damned_institute | Day 39: Sun Room

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Day 39: Sun Room

That really hadn't been the breakfast she'd been expecting, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to complain. The kid made for good company, and was, if nothing else, pretty entertaining. She could've just done without the whole choking thing. That… That had been embarrassing. A bit. Okay, a lot. Yuffie was starting to get a feeling that this day was -- for once-- actually going to ping on her ‘interesting!’ meter.

Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

By the time she’d reached the Sun Room's bulletin board, a kitten on her shoulder and a pen twirling between her fingers, Yuffie was starting to put her finger on why she had that weird, nagging feeling. Though on second thought, it was less like putting her finger on it and more like it had jumped up and punched her right in the nose; the feeling wasn’t just about waffles, magicians, or tricky candy thieves. Sagara hadn't answered her bulletin post; he hadn't answered any bulletin posts. She hadn't seen that stupid, spiky head of his all morning. It was like radio silence without a radio.

Agai-- No, Yuffie cut herself off sharply, frowning. She was just jumping to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time, right? Right! And yet… instincts were instincts for a reason, and in a dump like this, who knew what could happen?

[for Okita?]

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The frown wasn't lost on Claude. He hoped he hadn't said anything wrong. The exact nature of Luke and Asch's relationship was still a mystery to him, he knew. It was probably best to tread carefully, especially now that he knew about the existence of replicas, and had strong suspicions of what that meant for Asch and Luke.

"Dreck...?" he echoed with a frown. With the way he was talking, it almost seemed like he didn't like Luke all that much. Sure, there'd been tension sometimes, but Asch wasn't exactly Mr. Smiles And Rainbows, either. Still, Claude wasn't sure he could believe Asch would be so uninterested in Luke's whereabouts. Why else would they have worked together during nightshifts, and why else would Asch have come to help him and Guy rescue Luke, if that were the case?

Still, this place could change people's perceptions. Or maybe he'd been completely off the mark about Asch and Luke from before. Wouldn't that just figure!

A little less sure of himself now, Claude rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I haven't seen Luke in awhile, but maybe he hasn't turned up yet. You two disappeared at around the same time, so..."

Asch shook his head and looked off at the wall. This was quickly going from weird to weirder. He was beginning to think maybe he had gone completely insane. That was the only logical explanation for any of this shit, wasn't it?

Although flowers sprouting out of people's arms weren't logical, no matter how you looked at it - and it wasn't as if he'd imagined them. So there probably was more to this than met the eye.

He wondered what had really gone on here, before. Had he really been here? It seemed so. And he'd been here with that replica. In a way, that almost made sense. But if he found out that the replica had gone and gotten himself killed, as well, he'd never forgive him for it. Even if they had eternity, he'd never be able to get over it.

"Guy didn't mention him," he offered, not sure what else to say.

"He...didn't?" That was a little odd, especially if they'd spoken sometime this morning. Given how close Guy and and Luke were, Claude thought for sure he would have asked anyone from his world who'd appeared (or reappeared, as it were) if they'd seen him around.

"Well, Guy doesn't really talk about Luke much these days, I guess," he admitted after a moment, his voice a little quieter now. "His disappearance must have been hard on him, you know? But, if you're here, it's possible Luke will show up again, too." They just had to keep hoping. Claude knew from firsthand experience how tough it was to lose a best friend to this place, and he hated to think Guy was going through something similar.

Maybe Guy hadn't wanted to give himself false hope. Still, something about all of this was starting to feel weird to him, even if he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He kept telling himself he needed to be careful, but it was hard to know what he needed to be careful with.

"Yeah, real hard on him," Asch said. There was bitterness in his voice that he didn't bother disguising. It was likely that this boy - what did he say his name was, Claude or something like that? - had no idea of any of the things left unspoken between he and Guy. He probably had no idea how much Asch resented that replica, either. Not that it was his business of course, but still.

"I was...really your roommate before?" he asked, wanting to change the subject. Not to mention that the whole thing was baffling him. How could he not remember this place? It sure wasn't forgettable!

Claude fell silent at that, his eyebrows furrowing. On one hand, his gut reaction was to get all defensive for Guy. (Of course it was hard on him -- it was hard for everyone, but especially people who'd lost those who were close to them. Just what the hell was Asch getting at, saying something like that?) But on the other, this was just another reminder of all the things he didn't know about his friend, along with all the other Auldrantians, and the complicated story they seemed to share.

He inwardly sighed and decided to bite his tongue for now. This was a tense situation for everyone -- the least he could do was show a bit of restraint. He ought to be able to do that for Guy, anyway.

"Yeah, we were roommates before," Claude answered after a moment. "We worked together a couple times, and I gave you some maps at one point. There should be better ones on the bulletin, though."

