Day 73: Library (2nd shift)

[redcladidealist]

Don't let them snoop? If Lloyd didn't already know the secret the library held, that would have practically been asking him to poke around as much as his nurse would let him. But since he did know about the trick to the secret door, he settled instead for searching for Kratos or Castiel. If he didn't find one of them this shift, he'd have to think about putting up a note on the bulletin, but considering what he wanted to talk to them about, it would probably be better if he kept it off the board and spoke to them in person.

"Here, why don't you settle down with a nice book, Nigel?" his nurse encouraged him as she guided him toward a chair. "Poor dear. I noticed you didn't eat anything for breakfast. Maybe you just need to get your mind off of whatever's tying your stomach in knots."

Lloyd made a face at that comment, unable to hold himself in check. "Maybe if the doctors gave me my Key Crest back it wouldn't be a problem."

His nurse sighed, shaking her head. "I thought you were making more progress than that, Nigel. Here," she said, handing him a book. "I'm sure a good book will help."

Lloyd grumbled, but accepted the book anyway, albeit reluctantly. He should have known better than to expect anything from his nurse. Rather than cracking the book open, though, Lloyd set it in his lap and watched the room. Surely one of his companions would come in soon...

[For Castiel.]

Comments

[freewill]

It wasn't too long after Lloyd had settled with a book he wasn't reading that Castiel stepped into the library. Breakfast hadn't been particularly interesting, though Castiel had to admit to himself that he preferred to be the one offering up information rather than having to ask others for it. It felt like he was one of the patients who was in the know, now, and that was a comfort to him.

He was used to having at least some of the answers, but that hadn't been the case ever since he'd been brought here. This was a good change.

Having already inspected the library plenty in the past few days, Castiel planned to pass the time by reading something that caught his interest, but on his way toward one of the aisles he spotted Lloyd. Lloyd was alone and Castiel didn't see Kratos anywhere closeby, so after a moment of contemplation he elected to head over.

"It hadn't been our intention to leave you behind," he said as he took the seat across from Lloyd. "Are you all right?"

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd straightened up when he spotted Castiel approaching, almost moving to stand before he realized that the man was going to join him. He settled instead for setting the book in his lap aside, just on top of the table and too his left in case he needed to grab it for quick pretense. His nurse wasn't hovering all that close, and he wanted to keep it that way. He didn't want to be interrupted during the first chance he'd gotten to find out what happened last night after they got separated.

"I'm fine," he said, shaking his head. "And it's not like you guys had a choice." A solid cement wall was kind of hard to go up against. Lloyd was still surprised he'd managed to break it at all. Though, if he was able to break it, maybe Kratos could have, too. Had he even tried...? He squashed the thought, trying to bury the doubt that came with it. There wasn't any reason to think that either Kratos or Castiel would have given up if they'd even thought there was a chance.

"What about you?" he asked, changing the subject to something he was more interested in - and something a little less likely to drag up questions that shouldn't have been questions at all. "Did you guys make it back to that room?"

[freewill]

There was little doubt in Castiel's mind about how breakable that wall had been. Kratos had made his effort, but all it had done was aggravate his condition, which meant that there had been no reason to fight a losing battle with a rock solid wall. Their efforts had been put to better use up on the third floor.

He didn't have all that much to report, admittedly, but there was one thing that Lloyd should be relieved to hear. "Whoever told you about that room and how it works wasn't lying. We did as you said and removed all of the metal we had with us before stepping through the arch, and avoided the shock as a result."

Castiel could even guess at what the use of something like that was, in the human world. It was a quick way to check whether or not someone was carrying a weapon with them. Which meant that wherever that room was supposed to lead, it was likely important. Not that they were searching the floor in any linear or organized way, due to those teleportation pads.

"After that, we moved into a locker room, and then out into a hall that had nine more doors branching off of it. Night ended while we were searching for the next available path." They hadn't gotten very far, but Castiel had to remind himself that every bit of progress counted for something.

[redcladidealist]

"Oh, good," Lloyd said, and the relief was clear in his voice. He hadn't known for sure that Tsurugi was right. Tsurugi hadn't been sure of the claim himself. He hadn't been up there. He'd only had Lloyd's description to go by, and even if he was right about what the machine was supposed to do, no one had had any guarantees that that was what it did at night. "Then that room won't be a problem. How many doors were you able to check before Landel woke us up?"

If they could skip some doors if and when they made it back up there again, that would definitely save them some time. If only there was a way to make things go faster, though, or a way to avoid being attacked. That was what really slowed them down, when they had to stop and fight something off.

