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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"I was worried that it was just me. So many people seem to take it for granted," Allelujah replied with a soft laugh, glad to have someone who seemed to come from a world similar to his own. He listened curiously to what Sousuke said about that technology. "I wouldn't know. There's no magic in my world. But... there was science which I suppose could be considered magic. Once group were experimenting with a type of brain waves, manipulating them so that their created soldiers could talk mind to mind with them, even in some cases, if the person was blind, deaf, dumb and unable to move their body."

"Oh, sure, go on ahead." Kimberly was about to add on that she could move away and give the two a few minutes to talk, but then Marcus started speaking in a different language. Well... that was one way to have a private conversation.

The Pink Ranger folded her hands in her lap and took the opportunity to look around the room. Not that there was much to see at the moment, but it was better than staring at the two while wondering what exactly they were talking about.

"Stupid nurses," Hokuto grumbled in reply. "We weren't doing anything bad. I mean, they've gotta know we hate being cooped up in here and they barely give us anything to do, so why can't they let us have a little fun?"

She sighed and leaned back against him. "An' now the nurses are gonna think I'm a troublemaker... not my fault that F--that Alita-kun couldn't keep quiet." She laughed a little, partly over memories of a certain incident at school. "Y'think Grandma'll know and find a way to send a message just to scold me?" She could totally see their grandmother doing that.

That response was not at all what Marcus expected, and was actually enough to render him speechless for just a moment. Stefan wouldn't... he hadn't eaten people before, had he?

He was silent for a long moment, just staring at Stefan. That had to be his attempt at humor. Surely Recluse wouldn't have ever needed to eat human flesh to survive, and he couldn't picture him doing it for enjoyment, either.

"Well..." This time Marcus spoke in english. He supposed that there was no reason to speak in Greek anymore.

"If that's the case, I don't see any reason the two of you can't go outside tonight... just watch out for the bears," Even after he finished speaking, Marcus continued to give Stefan a look that was at the same time somewhat angry and a little bit concerned. He wasn't the most expressive person, so it was subtle, but the look was still there, and no doubt Stefan would notice.

Recluse couldn't help but laugh at his former friend. "Your credulity could very nearly be described as adorable, Marcus. I wasn't being serious." He then switched back to English, tone now quite a bit more cheerful than normal. There was no better entertainment than what an airhead hero could provide. "I already have some other weapons crafted that I could let you borrow until I get the bow made."

Sanzo winced as the light hit his eyes.

The Sun Room was probably one of the worst places he could go right now. His first impulse was to turn around, fuck this, and try to put up with whatever idiocy they could come up with in the Arts & Crafts room.

The nurse and her orderly shadow weren't having it. She was babbling at him, insisting that he was so pale, that some sun would do him good, and so would some relaxation, and that it was only one shift--

If he'd actually had his gun on him right now, she'd be sporting a few bullet holes. As it was, Sanzo was quickly getting tired of her. If it meant she'd shut up and leave, he'd put up with it. He carefully sat down on the couch they'd left him near. He cracked an eye open.

What the hell is this?

Sanzo didn't realize who was nearby until it was too late, and he was already sitting down. Homura was close by, and either he was having just the shittiest day imaginable, or the hag was doing this on purpose.

The monk closed his eyes again. With the bastard's memory gone, and considering what had gone on that breakfast shift earlier, Homura wouldn't bother him.

The sound of someone approaching drew Homura's attention away from his notebook, since it could very likely be someone who wanted to speak with him. It was hardly an unusual occurrence, yet in this case, the exact opposite turned out to be true. Led by a nurse, Sanzo took a seat only a few feet from Homura. He found it odd, since the man hated him so much.

Of course, the obvious extent of Sanzo's injuries as he moved was also odd. Homura suspected that the man was good enough to avoid such severe wounds.

Unfortunately for the monk, however, Homura's memory had been returning at an increasing pace. A slight smirk played on his lips, and the demi-god set aside his work in favor of questioning Sanzo. Whatever it was that had happened clearly was dangerous, and Homura wanted to know about it.

"Having a hard time lately?"

He didn't open his eyes, so he didn't see the look on Homura's face.

The god's voice said enough though. There was that confidence back in it that'd been lacking that breakfast shift days ago. Either Homura had grown his balls back somewhere along the line, or his memory was returning. Either way, the result was the same. He had Homura getting in his damn business.

"I would've thought Kenren already reported to you, first thing," Sanzo answered scornfully. There wasn't any knowing how much he had though. But even if Kenren had helped (or tried to) last night, there wasn't any forgetting who he worked for.

Hearing them beginning to speak in English again, Kimberly turned back to the two. The silence had been a little confusing (as had that whole other language exchange), but the cheerfulness Stefan showed afterwards helped her relax a bit.

...of course, the bit about bears was cause for concern. Didn't animals like that typically avoid humans? They'd never had much of a problem with wild animals in Angel Grove, but maybe this place, wherever it was, was different.

