damned_institute | Day 35: Bus 1

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Day 35: Bus 1

Sanji woke up groggily to find his nurse already in his room. He gave a sleepy and half-hearted "Buh?" before realizing that nurse meant dayshift, and he'd fallen asleep after dinner.

"Shit!" He sat up abruptly, which gave his nurse a start. "Nami-swan!" How had he allowed himself to sleep through an entire night? What if she'd tried to return to the basement? What if she'd been waiting for him to appear and protect her? He'd let her down!

"There, there. Calm down." His nurse set a familiar flannel shirt down on the bed and Sanji eyed it with confusion. The last time he'd worn that had been... "Sorry I didn't knock or anything, but I was so excited~!" A pair of jeans followed the shirt. "Today is the field trip into town! Aren't you looking forward to it?"

The chef had to admit, the town had been an interesting enough place the last time he'd been. If he could find Nami early on he might even be able to lead her around... So he didn't complain too much as he changed into the other outfit (which he really wished they'd let him keep - anything was better than the regular gray) and was led out to the first of the buses.

He took a seat near the front, hopefully easily visible to any of his crew - especially to a certain member of his crew.

[for Usopp!]

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"No. Surrendering makes you stupid." Kagetora leaned back in the seat, thinking. "I'm simply saying that one can learn a great deal about how to survive and can even grow stronger when faced with adversity." He wasn't even pretending to be Takaya any longer.

He smiled and pointed to Logan, sitting a seat seats farther along the bus. "That man back there. The one looking rather upset by life in general."

"There's nothing wrong with that statement as such, but it doesn't fit with your previous arguments. Resisting Landel makes us weak, you said. How is that?"

He did turn in his seat enough to see Logan. The man looked strong and ill-tempered, but no scarier than many others at the Institute. Armand wondered how he'd managed to break Takaya's arm. Brute strength?

"You were the one that said you were weak and falliable. I was agreeing with you, and expanded that to say that humans are generally all like that. I explained the fact that I and many like myself are easy to defeat because we resist Landel, which, in turn, weakened us because he did so."

Kagetora did not appriciate having to explain the conversation he'd just had with this man. He'd assumed he'd been paying attention.

His smile was far from friendly. "Surly you've noticed that working with this place means greater power given, while resisting causes more difficulty." He wondered if Armand was simply .... naieve, or if he really was as dense as he seemed.

Armand sighed. "People were brought here randomly. Those with power were weakened before they had a chance to resist or not. There is no way to work with this place. Landel doesn't want our help with anything. We're his toys."

"I haven't seen anyone gain greater power through their own actions. I've seen people tricked and lied to and outright killed. Whether or not we're chasing after Landel's tokens or not." The shield that Morrison had stuck in Armand's mind. They were likely not the only ones with that prize now. It's value had diminished for being hidden. Citan was wrong not to share, and now it was likely too late for them to benefit from its use now.

Kagetora sighed and shook his head. "It's not terribly important," he said,waving a hand. "Forget I said anything about it."

He sat quietly for a moment.... quickly growning bored. A few ideas presented themselves for his entertainment: he could allow Takaya back, but the teenager would probably just sit here and sulk. Or.... He smiled again.

"How long have you been here and where are you originally from? I'm afraid I haven't been paying attention and only know what Takaya has shared with me." He could hear said young man sputter and start shouting in their mind and his smile widened.

Armand wasn't sure he trusted that smile, but he returned it anyway. "I've been here about a week and a half. I'm originally from France, though I've lived in England for a few years."

Then he caught something he almost missed. "Wait? I thought you said you were Takaya."

"Interesting. Time does move in such interesting ways here..."

Smile still in place, much like how a large predator might smile after spotting something that might make a light snack, He shook his head. "I certainly said nothing of the sort." The shouting was growing louder, but Kagetora ignored him. "I don't generally just give out my name like that."

"I told you my name. It hardly seems fair to be talking to someone without at least that much courtesy."

Armand turned to watch out the window. From what this person who was not Takaya said, he didn't want him to see into his eyes so easily. "Though tis true that it feels much longer than that." His hand went to the glass of the window. "Wasn't it fall last week? October perhaps?" Now the foliage was fully green and vibrant.

"Far be it from me to be seen as anything less than fair." What fun was it if he didn't play along? "My name is Kagetora."

Eyes flashing in the lgith from outside, he tilted his head as he considered the surroundings. "What do you suppose the people in town would say to such a notion? Would they notice?" He was honestly interested in what Armand thought. Nothing like bouncing ideas ~~and rocks~~ off of others.

"You don't have to mock me. I could have just as easily said polite, or simply refused to talk to you any further." Armand's tone was as frosty as he could make it.

"Like the nurses and orderlies, I don't think they'd seem to notice or brush it off. They'd insist it was months ago. The poor patients were remembering wrong. No matter that nearly all of us remember the same thing."

"If you want sullen silence, you may as well be sitting beside Takaya."

He thought about that. ""Of course, this implies that the town itself is completely under the thumb of Landel and one begins to wonder just how far one must go to escape."

"I thought I had," Armand said.

"I have no logical reason to think that, but do you honestly think he'll let us speak to people not under his control?" He wasn't stupid. Some of these things Armand had considered during his less franticly worried times. One of the reasons he didn't like considering it at all was that it just made him more depressed to contemplate the depth of the malice and power held by Dr. Landel.

"It makes me hate him all the more."

"Takaya doesn't come alone," he said with a cold smile.

"No, he wouldn't allow us the privilege of speaking freely, but the idea that he has the hospital and a town under total control, makes me wonder how much of this place is his.

Hatred is a good thing. So long as it doesn't blind you."

"Do you suppose it could be a different world than anyone thinks it is? I mean, any of us?" He had no idea why he was asking this hostile person who had taken over Takaya's skin. "Hatred eats at my heart. Someday I'm afraid there will be nothing left of me."

"It could be."

Smile widening, he seemed pleased. "Good. Hate keeps you focused, keeps you in control."

"In control of what?" When he was angry or frightened, Armand didn't feel in control of anything. The emotion just carried him away into disasters and guilty heartbreak. "I can't imagine it's good for anyone to hate so much." He couldn't tear his attention from Kagetora now.

"Hatred reminds you of who you are, what you are. It doesn't distract you from your goals. It keeps you in control of yourself." Kagetora knew hate. Had centuries of practice.

"Perhaps it does for you. Not me." Armand drew back and crossed his arms protectively over his chest. "I don't think well when I'm lost in such things."

"It gets easier over time," he said, still smiling. "And over time, the emotion grows stronger."

"I don't have a lot of time. I want free of here and back to my normal life. I'd made a mess of things there, and if I don't go back and keep my promises to Percy, everything will fall apart." Without keeping faith with his friend and leader, Armand felt the Englishman's forgiveness would be revoked, and that Armand would be condemned to the inner circles of hell with all traitors and betrayers.

His voice grew quieter as his thoughts drained hope from him. "I cannot afford to be stuck here playing Dr. Landel's games. How can my hate possibly free me of him?"

"It will drive you forward much faster than other emotions. Hatred, desperation... It's all something that can serve you well in times like this."

This was far too much fun.

"How can you say such things? That would be evil!"

Kagetora shrugged and laughed softly. "Good and evil are all relative things. What you see as evil, another might see as honorable, even saintly."

"In whose world?" Armand bit his lip. Good and evil were not relative, though he knew people could do great evil when they thought they were doing good.

"In every world. Every person's own ideals and wishes will clash with another's and will be given the label 'evil'. Take war, for example. Why is one side 'right' and another 'wrong'?"

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