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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She'd been here, and he'd been missing. But Junior remembered them parting ways only a few days ago. Just how long had they really been away? Space travel wasn't that disorienting.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his own smile turning into a confused frown. "I was on the Elsa, with Shion and Captain Matthews and the others. We've only been gone a few days. You told me to say hi to Albedo when he woke up, remember?"

He glanced around, but couldn't see anyone else that they knew. And then there was that name that they'd called him when he woke up. 'George' or something like that, wasn't it? He hadn't thought too much of it at the time, because of the other crap they were trying to feed him, but now...

"MOMO...what the hell is going on here?" he asked.

Say hello to Albedo..? Yes, she remembered saying that before he had left with the others, but that had been before she arrived here. He hadn't even known about the Durandal the last time she spoke to him, so how could he know about that?

"How... How do you know that?" MOMO asked, pushing her chair back slightly as she edged away from him. "You don't... I-I mean, you didn't..."

It was impossible to gain over a years worth of knowledge in the span of a week. And honestly, she felt like shooting his question back at him. What was going on? This didn't make any sense, and it was more than a little frightening.

"You... It's really you, isn't it?" she asked, unsure of what else she could say at the moment. "You're Junior... Right..?"

Her reaction was more disconcerting than her question. He'd done a few things to scare or worry her in the past, but she had never pushed away and asked if it was really him. It just confused him even more. What was with this place, and what had they done to make MOMO not believe he was himself?

Why wouldn't he be himself? Was this just a bad dream?

"Of course it's me," Junior responded. "And why wouldn't I know about that? What aren't you saying?"

Of course... Of course he was really Junior. MOMO couldn't help but feel guilty hearing his response but at the same time, she couldn't think of anything else to have asked.

There was still much about this place that she didn't know, she knew that. Still, this was difficult to comprehend.

"I've been here for a week, if I've managed to count the days correctly. But when I arrived, you were already here... I only spoke with you once, so I don't know how long you had been here, but you..." She shook her head once more. "You hadn't known about the past year. Then you disappeared, and now you're back and you do know what happened, and I... I don't know what's going on anymore."

"What the-?" was the only response that came to Junior's mind for a while. He was getting more information now, but it just confused things even more. MOMO remembered splitting up a few days ago, but she'd been here a week. Before he'd disappeared, he hadn't remembered the past year. Yet, in the week that he'd supposedly been missing, he'd experienced it all. T-elos, Zarathustra...Gaignun's sacrifice.

Including everything before that, there was no way all that could be condensed into someone's memories in one week. It should have been impossible, so what exactly was going on? What sort of place was this? "That makes two of us who don't know what's going on. I don't remember being here before, and I think it's safe to say after one glance around that it'd be pretty memorable. So why...and how...I don't get it," he finally finished, tossing his hands up into the air in a defeated motion.

Junior was silent for a brief moment, staring at the table. Then he picked up a muffin and handed it to her. "Here. You should probably eat something."

"Unfortunately, it is pretty memorable," MOMO agreed with a slow nod. "Even though some things about this place are probably better forgotten, I don't think it'd be easy to do so." Then again, if they were capable of turning select patients against each other every so often, who's to say they weren't capable of affecting someone's memories?

The realian kept kept her attention focused on her hands, looking up only long enough to take the muffin he gave her and say a quiet, "Thank you." The whole situation seemed awkward somehow, and that was something she had never really felt around him before.

"I'm sorry, Junior," she spoke after a moment, staring at the muffin in her hands. "I didn't mean to... to accuse you of not being yourself. It's just this place, it's not the least bit normal. Even knowing that, I hadn't expected anything like this to happen." Looking up again, she managed a small smile before continuing, "Even if you don't remember being here before, and even if it is confusing, I really am happy to see you. I would never wish this place on anyone and I hope you can forgive me for saying this, but I'm glad that you're here..."

