damned_institute | Day 34: Lunch

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Day 34: Lunch

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, really?

Despite the occasional blip, talking to Sagara had been awesome. He was a fun guy; he wasn't a prude, didn't have a stick shoved so far up his ass it was poking out his eyeballs, and he'd actually had a conversation with her. One that hadn't revolved around doom, gloom or how much life sucked. If she could find other people like that and keep in touch with Sagara, maybe there was a little hope for this place.

After a quick gulp of pink lemonade, Yuffie settled to munching through her food and keeping an eye on the door.

[Waiting for Dean, I think? :x]

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(Yay!)

Haku looked up and beamed at the nurse as she ushered a young woman into the seat near his own. When the woman left, he turned and offered a more honest smile to his new ....companion.

"That's fine," he said, reaching up to tuck hair behind one ear. "We were all new at one point or another. How about introductions? My name is Haku. It's nice to meet you Miss....?"

"I'm Atoli," she answered, her voice becoming more chipper. "It's nice to meet you, as well!" She tilted her head, her expression thoughtful. "Well... I'm not all that new-- I've been playing for a while now, but I..." Atoli trailed off, taking a moment to glance around her. "What area is this? I don't think I've ever heard of it, and I never saw anything on the forums mention anything that might resemble this."

Haku blinked at that. He knew the word 'playing', but to use it in this context... And 'forums'? He would have to ask Artemis about that one.

"Ah. Well, this is Landel's Institude," he explained. "It's nothing more than a hospital during the day. At night, they will let you out of your room and pit you against things out of your nightmares."

When another person entered the cafeteria, he glanced up, then back to the young woman. "This place is probably not in a world or reality you're familiar with, but it is very real. We've all been kidnapped by the Head Doctor, the man on the intercom system, who goes by the name Martin Landel."

Nightmares? Well, this was starting to sound like one very oddly set up sort of event, and if she were interpreting this right, there would be monsters eventually. That much wasn't unusual, just about everything you went up against were the creatures that roamed the fields, save for the Arena. Atoli only hoped they weren't anything immensely powerful-- it was a challenge to solo as a Cleric, even when her higher levels made a little easier.

The end of his explanation came as a surprise, to her. "K- kidnapped?" Who would do that in a game?! "I... I didn't think the Admins were allowed to do that! I'd like to go back to town, but... I can't log out or do a hard reset." Or anything, when she came to trying her options.

Haku blinked and tried to process her words. "I .... have no idea what you're saying," he finally managed, though he did commit the words to memory. "What are you talking about?"

What was an admin (was was it admins? Was that the plural?)? Or a log out? Or a hard ree set?

"Huh?" He sounded like he was knowledgeable enough about what was going on, so how could he not understand what she was saying? Her terms were basic enough, something that any player would know. "Ah... Logging out-- exiting the game, and resetting your computer." That method normally wasn't the best one, but she couldn't find any other way out. Still clasped together, Atoli brought her hands to her chin. "My M2D, and my desk-- it's like they aren't here anymore. I know that might sound impossible..." Yet, Haku could have been someone else that was stuck in the AIDA server incident. Anyone who wasn't logged in at the time easily brushed it off (as did CC Corp, considering the short amount of time it lasted in the real world), but if he was, he would be able to understand!

"Game? Oh! You think this is a game!" He knew, in an off hand sort of way what a computer was. He'd never touched one, or been around them, but he'd seen them. "No. This is the real world."

M2D? What was that?

Atoli blinked stupidly at him, making an odd face. Of course this was the game; she was still as her character (the completely different body indicated that much), and even if everything was coming off as completely weird and unfamiliar, there was no way anything from a computer game could be real.

For a long moment, Atoli was unsure how to respond. "That can't be right," she thought aloud.

Hmmm... This would be rather difficult. "What would convince you that this was real and not a game?" If she said someone would have to die, she was out of luck. Haku wasn't really in the mood to kill anyone for no reason. "I don't know much about ... computers, so I wouldn't know what to look for myself."

Maybe it was all a game?

"Oh!" Atoli shook her head, more vigorously this time. "Please, don't trouble yourself over me! I'm really sorry for bothering you with all these questions already."

