damned_institute | Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

Hitsugaya woke with a start.

His entire body ached, but the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been the night before. His injuries had been tended two with clean gauze and bandages, and he found every movement wasn't agony. He wasn't in the best of shape, but thanks to the miracle of landel's strange time distortion, he had mostly recovered from the vile poison without having to waste anyone else's talents.

And in his hand, still...there was the key.

He dressed quickly, sliding the key onto the key ring from his desk drawer and stuck it into his pocket. Whether the key stood to gain them anything or not, it stood as a vital reminder that they could succeed in this place. There was hope, as insignificant as it often seemed. They could beat this place.

That small shred of hope made getting up worth it.

The nurse who escorted him to breakfast was cheerful, and commented idly about how wonderful it was to see young Tommy Winters up and about again after his unfortunate run-in with a bad case of food poisoning. He smirked slightly, knowing that any lies the institute forced into their heads were only that: lies. He wouldn't buy it for a second. And on top of that, the concept of muffins sounded almost appetizing. While he still preferred his authentic Japanese cuisine, the food here was slowly becoming more and more bearable. He would have preferred a warm bowl of sweet nattou over rice over the mufffins, but they would do. The plain yogurt and fruit, on the other hand, was excellent. He piled his plate high with fruit as usual, and got several small bowls of yogurt as well.

Finding the most convenient table to the end of the food line, he took a seat and scanned for the new arrivals. New arrivals meant people who would be lost and confused. Renji did a good job of making a bulliten post last time...he should recommend abarai-fukutaicho do the same again this time.

[Waiting for Angel]

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After getting two chocolate chip muffins, an apple and a banana along with a yogurt cup, the nurse had cut him off and all but forcefully nudged him out of the breakfast line to go seek a seatmate for breakfast. Mark felt the urge to think something negative, either about the people here or the nurses, but he was honestly in a reasonably good mood after the previous evening.

What drew him to the blind young man he'd eaten beside the other day, he didn't know; perhaps just the familiarity. "Hello. How was your evening?" Or perhaps because the blind man couldn't see how much Mark was having for breakfast.

Someone sat next to Sasuke and he inevitably tensed slightly, but he managed to place the voice easily enough and nodded a greeting. An odd piece of luck for him this morning; he'd hoped to talk to Mark relatively soon.

"My night went well," he answered, apparently ignoring his thickly bandaged left arm. There was probably bruising along his upper arms, too, but it was hardly something Sasuke hadn't handled hundreds of times before. "I had hoped to speak with you. Did you hear the radio and intercom announcements last night?"

Straight to business, of course.

So far as Mark could tell, if an evening passed with no limbs lost and with the 'patient' able to walk the next morning, it was a fairly good evening, so he took Sasuke's judgment of the night at his word. Though he was surprised to hear the next question asked, and after a moment answered honestly.

"Yes. I met with someone claiming to be Mr. Radio, also known as Jack, also known as Mr. Doyle, complete with antique broadcasting equipment." Although it wouldn't seem antique to Sasuke, probably. "I obtained a completed map of the second floor with some oddities on it; some staircases and an elevator that don't seem to match up with the first floor. I believe they may lead to a higher floor, or to the roof referenced in last night's broadcast."

And he had a 'friend' with a mysterious key, although that might be a bit much to hope for. Still, he really had to at least try; perhaps that door was one of the looser ones. And as few friends as he'd made in this place, this wasn't a project to set out on alone. Holding the information close to his chest would do him little good, and wandering alone into strange territory would be foolish. Let everyone else set their sights on the basement that (the all-beneficent) Mr. Radio refused to explain. He'd head up instead.

He left out what else he'd gotten for his evening's troubles; nobody wanted to hear what Grunt might get up to in Mark's sparse spare time.

Sasuke's interest immediately perked, the rather rapid pace of his eating slowing enough to allow him to focus more completely on Mark.

"So you were able to meet with Doyle in the library?" He confirmed, again slightly annoyed with himself for not having made it in time. And the potential path to the roof -- definitely interesting, if there was going to be some sort of confrontation between Landel and Doyle in the upcoming night. "Are you planning to try to reach the roof tonight? If you are, I want to go with you."

Sasuke also wanted to ask for Mark's analysis of the situation between the two men who seemed to be in control, but he wanted to confrim potential action first.

