damned_institute | Day 22: Brunch

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Day 22: Brunch

Cid usually liked sleeping in, especially in a place as messed up and uninviting as this, but this happened to be one situation where he really wished he hadn't.

Right there, on the bulletin board. The Head Doctor and he'd fucking missed it? Some part of him wished he'd been there to take his eye out and another part of him knew he wouldn't have been able to. No man that powerful who hid for so long went to dangerous places without some kind of entourage.

Brunch sounded like it'd be filling, at least, though he nearly stopped in his tracks when the bastard announced TEA. TEA. It'd been a damn long while since he'd had some fucking tea, though with all the stress this place had found fit to rain down on his fucking head, it hadn't really been the first priority on his mind. Kinda nice, even if Cid was sure this was just some game the mother fucker was playing to get them all stuck neck-deep in Stockholm Syndrome.

He scanned the mostly-empty room for any sign of a familiar face once he'd piled waffles and sausages and syrup on his plate, though the person he really wanted to talk to was that Reynolds guy. "Spaceship" was the last word he remembered clearly before waking up in his bed, and dammit if he wasn't going to keep it stuck like glue in his mind.

He found a table where he could watch people come into the cafeteria and grabbed for his mug. The steam rising from his drink and the bag of herbs in it was nearly enough to make him grin despite it all, and it was with marked leisure and a little relief that he drank his goddamn tea.

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"I'm from Shiroiwa," Kazuo replied. "Shiroiwa Junior High school, class nine. And you?" Of course, they'd have been on the news. They always announced things like that. After a moment and another bite of noodles, he added, "I won."

They were in the middle of the cafeteria, with a ton of people around to notice if something went wrong. This was going to be fine, he told himself. Besides, he was there to make sure they didn't say anything unsavory to his friend.

The boy raised an eyebrow at Xigbar when he expressed his concern - not concern, really, but... Well, what was the point in assigning it an emotion, anyway? "We're just normal people, you know," he said with a shrug. They were important, yes, but that didn't mean they couldn't hold normal conversations.

"Yeah. Was there... something important in particular that you needed to talk to us about?" Well, it had been Kairi that they'd really wanted to chat with, right? He was just there because he wouldn't allow it to be any other way. He didn't care if he was imposing, though. He had to make sure Kairi stayed safe.

Huh. He looked a lot older than a Jr.High School student. It was strange that he'd named a school and not a country. "Klaus III, originally." He speared another pieces of food, stopping before he put it into his mouth. Cliff raised an eyebrow. "Won...what?"

"I'm a pretty vocal guy." Jack grinned, a wide and friendly expression. "Never been one to keep my mouth shut, even if my views have changed. I speak out against things I think are wrong." His expression changed to thoughtful though, and he leaned forward.

"You're young. You've got time. It's never too late to stand up for what you believe in. Remember that." He sat back, twisting his fork in his food.

"I think, once upon a time in my wildest dreams, I could have thought about a place like this. But little boys have vivid and violent imaginations." He chuckled. "But that's the thing about dreams and thoughts - it's okay, as long as they stay in your head. When they're real... well, it's a whole nother story, isn't it?"

"I've never heard of that," Kazuo said. And that he didn't automatically know what Kazuo was talking about was interesting, too.

"I won the survival program," he said, as if this should be obvious. "Oh, but...of course. If you've been here without a tv for a week you wouldn't have known. My school was picked for Battle Royale, and I'm the winner. That's why I'm at this hospital. That's the only explanation that makes sense." Kazuo was nothing if not logical. "Although why it's a mental hospital I have no idea. That part doesn't make sense. I was shot, not crazy."

He glanced back at the man and said, "What were you doing before you were here?"

"It's alright," Tamaki said, smiling brightly. "It hasn't been a very good morning."

He listened to Adelhied talk about what had happened in the chapel.

"What does that mean...?" Tamaki frowned. "That they've taken our family, too? But..." He swallowed hard and sat back, his expression falling. His father... well, his father could handle it. But what about his mother? What if they'd done something to her, just because Tamaki was here? He'd done everything for her, and the thought of her in this place....

"I don't have much family," he said, quietly. "But..." he looked over at Edgeworth and nodded. "Will we be warned? Does everyone get visited? I..."

He trailed off, gripped by an icy fear.

Axel was glad that Roxas decided to talk to Mitsukuni, too busy immersed in Snake's explanation about his own world. This talk of terrorists and soldiers on secret missions was fascinating, but compared to his own empty world everything else seemed like an adventure.

"So you were both being used by the higher ups? I wouldn't want to be in your shoes" It certainly sounded familiar on some of his own context, especially his best friend's perspective. But Axel always managed to flip the sides of power in the end, so the thought of being powerless to stop it would really drive a thorn deep into his side.

And speaking of hips...

