Day 66: Sun Room (Second Shift)

[his_legacy]

Link wasn't in the mood for 'rest and relaxation,' as the boss had put it. Daytime here was completely unproductive, and it was frustrating. There was little he could do, other than keep up with recording his map. He supposed he ought to take the chance to get to know the other patients: Who was powerful, who needed help, who knew what... Perhaps some of the people who had been here longer. Link was lucky he had Sora as a friend, who seemed to know a good deal about how things worked.

It was a two-edged sword, though, that the boy had to have been trapped here for quite some time to be as settled as he was.

The Hylian settled into a chair with his journal, tapping the strange sort of writing device he had been given against his chin. It had become evident last night that the building was relatively organized, the second floor being similar in its main layout to the first floor. That was somewhere to start, at least.

[Nina, dearest!]

Comments

[unpriest]

"I'm Muroi Seishin," he answered to the introduction, offering a polite bow of his head. In any case, it did not seem Petrov-san had been able to speak with anyone else thus far. That meant...Seishin was going to need to explain, didn't it?

"I'm afraid the nurses won't be too helpful," he began, his voice calm but quiet, "They will call you by a different name and tell you that everything you know in your life has been a lie. To them, we are delusional patients who need help." To call them robots was not so much of a far-fetched analogy. The novelist didn't quite know what to think of the nurses, as they seemed completely ignorant of what was truly going on in this institute, as if they were living on a separate plane.

Then again, that seemed to be the case for this whole institute, as if it was isolated from the world, somehow...

"It's...all part of their daytime farce, I suppose..." He trailed off, wondering how to bring the most crucial information without sounding too ridiculous...

[voiceofthanatos]

"I see. And nobody can leave I presume?" He asked, his expression getting grim. Yuri sat down on one of the chairs, motioning for Seishin to do the same so they could continue their chat. Finally he got to talk to real person, somebody who had suffered the same fate.

"I cannot believe such wide scale kidnappings have gone unnoticed. Do they have connections with the government?" To him, there was no other way he could have been brought here while he was sleeping safely inside of his own house. "The head of the hospital, has anybody contacted him yet? He cannot keep himself hidden forever."

He was really unaware of how long this was going on.

[unpriest]

"Not as far as I know, the head doctor's influence seems to extend further than just this building, which makes it feel it's isolated from the rest of the world," Seishin answered after he took the chair across Petrov-san, folding his hands on his lap. "The name of the head doctor is Martin Landel, but he doesn't show himself often."

The coliseum had been one of the exceptions among the ones he had heard of, but the former priest was not about to give anyone a reason to face the horrible trials of the basement.

Speaking of which...he should probably inform the other man about the night, shouldn't he?

"More importantly, we're allowed to roam the hallways during the night," he began, "They maintain a facade of a normal mental hospital during the day, but during the night they show their true colours. Landel-san... he seems to enjoy subjecting us to his cruel games."

There was the smallest hint of bitterness and resentment as Seishin spoke the last sentence. He paused for a moment, wondering how to bring the remainder of what he wanted to say. "This...is going to sound ridiculous, I'm sure. You might not even believe me, and I would hardly blame you, but..." he continued, a hint of hesitation in his voice, "The hallways during the night are dangerous. There are... monsters..."

He trailed off at that, unsure how Petrov-san would even respond to something so ludicrous.

[voiceofthanatos]

"I see, and where is he hiding most of the time?" Yuri continued to gather information on whoever was running this absurd hospital. But as inhumane as that damned doctor was, its not far fetched that he could be living inside the hospital itself in a hidden area unknown to almost anyone.

Yuri cocked an eyebrow upon Seishin's disclosure of the hospital's grotesque form at night. He was more puzzled then in disbelief though.

"Ah, perhaps you meant NEXTs with transformation powers are hired here?" It wasn't farfetched with his take on it. NEXT transformation powers weren't exactly rare after all. "Are they planning on making the patients go more insane?"

