damned_institute | Day 37: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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Day 37: Sun Room (4th Shift)

There were still too many things on Armand's mind for him to truly relax. The morning with Alec had been a help. And seeing that TK was going to be well helped him know that it was time to work out something else, but what? He'd already, without success again, tried to reach one of the club leaders about his sole idea of something new and different. Maybe it was hopeless.

There was no way he was going to play with paper and glue like a small child, and he glared at the nurse as best he could until she gave up on the idea. There was a free chair in the Sun Room--in fact, there were many free chairs--where he settled down to see what the new patients looked like. Prisoners, not patients. He felt bad that he had to remind himself. Even if he was crazy, he wasn't going to give in to Dr. Landel's game, not today. He nibbled on an overgrown cuticle and kept an eye on the room. No dozing today.

[for Citan]

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Kenshin listened, sympathetic. He was rather good at listening, and he knew that this girl was opening up to him because he was the first person who had lent an ear. She was probably a fighter, what with this talk of teams and getting stronger. She was built like one, too, small (though, admittedly, taller than the rurouni) and lithe. That probably made it doubly more difficult for her.

Maybe it was time for the "kindly older man" to dispense some wisdom.

"This one...is just an observer, and has never met this young man, but...well, it seems odd that he would be so emphatic about avoiding you. That you aren't a team. Perhaps there are other reasons for his distance. You obviously care about him a great deal. Usually, in this one's experience, that feeling is at least a little mutual."

Sasuke might not have been diligent in avoiding them; he simply didn't care much if he was found, but he definitely was insistent that they weren't a team. Why the distance then? She'd even offered to go with him that day he left the village. That was a puzzle that had bothered her for a long time. Was it because she was too weak? Because she'd get in the way? Because he didn't want to involve her in his dark schemes for revenge? She'd gone through all the options and more and still didn't have a real answer.

"We are useful to him now, as allies in this place," she said, not looking up from the kitten in her lap. Useful. As if he had any right to decide who was and wasn't. Like he had any right to judge the worth of a person.

"I would like to think that he cared, even just the smallest bit," she added. Somehow, even if it was only a little, knowing he cared would make all the difference in the world. She was still in love with him; a part of her probably always would be, but more than that, even if it was only as a team-mate or a friend, that would be plenty.

...Ouch. Shinichi laughed nervously, shaking Roland's hand and retreating back to his chair. While he understood why the man had said that, but it was still a little jarring to have a standard pleasantry rubbed in your face like that. Was this place really that bad? Well, according to Hattori, it was...but...

The detective got out his notebook anyway. There was no doubt about it anymore: Roland was a veteran, and it would be nice to have a little more supporting evidence than what Hattori and Kuroba had given him.

"Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions? About this place. Right now I'm going on my friend's word and...I'm still not entirely convinced he's kept his sanity. He's--" Shinichi broke off and sneezed. Three times. Was someone talking about him behind his back or something? "--Sorry. 'scuse me. He's been known to embroider the truth a bit."

Useful. That was also something that Kenshin knew a lot about. He'd been "useful" to his superiors back during the Revolution, and he was "useful" to Homura now. That was why the truce was still in place, after everything that had happened. He was still too useful for the demigod to allow infighting to put two of his best swordsmen out of commission.

"This one...knows it's difficult, and he knows that it isn't a great position to be in, but maybe you should be useful to him, Sakura-dono. If this young man sees how useful you actually are, maybe he'll remember why. This one knows that it hurts to be shunned by a former teammate. Were this one in your shoes, this one wouldn't want to give him the time of day, much less work with him." The rurouni smiled gently. "But you'll find that, oftentimes, men are idiots who need to be hit over the head by pretty girls a few times to get the message, hmm?" Kaoru was certainly a firm believer in that philosophy.

...Somehow, he didn't think that part of their relationship would have changed much in the five years that separated Kenshin and Sano from Yahiko. Unfortunately.

There was just enough truth to what Himura was saying that she could start to believe, even only a little. And she nodded as he made each point, unable to keep from agreeing. She really didn't want to give him the time of day, but at the same time, she missed him so much and she really did care about him, enough to put those angry feelings away.

So maybe she should have smacked Sasuke a good one! She was relieved to hear she wasn't the only one who thought so. And he'd said she was pretty! Er, sort of at least.

"You really think so?" She knew she would follow Sasuke either way, but it helped to get her feelings all set in order. She could show Sasuke that she'd grown, that she could be useful, and maybe, just maybe, he would remember why they were friends in the first place.

Forte nodded, "Noted. Another thing you should know is that these human bodies require a lot of upkeep. I'm trying to find out everything necessary to use them properly. Like, the muscles under the skin are what move our limbs, but they need to be stretched briefly before strenuous use or they can malfunction and seize up."

Renamon inclined her head at the girl, "And then you'll be able to fight again. You're good at archery, correct?" She added with a small smile.

Internally, Renamon knew she probably shouldn't bring it up, but she had to know. If the situation was gone, she would leave it at that, but if the reverse was true.... "How is your problem that you were having a few nights ago?"

