damned_institute | Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him, and knew how to find him. That was enough.

The thought of eating made him slightly nauseous as usual, but he knew he needed to get his strength up. He could either be weak and try to force his way through brunch without eating anything, or he could be smart and actually give himself something to eat. And there was rice. Rice and fruit. He took a heaping pile of rice, and grabbed as much watermelon as he could fit on his plate, then proceeded to an empty table. He scanned the room, watching for Momo. He wasn't exactly looking forward to their conversation, knowing how she'd acted yesterday; however, he knew he had to speak to her, and there was a good chance that she would show more restraint now that the drugs were out of her system.

Thoughtfully he consumed his rice and waited.

[free at the moment, pester if you wish]

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"But she us on the heavy side for her size," Valyn reasoned. "I imagine it's mostly muscle, but it makes for a numb arm after a few hours." He gave his cousin an unreadable look, watching him closely.

"Invisible wall?"

Shadow glanced away and had to laugh as he noticed Daemon sitting not too far away. "When I was lost yesterday I sort of ran into a brick wall," he explained, intentionally leaving a few bits out. "Bruised my shoulder a bit. Nothing permanent."

"Was something chasing you?" Valyn's tone was even, but he could surmise that the only reason that Shadow would run blindly into a wall was if he was fleeing something. And there was plenty to flee at night.

Shadow remembered the slow, predatory way Daemon had stalked him as he hid beneath the table. "Not exactly," he said. "The chasing came after running into the wall. Before that there was mostly talking."

"Talking?" Valyn's eyes narrowed some. Had Shadow fallen prey to one of those...things?

Shadow looked back at Valyn and knew that he couldn't keep avoiding the topic. Besides, he was rather interested in speaking to the man when he wasn't being influenced by whoever was in charge here and Shadow figured it would be better to tell Valyn then to have him worry over what Shadow was doing talking to some strange man. "Last night I did a little exploring on my own," he confessed. "I didn't get very far, however, as the first room I visited was already occupied."

Shadow pointed over to where Daemon was sitting. "Occupied by him, actually. His name is Daemon and he had some strange obsession about putting me to bed. Whether it was his idea or someone else's, I'm not entirely sure but it seemed as if he was being influenced by someone else."

Valyn was silent, listening to Shadow recount what had happened to him when he'd claimed he'd been checking on Keman and seeking out more medicine for Shana.

"I see," was all he could manage, his expression closing off in a tell tale sign. He knew this place could control its inhabitants for a night, but to the end of harming and corralling those not controlled.

And they stayed in largely traveled areas, not private rooms. The institute's power for some reason didn't reach the rooms at night.

Shadow didn't need his magic to tell that Valyn was not happy about this little turn of events. "It ended well," he said quickly. "I learned a bit more about how whoever is in charge is more concerned with 'patients' going to their rooms instead of having them killed as well as the fact that they use people like us to usher others off to their beds. It was fairly strange as I could tell that Daemon was still there and perhaps he didn't necessarily want to be doing this, but he was helpless to fight against it. Either way, I won't be making the mistake of wandering off on my own again. I was lucky, I know that now, so there's no need for you to worry about me if that is indeed what you're doing."

"I know they use us," Valyn said, his tone still a bit clipped. "every other night, when they aren't doing their experiments." It was useless to tell him not to worry. He was going to worry. This place killed people, changed them, hurt them....

How was he supposed to not worry about Shadow?

"Experiments?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow. Perhaps there was more that h needed to find out. "What sort of experiments?"

"I don't know," Valyn admitted. "I've never spoken to anyone that has been...taken." But he knew it happened. And that rescue attempts were made, but none had been successful in preventing anything.

"They do one one night, the other the next, back and forth."

"What happens to these people?" Shadow asked, curious and horrified at the same time. "Are they still here? Are they the same as before? And why do they do these experiments? Are we really here to be tested on and played with?"

"I just said I don't know anything about it." Valyn's response was a bit snappish, but it was more from the subject matter being discussed than anything else. "I've seen it talked about on the public board. People are taken from their rooms at night and experimented on. That's all that I know."