"Why are you so interested in them? Do they bother you that much? If you want a closer look, all you have to do is ask." The Nobody snorted before giving the man a casual grin. However, hearing Mitsukuni's words he glanced at Roxas and added his own 2 cents.

"You should go, it's not like you have anything better to do. And besides," He took a sip of his tea. "I bet Sora's going to be there too."

Visitation. I hadn't even thought about that.

Phoenix didn't know what to think about that idea. It was true, that the Head Doctor had said that many of their family and friends had gone through the "same treatment" as they were going through then. There was something strange about that -- a contradiction, and it was tickling in the back of his head, unformulated. Different universes...different worlds...the thoughts swirled through his head, a mess of information that he knew he needed to get down into his journal. There was something wrong with that, and as hard as Phoenix tried, he couldn't put his finger on it. It was almost like...there were too many things wrong with it.

He had to eat, however. Hunger had held him back a little bit the night before, and he couldn't ignore the fact that he needed the energy. So, mechanically, he lifted the food to his mouth with his fork, chewed, and then swallowed, but didn't think of the flavor.

The thoughts of the visitation diverted Phoenix from the thoughts of what he had done wrong, and the pressure was alleviated slightly. Once he had some silence to himself, however, his headache came back, pounding through his skull, as if there were someone tiny inside his head, playing his brain like a drum.

"There's something wrong with what the Head Doctor said," Phoenix stated the words vaguely, as he rubbed the fingers of his right hand into his temple, attempting to make the throbbing go away, "and I can't figure out what it is right now. But I get the feeling that...visitation isn't going to be normal." But then again, nothing was normal in this place.

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/65478.html?thread=3407558#t3407558)]]

Miku had decided that she was finished, and had foolishly assumed that she'd be unmolested as she left the cafeteria. A nurse had seen how much was not left eaten nor drunk, and tsk-tsked, making Miku sit next to the pale, angry looking man.

"No, no, Miss Rhodes, you have to eat more than that," she said cheerfully, but firmly. Miku looked up at her with disdain.

"But, I am not hungry." She argued quietly, and her eyes automatically flinched downward.

"Nonsense. Sit here and get some food in a few moments." The nurse walked briskly away and Miku kept her eyes away from her new tablemate.

"Ah, please forgive me for disturbing you..." She kept her hands in her lap, the picture of shy and nervous.

"I had a theory. And since the speech..." Otacon sighed, his thoughts returning to the activities of the upcoming shift. It wasn't all dread—part of him was actually curious as to what else the Institute could conjure up. He recalled the warnings on the bulletin board. "Were you in the chapel this morning? The Head Doctor said something interesting... See, you might've noticed that a lot of people here look like soldiers, or fighters in general. Not me, obviously." He laughed.

Otacon glanced out at the rest of the cafeteria, taking a moment to find Snake and Fox in the crowd, and was pleasantly surprised to note that both were socializing with kids. Kids... Why were there people so young here? "I thought at first that this was some sort of indoctrination program: first they break down your mental state with the fake IDs, keep your skills up with the monsters, then you're brainwashed into a willing warrior. There's all sorts of 'Perfect Soldier' programs back on my world."

He found it helped to talk out his ideas. All the rumours he'd heard and the pieces he'd uncovered in his short time at the Institute were coming together as he explained the situation to Aya.

"But the Head Doctor... To be honest, I don't want to think about the implications, but... the way he talked about our visitors, it sounds like this brainwashing program goes way beyond training soldiers."

Kurama noticed the frown, but didn't make any comment to it. If Hisoka had a problem, he was sure the boy would speak his mind.

He smiled at the mention of his world's 'messengers of death', shaking his head at the thought of Botan. "Well, I only know one personally, but she's rather chipper. Overbearingly so, at times. Their only job is to bring all the souls that have died to the afterlife to be judged. Rather like your job, I suppose. But they're more like your common transporters than investigators." That was his team's job. But Hisoka hadn't asked about that, had he?

"My turn." There was only a slight pause as Kurama considered his choices. He still had one pressing question to ask. One he knew Hisoka probably wouldn't like from his previous aversions. "You spoke of a doctor here that you knew. How do you know him?"

Roxas was half paying attention to Honey, half paying attention to the conversation between Axel and Snake. It was something of an oddity being directly between something so cheerful and something not-so, so he was finding it difficult what to concentrate on. Especially in the case of Snake, where the words were hitting a little closer to home than he would have liked. Arranged, used, tool - they were all words he was familiar with.

The rest of the conversation between the two men fell on deaf ears. Roxas wasn't fond of the direction his thoughts were taking him, so he did his best to ignore it. What was past was past, and it was better not to worry about. It was too late to change what had already happened.

