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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"Kinmoku?" Usagi never heard of that place before, or the names Seiya mentioned If only Ami was here, she'd be better at sorting all of this out.

"Of course I... I know about Sailor Moon!" she started, but Usagi closed her mouth before giving away anything else, her cheeks puffed out with annoyance. Was it okay to admit her identity? It did seem like Seiya already knew, but Ami told her to be careful.

"I think I know what's going on here," she began again, clasping her hands together in her lap. "Um, this place we're in, it takes people from all different worlds and holds us prisoner." She gripped the fabric of her pants, hoping that Seiya would believe the next part. "They also take people from different points in time... or different versions of the same world."

Seiya let out a little huff of relief. Okay, she still remembered Sailor Moon, and that awkward blurt followed by covering her mouth, making sure there was no way anyone could miss her suspicious attitude, was completely Usagi.

"Okay. Thanks." Seiya tried a slightly less awkward, more friendly smile, although she was trying to process what Usagi was saying. Different points in time? Different versions of the same world? That didn't sound very much like Galaxia. Then again, nothing else here seemed to be like her, either. Seiya glanced around a little more. We don't have the spare time to deal with something like this.

"So... different timelines?" No point in yelling at Usagi, especially an Usagi she'd never met, for something that wasn't her fault. "What's the last thing you remember? You know about Sailor Moon. Do you know about Galaxia? Or the Sailor Starlights?" It felt like an interrogation. Seiya tried her best to look friendly, hopeful, and entirely non-hostile. Just two friends, separated by time and dimension, trying to get to know each other.

It doesn't mean anything if I can't apologize to an Odango who has no idea who I am. Or was.

Usagi let out her own sigh of relief when Seiya seemed to believe her statements. The other girl's expression still seemed a little uncomfortable, so the blonde sat up straight, ready and willing to answer any questions as best she could.

"Everything was peaceful before I got here... Sailor Moon and everyone defeated Nehelennia," Usagi tilted her head as she mentioned her old enemy's name, wondering if it meant anything to the other girl. The names Seiya were listing still meant nothing to her. "Sailor Starlights? Are those new senshi?"

At least Usagi was as friendly as ever. "I don't know anything about a Nehelennia." Seiya relaxed a little as Usagi seemed to. Whatever weirdness was going on here, there had to be a solution. She'd assume for now that Taiki and Yaten had noticed her missing, and were trying to find their way here. So it was her duty on this side to try and find an exit on her own; eventually, she'd get out. In time? If time was being warped, maybe that gave her some leeway.

Or maybe it just meant she was trapped worse than she'd considered. Seiya let out a small sigh. "Well, I wouldn't call them 'new,' but they were, ah, visiting." No memory of Galaxia, meaning either Galaxia hadn't gotten to her world yet, or maybe it was a timeline where Galaxia didn't exist. And wouldn't that be nice! "They were helping Sailor Moon fight Galaxia." Well, no. That was true in the sense that both sides had cooperated sometimes, but on the whole, her fellow Starlights had seemed increasingly keen on leaving Sailor Moon to Galaxia's mercies for their own convenience. Even if it had been another dimension, she'd lied enough already. "Well, they had Galaxia as a common enemy. Sailor Moon and Sailor StarFighter wanted to get along, I think, but the others didn't."

Talking like this was a little awkward, and probably far too obvious, but she glanced around again just to be sure nobody was listening in closely. "So what is this place? Why are people being dragged here? The nurse said something about 'getting better,' but I don't exactly remember being sick."

Usagi listened intently as Seiya explained the situation in her world, but her blood ran cold upon hearing about the new enemy. After finding out what was going on in Ami's world she had already sort of been expecting the peace back home to be disrupted, and now Seiya was confirming it again, if she could be trusted... Usagi still didn't know much about the other girl even though she seemed to know the blonde very well. At least she was quick enough to guess that Seiya must be this Sailor StarFighter. Usagi wanted to know more, but it was only fair that she answered the questions first.

"It's called Landel's-- Dr. Landel is the one in charge," she explained, the cheerfulness in her voice was completely gone. "During the day it looks like a regular mental hospital, but at night there are monsters that roam around. A lot of the people here have powers, but they don't work so well here... and no one knows why we've been taken." Usagi let out a sigh and stared at her hands. "Also, sometimes people disappear... but I don't think it's because they escaped. No one's been able to escape."

That was a lot to swallow, but it didn't sound so different from some other enemies they'd faced, back on Kinmoku. Kidnappings, illusions, disappearances, monsters... but this wasn't Kinmoku, and that sort of enemy had gone away with the planet itself. And this place seemed more complicated than that. Why herself and Usagi? If other people here had powers too, what did that mean? Other people hadn't made it out, and some of the people here had disappeared. That just meant it was more important that Seiya do her best to find a way out.