[sixth_attack]

The night before had taken a bigger toll on Sechs than he would have liked to admit to himself, a fact that was later proven once he realized he had slept in through breakfast. Despite the healing he received from Athena, Sechs' hand remained stiff and bruised from being struck by that brainwashed patient's sword. It was better than losing his whole hand or having it bound by some restrictive wrist brace again. Still, Sechs' mood was burdened by exhausting ache and hunger. It didn't help that the nurse who escorted him from his room wouldn't let him get any leftovers from the cafeteria. Instead, he was left to brood to himself in the library.

Uninterested in reading, Sechs took over a couch and grumpily lazed about on it, resting his chin in his uninjured hand as he pondered over last night's events. He knew he and Aigis were one step closer to finding something real important in the basement. Yet the dangers they encountered the night before bothered him. He and Aigis were capable fighters in their own right, but what if Landel had something bigger in store for them...?

Meanwhile, something about the library was nibbling away at Sechs' concentration. It was getting hard to focus on the future when the spot he sat at was reminding him of the past. The last time he was in the library was when he and --

No, don't think about it...

Sechs shook his head. The recollection of his lost friend brought a twinge of pain into his chest. It was too hard to think about. Sighing, Sechs steered his mind away from the past and back to planning for the night ahead. He to focus on the present to help bring Landel down for everyone's sakes, even for those who are no longer around...

[For Taura!]

[ninelivesonce]

The library? All of them? Taura sprang out of bed, and blew straight past the nurse without a backwards glance.

Did Landel want them to figure things out? Plans upon plans upon plans, and none of them made sense. Unless it was just all sadistic glee in watching them scurry. Taura was scowling as she jogged to the door of the library, and through it, all the way until she planted herself in front of the first person she recognized.

"Do you know what he's up to? Landel, I mean." She realized she was looming, and sat down next to Sechs. "Every time I think I figure something out, he starts his games again." And I hate games, she added to herself, though it probably was obvious.

[sixth_attack]

The sudden appearance of a very tall patient sent Sechs' chin slipping off his hand and onto the armrest of his couch with a dull thud.

"Wuh--?" Blinking, Sechs recovered from the abrupt derailment of his thought train and looked up to find a familiar face. "Oh, hey Taura."

Rubbing his chin (which was a bit sore now after hitting the armrest like that), Sechs pushed himself upright on the couch and turned to face the towering woman. She seemed pretty agitated while her energy caught on Sechs like a contagion, waking him out of his gloomy mood.

"Other than him playing up to his role as the Head Asshole?" Sechs replied with a scowl. "I wish I knew, like why he keeps so much weird stuff beneath the institute..." He curiously tilted his head at Taura. "What? Did you find something new?"

[dividedby]

Don't let them snoop around too much... Obviously a very suspicious thing for Landel to say, especially during the daytime. But what was more suspicious to Zero at the moment was how Ciel had never shown up to breakfast. He swore he'd been paying very close attention to the prisoner traffic...so why hadn't he seen her? On a related note, he hadn't seen X anywhere either...and this wasn't the first day for this to happen.

His bad feeling only grew worse when, while checking the bulletin board after breakfast, he found a certain note written in unmistakable handwriting. As he took it down from the board to stare at it, he heard his nurse sighing behind him. "Oh, Yūdai..." He turned to look at her, and she simply shook her head at him. "At this point, it's better to let you know."

Know? Zero stared at her, and she smiled apologetically at him. "Ms. Giroux's no longer here," she explained. "I personally feel like putting you two in the same environment was a bad idea, and it will be better for both of you this way."

No longer here. It...no. She couldn't... "Where is she?!" was the first thing out of Zero's mouth.

Naturally, the nurse's tone shifted with his. "Yūdai, calm down. This is exactly what I'm talking about. She upsets you too much! It's making your mental condition worsen."

"That's not what I-"

"I know, but please, rest assured that she's being taken care of, just as you'll be taken care of here. Now, let's go to the library, okay? Take your mind off of her with a good book. How does that sound?"

The dark stare on Zero's face made it all too clear how he felt about this, and the nurse clearly knew that. But fortunately for her, he also knew that there wasn't anything he could do about it here. "...Let me write something," he mumbled, his tone as dark as his expression.

Surprisingly, she said nothing nor tried to stop him; maybe she was feeling bad. Not that Zero cared. He was too busy scribbling a hasty note to X. After tacking it to the board, he turned and walked to the library of his own accord, his nurse following him with an obvious look of concern on her face.