"I'm not really sure what a Host Club is," he responded to Mitsukuni with a shrug. "But I guess I could give it a try." In a place like Landel's, distractions were always a good thing to have, after all. He made a glance to Axel upon hearing his comment on the issue, but didn't make much of an effort to respond.

Sora, huh?

It didn't seem like the topic was exactly open for discussion.

Alex sighed. "Well, at least you've got someone around here who's familiar," he muttered. He hadn't seen any of his friends. Just one of his scouting buddies would have been nice, but there was no one.

Then again, some new patients were being introduced. There was a chance one of them would turn out to be someone he knew.

...That explained the messengers of death, perhaps... But it did not explain how this boy knew her. Hisoka was willing to bet she didn't just knock on his front door either, considering the fact that he wasn't completely normal either. The boy glowered, relaizing it wasn't his turn so he couldn't ask.

This game had severe flaws.

Yet the shinigami knew that the next question was coming long before he even asked. He didn't seem one to give up, to Hisoka's annoyance. Regardless, Hisoka narrowed his eyes, he really had to ask an invasive and wholly uncomfortable question of his own.

"He killed me." He replied shortly. "My turn. What were you in your world?"

Hikaru blinked after Azel, looking uncomfortable. Had he done something to offend the other boy? His manners weren't exactly impeccable, and sometimes he forgot that other people didn't pick up on unconscious cues like he did with his brother or vice versa.

He ended up saying "We're fine," in exact unison with Kaoru, though whether or not that was intentional was up the listener. He'd been facing away from his brother, and shouldn't have seen him approach, but they were twins. They possessed the "twinnish" sixth sense, and all that.

"Kaoru. Not feeling good?"

The smile faded as Kurama heard the answer given. Granted, it was a good answer, even if it wasn't descriptive. Perhaps, he should leave the specifics alone and worry more about the doctor himself. It wasn't his intention to pry. Only to learn.

"I assisted my friend Yusuke with his work as Spirit Detective," Kurama explained, feeling obligated to exchange a little more for touching on what seemed to be a tender subject. And for not intending to back off. "Koenma, temporary ruler of the Spirit World in the stead of his father King Enma, sends Yusuke out to complete assignments that threaten the peace of the human world. Usually these consist of defeating troublesome demons, but recently we've had to also restrain certain empowered humans from destroying their own world. He's assisted by myself and two of our friends, Hiei and Kuwabara."

He absently picked up a little of his food, giving Hisoka some time to process the information before continuing. "What is this doctor like?"

"Beyond..." Aya muttered, slinking into silence once more, trying to recall what the head doctor had said before. Even if the situation had not made much sense to him at the time, he had made sure he'd hear every word the man uttered and even how it was presented to the rowdy crowd.

He tilted his head back slightly, glancing at Yohji's direction from the corner of his eye. Yohji would not be what he'd call the perfect soldier material, always failing to follow orders and taking matters far too personally. "You might be right there," he admitted grudgingly. "He let us assume the visitors wouldn't be beyond this same treatment we're getting here ourselves. He also made sure to point out that this was not the first facility of this sort." Aya was not notorious for his subtle approach of any difficult subjects. He'd lay out the facts just as he saw them.

"Kudaran!" The Japanese word was snapped between thinning lips, the only apparent show of temper he let pass before the violet gaze whipped back to Otacon, and continued with his smooth, practiced English. "But what could someone possibly gain from breaking the psyche of this much different people?"

Obi-Wan carefully listened to Takaya, nodding to indicate he understood. "So, America is considered a western region?" he asked after a moment. Then, that would mean Takaya's Japan would be more eastern. But, were there other places in between America and Japan? And was Landel's really in America? After all, there seemed to be a lot of people who came from Japan, and it was possible the staff had lied in order to confuse any possible escapees...

Obi-Wan inwardly sighed. Trying to assemble an accurate description of the geography here would have been a lot easier if he could just get his hands on a map.

The Jedi noticed the way Takaya snarled when he looked at the man. "What's so dangerous about him, if you don't mind my asking?" If he was going to be dealing with any potential threats, he needed to know what they were capable of.

"Damn," Takaya had said. "I saw some people last night that seemed to have some kind of abilities or something. I was kind of hoping that maybe this place's...whatever it is keeping us all down, was cracking or something."

"I wish that were so," Obi-Wan murmured. "It's true I have some of my abilities in tact, but I should be capable of much more than I am now. I imagine it's the same case for many prisoners here." He thought of his and Qui-Gon's failed attempt at using Force-persuasion on the giant spider, and he faintly frowned.

Sanzo nearly rolled his eyes skyward. Trust Goku to - on accident of course- undermine the very point he'd tried to make.

So there was more to that name than just that strange, restless feeling he got at hearing it, and apparently both Homura and Kenren knew it.

