damned_institute | Day 34: Breakfast

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lia took another sip of juice, not quite suppressing her faint wince as it hit a still-tender patch on her inner lip. "Is it supposed to be safe?" she asked. It had the aspect of a wry quip that fell somewhat short; she hadn't the energy to be properly witty at the moment. Which aggravated her and left her feeling a little defensive, though there was nothing in specific to feel defensive over.

"I'm surprised so many people have made it this far still..." she paused, taking stock of the visibly injured peppering the room. It took a few seconds of mental footwork to replace the intended 'healthy' with something more appropriate. "Still intact."

Hospitals were supposed to be sanctums for people who were trying to recover from ailments. In his waking life, Ha--Ryou would visit one very frequently in order to check up one of his dear friends. The hospital he knew was a place which always had an air of calm sadness about it, and he never felt so uneasy around the nurses there. "Yeah, it's supposed to be safe." At the very least, hospitals weren't supposed to be causing or allowing a large portion of the injuries that they treated. "When I think of hospitals I don't exactly think of places infested with monsters. Or using 'intact' to describe people there."

However, he was well aware of the abnomality and irrationality that this hospital contained. Avoiding another discussion about timelines and worlds was high on the list of priorities.

Even did she survive the Institute, Lia would die long before such abominations as Briarwood became aught but nightmare, or perhaps twisted dreams in the minds of the most depraved. She therefore had no argument with the boy's declaration. Ducking her head to hide a flicker of humor at the missed point, she remarked quietly, "No place of healing I've ever encountered would kidnap their patients, let alone subject them to such obscene games as go on here. It seems many of the rules that should apply have been quite thoroughly cast aside."

She picked up her fork and took an experimental bite of pancake. When her stomach continued to co-operate rather than rebelling and knotting once more, she set to more earnestly. Though her powers had fled, her metabolism remained stubbornly problematic.

"Yeah." Though Haseo could agree with everything that the girl had said, he paused before continuing. No one he'd met in this hospital had ever talked as properly as she did, It was kind of weird and intimidating--like a teacher or some important figure.

"Are they at least taking care of you like a real hospital?" It was an honest question. He'd only been burned a little bit, and all he'd needed for that was a little ice and bandages, nothing extensive like she seemed to need. None of the people he had talked to up until now had been hurt really badly either.

"I don't know," Lia admitted, looking a touch bemusedly down at her arm. "I suppose they're doing as well as they can, given they appear to have no proper Healers present. I've never been inside a hospital before this, so I'm not entirely sure of their normal procedures." She paused to take another sip of juice.

Her gaze raised to study him, and she smiled in a reassuring manner, kind if not precisely open enough to be friendly. "I've been injured worse than this," she said, fingers of her beslinged hand wiggling in demonstration. "But I believe they thought I would injure the shoulder more if I was simply allowed to move about as I wish. It...well, it might be a true assumption, actually."

The news of not having proper healers evoked a seldom-seen alarmed expression out of Haseo. "You mean they aren't even doctors? Tch." Unfortunately he couldn't share in her optimism, if it really was optimism, and he looked from her shoulder down to his own still-bandaged arm. If there were no real doctors present then anyone who got injured badly was screwed -- That was not something he wanted to hear.

Still. This girl claimed to have been worse-off at one point and she seemed okay. "You know, if they really didn't want you injuring yourself by moving around they would've told you to stay in bed and brought your food to you."

"Oh, I think they have doctors," Lia assured quickly, sounding a little chagrined at the miscommunication. "Just...not ones as efficient as those I'm used to at home, I suppose. This would only be a trifling injury there." It wasn't entirely true, but was a simpler explanation than one involving the nature of medical practices in the Realm she was accustomed to.

"I'm not hurt badly enough to be completely immobile," she insisted, a little more tartly than she had intended. Being injured at all, and thus more helpless than she had already been, sat uneasily in her mind. "But it's hard to train myself not to reach or pick things up when it will only be a temporary thing. The sling reminds me, and keeps me from hurting myself absent-mindedly."

It was obvious there were doctors around the facility and everything, but questioning the experience of the staff and their worthiness of earning that title was more of what Haseo was getting at. He crossed his arms. "Uh-huh." At least they could agree that the staff weren't particularly good at faking the whole doctor thing.

Delving further into the matter of her injuries probably wouldn't do any good since she didn't seem too concerned about them or the doctors. Strangers only had so much of a right to be asking questions about the personal well-being of others anyway. That was right, He never did give his name did he? "..Oh. I'm Haseo." Whenever he was playing as "Haseo", the name would appear to the other player automatically, making introductions a frivolous formality. Here, though, they didn't know his name unless he gave it. It was hard to remember to introduce himself like normal people.

It was a habit she'd learned early on in her life, playing down the extent of injury or illness to avoid giving too much evidence of weakness, especially when in the presence of unfamiliar males. That there were those who'd kept her company who had referred to it in terms of sheer stubborn stupidity was beside the point. Lia smiled, inclining her head graciously, and offered her own introduction. "Arabella Ardelia. Call me Lia if you'd like." Certainly it was less a mouthful than her true name.

Day 34: Breakfast

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject