damned_institute | Day 66: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

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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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"Yeah," he agreed, giving Leanne a single nod of his head. As long as - again - the actual process didn't leave anyone crippled or worse, then yes, it was definitely worth it. It was proof that Landel didn't have total control over this situation, if nothing else.

...Though honestly, Zero wasn't sure how a butterfly could cause this, either. Were insects really so bad for human bodies that it would physically change them should they be ingested? He'd never heard of such a thing before. The only thing that came close was the Maverick virus from years past, and that was a program, not a living butterfly. Remembering the sketch he'd seen on the board, however... The once-Reploid thought for a moment. "I don't think it's a real, organic butterfly, from what I read. It's just something shaped like one that Landel gave to some people..." Most likely. But what that 'something' was, Zero didn't know. If anyone on the board had known, then they hadn't expressed it clearly.

"Like a machine or something?" she asked, figuring Zero would know more about that than she would. She couldn't say she had any idea whether a machine could get someone so ill, but in truth, there were quite a few things she didn't know about them. Sure, there were plenty of them scattered all throughout Basel, but it wasn't as if most ordinary people knew anything about how machines worked.

"But you know what's still really bugging me, Zero?" Leanne continued, idly shuffling the cards in her hands. "I've heard some people think they slipped them in our food or something like that, but how do you think Landel got those inside us?" She huffed out a breath, a frown on her face. "It couldn't have been that easy, right?"

A machine? Hm... "Maybe." Though to him, it was a strange idea. Zero had never heard of a machine making a human ill before. They could only do that to other machines through corruption, right? But if time travel and Reploid-to-human transfer were possible in this world...who's to say that machines causing organic beings to transform into monsters wasn't possible, too?

After all, he couldn't claim it was the craziest thing he'd ever heard...

But as for Leanne's other question, which Zero listened to without any change of expression (although he did cross his arms eventually)... "I don't know," he responded, half-shrugging, "I'm not an expert on humans." He just knew that they got into certain prisoners somehow, and that fact was what mattered more.

Leanne sighed, setting the cards down on her lap again, and looked up at Zero. "And I don't know a lot about machines either... But I guess that'd be too easy, huh? Maybe whatever that Landel guy's doing to make..." She shrugged, frowning slightly. "...all of this happen is a whole lot more complicated than a few machines."

Renamon's words to her that night, about just how far Landel's influence probably reached, were one thing she still hadn't forgotten. It was... downright infuriating, really, thinking of a man like him having so much power. "But however he's doing it, I really don't like it."

... Leanne had a good point, and not just about the infection. Everything Landel had done to bring these people here and then torture them...it seemed impossible for it to be the work of only a few machines, or even a few people. It was too complicated, too...fantastical, too advanced for it to be a small scale operation. Technological advancements aside, how can it be small when some sort of military was or used to be involved, whether it was on Landel's side or not, along with a resistance group of unknown size? Not to mention the nearby town of Doyleton that was at the very least affected by both the Institution's facade by day and the hellish transformation that happened at night...

Could Landel really do all of that all by himself?

"I wonder if he has help from somewhere else," Zero mused aloud, closing his eyes as he continued to think hard about this. "Besides the military. Something higher up." Did whatever country this place was in know about Landel's work? Was he following government orders? He hadn't considered that possibility before...but if it were true, then challenging that power would be much more difficult than he'd first thought...

Help from somewhere else, huh? She couldn't say she knew what kind of people could have helped him in the Outside World, just who could have been powerful enough to pull off something like that, but were they in Basel, the answer would have been obvious. Chandelier, the church: no one but the Cardinals and Rowen could have possibly been able to do something like that there.

But did the church hold quite as much power in the Outside World? Asking Zero would have been useless-- he was likely as clueless as she was-- so Leanne filed the question away for later, to ask once she found someone who might know the answer. "I don't know. Someone told me once that Landel himself had a lot of power, but he can't do all of this just by himself, right? It didn't sound like the military was with him, but do you think it's got anything to do with whoever was giving them orders?"

"One person can't do all of this alone," Zero replied, shaking his head. No - that would be impossible, no matter how powerful Landel was compared to whatever governments there were in this world. Even Dr. Weil had had some sort of help when he'd taken control of Neo Arcadia.

But as for the military... "I didn't think the military was on Landel's side, either. Whoever's giving them orders..." Hm. Assuming the military wasn't an independent group, did their leaders have something to do with them being against Landel? The answer to that question could change what all of this meant. If their leader wasn't on Landel's side, then obviously that meant the military was trying to take over something that wasn't theirs; in other words, all of these prisoners would technically be caught in the middle of a power struggle. Wonderful.