"That's my hope. Since some of the doors are unbreakable, I may need the right key--the other night, I tested keys with an individual from the Cooking group, and I'm fairly certain that he doesn't hold the key to that door. Though I would like to get into contact with him concerning this. Otherwise, I know a man who has a key which he's been unable to identify... so if possible, he would join our group as well." Mark paused. Though John seemed friendly enough in his very weird, insulting way, he wasn't sure he'd be inspired by the hopes of reaching a higher level in the building to risk entering the area on the map. Perhaps hinting that all the contraband was confiscated and taken there, or something...

"Doyle seemed to have an odd collection of items to hand out." Such as pornography. "I believe several other individuals met with him as well. He was willing to draw me a map, but not of the basement. So his 'generosity' obviously had limits. Oddly, he was petting one of the monstrous animals, a giant decomposing cat."

As young as Sasuke seemed, speaking to someone so... straight-forward and sensible was a relief. It didn't hurt that he'd gotten some of his tension out the previous night on the little excursion with John. Finally, he felt as though he were making some sort of progress...

"You've got keys?" That was the first Sasuke had heard of any, although now that he thought about it, he should've gotten information of this sort by now, given how long he'd been here. And it sounded like Mark had made several contacts. Useful.

It sounded like Mark had accepted Sasuke's joining his group, and Sasuke was briefly grateful for having found someone who was rational, unlike so many of the people who seemed to be here. "If you have a full map, we might be able to figure out another way to the roof, if there are locked doors. Where are you meeting?"

As for Doyle and the cats -- provided a good lead-in to Sasuke's next question: "What did you make of Landel and Doyle's interaction last night? I originally thought Doyle was a self-styled liberator with access to inside knowledge, but it seems that he has a good deal more power than that. Did it seem as if the animal was under his control?"

"I don't have a key, unfortunately--I only know others who do. What I have is a map." Everybody gets little pieces of the puzzle doled out to them bit by bit, hm? "But it is a full map of the upstairs. The furniture and other notes are labeled, but not the status of the doors." Which would have been useful, but beggars couldn't be choosers... "I'll need to post on the bulletin board and speak to others, but if you don't mind giving me your room number or meeting at one of the stairwells, even if no one else is agreeable we could try tonight without a key and see how far we get." The blind young man had traveled enough last night to get those injuries, but wasn't dead--which meant he'd been in at least one fight here blind and survived. Mark himself wasn't helpless, even if the idea of fighting those monsters still gave the part of him that was simply Lord Mark some chills. Killer would take care of that.

Doyle and Landel's interactions? "Doyle certainly had control of the cat in his room. It behaved like a pet. How one gains control or loyalty of the creatures here is still beyond me; something might have been hidden within the jumble of radio transmission parts, or it may simply be recognition of one of its creators. Doyle drew the map for me from memory, and said he needed no key in this place."

"I'm in M58, but it will likely be faster for us to meet in the hall outside the patients block," Sasuke said. So he finally had a concrete goal for a nightshift -- that was a damn sight better than the past few nights had been.

Now that he thought about it, Doyle had been claiming parity with Landel for a long time, and the two men (if that was what they even were) had some kind of history as partners, although if Doyle could still get around in the Institute, that made their history more recent than Sasuke had imagined. The fact that Doyle was that intimately tied to the Institute also made him a good deal more suspect than before, but his information had been good so far. Only so far, though.

"The monsters here are probably the results of experiments as well," Sasuke said thoughtfully, remembering his fruit a bit late and picking up a piece of apple to munch. "If Doyle very recently working with Landel, he might have some control of the animals, but then who exactly orders the attacks on the patients at night?"

"My room number is M97," Mark answered, more out of fair exchange of information than any belief Sasuke would find his way there at some point. "I'll meet you in the last area of the patient's block, near the hallway that leads to the Sun Room."

Mark's food had a way of being eaten despite himself, particularly when distracted, and so he didn't take much notice of the vanishing act his muffins had performed. "The only reason we have to believe that they are even opposed to each other is that Doyle and Landel argue over the intercoms at night. True, Doyle gives presents... but I find the circumstances strange. If they aren't partners now, they certainly were at some point in the past. Why that's changed, if it's changed at all, is a salient question." It would be useful if bargaining, like playing the Houses of Jackson's Whole against each other, but no patient here had anything to bargain with which Landel or Doyle would want. So far as they knew.

Yet they had to want something. "Why they built this facility in the first place... again can only be guessed at. The animals at night may simply be acting on instinct, feeding. The nurses... some other kind of instinct, but no less insensible."

Sasuke nodded, committing Mark's room number to memory along with the handful of others he had and noting the location to meet. There would be a fair amount of traffic in the area earlier in the night, so Sasuke would have to move fast once the doors unlocked.

