damned_institute | Day 38: Patients' Library

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Day 38: Patients' Library

The intercom rang out, disrupting what had turned out to be a rather pointless breakfast conversation, at least in Brainiac 5's eyes. He couldn't wait to put more distance between himself and Scar's blather of how logic, of all things, might not work the same way in this dimension. It was almost enough to make him believe that the man may very well have been a lion originally after all, as he'd never heard anything so very... ignorant and uneducated.

He quickly finished up the fruit he'd been nibbling on - he was no longer as hungry as he had been - and looked around automatically to see where Clark was. Unfortunately with the press of people around, some being led off to the library and others to the mentioned 'therapy sessions' - if that was what they really were - he had lost sight of the Kryptonian. Still there wasn't many places he could go, so Brainiac 5 would be able to catch up with him eventually to check on his condition and try and learn more about what had happened last night. That the Chapel had healed him - admittedly by passing his injuries to another - was interesting, but far more important in his eyes was what had happened to Clark and his powers. They hadn't been working correctly and that worried the Coluan boy more than he would normally have admitted. Without Clark's abilities... he wasn't sure what they would have to rely on in order to escape.

Another problem he would have to deal with was Grell... or, if he was to believe the notes on the bulletin board, the person pretending to be Grell. But that was going to require more careful planning before he made a move. Come to think of it, he had agreed to meet another in the library today on that same post that had sparked this whole mess. At least then he would have something of interest to look forward to, as he doubted any of the 21st century books were likely to be worthwhile to someone of his advanced intellect.

Following the nurses led him to what must have been the library; a reasonably large room filled with a range of archaic books on tall shelves, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the room. The Coluan boy couldn't refrain from wrinkling his nose in distaste as he entered the room, not liking the cumbersome books and the dust that he knew would have gathered on them; he much preferred the clean arrangement of his C.O.M.P.U.T.O. systems back in the Legion headquarters. It was much more practical then shelves and shelves of books on fictional worlds and dated information.

Trying to avoid as much of the room as possible, Brainiac 5 settled himself down on a chair to wait, keeping an eye out for a tall, dark-haired man with a red... something on his forehead.

[for Homura]

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For Xigbar, the night had been... a series of mixed results. His left arm and his ribs were heavily bandaged- made sense, considering he'd been impaled and stabbed a few times over- but man had he made some progress! Not only had he added a few steel needles to his armaments, but he'd also concluded that there were several new things that had to be investigated. Number one, the fact that the nurses had given up following him. Number two, the fact that one nurse had left the other to die. And number three, the fact that nothing had happened once he'd dragged the corpse into his own room, yet it was gone- even though the needles were still in his position. There were some screwy rules going on with this place, but he was still going to try to figure it out as best he could.

Still, for now, it was time for some fun. That was why he waltzed right into the patient's library, whistling a jaunty tune and ignoring any attempt to actually read anything. He wasn't really a reading sort of person; he would if he had to, but otherwise, nope, not interested. What he was interested in, on the other hand, was one girl who seemed to be having even less luck than Xigbar in finding some interesting reading material. Well heck, couldn't have that, now could he?

So he stopped whistling for a second, quietly walked up behind the girl, and teasingly said, "The words are in the books, dude. Not gonna get much just staring at the spines."

Yukari, obviously, hadn't been paying much attention to her surroundings-- it was kind of funny how focused she was on 'jeez, all of these suck'. Naturally then, she hadn't noticed when someone approached her from behind, and the voice did nothing short of startling her.

With a short 'ah!', the girl spun around; immediately after, she looked sheepish for such a silly reaction... What a way to make a first impression.

"Yeah, I know," Yukari quickly responded, and hopefully downplayed what she did well enough. "You tell me which one of these won't put me to sleep, and maybe I'll be able to."

"Oh yes, of course!" ZEX did so love this topic of conversation, and it showed in his voice. "Your tiny double eyes, your bizarre bone structure, your smooth thin skin, your stiff, hard limbs..." Trailing off a little bit in thought before returning to the conversation. "You humans are such tragically beautiful creatures, you know! I don't think I'll ever get enough of you..."