If their leader was on Landel's side, however, then Landel probably broke some sort of agreement with them, which got worked out when Landel regained control over the Institute. Didn't seem likely to Zero, but it was still a possibility.

...That was the problem. Always the problem. All of these thoughts were just possibilities. There was little concrete evidence for anything. "...Without knowing details, it's hard to say for sure whether they're on Landel's side or not, or if they even have higher-ups to begin with." Eternally frustrating, this lack of answers for everything...

No higher-ups? Leanne couldn't say she liked the sound of that, not with people like Landel and the soldiers she'd met involved. Then again, maybe it was a blessing in disguise if those supposed higher-ups didn't exist. After all, what kind of twisted person would it take to order... all of this? (Certainly someone as twisted as the one who'd ordered the experiments in Aetersyl, a traitorous part of her mind whispered before she pushed the thought away.)

She leaned back on her chair, arms crossed, and frowned up at the ceiling. "Yeah, it sure didn't sound like they got along. But... But there's just gotta be some way to find out, right? I know that radio guy knows a lot about Landel, but..." Leanne looked down, back at Zero. "I wish there was some way we could get him to tell us everything he knows. He probably knows about the military, too..."

The radio guy... It took a few seconds of thinking before Zero understood what Leanne was talking about. That's right...on his second night, when he'd met Ema and Harvey Dent, he had heard a radio broadcast from a man who was apparently trying to help the prisoners here. Marc was his name. It was one of those details that had slipped his mind recently, as it was something he hadn't heard about in awhile; not to mention there were just more important things to think about right now, the infection being one of the most urgent ones. But that didn't mean it wasn't important enough to remember...especially if that guy was really an ally.

Anyway. "Is there a way to meet that man face to face?" From what he remembered hearing, no one seemed to know that much about Marc. Or at the very least, no one had ever met him in person. Had he been doing broadcasts since the one Zero heard? Hm...

Leanne breathed out a sigh, her eyebrows furrowed. As much as she had seemed to know about Marc, Renamon might have been able to tell them something about how to meet him. But, as things were, she hadn't been able to catch so much as a glimpse of the girl in the last couple days, and that boy the day before hadn't seemed so sure about whether she really was still around.

The thought of her friend having been released brought with it a sinking feeling, only aggravating the state of her stomach, but she forced it aside and shook her head. "I don't know. But we should try to find out. If there's a way to do it, someone here's gotta know about it. We just have to find the right person!"

She trailed off, biting her lip. "We could probably ask the people who've been here for a long time."

People who've been here a long time... Zero couldn't say he knew many who fit that description. Harvey Dent was the first one to come to mind, although he couldn't remember exactly how long Dent said he'd been here, if he'd ever said anything about that in the first place; Zero just figured it was quite awhile since Dent seemed so experienced. But otherwise, there was...that man he'd met on his first day here, the one who'd been here before the military had taken over the Institute. What was his name again? He remembered the face and voice more than the name...oh well. Then there were Lana Skye and Nigredo, both of whom Zero was guessing had been here awhile based on their experience, like Dent. That was about it.

Would one of those people know about Marc, and how to reach him? Couldn't hurt to ask, in any case. The worst he could be told was 'I don't know'. (And wasn't that the common response to any question here, anyway?)

"Yeah. Someone has to know." Zero uncrossed his arms, resting his hands on his knees; he continued to think hard in the meantime. "It's probably something to ask over the board, actually."

Though she was the one to suggest it, with Renamon missing in action, Leanne couldn't say she was sure of just who to ask herself. There was Guy, but aside from him, she wasn't sure just how long most of the people she'd met had been around in the Institute. Maybe Tsubaki? She'd never actually gotten around to asking.

Still, Zero's idea was an appealing one. Even if no one could answer their question, at the very least, they could get some kind of idea of how much everyone knew. "It's pretty late by now, I don't know how many people would see it... What do you think about asking over the bulletin board tomorrow? We've gotta find out something that way!"

...Ah. Good point. It was the last shift of the day before dinner, after all...and considering how much time had passed since Zero began talking to Leanne, this shift was probably going to be ending soon, anyway. Putting up the question now would be a little pointless. "Tomorrow, then," he agreed with a nod of his head. "Whoever gets to the board first in the morning can put it up." Or whoever remembered first. It didn't really matter; the input they'd (hopefully) receive from the note was what did count.

