damned_institute | Day 34: Lunch

His nurse was making her displeasure known and once again, there was an orderly there to back her up. Seemed like his little fit in the bathroom hadn't gone unnoticed after all. He'd gotten some gauze for the cut on his arm, which was now throbbing and only serving to piss him off more, but at least both of the assholes herding him into the cafeteria were keeping their hands to themselves.

It was a start. The tray of soup and milk thrust into his hands was less appealing and the fact that he was now being walked over to a table with a guy he didn't know wasn't helping at all.

"Alan, I want you to behave," the nurse told him sternly. "Now sit here with Mr. Black and eat your lunch. I'll be keeping my eye on you." Takaya flipped her off, but didn't bother to look at her, and the nurse, apparently used to his behavior by now simply walked off, orderly in tow.

Head to one side, Tony couldn't decide to smile or raise his eyebrows at the other young man's attitude toward the nurses. He'd been unhappy with the situation but didn't think to blame the nurses; it wasn't their fault, was it? They were mo more unhelpful and un-understanding than any other adults he'd encountered. Except Father O'Day. Father O'Day was different, a capable adult who listened and wasn't afraid to act.

The smile won, sort of, though a kind of puzzled curiosity remained in his dark eyes. "That's not my name," he said. "I'm Tony." He ate a few more chips.

"Nobody gets their real name here," Takaya ground out. He wasn't angry at this Tony guy, but the daggers he was glaring at the nurse's back made it obvious who he was angry with.

"I'm Takaya," he finally said, turning to frown at the other guy. "You must be new." Great. He was sitting with a new kid.

"Huh?" Tony said, though that kind of made sense. He'd been told the mental institution setting was fake. "Yeah, I'm new. Just a bit ago."

He followed the track of the departing nurse with his eyes. "What did they do to you?"

"You wake up, they give you a false name, then insist on calling you by it. Everyone gets one. Sorry to hear that you're new."

Glaring down at his meal, Takaya fought down the urge to throw it across the room. That would only bring them backdown on him. "What did they do to me today?" He snorted. "Nothing. They'd probably tell you this is one of my good fucking days."

"She called me Freddy, and this one said Mr. Black. Freddy Black? How weird." He shook his head, eating more chips. The salt tasted so good.

"So you're just mad at them in general? Isn't it easier just to go along sometimes?"

"Why the fuck would I want to make their lives easier," Takaya said. "They did a preety damn good job of fucking me over and the worst they can do to me is drug me."

He shrugged and finally pushed his food away. He wasn't hungry. "Not like they haven't done that to me already." He smirked, thinking back on it. "Done it a few times actually," he added, jerking his chin to the orderly that had also 'escorted' him to the table. "That's why I get two assholes following me instead of the one."

"I didn't think it would make their lives easier." Another shake of the head. It was easy to understand why acting out might make you feel better, though going to the level of hurting other people always made Tony feel slightly sick. He hadn't ever gone that route except when he had to, because of protecting Tia.

But Tia wasn't here.

"What did they--" Wait. "Drugs? What kind of drugs?"

Takaya shrugged. "It passes the time between hells.

"Yeah. Drugs. Fuck if I know what theyare or what's in them, but you get drugged if they can't 'talk you down', if they think you're going to hurt someone, hurt yourself, or if you're just being annoying." He pointed out a few nurses. "Those are the ones that usually have the needles on them."

"So does planning and dreaming," Tony said.

"I didn't mean--they make us calm, right?" He'd have to be careful then. He and Tia had never been sick, so he had a certain fear of medical treatment. He didn't know what would happen, even though he wasn't sure why it was scary. Almost impatiently, he dumped the rest of the chips into his soup to soften up and started picking apart the chicken and eating it, leaving bits of gristle and breading strewn on his plate.

"Calm, knock your ass out. Whatever." Takaya shrugged, glancing around the cafeteria again. He hated being in here. Too many faces,too many people... just too much over all.

