damned_institute | Day 30: Staff, Morning

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Day 30: Staff, Morning

Burly orderlies and agile Calm Effect nurses flooded the cafeteria from the Courtyard while regular hall nurses filed in from the Sun Room and ushered out those not involved in the rebellion. It indeed seemed as if Landel was sending out all the cavalry, and an effective cavalry they were: The riot didn't continue for much longer after the alarm sounded, though it seemed strange just how quickly all of the mutinous patients fell, even the ones who hadn't been injected with anything.

The hall nurses were quick to escort their well-behaved charges back to their rooms, praising those who hadn't joined in and chiding those who muttered under their breath in response. There were some exceptions, of course: One nice young man had even defended one of the nurses from the violent patients! Now, wasn't that exemplary behavior? Dr. Landel would be so proud to hear about it...

Within half an hour, all of the so-called "loyal" patients had been safely deposited in their rooms, and it was then that the alarm finally stopped and the true difficulty of the situation was tackled. There certainly weren't enough rooms in solitary to accommodate such rampant disobedience, and yet measures would have to be taken to ensure proper consequences for each and every patient involved. After all, something like this couldn't be allowed to happen again!

Different options were considered. Perhaps they should make an example out of the girl who had sparked the riot, but then again, perhaps not. This certainly wasn't the first case of patients attacking nurses or their peers in a crowded area, but what had been different this time was the sheer support that the other patients had shown for her. Should the staff then make examples of all those who had tried to "protect" her from the well-meaning nurses? No, there were too many for that...

In the end, it was decided that the best immediate solution would be to treat the rebellious patients in the Medical Wing while they were unconscious and then move them back to their rooms to await punishment. To ensure the safety of both their roommates and the patients themselves, however, the staff decided to securely fasten their limbs to their beds and keep them heavily drugged. Such a sad sight they were to see, but... it was necessary.

Finally, when each and every patient had been escorted back to their respective rooms, the staff hurried off to an emergency meeting upstairs. Strangely, Head Nurse Lydia was the one taking care of the proceedings in the Head Doctor's stead. She calmly told them that he was preoccupied with more urgent matters, and as she began to speak to the crowd, the staff could only wonder what could possibly be more important than an unprecedented patient riot...

[ Comment to this post with separate threads for each patient room, and please put your character's room number in the subject line. Thank you! ]

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Even Schuldig couldn't say, with absolute certainty, what the hell River had been thinking when she'd incited that riot - her thoughts were too chaotic sometimes to get a good read of. He couldn't say that he was happy about it, though. Entirely aside from disrupting his breakfast and quite possibly the whole day's schedule - if this meant he couldn't investigate the possibilities Yohji had suggested they explore in the showers, there'd be hell to pay - it had been futile from the start. And while River was just insane enough that being aware of that fact might not have mattered to her, he'd have expected those who followed suit to have a little more sense.

In a place that could pull people from any world it wanted, could bring people back from the dead to do so, that could change people and animals into horrific monsters every night and do hell alone knew what else - had anyone really thought that contingency plans for a riot weren't likely in place? Had anyone thought that during the day, when they were weakest and had no access to their usual weapons lest they be confiscated, that there was even a chance of winning against the united front of the staff?

And, more importantly, if no one had thought that, why had anyone bothered to fight? It was dayshift. Any sort of repercussions to River would be minimal, so trying to protect her was hardly worth the effort people had put forth(and had been futile in any case). Nothing was accomplished by it at all.

And, of course, it had to have happened on a day when there was an exceedingly sugary breakfast for Schuldig to partake of and a wound he wanted to nurse in peace. It just fucking figured.

Obi-Wan was faintly frowning as his nurse escorted him back to his room. She seemed to think that today's violence had disturbed him, and while that was partly true, he was also concerned about the strong show of force the institute seemed to have, as well as the rashness of most of the patients here. His discussion with Jack up until that point had been very interesting, and he made a mental note to seek him out again in the future. But, in the meantime, he had more pressing matters on his mind.

When he arrived at his room, he was mildly relieved to see that Schuldig was in one piece and wasn't drugged. It seemed he'd had enough sense not to become involved. But, then, he wasn't terribly surprised. Jumping into violent mobs didn't seem like the man's style. They had that in common, at least.