For now, though... The once-Reploid's mind wandered further, to other unanswered questions and possible leads. (As if there were any shortage of them.) There was one question in particular that might be helpful assuming the answer was known. "Who else would know about Landel besides Marc?" he mused aloud, asking himself as much as he was asking Leanne. Other rebels? Zero couldn't think of anyone off the top of his head...but maybe Leanne knew more than he did?

"It's a deal," she said, the smile returning to her lips. Just the idea of getting any scrap of information, of knowing just a little more than they did before, was much more appealing than she would have expected. But it was only to be expected, wasn't it? In a place like this, where their every action was so limited, just a little extra knowledge could very well make the difference. And Leanne was going to survive. She was going to keep herself, and everyone else she could, alive. No crazy Head Doctor was going to stop her.

"The military, I guess. But they're not here anymore." She frowned, resting her elbows on her knees. "Maybe some of the other doctors? Do you think they'd know anything about the guy they work for?"

Yeah... Zero couldn't say he missed the military exactly, but it would be helpful information gathering-wise if they were still around. A lot could have been observed from them. It didn't help that the former Reploid had arrived here just before they'd been kicked out of the Institute...there might have been a lot of important information given out at the beginning of their 'reign' which he hadn't been here to learn.

Oh well. It couldn't be helped now.

Leanne's other suggestion got Zero's attention, meanwhile. "Other doctors?" Who? Not that it didn't make sense for Landel to have underlings beyond the nurses, but it wasn't something he had seen or heard about before now.

Leanne raised an eyebrow, frowning in confusion as she rested her chin on her hands. Did Zero really not know? Then again, she couldn't really say she knew how the doctors had chosen who to speak to that day, so it was entirely possible he'd never seen, or heard, anything.

"Yeah," she began, still frowning. "I guess no one told you about it, huh? A few days ago, they made me go and talk to this guy they said was my doctor. And I know I'm not the only one who's had to do that. He was really nice, but..." She shook her head, smiling weakly. "I'm really sure he still thought I was crazy."

...Zero just stared as Leanne explained. No, this was definitely not something he had heard about before. Why was he only learning about it now? Other doctors under Landel's wing actually interacting with the prisoners was a pretty important fact, and for it to just go unmentioned by everyone else...

Whatever. He was hearing about it now, at least. His curiosity was rather piqued by the topic, too. So what were these doctors like? Who were they? Did they live here too, like the nurses?

More importantly, though... "Why did they do that to you?" he asked, slightly tilting his head. What was the point in pretending that they were being 'seen' by real doctors? Then again, what was the point in this facade, or going to Doyleton, or any of the things that happened during the day...

Of all the things he could have asked... Leanne couldn't quite help a small laugh at Zero's question, shaking her head slightly. Why, huh? She'd have sure liked to know why anyone in the Institute did anything to them. No matter how much she thought about it, no matter how many theories she shared with fellow prisoners... She couldn't even begin to understand why anything happened in this place.

"I don't know," she said at length, flashing him a smile even she could tell didn't look too convincing. "I think... He was like the nurses. He really thought I was just some crazy girl called Jessica. He... He wanted to help me." She could have almost trusted him too, could have wanted to take him up on his offers to help... If she hadn't known about everything else that went on in the Institute.

Edited 2012-11-12 01:48 (UTC)

...Zero could agree with that. This place had a way of driving one mad trying to figure out what was really going on - and that in itself could very well be its purpose, considering it was supposed to be an insane asylum. He wouldn't be surprised if that really was the case.

What he was being told about the doctor Leanne saw didn't help matters, either. Legitimately believing that the prisoners here were actually insane, and wanting to help them... Zero wanted to think that the staff were all just really good at pretending to be unaware, but considering how his nurse had reacted when he'd attacked her the other day... How she had still asserted Zero's 'insanity' despite being caught in a dangerous situation...

"...You really think so?" Despite his choice of words, he wasn't questioning Leanne's judgment; rather, he was questioning - again - the point of it all. Questioning the doctor's role, and why he wanted to help her. How he wanted to help her. Was he really ignorant of Landel's real goals? How could he and the nurses, if they were really innocent 'employees', not notice something strange about all of this? Especially if their desire to help their 'patients' was genuine?

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Day 66: Game Room (Fourth Shift)

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I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG sob...

IT'S COOL

;;b

and then I took forever, sob.

and then I did too, sob

sobbing party everywhere