damned_institute | Day 29: Sun Room

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Day 29: Sun Room

It was with some relief that Yuuhi awoke the next morning, in his own bed, sore and tired and achy. He would've slept more had they let him, his face down in the pillow, away from all the others and their questions and their concern. He didn't want to see them, but he managed a little smile when the nurse came in and didn't object when she lead him out into the open hallway that had been splattered with blood, plenty of it his, just last night.

The Chapel or the Sun Room? He felt he had good reason not to be terribly religious and had a feeling he wouldn't be very welcome there anyway. The Sun Room would be nice though. It was bright and cheery and he could always doodle or write notes on the community board if he'd nothing better to do. Besides, the nurse was kind enough to let him take a book with him.

He found a seat on one of the couches, far from the entrance and seated himself in the far corner, legs scrunched up against his chest so he only took up one of the cushions. He opened up where he'd left off, fingers carefully turning the worn pages of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

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"Young girls?" Leon had yet to be attacked by any women, much less young girls. (Maybe he just had a charming appeal that kept any female from wishing him harm.) He had seen giant rats and monstrous men with pyramids for heads. He shook his head.

"There's not only the monsters," he said, remembering the previous night. "Whoever runs this place can turn friends against each other. I fought another patient last night." Who had seemed friendly enough at first, sadly. If not for the circumstances, they probably would have gotten along fine.

The patients could be turned against one another as well? Mousse wasn't surprised (afterall, there was a time machine somewhere around here, wasn't there?), though he hadn't been thinking of that possiblity. Was it brainwashing? A simple acupuncture technique like the so many his tribe had? Again he was reminded of Shampoo and her ease at pulling off such techniques...

Well, this boy was obviously bothered by the surroundings, that much was certain. Whether this was what was having an impact on his health, Mousse couldn't say, though he'd do his best to make the boy feel at ease, even if he had other friends. He removed his glasses (for a suave effect) and placed his good hand on the boy's shoulder this time. "Do not worry," he said, "If anyone tries to hurt you again, just call for me and I will help you."

...at least it gave him something to do while he tried to figure out a way back home. Plus, it was a noble thing, protecting a child! Surely Shampoo would be moved by his tales of heroism when they met again, right?

"I'm not sure it'll work that way," Leon muttered, even though it was a little touching. The Institute was pretty large. He could probably call this boy's name all he wanted and he'd never hear it. Though speaking of... "It would also help if I actually knew your name. Mine's Leon."

He held out a hand for the other to shake. "It's nice to meet you anyway."

Mousse grasped Leon's hand firmly with his good hand. "I am Mousse," he informed him, "Master of hidden weapons."

He pulled his hand back. "And don't worry! I have learned from my mistake and I will not allow any monsters that roam the halls at night to best me again! You can count on it!"

Yes, this WOULD be a good project to undertake. Mousse had his mind set on it. Shampoo's ice heart would certainly melt if she heard of this!

Master of Hidden Weapons? What was with everyone having some sort of strange title? Leon did have to admit that "Master of Hidden Weapons" was better than "Mysterious Priest." It didn't sound nearly as silly.

He couldn't really say he hadn't been bested by monsters himself while here, but it still wasn't exactly comforting to hear Mousse mention it. Learn from his mistakes indeed. The monsters weren't always the same.

"Um. Thanks." He managed a somewhat half-serious smile.

That was settled then. Mousse decided to see how much Leon knew of the present situation and put a hand to his chin. "How long have you been here? Do you know anything about the time machine?"

Maybe he or one of his friends knew where it was being kept. If nothing else, perhaps he could point Mousse in the right direction.

How long had he been there? Leon had to take a moment to think. Had it really only been... "Four nights and three days." Though really it was more like two days. He'd slept through one of them. He'd seen far more of the night in this place than the daytime. That was depressing.

"I haven't heard anything about a time machine..." the young mage frowned. Certainly if something like that existed then Claude and the others would have told him about it. At least Claude would have. That could explain the difference in times between his group and Cliff's - but it didn't help with the multiple dimension dilemma unless it was multifunctional.

He hadn't heard of it either. Wasn't that what Byakko had been talking about? The possibility that Byakko might have lied to him (and not that Mousse had misunderstood) was beginning to plant seeds of doubt in the Amazon's mind. What if Byakko had lied about other things?

Well, it was true that there were monsters here and that the staff acted as if his previous life was a delusion (What if it was? What if he had only dreamed up Shampoo? That was too horrible to even consider!), so Byakko hadn't been entirely wrong. He pursed his lips. "Nothing at all? Then how do you explain what is happening here?"

That was a subject in which Leon had been giving a lot of thought. The boy crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at the floor with an expression of deep contemplation

"I had assumed we were under the control of some sort of near omnipotent being - possibly more powerful than the Ten Wise Men, though you wouldn't know who they were - who could draw people out from different dimensions on a whim. It's possible that there is some sort of machine involved, time travel as well - though I was theorizing that different dimensions might simply run on different times."

He blinked back up at Mousse. "Does that sound ridiculous to you?"

Mousse wasn't completely daft, but he found himself feeling somewhat lacking intellectually when he could only follow Leon's line of thought in a very barebones way. So, basically the kid thought a god-like individual was behind his kidnapping? But why him? There was nothing especially desirable to him, he mused darkly. He was an accomplished martial artist, but there were others who were more skilled than he was. He sighed, glumly taking in his wounded arm once more. If he had been abducted because someone had expected great things from him, this individual was no doubt unimpressed now.

The why is what bothered the Amazon. Why him? And why had his captor removed his curse? And why did Leon have friends here whereas Mousse saw no familiar faces? If he was interested in martial artists, why not abducted Ranma or Ryouga as well? He didn't voice any of these thoughts, though. He nodded. "Not especially."

Maybe if he could find a common trait he shared with the others here he would be able to determine what drew this "omnipotent being" to spirit him away and no one else. Coughing slightly, he inquired, "Why do you think it is they have brought you here?" He'd learn about the boy and see what similarities they shared, assuming there were some.

Leon was a bit bolstered by the fact that he now had an apparently rapt audience that didn't think he was crazy - not that his friends would think he was crazy, but sometimes he had a tendency to get carried away with things...

He shook his head. "That's what I can't figure out. Most of my friends remember me, but don't seem to be from the same dimension I am. Same world, slightly different memories of events. I would have thought we would have been taken because of how close we were to stopping the Ten Wise Men, but Claude is from a time after we defeated them, so why wait until then? And why take us from different versions of the same world? It's possible that we just happened to be near some sort of energy source that allowed for the transfer - in which case it would just have been bad luck... But I haven't been able to find any connection myself."

Different versions? That was something Mousse hadn't heard yet. He blinked and cocked his head. "What do you mean by 'different versions'?"

What if there was another Mousse running around somewhere? Even better, what if there was a Shampoo somewhere that LOVED him? These were important things to consider!

"I-it's complicated..." Leon scratched at his head where one of his original ears should have been. "Let's just say that my friends all remember traveling with a slightly different group of people than I do. I mean, we all remember each other, and the names of most of our friends match up, but we didn't all travel with all of them."

He sighed. "I'm sorry. That's probably a bit confusing to you."

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Day 29: Sun Room

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