Day 75: DAWN, MORNING, NOON, AND AFTERNOON

[damned_intercom]

As the day started, the weather only seemed to be improving, and some patients might even call it warm. Granted, the climate control in the building meant it wouldn't make a difference until someone chose to venture outside.

For now, though, it was time for breakfast, and the intercom came on to wake up all of the patients from their enforced slumber.

"Breakfast sandwiches... how could you not look forward to something like that, dear patients?" Even as Landel spoke, the nurses started peeking into rooms and rousing people from their beds.

"There's plenty to look forward to today, from the recreational field to the greenhouse. I hope that you all enjoy your days and your lunches."

As usual, lunch would be handed out in a paper bag, offering some fruit and vegetables to snack on, along with a sandwich as the main course and pudding for dessert.

"That's all for now!" Though the Head Doctor would be announcing the different shift changes throughout the day, as usual.

--

Mingle log guidelines:

1. All Day Shift 75 threads will take place in the comments to this post.
2. PROSE!
3. Tag under the proper time of day for the thread. You do not have to stick to one thread per shift, as long as you don't try to do a large total number of threads (4 or less is best, but a fifth won't get you in trouble).
4. Subject line of your opening tag: Location (required), shift (optional), OPEN (if appropriate). Putting "OPEN" in the subject line should make it easier for other players to find open threads, and the nature of this log means that you should be able to pick up an open thread that interests you even if you already have something scheduled for that shift. Threads which are not open can be marked the way they always are, with the names of the other characters in small text after the opening post.
5. Each thread should have its own separate starter, just like on any other DS. The format of threads is not changing, only the format of the log post itself, and the fact that you don't have to strictly stick to one thread per shift.

Comments

[ryuuzaki]

One moment, L had been materializing in the new location, trying to be ready to face what was there once the room stopped spinning. The next, he was waking up in his room as if nothing had ever happened.

He was ready to leave--slippers on, journal in hand--by the time the nurse arrived to escort him to the Sun Room for the day. She was the same one who had escorted him the day after the sleep study. It gave him a tiny, treacherous sense of relief to know for sure that the nurse he and Lana had killed the night before was anonymous to him.

In retrospect, it was easy to chalk their attacker up as another of Landel's victims. They wouldn't have hurt her if she hadn't tried to hurt them, they wouldn't have been prowling around on the third floor if they hadn't been abducted, and they wouldn't have encountered her if she hadn't been placed in their path, which had been laid out for them and seemed to contain very few choices past whether or not to keep pushing forward. It was a rationalization, he understood, but it wasn't inaccurate. What they had done had been self-defense in a situation in which all their options were more or less undesirable ones.

It did raise one question: which form was the nurses' true one? Rational analysis of the situation suggested that it had to be their daytime facade, simply because normal people were something that he knew to exist, and the nurses' nighttime form was like something out of a bad horror movie. It was the same with the people in Doyleton.

As he followed her down the hall, he wondered idly what would happen to those people if Landel's power were to be fully broken. Marc had never said one way or another--might not even have been able to tell him, if the subject had come up.

Breakfast wasn't anything tremendously interesting to him, but he kept to a stricter enforcement of the usual policy: he couldn't afford to be malnourished.

Few people were up and about yet. Of those who had already taken a seat, Castiel was the most familiar to him, and they had business to discuss. It wasn't pressing, but it couldn't hurt to take care of it now. He set his tray across from Castiel's and perched in the corresponding chair.

"You had some success last night?" He kept his voice pitched low: conversational, not a whisper, but not loud enough to carry to the nurses who watched over the cafeteria.

One gave him a dirty look and started in their direction; he shot an attempt at an ingratiating smile in her general direction, sat properly in his chair, and rolled his eyes the moment she turned her back.

[freewill]

That made things simple and straightforward. Castiel was relieved that he wouldn't have to track anyone down. Ryuuzaki had come to him.

Almost as soon as Ryuuzaki took that seat, Castiel reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out a folded piece of paper, which he slid across the table. That more or less answered Ryuuzaki's question.