Well, looked like the mission for later would be to find out just what was so awful about this place. What MOMO had said sort of worried him, and he wanted to at least be aware of whatever surprises might pop up in this prison. For now, though, he wanted to cheer her up. The situation was definitely awkward, but they'd been in tougher spots together. They could overcome awkward.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Junior replied, smiling at her. "You've got nothing to apologize for. Sounds like things have been pretty rough. I understand. And I'm glad I'm here, too, since I was worrying you." He picked up another muffin, and took a bite out of this one. "Food's not half-bad, either. We're both safe and sound, and we'll find a way to get out of here and back home. Might even find out what the hell they did to me. If not though," he shrugged, "I don't really care, so long as we just get out of here."

MOMO returned his smile before taking a small bite out of her own muffin.

"They do feed us pretty well. It may not be like the food back home, but it is pretty good." That was probably one of the better qualities of this place. It could be much worse-- they could feed them poorly and leave them as easy pickings for the monsters at night. "But you're right. As long as you're not hurt, I'm happy, and I do hope we can find a way out of here. It would be nice to see everyone again."

See them outside of the Institute, that is. She would never want to see any of the people she knew here, even if it would be comforting to see some familiar faces. In regards to Junior, it was difficult to think of him as one of the new patients the Doctor had been mentioning for the past day. Even though that did seem to be the case, in a way.

And if that were true, then it brought about another question.

"Um... I hope you don't mind me asking, but did you happen to check your room number?"

Junior nodded in response. He was wondering, though, if there may be a way to send a message out to Ziggy. The old man had done something similar before, so why couldn't he work from the outside to get them out? He was also in a more stationary position. MOMO's question brought him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm...my room number? I caught a glimpse of it on the way out this morning, but I don't really remember what it was. There may have been a four in there somewhere...why?"

A four? Did that mean he really was one of the new patients? It was still difficult to believe, but if his room had changed and he had no knowledge of being there previously (and knew things he hadn't known the last time), then it seemed to be the only explation.

They really were playthings for the Head Doctor, weren't they?

"Oh, I was just wondering," MOMO tried to laugh, then took another bite of the muffin. After swallowing, she continued, "With some of the things that happen, it's good to keep track of where your friends' rooms are. That way you'll know where to check if, um... Well, you'll know where you can usually find them. I'm in F11, by the way."

Junior nodded again as he continued munching on the muffin. The letter and number didn't mean anything to him at the moment, but he'd try to find out where her room was. "Got it. I'll see what mine is, and I'll let you know."

Then he was silent for a moment, as he went over what she just said. She'd been skirting around something for a while, if he thought about it. Something about this place. Seeing as how she'd been here for a week anyway, he may as well ask what was up with it.

"Hey, MOMO...go ahead and kick me if you'd rather not talk about it, but...what exactly are these 'things that happen'? I mean, obviously people disappear, but what are they gonna try and surprise me with?"

"Okay, thank you!" MOMO replied. Maybe this wouldn't be so difficult. It was still a little odd, but the important thing was he was all right. Maybe, she thought, it wasn't such a bad thing for some people to start over with a clean slate when it came to this place. Some things certainly were better forgotten.

Unfortunately those thoughts were put to rest at his questions, as the realian quickly realized 'starting over' meant not knowing about the dangers Landel's had to offer.

"Oh... right. I guess you wouldn't remember that, huh?" She paused momentarily, then moved her chair a little closer to him once more. "There's a lot that can happen, although the main thing would probably be the monsters... They don't come out until night time, and night's when we're able to leave our rooms without the staff watching our every move. Monsters wouldn't normally be much of a problem, but they've taken our weapons from us. And... they've also somehow weakened our other abilities. That, unfortunately, makes going out a night very dangerous..."

"...Huh." Well, damn. He'd asked and found out, but he was starting to wish he hadn't. Hearing something like that didn't exactly do wonders for confidence and hope.