"I suppose it's too much to ask for a little peace during the day," he remarked as he settled down in front of his desk and pulled out his journal. The Jedi understood why people would feel angry about what was going on. Most people simply didn't have the kind of self-control needed to maintain a cool head when they were being so mercilessly wronged. Still, inciting a riot during the day when night was violent enough as it was...what had been the purpose?

He just hoped the patients being punished wouldn't suffer too much, though it was difficult to tell when it came to this place.

"Of course I didn't get involved," Schuldig replied, to the Jedi's thoughts rather than his words. (Obi-Wan had started guarding his mind more - and he seemed, oddly enough, to be doing it as much for Schuldig's peace of mind as for his own privacy; someone deliberately showing him telepathic consideration outside of the ranks of Schwarz was unheard of - but surface thoughts in the extreme shallows of the man's mind were still relatively easy to pick up on. Besides, the telepath always kept a mental eye out for thoughts regarding him in particular.) "I'd be surprised as many people jumped in as they did if I didn't think most people were mindless sheep to begin with. I don't think any one of them asked themselves whether they really believed they'd accomplish anything by attacking the staff, unarmed, in broad daylight. But I'm smart enough not to get sedated trying to fight a losing battle."

Obi-Wan smiled a little at Schuldig's response. When they'd first met, he probably would have been extremely put-off that Schuldig had caught any trains of thought, but it was to be expected these days, even if he did try very hard to guard the deeper recesses of his mind.

"I don't think many of them intended to accomplish anything productive," the Jedi said after a moment. "Other than releasing a bunch of pent up energy and anger that was due to explode any day, really. But there are far less harmful ways to express that kind of emotion without getting strapped to a table. Which in turn makes them angrier, and then it just turns into a vicious cycle." And with that kind of fuse constantly burning, it was only a matter of time before the prisoners fizzled out and became broken. Some probably already were.

As off-putting as Schuldig could be sometimes, Obi-Wan certainly respected the fact he'd had enough sense not to blindly follow the crowd.

Frowning to himself, he idly flipped through his maps. He wasn't particularly set on writing anything in his journal at the moment, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to further familiarize himself with the place's layout.

Schuldig was still getting used to the fact that there was someone outside of Schwarz who didn't resent it - and him, by extension - when their thoughts were audible to him. Even Yohji tended to have a kneejerk reaction of displeasure, and he was used to the idea, and - to some degree - to Schuldig. Being a telepath was a rather unique sort of hell; he was forced, whether he wanted to or not, to hear people's thoughts, who then resented him for their invading his privacy, which led to the thoughts he heard being suspicious, angry, and distinctly less than flattering in his general direction. One of the reasons he was so utterly unconcerned with people hating him for the things he did was because they tended to hate him even if he did nothing. Earning their spite, in a way, seemed to even things out somehow.

"They're wasting energy they might need during the night, when things actually get dangerous," Schuldig said flatly. "Idiots. And while the head doctor's unaccounted for, too; I sure as hell don't feel like being doped up when I don't know what he might be up to."

Schuldig lapsed into silence as Obi-Wan perused his maps, allowing the Jedi's observations of them to reinforce the map that the telepath had been constructing within his own head from the fragments of maps that other patients were compiling. It was exceedingly convenient; by connecting the maps of dozens of patients, Schuldig probably had one of the most complete pictures of the layout of the institute in the place. (Just because telepathy was hell didn't mean he couldn't make it work to his advantage sometimes.)

"I got this in the basement last night," he said eventually, on impulse, as his fingers ran over the gauze on his cheek. He supposed that his thoughts of how rare it was not to be resented were making him more inclined to play nice. "And it sounds like the basement is the way out of this place, if our friend on the radio is to be believed. I can give you some of the layout of it on your map if you toss it over."

"I agree the best time to get anything done is at night," Obi-Wan said with a small nod. "We're left relatively unharmed during the day unless we provoke an attack -- like what happened today." As dangerous as nightshift was, there was a certain level of control granted to the prisoners that they simply weren't allowed to have during the day. Of course, it was possible it was all some kind of big charade, but Obi-Wan wasn't going to sit back and do nothing just because of that possibility. He would do what he could, and hope it would someday be enough.

"I'm also interested in where the good doctor went off to," he added with a small frown. He'd mentioned something about the roof the night before, presumably for a confrontation with "Mr. Radio". Would anything come from it? Only time could tell. He did hope that whatever happened would be in their better interest, but Obi-Wan wasn't naive as to count on something like that.

