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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"How do you know?" Anya snapped. This place and all the people in it were really starting to get on her nerves. "Have you tried to contact other dimensions?"

She closed her eyes and tried to ease her mind into a relatively calm state. "Besides," she assured the other woman, "my boss is way powerful."

"Blessed be the name of D'Hoffryn," she started again, concentrating as hard as she could. "Let this space be now a gateway to the world of Arashmahar were demons are spawned. We come in... in supplication... Our thoughts flow like a river... No, we are like a river..." The vengeance demon slammed her fists on the floor. "Damn it damn it damn it! Why can't I ever remember?!"

She opened her eyes and glared at her roommate. "Where are we, anyway? People have been cagey about that since I got here, and I want a straight answer!" It was only when she began concentrating that she sensed it - her roommate was definitely upset about something with a penis.

Momo sighed and carefully set her pen down, the beginning of the flames surrounding the kneeling figure having taken a more solid form before she decided to stop for the moment. Her new roommate was aggravating and was going to require too much attention to answer questions too than Integra had been.

"I know because I am likewise cut off from my plane of existence." She narrowed her eyes a little. "Of course I've tried." The shinigami chose not to comment upon this woman's assessment that her boss was 'way powerful'. It was certainly an odd way to phrase something like that. She dismissed the notion that anything was more powerful than her own boss. Aizen-sama was brilliant and could probably defeat Yamamoto-soutaichou in a--

The shinigami cut off her thoughts, immediately offended by them and fe3eling ashamed for thinking them. Aizen-sama could not defeat Yamamoto-soutaichou because he didn't have the true strength that Yamamoto-soutaichou did. Yamamoto-soutaichou was a gentle old man that, according to Hitsugaya, took personal interest in her own well-being and recovery after Aizen-sama... after he. Damnit! Momo closed her eyes and rubbed her temple. This wasn't the time to think about these things.

"We're in America. Where in America, I don't know as I am not from America of familiar with the names of the places in this country," she answered, her voice betraying some weariness. "They call the facility Landel's Institute for the Mentally Ill, run by a man named Martin Landel. During the day they treat us like patients in a mental hospital, trying to convince us we are the typical confused insane people you find in such places, going to great lengths to match up these false identities they try to force upon us with enough similarities to our real existences that sometimes we actually consider that maybe it is all made up."

She continued to explaining, pushing away thoughts of Aizen's visit that crept back into her mind. "At night, though, the doors unlock and they let us roam the halls at night trying to escape and such with monsters that they've released to hunt us. The staff twists into bizarre monsters upon the setting of the sun as well. Sometimes they take prisoners at night to experiment upon. Sometimes they take prisoners and brainwash them into believing this place is good and make them attack the rest of us after having removed whatever limitations they have placed upon us in order to control us."

"Whatever powers you may normally have are lessened if not completely suppressed by whatever limit they have forced upon us. The small amount of power some us retain will weaken your body with prolonged use and sometimes worse things will happen depending on your level of power and what you really are when not here. There are many of us that have been forced into human bodies to conform to what Martin Landel wishes for his amusement."

She blinked her eyes slowly. "You normally would have my compassion, even if you are an Oni, for being stuck here, except I'm a little broken and not really understanding humans right now. Do you have any other questions you would like answered in a blunt manner since that's about all I can muster up this morning?"

"Oh! Well! You seem to know a lot!" Anya exclaimed. She jumped up from the floor and sat herself cross-legged at the end of the other girl's bed, facing her across the desk.

"And you're not human either! What type of demon are you? I don't know what an Oni is, but I'm not one of those. Don't worry about the not understanding humans - I've been human, and I don't understand them. My fi..." Anya tripped over her words a little. Why was she still thinking of Xander as her fiance? She chuckled to cover up her mistake. "Uh, my ex was always admonishing me for not using the correct human protocol for social interactions. He was very annoying about it."

The vengeance demon continued her harangue, determined to get as much information out of this strange humanoid as she could. "If this is a mental institution, they'll let us out if we're better, right? I mean, if we're... haha... 'cured' of thinking we're demons or whatever?" she asked, an idea forming in her head. "So if the place is as weird as all that, there have to be secret passageways and stuff. Where are those? And where do I get a broadsword? Oh, and don't you just wish your boyfriend's penis would explode?" Anya concluded, deciding this was no time for subtlety.

Momo blinked as the woman's demeanor changed and suddenly she was being treated as if she was a paragon of information and this woman's best friend. It was a little overwhelming. The shinigami simply sat there as the woman talked and tried to keep up with the conversation.

...penis explode? No, she wasn't going to respond to that - it was too bizarre.

"Okay, slow down and let me answer one question at a time." The woman's voice was already starting to give her a bit of a headache. "No, I'm not human; I am shinigami - a death god. I'm not sure what you are, but Oni is just what my culture refers to demons as."

She paused, trying to remember the other questions. "The doctors here will tell you once you 'get better' and stop having 'delusions' they will release us, but that's a lie."

She slipped a copy of the maps she'd made the last night and offered it to the woman. "This is a fairly comprehensive map of this place, compiled over many nights. There is still a lot to explore."