[unpriest]

Seishin shook his head. "My apologies, but I'm afraid I don't know where the head doctor is," he answered, "He...seems to make sure we can't reach him, which... makes the situation even more frustrating."

Petrov-san's response to the monsters was not as badly as Seishin had expected, though he had no idea what a 'NEXT' was. Something with unnatural powers, it seemed?

"...The monsters I've encountered seem like mutated animals of some sort," he offered, which would hopefully answer the other man's question. He was not going to mention the talking skeleton from last night, which somehow seemed more bizarre than the possibility mutated animals.

[voiceofthanatos]

"Well then, has anybody attempted an escape? No matter how airtight a system is, there's always cracks to fall through." He tried a different approach.

His expression tensed for the answer he was given. "That sounds like something out of a science fiction novel I read." This whole place was getting crazier and crazier and he expected the next thing he'll be told is about occult rituals or contacts with alien lifeforms.

[unpriest]

"I'm sure people have, but all of us find ourselves back in our rooms by morning. It's...more complicated than simply running out of the front door," Seishin answered, "My apologies, I know this is not very helpful."

He couldn't blame Petrov-san for his reaction to the monsters; it was only because Seishin had been subjected to things previously deemed impossible before that he could cope with the situation a little easier. "I'm aware it all sounds rather...ludicrous," he offered, "But whether you believe me or not, please be careful during the night."

[voiceofthanatos]

Petrov gave a simple nod. "It's all right, they seem to have us locked up a cage here like animals for their own amusement." He concluded. "Where are these monsters coming from?

"- Oh, if there's anything else that needs to be disclosed, tell me." He was going to have a lot of pages filled in his notebook by tonight. And he wasn't even halfway done with the day.

[unpriest]

"There is... one other thing," Seishin began, "I'm afraid it's one of Landel-san's cruel games, but he seems to have infected a number patients with an illness."

He hesitated for a moment; there was no way he could gauge Petrov-san's own stance on an issue like this. But then again, Seishin was not in a position to judge, and the other man deserved to be aware of the situation. As long as he did not give the names of those he knew to be infected...

"Landel-san has been clear about the consequences from the start in case people were to fail in finding a cure for this illness; if nothing is done, they will change into monsters," he continued, a frown beginning to spread upon his previously stoic features. "At the same time, he has been subtly urging on the uninfected ones over the intercom, as if he would want this to end in a bloodbath."

It did not take much for a human to become like a monster; he had seen this happen first hand. A seemingly peaceful village had been reduced to a bloody heap of corpses, man reduced to murderer -- the lines between monster and victim were blurry, and people could go to great lengths when it came to their own survival.

Had those grotesque eagles been human once? Seishin felt himself grow nauseous. "Naturally, people have been working on finding a cure. There have been hints, I've heard, but there is no telling how trustworthy they are. However, they seem to be running out of time. I fear this situation will escalate sooner rather than later."

His voice took on a tinge of sadness. "It's human nature to retaliate fiercely against what they believe is a threat, after all..."

[voiceofthanatos]

Yuri felt a headache when Seishin explained the monster curse that had been effecting Landel's patients. "Are you alright?" This was just something straight of a B grade horror film. Probably lifted from every zombie movie in existence.

"Perhaps you were hallucinating that part." That seemed much more plausible to him then a disease that transformed people into monsters. "You should rest for a while."

[unpriest]

Seishin resisted the urge to sigh. The other man's skepticism was unsurprising, and he couldn't blame him for the kind of response he received. The former priest had been skeptical on his first day as well, hadn't he?

Hadn't he reacted in a similar way when Toshio had first told him of the cause of all the deaths back in Sotoba? How long ago that seemed...

"I'm fine," he said quietly, "I can't blame you for your response, but please be careful during the nights." Stressing this was all Seishin could do, in the end.

[voiceofthanatos]

Yuri's expression was unmoving, he still kept a rigid wall of doubt towards the man's words. But to be polite he just nodded back.

"Thank you for the warnings. I'll take them into consideration." He smiled slightly, getting up from his chair.