damned_institute | Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

After eating breakfast, Lloyd gathered up his journal and pencil and followed his nurse out of the cafeteria. He made a quick stop at the bulletin to leave a note for Lee, then let her lead him on to take his shower with the rest of the adult men. Not sure how old Lee was, Lloyd kept his eyes peeled for him just in case, but again he didn't catch even a glimpse of his friend's shiny black bowl-cut hair. Okay, no worries. Maybe he was with the kids in Arts and Crafts.

Cleaning up quickly, Lloyd grabbed a towel and dried himself off, then got dressed and headed back to the Sun Room to wait out the rest of the shift. His nurse hovered at his side until he'd situated himself at a table, then she backed up and withdrew to the edge of the room to keep an eye on him from there. He was fine with that. Of course, it would have been better if she left the room completely, but at least she was far enough back that it felt like he had at least some privacy.

While he waited, trying to catch sight of Lee, he pulled his journal back out. As far as he knew, no one else had been to the third floor before. There weren't any maps yet. That was something he could fix. Picking up where he'd left off, the teen went back to his work on the sketch.

[For Tsurugi.]

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Lloyd was more than happen to share what he knew, and if Tsurugi was trying to go to the third floor, too, he definitely needed to be warned. His finger traced the line that split the room. "There's a glass wall here so you can't get to the next warp pad unless you go through this big metal arch that's right here." He pointed to the break in the wall with the jagged line. "The door has a trap in it, though. It shocked us when we tried to go through it. This thing..." He tapped the bar next to the door. "Maybe someone small enough could make it through here. It's a giant belt on wheels that goes through this box thing here. It was the only other way through the wall we could see, but I don't know if it's trapped, too." They'd been running out of time and Castiel had decided not to wait while they investigated it. Besides, he didn't think he would have fit.

"We found some keys," Lloyd added. "But we couldn't figure out what they went to. That's when we woke up." Damn it, if only they'd had more time.

An archway... And what sounded like a conveyor belt? The more Lloyd talked, the more Kyousuke found himself drawing his eyebrows together. That... didn't actually sound like a trap at all, where he was standing from.

"... Isn't that just a metal detector?" he asked with a frown. To be fair, they usually just set off an alarm instead of shocking you, but they must have just ended up in a room with really high security. "I don't think you need to crawl through. If you just put all the metal you're carrying onto the belt, you should be able to go through the arch with no problem."

The boy shook his head. At this point, he wouldn't expect much less from Lloyd, but it still got bewildering having to explain things like this. Though what he wondered about was less the boy across from him and more whoever had accompanied him. Had none of them ever seen anything like that?

Keys were good news, though. "Maybe they'll work on those doors we tried the other night," he suggested. The third floor was important, but finding clues about saving Kratos and Lloyd was, too. Even if they found a route home, he wouldn't want to leave before he got the chance to tie up any loose ends like that.

"A... metal detector?" Lloyd echoed the unfamiliar term, no doubt confirming Tsurugi's suspicions that he had no idea what it was. Equally surprising to him was the fact that Tsurugi even knew them well enough to figure out what it was just by Lloyd's description of it. "What are they for? Just to make you take your weapons off?" That's what it sounded like to him, and that made it feel even more like a trap.

At the suggestion of what the keys might be for, a surprised and hopeful look crossed Lloyd's face. "Hey, you might be right. I hadn't thought about that! I thought they might be for the doors in that room, but we didn't have time to check. But those are the first keys we've found in this place. Who knows what they might go to?" Suddenly, a world of possibilities opened to him. If he could open even one of those locked doors, who knew what he might be able to get to?

"There were three of them. They looked the same, so we each took one of them. I mean, me and Kratos and Castiel." He tilted his head. "Do you know who Castiel is? I never met him before last night."

"... More or less," Kyousuke responded. "They put them in sensitive places to make sure nobody's bringing anything dangerous in. You probably just ended up in some kind of security area." It sounded strange to have one of those in a mental hospital, but then again, it was a lot more normal than that secret passage, or the teleporters. Among various other things.

Though Lloyd's world of possibilities didn't necessarily sound like a good thing to him. As nice as having a key would be, there were a lot of rooms here, and it would waste a lot of time trying to check all of them. But at least there were apparently more than one, so they'd be able to split up to cover more ground.

