damned_institute | Day 37: Sun Room

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Day 37: Sun Room

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

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He'd seen the notes on the bulletin, and coupled with what Artemis said this Renji guy seemed like a real take-a-bullet hero type. Badou had never met someone like that. Well, not really anyway. It must suck to be in Artemis' shoes.

Honestly, what surprised him more was Artemis staying. He hadn't really come off heartless, just...more like the type to do the smart thing in any given situation. And Badou could say from personal experience that sticking around to fight when you were a scrawny fourteen year old was never, ever, even remotely clever.

"Actually, it's pretty stupid." Badou replied, glancing at him. "Maybe even amazingly stupid. You can't tell me a kid like you waited that long to figure out your boundaries. You know them. You just did it anyway, right?"

Artemis came out of his strange stupor for a moment, realizing the truth in Badou's statement. Yes, he'd known from the beginning that there was no possible way that they could come out of this unscathed, especially if more than one person engaged the horde. He'd known that the chances of him being gravely injured were high, and that victory was impossible.

"Butler was right," Artemis smiled at Badou. "My body just moved on its own. I'm becoming... a good guy. I can't believe this."

"You don't seem to torn up about it," Badou observed. "Does this mean you're going to start saving the whales soon? Collecting stray dogs maybe?"

That was a bit easier than expected. Artemis got that haunted look in his eyes, Badou told him he was an idiot, and all was well with the world. This he could deal with, temporary as he expected it to be. "Congratulations on that not being a sociopath thing by the way. It's good news."

"Better," Artemis said, smirking at his reflection in the glass. "I'm going to teach the stray dogs to save the whales. Much easier that way."

Another disturbing thing, this sudden ability to crack jokes. He blamed the time tunnel. And Minerva. Possibly Hitsugaya for scaring him into realizing what the alternative was.

The boy laughed and crossed his arms, turning and leaning his back against the glass. "I don't believe I ever was a sociopath. But... it is rare for me to try to save someone I only knew for two weeks. Especially when the possibility of my own death was strong. ...especially when there was nothing for me to gain in that situation."

Badou snorted, trying not to laugh at the mental image of Artemis training a dog to save a whale at least a hundred times the size of both of them combined. "You might want to put a little more thought into that plan, Arty."

And because bothering Artemis was starting to become second nature, Badou reached over and ruffled his hair a little more playfully than that first time at the table. "You make everything way too complicated, you know that? You had something important to lose." He shrugged. "That's when people do incredibly stupid things. Sounds like something came out of it after all."

An annoyed look came over Artemis' features--both at the use of that name and the hair ruffling. He was too tired, though, to correct Badou or his hair. So he left it. He supposed he could remind Badou not to call him that later.

"Like what?" he asked with a snort. "I lost him, despite this apparently valiant and incredibly stupid maneuver."

As much as he would never admit it ever, he was starting to understand what Dave had gotten out of annoying the shit out of him on a regular basis. It was sort of fun when he wasn't the intended victim. Though the nickname had slipped out, he was probably never going to use the name 'Artemis' again.

Badou smiled a little, halfway to reaching for a cigarette that wasn't there before he dropped his hand. "Sounds like he rubbed off on you. He's gone now, anyway. You might as well take what you get even if it's just a penchant for doing stupid shit like that."

Artemis nodded, looking out the window over his shoulder. His eyes rested on the wall again. "Yes... he's gone now. And I'm still here."

The boy covered his mouth, trying to look as though he were in thought. Unfortunately, his watering and already red eyes didn't do much to convince anyone who might be watching that he wasn't crying.

"I never got to repay him... for everything he did. For all of the ridiculous habits he instilled in me. For listening when I thought no one else would care."

It wasn't hard to tell Artemis was crying. Badou wasn't very tactful at the best of times, but he tried not to make kids cry at least. He wasn't that much of a dick. He'd promised no hugs, so he gave Artemis a minute to see if he would collect himself first.

He didn't really know what else to do. He was hard-pressed to remember a time when he'd comforted someone before. "I know the feeling." He replied, mouth moving before his brain caught up. He reached out again, but this time it was to rest an arm across Artemis' shoulders. "Don't cry, you big baby."

"What?" Artemis sniffled, trying to collect himself. The tears on his eyelashes made him blink several times, trying to right them. He eventually had to resort to wiping his eyes on his sleeve... again. "First I'm not a sociopath because I care about the death of my friend, and now I can't express my emotions in a... somewhat healthy way?"

He gave another great sniff, swallowed and collected himself. "Is the sight of me crying that disquieting?"

Badou sighed. They really had to do this the hard way.

"Wouldn't really matter if it was." He replied, reaching around a little more with the same arm he'd been resting on Artemis' shoulders to brush his sleeve against the boy's cheek. At least this wasn't like that pedo thing he had going with Alkaid. "You know I'm not going to be butthurt if you just say 'Fuck off, Badou. I'll cry if I damn well please.' Try it."

Artemis looked up at Badou. The attitude was off-setting, but the message was still the same. The boy moved closer to Badou and leaned his head on the man's torso.

"Fuck off, Badou. I'll cry if I damn well please."

Badou laughed a little. "What a brat."

All things considered, this was ok and actually kinda zen. Artemis was one weird kid if he found a skinny foul-mouthed addict comforting, but it wasn't like Badou was one to talk. "Don't get too attached. I'll give you all sorts of bad habits."