Before he could say anything, he took note of the silent exchange between Ryuuzaki and the nurse. Castiel had a moment of confusion -- they'd barely started speaking, why was she eyeing them so sharply? But then Ryuuzaki adjusted his posture. These nurses truly were particular.

The eyeroll was understandable, but Castiel didn't comment on it, instead taking a bite of his food. "Those should be what you need to return to your homes, but how we do that is still unclear. How much further did you travel?"

[ryuuzaki]

The gesture L made to retrieve the piece of paper was uncharacteristic: small, subtle, sliding it towards him with the flat of a fingertip without looking down at the table. He nodded once in acknowledgement as Castiel continued to speak, then tucked the information into his journal.

"Thank you. I'll make a map after breakfast, but I don't know how long it will last on the bulletin board.

"It's become evident that we've been jumping through hoops. The pad in the Archive just leads you to a room that's open to the same hall. I wouldn't bother with it. There's another door at the end of that hall... break the lock, and that pad goes somewhere interesting. But--"

He paused, then sighed, sounding weary and exasperated.

"We were attacked in the next room. Lana was injured. I can't say how seriously."

[freewill]

Castiel approved of the way that Ryuuzaki took the paper and tucked it away while barely even looking at it. The nurses were already watching them, so if he paid it too much attention, it could lead to suspicion. They were only a string of numbers, so he could look at it later in the relative safety of his own room.

A map would be helpful, especially if Ryuuzaki had been able to make some sense of where everything stood in relation to everything else on the third floor. A door at the end of that hall? Castiel would keep that in mind, along with the warning about the fight.

"Lloyd, Kratos, and I are all armed. If there's another attack, then we should be capable of enduring it." Not that he expected all of them to get out of it unscathed, but they had one more person and they were all trained soldiers. He had no idea if Ryuuzaki and Lana (so that was her name) were used to combat. They didn't strike him as the types.

[ryuuzaki]

L nodded, then dropped his voice further, so it would only be audible to Castiel.

"We were also armed--guns. But the attack itself was fast, sudden, and aggressive. You've seen what happens to the nurses at night? This one had a set of sharp scissors in place of one of her hands, and it took three shots to kill her. Her techniques were calculated to cause serious or fatal injury, and she went down fighting... there wasn't any opportunity to spare her life.

"The room itself is a security station that monitors this floor and the basement. I haven't been able to identify any obvious cameras, so that means they're well-hidden, or they aren't in a form I would recognize. Still, they must be there.

"The room itself has other implications. That can't have been the only room like it."

[freewill]

While there was no indication that they would be attacked in the same place or by the same kind of enemy, Castiel still took careful mental notes of what Ryuuzaki was telling him. He'd seen what happened to the nurses -- it would have been difficult to miss, considering how the buses had broken down that one night on their trip back from Doyleton.

He wouldn't underestimate the nurses, though. Human as they might seem during the day, it was only an act. Their true nature was revealed as soon as it became dark, and he would need to tell both Lloyd and Kratos about what might be awaiting them.

The only reason that Castiel knew much of anything about security cameras was because of hunts that the Winchesters had gone on where such footage had been vital to their investigation, but at least it helped him to follow Ryuuzaki's train of thought.

"You believe there's one that monitors the second and third floors?" he asked.

[ryuuzaki]

L finished chewing a bite of his breakfast and downed it with a sip of coffee before answering.

"Yes. Landel has claimed to know what people are doing on the second and third floors, and I don't think that's an empty boast. However, I'm not sure he retaliates when staff members die. He doesn't need as many at the moment... they don't have as much to do these days... and he may see them as an expendable resource.

"Lana and I were able to leave that room, but there's nothing I can tell you about the next one. We didn't see anything before we fell asleep."

[freewill]

There was no denying that Landel saw his staff as expendable, seeing how he sent them out to guard him during the night. Even with that in mind, Castiel didn't understand much about the Head Doctor's motivations.

