damned_institute | Day 66: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

The game room, huh... In normal, everyday life, it wouldn't have sounded too terrible, but as things were, it seemed like more of an annoyance. Games were fine, but priorities.... On the other hand, Kyousuke seemed to have hit a block in figuring out the clues to the the illness, and just thinking without getting anywhere wasn't very productive, either. At this point, it may have been best to push it aside and come back to it fresh. He had his reservations about it, especially since the end of the day was rapidly approaching, but... Frustration wasn't going to get him any closer.

He poked around what games were there with resignation, still half wondering what he was even doing and trying not feel guilty for needing a break. After a while he came across an electronic device marked "Game Boy Color" and picked it up out of curiosity. He'd heard of those before... If he was right, this thing was older than he was, by quite a bit. Flicking it on confirmed his suspicions; the sound and graphics from it spoke for themselves.

Shrugging, he took it a random seat, wincing at the pain in his ribs as he sat down. He guessed it wouldn't kill him to mess around with this thing for a little while.

[Lloyd!]

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Silent and smooth as darkness itself, Facilier entered the game room with the same deadly sense of purpose as the approaching night. Oh, he looked just charming and cheerful on the outside, giving his usual grins to the staff around him, but his eyes were not so true to his outer appearance. Facilier was searching for one of Landel's infected "lambs", and his plans for such poor individuals wasn't to shepherd them to safety, but quite the contrary. Here he found one of the targets he had been searching for, sitting by himself with some sort of toy in his hands. The boy's message on the bulletin board was concrete evidence to the Bokor that he was plain-as-day infected. It was time to swoop in and set his "doctor" plan into motion.

As he approached his target, Facilier noticed the object in Sora's hands to be some piece of rectangular plastic. Another "televised vision box" perhaps? Just how small could this world's technology get?

Technology aside, Facilier gave the boy a friendly greeting. "Good evening, Mr. Sora!" He gracefully took a seat next to the boy. "Feeling any better today I hope?"

With how crummy he'd felt all day, not to mention the serious conversations he'd had, Sora had almost forgotten that Mr. Facilier had asked to meet with him today. It was a good thing that Facilier himself was more on top of it, since he'd made sure to find him.

Sora paused the game and glanced up from it to great the man, smiling briefly. It was clear from the worn-out look on his face and the fact that he just wasn't as bright as usual that something was wrong. But Mr. Facilier had already seen him while sick, and Sora hadn't gone to any efforts to make it a secret.

"Hi, Mr. Facilier," he greeted as he scooted over and made space for the man. "I don't feel as bad today, but... that's probably only because of what happened last night." He would have taken the bad symptoms if it meant he didn't have to change, but he hadn't been so lucky.

"How about you?" he asked. "How are you feeling?" Everyone had been so worried about him, but Sora wasn't about to forget that the people around him might be having a tough time, too. Facilier looked pretty content and he seemed to be uninjured, but you could never be sure until you asked.

The Shadow Man returned Sora's strained smile with a false grin of his own. "Poor little boy..." Facilier slyly thought to himself, "Not so annoyingly cheerful today, are we?"

"I myself am just fine and dandy..." Facilier answered, lifting his long leg to cross it over his thin knee, "Except that I'm terribly concerned about y'all prisoners with that bug of Landel's..."

"It's just so frustrating, y'know? Having the expertise to do something about it but not having the tools you need to help..." He gave out big sigh that was on the verge of sounding a tad too dramatic. "I finally got some decent equipment last night, very much at my own peril. Yet from hearing your terrible news today, I fear that time is running out..."

Facilier tilted his head slightly to give Sora a sideways glance. "Is there anything you could tell me about what happened to you last night?" he carefully asked, feigning a sensitive approach towards whatever trauma the boy had experienced from his transformation. "Anything that could help us in our noble endeavor?"

Even if it might be too late for Sora, he was still glad to hear that Facilier had found some supplies last night that might help. Did he mean surgical supplies, or something else? Facilier had told him that he was capable of certain kinds of magic, so maybe it had something to do with that.

"Well, not everyone changed last night," Sora pointed out. "You might be able to help them still." If some of the other patients didn't have to resort to the same thing as him, that would be for the best. An easier, cleaner way to fix this illness was what everyone wanted, right?

Sora didn't exactly want to talk about what had happened to him last night, but he had to be open with it, especially if it might help someone. "Well, I started to change almost right away. At first I still had a hold on myself, and my friend tried to help tie me down so I wouldn't get away. But once I changed, I was strong enough to break free..." That was just the start of it, but he didn't know what specifics Facilier was looking for.

"I have a roommate who is most unfortunate, he too has the virus, but so far to both our luck he hasn't changed yet," Facilier sadly remarked. Merde...! He was going to have to deal with that aforementioned roommate soon too... "We can't seem to tell just who goes when. This Landel never likes to use any clear patterns for us to detect..." Facilier could only hope that tonight wasn't Hakkai's turn to change...

Facilier nodded somberly to Sora's words. "I see... Did you see or sense any magic at all when it occurred? Anything at all?" he questioned, turning his head to give the boy his full attention. "Like any presence of unusual colors, smells, voices, visions? I'm trying to figure out this Head Doctor's style." Which was true, Facilier must certainly wanted to know how Landel did his work, but it was more for his own benefit than Sora's. Facilier had to know exactly what sort of Doctor he was up against after all.

"I'm aware of some transmogrification spells that leaves the enchanted with their same free will and ability to speak," Facilier added, thoughtfully cupping his chin in his hand, "But this here bug sounds far more aggressive... Like some sort of possession..."

Oh no, Facilier's roommate was sick too? It seemed like every day that passed, Sora heard about someone else. He hoped it wasn't spreading, although he got the feeling that if it was, the patients would have figured that out by now. None of his friends who he'd interacted with since he'd gotten sick had developed any symptoms, so...

"Maybe you'll be able to help him, then." Sora also found it frustrating that there weren't any signs to judge when someone would turn. He hadn't known even during dinner last night what was going to happen, hadn't been given any specific warning signals.

"But no, I didn't sense any kind of magic when it happened," he admitted with a shrug. "I wish I could tell you something that would help more. But I can tell you I didn't have any control of myself when I changed. I remember it all, but at the time... I wasn't me." No, he would have never done those things to his friends -- but he'd been broken down into something that cared about only one thing.

Sora stared down at his hands. He wasn't looking forward to tonight, when they'd warp into dark claws again.

Day 66: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

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