Kyousuke found himself looking up in surprise when Lloyd mentioned Kratos' name, though. Did that mean he didn't know what a metal detector was either? He guessed that made sense, since Lloyd said they came from the same world, but Kratos had always seemed so sensible and with his head square on his shoulders, so unlike with Lloyd, it was pretty weird to think of him not knowing something like that. That was ... unexpected.

"Castiel?" he repeated, pulling himself out of those thoughts. "No, that doesn't sound familiar." But the numbers here weren't that big, so he'd probably seen him around even if they'd never spoken.

"But why make us take them off if we can just get them back once we're through the gate?" As traps went, that was the part that didn't make sense. Not that Lloyd would complain if that really was the case. He didn't at all relish the idea of continuing their trek through the third floor unarmed.

Oblivious to the oddity he'd just posed for Tsurugi, Lloyd rubbed his chin for a moment, trying to remember all the locked doors he'd run into on various nights. Which one would he want to try to get through first? Should he go back to look for his Key Crest and Exsphere in the room the doctor had taken them from him? Would it even still be there after all this time? Or would it be better to keep searching the third floor? The note he'd gotten last night had hinted that what he was looking for was up there. Kratos's note had said that the third floor had the way to get out, but maybe his Key Crest and things were up there, too.

Too many maybes, and not enough to tell him what he should do. Lloyd frowned, then pushed the matter off. He'd put a note on the bulletin for Kratos and Castiel and see what they wanted to do, then make his decision from there what his own plans would be tonight.

"Oh." Considering Lloyd hadn't know him before last night, either, that wasn't really surprising. "Well, he was with us, too. I thought maybe you might know something else about him, but if you don't..." He shrugged. It wasn't that big of a deal. "He's pretty good in a fight. He and d- Kratos fought this snake thing that came out in the library. I didn't get to do much because it was too crowded, but they managed to hurt it enough to make it run."

"Usually there'd be a guard there," Kyousuke explained. "They'd confiscate your weapons, and let safe things through the belt. But since there's nobody here at night, you don't have to worry about that part." He wondered why it would still be on if it wasn't in use, but on the other hand, who cared? They could get past it easily enough either way.

D-? Had Lloyd been about to say something right there? ... Well, whatever. It probably wasn't anything too important. "You guys probably got there before us, then," he thought aloud. "Kratos said the passage is usually protected by something, but my group didn't run into anything at all." Not in the library or in the passage upstairs, at least. There was an excursion here in the Sun Room, bu that had been an entirely different matter.

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess." At least more sense than taking their weapons off only to put them back on. Lloyd wasn't going to question why the machine was on at night. It seemed logical to him to leave it on all the time, instead of having to worry about whether it was on or off. At least from their captors' perspective, anyway. He would have preferred it to stay off. "You're right. If that's how it works, it'll be easy enough to get through if we go back up tonight. I'll have to let Kratos and Castiel know." Yet another reason why he should get a note up on the board. He'd do it as soon as he was done talking to Tsurugi.

"I'm not sure how much they hurt it. It might be back tonight. Or... maybe something else. Kratos said he didn't recognize it. If you go back, you should still be careful." Of course, that went for him, too, and whoever he might go with. He was becoming more and more grateful he had a sword now.

Now if only he had a more convenient way to carry it.

"Yeah. I'll keep an eye out," Kyousuke nodded. Getting caught in an ambush by a monster wasn't something he planned on doing, especially if it was something he could have avoided by paying a little more attention. Maybe he should tell whoever he went with about that snake too, just in case. Sora came to mind, but when he'd talked to him the other day, it sounded like he intended on going back to Farwell...

Come to think of it, he wondered if Lloyd knew about any of that. It seemed like the sort of information everyone should know. "... Has anyone told you about a group called the rebels?" he asked.

"The rebels?" If anyone had mentioned them, it had only been in passing, and with so many other things to focus on, something only mentioned like that wouldn't have stuck. But this isn't just a mention. Tsurugi's asking him straight out. Lloyd tilts his head, searching his memories, but the only thing he can think of are the Renegades in his world, and that can't be who Tsurugi's talking about. "I don't think so... Who are they?" Might as well just come out and ask.

He hadn't, huh... Kyousuke couldn't say he was too surprised. It sounded like some of the people who had been stuck here longer had known about some of this for a while, but he'd only heard anything about it yesterday, himself.