Junior was used to monsters. The Gnosis hadn't been anything to laugh at, especially if you didn't have a weapon or ran out of bullets; but after spending half a lifetime fighting and avoiding them, you tended to just get used to it. If they didn't turn you to salt with a touch, he'd just consider them an annoyance until he actually came up against one.

Having no weapons and weakened abilities would make it one hell of a trip getting out, though, and that was only at night. If this really was the mental hospital that they claimed it to be during the day, then there were bound to be needles involved somewhere in there. He preferred to stay away from the needles, thank you very much.

"Staff does their job during the day, and the monsters do it at night, huh? Is there anything we can do, use, to fight back?" he asked. He and MOMO usually had long-ranged weapons, and those had obviously been taken away. He could deal with short-ranged weapons if he had to, but...the problem was that in a place like this, where exactly could you get it?

"You use whatever you can get your hands on," the realian said, giving a weak laugh. "The flashlights can probably be used to hit something, although you'd want to be careful with that since you'd be without a light if it gets too damaged. Although..."

Thursday had been using a bat last night, hadn't she? MOMO hadn't thought much of it at the time, but where had she gotten it from? Then there had been that girl who had been holding a steel pipe the night she underwent Special Counseling. And that man had had a scalpel, too... Where had those weapons come from?

"There have been some people who have had decent weapons with them," she continued after a moment. "I've... never really thought to ask about them before. I guess... I guess you can find something, if you look in the right place? This place is pretty big, and it can be difficult to cover ground at night." There was another, shorter pause as she considered something else.

"Actually, Ami, a girl I met a few nights ago, had the idea that the kitchen might have something of use. We had been planning on visiting it that night, but ended up changing plans since there was a big fight going on in one of the rooms we would've had to go through. It does make sense though, doesn't it?"

As Junior digested what she was saying, he was starting to wonder just what he should call this place. Fun house seemed more appropriate at the moment. They kept you in line during the day, but let you out at night. They let you run around and get weapons, fight the monsters, even gave you a flashlight.

But for what purpose? To see who lived and who died, and then to create some super-army out of that? They'd definitely be great at bludgeoning things to death with flashlights. He doubted MOMO understood that part any better than he did. He was about to respond, when someone started yelling.

"...The hell?" the redhead muttered, looking over to see the man standing on top of the table. "Well, that's probably why they call this a mental institution. That guy's gotta be cracked." After a moment, he looked back over at MOMO. "But then, everything about the night sounds crazy, and I know you're not insane." He shook his head, going back to his previous thought.

"Anyway, the kitchen'd be a good place to check. It's probably been gutted for knives by other patients, now that I'm seeing just how many there are, but there's gotta be other utensils that we could use. It'd make sense, from that fight you mentioned." He paused for a brief moment.

"Gotta wonder, though. If they took our stuff, where are they keeping it? They can't have just thrown some of it out." At least they better not have. Those guns had been antiques, and probably the last of his collection!

MOMO, too, was momentarily distracted by the man who had started to yell. After a slight jump, she looked over only to see him standing on the table. That was a little strange even within Landel's, but she could only assume he was another of the newer patients.

Junior's comment about her not being insane was what drew her attention back to him. Even with the various things that had happened, she hadn't really doubted her own sanity but it was reassuring to hear that from someone she knew and trusted.

As he went on to comment about the kitchen, she nodded slowly in agreement. It did make sense, after all. The kitchen had probably been the first stop for some people, although it couldn't hurt to check it out sometime just to make sure.

"Hmm... There are a lot of storage rooms upstairs, but none of them have our things as far as I know. I'm positive they don't throw our things away, since people get their things back for Special Couseling, and... oh..." The realian trailed off momentarily. She hadn't told him about that, had she?