Strangely enough, Artemis seemed to find comfort in the weirdest people. Perhaps because he was so strange himself. He was uncomfortable in normal modes of comfort. As long as he could keep bantering with his comforter, it felt less like he was a crying child begging for someone to hold him.

"Like what?" Artemis asked, wrinkling his nose slightly. "Because after standing this close to you, I don't think I'm ever going to take up smoking."

"Hey, shut up. I showered like five minutes ago." And as long as he could keep bantering with the kid he had his arm around, he felt less like a stray dog trying to comfort...well, a kid. Which was all Artemis really was, even with the boy genius accomplishments, even if he would probably make more sour faces at Badou for saying so.

"You'd look ridiculous smoking anyway. How old are you again? Ten? Eleven?"

"Fourteen," Artemis said flatly. He obviously wasn't pleased at being taken for younger than he actually was. It was an obstacle that he was constantly trying to get over. And usually, he could. Now, however, he was trying to deny the fact that he was a child, while crying his eyes out. What a wonderful situation.

"And I agree with you on that point--I would look ridiculous. Not to mention I would give my nurse a heart-attack."

"Close enough." Badou replied, waving it off with his free hand.

"It's a shitty addiction to get into if you like breathing anything but poison." Which Badou didn't, but he figured Artemis ranked oxygen a little above cancerous clouds of pollution. "Swearing doesn't suit you any more than smoking by the way."

Perhaps a normal boy would have argued that there was a large difference between eleven and fourteen. But that would only further the time-honored tradition of using age as a marker for maturity. Something that Arty had been fighting since he started using three-syllable words at age five and trying to convince airlines that he could, in fact, buy an airplane ticket to Cairo at age ten. After that incident, he never booked a flight over the phone again.

More importantly, though, was the difference between Artemis Fowl, Age Ten, and Artemis Fowl, Age Fourteen. In the span of four years, he'd moved from causing the extinction of a species, to trying to save an entire one. Perhaps he wasn't too far from trying to save the whales...

"I suppose not," he commented with a light smile. "I haven't had the exorbitant amounts of practice you seem to have--swearing fluently. Why do you smoke, Badou?"

Well he seemed to be cheering up. Badou had already seen how quickly that changed, but for now it was alright even if he had to think of more inventive ways to tease Artemis. He wasn't too good at that either, having been on the receiving end far more often, but he could pick it up.

"Because nocturne is addictive." Badou replied, matter-of-a-factly. "And I get kinda violent without cigarettes." He pulled his hair aside a little to reveal the patch on his neck. "Kinda very violent. But, you know, not until my body sucks all the nicotine out of these things lately and it's a lot less impressive without guns. Last time it happened here it was like a squirrel monkey trying to punch down a brick wall."

Artemis stared at Badou for a moment, not exactly sure what to make of that last metaphor. But he assumed that it made sense in Badou's head. Which, from the looks of things, seemed to be a very, very scary place to be.

"So the nurses are trying to ween you off cigarettes?" Artemis asked, eying the patch. "I'm envious. They've cut me off completely from my own addictions."

In his defense, he was at least more sane than his partner.

"Apparently. They haven't tried to cut back yet, so I dunno." He let his hair drop, hoping that wasn't the case. The last time he'd tried to quit smoking - which was incidentally the one and only time - he'd managed to mow through the entire fourth street gang before he found a stray pack and a lighter again. That took him weeks to get out of when they found out. He didn't think Artemis' addictions would be quite so serious. "Like what? Sugar?"

Artemis laughed, "No, not that serious. Just Earl Grey tea and classical music. It's 'not appropriate' for a 'boy my age'. But I have my sources."

Namely, the CD Schuldig had obtained in town and the people he was extorting for tea. However making it was one of the problems. But at least he had the music. That would calm him tonight.

"Well, considering how you describe your addiction, I'm surprised you don't have one of those on each one of your limbs."

Badou snorted. "...You're such a nerd, Arty."

He'd been wondering about the nicotine patches himself It wasn't so much the nicotine as the smoke for him anyway but... "This stuff never worked before, so I'm guessing it's strong enough to knock out a draft horse."

He paused for a second, considering the implications of what they'd banned Artemis from. "What do they think you're going to do with tea and music anyway? Get slightly buzzed and preform a strip tease to Mozart?"

Artemis was at a loss for words for about a minute. Finally, he managed to speak.

"No. God no. I have enough trouble showering considering the possibility that someone might be looking at me." Thank goodness Schuldig wasn't around, because now all he could think of was tossing his tie into a crowd full of Badou to Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

"No, they are probably trying to separate me from my delusions. But honestly, how can being a genius be a delusion when it's provable fact?" Artemis gave a world-weary sigh. "Honestly, if I could just tie my nurse down and recite the periodic table of elements, possibly multiply a few six-digit numbers, she may begin to wonder why I'm here at all."

Edited 2008-11-27 07:11 (UTC)

Badou looked over at that interesting spot on the ceiling and tried valiantly not to laugh. Much. Mostly. His mental image had less stripping and more Artemis tripping over the edge of the table.

"You don't have anything they haven't seen. Well, unless you do but then I don't really want to know. At least you didn't get molested?" Badou offered, which was apparently supposed to be comforting.

"I think if you tied her up your nurse might start wondering a whole lot of other things too."

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