"Planning and dreamimg... yeah. Enough of that going on around here to fucking choke on. Everyone does it." He waved in the direction of the Sun Room. "There's a board for people that want to hook up and play with that kind of shit. If you're interested, you could look up some of them."

"I'm usually better by myself. People don't trust me." He didn't wish to point out why if Takaya didn't care.

"It's still stupid to waste your energy on something that will only make them lash out at you eventually."

Takaya snorted. "Don't let the staff hear you say that," he said. "They'll make a point to pair you up with people. Usually assholes like me."

He glanced over at Tony, eyes flashing gold in the light coming from the windows before he turned his gaze back to the room at large. "After a while in this shithole, you start looking for ways to get rid of pent up energy." And Takaya had been here a while.

The golden eye-flash caught Tony's attention and he stared a moment, then shook his head. He looked down at the now soggy mass of chips and soup and started poking at it with his spoon.

"It won't bother me. It's the other people..."

He couldn't imagine having pent up energy. There were times he'd been impatient, but so much of his life had been so energy-sapping. "I find that hard to believe," he said.

Takaya frowned, the expression more thoughtful than harsh. "Most of the folk here like talking to others and getting people in a group. If you go it alone just because you think that nobody will like you, you're going to wind up fucked."

He leaned back in his chair, tilting his head up and looked at the ceiling. "It's better to have someone around to watch your back."

"Do you take your own advice?" Tony shot back, then he angrily stirred his soup. "I'll talk to them, but I've found people don't like other anyone who are different. I've been different all my life."

This time, Takaya shot the boy an annoyed glare, eyes flashing and pupils narrowing into slits. "No," he snapped. "People don't much like me." He threw the other boys words right back at him.

"Look who's talking," Tony retorted, sounding more cool than he felt. This boy could be danger if he lost his temper, especially since Tony didn't know which of his own little tricks he could use here.

He wanted his harmonica. At least with it, he'd feel more confident. "I can see why if you act like that all the time. No wonder you taunt the staff for fun."

"Fuck you," Takaya growled. "You have no idea what this place is like until you watch those nice, safe staff assholes turn on you and try to eat your fucking eyes. Or when you find yourself strapped down to a table for no reason while some fuck of a 'doctor' tries out his latest bullshit on you."

Gold eyes narrowing, Takaya knew he was dangerously close to loosing it. Twice in one day. Fuck, if he wasn't careful, he wouldn't be in control much longer. "When you've been here for months," he went on, voice low, "watching everyone you trusted and everyone that depended on you die, then you earn the right to fuck with me."

"I've been on my own with just a little sister since I was small," Tony shot back. "Granny Malone, the only person who ever care about us, died. Whoever our real family was, died. And we were being hunted across the country by evil men. Shut up with your complaints about being here."

He blinked. He hadn't wanted to think about Granny Malone. "Whatever this place is it can't be as bad as all that."

Rolling his eyes, Takaya snorted. "Try being hunted by armies of men and women, including people that were supposed to be on your side for just existing. My life was fucked before I got here, this is just an extra little treat in my own personal hell. Is your sister here?" Rather than the anger that the first part of his tirade had been colored with, the question was actually snapped out with concern.

Takaya would have gone ballistic had his own sister been here.

"No," Tony answered honestly. "I don't think so. I haven't seen her, and no one who answered my note has either." He couldn't decide if it was good or bad. "It would be awful if she was, but... we'd be together. I'm very worried for her on her own. She can't talk so that regular people can hear her."

Takaya's shoulders relaxed slightly. "Good," he said. "She's probably safe back where ever you're from." He paused wondering if he should say something.

"This place... you get visitors here sometimes. They might bring in someone that looks like her and even acts like her to fuck with you." He shook his head. "It's not her."

Tony's eyes widened. He hadn't imagined such a horror. "They can do that?" he asked, incredulous.

"This place does shit you can't believe. People from any point in time, from worlds I thought were only in movies or on tv. People are brought back from the fucking dead to be trapped here."

With a shrug, he turned and looked at Tony again. "Bringing in someone to play your sister, and do it well is nothing."

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