"I couldn't find something important when I woke up. Could you?" She couldn't transform, meaning that monsters were a bit much to expect for her to fight. Still, if she could find a weapon, at least she was an athlete. As expected, Usagi was stronger than she seemed, to have stayed alive in a place like this. It'd explain the number of bandaged people, if this were supposed to be a mental hospital and not an actual hospital. That would also explain her nurse's very odd behavior. Then, uncomfortably, "Is anyone else we... you know here?"

Usagi shook her head to Seiya's first question, but kept the complicated answer quiet. Some of the crystal's power still resided inside her, at least enough to heal her when she was at near death, but only Ami knew about that. Usagi wasn't comfortable lying, but enemies knowing of her crystal's existence caused enough trouble in her own world.

"Yes!" Usagi answered. "Do you know Ami? Or... um, Kunzite?"

"I see..." She didn't have it? That was bad, but it could have been worse--they were both still here and in relatively good health, so at least whoever had taken them didn't really know what they'd taken. Or whoever it was had just decided to take some time to enjoy playing with them. It might explain the occasional disappearances. Seiya winced at the thought. But Usagi's answer to the other question snapped her out of it again. "I know Ami-san, but I've never heard of a Kunzite before." There was one other question that might help, but Seiya wasn't sure if she was asking for the sake of understanding the situation better, or for her own curiosity. "I'm sorry for asking, but... your boyfriend... when did you last see him? Is he here?"

That'd be an unexpectedly good excuse for vanishing from a relationship, wouldn't it? 'Sorry, I couldn't return your letters, I was trapped in another dimension.' It'd be nice, in a way, if things were that simple. But the boyfriend's name was 'Mamo-chan,' that didn't exactly sound a lot like 'Kunzite.'

Usagi noticed Seiya's wince, but there wasn't much they could do about their power situation. If she caught Ami some time today she could ask her about maybe lending the new girl one of the extra bats they'd gathered the other night... if Ami thought she was trustworthy.

It was good that Seiya knew Ami, or at least it seemed good. Not knowing Kunzite might be a problem-- he'd been very helpful so far, but Usagi felt obligated to explain the situation with him. But before she could open her mouth...

"Mamo-chan? You know him too?" she exclaimed, wondering if Seiya had seen him recently. Of course the Mamoru from where she came from might not exactly be Usagi's Mamo-chan, but still... "No, he's not here-- I haven't seen him since I got here."

Did she know him?

"No... just from what you told me. Or a version of you, at least. I've seen pictures of you two together, and all, but he was out of town when I met you." Usagi said she hadn't seen him since she'd gotten here, so while he wasn't here, he also hadn't disappeared in her world, for whatever reason.

"So I don't guess you remember the band the Three Lights at all?" Seiya took a deep exaggerated sigh, then leaned back, rubbing a hand through her bangs, before commenting with fake sadness, "You know, Odango, it's kind of a blow to the ego, to find out a girl never remembers even meeting someone cool like me! That's hard to adjust to."

"Oh." Usagi slouched in her seat. Out of town? They did talk about what he was going to do for university, and that meant going away...

"I'm really sorry!" she replied earnestly. Usagi liked keeping track of pop idols, but with the Dead Moon battles she'd had too much on her mind to be concentrating on stuff like that.

"Why don't you sing me one of their songs?" she asked, genuinely curious about the band. It'd been over a week since she'd heard good music!

"Well, it's not your fault, so as long as you haven't forgotten me again next time we meet." Seiya grinned and winked. Easy-going and casual, like nothing weird is happening at all... "Since your boyfriend isn't here to watch out for you, I'll keep an eye on you, okay, Odango? For his sake."

As well as she could, without any powers, and in a place like this. But she was still athletic, and unless this other Usagi was very different, more skilled than Sailor Moon had been at hand-to-hand style fighting.

"A song? Since it's a special request, all right." A deep breath. Nothing 'special,' to get attention in this crowd, if she could even do that sort of thing without her star brooch. Nothing too loud, either. She could still carry a tune, at least. "... You are always shining, your smile is like a small star... it's precious to me."

"Who said I need protecting?" Usagi teased back, but in her mind she could imagine the situation with Ami happening all over again. Just because she wasn't able to transform into Sailor Moon didn't mean she couldn't handle herself! Seiya also kept bringing up Mamoru, but if the girl didn't really know him besides what other-Usagi has told her, then it probably didn't mean anything, just teasing.

The blonde remained quiet as Seiya sang, closing her eyes to enjoy the tune. "How pretty!" she smiled, eyes still closed as she tried to imagine what a concert would be like.

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Day 32: Sun Room (2nd shift)

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