Shadow took Valyn's tone as a cue to change the subject. He didn't want to continually push something that bothered Val a great deal. "I suppose it's besides the point," he shrugged, turning back to his breakfast. "What I really learned was that the man Daemon seemed to have a fairly level head on his shoulders when he wasn't ordering me about, not to mention some magic that I'm curious as to how it works. I couldn't hear anything and yet he was able to create some sort of invisible wall. I should have been able to hear something."

"Oh," Valyn said, dismissively, "you get used to that. Not hearing magic, I mean. Most magic used here doesn't have any sound at all. I was startled the first time Raine cast a spell and I didn't hear anything. She'd never even heard of that, magic making any sort of noise. It seems to be unique to us."

"So, magic is different?" Shadow asked, sounding a bit bewildered. "Depending on where everyone is from, magic works differently? I suppose that makes sense but it's hard to believe there there is a type of magic that doesn't make a sound."

"How it's preformed, what can be done with it, it's limits..." The young elven lord nodded. "Different worlds have different magic. And only ours makes any noise."

Shadow shook his head. "There's so much I need to learn about how things work here," he said. "I don't like feeling lost. I don't know my way around and the people I've met all seem to know something I do not. It's disconcerting."

"The public board is the most useful source of information," Valyn explained. "And Renji... he's been here a long time, he knows a great deal and he knows the people that know the most." He understood how Shadow felt - he'd felt that way himself, the first few days.

"The man I spoke to last night, Daemon, he seemed to know a lot as well," Shadow replied. "I wonder if he remembers what happened to him. Who it was that gave him the orders to send people to their rooms or why he listened without a protest. If he knows then perhaps we could avoid being put in the same situation."

"From what I understand, you remember everything. And there isn't any way to avoid it." Valyn followed the public board closely, picking through the gossip and inanity for the useful information provided.

"I know people have tried. No one's ever succeeded. The power that these people have is staggering." Frightening was what Valyn really through, but even to Shadow he wasn't going to admit to that. "And as weakened as we are..." He shook his head. He hated to sound so pessimistic, but it was the reality of the situation.

"We just have to hope it doesn't happen to us."

Hope? Shadow had thought that Valyn would be a little more proactive then just sitting back and hoping it wouldn't happen to any of them. "Then perhaps others have been doing it wrong all along," Shadow offered. "I'm not saying that what's been tried before hasn't been to everyone's best abilities but perhaps there's another way of looking at the situation. Perhaps we're not as weak as we all seem to be."

Shadow looked around and caught sight of Daemon sitting by himself and staring down at his breakfast. "I think I'd like to hear what happened from Daemon himself," Shadow said, standing up. "Besides, it isn't as if he can send me away for asking questions now, is it? And he has yet to see how persistent I really can be. Care to join me?"

"I don't think there's any right way." Valyn frowned, looking away. "People are taken from their rooms during or before dinner. They're drugged, taken away, and that's that. It's before... the changes. And during the day, magic doesn't have any effect on the humans who are in charge. It's as though they're heavily warded. And physical attacks are useless as well. The doors are locked at all times, there are guards everywhere, and the slightest hint of trouble results in an injection that turns normal people into thought-fogged imbeciles who can hardly control their limbs. So please, tell me what other way there is of looking at this particular situation."

Again, it was the situation that upset Valyn, not his cousin. It wasn't as though he hadn't given thought to this - it plagued him daily. But the fact was that they were helpless before nighttime came.

He glanced over at the man indicated, and there was a tightening of his features once more. He thought over what Shadow had described earlier, and was torn.

"No. Go ask your questions."

Shadow watched Valyn closely, reading him easily even without being able to magically feel his emotions or hear his thoughts. He dropped his optomistic manner, a mask he'd been clinging to since he arrived, and reached down to take Valyn's hand.

"I can figure this out," he said softly. "I know the situation seems bleak. Everyone I've spoken to repeats the same thing to me. We have no control and we're being used but for what, no one can say. But I know there's an answer here, there has to be, and I can find it. I don't know exactly how I will go about this but I can figure out the puzzle. It's all a game, not so much different then the games Triana played with us. It took me a bit to wake up from her manipulation but I did and if I could beat that bitch at her own game then I can at least hold my own with whoever is holding us here."

Shadow squeezed Valyn's hand, wishing he could leap over the table that divided them and kiss the sour expression off of his face. "Trust me. I don't care how long it takes but I will find us a way home."

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Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

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