When Schuldig mentioned the basement, Obi-Wan looked up at him curiously. He knew his roommate was likely quite good at watching his back, so the Jedi supposed the injury was a testament to how dangerous the basement probably was. Of course, if "Mr. Radio" said it was key to their escape, then it was going to be well-guarded, whether he was telling the truth or not. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Do you need anyone to take a look at your injuries?"

Obi-Wan was a little surprised at the offer to help him, but he wasn't going to turn it down. If anything, he was grateful the man was willing to share any information he had with him, and he knew there wasn't anything to be gained by leading him astray. "I'd appreciate it, actually." After opening his journal to one of the blank pages after his other maps, he stood up and made his way over to the other man, extending the book out to him. "Here."

"Not to mention that we don't have access to as many resources during the day, and the staff functions as a group during the day whereas at night it's rare for more than two of them to be together at a time," Schuldig agreed with a slight nod. "The bottom line is that it's just not worth it during the day."

Again, that feeling of disorientation as Obi-Wan gave him something else he was extremely unused to encountering outside of Schwarz - concern for his well-being. It almost made Schuldig uncomfortable, nervous; it was easy to disregard and hate people who resented him or simply didn't care less about him one way or the other. But someone who actually had an interest in him...Schuldig didn't want to form any attachments. It limited what he could do, and to whom. It weakened him. "I'm fine," he muttered. "It's just a cut, and it's already been stitched, I think."

He was almost grateful to be able to grab Obi-Wan's journal and start sketching the rough outlines of the places his group - and the other groups that had gone to the basement last night, for good measure - had explored. Probably best to put it on paper somewhere while the memories were fresh, even if he already had the map in his head - memories and thoughts were tricky things in that they could be mistaken, and there were very few ways for him to tell the difference. If his or others' memories of, say, whether they'd turned left or right became corrupted over time, he might never realize unless he had something concrete to compare it to.

"Yes, I think you're right," Obi-Wan said with a small nod. The riot today had been very foolish, in every sense of the word. Really, it was rather disappointing that it'd escalated so quickly and brutally. Worse yet, that the staff had been able to suppress everyone so systematically. But as disappointing as it was, it had not been unexpected by any means.

The way Schuldig had seemingly brushed off his concern wasn't exactly unexpected, either. Obi-Wan doubted he was the sort of person who accepted other people's kindness so freely. "All right, then," he easily replied, willing to let the matter drop.

He watched in silence as Schuldig began to sketch the basement's layout. The Jedi wasn't really sure why his roommate had offered, but he figured as long as they were rooming together, they ought to take advantage of the arrangement by sharing information without the staff's prying eyes.

Sometimes, just having someone agree with him and be cooperative was a godsend. (It was just as well Farfarello wasn't the telepath; Schuldig tried not even to use phrases with the word God in them around the berserker, and he wasn't sure if that would inspire a nasty reaction in him or not. Given the balance of probability, there were even odds he'd get pissed off.) It wasn't that Schuldig wasn't used to opposition - he even enjoyed it most of the time - but sometimes it was just wearying.

"Consider it an even trade," Schuldig replied without looking up, again responding to Obi-Wan's active surface thoughts. "I can get information from you without even asking. Besides, the more people who explore the basement, the more I find out about it, so it serves my own purposes to see to it that more people go down there." After a few moments he handed the map back, his additions made. "There are some strange rooms down there. One has massive boulders rolling around inside it - don't ask me how it works logically, because it doesn't, but believe me, they're there. And the room after that is shrouded in fog, although I only got a glimpse of that one before nightshift ended."

Obi-Wan accepted the maps with a small nod. Of course, it made sense Schuldig had some sort of ulterior motive, but he still appreciated the maps just the same. He didn't really have a problem with sharing that kind of information with anyone. After all, it was foolish to withhold it for the sake of withholding it, for the precise reasons Schuldig had outlined. Without sharing knowledge, it would be difficult to collaborate and get a better feel for the whole picture.

"It sounds more like an obstacle course than some basement," he remarked. Whatever was down there was definitely well-guarded. He'd have to tell Qui-Gon all this later. "Either way, I appreciate the maps. Thank you." He looked curiously at his roommate. "Are you going back to the basement tonight?"

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Day 30: Staff, Morning

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