"Why don't you sit down over here, and I'll find you something nice to read, okay?" The worry on her face increased when Zero continued to just stare, and so with a murmur of 'I'll be right back', she hurried off to the shelves. Zero, meanwhile, resigned himself to not sitting. Staring blankly...and thinking. Seemed to be all he was good at for the moment...

[Free!]

[fourstonewalls]

Lana woke up with her ears ringing with the sound of a gavel slamming down -- final and still ominous even when one was accustomed to winning. Was she late to work? Except the ceiling coming into focus wasn't the familiar one of her bedroom, or the, sadly, more familiar one of the office over her own personal couch. Instead, it was institutional tile, and with the identification came the rest of her memory waking up.

Well, that and Martin Landel on the intercom. She got up, brushed her hair, and took her time heading down the main hall. They'd gotten exactly nowhere last night, even with the new radios, and the only thing she had to show for it was not being dead. She paused long enough to post a note, and then let them usher her into the library.

Ryuuzaki wasn't there, nor were either or the others -- but Zero was standing in the middle of the room, staring at nothing. She'd seen that stare on dozens of faces -- something was very wrong, although she'd have to get him talking to find out what. "Zero? What's wrong?"

[dividedby]

She'd been here. She'd just been here, and he'd failed to stop Landel from taking her away again. Just like he'd failed to prevent deaths and disappearances before, and very likely how he'd failed to prevent X and Harpuia from disappearing, too. Was Landel that powerful, or was it Zero's fault? If he'd decided to actually stay by Ciel's side rather than stand out in that hallway, maybe she'd still be...

A familiar voice thankfully interrupted that train of thought, although in Zero's current state, he almost wanted to turn around and glare down that voice's owner, maybe even go so far as to say something bitter to get her to go away. It wouldn't be fair; she hadn't done anything wrong. But Zero wasn't in the mood to be fair or nice.

Yet somehow, he restrained himself. Snapping would take too much effort in his current state of shock, and Zero didn't care enough to create that effort. "...Lana." He could at least mutter that much, but he didn't turn to look at her. Instead, he kept staring ahead, at nothing in particular.

As for her question... ...Maybe he'd answer in a moment. Later. Or never. Why did it matter...it wasn't like talking about it would bring Ciel back.

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar settled into the library, his mind not even on the secret entrance or the third floor as he took a chair for himself and ignored the books.

Last night had been decidedly less productive than the previous, but Scar could easily put that down to the people involved. Working with Lust was a wildcard, and though he recognized that that was largely due to his own issues, he wasn't willing to change. Lust's short answers to the questions that had bothered him for days had only succeeded at raising more questions on the occurrences in Amestris- questions that she had managed to guilt him out of asking. Her discomfort only proved that there was something deeper, something more sinister than Scar was aware of, that he was now certain he had been a part of without realizing at the time.

God dammit! He should have brought it up while he had the chance. He had let the invasion of Lior slide as the will of God, some mad divine intervention beyond his own understanding. But now it looked like something else. The last day in Lior was a blur in his mind. Had Lust specifically said that the military was supposed to stay put? He could have sworn it... Yet they moved in... And although she undoubtedly shared some sort of connection with the Fuhrer, it was a shaky one at best. Perhaps hostile, even.

Think!

He had been kept alive on purpose- perhaps even followed to ensure his ultimate success. It was only when he was on the verge of death that the homunculi ever showed themselves- Lust and her companion Gluttony. Kimbley's death ensured the military's excuse to invade, which Scar had planned all along. It was the same tactic as Ishbal, and he had made the Liorans certain that they knew that. A secret mission to spark the fighting and make it look like the desert dwellers started the violence. It was sick and underhanded and above all, suspicious. Homunculi sought the Stone, proven by their actions in the fifth laboratory and Lust's determined obsession in Lior. And that was the first time she had appeared alone as well. So that meant... At least Lust, Gluttony, and the Fuhrer knew of his plans. But something had happened that he was unaware of. Somewhere, along the line, something had gone wrong. But what was it?

Scar's thoughts showed through on his face. He was obviously deep in thought, scowling as he stared into the distance and tried to piece together a puzzle that, here and now, did not truly matter. Yet it plagued him. He had been used- a pawn in a larger game that he thought he was in control of.

[Tsubaki! Sorry for the tl;dr, Shira, don't worry about most of it.]

[thecamellia]

"Don't let them snoop around too much"? Was the Head Doctor being serious or was he merely mocking the prisoners' new found interest in the third floor? With Landel, it was hard to say.