"The radio messages aren't always exactly supportive," Sasuke said, tone just a bit dry, but frowned again as Mark summarised the oddness of the situation. "There have been some messages that imply that Doyle ultimately disagreed with Landel, either on ideology or methodology. There seems to be some sort of rivalry, that much is certain."

And rivalry could be one hell of a dangerous thing. Sasuke knew that better than most.

"The animals do seem to be acting fairly naturally, but what of the humanoid monsters, and the mind control?" The equation got more complicated as more factors jumped in, and Sasuke was getting to the point where he was starting to remember why he didn't like math. "I've met humanoid monsters who seem perfectly capable of thought and self-direction."

A pause, and then: "I've made a deal with one before, and it kept to its word." It might be possible that alliances could be made.

Mark couldn't help being impressed with that confession. "You can Deal with them..?" That didn't fit very well into his neat mental image of the monsters as uncontrollable, unnatural beasts... then again, being oddly shaped and even being hostile didn't mean one was stupid. How many of the Dendarii's enemies told stories about the wild beast in their ranks, unaware that Taura was far more intelligent than most of her opponents could dream?

"What sort of bargain did you make? And what sort of... individual... was it?" You of all people ought to know better than to think, just because something is created, it's under the complete control of the creators.

Sasuke hadn't mentioned the deal with the girl he'd made earlier mostly because he was concerned about making enemies, but Mark was new and the situation seemed to have come to a point where it might be useful information.

"I haven't seen her since, but I met a child my first night here," he explained, remembering the fog and finding himself unable to quite describe the way the place had felt. "She offered to trade me safe passage to my destination in exchange for information on the location of patients, and kept her word when I told her what I knew.

"She definitely looked human," he added, but scowled a little dubiously. "Then again, that doesn't necessarily mean she is."

It was a simple deal and it had happened only once, but if there was a possibility ...

Was Sasuke saying he'd sold out other patients for his own safety? As though you've never done worse. And a little girl? Information on the locations of patients? It raised more questions than it answered.

"A little girl promised you safety? What did she want to know about the location of patients?" Mark asked. Surely not where to find them in general--they seemed to always be milling about, here and there. "What makes you think the girl did do something to ensure your safety, that she wasn't human?"

Granted, it didn't sound like a Deal to be offered from a normal human little girl, but there was no telling. Besides, maturity was relative; there were plenty of worlds where Sasuke would be considered a "little boy."

It was hard for the vampire to leave his room, perhaps harder than any other morning in this hellhole. It was the second morning waking without the insistent agony of that phantom witch's touch, and so it was easy enough to say that the disheartenment he felt was all his. Upon immediately checking the closet and reassuring himself that everything was in place, he pressed his forehead to the wardrobe door.

Behind him, the second bed was mussed; there was a different scent in the room.

Wonderful.

Tired, nauseous, hungry, and deeply, deeply frustrated, Aidou strode into the cafeteria like he was the most confident creature in the world. Any hint of his characteristic childishness was eclipsed by the grave mien--he had to force himself to stay awake, because he needed to eat, because he needed to check in with a variety of thorns in his side, because he still hadn't found a clue regarding Akatsuki. Carefully surveying the cafeteria, Aidou made for the breakfast line and fetched multiples of everything, what seemed like far too much food to safely balance on one tray.

By the time he was done, he'd put today's task into order in his mind as well. And with that, he approached Uchiha Sasuke and the unknown he was sitting with, at ease with bluntly interrupting. Aidou didn't fail to note the irony of walking in on a conversation involving creatures that looked human, but were not. "Uchiha," he started, dropping his tray at the table and sitting down. "I have a proposition for you when we can speak alone, later today." Mark's presence was unfortunate, but obviously he wasn't dwelling on it. "So, have anything recent to share?"

Put that way, Sasuke supposed it sounded more than a little questionable, but he wasn't much with words and there was no way to really describe the sheer creepiness of the little girl. That, and at the time he'd been much more concerned with simply finding a weapon and breaking out than the formation of alliances.

"She just wanted to know where she could find the most," Sasuke said. "I assume she wanted to attack them."

He was about to try to wrestle together an explanation for how he'd decided that she wasn't human when a familiar voice cut into the conversation. Aidou. Sasuke felt a quick flicker of relief -- though he had to wonder who that body was, then -- that he shut down and nodded briefly at Aidou's words.

