damned_institute | Day 21

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Day 21 - Sun Room

Ichigo was only too eager to leave the cafeteria and its fresh memories behind when the softened chime of the intercome rang clear. What had begun as another ordinary meal, a rather agreeable one despite the lack of the proper utensils, quickly became somewhat unnerving. His conversation with...what was his name again?...took so many sharp turns, he should've felt dizzy. It was easy to feel a little sorry for the guy, though; surrounded by stangers in a very strange place, it was hard to blame him for being so alarmed.

The Sun Room occurred as a more enjoyable choice to spend the time; he had nothing against music, but something about being surrounded by some of the most unruly characters he'd ever met, each of them armed with cacophonous weaponry, didn't sound smart. Once his nurse departed, the young man picked out a cozy little spot near a flood of sunshine and settled in, cradling his head in the palms of his hands. There, he stared up almost bitterly at the ceiling with sharply focused eyes, still exuding the same unapproachable sense of being as ever.

The room was warm, even a little comforting, for any of the tired, weary masses found in Landel's halls, or even those who just craved a little peace and quiet. All he could hear, from end of the room, were soft footfalls and hushed voices. That sounded just fine to the 'berry head.

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Renji, you are such a bastard, sometimes.

God, I love being me.

"Actually," Renji drawled, "I do. But it ain't my fault you're not asking an intelligent questions. I've been throwing you bone after bone, man, and you're still stuck on this whole time thing."

It took a lot of self-control to keep from snapping at the redhead. Hojo actually didn't say anything for several moments; he didn't trust himself to, not without making a bigger fool of himself than he already had.

"What would you have me ask, then?" he asked after a rather long pause. "Different dimensions? Or plains of existance or whatever you want to call them?" He shook his head. "That's more believable than the idea that time has been operating according to a completely bizarre set of rules and no one's noticed before now."

And stretch some more. "Well, I can tell you that there are different planes of existence. At least three that I know of, probably more." And stretch some more. "And there have got to be different worlds in addition, because you and I aren't from the same place. We could be anywhere, right?" And stretch some more. "Different places, different rules."

"Hn." At least he wasn't close to ranting any more. "And I suppose that despite having different laws of physics, everything works more or less the same way, yes? Except of course things that would be more convenient if they changed." Granted, he was mostly being stubborn at this point, but annoyed stubbornness was worlds better than anger.

Renji shrugged. "Wouldn't know about that, necessarily. I can't speak to the laws of physics. Not really part of the education where I'm from. But I'm finding things to be decidedly inconvenient." Another shrug. "And I don't think everything works the same, either. For example, there's at least a couple of places where people can only use... hm... magic," that seemed like the best generic term, after listening and watching, "if they have some kind of object to hold on to. How weird is that?"

Actually, what he was more interested in gleaning at this point was where Hojo was from. He thought he might have talked to one of the other people from his world on the bulletin board, but he wasn't completely certain yet.

Hojo slid his glasses back on. "Not weird at all. It's extremely bizarre to have any extra abilities or strengths outside normal human capacity without materia." In his experience, anyway; he didn't know what some of the people here could do, after seeing Xigbar teleport. If it hadn't been a complete figment of his imagination... he would have to ask the scarred man to do it again come nightshift. Just to make sure.

"Maybe most people can't," Renji said. "But it's really bizarre that you have no one at all that can." He shrugged. "Different world, different rules. Either that, or maybe you're all just very weak."

Well. Perhaps a little backpedaling wouldn't hurt. "I suppose," Hojo said, frowning. "If we're going to assume other worlds actually exist. You haven't convinced me." It was a weak rebuttal, the scientist was well aware, but it did make the most sense. If the redhead wanted to convince him of something extraordinary, the burden of proof would be on him.

It certainly made life easier for Hojo, at least.

"That could be a problem," Renji said. "Though how you're going to convince yourself that they don't exist, considering that you're here and it's definitely not your home world - unless where you come from has places called New Jersey and Old Los Angeles in it - has got to be a real mental feat." He smiled. "Unless you're that shitty with the geography of your own world. I guess that's possible."