Sheepishly, she looked down on top of the table with another fidget. "We've only just met. I, ah..." Didn't want to become annoying, or something like that. Atoli honestly didn't know what to make of his statements-- all this 'real world' stuff. This sort of thing just didn't happen.

Someone she knew had to be logged in, too. An event like this couldn't have slipped by all of them. Atoli would have to find out, eventually; she knew they would probably have more information about this than herself.

"No, no really. It's fine." Haku offered his best 'I'm friendly, you can trust me' smile.

"You aren't bothering me at all. Let me try again. Uh, you're in Landel's because you've been abducted. I don't know if this is a ... game or not. Not for certain, but I'm reasonably sure it's not. You're in danger here. Is there anyone I can help you find? Or contact?"

'Abducted'... What a horrible thing to do, even online.

Neither one of them were able to determine what was real and what was created. That would be something to dig deeper into later. For now, with the earlier mention of "nightmares", it was evident there would be some sort of danger eventually. It wouldn't be too bad if she were playing normally, although... Doing that while stuck in her character was perhaps not a good idea.

"I- I'm not sure," Atoli admitted. "I can't access my member address list. If I looked around, maybe I could find someone."

Haku's smile faltered for a moment when she mentioned a 'member address list', but he decided to add it to the list of words to ask about later.

"Do you know what they looked like? Maybe if we're both looking, it will go a bit smoother."

"Thank you," Atoli replied after a short pause. "I appreciate the help."

Hmm... Who to look out for? There was always Haseo, one of her closest friends; he usually seemed to know what was going on. Perhaps Silabus and Gaspard, too, as their friend and a member of Canard, she saw them quite frequently. Miss Pi was an admin, so she would have to know these things. On that note, Kuhn, perhaps? Who did she begin to look for, and where?

"Yes, I do," she answered. "Uh, let's see..." May as well go down her list, she supposed. "One of them has silver-greyish hair, like this-" Atoli vaguely gestured what his hairstyle was more or less like, and then brought both pointer fingers to her cheeks. "-and two red wavemarks, right here." She paused again, wondering if she should mention anything about the clothes... Not only were they fairly complicated, even in comparison to most PC models, but she-- and everyone else-- all had the similar attire. Why was that? With that in mind, she opted to leave those descriptions out for the time being. "The other has kinda short, brown hair too, but he has a long ponytail with it." Unfortunately, Silabus didn't have any distinguishable wavemarks. "Oh! And usually with him, ah... He has one of the Beast character models, so he looks something like a short dog! Really pink, too."

Those were the three Atoli usually saw the most. She'd keep it at that, for now, but if none of them showed up, it would be time to start looking for the others.

Haku pictured all of them and committed them to memory. "You can also put up a notice on the bulletin board. Perhaps one of your friends is here and you can let them know you're here." He smiled.

"But I will keep an eye out for your friends too."

"The bulletin board?" Atoli lightened up in curiosity. That sounded a lot like a type of forum. "Where is it at?"

Then she made a grateful smile. "Thank you very much!" she said again, resorting back to her usual cheery voice. "Don't worry about it too much, I'd rather not disturb you... But it's very generous of you."

"Not at all." Haku waved a hand and shook his head. "We're in this together, we should help each other out. It's in the Sun Room. You can't miss it."

At least she was cheerful. Hopefully that wouldn't be smothered in this place.

The Sun Room... Ah! The woman that brought her here briefly mentioned that name along the way as they walked across the previous room. An appropriate name, too, as all the windows made the area very bright. Atoli made a note to definitely find it, especially if she could easily ask what she needed. With a nod, she responded, "Right! I'll go look soon."

His words made her smile, if by a little, as well; it wasn't very often she heard those words, at least, outside those she knew. "Yes, I agree."

Haku smiled. "Have you just woken up here? Or have you met anyone else? It's not a good idea to go off on your own on your first night here." His concern was genuine, though a part of him was still distracted by keeping watch for Zabuza-san.

With a tiny nod, Atoli responded, "I did... I believe. I've never seen this place before. I was helping two others finish a dungeon, although I think I, ah... fell asleep at my desk." It was kind of embarrassing to admit, but the truth was the truth. "The next thing I know, I'm here."

Her expression became concerned, and perhaps a little worried, too. "N- no, I haven't."

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Day 34: Lunch

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