He glanced over toward the couch he'd left earlier. "Do you, uh, mind if we sit down?" There seemed like there was a lot to talk about, and it was more comfortable than just standing around by the wall.

Asch wondered what he'd said to make Claude go quiet. He was used to people reacting badly to him, of course, and sometimes he liked it that way just fine. But this time, he couldn't help but wonder.

"Yeah, I...we can do that," he said, his voice softening just a touch. It wasn't going to hurt him to have a conversation. Maybe he'd learn something. He turned toward the unoccupied couch and went to sit down.

"What bulletin is this?" he asked. It was probably an idiotic question, but this was the first he'd heard of such a thing.

Upon hearing the subtle change in tone, Claude's expression evened out, and he relaxed a little more. As he followed Asch back to the couch, he couldn't help but glance around, seeing all the new faces scattered through the room. A part of him hoped he'd catch sight of Ashton among the new batch of patients. Even if he'd been mind-wiped, too, it would have been better than not knowing what had become of him.

Of course, if he'd been mind-wiped, then he wondered if his memories of what had happened on Expel and Nede would be the same as they had been before. Would he remember his close relationship with Dias? His stomach tightened at that thought, though it was hard to tell whether it was because he felt bad for Dias, or if there was something else mixed in there, too.

Now that he thought about it, if someone was mind-wiped enough times, would their memories of life before start to suffer as well? Did that explain why his memories didn't completely match up with his friends'? The thought was unsettling -- almost terrifying, really, but he knew now wasn't the time to stew about things like that. Especially since he was supposed to be talking with Asch right then.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to Asch after he'd gotten settled on the couch. "It's the bulletin they keep in this room," he explained, gesturing over to the eastern wall. "Between the music and game rooms. The captives here tend to use it to keep in touch with each other during the day."

Asch made note to remember the bulletin. He might have to use it for something, at some point. Guy hadn't mentioned it, but then, it seemed that Guy hadn't mentioned everything. He supposed it was typical, but it stung him more than he would have cared to admit.

"I see. I didn't know that," he said, knowing it wasn't a necessary comment and saying it anyway. "What kind of things did you say we did before?"

Even though he was sure there was some kind of mistake, it wouldn't hurt to know whatever it was Claude was talking about.

"Well, let's see..." Claude scratched his chin, trying to figure out what he wanted to say, and how he ought to word it. "We'd usually eat dinner together and stuff since that's what roommates here do. But not long after I arrived here, you, Luke and I headed upstairs and tried to look for our things." They'd all toppled on top of each other like a set of dominoes while trying to bust open the already-unlocked door, and Asch had gotten a bloody nose, but he chose to leave that part out.

"We didn't find them, unfortunately," he added, "but it seems like some people randomly find their clothes in their closets. Like, I got my uniform back awhile ago, but I have no idea how or why. It's really weird."

He couldn't help but recall that time Asch had unintentionally saved him from getting his uniform taken away by a nurse. Man, that would have sucked so bad. He'd been extra careful with his things after that particular evening.

"We went upstairs together another time, too, but yeah..." He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing away for a moment. That had been when Luke had been taken for experiments, and Asch had unexpectedly joined him and Guy in their efforts to rescue him. Claude was hesitant to go into details with that, especially given the very obvious tension that seemed to attach itself to the three of them.

"I remember there was a riot the next morning," he suddenly continued in an effort to keep Asch from asking questions about that particular incident. "It was so crazy."

So he'd been working with that replica before? Huh. It wasn't entirely out of the question, of course, but he wasn't sure why he'd want to stay near him much of the time. Especially not if Guy was around. Guy enjoyed babysitting, after all, didn't he? Easier to let it go than anything else.

Well, whatever, it was irrelevant now.

"I noticed that my roommate had different clothes than these horrible things in his closet. He wasn't wearing them, though, so maybe they weren't there before. I...hadn't thought of that. Makes no damn sense."

He paused for a moment, then asked, "A riot? Was anyone able to get away then? How close do they monitor us during the day, anyway?"

"There's no doubt that they've got all our stuff somewhere," Claude said. "For some reason, they're choosy about who gets to find some of it, though." Maybe it should have been strange that he'd been singled out like that, but he was glad to have something tangible from his old life before. Things like that were pretty reassuring, especially given all the weird memory differences among his friends. "I'm sure there's a way to get our powers back, too."

As for the riot, he remembered it pretty well. He, Guy and Asch had been sitting at a table, waiting for Luke to come out for breakfast, when it'd happened. "No, they suppressed it pretty fast," he said quietly. "It was awful. Everyone who'd tried fighting back blacked out, and then they rounded us up and locked us in our rooms for awhile." That had been the day the radio man died, hadn't it? Even though the events probably hadn't had much to do with each other, it was odd that they'd fall on the same day.