She thought that was all of them, except for the penis exploding bit. That was just too weird and hopefully this woman would never bring it up again. Speaking of this weird woman, she should get her name since they were going to cohabitate together until one of them experiences rebirth.

"I am Vice Captain Hinamori Momo, by the way. What's your name?"

"Okay then, I guess I am an Oni. Well, a demon." Anya paused, considering how much information to share. "My name's Anya. Just... Anya." Her features momentarily rearranged themselves into dismay as she considered all the baggage that name came with. Things were so much simpler when she was Anyanka. Now she had all these icky sad feelings, which were no use to anybody. She blamed Harris.

"Thank you for the map," Anya said rather loudly, having carefully practiced her thank you's while she'd been human. She forced a wide smile as she took the map and folded it up, then just held it in her hand, as she did not seem to have any pockets.

The vengeance demon settled herself into a comfortable position on the bed and glared hard at this Vice Captain. "Now," she began. "I know you've been having man trouble. Don't you just wish terrible, terrible things would happen to him?"

"Nice to meet you, Anya," Momo replied.

She then winced a little, startled by the loudness with which the exuberant thank you was given. She rubbed her temple again, headache increasing slightly. Were all demons like this? She couldn't remember if she'd ever personally encountered one before. She blinked very slowly. "Your... welcome. I think," she responded. And here the shinigami thought she'd lost touch with what it had been like to be human.

Her head snapped up at the sudden glare from Anya. The demon's words made her cheeks color and she looked away. How did this demon have any idea she was frustrated with Hitsugaya? Some kind of mind reading or... She glanced down at the unfinished drawing before her. No, that wasn't about Hitsugaya - more the... other stuff that had happened.

"Umm... how are--" She paused, looking very uncomfortable. "That's not something you just ask a girl, Anya," she said, her voice a little weak.

Anya rolled her eyes. "Why not?" she demanded. "Are you ashamed that he ran out on you? 'Cause they all do that in the end, trust me."

She recommenced staring at Momo. "Your boyfriend has clearly been tormenting you. Now, don't you wish..." she trailed off, hoping the girl would finish the sentence. The incident in the cafeteria had to be a fluke. Had to. She could hardly be a vengeance demon without the power of the wish, so obviously the cafeteria was a fluke. If only she could make this girl make a wish, she could grant it, D'Hoffryn would notice, and he'd rescue her from this horrible place.

"B-but he didn't run out..." Momo's face grew in color. Her discomfort grew and she started wringing her hands nervously.

"It-it's just not something you suddenly accuse someone you just met of," the shinigami finally stammered out. She shrunk back into the chair a little. "Besides, I don't even have a boyfriend..."

"Well there's clearly a man. I mean, when isn't there?" Anya put as much fake sympathy in her voice as she could manage. She just needed her to say the words 'I wish...' How difficult was that?

"And don't they always run roughshod over you? Don't you just hate it when they mistreat you? When they say, 'Oh yes, let's get married,' but there's an apocalypse and it's all sexy and stuff, and then when the apocalypse is over, he totally bails on you?"

Anya took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "Don't you wish..."

Wait, married? What was she talking about and what did this have to do with Hitsugaya? Anya kind of had a point about there being a man and it wasn't so much that he treated her badly as much as he didn't treat her at all. Momo still hadn't gotten over Hitsugaya asking her why. Stupid Renji and telling her he'd know - that guys just instinctively knew these kind of things.

She sighed. "I wish he'd..."

NO! She was not going to talk to a demon about her lack of relationships. It was bad enough the man she'd grown up with and suddenly realized she had this... thing for couldn't see her as a woman and not just Bedwetter Momo, but then there was Aizen and...

The shinigami put a hand to her chest where Aizen's sword had pierced her heart. Death had a way of putting a damper on relationships. She looked positively miserable.

"I just... don't understand. None of it."

Anya bit her lip when Momo said 'I wish,' but of course she didn't finish it.

"No, no, no one understands!" the vengeance demon said reassuringly. "You don't need to! You just need to get even with him - then you'll feel better!" She leaned closer to the other girl and patted her shoulder awkwardly.

"There are so many things I wish I could do to my ex-boyfriend... there's gotta be some things you wish you could do to this guy who's trampled all over your poor little heart!"

Of course there were things she'd wish she could do to Hitsugaya; Renji had named quite a few of them. Momo's face burned bright red again, her blush so intense at some of the thoughts Anya could feel the heat through her clothing while she patted her shoulder.

But then, she'd tried. She'd grabbed a hold of him. She'd even... kissed the back of his neck a little. She'd asked him to hold her and...

"He asked my why," she finally said, looking up at Anya through misty eyes, the liquid in her left tinged a slight pink color due to the injury. "I asked him to hold me and he... he asked me why."

It didn't occur to her at this point that she was indeed telling the demon about her relationship issues, which she'd decided before she wasn't going to do. "Renji told me he'd know what to do, that guys had a knack for that kind of thing. He told me he'd know if I just..." A tiny sob hitched in the back of her throat. "Renji was wrong... so very, very wrong..."

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Day 30: Staff, Morning

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