damned_institute | Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

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Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

Okita hadn't been expecting it when his nurse suddenly appeared in the Game Room. He'd expected to be left alone like last week, but instead she gently took him by the arm and told him he needed to say goodbye to Kaden for now. Okita assumed it was time for his visitor and waved goodbye to him, only to be led off himself. The swordsman had followed obediently into the Sun Room, but when he tried to go off to another room, she stopped him. "Not today, Julian."

Not today? Something about his nurse's demeanor seemed off, almost as if she were worried about something. It wasn't until she led him out of the Sun Room that he understood what was going on. He had a visitor. There were only so many people that would come to visit him in a place like this. His sisters, Tetsu, Kondou or... Okita didn't want to think about the last option.

Taking a step into the waiting room, he stopped at the door and turned to look at his nurse. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?" he asked, feeling actual fear for the first time in a long while. If this wasn't some strange punishment/joke for behaving poorly in the chapel, he didn't know what to do. Badou's graffiti was still on his hand and he quickly slipped that hand into his pocket. He could feel the pen there, clipped to the inside of his waistband. The nurse shook her head and moved to the side of the room, keeping a close watch on him as he stayed by the door, trying to hide his anxiety by feigning interest in the strange magazines on a table nearby.

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He'd been preparing himself for Sam or Tucker or his family. But Valerie? Not so much. He blinked stupidly for a few moments, trying to figure out how to respond. All his mental preparation was now wasted since he never expected Valerie to come. Sure, Valerie was a nice girl and a good friend (never mind the whole "trying to hunt Danny Phantom" bit), but he didn't think she'd go so far as to visit him.

"Hey, Val! You're, uh. You're visiting, I guess!" He grinned weakly. Jeez, how awkward could this get? She probably thought he really was in here because he was nuts. Well...if that ever came up, he figured he could explain the situation. Right?

Oh, who was he kidding. She'd been standing there not 30 seconds and already he was unsure of what to do or say.

"Vikky," the girl corrected quickly. At least he'd said something that started with a 'V' and hadn't addressed her as 'Sue' or anything. "Two K's," she made sure to clarify.

"But you look well!" Albeit dressed in that horrible Landel's gray and, once again, stuck in the middle of crazies. Calling her by that name. But that was okay! She could handle that. A little more time here and he'd be back at school just like before. "So, uh... Yeah. Hi."

"Vikky? But your name's Valerie! How do you get Vikky from 'Valerie'?" Was this what Hikaru had been talking about? Fake names? But Valerie (Vikky?) wasn't actually in the Institute...did it work both ways, then? What did they do to Valerie?!

"Hey, Va--Vikky. Why are you visiting me here?" Honestly, he wouldn't have expected her to visit with the way they had last been, and furthermore, he wanted to know how she figured out he was even here. Was it common knowledge Danny had been sent to the loony bin? Oh no, he could just imagine what would happen to him when he got back to school...

"Not that I don't want you here, I mean!" he added on hastily, realizing that his question made it sound as though she were unwanted. If there was one thing Valerie wasn't, it was unwanted.

"My name isn't Valerie!" Vikky insisted a bit more strongly than she probably meant. She was forced to calm herself immediately afterwards. Getting mad at Danny wasn't going to help anything. He was sick. At least he wasn't calling himself something else.

His question did hurt, though, and there was more forced smiling on her part. She was darn dedicated and he should appreciate it. "What, is it wrong to get visits from your girlfriend now? I don't embarrass you, do I?"

If Danny didn't know better, he would've almost thought Vlad just came in and called her "badger" or something (even if Vlad only ever called Danny that). "Okay, okay, it's Vikky, I get--girlfriend?!"

She was his girlfriend? He was her boyfriend? That--how did that happen?! Danny was pretty certain she cut that relationship off before it even really started, and there was also the matter of Sam, and--how was that even possible? How did that happen?

Not that Danny didn't like it, he still sort of like-liked her, but...

Oh man. This was way too confusing. Finally, Danny found the words to speak up, his words almost squeaking.

"No, nothing wrong with that! You don't embarrass me at all, Va--Vikky. It's just...I didn't think you'd know where I was!"

"Yes, girlfriend," Vikky confirmed while being very much annoyed that it was necessary to do so. Danny was lucky that he had the excuse of being mentally unwell, otherwise she might not have been as friendly about things. She was still tempted to belt him one, but no. She was too good a girlfriend for that.

At least he was warming up to the idea. That was promising. "Of course I knew where you were. And you'd better be glad to see me. There are men just waiting in line to take your place, you know." All right, that part wasn't exactly true, but Vikky wanted to give him something to be thankful for.

At the very least, Vikky acted exactly like Valerie. It was comforting in the sense that it was exactly the same girl he knew before, just with a few minor differences, but it was also jarring for the same reasons. This was Valerie, and at the same time, it wasn't. How was he supposed to react to that?

"Does everyone at Ca--" No, don't mention Casper High. Maybe that wasn't the name of the high school they went to, according to 'Vikky.' "Does everyone at school know I'm here?" Danny could just imagine Paulina and Dash rubbing it in Sam's and Tucker's faces.

"And don't get me wrong, Vikky! I'm really glad to see you! I mean...I really didn't expect to see you here. I'm glad, but I only just found out a few minutes ago that someone was going to visit me today."

"Is that why you didn't get a chance to dress in your finest?" Vikky smirked. She probably shouldn't say anything, considering all the patients here were stuck in the same uniform, but it was so... blah.

The mention of school did leave her somewhat uncomfortable, but it had been bound to come up sooner or later. She shrugged as though the matter was hardly important. "Most do. It's kept on the low, though. Don't worry about it." He could hardly be blamed, really, given the circumstances surrounding his admittance.