He sighed. "As far as I know, no one's ever been able to escape. It's almost impossible to get away with anything during the day without getting sedated, and at night you have to worry about the experiments and the monsters. It doesn't matter how far you go -- once the night is over, you wake up in your bed as if you hadn't been out in the first place."

"How the hell do they do that?!" Asch said, shocked into anger. He didn't really do well with reacting to things without getting mad, and as far as he was concerned, it was well-warranted.

"It's like some giant fucking rat trap, the way I understand it. You get out, then wake up back in bed? That's crazier than anyone in here could even possibly be."

He pushed his hair back up again. Without work, it didn't stay out of his face, and that was annoying the hell out of him. "Do you think the town or whatever is out there is run by the people who brought us all here in the first place?"

"I don't know," Claude said quietly, his hand clenching into a fist. It could have been all sorts of things. Heraldry, or maybe they'd all been implanted with something that knocked them out whenever it suited Landel. Maybe that was how the gap between nightshift and the mornings could be explained. Regardless, he didn't blame Asch for feeling angry. It was really horrible, the mess they were all in.

Crazier than anyone in here could possibly be. That was a good way to word it. There had to be some kind of purpose behind all this -- why else go through all the trouble? -- but Claude sure as hell couldn't figure out what it was.

"I can't say for sure," he answered when Asch brought up the town. "I wouldn't be surprised if it fell under its sphere of influence somehow, but I don't think the townspeople know about this place's true nature. I don't think most of the staff here do, either."

Asch snorted. "You really think the staff don't know? They must. No one could get away with something of this caliber without involving people. Maybe there's a few lower downs that don't know, or don't quite know. But I bet more of them know than let on. Especially since people are brainwashed all the time, from what I hear about it."

He crossed his arms and stared off at the wall. Claude didn't seem so bad, and he was less irritating than he could have been. Maybe he'd be useful in finding a way out, after all.

"That's the thing, though," Claude replied. "If this place is capable of brainwashing, or maybe even mind-wiping people, who's to say some of the staff honestly have no idea of what's going on around here?"

He sighed, thinking back on his conversation with the nurse earlier. "I was assigned to a doctor who happens to be a cousin of one of the prisoners here -- but whenever she tried approaching him, the doctor acted like he didn't know who she was. Like he'd forgotten her or something." Poor Kagura. He wasn't sure what he would have done if they were using his mother's skills as a scientist or something against her will. It was hard enough knowing there was a possibility she'd already been brainwashed into living in this world in the first place.

"And then there was a night when I actually saw a nurse transform into a monster," he added quietly. "It happened so suddenly, and it was like she'd lost control of herself."

Claude frowned, glancing at one of the nurses who was standing by the wall and watching over her charges. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were being held prisoner as much as we are. Except in their case, they don't even know it. It's possible their memories have been tampered with, kind of like the doctor I had before."

Asch had to admit, he hadn't yet considered that. But what Claude was saying made sense, really. If the patients could be brainwashed, so could the staff. That thought was...frightening, to say the least.

"Damnit," he muttered, "I'd feel much better if I had a sword."

He looked off at the wall, thinking. He was still irritated about not knowing what was going on - and not knowing about that replica's presence here. If they'd disappeared together, that had to mean they'd come back together, right? Not that he should care, of course. But part of him...did care.

He hated that.

"We've got to do something about this. There has to be some secret to it, some trick we don't know yet."

"There are people here who can help you with that," Claude told him. "There's a list, and it takes awhile, but...if you can get your name added, one of the alchemists here should be able to make a sword for you once you collect enough metal for them to work with."

Claude had been here a good couple of weeks, and he'd only recently been able to secure himself a blade. Guy had been here even longer, and right now the best he had to work with was Ashton's short blade. It would probably be awhile before Asch could get the sort of weapon he was used to.

He fell silent for a moment when Asch mentioned a trick they hadn't found yet. Claude was sure there was a lot they didn't know about Landel's, and that there was a way to return home. The trick was finding it, but with the odds stacked against them, he knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"I've heard that the basement holds the key out of here, but...just getting down there is a challenge, and I don't think anyone's been able to figure out what the story behind it is." His voice grew quiet as he became a little more somber. "Supposedly someone died down there a few days ago."

Asch considered that for a minute. He'd have to take a look at the bulletin board and see what could be done.

"If that's the secret, then that's where we have to go. I can't do it without a weapon though. Damnit! I hate waiting like this, just...sitting around pretending to be crazy."

It had occurred to him that he was, in fact, absolutely nuts. That would explain away half of this - if other people didn't experience the exact same things, at least. Even so, the situation made him feel like he had no control. He hated that feeling more than anything. He'd spent so long feeling like he had no control, and fought hard to get some back. He'd never had as much as he'd have liked, of course, with Van watching every single thing he did.

