The Once-ler worked fairly quickly, omitting a few details. There wasn't much need to draw in each individual patient room. He had made quite a bit of progress on the patient wing when Soma spoke about the area beyond the institute walls. The man stopped and turned to look at Soma, frowning in confusion.
"Wait, outside? You've gotten outside the building? But...." he trailed off. If she had gotten out, why was she still here?
It made a certain amount of sense, he supposed, that at night's end the patients all blacked out and reawakened in their beds, so long as they were inside. A sleeping gas of some sort to knock them out so the staff could drag them back to their rooms, maybe. But that wouldn't really work outside the building, would it? Yet it was clear that, somehow, being outside the institute when night would not prevent the blackout and recapture.
"So even if we escape the building, we're not free," he stated softly, shoulders sagging. The Once-ler had just assumed it was only a matter of leaving the institute grounds themselves. "Has anyone ever actually escaped this place?" He doubted he was going to like the answer.
Re: F9
"Wait, outside? You've gotten outside the building? But...." he trailed off. If she had gotten out, why was she still here?
It made a certain amount of sense, he supposed, that at night's end the patients all blacked out and reawakened in their beds, so long as they were inside. A sleeping gas of some sort to knock them out so the staff could drag them back to their rooms, maybe. But that wouldn't really work outside the building, would it? Yet it was clear that, somehow, being outside the institute when night would not prevent the blackout and recapture.
"So even if we escape the building, we're not free," he stated softly, shoulders sagging. The Once-ler had just assumed it was only a matter of leaving the institute grounds themselves. "Has anyone ever actually escaped this place?" He doubted he was going to like the answer.