damned_institute | 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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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...

Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

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