An influx over the days following the change would have made sense, if Landel (or whoever was in charge) hadn't expected or had time to prepare for it. Sora seemed to be straining to remember details, but that didn't frustrate him as much as it normally would have. The information he could provide was invaluable.

The obvious conclusion was that the institute switch had been the result of a falling out between Landel and Doyle. They'd worked together to create the institute and the world around it (hence the small town's name) but Doyle must have had a change of heart and rebelled. He hadn't taken the institute down with him, as he surely would have preferred, so it hadn't been Doyle who engineered the change. No, Landel must have done that himself, changing the fabric of the institute as one might change a computer password and rendering Doyle's information useless. If he hadn't had time to prepare, hadn't had a more effective backup plan, it revealed something about his personality. Surely he'd learned from his mistakes and would overcompensate in the present, but Landel was not infallible. Not only was he not infallible, Landel was arrogant enough to believe he was.

It only took Mello a few seconds to process the information, then he gave Sora a thankful smile. Smiling seemed to work well on kids, it seemed. "What did Landel and the radio voice sound like before? Were they cooperating?"

Yukari nodded, confirming Renamon's first question, but her second kept Yukari from making any further commentary over it. Instead, she made a face of distaste; did she have to bring that up again? Yukari would have been fine with answering with a quick, easy response and be done with it, but when she had spent most of the day fretting over the whole ordeal still, she couldn't help but internally groan.

"It's nothing to worry about anymore," Yukari said, and she meant it this time. Besides, she was asking about what happened then, right? That was at least gone, out of sight and out of mind... Kind of.

As much as it hurt - and Keman's punch did hurt - Valyn was grateful for it. It was like breaking a dam open. Eyes narrowed and the taste of blood in his mouth, Valyn hit back, not holding his own strength in check this time. This was what he needed. If he was lucky, Keman needed it too, and there would be little awkward apology time after wards.

He went for Keman's jaw, years of watching the gladiators train and sparring with Shadow giving him some knowledge of how to hit.

"I heard that too," Allelujah said with a frown. "No-one seems to have escaped though, even if they can." Which meant either people were lying to cause hope (or false hope), or the influence of the Institute extended far beyond the walls. How far could a person walk in a night? "It might be possible to get that far," Allelujah admitted thoughtfully. Perhaps that should be his next port of call.

He smiled a little. "I feel ridiculous talking about this place having magic or being able to control time," he said, running a hand through his hair.

Without really thinking about the fact that it might spook him, Matsuda reached over and patted Hanatarou on the back. "Sure thing. If he won't let you, it's not that big of a problem."

After all, a job came first, even in a place like this. For now, the band was just kinda a side thing, since he still had his own responsibilities. If your boss was alive again, it meant you were working for him again, right?

"We can always find some other time to meet up," he assured the kid, nodding.

The smile did make Sora feel a little better, since it seemed like the stuff he could remember was helping somehow. Unfortunately, if Mello was getting anything important out of any of this, he wasn't sharing it. He just kept asking more questions. Still, maybe he wanted to get his facts straight before he made any assumptions. Sora could always ask him about it afterward.

"Hmm, no, I don't think so. I mean, Mr. Landel still made the announcements and the radio man still gave clues, but they didn't address each other much at all." Why would something like that suddenly change? He wasn't entirely sure, but one day it was like it had suddenly become personal between them. But shouldn't it have been that way from the start?

Maybe it was just some other tactic to confuse them, but why would the radio man have cooperated with something like that? Sora didn't think that it made much sense, but maybe he was missing something. He hadn't given it much thought in the past.

[backthread, on account of my MASSIVE fail?]

"As well as can be expected around here. I've got an appointment with one of the 'cooks' tomorrow night." A sword. A sword at last. Leon was clinging to that one tiny victory in order to keep going. He might want to return to the peaceful death he'd been torn out of, but who knew where his spirit would end up if he died here? No. He needed to survive this place and get home.

Subaru almost jumped when Hokuto fell into his lap, but she was fairly effectively pinning him to his seat so nothing more than a series of muscle twitches actually happened. He stared for a moment, surprised at how Hokuto was acting. Was she...? No, she couldn't be drunk. Sedated, then?

"Oh, Hokuto-chan..." He wasn't going to ask what she'd done. She was damp from the shower, and whatever she had done to get herself sedated in there... so very not information her brother needed.

[did you want to backthread?]

"I'm Tokito." Tokito stretched a little, then made room for the newcomer. He'd been almost ready to doze off, full of good food and sleepy with it, but it was probably better that he hadn't--he had no idea how he'd have reacted if he'd actually fallen asleep and had someone approach him. Probably he would have lashed out, and then badness would have happened. "How new? Like, today new?"

Sousuke smiled a little and one of his shoulders shook a little. Probably the equivalent of a laugh for the young sergeant. "I understand the feeling. I'm becoming more accustomed to it, though. The technology I was working with before I cam here wasn't only unreliable, none of the technicians actually knew what it was.