Showing any more interest in the name would mean never hearing the end of it if Sanzo couldn't manage to drive Homura off permanently, and yet... if Kenren was deciding for him that he didn't need to hear it, then that was unacceptable as well. Sanzo made his own choices, and he didn't need some roach-lookalike to do it for him. The other man was trying to deliberately hide something that, judging from the tone, had everything to do with Goku and himself. He very much doubted it was "teasing".

The monk's eyes narrowed.

To commit himself to future annoyance or the truth? Both had its merits, one for Sanzo's continued sanity, the other just for not being in a disadvantage any longer...

Sanzo just took a bite here and there, waiting to see where this went: he'd let these two go at. He'd make his decision whether to pursue the topic himself later.

Despite his surprise at the name-- Enma was in another world?!-- and the revelance of the other boy's job, Hisoka expression changed little. He could see what this game was doing and he wasn't amused. Had he been what his father wanted him to be, some mindless robot, he might have enjoyed the game a bit more, but right now the boy saw no reason to continue playing.

What was he gaining, little tidbits of information that he would never be able to use for anything? Yet despite these thoughts, Hisoka replied-

"He's a sneaky, manipulative bastard. He makes you believe he's the perfect picture of innocence but the moment you find out who he truly is he turns on you and plays with you."

Hisoka tighted his hands into fists, his nails digging into his skin as the strangely comforting feeling of hatred balled up in his chest.

It was hard to eat now, but it wouldn't make any sense for him to insist that Yazoo eat only to completely ignore his food himself. True to form, though, Kadaj mostly just shifted his food around and very rarely lifted some of it to his mouth to eat, chewing as slowly as he could and obviously tasting none of it. So much for the novelty of new and interesting foreign foods.

Yazoo's anger surprised him in a dim sort of way, mainly because he himself felt far too sick with worry to even acknowledge his own rage over the subject. That would probably come later, probably once someone other than his brother tried talking to him, but for now...

He managed a small smile at his brother's reassuring comment, then a much more sincere one as some of his confidence returned. Really, why was he being so pessimistic about it all? Mother had survived, hadn't she? She wouldn't be coming here unless she had, so she still had to be strong. There was no reason to worry.

With all of this in mind, Kadaj replied in a much stronger voice, "You're right, Yazoo. The Head Doctor will pay for everything he's done to our family, and so will everyone else! The only thing they've accomplished with bringing Mother here is increase their own punishment, not ours. We'll get them back for everything, and bring this place to ruin once and for all!"

The more the teenager talked, the more disturbed Cliff felt about the whole thing. A middle school had been part of some survival program called Battle Royale and this person was the winner. Was it...some kind of strange reality TV show?

Cliff shook his head. "Sorry, I've never heard anything about a battle royale. What's it about?"

The second piece of food finally made it to his mouth. He really needed to mention the fact that they all came from different worlds but he wasn't sure he'd be believed at this point. "Oh...slacking off." Which was more-or-less true. "Traveling, bodyguarding, whatever comes up. You know how old people can be."

Alucard turned to look at the girl, iridiscent crimson eyes swivelling as he studied her. Hmm. Sixteen years old at least, and it didn't help that he could smell her blood too. Well. The staff had practically gift-wrapped his first meal for him then.

"Forgiven." he spoke as smoothly as possible, his scowl replaced by a smile with the likes, of the Chesire cat. With teeth. Plenty of teeth.

"I don't fancy the food they serve, myself...so, what's your name?"

"Traveling?" Kazuo's interest was piqued. He'd never been allowed out of Japan, and with all putside things forbidden, he'd always wondered what else was out there. "Where did you go? I never got to travel at all."

He paused for a few more bites of food. Well, if they guy had never heard of it... "Battle Royale is a government program. They pick a few classes every year. The class gets put on an island and everyone gets a bag of stuff...random weapon, some food, things like that. Everyone has an explosive collar on them too. And then you have three days and you have to be the last one alive. If there's more than one, the collars go off and everyone dies." He said this emotionlessly, as though discussing the weather. He shrugged slightly. "You do what you have to..."

The way he said it, the way he looked at her; she had to believe him now if she wanted to believe anything he'd ever said to her. And She wanted to.

Rangiku's eyes widened slightly as he leaned in closer, breath brushing across her skin; more intimate than something so simple had any right to be. It sounded so simple, but half the time she wasn't sure if she knew him at all, really. Still, a small smile graced her lips for a second, remembering his words before he'd been taken by the Menos. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be the one to capture you," she replied softly before he could pull away. Seemed like on some things neither of them could talk straight.

She leaned back a little, pushing her hair back out of her face and guiltily enjoying his confusion. She could tease him, she supposed, and refuse to say. It would doubtless see the others happy, but if this place was as terrible as she'd been told, then he deserved a warning. "It's not what it seems, this place. From what I've heard, there are monsters at night. Things other than Hollows."

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Day 22: Brunch

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