damned_institute | Day 69: Courtyard

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Day 69: Courtyard

Link was feeling overall good as he was escorted outside after breakfast. The food had been good, and the weather was nice. It wasn't so cold anymore, but still comfortable. He much preferred coming outside to being cooped up in that stuffy, dull building. The Hylian was trying to remain positive. They had the cure now, did they not? People were getting better.

The death toll was impossible to ignore, though.

He sighed, hands in his pockets as he shuffled through the grass and settled himself on the lawn. This was nice. At least, it was as nice as things could get around here. Link's mind drifted back home, back to Ordon and Hyrule and Midna and Zelda. Everything was okay there, now. And he couldn't even see it for himself.

[Free!]

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It was almost as if Claude had known that Guy was starting to worry, because in the next moment he showed up as if nothing had been wrong in the first place. Not that Guy was going to scold Claude for not being around, since he doubted it was something he'd had control over in the first place.

No, he was just glad that Claude was here and looked healthy. Hopefully the night spent in bed was just a fluke and not some sign of a worse thing to come. It didn't look as if his illness had relapsed or anything like that, either.

"There you are," Guy said, turning away from the pond and sending Claude a smile. "I've been looking for you. I stopped by your room last night, but it didn't look like anything was going to wake you up. You're feeling okay, right?" Claude looked fine, but it was always best to be sure.

Seeing that smile aimed at him made Claude's spirits that much lighter, and he unthinkingly grinned a little wider in response. Guy seemed like he was glad to see him, which in of itself wasn't so unusual, but his comments caught Claude off guard.

"Huh?" His smile faded, but mostly because he was just plain confused. "What are you talking about? We were together last night, weren't we? The four of us were trying to get to the greenhouse, but--"

Claude froze. Wait a minute.

Today's schedule wasn't off -- he was off!

Slapping a hand over his face, he groaned. "Don't tell me I slept all day..."

For a moment Guy was just as baffled as Claude, because the four of them most certainly hadn't all been together last night, but then it sunk in and all he could do was smile sheepishly. Claude really hadn't noticed that he'd slept that long? Guy had imagined it was the sort of thing that would be pretty hard to miss...

"And all night, I guess," Guy said after a pause. "But I guess so long as you're feeling fine now, there's no harm in it. If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure Luke did the same thing."

Was it really just a coincidence that it had happened to two of his friends at the same time? He thought it was understandable he was paranoid, seeing how a number of his friends had slept for long hours before their disappearances. But Claude was here now, so hopefully everything was fine. Now Guy just needed to find Luke...

It didn't make him feel better, actually. Every veteran of Landel's knew that sleeping for long periods preceded getting "released". Claude had seen it happen to enough of his roommates to know firsthand -- and, although he wasn't about to say this to Guy, Luke wasn't exactly known for sticking around Landel's.

He just had to hope it didn't happen to him again anytime soon. Just because he'd woken up this morning didn't mean he was out of the woods. Sometimes it could be something as innocuous as sleeping through several nights in a row, or missing a day here and there, and then...

Claude swallowed hard and did his best not to let it get to him, but that was easier said than done.

"Well, maybe Luke is wandering around somewhere too, then," he said, trying to sound positive. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him."

There was an awkward pause as Claude shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "So, umm...what did you wind up doing last night?"

Guy knew Claude well enough by now that he could tell that his unexpected day spent asleep was bothering him. And he couldn't blame him, because he would have felt the same way if it had been him. That had happened to him a few days back, but it had only been half the day, and nothing similar had happened since, so he'd stopped worrying about it. Hopefully it would be the same situation for Claude and Luke.

"Thanks," Guy said when Claude agreed to keep an eye out for Luke. "I left a note for you two on the bulletin, so hopefully he'll see that." If not, then Guy would check his room again tonight. It might waste time, but there were certain sacrifices you made without thinking when it came to friends.

As for Claude's question, Guy glanced back toward him and smiled briefly. "After we checked on the two of you, Anise and I decided to just head toward the greenhouse and try to keep the areas around it safe for others to get through. We didn't really know what else to do." He paused and looked around the courtyard, indicating it with a sweep of his hand.

