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

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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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Winry made notes of all of the rooms (nearly too many to keep track of) that they passed by on the way to the sun room, and surveyed the other patients' appearances. So this was supposed to be a mental hospital? A few patients looked injured as well, bandaged and... some of them appeared very strange. That unnerved her deeply. She remembered overlooking notes from military records; encrypted details of chimeras and other human experiments. She had to get out of here.

There was a bulletin. She could write there, although the notes that the patients wrote eachother were almost certainly monitored. She couldn't imagine them being there for any other reason than to let the staff keep an eye on their shennanigans. And she probably couldn't just drop names, lest she leave more individuals to be hunted down and identity-robbed.

Maybe there was somebody she knew here. There were some helpful soldiers out there. She could explain the trouble she was in.

A heavy realization hit her. Ed had, by all records, simply 'disappeared', and the government claimed not to know anything about it. But Ed was a deserter; she hated to think of what might have happened to him if he were to return... if he was caught... Ed could be held prisoner. She'd thought of it before, but never supposed he would ever let himself get caught. Damn it all, then how was she supposed to find him? They wouldn't put him in the same facility with all of these other captives, least of all one he could plan and collaborate with. She really needed to think. She found a seat on the couch and tried not to look worried. The more she could act friendly, the less they would suspect.

Kagura was glad that she'd been able to speak with Bridget and was feeling at least a little bit better, so she decided to try talking with some new people. After meeting with Tamaki, she was a little worried about talking with other males, especially with how her curse seemed to turn itself on and off. It was too much to worry about, so she picked the closest girl and hoped she wasn't as crazy as some of the other females here.

"Ah... h-hello," she said shyly. "Are... you new?"

Winry was more than a little disconcerted to be approached by another uniformed captive who appeared to be no more than a shy, average looking girl. What could they possibly want with such an innocuous person? She was well aware that she appeared fairly average and innocuous herself, but she still was skeptical of the idea that there could be that many normal-looking teenage girls with a history of spying on the military (if brief), knowledge of some highly classified information, and close ties to AWOL state alchemists.

"Is it obvious?" She asked, smiling sheepishly. She really didn't like the idea of being green around here, especially if it showed so clearly. It implied trying times to come, but more importantly, it implied a long stay that she would 'have' to get used to, after all, so many people already had.

She could figure some way out. She needed to. Other people were counting on her.

"A-ah, n-no, I didn't mean to be rude..." Kagura replied, looking a little flustered. She still stood, as if not quite sure if it was alright to sit or not. "There aren't... as many girls here and... and I hadn't seen you before."

She fidgeted slightly, hands clasped in front of her. "And... and your hair is a really pretty color. It's... it's very nice." Granted, here there were plenty of strange colors of hair, but she'd always felt hers was fairly plain, especially when she considered the rest of the zodiacs. The different colors were fairly pretty.

"It's okay, I wasn't offended," she said, trying to assure the girl who looked pretty clearly insecure, "That makes sense that there wouldn't be very many girls around here." She had to wonder what the girl might have done to merit her being held here. She'd skimmed over the bulletin briefly,(surprised by how blatant the notes were; didn't they fear getting caught plotting by the staff? Or was the staff just so complacent that they didn't care?) and her fears about the place had been confirmed; a prison and laboratory facility where heinous human experiments were conducted. In what she'd researched, military labs were a secret affair and they used prisoners and war criminals as experimental subjects. This awkward girl looked like neither. She didn't even appear capable of hitting somebody, let alone commit any sort of federal offense. She felt a seed of righteous anger. She couldn't just let this sort of thing go on.

Her serious thoughts were assuaged when the girl complimented her hair. She relaxed a bit, breathing out and smiling more comfortably,

"Thank you," She said, patting her hair and feeling a bit self conscious of its unbrushed state, "Yours is lovely too." She scooted to the side, patting the couch cushion.

"My name is Winry."

Kagura relaxed a little when she saw how friendly the new girl was. She was happy to sit and even gave the young woman a tiny smile.

"Oh- ah, I'm Sohma Kagura. But please, just call me Kagura. It's nice to meet you, though... I'm sorry its under such unfortunate circumstances. Has anyone... told you much about this place?"

"Nice to meet you, Kagura," She nodded.

"I just woke up here a little bit ago. I checked some of what's on the board, and it more or less confirmed my assumptions," She looked around nervously, still unsure of whether or not she was being listened to closely. Pretending to be a mental hospital seemed a fairly strong cover for a secret prison, as few people besides government-sanctioned inspectors were ever compelled to take strong interest in their insides. There was some strange business about 'different worlds', but that would have to be dealt with later, "I've heard about places like this, and the fact that I know so much is probably why I'm here. Either that or... somebody I know might be-" She hesitated, but brushed it off. She couldn't worry about Edward right now, "Do you have any idea why they might have taken you?"

