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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Had he ever read either of the books? Yukito honestly wasn't certain, and considering that the majority of his memories hadn't actually happened he probably never would be. Still, he was familiar with them as though he had, so perhaps that meant his other self had read them?

He really did need to stop dwelling on this. Yukito reached over to trade books with the boy, then paused in reaction when Ritsuka suddenly became wary. "Well, I've been wondering who you were ever since then," he replied, with a smile. He hadn't quite expected the author of those notes to be quite so young, but it did make sense. "Is your friend okay?"

Ritsuka relaxed slightly at the smile and extended his hand again, reaching out in return for Yukito's book. Tsukishiro Yukito. The name didn't jog unpleasant memories, which meant he was likely on the people who had been...taken. He was one of the victims of this horrible place.

Eyes downcast, Ritsuka pulled the book into his lap and opened it to the first page. His eyes traced over the words, but his mind refused to register any of them. "No. We're...not getting along right now." Ritsuka really didn't want to think about Soubi. "Are you okay though?"

"...ah. I'm sorry to hear that." And he really did sound sorry, like they weren't just empty words. Yukito glanced down toward the book without really looking at it, absently riffling through the pages. He wasn't really in the mood to read anything at the moment, no matter what book he was holding; he didn't think he could focus.

He looked up again and smiled brightly in response to the question, though, trying to be reassuring. "Oh, you don't have to worry about me," he insisted. "I'm all right, really." Not that he looked entirely all right, not with how stiffly he was holding himself, but he hadn't sustained those injuries on that night and didn't see the need to mention them.

Yukito sounded like a sincere person. He didn't even know Soubi or why he and Ritsuka were fighting or anything and yet he really did sound like he felt sorry that they were fighting. Usually Ritsuka hated it when people said things like 'I'm sorry' without knowing anything about the situation, but then he'd been growing used to Soubi's meaningless apologies lately, so hearing a real one was something of a pleasant surprise. "Yeah," Ritsuka mumbled, looking at his book. "Me, too."

He wished that moron would just trust him, but now that Kio was back, it seemed Soubi was more willing to turn to an adult than to his Sacrifice. Or maybe Soubi had never wanted Ritsuka as his Sacrifice. Maybe Soubi could do better without Ritsuka tagging along.

But now Yukito was trying to insist he was 'fine' and Ritsuka just gave him a look. "I understand if you don't want people to worry, but you won't be able to convince people if you don't actually look fine. Besides, people come in here to read and you haven't cracked open a single book. What's wrong?"

Now that he'd met Ritsuka much of the conversation he remembered from the bulletin board made sense. The boy really did seem to care quite a bit about people, even if some of the comments on the board had been grumpy enough to have come from his other self.

Yue, however, refused to react to that gently teasing comment, even though Yukito could tell he was aware of it.

At Ritsuka's question, though, he only shook his head slightly, still smiling. "Oh, I got hurt a little last night, that's all," he replied, giving a mildly embarrassed chuckle as he lifted a hand to his bandaged chest. "Maybe I'm just having a hard time concentrating because I hit my head, too."

There wasn't really anything that Ritsuka could do for either of them, really, so there was no need to burden him with any of their own problems. He'd already been upset enough about the other night without knowing exactly what had happened.

If Yukito had been taken, then that night something must have happened to him. How could he recover so quickly when Soubi was still reeling from the effects? Maybe what happened to Yukito hadn't been as bad? Or maybe Soubi was just taking it harder than Yukito did. The Fighter had worn the name Beloved like a badge of pride earned through a bloody war and the names carved into him now were just cruel. Ritsuka wanted to erase them, but Soubi didn't trust him enough to let him that close.

"If you hit your head, you should see one of the daytime nurses. You might have a concussion." While Ritsuka was inclined to distrust the staff here for the most part, he couldn't deny that they did take good medical care of them during the day. And then, of all ironic things to do, Ritsuka decided to lecture the older teen. "And who was with you? You shouldn't go out tonight if you're already having issues with concentration."

