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

[envy_the_sinners]

"No." Scar hesitated. Was there a point in sharing this with Tsubaki? He trusted her with the information, but would it do her any good?

Well, he supposed, the more she knew, the better off she would be.

"In the institute right now, there are three others who come from my own world. And I knew them before we all arrived." Perhaps not on a personal level, but they were all bound by the same events, the same goals.

"And all four of us sought the same thing, though we weren't necessarily allies, and what connections we do share were known by a scant few." And by 'few,' he meant almost no one.

[thecamellia]

She waited, holding herself still. What did he want to tell her, exactly...?

Finding friends and acquaintances from home was so sadly commonplace that Tsubaki didn't think twice about Scar admitting that he had people from home in the Institute with him.

"I see..." She nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry that's the case. Did they just arrive recently?" Regardless, the way Scar described his relationship to the other three only highlighted the underlying coincidence. "The people who brought us here... It's like they know more about where we come from than we do."

There was no mistake about that. The Head Doctor had proven time and time again that he was aware of things only someone who looked inside their heads and their hearts could have known.

[envy_the_sinners]

"One arrived before I did. The others afterward." And the timing made no sense, either. As far as Scar could tell the brothers arrived from a moment within minutes of Lust's death, which was the last thing she remembered.

And here he was, in the middle, yet taken from a couple of weeks prior.

"You don't think he actually visits these worlds, do you?" It was an honest question. Was this Head Doctor somebody he had been seeing without realizing? An unassuming rebel, just another soldier? Their presence here was too much of a coincidence to be ignored!

[thecamellia]

His question earned a thoughtful pause.

Now would be the time to pass along what she'd heard the night she'd visited the Head Doctor's office, but he'd made absolutely sure the specifics weren't ones that could be shared. She felt dishonest, like she were intentionally hiding something of importance from a person who deserved to know, but she also knew that she could sit and try all day and the words would never come.

Half-truths it was.

"They probably have the means to do it." She'd come to that conclusion herself long before it'd been confirmed and it wasn't so much a baseless theory as a piece of common knowledge. "If they can bring us here they must be able to gather all their information they need about where we come from."

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar nodded. Tsubaki had been here longer than he, and he trusted her judgement.

"Or he could send in others to do it." Landel was too important a man to actually be doing his own dirty work. It hardly mattered, who had been privy to whatever private conversations had led to their specific capture. It only mattered that someone had been there.

He scowled as his nurse approached him, encouraging him to get moving to lunch.

"I'll speak with you later, then."

[thecamellia]

"That does make sense," Tsubaki offered. "It seems there's a whole military devoted to this place."

Aguilar was no secret, after all. If not Landel leading the charge, Aguilar would be, for better or worse. A military unit couldn't operate on its own, either; someone had to be overseeing both Landel and Aguilar in some way.

The Institute's complicated history never got any easier to work through.

She would have continued if not for the nurse's interruption. After glancing between the nurse and Scar, she got up from her chair at the same time.

"Yes, let's check in later. Um, have a good day if you can..."