"You have?" Kagura replied, a little bit surprised to hear that someone had actually heard about a place as terrible as this. Maybe she was from the world here. Or maybe her world was just as terrible? Either way it didn't sound good.

"Me?" Kagura added, looking slightly worried and hopefully not as guilty as she felt. She had her own reasons to think they might be holding her here, but she couldn't very well talk about them! "I... don't really know. I was supposed to meet my boyfriend, Kyo-kun for a date and I woke up here instead! And... and I don't even really know where here is. Its so... frustrating. I can't really think of any reason... I'm not that interesting... or I don't think I am..."

Winry nodded, gently smiling. She didn't want to freak this girl out; she seemed worried as it was. Besides that, she wasn't quite ready to divulge her semi-criminal methods of obtaining this information.

"I'm guessing it's a government facility... a prison and laboratory disguised as a hospital... I just thought those had all been disbanded when parliament took over and cleaned up the corrupt military officials,"

Her heart went to the poor girl. She really did seem like a normal girl hopelessly thrust out of her element.

"Maybe it's a mistake," She assured, not sure if she wanted to bring up the probability of a hostage situation, "Either way, it's not right for them to do this to people, no matter what they've done. Once I figure out a way to escape, I'll be able to contact a friend of mine who's involved in parliament. If this place is brought to the attention of the outside world, there's no way it'd be allowed to continue," At least that was what she wanted to believe. Shezka knew her law books well and would be able to make a strong case, especially if her friend was directly involved. Things were supposed to be changing for the better in this country, and she had to believe it.

"Parliament...?" Kagura asked, with some confusion. She'd heard several stories about where they were, but she didn't know much about the countries outside of Japan. "Sorry... I don't know much about government... kind of stuff. But... I've got a cousin who works here and I can't even get a message to him. I'm not sure how we'd get one to your friend."

She shook her head, "but no, it's not right. I wish I knew what to do. I don't... I don't like seeing my friends get hurt."

Winry had to remember that not everyone had as close of ties to how the country was run as she did, even if her own involvement was reluctant. It didn't matter either way.

"Your cousin? Does he... know that you're being held here? Does he even know what this place is?" Of course, a well kept secret laboratory would manage to hide secrets from most of its employees, "Well, what matters is that we find a way to get out and set things straight." The use of 'we' slipped out naturally. She couldn't let a helpless girl stay in a dangerous place like this, so she would just have to be included in whatever plot Winry had in mind, "Don't worry. I'm pretty good at escape plans."

Kagura looked down at the floor, a look of worry on her face, "I don't know. Javert-san said he had Hatori-san for his doctor. And that he talked with him, but... but he didn't believe that I was really here. I've been posting messages on the bulletin for days, but he doesn't read them. And I found his office at night and left him a note, but I don't know if he got it or not." It was an awful lot to blurt out to a stranger, but it felt good to get some of her worries off of her chest.

"Are you really?" Kagura brightened when Winry mentioned her talent. "Bridget-san and I got outside and... and to the fence, but we didn't get past it. I don't know... exactly what it was, but we weren't able to cross it..."

If it was that hard to communicate with even someone on the premises... it sounded like this was a bigger task at hand than Winry had expected.

"That must be hard," Winry said, setting her hand on Kagura's shoulder. She wasn't the most skilled when it came to emotional comfort, but she could at least try. She knew all too well what it was like to be separated from a loved one and how frustrating it was to be unable to talk to them.

"I'll have to learn more about this place before I can get a solid idea of where to begin. I'm good at picking locks and building things. With the right tools and some help, it should be a piece of cake," She was getting ahead of herself, but it always helped to think positive. Nurses were beginning to guide other patients away, back to their rooms. Winry couldn't remember which one she had come from, "Hey, how can I find you?"

Kagura was a bit surprised when the girl touched her shoulder, but smiled a little sadly up at her. "You're... a nice person Winry-san." She just wished there was something more that she could do for Winry.

"Mm... I'll ask Leon-san about tools. He said he's been looking around for them, so maybe he has a good idea where to start?" she looked thoughtful for a moment before she continued. "My room number is F10. We should be in the same block, all the girls are. If... if you don't have someone to go with you tonight, you can go with Bridget and me, that's where we're meeting. He's really nice and... its scary to go alone."

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Day 32: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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