ZEX only saw movement away as an invitation to follow. He grinned, still rubbing Teisel's hand in the meantime. Human skin felt lovely. "Oh, I'm sure you're good for many things. Hee! Hee! Hee!" ZEX wasn't familiar enough with human expressions to pick up on the change, and instead stayed with his own thoughts. "The real fun is discovering just which things they are..."

Yes, acceptance of his proposal! ZEX was really very good at this. That or humans were easy. "Wonderful, I'm glad you have a passion for it just as I do! Are you suggesting a meeting at night, where there will be less... restrictions?" ZEX thought for a moment about the board... he hadn't committed to traveling with that Mello person just yet, but on the other hand, getting his file probably WOULD be important... well, he'd have to see what Teisel said. If it was "take me, I'm yours", well, that was an offer he'd be hardpressed to refuse.

When Yukari spun around, she'd see that Xigbar had a grin plastered on his face. It was the simple things in life, it really was; something as small as just getting a great reaction was always a good way to start the day. Even better because of the way she was obviously not wanting to call attention to it. Cute kid, and stuff.

Of course there was the little teensy problem of Xigbar finding absolutely none of these books fascinating in the least. Therefore, when told as such by the girl, he simply blinked and shrugged. "You ask me, pretty much all of these are a one-way ticket to Snoozeville. Real waste o' time." As he said that, he made a dismissive motion with his right hand. The entire thing was pretty much a wash so far as he was concerned... and needless to say, he was speaking in what disapproving school marms would term an 'outside voice,' because screwing with people was far more amusing than being a good little boy.

"So, what, is that a cue for someone interesting to come bother you?"

Truth be told, Schuldig was every bit as bored as Reno - and, more than that, he needed to shake off some of the unsettling feeling of having been nice visibly, in public. The fact that he liked Artemis might mean that he was willing to do it, if necessary, but it wasn't enough to keep him from feeling as though his credibility had taken a palpable hit; he needed to harass someone just to prove to the world and himself that a momentary lapse hadn't actually lessened his percentage of absolute bastard.

Although, truth be told, he wasn't entirely invested in alienating Reno; at least, not yet. It had been awhile since Rufus' disappearance, long enough for the friction between them to potentially have lessened somewhat - and Rufus' removal had removed one main source of conflict between them, with Crawford's subsequent vanishing almost making it feel as though they had something in common. It was entirely possible that he could turn Reno into some sort of ally now, or at least someone entertaining to spend time with. It all depended upon Reno's reaction, however; if he was still openly hostile, then it was no great loss and Schuldig could settle quite happily for tormenting him.

Dias' frustration with the lack of progress the night before - there had been nothing hindering him and Lust, and yet they still hadn't even made it past the sun room; was the flow of time itself somehow affected within the institute? - had led him to brood over his breakfast in private, and he'd been intending to continue to keep to himself (something he was uncommonly good at) within the quiet confines of the library. But upon spotting Claude, it felt as though he'd be wasting an opportunity to coordinate with his rival if he didn't approach him.

"Looking for something?" he remarked, moving up silently behind Claude ~~and squashing his kneejerk impulse to point out how easily he'd flanked the younger man; he was, he hoped, getting a little better at not starting all conversations off on an antagonistic note~~.

Ophelia actually tensed for a brief moment when she first saw the face of the man who had been sat down in front of her. She could have sworn in that moment that she had been confronted with a yoma and hadn't been able to sense it coming. The moment quickly passed, however; this was certainly one of the oddest-looking humans she had yet seen, but human he was, not yoma. At least as far as Landel's was concerned, anyway. Who knows what you might have been back home, Ophelia thought with a raised eyebrow.

She noticed him writing something down in one of the slim books in front of him as she continued her badly-drawn sketches. It wasn't until the man had been looking straight at her for over a minute that she deigned to look back up at him. "What is it? You're staring at me as though doing so for long enough will cause me to spontaneously combust." A pause, and the Claymore cracked a playful smirk. "Or flirt with you. Both are equally fantastical ideas."

'You humans?' Now the guy was sounding more like Yuna, except Yuna at least looked like a human. It sounded like Zex didn't. He was going to ask what exactly Zex was, but he was too poleaxed by being called tragically beautiful to say much of anything for the moment. He did, however, have the presence of mind to notice that his mouth was hanging open, and closed it.

