damned_institute | Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

After the couple glasses of water Leon managed to gulp down during breakfast, the mage felt immensely better. He was still a bit tired, but that was nothing a little lounging on one of the sofas wouldn't cure. Stretching his arms above his head, he couldn't help but wish he'd had the chance to grab one of his new doctor's coats before leaving his room that morning. Maybe they would have let him get away with wearing it. Maybe.

He grabbed an empty sofa, pulling out the journal he tried to keep on him at all times. It was nearly complete now. Just a couple more pages to go. It might not improve his spellcasting that much, but any improvement was better than none. It was getting to where it might be too dangerous for him to use spells at all, if it left him so worn out without even finishing a monster off.

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Clark's lips wordlessly moved for a bit as he tried to think of something to say.

Did he hear right? Did he just call himself Obi-Wan? From Star Wars?

Blinking, he couldn't help staring at "Obi-Wan". Was he crazy? If he was, he certainly didn't seem like the picture of someone who was stark raving mad...but even if he was sane, Clark just couldn't find it in himself to actually believe that the man sitting next to him was Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight. And if that was the reaction that Clark was getting, it wasn't hard to figure out that "Obi-Wan" would be running into that a lot if he ever introduced himself in person or on the bulletin board.

"Uh..." Not the most intelligent thing to say but Clark was still struggling to come up with words. He tried again, "Sorry if I was, uh, surprised. I bet you get that reaction a lot..."

It seemed his identity had caught the young man off guard, judging by his initial, wordless reaction. He wasn't quite used to being so widely recognized by so many different people, but by now it wasn't as much of a shock. He'd come to expect the unexpected when it came to Landel's by now.

"No need to apologize," he told Clark with a small smile. "People occasionally seem surprised, although I'm a little bit baffled on what I could have done to earn that kind of reputation." He paused, regarding the younger man curiously. "Are you from Earth?"

Was Clark a dimensional-traveler like young Artemis? Or perhaps a scholar who had read those historical documents chronicling the past affairs within the Republic and the Jedi Order? Maybe he was actually a citizen of the Republic, from a future timeline like RC-1136 had been. Regardless, Obi-Wan was hoping he'd elaborate a little bit on how he'd come to learn about him.

Clark stuttered defensively before he realized that it was just an innocent question. "Y-yeah, of course I am."

That was sorta-kinda true - he'd spent most of his life on Earth, even if he wasn't one hundred percent home-grown.

"Obi-Wan" was looking at him expectantly, as if he was supposed to elaborate. Clark wasn't sure what to say. Maybe he should explain his surprise, although he wasn't sure how well the other patient would take it if he just said uh yeah, you're a character from a bunch of movies and if you get weird looks, it's because you're fictional. Probably not well. Clark knew how it felt to be told the places you knew didn't exist - being told you didn't exist had to be even worse. If he was going to say anything, he'd have to be careful how he approached this otherwise he might offend the other patient, who so far seemed to be very polite and friendly.

He sneaked a glance at "Obi-Wan", trying to think on the fly. "You're kind of famous on Earth. People might not believe you are who you say you are because of that."

Seemed safe so far. He hadn't outright said "Obi-Wan" wasn't real but the rest of it was all true. Clark wanted to avoid lying at all if he could avoid it; he'd had enough of lying, thanks, and if he could talk to someone without lying through his teeth (badly - let's face it, he wasn't even good at it), then so much the better.

The young man seemed to be slightly put-off by the question of his home planet, but the Jedi didn't think much of it. He knew most Earthians were in denial about there being other planets, and might find such a question odd. (He recalled Phoenix Wright finding it rather strange.) He chose not to further question him on it, only nodding and keeping the information in mind for future reference.

Obi-Wan paused as he thought on Clark's words. It was true his name stuck out as it was, and that was without factoring in the whole being famous thing. The Jedi had taken measures not to casually toss his name around on the bulletin board, choosing to sign with his initials instead, but that was more for keeping the staff off his back than anything else.

He knew he was considered famous by many Earthians, but he hadn't realized just how widespread it was. "Well, I am who I say I am," Obi-Wan replied as he linked his fingers together in his lap. "Whether someone chooses to believe me or not is their issue, seeing I can't exactly change my name, and it seems like it'd be a silly reason to lie about it."

He frowned a little, rubbing his chin in thought. "However, if I have such a reputation, it might be bad to draw anymore attention to myself than necessary." There were merits to keeping something of a low profile when you were at someone else's mercy all day, every day. He hadn't realized what a stir giving his real name to the wrong people might cause.

That was one way of putting it. Clark latched onto it.

"That's it exactly," Clark said. He still wasn't sure he could buy that "Obi-Wan" was a real live Jedi but he did know he wanted to help if he could. If "Obi-Wan" wanted to be taken seriously here, he couldn't keep announcing himself like that. "Maybe you need a temporary name. You know, like a secret identity or something?"

It seemed kind of silly and over the top at first - as if just changing your name really helped - but the more Clark thought about it, the more it seemed like it wasn't such a bad idea. With a different name, "Obi-Wan's" sanity wouldn't immediately come into question...though that might still be a problem if he then went talking about Jedi and stuff. Let's just get through the name part first. Worry about that later.

"Perhaps," Obi-Wan said slowly with furrowed eyebrows. "It's never been a problem before, although I can think of scenarios where it could be." What if some future enemies showed up here and heard he was around? Obi-Wan had enough on his plate at the moment, what with being held captive, dealing with a dampened connection to the Force, and battling with the local wildlife every night.

"Many people here already know me as Obi-Wan, but I suppose I could adopt a temporary name with new acquaintances I meet." He didn't think there was any reason to actively hide who he was, but it probably wasn't smart to just go casually tossing his name everywhere. Not anymore.

