damned_institute | Day 68: Recreational Field (Second Shift)

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Day 68: Recreational Field (Second Shift)

Despite Zero's earlier fit of (mostly internal) anger, it felt good to get some food in his stomach after going without since yesterday's lunch. He felt even better about how he had managed to avoid a certain former blue robot's attention for an entire shift - though he figured his luck was bound to run out very quickly as far as that was concerned. There were only so many people in this place and it wasn't like he was allowed to roam anywhere he wanted. Still, he would continue trying to awkwardly avoid his friend for as long as possible. Maybe he wasn't ill anymore and maybe it wasn't the right thing to do, but...until he figured out how to start a conversation with someone he'd literally taken a chunk out of the night before... How to apologize, and how to scold him for blatantly ignoring Zero's warnings...

(Either way, he wouldn't let it keep him from checking the bulletin board...even if there didn't seem to be much on there this morning. Hmm. Unusual.)

Otherwise... It seemed he was expected to go outside today. 'Vent some frustrations', the head lunatic said. Hmph. Good job being completely unsubtle. There was that flash of anger again - but by now, his ability to control said anger was becoming strong enough to prevent it from bothering him for more than a few minutes. That was good; he didn't need to waste his energy being too easily upset over words. Words couldn't make him bleed like half of the things that happened at night did. What he should be doing was taking advantage of the situation he had. The field would give him space to flex his muscles, help him train himself physically, prepare for whatever tonight might throw at him... Yes, that was what he needed to do. Train. And all he truly needed to worry about while doing that was not stressing his bandaged right arm, which needed to heal quickly more than anything.

Right. Once he managed to separate himself from his nurse (who was still worrying and fussing over his continued silence toward her) and once he'd scanned his surroundings to make sure that one particular face was nowhere to be seen, Zero began to wander across the grass, contemplating how he should go about this training. Maybe start with a light run around the field, to test his stamina....that sounded good.

[Harpuia and X!]

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The way Soushi was crouching didn't look to be particularly comfortable, but Castiel didn't say anything about it. While it was true that the back of his pants were now wet from the dew on the field, it didn't bother him so much that he'd rather stand.

It was true that no one was going to get very far without speaking with the other patients, so Soushi made a good point. Castiel had never met so many humans (and non-humans) in such a short period of time. He usually worked on his own, or with the Winchesters, and only had passing interactions with other humans. That had changed immensely here.

After all, here he was, sitting and having a conversation with someone for no particular reason, other than because the nurse had forced them to.

"I'm not surprised. New arrivals seem to show up every few days or so." It wasn't something he'd tracked, he had to admit, but he had run across plenty of new people, so he wouldn't call it rare.

Every few days or so? In that case, maybe it would just be a few more days before others from Ayakashi-kan began to show up here. Maybe It was only a little over 24 hours since he'd seen anyone and he was already losing hope.

Soushi let out a slow breath and nodded. "Yet there don't seem to be many people here. Do they go home just as frequently?"

Home, he knew, could be any number of places or definitions and from what the others here implied, home might not be anywhere on this planet. Either the people here were just under observation and sent back, or... well, they probably weren't going back at all.

That was a surprisingly optimistic way of looking at things. Didn't Soushi realize that he'd been kidnapped? For being so new, he seemed surprisingly calm about everything. While Castiel had learned that people reacted differently to these circumstances based on their overall demeanor and their backgrounds, it was still surprising.

"As far as I'm aware, no one's managed to go back to where they come from thus far," Castiel explained, making sure to look Soushi right in the eye as he spoke. "The Head Doctor goes to great lengths to prevent that. When people leave, it's assumed that they either died somehow or they were brainwashed into believing what the nurses told them and then released into this world." Castiel delivered the information bluntly, not seeing much point in being unclear. If there was one thing that a new arrival should learn soon, it was that nothing here was easy.

Not one? The thought was bleak, but it narrowed his goals somewhat. Get to the bottom of things and escape, submit to their supposed brain-washing, or eventually perish. Soushi's smile faded into something a bit more somber. And Ririchiyo? If she was here somewhere, he had to find her. If she was waiting for him in Japan, he had to find a way back.

He wasn't excited to hear it, but everything added up. Last night was enough to make him a bit more open minded; finding a mutilated corpse in his hallway and then magically bouncing from room to room had made him a believer, at least to some extent.