The lecture on taking care of himself was rather unexpected, enough that Yukito blinked once at his new acquaintance in surprise, mouth twitching slightly as he tried not to laugh. He was so very serious about it all, it was kind of cute. Ritsuka would almost certainly not appreciate being laughed at, though.

After that moment's pause, though, he was quick to reply, feeling rather oddly wary of any of the medical staff at this point. "Oh, no, I'm fine. Really." Yukito would much rather just deal with it and dose himself with the pills Ken had given him than ask a nurse for anything, after his encounter with the doctor the other night.

Or...rather, Yue's encounter. Was that wariness another example of his other self's personality bleeding over into his own? He blinked again, realizing he'd let himself get distracted, and smiled for Ritsuka's benefit. "I've taken a few bumps before playing sports back home, this really isn't bad at all."

Was Yukito going to laugh at him? Turning away, Ritsuka buried his nose in the book in front of him, trying to look like he wasn't mortified that someone would laugh at him after he tried to give them advice. What was so funny about a younger kid giving an older one a little tidbit of common sense? It was sound advice anyway!

"If you say so," Ritsuka said, a little tightlipped now. His eyes skimmed over the first page and he turned the page to the second. "But the Clinic is in M35 if you need anything. They have healers and medicals supplies, run by a teenager named Tamaki Suoh. I'm sure you've heard of him."

Glancing at Yukito out of the corner of his eyes, he caught the smile and then quickly looked away again. He didn't know why he cared so much for strangers. Back home, he really hadn't until... Well, until everything changed. Soubi, Yuiko, Yayoi, the Zeroes - all of them had changed him somewhat. "Yeah...well, the advice stands," he finally said, relaxing a little as he divided his attention between the book and Yukito. "It's stupid to go out and try anything when you're not feeling close to one hundred percent."

Oh, dear. Ritsuka apparently had caught his amusement and wasn't very pleased. "I've heard about the clinic," Yukito replied, a note of apology in his tone. "If we--I'm not feeling better by tonight then perhaps I'll stop by."

He was a lot more likely to seek help from other patients than from the Institute staff, after all, but he still didn't think his own injuries were worth wasting a healer's time, when they could be helping people who really needed it.

"I do appreciate the advice, Ritsuka-kun. It's very kind of you to offer it." He leaned back in his chair again, finally opening the book, but only flipped the pages without really paying too much attention to what was written on them.

We? Was Yukito's friend hurt, too? That would make sense, seeing how no one here was really dumb enough to go wandering around by themeselves. At least, he hoped people weren't doing that. "Is your friend hurt, too? The Clinic is there to help so don't think about holding back just because you don't want to get in the way or something."

Even though Ritsuka would do that exact same thing. Come to think of it, perhaps he should go out and resupply for Tamaki sometime or another. He had to guess that they were running low on bandages and the like. Putting his book down for a moment, Ritsuka looked over at Yukito, turning his full attention to him again. "What's bugging you anyway? I know I don't know you all that well, but, um...I'm good at listening, if that helps any."

"My friend...? Oh. No, I don't think so." Ritsuka must have been asking about the person he'd been with the night before, Yukito decided. He was fairly sure Fai hadn't been badly injured while he was with him, and the bulletin board post had said he was fine. (Of course, Yukito himself had insisted he was just a little sore, so he had to take that with a grain of salt.)

He looked momentarily startled at the boy's question, though. How would he even begin to explain what he'd been thinking about? Plus it wasn't the most cheerful kind of thing, and nothing he wanted to trouble his new friend with at all; Ritsuka seemed to have enough worries of his own without being concerned about others'.

"I've just had a lot on my mind lately, I suppose," he replied, trying to shrug without moving too much. It was true, too, especially considering that he and Yue were sharing their minds to an extent that he'd never even thought would be possible. "It's kind of complicated and..." Yukito paused there for a second, then finally admitted, "the other night didn't make it any better."