"Really?" She'd never used many weapons aside from her bow and Blade Blaster, but it sounded like it'd bee a good idea to have some kinda weapon on hand. "I've only used a couple different kinds of weapons before, but what kinds do you have?"

Marcus gave Stefan another look that very plainly showed he did not appreciate Stefan's sense of humor.. Now wasn't the time to get into an argument with Stefan, though, especially over something like a sense of humor.

"You two should also decide where to meet before they take us back to our rooms for dinner," He suggested.

Renamon actually chuckled. "I'm glad. Don't worry; I won't bother you about it any more."

The more business part of the shift over, Renamon smiled a bit more freely at the girl. "So what have you done the past few days?"

Recluse ignored the look. It wasn't as if he was one of Marcus' little followers who would be inclined to change their behavior because of a stern look from the hero. But then again, Marcus' followers never really listened to him all that much either.

"I have several knives and swords made. I don't have any really good materials for it, so the metal is fairly heavy, but they work well." He was always a perfectionist about keeping blades sharp. "And I can meet you at your cell, if you know the number. If not..." He pulled out his journal, flipping through to a map he'd drawn out in very precise lines some time before, pointing to the hallway outside of the women's cell block. "I can meet you here. If you bring a flashlight, just keep it out of my eyes." He wanted to preempt anything like that happening again tonight. That hurt.

Oh, good. Results. Shinichi smiled, grateful, and opened his journal. "What, about the monsters at night and the crazy man on the intercom, who may or may not be in league with the woman on the radio?"

He grinned. "Oh, and the other worlds and different times?"

Ah, right, Marcus did have a point. It wouldn't do any good to be ushered back to their rooms before they'd figured out where to meet up. Thankfully Stefan already had a suggestion.

"I didn't even realize the rooms had numbers." So much for a Ranger always being aware of their surroundings... "Sorry. But the hallway would be great. Perfect." She gave a thumbs-up and nodded. "I'll be sure to keep the flashlight pointed at the ground too. As for a weapon, I'd rather stay away from any swords. I think I might be able to handle a knife," even if the idea did make her a little nervous, "as long as you really don't mind loaning one out for a bit."

And for that, she was glad.

Yukari welcomed the topic change more than Renamon could probably imagine, although unlike her, she couldn't say she had any particularly exciting news to deliver. To say Yukari accomplished anywhere near as much was far from the truth. "To be honest... not much," she admitted with a sigh. "Maybe now I'll be able to do something, but..." She shook her head some, almost sheepishly. "It's been a while already, and I don't think I've gotten far at all."

Homura chuckled lightly at the intended insult. Kenren's choices were his own, and while Sanzo might have thought that working with Homura was something to be sneered at, others obviously thought differently. "He mentioned something about finding an ungrateful mortal who was hurt. But I thought I'd give you the opportunity to answer for yourself."

Looking over Sanzo more carefully, even Homura grew concerned at the man's condition. The man's skin had an almost deathly shade to it, and the area around his eyes looked as if he hadn't rested in weeks. Homura knew well just what stresses the Institute put them through, but this was an extreme even for those conditions.

"I'd like to know what happened to you, but you probably wouldn't tell me if I asked." He was silent for a moment, then he spoke again, as much to himself as it was to Sanzo. "Last night wasn't an experimentation night."

Oh man, this was going to be a pain, wasn't it? Roland pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering where he could start. Least crazy item first, or drop the big bombshell and then everything else would be easier to follow from there? In the end, he went with the easiest things; if he saw them, then he'd be more inclined to believe the rest of what Roland was going to say. "Yes, there are monsters at night. Generally they seem to be twisted versions of the normal things you might expect... cats become bloodthirsty predators, nurses become zombie-like creations, the like. You'll see that change in the Head Doctor as well- he's the man on the intercom. He seems far more interested in testing us than seeing us well, at least at night... as for the woman on the radio, I can't say much about her one way or the other."

Then he matched the reporter-or-detective's grin with one of his own, as he casually answered, "And I am absolutely certain that this world isn't the one that I come from. By the same token, this isn't my time, either. That's as far as I can say for certain."

"Yeah, good luck with finding that out." Every time he asked anyone about anything regarding a how or a why, he got the most ludicrous explanations that involved the use of phrases like 'in my world' or 'in the time that I live'. If this teacher was the logical kind that he claimed to be those kind of answers would only confirm the prelude of what the Landels claimed to be: an institution.

"You probably tried asking the nurse already and they called you by some name that you'd never even heard of before; Said that the life you remembered was just all in your head, right?" The rogue shifted his posture, "Those are the same kind of answers you're going to get from everyone else." Which just cemented his own thoughts in that this place was just a part of the game, and everyone in it could be some kind of scrap data like the NPCs back in Tartarga. Scrap data wasn't supposed to make sense as a whole and it would explain why everyone here claimed to be from somewhere else since junk data could be just about anything and come from anywhere.