"So that's what everyone on the bulletin has been tip-toeing around," he studied Castiel's face for a moment, considering. The man might be lying, but right now Soushi had so few answers he was willing to consider anything he was given.

"I appreciate your honesty. This is... certainly not where I imagined I'd wake up next," he shook his head, somewhat incredulously. "Would it be alright if I were to ask you a few more questions?"

It looked like Soushi was interested in taking things more seriously now, which was only natural considering the information he'd just been given. Castiel realized that he often painted himself as the bearer of bad news, but he wasn't someone to talk to when looking for platitudes or reassurances. It wasn't his way.

Questions, he could answer. It was true that the bulletin could only offer so much, between people not having the chance to get back to notes, and the censorship. Face-to-face discussions were always safer and simpler in comparison.

"Go ahead," Castiel said with a nod. Something about Soushi's phrasing ("where I'd wake up next") intrigued him, but in the end, any curiosity about who this man had been and where he'd come from didn't rank as highly as telling him about his current situation. So Castiel leaned back and waited for whichever questions Soushi might have.

Castiel seemed a man of few words, though the ones he gave were quite invaluable. Every answer seemed to only lend itself to more questions, but it was better to know than to remain ignorant and suffer, wasn't it?

"I heard some of the patients talk about the sort of creatures that are out at night. Have you seen any of them? I was hoping to get a better idea of what I should be ready for, I suppose. I had also heard that sometimes rather... unfortunate things happen to patients regardless of whether they leave their rooms to explore. The word experimentation was used if I'm not mistaken," he asked, glancing at Castiel every so often.

A description, even a partial one of any of the monsters could be helpful. In a place that pitted patients against demons, he had to wonder if he'd been accidentally assigned the wrong side. Most of his friends fell into that category as well and the thought that the people here might be hurting or killing those same monsters without knowing that they were people too, albeit people not completely in control of their actions.

All of these questions were the normal ones that were asked by any new patient, so Castiel didn't think much of them. Soushi was lucky to have caught him on the first day since the surgery where he felt well enough to give long explanations about the institute. It wasn't that the pain was gone, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't ignore it, particularly with the help of those pain killers.

Castiel didn't like the idea that he might be growing reliant on them, but he'd heal eventually. For now, it was fine.

"I've seen some of them, yes. The majority of them are... mutated versions of animals, usually far larger than they should be and decayed in some way. Though there are also ghosts around, and things that can alter your mind in some way and make you see things that aren't there." This place didn't make anything easy, and Castiel knew that there was always the chance he would run into something completely new one of these nights. That was how Landel's worked.

"And you heard correctly -- patients will be taken out of their rooms to either have experiments performed on them, or to be brainwashed to guard an area of the institute. They will attack those they consider friends without much thought, because they've been conditioned to. It lasts for a night." And thus far, Castiel had been spared that, perhaps because the Head Doctor realized that unleashing an angel on the other patients would be unwise.

Mutated or decayed animals? Soushi's hands tightened into fists where they rested, the only visible sign of discomfort at the thought. While it was nothing as specific as any of the demons he knew, it was well within the realm of possibility.

Adding to that the suggestion that some of the patients were being controlled, manipulated into doing the head doctor's bidding, it hit close enough to home to cause him plenty of worry. Inugami had said his curse might remain, even if he were killed. Did that mean that there was someone else above him? The man running this institution? At the very least, he couldn't shake the idea that there might be some kind of connection. There just had to be.

"Do you think any of these monsters... with the experiments, might have been patients once?" he said after a moment, hoping the suggestion wasn't too obvious.

He scratched his head, "and it seems kind of odd that they would choose patients to attack other patients. Wouldn't they be stopped fairly easily? Or do they only release the experimental patients for such things?"

What a question to ask. Castiel couldn't imagine that most people immediately thought of the monsters as having once been patients, though it was possible Soushi had come across that idea due to the recent illness. Either way, it made him even more curious about just who Soushi was and what sort of background he came from. Maybe it was about time to try and sense that...

First, though, he'd field the questions. "I don't believe that's the case with the monsters, no, but you may have heard that recently some of the patients have been sick with something that can have that result -- they'll turn into a monster, in other words." Castiel still hadn't seen anything like that with his own eyes, but he'd seen signs of it, even if it was cryptic words or an increase in overall patient death in the past week.