Tsubaki mulled over his intercom announcement while she stopped by the bulletin board for a second or two. She frowned over the notes, committing to memory the ones that interested her, then followed her nurse into the library as directed. After last night, the library wasn't such a bad place to be; she knew now that it was a more interesting, and integral, part of the Institute's building design than she'd ever dreamed of before. Perhaps this would be a good chance to reevaluate the book connecting to the secret passageway, with or without Landel's warning...

As she walked around, she didn't fail to notice a few familiar faces. Korra and that boy from the Sun Room... they were talking together by themselves, and she offered a tiny wave as she passed. Scar, too, was in the library and rather than interrupt the two during their conversation, she saw an opportunity to make her presence known. The man looked lost in thought, but he was alone, not speaking to anyone.

"Um, Scar-scan? Hello?" She paused by his chair.

[envy_the_sinners]

It was a moment before Scar realized he was being spoken to. He looked up, suddenly, as if being startled out of sleep.

"Tsubaki." He was glad for the girl's presence in his own way- Furious that she was here, but... glad, all the same,

"It is good to see that you are still around."

[stop_the_rain]

Murphy still couldn't decide which was worse: prison, Silent Hill, or here.

He was leaning towards here, though, because it seemed to strive to offer the worst of both worlds. All the mind numbing captivity and de-personalization of prison with the pants shitting horror and infuriating mystery of Silent Hill.

How had he gotten so lucky?

The ex-con had evened out to some sort of tired vague sense of confusion over the last couple of days. He just didn't know what to do. Why was he here? He couldn't wrap his mind around it. If it was punishment - which he'd stopped consider it, at least on a divine level - then it was pretty damn interactive punishment. If he was supposed to learn something...

Maybe he just had luck that bad. He'd considered that, all through his life. And as he was ushered into the library, he decided that maybe he just needed to stop thinking about it and read something mindless for a while. So he grabbed a book and settled himself in, figuring he'd just pretend he was back when life was easy. In prison.

[Open!]

[armoredsoul]

After the confusion of last night, Al wasn't incredibly surprised to find he'd slept through breakfast. Annoyed, but not surprised. He ignored his nurse's admonishments for his sleeping in in the face of Landel's suspicious announcement. Specifically taking them to where he knew the entrance to the third floor was, after a potential breach from the outside? There were plenty of reasons for them to all be herded here, and none of them too savory.

Al spotted a man that was familiar, and it took a moment to remember--from the end of his first night here, after that ghost attacked. He had been friendly enough then, and would at least be good company. And he never did get a chance to let him know that he was okay. So Al dropped into a chair next to him with a faint smile. "Don't think I've seen you in a while."

[stop_the_rain]

Murphy glanced up, expression rather slack as he struggled to put the face of the kid next to him in context.

Had he been one of the kids from the other night? The ex-con thought so, and if the kid said he'd seen him before...

"Oh, uh...I keep my head down," he said, with a small shrug. "You know...mouth shut, eyes on the floor, don't make a fuss." Because fusses got you special attention, and the last thing you wanted in a place like this was special attention.

[rebonding]

At least Korra had managed to make a little progress last night.

Tsubaki had turned out to be more than a reliable fighting partner, and though she felt badly about beating up Edward, she was also certain he would understand. She did want to talk to him, though, if only for the sake of making sure he was okay.

They were one step closer to getting out of here. Korra just hoped that another brainwashed patient wouldn't be waiting for them in the Sun Room tonight as well. It slowed down the process of getting upstairs more than anything.

Which, she was sure, was the whole point.

Korra smirked as they were led into the library with the instructions not to wander. Yeah sure, Landel, wouldn't want us sneaking off anywhere we shouldn't be.

[Edward!]

[fullmetalheart]

Ed felt like they were being mocked with the day's trip to the library, given it was where everyone was trying to go for the past few nights to get to the third floor.

He ignored his nurse's urgings to pick out some book he wasn't interested in to search for something he would want to read. Unfortunately, the library was devoid of anything he'd want, so he disappointedly claimed an empty chair to wait for the shift to end or for his brother to find him, whichever happened first.

He saw Korra from the corner of his eye, turned his head enough to see who it was, then winced and hoped she wouldn't see him.

[rebonding]

Unfortunately for Ed, Korra had been keeping an eye out for him. She approached, looking slightly concerned.

"Hey, Ed-!" It didn't even cross her mind that she should be quiet in a library. She didn't imagine too many people cared, anyway.

"You uh... last night... You okay? They just can't give us a break."

[his_legacy]

Another bust. Link felt badly for Alphonse, who had gotten stuck with nowhere to go without his brother. Where was he? The Hylian had heard whispers that somebody else had been brainwashed, but beyond that...