"Um... Special Counseling is something else you have to look out for. I'm not sure how often it happens, but a few patients are sometimes taken right after dinner. They receive their things back and are able to use their full abilities for the night, but the catch is: they fight for the Institution..." MOMO lowered her gaze and frowned slightly. "When you're under the control of the Institute, you're supposed to delay the progress of the patients who are unfortunate enough to run into you. You aren't supposed to kill anyone, but... You can still do a lot of damage. That can make running into them more dangerous than running into a normal monster, sometimes."

What kind of sick name was that? 'Special Counseling.' Why would the people who ran this place pit monsters and fellow patients against each other, instead of just hiring a night staff? With this many patients, there had to been a lot of money coming in. The patients weren't toys, no matter how much the head honchos appeared to believe it.

And then there was the way MOMO had looked when she finally explained it. Had she known someone who'd gotten it? Hell, had she even been taken before? Even from just hearing about it, Junior didn't want any of the patients to have to undergo it, but...well, if it happened, he guessed it was probably best to just be supportive. He knew all too well what his own powers were capable of, and if there were any other patients here with similar abilities...it would explain why they'd be more dangerous than normal monsters.

The conversation was getting to be a bit too serious, again. It was necessary, but at some point he'd rather turn it back to whatever else would take their minds off of the monsters. MOMO'd been dealing with them for a week, and Junior wanted her to at least have a bit of time to just forget about it. Before that, he had a question he needed to ask. He was half-convinced that he already knew the answer, but he wanted to know just how far the others had gotten.

"...Do you know if anyone has tried going after the guys pulling the strings? If they've gotten remotely close?"

MOMO couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when Junior didn't press about the Special Counseling. While she didn't enjoy talking about it, she had at least been able to get past her own session of it thanks to Sora and the others she had spoke to. What she had been afraid of was telling him that he had undergone the same treatment. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.

"I'm positive people have tried but, as far as I know, no one knows exactly where to find him," the Prototype replied, looking at him once again. "I don't even know if anyone knows what he looks like, either. He's the man who speaks on the intercom throughout the day, by the way; Doctor Martin Landel."

Was that even his real name? Everyone here had a name that the Institute used, and then their real name. Even though Dr. Landel was one of, if the not the person running this place, was it possible that he had a fake name as well?

"I'm sorry I can't be much help, but you could try asking on the bulletin board. It's located in the Sun Room, and it's how many of the patients communicate during the day. You can sometimes find useful information by checking it every so often, so you might want to try that."

"That guy, huh?" Junior muttered, thinking back to the voice that had woken him up. Made sense that he'd have the same name as this place. The guy was a coward, though, hiding behind that big intercom the entire time, pitting patients against each other. "Yeah, the nurse mentioned the board, too. I may try that out. Maybe there's a few people who've gotten to at least see the coward."

Junior looked over to find more commotion as he finished off the muffin. Exciting for a first day, but it seemed far from normal. It'd be nice to get an idea of what the staff did for disruptions like this, but he had to wonder what had caused the patients to snap. He didn't want to go down that road, if he could avoid it.

"That's not common, is it?" he asked, looking back over at MOMO.

That was... a fight? She had been aware of an occasional scuffle between patients at times, but something that involved both patients and staff? To her knowledge, that was something new.

"No, it isn't... Things sometimes break out among the patients, and the staff get involved in order to calm things down again. But I have never seen attacks against the staff like that."

It was a little frightening, to be honest. Staying in this place wasn't easy, but what could make those people suddenly go on the attack like that? Last night hadn't been normal, even by Landel's standards, so... did that have something to do with it?

"Usually, things are pretty calm during the day," MOMO continued after a moment, looking away from the fight. "I can't say for certain what caused that to happen."

"I guess we'll probably hear about it later," Junior replied, shrugging. He began to look away, and then he noticed a few more people cropping up here and there with their own fights. And then more.

Great, stuck in a strange place at the beginning of a riot, without his guns. Not to mention MOMO had mentioned that their other abilities were muted, and he didn't want to test out what he was capable of right here and now.

"Whatever caused it, I think we should move out of the way," he said as he began to stand.

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Breakfast

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