He had to admire the admiral's tenacity. Teisel leaned away, and the guy just kept right at it. Firmly keeping his mind off of whatever it was Zex thought he was good for, Teisel decided it was time to take a more active role in the discussion. "Well, I'm not too bad at fighting, for one thing," he offered. Teisel didn't think of himself as a thug, per se, but he'd been in enough fights, with people as well as reaverbots, to be a pretty serious brawler. "Just the other night, in fact, I beat the snot out of a giant squirrel without too much trouble." Okay, it had been some trouble, and he'd had some help, but he had to sell himself on something. He was more than just a pretty face, after all. ...All right, so he was more than just a face of some description. "And, not to brag or anything, but I have a great sense of direction." Mother above, this was sounding like some weird personal ad. 'Single male air pirate seeks allies for nighttime exploring and monster ass-kicking. Enjoys bubble baths and high explosives.'

"Oh, I'm nothing if not passionate," Teisel said, voice high with nervousness. He was passionate about robotics, and Digging, and laying seige to various things, sure. He wasn't exactly lying. He'd never used his masculine wiles to rope himself an ally before; this was surprizingly easy. As long as he didn't let it go too far, that is. "There's not a whole lot we can do during the day, that's for sure." No monsters, and the nurses watched them like hawks. "I guess it has to be at night, doesn't it?" Maybe he could actually get something done for a change...

With a sigh, Yukari then deemed her mission a failure; this guy was right, there was no arguing about it.

"Looks like it'll be another exciting day," she groaned, mostly to herself. She couldn't exactly say she was looking for excitement, however-- in fact, she'd be perfectly content with things being nice and quiet, and while it was pretty quiet (well, except for the man's voice in a library), so far there wasn't anything particularly nice about it.

Falis looked up from her detailed drawing of Yukari's Persona (didn't that idiot call it Io or something?) at the sound of her name. Oh, it was... what's-his-name. It took her a moment before the scar on the man's face refreshed her memory.

"Mm." Seeing this man reminded her that she hadn't seen Mozenrath around lately. Pity.

"You look about as fucking bored as I am, Scar. Not one for books?"

Ryuk smiled a little when she spoke but continued to watch until she gave him a good idea. 'Spontaneously combusts' he wrote, trying again. Maybe default deaths were the problem. Maybe he had to be creative here.

Then again...it could be her name. He was about to ask it when she made such a frightful suggestion as flirting. The pen leaped from his hand and he stared is slight horror before collecting himself (and the pen) and hiding behind his Death Note and watching her from there.

Sora hadn't really expected to almost get bumped into by someone a little bit older than him and a whole lot taller than him. Startled for a moment, he reached out to grab for a nearby shelf in order to steady himself. That had been a close one!

"It's okay," he quickly assured the other patient. "These aisles are pretty narrow..." Even though there were already so many people here that it probably wouldn't matter, Sora did his best to keep his voice down. This was still a library.

So far, Sora hadn't found any book that looked like it would suit him. Most of them were fairly long, so he wasn't sure how anyone would have the time to read the whole thing unless they were a really fast reader, which he wasn't.

In the end, talking to someone or at least trying to help them out seemed like a better option. "Were you looking for a particular book?" he asked the stranger. "I could help look if you want."

Near had spent breakfast alone, actually having remembered to eat some thanks to the nurse's nagging him about slowing his recovery and his own hunger pangs. Yet despite the woman's warnings, his arm had recovered significantly; certainly more than a single day should have yielded in a boy who took less than adequate care of himself. Still, the injury was still severe, and his left arm remained heavily bandaged and in a sling for the time being. Reading anything in the library would be bothersome, but Near would be able to manage.

Assuming that there was anything worth reading.

Of course, they lacked any non-fiction materials, anything that would give the patients a clue to the outside world. Near didn't find this surprising in the least; clues could be found in details left for patients to look over, answers that might lead to a solution. Instead they were just left to their own endeavors, with no way to verify if the theories were correct. Mello intended to take advantage of that, and offer hope to the patients. But what would ultimately be gained by it?