Scowling with vain frustration, Link followed his nurse into the library. Here, at least, he could take a look around for the supposed book of verse that they needed to find. His nurse had other plans.

"Why don't you settle down with a novel, Mr. Miyamoto?"

"I would prefer not to." Link's voice was tense. He continued to inspect along the back wall, ignoring the gentle urgings of his nurse. His patience was wearing dangerously low. He knew it would be unwise to cause a scene, but...

It was beginning to seem like a perfectly reasonable course of action.

[Soushi!]

[ever_loyal_dog]

Soushi was still feeling a bit groggy after breakfast and whatever medication they'd given him to ward off the pain of last night's injuries had faded with the dim light of morning. It left his shoulder feeling achey and his head throbbing, but at least it seemed to be healing. The bandages, he felt, seemed to make it look worse than it was.

As his nurse escorted him from the cafeteria, asking which room he might like to visit, the library seemed the most quiet, and therefore soothing, on his aches and pains. After following her for a few moments, she seemed intent on making sure he had a friend to spend his time with as well. It was too familiar, being looked after so closely, so cautiously, reminding him of his time with the Miketsukami family, an uncomfortable memory. He looked aside, catching sight of a couple familiar faces. It didn't take his nurse long to nod her approval and usher him toward wayward patient, who seemed to be fully ignoring his own nurse.

"Is everything alright?" Soushi asked quietly, hoping to avoid what seemed to be rising tension with the staff.

[his_legacy]

Link looked up suddenly, upon hearing Soushi's voice. His ears drooped, and he was silent for a moment.

"Yes." He sent another glare at his nurse, though his voice had calmed down.

"Simply frustrated."

[knightspirit]

Don't let them snoop around, huh. Could Landel be any more obvious? It was like he was telling them exactly where to look. If Kyousuke didn't already know himself, that would probably be enough to push him to check the room. But it was encouraging in its own way, if stupid. Considering how despondent he seemed about people having found the third floor lately, it must have meant they were on the right track.

It was on that note that Kyousuyke parted ways with Sora and made his way to the Sun Room, briefly scanning the bulletin and finding nothing of particular interest. When he turned to enter the library, however, the nurse stopped to scold him.

"Mr. Taylor! You should be resting! You do want your fever to go down, don't you?"

"If I'm just going to be sitting around, does it really matter which room I'm in?" the boy pointed out.

The nurse frowned at him and relented, although by the time he actually entered the library, he wasn't sure why he'd insisted he come anymore. Maybe it would be better to go lay down on a couch; he certainly wasn't going to be able to focus enough too read through anything like this. ... He guessed that best thing he could do was put his head down at one of the tables. Just for a little while. It might help clear some of the fog, and he'd be in trouble if he couldn't focus properly when night finally came.

[ Kratooossss ]

[forsworn]

Following breakfast, they were all herded into the library, and immediately, Kratos tried to make his way over to Lloyd, but to no avail yet again: this time, the culprit was Castiel. He watched them talk for a few seconds for before leaving and wandering down another aisle in search of something to occupy himself with for the rest of the shift.

The thought of attempting to reach the third floor during the day did occur to him, but he hadn't missed Landel's quip about not letting any of them wander off; more than likely, he wouldn't be able to get within two feet of the Oxford Book of English Verse. So, Kratos settled for doing what one was supposed to do in a library: read a book. He pulled a title off the shelf that seemed interesting, and was in the process of finding a seat when he noticed Tsurugi at one of the tables.

His natural instinct was to carry on and find an empty chair where he could presumably sit undisturbed, but something about the way Tsurugi looked made him pause, then turn, then finally quietly lower himself into the seat across from the boy. He opened the book - Paradise Lost - and began to read.

[knightspirit]

When a chair near him slid out from under the table, Kyousuke looked up in surprise, not expecting anyone to sit with him. For once, the nurses seemed to be trying to keep him away from people instead of their busybody attempts to for people to socialize, and he knew he must have looked visibly run down. The person he found wasn't one he was expecting, either, though it was hard to pinpoint why; it wasn't as if they hadn't talked several times already.

"... Kratos," he acknowledged quietly. He straightened himself back up, not quite feeling comfortable lazing pathetically at a hard table when there was another occupant. It would seem almost attention-seeking, though that could just be his pride speaking. Either way, he didn't want to look quite as worn out as he felt.

He wondered if he should say something else. Sitting with him seemed like it could be an invitation to do so, but then, if Kratos wanted to read, then Kyousuke probably shouldn't disturb the man with worthless chatter unless there was something important to talk about. Maybe he'd just keep quiet for now.