"Oh, yeah, because I definitely have my clothes here," he said sarcastically, giving Vikky a grin. Sure, she wasn't the same girl as Valerie (in some strange, messed up, Landel's kind of way), but right now he felt more at ease with her than he had with, say, Jazz.

"Really? Why do they know about it?" For now, Danny wasn't going to worry about whether or not Vikky really went to Casper High, or if she thought Danny went to some other school. And he didn't want to risk asking her, either. For all he knew, they might as well be going to Frankenstein High or something. In which case, it wouldn't really affect Danny if--no, when he got back home and went to school again.

That didn't mean he wasn't curious, though.

Vikky faltered. Had he blocked out the memory? How could he not remember what had happened? And worse... how was she supposed to explain it to him. She could lie?

"Ah... well, you know... you're a popular guy and all that..." Right. Even with most of his memory gone it was doubtful he'd believe something like that. Not that he wasn't cute, obviously. "All right. The accident was a big thing on the news. People were bound to hear."

Immediately, Danny was on edge. Vikky's tone was more than enough, not to mention that whatever this accident was, it was on the news. If it was on the news, it was obviously big, and Danny had a suspicion that he was involved. After all, the Amity Park news station had a section devoted entirely to ghosts--especially him.

"Accident?" He raised an eyebrow, suddenly sitting up straight in his seat, alert. "What do you mean, accident? What happened, Vikky?"

"It..." Vikky frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Look, you really don't remember? I don't want to go upsetting you by bringing it up. It might not do you any good and then the nurses will be upset with me and..." How was she supposed to say it? She didn't expect to have to go over all of this.

"There was the explosion at the Tasty Burger... You know. They said there was something wrong with one of the heaters..."

Tasty Burger? She couldn't have mispronounced the real name of the fast food restaurant--phonetically, 'tasty' and 'nasty' didn't sound the same at all. Regardless, Danny got the idea, and his stomach churned, a deep pit of worry developing.

"Explosion at the Tasty Burger? Who was in the explosion, Vikky?" He gripped the seat of his chair tightly, hoping that the answer wasn't going to be the one he was expecting.

Vikky glanced around, hoping some method of escape would make itself readily available. She couldn't go over all of this with him again. She really couldn't. "I...I... OH LOOK AT THAT HAIR. Do you think that's her natural color, because if not the dye job is spectacular!"

She gawked at Shiki for a moment, though she doubted Danny was going to fall for the hey, look over there! routine.

Danny followed Vikky's gaze, realizing that the girl she was talking about was Shiki. In all honesty, he hadn't paid much attention to her hair. After all, his hair was white, of all things, and not in an old-person kind of way.

Whatever happened at the "Tasty Burger," it must have been bad. Real bad. Valerie was normally pretty blunt, so for her to try and steer the conversation away from the topic at hand was a pretty big sign.

"Vikky." He gave her an expectant look. "I want to know what happened at the Tasty Burger." What could convince her more? "It's so I can...get out of here sooner and go back home!"

So he could get out of here sooner? How was traumatizing him again going to get him out sooner? Unless it was the serious denial that was keeping him there in the first place, in which case it probably would be better if he knew, but...

This was just too difficult. "Look, it was... real unfortunate." She sighed. No one wanted to hear that someone close to them had died in a Tasty Burger explosion of all things. "Your two best friends were there, and the former Vice Principal."

It was what he had been expecting. Whatever happened in that alternate timeline...was it true? Obviously Jazz and his parents were still alive, but then what about the rest? Did the rest of it come true? And how did it even happen, if Dan didn't exist?

"Sam and Tuck and Mr. Lancer were in the explosion?" he said, his posture suddenly weakening. He was unsure how to react to the news. So in some alternate timeline or other world or something, this was what happened to him? "But...how? What happened?"

They weren't the right names, but Vikky was pretty sure they were the right people. It wasn't the time for correcting, either, so she just nodded sadly.

"I don't know! I wasn't there. You were all just... staying around to work on some project or other, I think." It wasn't as though there was anyone left to ask. "Something shattered in one of the pipes and BOOM."

"A project? It wasn't a parent-teacher conference? We weren't taking the CATs?" Danny wasn't even sure what to make of this anymore. From what Vikky was saying, all of this was happening in this world (it had to be this world, right? Or else she personally travelled here from some other world, and he didn't think she had the means to do that). Did that mean there was another Danny around here? And if that was true, where was the kid, if Danny himself was here?

"Vikky, what town do we live in? What's the name of our school?"

The what? "Taking the cats... where?" Vikky shook her head. It wasn't time to be trying to understand some of Danny's nonsense. He remembered something, it looked like, but he'd covered it up with falsehoods.

And now he was asking more questions. Should she even answer them? Had she said too much? Surely he was going to get upset now, and that wouldn't be any good for his rehabilitation.

"Look... I should go..." she glanced towards the exit, noticing (thankfully) that there were others leaving as well. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to bring this up with you. It was a terrible accident."

So this was a completely different situation. But it still bothered him that even in this world, the Nasty Burger (or rather, Tasty Burger) boiler had been blown sky high. If it happened in two worlds, what was that saying? Furthermore, did that mean his future self could come back? The idea made him shudder.

When Vikky began leaving, he objected. "No, wait, I still want to talk to you!" He had more questions for her! Despite this, though, he felt helpless and fully expected Vikky to leave anyway.

"I... I can't, Danny. I'm sorry!" Maybe on her next visit... or when he was better. When she could word things more properly and not worry about sending him off the deep end again.

"I'll talk to you later, okay? Really." She stopped just long enough to give him a quick hug before backing away. Later, when he was better...

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Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

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