"We made it this far before we ran into one of Landel's guards... But he wasn't exactly orthodox in the way he kept us busy." Claude might remember him from that one time in the Sun Room, but Guy had barely remembered it himself, so maybe not.

Hearing Guy describe what he and Anise had done while Claude snoozed the night away was kind of weird, if only because he wished he could have been there with them. For a moment, frustration welled up in his chest. He wasn't sure whether he was angry at Landel or himself, but the thought of just lying in bed by himself, useless, rankled him a lot.

Thankfully, his friend's story soon caught his full attention, and he became more concerned with learning more.

Instinctively, he checked Guy for injuries, but was relieved to find he looked all right. "What do you mean?" he asked, eyebrows furrowing. "What was so unorthodox about him?"

"Well, actually, this was the same person we ran into briefly one night in the Sun Room. He wanted us all to have a dance competition, remember?" Clearly, this guy had a thing for terrorizing the patients in weird ways that weren't actually all that harmful. Guy realized that it could have been worse, but he just wished that he knew what the rationale for it was. He'd seen plenty of people with bloodlust in his time, so that he could wrap his head around. But this was just strange.

"Anyway, this time around he basically made Anise and I play a huge board game that covered the entire Courtyard. When everything changed, it was like it was daytime, and everything here looked like it was pasted together out of colored paper. He was floating around on something in the pond and he'd roll this huge pair of dice whenever he wanted us to move across the board."

Guy knew that it sounded completely crazy, even as he explained it, but he was sure that Claude would believe him. It wasn't like they hadn't seen plenty of crazy things together in this place. Though seeing how he and Anise hadn't accomplished much last night, maybe it was for the best that Claude had rested in bed instead of coming along.

Then again, if Claude had been with them, they probably would have just headed down to the caverns...

"Ugh, no way, that guy again?!" Claude rolled his eyes. Board games? Colored paper? What was it with this place? That was more infuriating than running into some kind of monster. It was like Landel didn't even take them seriously anymore! Or maybe he never did in the first place.

"What a bastard," he huffed. "He really needs to find better things to do with his time." Or at least pretend they weren't all just a bunch of playthings for his enjoyment.

Once he'd calmed down a little, he let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry your night was such a bust." He averted his gaze a little, his train of thought mirroring Guy's on some level. "If I hadn't have been asleep..."

Guy wasn't expecting Claude to get so worked up about it, but the fact was that Claude had always been more reactive than Guy. He shouldn't be all that shocked. Anise had also been pretty annoyed last night, after all. It's not that it didn't bother Guy, but in the end he preferred to focus on the fact that they hadn't been injured. Sure, it was still a waste of time, but the night had been a wash from the start since they'd been down one person.

"Don't worry so much about it," Guy said with a shake of his head, moving closer to place a hand on Claude's shoulder. He smiled reassuringly at him. "Let's just assume that you needed that rest and move on from there, okay? We can start working on things again tonight."

The last thing that Guy wanted was for Claude to feel guilty about something he had no control over. The three of them had been here long enough that he was pretty sure they could accept another night being wasted, even if it wasn't ideal.

Although his friend probably didn't realize it, his smile had a way of instantly putting Claude at ease. When combined with the warm weight of Guy's hand on his shoulder, though, his chest grew warm too.

"R-right. Thanks for understanding..." He'd been ill until recently, so maybe his body was just catching up on rest. That was probably a better way to look at it than wringing his hands over whether he was going to get "released" soon or not.

"Also, while I'm at it--" Claude met Guy's gaze, and he gave a soft smile. "Thank you for supporting me so much while I was sick. I know it all goes without saying, since that's what friends are for and everything. But what you did for me that day above the Sun Room...it meant a lot to me."

The thanks wasn't all that unexpected. Claude had a way of thanking him for things that didn't merit it, although Guy was glad to hear that Claude was aware of that this time around.

He hadn't forgotten their conversation above the Sun Room, though. He'd comforted Claude the best he could, reassuring him that everything would work out in the end, because Guy wasn't going to accept any other possibility. Even then he'd been worried that his words wouldn't ring true, but things really had turned out okay in the end. And that was almost as much of a relief for Guy as it was for Claude.

