Day 37: Sun Room

[hismastersdance.livejournal.com]

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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[theycutitout.livejournal.com]

"River, River, River, River!" she finally yelled, nearly bolting to her feet and startling the tiny animal. In her eyes was a desperate girl, a girl who didn't know the boy she was speaking to, but a girl who could tell that he knew her nonetheless. Her small fists were balled up, and her hair was ever hanging in her eyes.

"You say names like you know, and I can't see, gorrammit! I can't see!" The cries were semi-hysterical now as River turned to slump and clutch at the wall. "River. River. River. You don't know River." Whimpers now, soft and shaky. Like boats on tiny waves.

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

River's outburst surprised Sasuke enough that he stood almost as quickly as she did, instincts ready to defend just in case. He barely noticed when the cat dashed off his lap with a quick dig of sharp claws. Said names like he knew? He didn't know River?

If he hadn't just run into a Naruto who'd arrived at the Institute without remembering anything about having been there previously, Sasuke might have attributed it to something the Institute had done. But he had, and the panicked way the girl was speaking led to the sinking conclusion much too quickly.

Had River been taken away as well? Was she also from a different time in her own world?

She definitely seemed to lack any memories of being here. With a frown, Sasuke tried to speak in as calm a tone as possible to offset River's hysteria: "Calm down. The nurses will come over here if you don't. Maybe you're not the River I know."

She was, definitely was, because Sasuke knew that voice well enough to be sure he wasn't wrong. But there was probably no point trying to get a more concrete explanation out of her when she was so clearly confused.

[theycutitout.livejournal.com]

"They keep coming. They keep coming," she muttered over and over again. Her eyes were like pits of fire, and she couldn't bear to dig them out even if they were worthless. Was this one lost somewhere in the flame? Had she known him only to let him go when they burned out her insides? There was no mistaking the recognition in his voice, and each moment she remembered that it was like a knife digging deeper and deeper still. River whimpered, simply shaking her head at something that was beyond Sasuke.

She wasn't his River. And at the same time she was.

"River. There's a possibility I'm not," she finally said, peeking through her hands to peer at him curiously. Story-telling. It was time.

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

For a while she kept going and Sasuke wasn't sure if she was going to calm down at all. The sounds of other people moving around the Sun Room provided a kind of sound ambiance that meant that Sasuke wouldn't be able to tell a nurse was coming until too late, so as she kept going he got tenser, because it would be just his luck if --

Fortunately she stopped, finally, seeming to pick up on his words. With a bit of relief, Sasuke nodded and hoped she was looking.

"This is Landel's," he reminded her, even though she seemed to have learned the basics. "The man in charge of this place has brought people here and then taken them away, only to bring them back again without any recollection of having been here. You, or some version of you, have been here before. But the you who's here now doesn't have any memory of Landel's or the people here, so you're not the River I know."

It was a bit of a stretch (did people really change even when their memories did?), but at the same time it was the truth.