That was a complete understatement, if he'd ever heard one.

Yukito apparently hadn't meant a friend when he slipped and said 'we.' So then, who had he been talking about? Ritsuka couldn't figure it out and he didn't like that. People just didn't include others in healings or whatever unless there was a tie there. However, Ritsuka didn't know Yukito well enough to figure out what he meant and the vague answers he was getting hinted that Yukito wasn't going to talk about it. Letting that conversation line drop, Ritsuka settled back in the chair and watched as the guy thought up something to say.

Ritsuka almost expected another excuse, or a brush-off, so when Yukito gave him an answer (albeit a roundabout one), his ears perked up. "Complicated is to be expected, and like I said - I'm good at listening. If you need to get it off your chest, I mean. That helps sometimes, you know?" Hell, he could use that right now about his problems with Soubi, but he didn't really have anyone to talk to right now. Miku was always there, but...well, she had a boyfriend or something now so Ritsuka didn't want to intrude. "What happened last night?"

"Oh, well. Last night." Yukito's mouth quirked in a somewhat self-conscious grin. "I was out exploring with a friend and we ran into something really strange. I guess maybe we should have run away, but..." But Yue had decided not to take a chance that the being might attack Fai, and had shot first with the intention of asking questions later. Unfortunately, there hadn't been much of a later.

He shook his head a little. "After it attacked, though, it...I don't know exactly what it did. Somehow it transported the both of us to different places in the building. I got a little banged up, I guess, but I'm really fine. It's not that bad."

There he paused for a moment, then tilted his head a little as his expression turned concerned. "What about you, Ritsuka-kun? I don't know if I can do much to help either, other than listen, but I do that a lot back at home."

Something that transported people around? What kind of weird monster was that? He hadn't heard about anything of that sort on the bulletins. Maybe people were keeping quiet about it? But why do that? Ritsuka hated having so many unanswered questions and it set him on edge again. Not that it was Yukito's fault, or really anyone's fault. No one had any answers but the Head Doctor and that guy wasn't likely to tell them anything useful.

Dropping his gaze, Ritsuka furrowed his brow as he thought about what that might mean for his friends here. Monsters could not only hurt you, but separate you from your allies. Without the Battle System in place and without any sort of real skill at defense, that would put Ritsuka at a sharp disadvantage. And it'd make Soubi worry. And what about Miku? Or even Tamaki? Or the Twins? If they were separated from their friends or their protectors, what would they do? "Well," Ritsuka said, bringing himself back to the conversation. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right? At least neither of you were badly hurt, even if you were separated."

Ritsuka wasn't ready for the conversation to turn to him though. The boy jolted a bit and then he scrunched down further in his chair, looking at the book with renewed interest. "Thanks, but I'm fine." Great way to take his own advice. He wanted to kick himself in the head, but at the same time, he really didn't want people knowing about his issues with Soubi. They'd get the wrong idea and then...well, who knew what they might do. "I'm stronger than I look."

Clearly something about what he'd said had upset Ritsuka at least a little. Had he run into whatever that thing was before? Or was he just concerned, for whatever reason? Well, whatever it was, it didn't seem like the boy wanted to explain any of it, so.

"I'm certain you are. Especially if you can survive in a place like this." Yukito started to lean against the arm of his chair, then winced slightly and straightened again as he re-thought that idea. "You know, I had some friends about your age at home. Well, all right, it was my best friend's little sister and her friends, but since she was almost like my little sister sometimes..."

He trailed off, looking almost wistful for a moment. Not that Ritsuka was all that similar to Sakura - either the real one or the almost-real one that had visited the other day - but still, it was kind of like being back at home. "I mean, it's just...well, if you do need anything?" And he smiled again, openly and quite sincerely friendly and concerned.

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Day 38: Patients' Library

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