"As for the brainwashing, anyone who's chosen for that will also be given their full range of abilities, or close to it. It makes them a very real threat." Castiel still remembered the amount of damage Lingormr had done, for instance. In a way, the other patients were the largest threat here. Castiel knew it shouldn't be that way, but between the illness, the brainwashing, and that coliseum, it was certainly true.

As he waited for Soushi's response, Castiel narrowed his eyes and concentrated hard on the other's essence. It hit him then, and suddenly Soushi's questions made some more sense. He was at least part demon, and there was something animalistic there too. Castiel refrained from saying anything about it at the moment, but he might need to bring it up before this conversation came to an end.

He did recall at least a handful of mentions from the staff and intercom about some sort of illness going around. There was some kind of infection that made the patients into monsters? Inugami had wanted all of the demons to join up and follow, keeping their demonic forms in favor of their human ones, but to think they were actually changing regular humans into creatures as well, was this simply the next step?

"I had wondered if there was more to that, thank you," he nodded, not entirely convinced that the other monsters already haunting this place weren't once human. There were just too many similarities to dismiss the idea.

"Abilities. Everyone uses that word. Is that another code?" he asked, admitting nothing of his own. Lingormr had said that too. He had to assume then, that perhaps a number of the patients were hiding things about themselves as well. Clearly if these abilities had to be given back, they had been taken, much like his own transformation. Flora had spoken of magic, and certainly who or whatever had killed that man in the hallway had been more than simply human.

"I'm sure the patients here must be strong to survive in this sort of environment, but abilities? What does that suggest?"

As it turned out, Soushi gave Castiel the perfect context to bring up what he'd just discovered. Not that he would have hesitated to mention it anyway, because he couldn't ignore coming across someone who had demon blood, but it would at least be simpler this way.

"I use the term 'abilities' because it's more broad. There are people here who can do all manner of things, from magic to manipulating the environment around them. While everyone's abilities are limited in this place, most have a minute amount left." In his case, the percentage of what had been taken as compared to what was left was monumental, but that was neither here nor there.

"You must know something about it, Soushi, seeing how I assume you have some yourself. Demons generally do." Castiel said it neutrally, not wanting to start throwing out accusations beyond that just yet. He could tell that whatever Soushi was, he wasn't from his version of Earth, which meant that he might not be a threat.

But Castiel didn't expect much from demons the majority of the time. He was prepared to deal with Soushi however he needed to, it it came to that. Castiel realized he didn't have the power to go around smiting anyone even if he'd wanted that, but he had other means.

It was something of a relief to hear Castiel confirm the extent of the patient's abilities. Not monsters or demons perhaps, but these weren't ordinary humans either. Atavists? It didn't sound like they fell into that category, but then again, he only knew a handful of them. Most of his childhood had been spent in solitary, not out social-networking with other demons. His conversation earlier with Flora made a lot more sense too. She certainly hadn't seemed at all demonic, but she had some measure of skill with spells and charms. Interesting.

He was fairly lost in his own thoughts as Castiel continued, but it was his last statement that really took him by surprise. The baseball tumbled out of his hands and he looked up, eyes a bit wider than before.

Demons generally do.

Soushi stared back, momentarily lost for words. Castiel knew what he was. He hadn't sounded as if he meant to threaten Soushi, but he also wasn't scared by the notion that a demon might be sitting across from him. Regardless, there was no mistaking that Castiel knew. It was possible he had the same power to read the hearts of others, much like the matriarch that had founded the SS. If that was the case, no amount of bluffing or carefully woven lies would work. And trying might only make things worse.

"Yes," he replied lamely, eyes glancing down near the ground and staying there, "but generally most don't know about such things."

He paused, uncertain. What did Castiel mean to use that information for? Blackmail? Some kind of alliance? Was he an agent of Inugami perhaps? "...is there something that you want, Castiel-san?"

It was clear Castiel had taken Soushi by surprise, with the way that he dropped the ball he'd been toying with, and the few seconds of stunned silence. While he hadn't meant for it to become something dramatic, Castiel also wasn't interested in taking a more subtle path. If there was a demon around, then it was something he needed to deal with now, injured or not.