"I ran into a blond corpse a few nights ago," he commented casually. Actually, it was more like he'd been run into by a blond corpse. Or fallen-on. "Looks like it wasn't you after all. I've fought a few creatures since then," With quite a bit of help from Aidou's advice, although Sasuke wasn't about to admit that.

Sasuke indicated Mark, whom Aidou had ignored in typical bitchy style, with a nod of his head. "This is Mark. He's an ally and has good information."

Mark was slightly grateful for the interruption as well, since it spared him any duty of making moral judgements about Sasuke's action. Besides, if you were unarmed, wouldn't the better odds be with the crowd anyhow?

Depends on the crowd.

"Hello." Mark commented neutrally to the newcomer, not offering to leave and give them the privacy that the blond man apparently wanted. He'd sat here first, after all. Uchiha and not Sasuke? How odd, but perhaps the older boy was more formal than Sasuke himself. Plate emptied, he eyed the overflowing bounty on Aidou's tray, but didn't comment.

You don't need any more.

Aidou pulled a cinnamon roll into halves, facing Mark. "I'm Aidou Hanabusa. I put a high value on good information." Being a vampire had a multitude of advantages, but it also meant signs of exhaustion or fatigue were absolutely minuscule--vampires did not develop bags under their eyes, thank the gods. Turning his head slightly to regard Sasuke, he continued with, "And that's precisely why I'm here, though I'm going to ignore how utterly insulting that comment was. Visual identification isn't your strongest suit anymore, and I'm still far from helpless."

He ate neatly, a trick of the trade for all nobles, but fairly quickly. He'd need to feed tonight, and thoroughly. His appetite was becoming insatiable again--sweets helped, but couldn't take the place of blood.

"Something was obviously off in the theatrics last night. Anything you noticed yourselves? I'm also particularly interested in the disappearances amongst the prisoners, if there's anything to be said on the subject."

Sasuke resisted the urge to snort and make some variety of disparaging comment at Aidou's reaction. Even the dig at his sight was sort of more amusing than genuinely effective, and Sasuke had to pause to be surprised at that before moving on.

"I'd hoped you weren't so weak as to fall off a balcony," Sasuke said, and found another piece of fruit, munching on it as Aidou continued to speak. He frowned when Aidou spoke of the disappearances -- so it wasn't just Sasuke. "Several of the people I knew seem to have vanished as well.

"We've been talking about the argument between Landel and Doyle," Sasuke said. 'Argument' was one way to put it; it sounded more like a senseless and increasingly immature catfight. "It sounds like Doyle's got access to most of the place, but he's not handing it out, so it can't be assumed that he's genuinely out to help us.

"I didn't get to meet Doyle, but Mark did." Sasuke left space for Mark to interject information if he wanted to do so.

"Yes, I did. Good information seems quite valuable in this place. But with so many patients, it's easy to become buried. Disappearances and deaths alike go scarcely noticed, apart from forlorn notes that never receive a response on the bulletin board." Well, that had been flowery. Perhaps Aidou's delicate way of eating had brought out the Vor blood in him.

"As for Doyle and Landel... Doyle supplied me with some information, but was not entirely forthcoming either. He's obviously been deeply linked with the creation of this place, both the building itself and some of the creatures which inhabit it. At least, a monster cat was with him as his pet. For Landel's part in the production, I don't believe we can trust either side enough to make conclusions. It hardly takes effort to turn on an intercom and pretend to be distressed."

Sasuke's initial response stopped him cold, hand paused midway in reaching for a muffin. A few nights ago, and a blond corpse being dropped off a balcony? All at once, he carried out the motion and began eating again like nothing had happened. Only this time, there was a sharp smile at the corner of his mouth. "Yes, well, it certainly wasn't me, but I admit to having a hand in it. That happened to be my victim. Shame about the surprise it gave you."

The vampire, of course, had heard every word of the intercom announcements all night, but it was painfully obvious that for once something important had been shared by the radio. The one he had decided to forego.

Unforgivable.

"So he came again," said Aidou. Although his focus remained on Akatsuki, that was indeed something vital to consider. Word that he was also toying with the creatures was something new, also. His gaze flicked to Mark, having been somewhat won over by this show of information. Appearance wise, Mark was indistinguishable from any other slovenly human, but if he had a sound mind, then that could be respected. "Let me guess, he wouldn't commit to revealing anything of importance. What was he peddling, small items for favours, riddles in place of common sense answers?"