"Apparently, there's a group trying to help us from the outside. That's what they call themselves," Kyousuke explained. "The radios we got were probably from them, and it looks like they left notes about the third floor last night, too." Maybe Lloyd got one of those, too. It could have just been a coincidence, but Kyousuke's entire group got one, so it sounded like they'd handed out a lot of them. "A friend of mine says they have a base in a place called Farwell."

"That's who gave us those notes?" Lloyd gave Tsurugi a startled look at having the mystery suddenly solved. "I got one of those, too. So did Kratos and Castiel." If Tsurugi had gotten one, and maybe other people... "Did everyone get one of them?"

Sitting up a little straighter, he suddenly glanced around to make sure their nurses were still keeping their distance. He spotted his nurse standing over by the wall, near another nurse he was halfway sure was the one assigned to Tsurugi. Even so, Lloyd lowered his voice and leaned forward just in case.

"Do you know where Farwell is? Is there any way to contact them?" If they could get some outside help, that could make an escape so much easier.

"I don't know for certain, but that seems to be the case," Kyousuke nodded. They hadn't confirmed it, but it looked like a safe bet it was them. Sora had thought so, too. He was a little surprised to hear Lloyd's whole group got notes, too, though. Somehow he hadn't quite expected that many people to be getting them. "... Maybe," he thought out loud. "Or at least, my whole group did."

As for Farwell... "A friend of mine ended up waking up there, and was able to make his way back here," he responded quietly, making sure the staff couldn't hear him. "I don't know the way, but he should. But they already know what's happening here, and they're doing what they can." Like with the radios, and the information on the third floor.

That caught Lloyd attention. "You mean he escaped? How?" His brow furrowed. "Why would he come back? Isn't it hard enough just to get out of this place?" It didn't make sense. Unless... Unless getting out once meant that Tsurugi's friend knew he could get out again. In fact, thinking about it more, Lloyd would probably do the exact same thing. "Did he come back to help get other people out?"

Obviously, the rebels hadn't successfully stopped what was going on here yet, but the fact that someone else was out there fighting to help them was a comforting one. People weren't just sitting back and letting this place get away with doing such horrible things. "What's your friend's name?" Maybe Lloyd could talk to him and find out a little bit more.

Kyousuke hesitated when Lloyd asked how Sora ended up in Farwell; that wasn't something he was prepared to talk about. It just didn't feel right coming out and saying that he died. Kyousuke got the feeling Sora wouldn't mind if he told someone, but that didn't mean he wanted to. The situation may have resolved itself, but in the end, it was still something of a sore spot for Kyousuke.

"... He didn't escape, exactly," Kyousuke explained. "There were certain circumstances, and he ended up waking up there." That was a little vague, but it wasn't a lie, either, which was the best he could manage. "He said they found him there, and then he made his way back to make sure everyone knew he was okay. ... But I'm not sure just getting there really counts as leaving. Even if you're there, we still have to find a way to get home." That meant staying here and finding that archive on the third floor, or at least, that what his note had said.

"His name's Sora. I can try to introduce you, if you want," he offered. If he could, at least. He wasn't sure sure when Sora might be leaving again.

He frowned at the explanation, mulling it over in his head. How could someone escape but not escape? How could Tsurugi's friend just wake up there? Maybe it was something he'd have to ask the guy himself. It could be Tsurugi just didn't know.

As for the point he'd just made... "I didn't think about it like that. If the way back home is somewhere in here, you're right. We'd have to come back to find it." That was a somewhat discouraging thought. It meant that trying to escape from the building wouldn't be as useful as he'd thought. Not unless he could find something on the outside that would help him when he made it back inside. "Still, if I find a chance to escape, I'll take it. There's got to be something we can do out there."

The offer made him smile. He nodded, appreciating it for what it was. "If a chance comes up, I'd like that." Lloyd knew as well as Tsurugi did that things like that weren't always easy to arrange with the strict eye the nurses kept on their patients. "Sora, huh..." He mentally made note of the name.

"... I see. It's worth a shot," Kyousuke agreed. It made sense to want to leave with the option there, and to tell the truth, he wanted to check things out, himself. But still. "I'll probably stick around. There's things I have to take care of here." Or rather, there were people he had to keep safe, and they had to be a higher priority than just doing whatever he wanted.

He'd have to try and see if he could get Lloyd and Sora together sometime, but for the time being, they'd have to separate, since the nurses were beginning to round everyone up. He gave Lloyd a nod, before his own nurse came to take him lunch.

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Day 72: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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