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.

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Haku took back his hand and sighed softly. "If the pattern remains the same, it should be," he said. He turned and a worried expression crossed his face. "That would mean that today is the day everyone bathes together. Have you had time to remove the writing on your body?"

He remembered that the last time they had showered, Artemis had been terribly embarrassed as well as covered in some sort of writing.

The color drained from Artemis' face.

"Showers... today?" His voice was barely audible over the din of conversations being held in the cafeteria. If the showers were indeed today, he would have yet another serious problem. Being stark naked, the only thing that would be visible and out of the ordinary would be the scar that Caleb had left him with. The upside-down cross burned into his neck. His fingers found the mark, uneasy. He still wasn't ready to tell anyone about it, and questions might be asked. What then?

"I..." He looked back at Haku. "That is... yes, I had the writing removed. It should be gone now but... that wasn't the issue."

Haku smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. "I know that. You told me you didn't have communal bathing where you're from. Still, you've done this before. It won't be so bad." Lifting a shoulder, he kept smiling.

"And I'll be around in case anyone starts to bother you too much."

Artemis marveled at how easily Haku could brush off stripping one's clothing off in a public setting.

"I don't know if it will be any easier, though," Artemis said with a sigh. "But I can at least rest easy knowing that none of my larger adversaries will be present. They tend to fall within the 'adult' category, strangely enough." The youth chuckled darkly to himself. It wasn't strange at all. Nearly all of his enemies were adults, really. It must have been the intelligence factor. It was so difficult, being so brilliant.

Haku chuckled again and shookhis head."Oh yes," he teased. "Us children are rather weak and helpless when it comes to the Great Artemis Fowl the Second." He reached over and lightly tagges his friend on the side. "Don't dismiss the kids just because they're not your usual enemy. Besides, Many of the children here are much older than they seem."

"Oh of course. I would be a terrible hypocrite if I wrote off anyone under the age of eighteen as non-threatening. No, it just so happens that many of my enemies tend to be over that age. Unless you are planning on assaulting me whilst I shower?" He laughed lightly.

"And the case isn't that you are weak or helpless... just helpless to my intellect," he said with his characteristic smirk.

Day 34: Breakfast

Re: And now at breakfast

Re: And now at breakfast

Re: And now at breakfast

Re: And now at breakfast

Re: And now at breakfast

Re: And now at breakfast