Sasuke blinked when Aidou admitted to having helped kill whoever it was. And 'victim': did he mean that in the sense that he'd taken blood from the person, or was it just a turn of phrase?

"It fell on me," he said a little irritably, annoyed at the suggestion that he might have been caught off-guard otherwise, and then frowned again. It was true that he'd noticed that Aidou had no problems with keeping vendettas, but still -- "You've killed another patient?"

He left the other question for Mark, since he was the one who'd met Doyle. Frankly, Sasuke also wanted to know if the man on the radio made any more sense in person.

This was the first time he'd heard of in-killing directly, although he'd read about it a bit on the boards and it matched his theories. The idea that this Aidou had killed more than once wasn't particularly palatable, but Mark could only be a moral critic to a certain degree when he'd spent the first part of the last night trying to pick a fight in order to work out some misplaced aggression. Lucky he hadn't, considering John didn't have the key on his body.

"Yes, Doyle spoke in his own circular fashion. But he did deliver some solid information along with some small objects, as you say." The urge to mention the pornography just to see the way Aidou would react was strong, but resisted. "Most notably, he mentioned some things about his own ability to travel within these walls... cryptic, but interesting... and gave me a map." There were plenty of maps floating around, full maps of downstairs and nearly-full maps of upstairs. Perhaps a few 'full' ones with the exception of locked doors. But the downstairs was easy to navigate and the upstairs was filled with locked doors.

Mark folded his hands, since he'd finished eating, and looked between Aidou and Sasuke.

"It wasn't a patient," said the noble, voice even but iron-hard. He flicked crumbs away. "I suppose I should elaborate: it did look like me, but it was merely one of those creatures that mimics appearance. So I killed it and disposed of the body. End of story."

Aidou didn't refute the idea that he'd been killing the real, true prisoners, because although he hadn't yet, he was certainly inclined. It all came down to how badly his dignity was slighted. As for Alec Doyle or whatever his alias was, Aidou didn't believe in accepting help from melodramatic, annoying outside sources--as far as he was concerned, the man on the radio only just barely differentiated himself from Landel, and certainly didn't warrant any kind feelings from the vampire.

The enemy of their enemy was just another person who deserved to die.

The cafeteria was, at best, turning into a circus already--people screaming, brawling, and as Aidou noted sourly, the little ex-human scum seemingly reuniting with someone from his own home. New prisoners were easy to spot. Putting a pause on his own breakfast, Aidou turned on Mark again, a sigh caught in his throat. And to think of the sight the three of them made, sitting together. It was almost laughable. "What kind of map did he give you? If you're interested in comparing, I have the most updated versions from the Arts and Crafts people."

A creature that mimicked appearance -- huh, that was news to Sasuke. And Aidou spoke as if there had been quite a few reports of these things, so it seemed as if they were common enough monsters. As far as disposing of it off a balcony went, that was a little less common, but probably something that could be expected from Aidou.

The terse way Aidou ended the story was fine with Sasuke; he'd gotten what he needed to know.

"So if Doyle can travel freely and knows the layout of the place, he presumably knows what is contained in each room or area," Sasuke commented, forgetting the second half of his breakfast in favour of one of the most successful conversations he'd had in a while. "And he's handing out keys, we can probably assume that the locked doors he's not letting us into contain things he might not want us to see."

As for what those were, though ... more experiments? Monsters? Whatever they'd used to capture all of the patients? (What they'd taken from the patients?)

And if there was information Doyle was withholding for some reason, there was a possibility that the his rivalry with the Head Doctor could be useful to the patients.

Ah, one of the mimics. That was rather different, assuming the story was true. Mark had to wonder how he would handle walking down a dark hallway and meeting himself--either he'd reaffirm his mental stability and give himself a firm pat on the back, or have some sort of breakdown, but either way he'd certainly wind up with a Mark-shaped corpse as a remnant of the fight. Whether it was his corpse or the mimics'. Although, didn't they usually appear as persons one cared for..?

He smiled at Aidou's suggestion of map comparisons, although he didn't bother trying to appear friendly in that smile. "That's all right, thank you, I believe I'll pass. I'm satisfied with what I have at the moment." Sasuke's questions were more to the point. Though, "Keys have been found on the bodies of killed nurses as well. That would indicate to me that both sides are playing us towards opening doors if we can. The doors which he does not want us to open may be less obvious than simple locks. For example, the basement which everyone is so enthused over was apparently an unnoticed entrance until he began pointing it out. There may be other examples of doors hidden away for some reason, until they've prepared a set of games for us to play there as well."

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