Soushi proceeded very carefully, which made it clear that he was taking this seriously at the least. Thus far, Castiel found that Soushi acted nothing like the demons that he was used to. No attitude, no smart remarks -- in fact, he bordered on polite. It had turned out that Lust, who also wasn't human, hadn't posed a threat, so maybe Soushi would turn out to be the same.

"That depends. Before arriving here, you could say one of my duties was to keep an eye on demons and make certain they didn't cause any trouble. While it's clear we aren't from the same world, I need to know if you have any plans to terrorize the patients here." Castiel wasn't a hunter, but he was an angel, and this was something he was obligated to confront.

The fact was that all of the patients were in the same situation here, so it made much more sense to work together. He'd come close to working with Ruby, even. So Castiel was willing to set his prejudices aside, depending on how Soushi responded.

"Then it sounds as if we were under similar employment," Soushi replied, still unable to force himself to relax, but he did feel slightly less concerned hearing that Castiel was also in a familiar line of business.

"Prior to this sudden turn of events, I was working as a secret service agent for a rather wealthy family, protecting my charge. My master," he said the last with a tinge of regret. It was clear the term was meant as one of respect, not bitterness or malice.

Few humans knew that much. It was typically only information held by client and the service which employed them. But Castiel was clearly not some ordinary human. Whether he had power to sense another or whether he'd obtained his information in some other way, he was clearly not to be taken lightly.

"I do not know how you came to sense my... abilities, but where I am from, it is a bit different. They call us Atavists. Humans born as an unfortunate sort of genetic throwback. The blood of my ancestors was touched by a demon and makes itself manifest each generation," he explained with a certain amount of detachment, mismatched eyes glancing up at Castiel every so often.

"As we are often targeted by full-blooded demons, I can quite understand your apprehension. It is not my intent to cause any trouble for you or the other patients. I simply wish to find my master, Ririchiyo-sama, and see to her safety."

Here was the explanation that Castiel had been waiting for since he'd noticed that there was something different about Soushi. As he'd expected, Soushi was a different kind of demon than what he was used to, and more than that, his story almost reminded him of Sam's. While Soushi had more demon blood in him than Sam had, the concept of a demon tainting a human and then it following a bloodline was very similar to what Azazel had done.

That realization caused Castiel to relax slightly, though it wasn't in any visible way. It seemed that Soushi was as much a victim as any other human would be, and he seemed sincere about wishing to find the one he served and leave this place. Of course, that's what they all wanted in the end.

"Is there a reason that you're working as a servant?" Castiel asked after a pause, because that sort of setup was out of the ordinary. Castiel had been a servant of God, he realized, but that was different from devoting oneself to one person, particularly if it was a human.

No, his own situation didn't match that at all. He was devoted to the Winchesters, but he didn't answer to them. It was different.

It was hard to tell if Castiel accepted his answer or not, but he didn't push further, at least not regarding Soushi's demonic background. Though, he noticed, the man also gave no answer as to how he'd acquired the information either. Was he a threat? It was hard to tell. He just seemed... was it curious? Or just genuinely interested in the answers? The man was difficult to read. Men in general, tended to be more difficult for him to understand.

"Because I love her," he said without even a moment's hesitation. "It is also my duty as her SS, but more than that, my life would be empty and meaningless without her."

He wasn't sure he could put into words the depths of his feelings for Ririchiyo, but suffice to say there was nothing in this world or any other that was more important to him. Just thinking about how much he missed her was almost enough to make his eyes start to water, so he looked away for a moment.

Love? So it was something like that. Castiel couldn't admit to understanding anything like that, and while he could hardly assume that a demon was even capable of that, Soushi had already proved he wasn't a normal demon in the first place. Castiel still hadn't gotten to the bottom of that slight amount of beast that he'd sensed in Soushi, but he decided to leave it alone.

When he saw Soushi so overwhelmed with emotion that he turned his head, Castiel realized that he had definitely been making an incorrect assumption. That kind of devotion was something that he could understand, to an extent.

Soushi still hadn't explained how he'd come about the position in the first place, but when the intercom came on and the nurses started to make their move, Castiel realized that he'd need to wait to find that out another time.

"In that case," he said awkwardly as he struggled to stand without his crutches, "I hope that you find her soon."

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Day 68: Recreational Field (Second Shift)

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Let me know if this is okay! (Regarding Cas sensing Soushi, that is.)

No prob! That's fine!

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