"I suppose it could have been called magic..." Sousuke pondered this for a moment. "The driving force came from within. Is that how magic works?"

'Ask a couple of questions'? That made Roland blink and stare at Shinichi for a moment. He hadn't heard that particular phrase in years, and it made the guy sound like either a policeman or a reporter. Probably the reporter, considering. Huh. "Bless you," Roland said in response to the sneezing, wondering where this guy had come from. Certainly no world that Roland was used to, he was sure.

Still, he shrugged and nodded his head in response. "Sure, feel free. ...though depending on what your friend said, he might not be crying wolf this time."

Adelheid was kind of the same opinion; he'd sat through a lot of the day, it was nice just to be able to stretch his legs. For now, he was happy with standing... especially considering how most of the couches and chairs were already claimed.

"Sadly true," the German affirmed with a wry nod, "even if it's... not as bad as it used to be. Or maybe I'm just getting used to it." Which was a rather worrying thought for himself; the human body and mind could get used to so many things, but this? This wasn't something he wanted to get so used to.

((After a zillion years of wrestling with my internet... @_@ Ugh.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/513195.html?thread=41992875#t41992875)

Joshua still felt filthy, disgusting, and rather dirty after tracking through the... communal shower. Ugh! Just the thought of what could be swimming in all that water was enough to make his skin crawl, even if it didn't really show on his face. A nice hot bath was one thing... that? That was quite another.

The blond was therefore in quite a bad mood as he walked into the sun room, also just a tiny bit bedraggled due to not being able to style his hair the way he'd like. That was why it was a 'prison', he supposed... the freedom to actually have style and flair was apparently denied. Obviously, he'd have to find some means of obtaining that freedom again. He wouldn't feel like himself until he did.

As he walked in, however, he saw two things that he hadn't really expected to. The first was Shiki; he hadn't seen the girl since their... rather interesting discussion with not-Neku. More importantly, there was a very, very familiar man speaking to her, and Joshua found a tiny bit of a smile crossing his face. Mr. Hanekoma was a subordinate, yes, but he was also one of the very few that Joshua actually trusted and listened to.

So, he walked up to the two, giggling in his usual manner as he did so. "Shiki, Mr. H. Fancy meeting you both here." They had obviously been in some conversation, and Joshua was sure he'd heard his name, but... well, not to be conceited or anything, he kind of heard his name or title spoken of on a semi-regular basis. Nothing new there~!

Physically, Valyn was much stronger than Keman was in this form. Even with their powers so diminished in this place, that much still held true. Valyn's hit struck Keman a little higher than the elf had intended, but it hit hard enough to make the dragon stumble back, blinking away the black dots that had suddenly filled his line of sight.

But not for long.

Yelling curses, Keman lunged at Valyn again. This time, he didn't even bother punching him...he just tackled him, knocking them both to the floor.

Valyn responded in turn, forgetting everything he knew about fighting. This wasn't some carefully planned and choreographed gladiator fight. This was simply a brawl, raw and fueled by emotion. He kicked and scratched at Keman, spitting out a few of his own curses as well as he went down under the currently two-legged dragon.

He didn't care if he got sedated. Not at this point.

Keman didn't know much about fighting, so there wasn't really much to forget. He clawed at Valyn, trying to get his hands around that pretty, pale throat. He felt...detached, like he was standing outside of himself, watching the fight. Distantly, he was aware of someone shouting, but he didn't know if it was him or Valyn doing it.

"Uh, hi, Joshua." Shiki had to stifle the nervousness in her voice. She was still reeling a little bit from the confirmation that something had actually happened between the blonde and Neku. Despite her reservations, she motioned for him to take a seat.

"Mr. H. had asked where Neku was," she explained. "I was just about to explain what happened yesterday." She looked down at the floor, trying to calm her nerves and collect her thoughts. Shiki wound up twirling a bit of her still-damp hair around her finger, then looked up to begin explaining things.

"Well...he looked just like Neku, and sounded just like Neku. But something wasn't right. He was calling me by the false name that the Institute calls me, and he was - well. He seemed less emo than usual. Wouldn't you agree, Joshua?" It was a silly thing, to be sure, but, well, it was the truth.

"And that's when they started talking about that thing I asked you about a minute ago, Mr. H. The...well, the fight."

The nurse rushed across the room, accompanied by two orderlies. She was in a panic, because it had been her job to keep an eye on them, and had daydreamed just long enough for the fight to begin and to escalate.

"Aubrey! Calvin! What on Earth has gotten into you!" She began to quickly prepare a pair of syringes. The two orderlies moved to either side of the pair, one pulling Keman's arms away from Valyn's throat, then pulling him off the boy. The other got Valyn to his feet, holding him by the arms.

As soon as both the young men were safely restrained, she injected each of them with a dose of sedatives. "Make sure they're apart from each other for the rest of the day," the nurse instructed the orderlies.

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Day 37: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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