This could be some kind of opportunity to try and help someone out that was in need, though. At this rate the teacher wasn't going to believe the whole 'monsters at night' thing-- he sure hadn't--and Haseo didn't want anyone to run into those things by surprise. "But I can get you a map of the place if you want to try some other way to find out why they brought you here. I'd just need a while to copy it down." Then he could just hand it over during the night.

At that, Sanzo did open his eyes. He glared at Homura, trying to ignore just how much it stung to do so. If anything, that arrogance had come back. Who did he think he was?!

"I don't have to answer to you or explain myself, asshole," Sanzo snapped. He only answered to the Three Aspects, and even then, it was sometimes grudgingly.

But he certain didn't have to explain away whatever Kenren had spilled. At least from the sound of it, he'd surprisingly showed a small amount of tact; he'd been smart enough not to tell Homura much of anything for some reason.

What the hell good did it do to Homura to find out, other than another way to root around for any weaknesses. Sanzo was immediately on his guard.

"I wouldn't know whether it was or wasn't," He'd spent most of the night apparently locked in the morgue. "The only person I ran into was Kenren."

Shinichi knew as soon as Roland started acting like the spokesman in a pain reliever commercial that he was in for a doozy. The older man confirmed exactly what Heiji and Kaito had told him this morning, almost to the letter. Definitely a point in their favor, as hard to believe as it was.

He'd seen some...weird things in the last few months, some of which didn't always obey the basic laws of science. Maybe it was time to suspend disbelief, just a little.

The detective scribbled down what Roland said in a messy shorthand that made sense only to himself, not looking up until he'd finished. "So what sort of world do you come from, if not this one?"

Ah, and there was the man of the moment. "Hey Josh!" Sanae gave a wave. "Yeah, I was just catching up a bit with Shiki here; nice to see that you've met each other." Well, now this was convenient: he didn't have to go hunting for anyone else, and while making acquaintances was no problem at all, meeting familiar faces so soon made getting his bearings just that much easier.

He listened as Shiki explained the situation with Neku. It was as if they had talked to another parallel version of Neku: the basic scheme was the same by the sounds of things, but there were a few key differences. "Less emo", for example, didn't sound like the Phones he knew at all; in fact, if he were to name some of Neku's defining traits, "emo" or some variation of it would have made the list.

"It sounds like an alternate or parallel version of him," Sanae observed. "Don't know if I'm right about that, but that's my guess. And...what's up with the fake names anyway?" At first he thought that they had just simply mixed him up, but with what Shiki had said, it sounded almost as if the Institute purposely assigned fake names.

[fine with me /o/]

"Ah, I should have guessed as much; I noticed your post on the board about a partner for the night," Kratos said. "I'd have replied, but Miss Sage will be out tonight, so the clinic needs my presence." Even more so since he had promised to mend Guy's arm this night.

He sighed. "I suppose I'll have to take a night off some time; a swordsman isn't much if he doesn't have a weapon."

She shrugged. "There's nothing you have to do. Everyone's contributing in their own way."

Speaking of... "In that vein, Yukari, could I get your opinion on the theories we've made? Don't feel obligated." Renamon felt a twinge of guilt at involving the girl, as she did with Orihime, but Yukari was intelligent. She might have something to add, a new perspective not seen.

Renamon just hoped that she wouldn't add more weight to the girl's shoulders.

"That's great!" Forcing a smile that wasn't quite as convincing as she would have liked, Anise dropped her arms and shifted back into her initial, more natural-looking sitting position with her hands on top of her knees. At this point, she was happy to be hearing any good news. Hopefully Guy was going to be back in action after tonight.

He was going with Claude again, huh? It looked like those two were getting to be pretty close friends. Looking at them made Anise realize she didn't have a lot of strong relationships with the other patients, even if she did have a lot of casual friends and acquaintances. Maybe tomorrow she would try and catch up with some of them. Right, and she was going to meet Claude's friend too...

Before she could get too lost in her thoughts, Anise realized the nurses were starting to round up patients for the evening. "...Ah. Looks like it's almost dinnertime." The girl hopped to her feet and flashed Guy a bright yet somewhat weak smile. "I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, then!"

She tried not to let herself dread the coming night too much. It was still possible that things were going to work out okay. As long as that possibility existed, she had to try to stay positive.

"Of course there is," Yukari responded, furrowing her brow. "I can't sit around and wait for things to happen. I need to be able to actually make a difference, somehow. I know I'm not the strongest person out there, but... I'm tired of just aimlessly going places. I need to know what to do."

She then fell silent for a moment, hands folded together in her lap, before eventually turning her sights back toward Renamon. "You understand, right? You've done a lot already, so you must feel the same way, too."

At the offer, Yukari blinked in what was some mixture of vague surprise and interest. How could she deny? Information was information, and with Mitsuru here now, she definitely needed as much as she could. "Alright, shoot."

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Day 37: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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