, she wasn't. And intelligence didn't seem to be high on Landel's list of desired traits. She could do terrible things -- and had -- but only in the right framework. Here she wouldn't be much of a threat.

Lana was trying to pass it off as if she wasn't that concerned. Harvey didn't buy it. He couldn't imagine anyone could face the possibility of turning into something monstrous, of losing their sense of self, without being scared out of their wits. Then again, Lana probably realized that fear wouldn't get her anywhere. She was just going to have to press forward.

He could have asked Lana about the lead that she was working on, but that would just force her to explain something that Harvey didn't really need to know about. It would just be pointless conversation, and he knew neither of them were fans of that.

"Just because you don't seem like you'd be an effective monster now doesn't mean that you won't change into something that is," he pointed out. Maybe Lana had just said it to make herself feel better, or to lighten up the conversation, but Harvey didn't think there was much point in that. Not when the reality of the situation was so serious.

She arched her eyebrows. "Was that meant to be reassuring? If it was, you might want to work on your delivery." Her delivery, on the other hand, was flawless. No hesitation, no tremor in her voice, no sign that she had been looking for, if not a friendly ear, certainly not an argument.

"That won't happen." That was as much bluff as the idea that they couldn't turn her into an effective monster; if Dent wanted to call her on it, he was welcome to. She was done picking at breakfast, and she doubted they'd stop her if she got up and switched tables. "Theorize all you like, but I won't let it happen."

"It wasn't a reassurance. Right now, that isn't going to do you much good. I'm trying to be realistic." Would she really have preferred it, if he'd agreed that everything would be okay, that somehow things would just work themselves out? Harvey wasn't that kind of person. He remembered when he'd tried to tell Rachel that everything would be fine, while knowing deep down that it was a huge lie. He wasn't going to do that again.

"But if you're sure that you can stop it, then by all means." It wasn't his problem. He kept repeating that to himself, and he shrugged to show his distance from the situation. In reality, he didn't like to imagine what Lana might turn into, or what it would do to her psyche if she did. But what could he do? It's not like he had some magical cure on hand.

Her lips quirked at his sally, but it wasn't a smile. She preferred the truth, at least for herself; but she had to find it first. And believing the best was a remarkably pleasant change from doing the opposite; she wasn't going to give up on the tactic yet.

Even if it led to a rather bleak corollary. "Dead monsters aren't much of a danger, after all." She meant it. "I'll be traveling with people well aware of the necessity.

Although -- and half of her couldn't believe the other half was thinking this -- were zombies alive? Though that wasn't what the one person willing to testify to their experience had described. So it would be enough.

Edited 2012-10-12 02:39 (UTC)

That was a morbid thought. Lana had already asked her friends (if they counted as friends -- he didn't know how close she'd gotten to people here) to kill her off if she changed? That couldn't have been an easy decision to make, and he doubted that he would have done the same in her shoes.

Honestly, he didn't know what he would have done. But chances were that one of the reasons he hadn't been picked for this little stunt was because he looked monstrous enough already. And it wasn't just skin-deep.

Harvey sighed and stared down at his food, forcing a few more bites before the intercom chimed on. "Well, I hope it doesn't come to that," he said finally as he stood from his seat. He gave Lana one last lingering look. "Good luck."

Day 66: Breakfast

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