Near turned a corner, and saw a man looking rather dumbfounded as he stared into a book. It only took a moment to see that he'd hardly gone into it, perhaps opening no more than one or two pages of the thick volume. To cause such a reaction in a fictional novel, Near could only think of two things: the man was staring at the publication date, or he had somehow stumbled on his own story. The likelihood of the later was minimal: the institute could of course do such a thing, but if they did, certainly that person would be shown the novel--or warned against it--in the name of therapy during the day.

"They take us all from different times and dimensions." Near spoke quietly, offering nothing but that statement. His eyes were turned away from the man, and his unharmed right hand reached up to curl a lock of his hair. No doubt he was from after the date in the book--someone from the future wouldn't be surprised to see a novel that was already in print.

It had been rough, and what should have been a productive night had just fallen apart. It had been the last straw that had gotten him to throw caution to the wind in regards to the bulletin. Considering Sylar already knew that he was here and probably had a pretty good idea of where his room was, Peter didn't see any point in hiding. Getting the word out was more important - he just hoped people actually paid attention to it.

He didn't have the energy to put on a smile or try to act like things were any better than they were. He knew he tended to wear his heart on his sleeve, and he was just glad that Roland was being patient with him.

At the mention of the visitor, a whole other slew of unpleasant feelings were brought up, but Peter focused on answering the man. "No, no, that's all right. Things got pretty hectic, I guess. Umm... how've you been?" He didn't know if he could just bring himself to spill the beans about what had happened so easily, and it was unfair to dump everything on Roland. The man would probably see the bulletin message eventually, and then he would know.

Indy looked at the page again to make sure his eyes weren't going bad. Then he put it back onto the shelf and took another book, this one by the equally unfamiliar John Grisham. Its publication date read 1994.

A voice behind him made him turn sharply to see an apparently young man with white hair (why the hell were the kids here obsessed with doing such bizarre things to themselves anyway, he griped mentally). There was no one else around to whom he could have been speaking, but he wasn't looking at Indy. The kid had to be out of his mind.

"Oh, come on," Indy snapped. "People have been asking me to believe completely crazy things ever since I got here, but this is just too much. If anything, Landel has printed up a couple of books with future publication dates just to pile time travel onto all the other delusions everyone here seems to be having."

But even as he said it, part of him--the part that had seen rocks turn white-hot and carpenter's cups heal gunshot wounds--had to wonder if it might not have some basis in fact after all. It would go a long way toward explaining why Pierson had reacted as though the radio and intercom were perfectly normal. Still, there had to be some other explanation. Preferably one that was a lot less far fetched.

Like any good detective, Shinichi knew how to keep a clear head. Eye on the ball, always one step ahead. Being able to multitask was in the job description, but so was focus. And right now, he was very focused.

Dante...Defoe...Dickens...Dickens...Dickens...Dickens...Dickens...Dickens...Doyle...Doyle!

The library's selection was limited at best, but at least they had the good taste to include Conan Doyle, even if it was just two books. After all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, it would be nice to unwind with some Holmes. Gain perspective from the master himself.

He hadn't really expected to see the mystery section of the library already occupied.

"Hey," he said distractedly, reaching for The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in case Hattori wanted to make a grab for it. "What's up?"

"Well then," Kenshin laughed, still not buying her charade, "this one apologizes for the presumption." He was still chuckling when he bent to sit near Yuffie. But not too close. That would be improper.

"Boredom?" he suggested helpfully. "Even with the nights as exciting as they are here, the days do get pretty tedious. This one finds himself missing even the most mind-numbing of the chores that Kaoru-dono had him do."

And he missed Kaoru even more.

Ophelia couldn't help but laugh out loud at the man's reaction. She had been expecting perhaps annoyance, but to get so jumpy over her small amount of teasing was nothing short of hilarious.

"Did I hit closer to home on that second one, then? Were you staring at my beautiful face, hoping I might notice your creepy stare and make a pass?" She leaned in a little closer with a slightly darker grin. "Or were you thinking something perhaps dirtier?" She was utterly disinterested in any sort of flirting or sexual encounters, but she would needle the man on that point if it would get her another reaction like that. Perhaps this man would prove to be another interesting toy for her to play with.