In some ways, it might have been better to have someone with Van's intelligence in this situation, though. He himself was a good strategist, admittedly due to things he'd learned from Van. But he had never been able to think as far ahead in any given situation. He hated to admit it, now, and it was a moot point.

He'd have to talk to Mello again, he decided. Maybe he'd have some sort of insight into how to get to the basement.

"I'll look into that, then, but I'm...not sure what an alchemist is."

Claude could understand Asch's frustration. It'd taken him awhile to get a sword of his own, and while he'd waited, he'd had to watch from the sidelines as Dias and Ashton teamed up with proper swords of their own. That wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat anytime soon, so it was easy to feel for the newer patients who had to be hindered because of their lack of weapons.

"From their point of view, we probably are crazy," Claude said quietly. "You have to remember that the nurses and townspeople aren't from the same world as you. Things that you think of as a fact are just stuff from stories around here." He gave a small smile. "For what it's worth, try not to let it keep you down too much. We're all in the same boat, so it's only a matter of time before someone finds a way out of this mess, right?"

As for alchemists, it was easy to forget that a lot of people hadn't been exposed to that sort of thing before waking up here. Still, he was perfectly willing to explain, and didn't feel impatient in the slightest. "Well, in a nutshell, alchemists can turn materials into other things, like iron into gold, or, if you're talking about a lot of the alchemists here, metal into swords. It's pretty interesting to watch, actually."

Asch thought about it for another minute. He hated the whole idea of this place. Whether they knew it, they were perpetuating this madness just by working here. Ignorance was dangerous - he knew that, now, much better than he would have liked to.

"The problem is, if anyone gets out, it's not like they'll come back and enlighten the rest of us," he said. He didn't comment on the alchemist part, but he did appreciate the information; he just wasn't any good with that sort of thing.

"That's not necessarily true," Claude pointed out. "I mean, I guess some people would do something like that, but not everyone." The incident with Sync had shaken his trust in the general Landel's population to some extent, but he was fairly sure a lot of people would say something about an escape if they found one. "The clubs that have been working on an escape usually involve a lot of patients, so I'm sure they'd figure out some way to get the word out if they found something."

As for the people working in smaller groups, or even alone, there was a chance they wouldn't care much for the other captives that would be left behind. Still, Claude himself wasn't apart of any clubs, either, and he knew there was no way he'd leave people behind if he found an exit.

"Anyway," he added, "it's important to do our part in getting out of here, too. Just because it might take you awhile to get a sword doesn't mean there aren't other ways to arm yourself, even if they aren't the best weapons."

Asch wasn't sure that he had the same faith in other people that Claude did. In fact, he was sure he didn't. But that was all right; there was no sense arguing that point. He wasn't sure what he, himself, would do if he got out. Would he send word? Well, probably. The thought of people being treated this badly rubbed him the wrong way.

And what he'd heard about people being experimented on was even worse.

"There are other things we can do; I'm just not sure about going into such unknown territory right away. I have a weapon, it's just...a very small one."

Claude could definitely get that. After all, he'd been forced to use that stupid clothes rod for awhile. A lot of good that had done him, especially when he, Guy and the others had run into those nasty monsters in the music room. He'd wound up having to grab a chair to use in attacking the thing, but thankfully Axel had brought that chakram of his, and they'd been able to team up in killing it. It was possible they wouldn't have survived the night, otherwise.

He tried not to think too much on how he hadn't seen Axel around since Ashton's disappearance.

"Well, if you can grab a bat from the shed in the rec field, you should be able to use it to defend yourself and grab some metal from one of the bathrooms or something," Claude told him. "Knives from the kitchen or something might be useful, too. Until you can get a sword from an alchemist, though, you probably should be careful on where you go and who you go with."

Asch opened his mouth to ask what a bat was, and then decided against it. It wasn't a word he was familiar with, but that wasn't important at the moment. He could figure that out later. The important part was that he could find something that might be suitable as a weapon in the shed.

"Is the shed unlocked?" he asked. "All I have right now is a scalpel. It's probably not going to get me very far in a fight."

"I'm not really sure," Claude admitted. The one time he'd tried going for the shed, he'd been intercepted by a brain-washed Ravi. He'd only used a bat before because Guy had been nice enough to let him borrow his. "If it is, you should be able to get the door open with enough force."

A scalpel definitely wasn't going to help him out much, especially if he ran into something nasty. He was about to suggest that maybe Asch modify his clothes rod by attaching his scalpel to it, but it was then the intercom went off.

"Well, looks like it's lunchtime," he said. "It's good to see you in one piece, even if you don't remember me." The blond stood up, stretching a little. "Anyway, if you need anything, feel free to leave me a note on the board or something, okay?" He doubted Asch would actually seek him out like that even if he did need something, but the offer still stood.

With that said, he headed off with one of the nurses.

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Day 39: Sun Room

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