damned_institute | Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

It was rare that Homura's nurse try to persuade him to a scheduled activity, but then, it was rare that Homura didn't go. But the demi-god had plans, and the poor woman had little other choice but to leave in a huff as he once again settled himself near the bulletin board in the Sun Room.

His conversation with Kenren the previous shift had left the demi-god with a lingering sense of anxiety. Perhaps it was something only those from his own world could do, but none the less, he was all the more ready for night to begin now. Goals and memories, the truth of his past and the possibility of the future: all thoughts lingering on the forefront of his mind, more than enough motivation to move forward.

Impatience was something of a rush for an immortal, he'd discovered. Homura liked the feeling, the excitement even before he had arrived in this prison. And now while he waited, he savored it again, a yearning that shone so much brighter than the boredom of Heaven.

[Waiting for History Club Q&A time.]

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"I don't know, it just does this thing... something magic, and that lets people from different places be able to speak to each other." If he knew what it was the manjuu did, he would have been able to explain it a lot better. "Like right now. I can understand you, but you're probably not speaking the language I hear." That was still weird sometimes, even just thinking about it. How did he sound to others then?

He sighed, "Anyway, that's why it has to be here. We've gotten separated from it before, and when that happened, we couldn't understand each other. Just jibberish." Fai had been the worst. "But that's not happening here."

"If they do have it, and that's what's causing the translation spell, then it must be well-guarded. Wherever the Head Doctor is, that'd be where you'd find something that important, I think." It made the most sense--if a critical part of the functioning of this place depended on one particular creature, then that creature would be kept well away from anywhere the patients could get.

"All right. So where is he?" It made as much sense as anything. To find the problem, head for the source.

"No one knows. He shows up when he wants to, and always with strong shields, from what I've heard. Most of the time, he's just a voice on the intercom." Subaru sighed, sinking deeper into his chair. "But I've never even seen him, I just have stories to go on as far as that goes. We don't know the full extent of this facility, either. Until it was announced, no one had any idea there was a basement."

So he'd been seen. If he was confident enough to walk around with so many "patients" here who'd rather strangle him than watch him pass by, then he must have had some kind of power. "Do you know if it's always been like this here, or if this place used to be normal and then ended up changing?" Asking was all he could do really, even though he knew Subaru had only been there for a grand total of 6 days. He'd still been there, and had likely learned a lot more than Kurogane had managed while having to deal with Fai.

"And so far as you know, the basement remains unexplored." He clarified first, then sighed once again. "That's the best bet for where this could be based on what you've said." The basement was still an option for exploration. If not this Head Doctor's hiding place, then maybe the Manjuu's. Or hell, maybe even Syaoran was down there. He wouldn't know until he took a look.

"Maybe. But I doubt he'd have invited the patients so eagerly into the basement, if he was really hiding there. I think... probably up, not down. But that's just a gut feeling." Something about hiding at the top of the mountain, so to speak, seemed to suit the Doctor more than hiding in the basement.

He'd considered that as well, but unless there was some confirmation of a floor above the second... "Is there another level above the second floor?"

"The last time we were allowed outside the building compound, I was pretty distracted running from bird creatures, but it looked like it from the outside, anyway. I can't say for certain, since it was dark, but that was my impression." Subaru hated not knowing more, he truly did. He was used to being the one in control, the one who understood and could do something.

"Bird creatures?" What, there were things outside too? He could deal with that later. "Whatever. He's either up or down, but we know for sure that he is somewhere no one's been."

The basement would be easier for now. He knew where the entrance was, sort of, and going down there might prove some other things as well. Or it might not. There were never any guarantees in these strange worlds.

"Yes. There was a supervised trip to town, the day after I arrived here. I slept through most of it, but woke just in time for the buses to arrive back at the Institute, and for night to fall while we were all still trapped in them." That had been an amazingly bad night, for Subaru. He could honestly think of only two nights that had been worse, in his short but decidedly unpleasant life thus far.

He'd watch out for those birds then. Of course, he had to know something else first since ti was important. "What's a bus?"

Oops. Subaru always forgot that there were many people here who were not familiar with modern technology. Even to him, some of the things here were a bit advanced, like the small music players in the music room. "A bus is a large machine that can be used to get many people from one place to another. Only along roads, though, it's not magical."

"You mean like a car?" If it was, then he'd probably seen a bus before, but just hadn't realized that's what it was called. "I got to drive one of those once. Lot better than a horse, that's for sure." Cars didn't try to buck you off if they didn't like you.

"Yes, exactly, except a bus is much bigger than a car. Longer." Subaru gestured with his hands, demonstrating the basic scale of a car vs a bus. "So a bus can carry many more people than a car. It took three buses to move all the patients to town, that day. I suppose there's more people now, though..."

Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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