“Good,” Yuffie said, eyeing him reproachfully. After a long, long moment, she appeared to relax, her expression clearing; Kenshin definitely didn't believe her, and he was laughing (at her, she was willing to bet)… but he wasn't telling her off, and that was good enough for the time being “You better be sorry.”

When he sat down next to her, she offered a sunny smile. “Oh, I dunno,” she said flippantly, shuffling closer and leaning over him to grab the book that she'd dropped. “Doing the exact same thing, every day, all the time, under the watchful eyes of the amazingly interesting nurses? It's, like, totally stimulating.”

She sat back, but continued to lean against him lightly, just to see how he'd react. It was what he got for acting all proper around her. “Wanna help me build my fort?” She asked, her smile turning impish. She held the book up.

Breakfast had been so confusing and short. Kio had struggled to keep a cool head and the way his meeting with Soubi had ended left him tired and worn out. When the announcements for therapy came, he almost expected to be taken to the doctor. Wasn't this his chance of getting out of here? But instead, his nurse kindly pointed out that he would be escorted to the Library. In the few moments of being away from the table, Kio lost sight of Soubi. Frantically he tried to search for his friend, but in the sea of people it was hopeless.

With a sinking feeling, he hoped that maybe Soubi would find him. The Library, by contrast, was quiet and not so crowded. Kio walked around the shelves, looking for manga, but nothing seemed to be there. He wondered if they took out things that might have anything to do with his other life. No, no, he couldn't allow himself to think this way.

Instead, he picked up a book about some wizard and a place called Oz and sat down at a table, thumbing through it. Really, what he would have wanted was a manga. Anything to tell him where he was and what was going on outside. Anything but flying houses, red shoes and a tin man with no heart.

Claude paused once Dias spoke to him, glancing back over his shoulder. "Nothing in particular," he replied before turning a little to face him better. "Just trying to find something useful, but I guess it's not so easy."

It seemed they were seeking each other out more often these days, but with Ashton's sudden disappearance, it made sense for them to stick together. He sure as hell didn't want to see anything bad happen to his rival, after all. And Dias probably didn't want to lose another person from his world, even if Claude technically wasn't Expellian.

"Anyway, how are you?" he asked after a moment.

Tyki hadn't gotten much further than the second page when a woman sat down and, so he noticed when he looked up from his book, watched him curiously. The smile she gave him was an interesting one, though. People who smiled mischievously were usually interesting people.

"What's up, lady?" he greeted while grinning back at her.

"Not quite." Due to obvious reasons, Scar had never developed any interest in them. Now that most of his curiosity about these objects had already been fed, his interest in them was also declining. All these books did were telling stories and the feline had never quite seen the gain in listening to them (or in this care 'reading', which was only a little less tiresome than the ramblings of the next person). In addition; considering most stories here seemed to be about humans and their ridiculous habits, Scar found himself being rather confused by them anyway.

"I take it you are not too fond of them yourself?"

So the bitch was dead, hm? He couldn't help a dark smile as he read that note on the bulletin, probably more Hallelujah bleeding through than him, although he did admit to being a little glad that the girl was gone. She'd tortured him and he wouldn't have felt remorse over killing her.

He headed into the library when the nurse came for him, and quickly found a couple of books that looked relatively interesting. He picked them up and cound himself a quiet corner to sit in. There wasn't much to do on the Ptolemaios during down time, and reading was one of those things, even if he'd normally read more history than fiction. He'd had so much to catch up on in terms of learning and the factual things had been a priority.

[For Edgeworth!]

Woah woah woah! What was this girl? She was playing dirty. or, you know...one of those girls who... liked it and didn't care who they got it from, right?

The Journal Hidden Death Note fell flat on the table and he held his hands up in defense, shaking them.

"No, I just can't talk to girls!" he explained, frantically. Misa had tried to hug him once. Until now, that had been one of the scariest moments in his life.

Shinigami just didn't DO these things. Even if they did, he didn't think there were any he'd be interested in. They were like humans at times. Some too dumb, some too stuck up. But, unlike humans, there weren't so many.

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Day 38: Patients' Library

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