Day 69: Music Room

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

"They'll still be listening," Taura said, tilting her head at the medtech and orderly that had followed them in. "But they either know everything or think we're crazy." Her expression said exactly how little she cared about either. It was other patients that might matter, if Rita had had to do something drastic.

She found a couple of chairs, and sat down in one -- Rita might stay standing if she did, but that would be silly. "What happened?"

Comments

[overlimit]

Taura seemed to immediately understand the gravity of what Rita was about to say, which was appreciated. She followed her into the room, favoring her left leg as she walked. When she reached the chairs, she considered standing, but the aching in her leg convinced her to sit down with the other woman.

It took a moment for her to come up with the words, but bit by bit, she spoke.

"Goku's dead. He transformed... I didn't know it was him." About the only resemblance between the kid and that monster was the tail. Should she have noticed that, and thought something of it? Rationally, Rita knew that what happened wasn't her fault, and yet her mind still reached for all the ways she could have avoided the situation. But in the end, what was done was done. "I put him down."

[ninelivesonce]

Taura winced. It was her fault. She'd been the one responsible for holding on to the flower, and she'd held onto it -- but the opportunity to give it to Goku had slipped right through her hands. She hadn't even been able to help contain him, or even recognize him, so that, even if the outcome had been the same, at least they'd have known. She winced more. It might have been comical, if the situation hadn't been so dire.

"Was anyone else there?" Was anyone else hurt, or just you? And Goku. She paused, and then the words built up behind her lips and started spilling out again. "Saw him transform, before, but didn't know how to fix it, then. If only I hadn't fallen asleep," she added. "It doesn't mean much, but I'm sorry."

Apologies were cheap. Actions were what counted. "Is there anything that'd help now?" she asked, starting to get a handle on her voice.

[overlimit]

Rita had prepared herself for a number of possible reactions. What she didn’t expect was for Taura to answer with a confession of her own. “You saw…?” she asked, furrowing her brow as she processed this new information. If she’d been asleep since, then Rita couldn’t fully blame her for not coming forward with that information sooner. It was starting to look like they were both at fault in some way. “Then maybe you’ll know: did he use the cure at any point?”

Belatedly, Rita supposed she ought to answer Taura’s questions. “There was a masked man. He took some hits, but he’ll be fine.” Considering the mask, he didn’t seem like he’d want people asking after him anyway.

As for whether there was anything Taura could do… Rita simply shook her head. “What’s done is done.” They were both guilty, but the one person who had the right to blame or demand anything of them was gone. There was nothing either of them could do.

[ninelivesonce]

"Not that I saw." Taura's face fell, as Rita went on. They'd had the cure, and they'd had Goku, and somehow they couldn't get them in the same place.

Goku hadn't, either, but Taura didn't want to blame him, not now. It wasn't his fault; he'd been just a kid, and no one wanted to think of themselves as a monster.

"That's not good enough. We've got to do something." Determination wasn't the same as direction, though, and she stared at her empty hands, the polish almost completely worn off her nails. "It isn't right."

[overlimit]

Not right? Of course it wasn’t. None of this was.

Rita shook her head and looked away. "There's nothing. It's not like we can change what's already happened..." And nothing they did from now on would change anything for Goku. If they couldn't fix anything, then all that was left was...

"The most we can do is get Landel back for starting all of this." If there was anything they needed to focus on, that was it. Unfortunately, that was the very thing that most patients were trying to do, and they all knew how successful that had been so far. But maybe... Maybe that passage in the library could be the way to him.

[ninelivesonce]

Taura's expression looked a lot more like an ordinary smile without the fangs, but it still showed a lot of teeth. "And make sure he can't do it to anyone else. Convenient, isn't it?"

She would kill him quickly. Not because he deserved that, but because she didn't want to watch it. Or be the kind of person who would want to watch it. There was just one problem with the whole plan. One tiny, little problem...

"Any idea where to start?"

[overlimit]

Rita cupped her hand under her chin. She wasn't planning on saying anything until after she confirmed whether or not it was a solid lead... but with all the suspiciously timed obstacles that had gotten in her way, it looked like that would take far more time than expected. Not to mention how the obstacles themselves may have been confirmation that the passage held some special significance.

In other words, it was about time to fill Taura in on what Rita had been up to for the past week.

"There might be something... but I'm not sure yet. There's a secret passage in the library. Ever since I found it, I haven't been able to enter... something always gets in the way." She crossed her arms, frowning as she remembered all the monsters and strange occurrences that led to all that wasted time. "It might lead to somewhere Landel doesn't want us to go."

[ninelivesonce]

Taura's eyes widened. This was real intel. Not a maybe-sighting of Marc, or a rumor of a rumor. A solid plan.

"We'll need to be armed. Last place I was in that was off-limits there were swarms of the things the medics turn into." She'd never found out what happened to that key; either it hadn't gone to anyone else, or whoever had it was keeping it secret.

[overlimit]

Going with Taura, huh... Rita hadn't had much luck with teams lately, but she'd made progress with Taura before. Maybe this could work. "I'll have my spells and whip," she assured her. "You'd better bring that healing stone." As for weapons, Rita was fairly sure Taura had it covered.

However, Taura's words made Rita curious. "Where did you go that was off-limits before?" She was a little surprised that she hadn't heard about it before, but maybe that was a sign that there was a catch to that discovery.

[ninelivesonce]

"And a few other things." Taura did, indeed, have it covered. You could kill anything with a stunner, once it was down, and she had several options for close-in weaponry.

"There's a door on the second floor." Her voice dropped half an octave and down to a conspiratorial volume. "The history club had a key, but no one claimed to have it after Okita disappeared. If someone does, they're not telling. It lead to a room full of nurses -- and weapons. S'where I got my claws," she added, waggling her fingers. Rita'd seen them, so she'd know Taura wasn't talking about the sad little soft things covered in chipping nail polish on the ends of her fingers -- the metal ones were even better than her real claws, albeit without as much finesse.