"Of course," he said, nodding his head. He averted his gaze for a moment, slightly sheepish. But Claude was a close friend, and he didn't regret what he'd said or done for a second. He let his hand drop from Claude's shoulder and shrugged. "And now we're stronger than ever, right? With you and Anise both feeling better, we can take on the caverns again."

Guy seemed a little shy about the thanks, but Claude wasn't sorry he'd said something. In a place like this, with so few guarantees, he wanted those close to him to know how much he appreciated them. That was why he was glad Guy was able to accept it before they moved onto another topic.

The caverns -- it felt like a year since they'd been down there, even though Claude knew that wasn't true. But a lot had happened between then and now, so maybe it wasn't so surprising that the thought had been so far at the back of his mind until recently.

"That's true!" he replied with a boyish grin before giving a small chuckle. "I'll bet that weird skeleton guy hasn't missed us any, though."

Right, the skeleton. As far as Guy was concerned, it was the other way around. He hadn't missed that weird ferryman one bit. Actually, the caverns wouldn't even be that hard to deal with if it wasn't for the fact that they had to endure that ferryman.

Although Guy wasn't so convinced that the skeleton hadn't missed them, at least a little bit. "I don't know," he said with a crooked smile, "I think he might get pretty lonely down there." It seemed like the ferryman was stuck doing that job for the rest of eternity, and who knew how long he'd been working at it before now.

On the other hand, had that many other groups of patients really gone through there? Guy had no way of knowing, of course, but he still had to wonder if this institute was truly as long-lived as Landel tried to make it seem.

"Good point." Claude rubbed his chin. "Maybe we'll have to ask him when we see him."

Of course, he'd probably just get annoyed at the ferryman all over again once they saw him for real. But Claude was in a good mood -- the best mood in a long time, actually -- and he was going to try to enjoy it. Sure, he still felt bothered about sleeping so much. As long as he was well-rested and healthy with good friends at his side, though, Claude knew he didn't have much room to complain.

On some level, he knew the tattoo on his shoulder was a reminder that he had plenty to worry about. But he didn't have to think about that today. Not when the sky was so beautiful.

"Oh, by the way," he suddenly added with bright eyes, "I have a small something I want to give to you tonight. We're going to meet in the same place as usual, right?"

Guy got the feeling that even if they were bold enough to ask the ferryman if he got lonely, they wouldn't get a truthful response. That skeleton preferred to make jokes and take jabs at them, rather than talking about anything actually helpful. And chances were that applied to personal questions, too.

Speaking of which, they needed to figure out who would be giving the toll tonight. They had gotten into a system of switching off, but they'd have to remember who had been the last person to sacrifice something for the night.

Guy was about to bring that up, but then Claude mentioned that he had a gift of some kind for him. He wasn't expecting that, since Claude hadn't exactly been in good health lately. What could he possibly have for him? Guy blinked and tilted his head to the side, speechless for a moment.

"Uhh, yeah, the same place as always. You can give it to me then. You really didn't have to, but thanks all the same." He smiled and crossed his arms over his chest, already curious to know what this gift might be.

"It's nothing fancy or anything!" Claude said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Hopefully he hadn't given the impression he'd made a present, or had gone to great lengths to retrieve it. "Just something that's been collecting dust in my room, and I thought you might get a small kick out of it."

That was all there was to say about the matter. At the very least, he hoped it would give Guy something to look forward to. There wasn't enough of that in the institute, as far as Claude was concerned.

"Anyway," he added as his hand dropped to his side, "we should probably figure out who's going to pay the toll tonight, but it might be better to do it in a place where Anise can have some kind of input. Maybe the bulletin?"

Something that had been sitting around in Claude's room? That didn't really narrow it down. The only thing that came to mind was some kind of weapon, but Guy doubted that was the case, as Claude knew that he already had a sword and a sheath.

Well, he'd be finding out soon enough, so Guy set that aside. He and Claude were pretty much on the same page, it seemed, since Claude brought up tonight's toll next. Guy definitely agreed that it wasn't something they should discuss without Anise.

"The bulletin should work," he said with a nod. All three of them were good about checking it, so it wouldn't be a problem. "One of us can put up the message -- whoever gets to it first, I guess." That was going to leave Luke in the lurch, but Guy had to track him down before he could do much about that.

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Day 69: Courtyard

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