"He must realize that we're getting close to him," he said, still keeping his voice low. Anyone could be listening at this point, and he didn't want to take any chances.

"I don't understand why he hasn't made a greater effort to stop us. Is he truly that convinced that we stand no chance?" It was true that Landel was extremely powerful. Even if they found him, there might be no possibility that they could actually break through his defenses. Could this all really be a part of his plan?

[ryuuzaki]

"If we are getting close to him -- maybe we're not. We know that he's arrogant. The question is, what does he have to back up that arrogance? There must be something we haven't seen."

Another sip of coffee, but he held his hand up, a gesture indicating that he meant to continue.

"Do you think you'll return to the archive? If you get the chance, there's something else I'd like to find there."

[freewill]

Castiel's heard plenty about how the Head Doctor is indestructible, save for when the military had shoved him out of power. Even then, that had only lasted for so long. A whole army hadn't been able to stop him. What chance did they all hold, weakened and limited as they were?

Not that it would stop him from trying until they achieved different results than failure. If only he knew that counted as one description of insanity.

At the question, Castiel nodded slowly. "We may have some more work to do there." He wasn't certain, not having had a chance to speak with Lloyd or Kratos yet. "What did you need?"

[ryuuzaki]

He finished chewing a bite of food, moved to push it into his cheek, then thought better of it, electing to swallow it with a sip of coffee instead.

"I don't know what will happen... if we'll be able to use the coordinates... but if it's possible, I'd also like to have Mr. Lunge's information. He and Nina Fortner came from the same Earth.

"The other priority is Edgar Figaro. His kingdom was also called Figaro, but I don't know much more about it than that.

"There isn't any indication that Marc's group will ever be able to find these people or rectify what seems to have happened to them, but if they can, and if the information becomes inaccessible in the interim, those two are important to me."

Then Abe, Howell, Jones, Taylor... the list stretched longer than he would have anticipated.

[freewill]

As Ryuuzaki handed out information for other patients, Castiel took another sheet of paper out of his coat and recorded the information. "Figaro" should find him what he needed, seeing how it wasn't a name he'd heard of before, but Earth was another problem entirely.

"I'll need more specifics about that Earth. We won't be able to narrow down the search otherwise," Castiel clarified. The names of the patients themselves might not be enough, as those details weren't always included.

The possibility that those who were brainwashed might not be saved was one that Castiel took issue with, though. It wasn't like him to blindly believe in anything, except the Winchesters had rubbed off on in him in certain ways -- and more than that, if he wasn't able to retrieve Sam and Dean, then what was all this work for?

Instead of insisting it would be fine, though, he kept that thought to himself. Ryuuzaki struck him very much as a realist.

[ryuuzaki]

"Mr. Lunge -- Heinrich Lunge -- was an agent of the Bundeskriminalamt in Germany. It might be described as the BKA, or the Federal Criminal Police Office, if it's mentioned at all. I don't know if you're familiar with the FBI, but it's a similar sort of agency. The year for him was around 1996.

"The same was true for Nina Fortner -- in that she was a German citizen who had been brought here from the 1990s. I never knew much about her, but she told me that her parents had been murdered. I believe Mr. Lunge was involved in the investigation."

He drained the last sip of his coffee, then set the cup lightly back on the table. All of this talk about investigation, he realized, meant that Castiel could probably hazard a guess about which of the people from his own world he had been. But a guess wasn't specificity, and he had made it clear why it was important to keep the information as under the radar as possible.

[freewill]

When it came down to it, Castiel didn't have much interest in who Ryuuzaki had been back in his own world. It didn't affect them here and now, and so he hadn't put much thought into it. What mattered to all of them was returning to their homes, and Castiel would much rather focus on that than trying to pick people apart.

He took down a few notes as Ryuuzaki spoke, nodding. A few terms and the general time period should be enough for them to find the right Earth, or so he hoped.

"I'll do what he can," he said once he was done writing, only then glancing up to look Ryuuzaki in the face. "Anything else?" He didn't know how much time they had, but they may as well make use of it while they could.