"Is that where they're saying we are?" Hojo frowned. "The word of the staff doesn't constitute proof. Neither does the word of the patients. I haven't been outside, but what I've seen through the windows could easily be some location on the planet." Granted, he hadn't been paying a whole lot of attention to what was outside, either. He might possibly get some answers if he actually devoted a chunk of time to observing the environment outside the Institute, but what with all the moving around he doubted he'd get a chance to.

"Well," Renji drawled, "you can play it like that if you want. Believe that the other patients are truly crazy and you're the only sane one here, and that the staff are lying about the location at least for some nefarious purpose. It'd be kind of fun to disuade you, but I don't trust you enough to want to show that much of my hand at the moment. Information ain't free." He grinned. "And of course, I could tell you more about what I know of how my world is put together, but you'd put it down to the ravings of a lunatic and go on your merry way. It's not going to hurt anyone but you."

Hojo didn't say anything for a few moments, though his constant pauses were far more telling than anything he could have said.

"So either I'm a gullible idiot who believes something no matter how outlandish it is, or I'm a stubborn idiot who refuses to see the obvious." He laughed a little, rubbing his eyes with two fingers. He was more exasperated than tired, but they both wore on him about the same. "Maybe I am going crazy."

"I think you've just been cursed by living in a simple world, and further cursed by thinking you know everything," Renji said. "But don't feel bad. Where I'm from, most people don't know that there are multiple planes of existence. We do our best to keep it that way." He grinned. "But if you don't want to go really crazy, and you don't want to miss the big picture, you are going to have to be open to some new possibilities."

"I try not to be most people," Hojo said, making an amused sound. "...I'll need to check something." He couldn't prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but at least he could see if his memories were false. He would have to bother Xigbar come nightshift. It wasn't much in the way of proof, but he had to do something to convince himself that he wasn't completely insane.

It was harder to take the complete reversal of the hospital's nature seriously when you weren't currently in the middle of it.

Renji smiled, though it was barely a step away from a smirk. "Tell me what you find out. Ought to be good." He nodded. "You sound like a smart guy. Ought to be able to find out all sorts of interesting stuff."

Renji hadn't been a vice captain that long, but he'd done it long enough to have mastered the tone of dismissal. It was what he used.

And up went the hackles again. "Or I could not. Doesn't seem like you need me to tell you anything, really." It probably should have been expected, that if he was already rather vulnerable that he was going to lash out more easily. "You've been patronizing enough for one day."

"And you're still standing there," Renji observed. "Damnedest thing."

He moved on to a new stretch. "If you tell me something interesting, I'll tell you something interesting," he said. "That's how it works."

Favor for a favor. It really brought his misspent youth to mind.

Hojo laughed. "I've got nowhere else to be until shift change," he said. "Can't do anything until then. And I'd rather not brood; it does bad things to your mind, and given this place I don't think anyone needs any extra negative influence." He crossed his arms again, seemingly completely composed again. "Is there anything specific you want to know?"

"I don't think you know anything I'm interested in, yet," Renji said. "What I'm interested in is this place, what kind of seals they've put on us, and how to get out of here. Where you're from would probably be interesting if I were a scientist, but I'm not." He raised an eyebrow. "Or am I wrong?"

"Probably not," he said, shrugging. "The only things you may find at all interesting are the Ancients, or materia and the Lifestream." It seemed that, if there was going to be a lot of variation between "worlds," that would be a good place to start. "If we're going on your word then it seems that there is no materia where you're from, which means no mako and no Lifestream. Though, since no one has access to anything like materia here, it's not very pertinent."

"I'd find it interesting if we were just talking tea," Renji said. "But it's not going to be real helpful now." He shrugged. "That makes it rough on people from your world. People with internal power, we can still squeak around things a little. And maybe at some point, the seals will start to weaken. You guys seem pretty screwed if you don't manage to find where they're keeping your stuff. If it's even around at all."

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Day 21 - Sun Room

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