damned_institute | 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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Martin Landel was back on the intercom… what did that mean? And it was a ‘therapy day’…

With the pleasant breakfast conversation now over with, Tsubaki’s thoughts began to return to their original dark tones as she was led back to the library. She’d seen a few of the faces from last night in the cafeteria, but no one had replied to her message. What bothered her the most was that she couldn’t have expected them to. The kinds of things that could be happening at night…

She paused in front of a bookshelf without conscious thought, trailing her fingertips against a few spines idly. Names were slow to register. The Last of the Mohicans, Jane Eyre… Many titles she didn’t know. Only a few rang very distant bells in the back of her mind, like Gulliver’s Travels, as though she’d heard the name before, but couldn’t place where it’d come from.

Would it be worth it to take a book and try to read?

After moving further up the alphabet, something in the ‘F’ section caught her eye. Frankenstein? Tsubaki pulled it down, moving to look inside out of growing curiosity, until a sound from nearby made her instinctively look around the shelf to see where it had come from.

The book in her hand was forgotten when she recognized the owner of that dark head of hair. “Tachibana-san…” she blurted. Quiet though it’d been, she still bit her lip. She’d definitely seen him coming out of those rooms last night, but he looked like he was in the middle of resting at the table, and out of need, not want.

At the sound of his name--and used properly, even--Shito looked up tiredly. He didn't really recognise the person who had spoken, but clearly she recognised him. They must have spoken at some point, but whatever had happened hadn't stuck in Shito's mind terribly well. Her face was vaguely familiar, but that wasn't very helpful--no name seemed to be springing to mind, so Shito returned her greeting with a vague grunt. "Yes?"

It was at that point someone like Black☆Star would jump onto the table and demand to know what had happened and who to beat up, but Tsubaki only curled her fingers around the book and moved closer so that she could still be heard while keeping her voice down.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you," she said, dipping her head. No use pretending she hadn't, or that she wasn't the slightest bit concerned. He definitely looked more rough around the edges than he had the day before. "I won't stay long. It's just... I saw you last night, in the disciplinary therapy corridor." And I wanted to see if everything was all right was normally something one would say, but the situation obviously wasn't, and so Tsubaki left the words unsaid.

The question came soft, but unwavering: "You were taken up there, weren't you?"

[backthread?]

Ah. So, she'd seen. Shito personally thought that the logical thing to do, after seeing something like that, was to leave the person alone to recover. But this girl clearly disagreed. At least she didn't ask if he was okay, since clearly he wasn't; the question she did as was pretty dumb, too, but at least not insulting. "... Yeah. During dinner." These were not memories Shito particularly wanted to re-examine.

_{[Aye aye! We rock the backthreads. Though maybe this might be our last post? :O]}

During dinner. Which meant that entire incident had been considered part of the “sleep study,” and also… that he’d been up there all that time. What did they do? What did they want? How often did they do such things? Why did they pick who they did?

It wasn’t that Tsubaki didn’t know what else to say, but that there wasn’t anything she could say.

What powers people did have seemed to be repressed, there were strong, dangerous creatures roaming the halls at night, and the people imprisoned inside were ill-equipped with both weapons and information. Everyone was… limited. “I’m sorry no one was able to do anything for you,” was what she eventually said, putting her hands behind her back so that he wouldn’t see she was still squeezing the book. “I’m sorry.” The calm tone of voice belied what lay underneath her apologies.

And because that was it, she shifted her weight, smiling faintly as though to say All right, I’m going now, and decided to leave him in peace.

Day 38: Patients' Library

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject