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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"What's wrong with Arty?" Badou asked, other than it being juvenile and a little cutesy. But if that was the reason, Badou was hardly going to stop.

"My father calls me 'Arty'," Artemis replied. "And Schuldig, but I can hardly make him stop."

Badou snorted. "And you think you can make me stop? All four feet of you going to take me on if I don't?"

"Maybe I will," Artemis said with a cocky smirk. "Or maybe I'll just wait until I'm holding a pack of cigarettes and a lighter."

Badou's grin widened just a bit. He wrapped his arm around Artemis' neck and pulled him close enough to grind his knuckles into the boy's head. Maybe not as bad as if he actually meant it, but who could tell? "Yeeeeah, what am I going to do then? I'm practically powerless already. Look at me flail."

Artemis himself began to flail and try to push out of Badou's grip, but found himself rather firmly held in Badou's arm. He stopped struggling and surrendered, looking very much like a put-upon cat.

"Are you finished?"

"Well, if you admit defeat I'll consider it." Though he'd stopped destroying Artemis' head, he still had his arm firmly around the boy. "If you get between me and a lighter, I'm taking it and then I'm throwing you over my shoulder and dumping you in the lake out back. Don't even try, Arty."

"Well," Artemis said, still trying to get out of Badou's grip. He wasn't beaten yet, he wasn't going to claim defeat. "If I ever come into the possession of a lighter or any other means with which to make fire, I'll be sure I lock myself somewhere safe."

Badou, who had in fact restrained feistier things than a banana slug in his time, didn't let up even a little.

"See, that's going to be a problem too because nowhere is safe." He wasn't even trying to sound intimidating, though he probably should have been. "And if we keep this up much longer you're going to smell like me for a week."

"The only one who would complain," Artemis started poking at Badou's stomach, trying to get him to let go. "Would be Haku, and he would probably be amused by this. Or find it endearingly pathetic. Either way, I win."

"That's it." Badou said, feigning exasperation. He let Artemis go, but only briefly enough to make good on his promise to pick the boy up and sling him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes. "Into the lake, brat. It's over now."

"Wha--HEY!!" Artemis was absolutely floored. Badou had picked him up and put him over his shoulder. He would have struggled, but he didn't want to end up breaking his face on the floor should Badou lose his grip. He hated being in high places when he wasn't protected. Hated it.

"W-wait a minute Badou," Artemis spoke very quickly, eyes wide, clinging to the man like a terrified cat suspended in midair. "We're civilized people, we can talk about this--!"

Badou was trying very hard not to laugh. He had a good grip on Artemis in case he did try to struggle, but there seemed to be absolutely no danger of that. Poor Artemis with his healthy sense of self-preservation. Badou started moving forward, away from the window. "We already talked; I'm a sore loser I guess. It was nice knowing you."

"W-wait!" Artemis cried, trying to reach out and grab... something. Anything. He ended up grabbing the back of Badou's shirt, scared out of his mind that he was going to fall.

"Wait a minute, I give, I give!" He shouted, still clinging. "Just let me down, I admit defeat!"

Artemis prided himself on knowing when he could still fight. However of the few times where he knew he was up against a wall, his ass had been above his head.

Now was one of those times.

Badou silently walked them a few steps further to the nearest couch and let Artemis down onto it, staying close for a number of reasons - the main one being Artemis was holding onto his shirt. "Afraid of heights, huh?"

Artemis slowly let go when he realized he was on a couch and not up in the air. He frowned.

"I fly small aircraft regularly. But... yes. When I am not absolutely confident that I am safe, I am afraid of them." He paused, as though considering whether or not to tell Badou. "I fell nearly a hundred stories before I arrived here. I thought I was done for."

"Well, I'm glad you're not." Badou replied, back a little to kneel in front of Artemis. He still looked a little freaked out. "And at the risk of that not working on you again - I'm never going to drop you. Well, not before we get to a couch or the lake anyway."

Artemis looked uncomfortable. "Please don't drop me in the lake. It's wet. And cold. And autumn."

And possibly infested with monsters. Or piranha. Martin Landel seemed the type to keep piranha in a lake that no one would attempt to forge. But above all, pneumonia was probably the least desirable.

"You should have thought of that before." Badou poked him in the stomach. "And stop giving me puppy dog eyes already. The lake threat stands. Luckily for you, I can be bribed with fire and cigarettes."

Artemis squirmed when he was poked. "I don't know where I would get them, though. And why should I bribe you? Are you simply going to spontaneously throw me in the lake?"

"Not unless you withhold smokes." Badou replied, matter-of-a-factly. "I was just showing you the error of your ways."

He paused. "So... I either withhold them and get thrown in a lake--presumably after you have forcibly removed them from my possession--... or I hand them over." Artemis raised an eyebrow. "This sounds like extortion."

Badou grinned. "Aren't you proud of me? You're saving the whales, and I'm extorting fourteen-year-old boys. Karma has some sense of humor."

Artemis gave a noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a snort. "Did you save whales at some point?"

"I eat dolphin safe tuna." Badou assured him. "That's gotta count for something."

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