damned_institute | Day 34: Breakfast

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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.

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It took every shred of Sync's willpower not to jump across the table and snap the newcomer's neck, biting his tongue as discreetly as he could when he felt a heated retort claw up his throat.

Right, he'd been given a blank slate. Not like he was going to use it for righteous reasons, but he knew he would've been an idiot if he didn't use this to advantage for at least a little while. So instead of following his instinct the God-General sighed in an attempt to calm himself, picking up his fork and began the tedious process of cutting up his pancakes. After all, he was still hungry, and he wasn't going to let this ruin his appetite.

"It's not that," Sync pointed out. "I've just got a lot on my mind, that's all."

He glanced up from his plate and over to the latter.

"Anyway, who are you?"

Oh my, he seemed a bit tightly wound. Xelloss smiled wider, and swallowed his bite of breakfast politely, wiping his mouth before answering. "This place does lead to a lot of deep thinking, doesn't it?" He offered Sync a sympathetic nod. "My name is Xelloss, a mysterious priest. And who are you?"

True, it was rude to ask someone else's name when you hadn't even introduced yourself, but Xelloss was willing to let the lapse in manners slide. After all, he hadn't chosen his morning dining companion for his obvious friendly outlook. If the man was offended by the return question's echoed bluntness, well, there wasn't much Xelloss could do about that.

And the pancakes were delicious.

"A mysterious priest," Sync repeated, not sounding convinced, but he went along with it anyway with a slight shrug. He didn't really care how someone introduced themselves as long as they proved to be useful in the end.

Sync was half tempted to use his replica's name when he was asked for his own. After all, it wasn't like anyone would find out any time soon seeing as that he hadn't seen the Fon Master's name get tossed around in the boards. Yet there was something about the thought of using the latter's identity that reminded Sync of being encased in mud, slime and grime. Even when he had done it to hurt those around him the action certainly had its setbacks.

"It's Sync. There's nothing mysterious about me though," He finally answered once he swallowed the piece of pancake he'd been toying with. "Have you been here long?"

"Yes, a mysterious priest!" Xelloss liked it when people repeated that part of his name with vague disbelief; after all, it wasn't as though he said it in order to not sound suspicious or odd. Then again, everyone here was suspicious, so he couldn't expect to be too unusual. Being perceived as pretentious was just as entertaining, in the long run.

"There's nothing mysterious about you at all? That must be lonely, in a place like this. I'm sure you have to have some sort of mystery or secret!" Xelloss argued cheerfully, between cutting pancakes. "After all, most people here do, don't they? I've been here several days, myself. Actually, thinking about it, it's a little depressing, but at least I've had the opportunity to meet a wide variety of interesting people." Back to the pancakes again, chewing and swallowing before adding, "I'm probably not the most mysterious person here, but it is my occupation, so I try to live up to it."

For a guy who was so mysterious he was rather chatty, a trait that reminded Sync vaguely of Dist before it was immediately snuffed out of his mind with an inward scowl. Still, Xellos didn't exactly give him a reason not to listen to his rambling, so the God-General followed the latter's words while he tried to polish off as much of his breakfast as he could.

"How can being mysterious be part of your occupation?" Of course he had to ask the obvious question, but he could always inquire about how long 'several days' meant later on.

"I always thought it was just a trait, not a requirement."

"Hmm." Xelloss put a finger to his chin, considering before his answer. "That... is a secret! But since I've told you what I do, how about you? It's always nice to meet someone new."

An opening like that couldn't be ignored; besides, it was always best to be the most mysterious about the least important things. "And if you can't tell me what you do, or who you are, maybe you can tell me how long you've been here too? That seems to be part of the standard set of questions. Just in my experience, of course!"

The pancakes were quickly disappearing, despite the conversation, and Xelloss managed to keep up his manners fairly well. After all, first impressions were important.

It was kind of funny how the patrons of a supposed mental institute would have a standard set of questions when it came to introducing themselves to other people. Not like Sync was really complaining; it was more efficient this way to get through the basics, which meant that it didn't have to feel like he was dragging a stick through mud to get his answers.

"There's nothing really special about me," Sync pointed out again. "I was just a soldier back in my world, so it's not like it really mattered if you kept secrets from others since they'd probably end up dead anyway."

It was a pretty pessimistic view, but the God-General wasn’t one for optimism.

"I've only been here for a few days, but I've read the boards. Apparently you can hop over the walls now?" Not like Sync ever tried beforehand, but it certainly made things easier now that it was confirmed.

"I suppose that's true. Dead people are usually fairly good at keeping secrets." Xelloss's tone wasn't precisely firm as he agreed with that; he could certainly think of situations where they might not be. But in general...

"I haven't tried hopping over the walls yet! That sounds exciting, though. I saw some people had tried too." He thought the way he'd spent his previous night, recontacting Hellmaster and then testing Peter's abilities for potential usefulness, was much more helpful than running around in some new maze that had been designed for them. It seemed like just yesterday everyone was talking about the basement. Neither really interested Xelloss yet.

Still, he asked curiously, "Are you going to try jumping the fence at night, then? Maybe something interesting is waiting outside of the walls. Other than monsters, of course."

Surprisingly enough, Sync was keeping up with the latter's pace as he ate his pancakes, and by the time it was his turn to speak again they were almost gone from his plate.

"I don't know. If people have only just recently been able to cross then I'd rather them have at it instead of getting caught in the stampede." Of course, nothing was without its risks, but Sync would rather not deal with other people getting in his way. If that meant risking his life then it only made it all the more better. It wasn't like it meant much to him anyway so going out with a bang was always the best.

"I mean, I haven't even seen any of the monsters that everyone's been talking about."

"Yes, that's true. People here do seem to be very easily led by new information from the radios." Even if those things didn't exist in his own world, there were certainly methods of long-distance audio broadcasting, and the proper language for the equivalent here wasn't hard to pick up. "And the Doctor's suggestions too, I think. Whenever something new comes up, the next day people are talking about it or asking about it on the boards. For several days, if you looked over the groups' postings, it seemed as though half the building would be trying to head for the basement each night." Xelloss let out a long-suffering sigh at that, leaning back in his chair a bit to look around.

"The monsters are definitely real, though. Little ones like animals, and stronger ones that it's best to just sidestep if you can. That's not even counting the patients." Whether Xelloss meant the patients brainwashed some nights to attack their co-captives, or just the patients in general, he didn't explain. Instead, he added as though an afterthought, "I don't suppose you know any magic?"

"And now they've got something new to go crazy about." Typical, but he guessed that some people were desperate enough to chase after anything. Honestly, he'd only been here for two days and he was already sick of everything about this place.

Sync merely nodded at Xelloss's next words. It wasn't like he ever doubted that there weren't, but he hadn't come across any since the day he arrived. Some would find that a blessing, but it made him more irritable than anything. How would he able to find out how he fared against them if he couldn't even find any?

The God-General merely quirked an eyebrow at the latter's next question.

"Magic? Do you mind elaborating on that?"

"Elaborating? Let's see. Calling upon a supernatural force, that is, a force which is not human in origin? Usually it requires a set of key words and gestures, sometimes preparation time as well, although it may not depending on the skill of the user and the type of magic. Oh! And of course for some individuals, their existence might be considered magical in some form."

Xelloss poked at his empty plate with his fork, a little forlornly. Those pancakes had been good. "Actually, the question seems more difficult here than it would be in my world. For some people, the answer is immediately 'no,' and that's easy. Dividing what sort of unusual abilities are and aren't magical is a little more arcane, maybe..."

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Day 34: Breakfast

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