Strange, how Qui-Gon didn't seem to have this kind of celebrity status following him around. Obi-Wan had always considered his former Master to be the best Jedi he'd ever known, even if he didn't always like his tendency to disagree with the Council at inconvenient times. Still, it was probably for the best that they both didn't have to put in extra effort to stay out of the public eye.

"However," he added, bringing himself back to the matter at hand, "I'm unsure of what would be a suitable name, given the circumstances."

"What about 'Ben'?" Clark asked with a shy smile. I can't believe I'm even having this conversation! If Chloe or Pete was here, they'd just say this upped the dork factor. "It's a normal name and really short and easy to remember."

The fact that it was already Obi-Wan's secret identity went unsaid. He had a feeling the other patient wouldn't get it unless Clark started explaining it all to him, which would probably open up other questions he didn't exactly want to go into. He still had to figure out how to get "Obi-Wan" here to ease back on the whole Jedi thing if he wanted people to take him seriously in Landels. It was bad enough the staff thought they were all delusional and had issues; having your fellow patients, the people you wanted to help and get help from jumping to the same conclusions would only complicate things.

"Ben," Obi-Wan echoed thoughtfully. Actually, it wasn't such a strange name where he came from, either, but maybe that was just another aspect of Republic and Earthian culture mixing again.

"Perhaps that's best then," he added finally. "I'm not sure if I intend to completely bury my true identity away, but you raised a valid point about the wisdom behind giving my full name out so freely." He gave the young man a polite smile. "I appreciate the input, Clark."

A part of him was aware that it was possible Clark didn't 100 percent believe who he was. Obi-Wan admitted he'd probably be skeptical too if he started stumbling across well-known historical figures in a prison. He'd been asked to show proof of his identity a few times since his arrival, which Obi-Wan didn't really blame people for, given the circumstances.

But in the end, they were all just prisoners trying to find a way out of this place. Whether people believed he was truly Obi-Wan was irrelevant in the end, although he supposed it could damage his credibility if people thought he was as insane as the doctors said.

What a nuisance.

Clark smiled, glad he could help. "You're welcome."

The whole secret identity thing went a lot easier than he'd thought - for a guy who had to, for now at least, give up his real name (it was real enough to him), and take on another, Ben was taking this rather well. As a patient, Ben not only seemed sane and reasonable, Star Wars stuff aside, but he also somehow felt calm and in control to Clark just judging from his first impression. Clark felt somehow that he could just trust him.

He supposed if Ben really was delusional, there were worse role models than Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He felt he trusted Ben enough to ask him a question. Taking a gamble, Clark pulled out the list of names he's stolen from Dr. Burroughs's office, holding it up to Ben. "By the way, do you recognize any of these names? I figured it can't hurt to ask..."

Well, with that settled, it looked like Clark was willing to show him what was apparently troubling him from before. As soon as the young man presented the list of names to him, Obi-Wan leaned forward to get a better look. He paused for a moment, thinking to himself, but they didn't seem familiar to him at all.

"I'm afraid I don't," he replied. "I can keep them in mind and stay on the look-out for any clues, though." He had a photographic memory, so that wouldn't be a problem.

"Where did you get this list, by the way?" Obi-Wan asked, his voice falling a little quieter to reduce their chances of being overheard. "Was it in one of the files here?"

Clark couldn't help a guilty flush when Ben asked just where he'd gotten the list. He wasn't exactly proud of what he did. The smart thing to do was to lie - again - and tell Ben that it'd been given to him or he'd just found it. But he was sick of lying and instead, he said: "It's from Dr. Burroughs's office. I, um, I went looking for a different file last night there and I found this."

He held up the list for emphasis, glancing down at it quickly and feeling his cheeks burn. Not lying for once left him feeling free. Guilty, but still as if he wasn't shouldering all those lies on lies, the big and the small.

"I think these people might've been patients before us," Clark said. "They've all died mysterious deaths in an asylum, but this list doesn't say if that was here. But I figured this list is here for a reason, and I think Dr. Burroughs might be investigating this or something."

Obi-Wan certainly didn't think any less of Clark for snooping around in the doctor's office. After all, if they wanted to find a way out of this prison, they would need all the information they could get. Any material relating to Landel's was relevant and worth trying to look into, as far as he was concerned.

The young man seemed embarrassed by it, but Obi-Wan made sure to keep his expression open and calm in an effort to give off the impression that he wasn't judging him for what he'd done.

"If these people were patients before us, it could give us some insight on what Martin Landel's ultimate goals are," the Jedi said thoughtfully. The fact they'd all died somehow wasn't exactly comforting, but at least it was better than being left in the dark. "I highly doubt it's a coincidence they were all in an asylum at some point."

He folded his arms and leaned back in his seat with furrowed eyebrows. "I will definitely keep an eye out for any names like those. I think you might be onto something, Clark."

Clark nodded. Ben had a good point. Even if he hadn't essentially backed him up on this, just the calm way he carried himself made Clark feel better and more confident. It was still wrong to be breaking and entering (although technically this time he hadn't done that, had he?), not to mention stealing, but maybe if he could help the others and try to find out more about the other patients before this group, it'd be for the better.

"Thanks. Hopefully we can find out if Dr. Burroughs might be on our side," Clark said. He'd liked the doctor from what he'd seen of her in that therapy shift, even if it'd been with a lot of awkward questions, and he hoped there was an ally there.

The intercom sounded then to signal the shift change. Oddly enough, it was a woman this time and not the Head Doctor. Puzzled by this, Clark stood up and closed his journal, carefully keeping the list of names snug between the pages before he glanced back at Ben.

"It was nice meeting you," he said, and just barely managed not to stumble too much over his new alias, "Ben."

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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