damned_institute | 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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So he was a man of position… It was a start.

“Captain? Really? Wow, I’ve never actually talked to one before. It’s nice to meet you. My name is… Emily Aston!” Larxene shook his hand, her smile remaining. There was no need to give him her real name, especially when it could attract the attention of any Organization member looking to spoil her fun.

“You noticed already? Well, I guess it’d be hard not to.” She should’ve hidden the crutches better.

“It happened last night.” Time for a little acting. She clutched the front of her shirt, her expression turning into one of sadness. “I’m still having trouble believing it myself. I was taken away by these strange men, and…” a brief pause, to add some suspense! “… experimented on. But it was more like torture, really.”

Emily Aston. Well, that was a nice enough name. Mal had been expecting something a little more exotic, considering the sorts of patients this place tended to house, but his name wasn't very special, either. After shaking her hand, he pulled it away and paid attention to her story.

"So... you're one of the people they took," he said with a frown. It seemed like he could learn a lot from this girl, and for the moment he forgot his original intention for sitting with her.

As for torture, that was something he was a little too familiar with. At least he knew if the doctors decided to take him, he wouldn't have too much to worry about. Not that he wanted to relive what Niska had done, but if there was no other choice, he could handle it.

"What did they do, exactly?" He realized that it might be hard for her to talk about it, but in a way, it might help. Of course, he never followed that sort of advice...

Either way, Mal didn't have much suspicion as to the woman's true nature. He hadn't caught it with YoSaffBridge, after all.

“One of the people? You mean others were taken as well?” It looked like she'd get the opportunity to get information from him sooner than expected.

“Do you happen to remember their names? I might wish to speak to them at some point.”

Larxene still had no idea just how she had been captured in the first place, or who else had been subjected to the experimentations. If talking to Malcolm could give her an answer to those questions, or point her in the right direction, then he would’ve met her initially low expectations of him.

In record time too!

“They… tied me down and put a knife through my chest.” Her injury was certainly a popular topic, wasn’t it? “I was given an electric shock afterwards.”

"I don't know who they were, just that a few people were taken and had things done to them." Mal hadn't meant to lead her along that way. He only went by the little bits of conversation he caught and what he'd been told by his crew who had been around for longer than he had.

Speaking of which, he still hadn't caught any sign of Zoe. It was unlike her. Where could she have gotten off to?

When she explained what exactly she'd been through, the captain snapped his head so he was looking at her again, eyes widening slightly. "And you survived that?" Maybe his mind was bringing up the worst image of someone getting stabbed through the chest, but it didn't sound like something a person just bounced back from.

"Ah, I see. That’s really unfortunate, I hope they’re alright" No matter, she’d find out on her own time. Maybe someone else had a better idea of who had been taken.

“Uh huh.” She nodded and smiled. “I guess I’m tougher than I look. Or perhaps I’m just lucky that they didn’t pierce a lung or… my heart.” If only he knew. “I was bleeding a lot, and I passed out after the initial jolt. But when I woke up this morning I had bandages wrapped all around the wound. I think it’s been sewn up too.”

If it was, then it would most likely leave a scar. A scar on her chest, right where her heart used to be… How poetic.

“I wonder if I can get some painkillers or something, because it still hurts a lot.”

Mal shrugged. No one he knew had been taken, which was the farthest he had to concern himself with the situation. It bothered him that eventually, one of his was going to have something done to them by this place. River, in a way, had already been subjected to it. Nothing physically damaging, but he'd seen firsthand how upset she'd been.

"They are doctors," he stated. "Be a little worried if they didn't know where to stab to avoid anything vital." Still, even if she had been tended to, no one should have been moving around after an injury that severe. It was the same way his foot wasn't hurting him as much as it should have been. From night to morning, there was an unrealistic amount of healing that occurred. Which probably meant that the people behind his place had the ability to heal them completely, but didn't.

"I think that's a fair enough request," he muttered. She had to be in an immense amount of pain - he knew from his own experiences - and not having something to take the edge off was killer.

"Mmm, I suppose you're right, although they're not very caring doctors to have treated me like that in the first place."

Besides, what kind of doctor had as much information on their patients as the one that had experimented on her? It also looked like she was the first Nobody to have been selected by them. Axel, the key bearer, and the others seemed as healthy as usual. Pity she would’ve liked to have seen it happen to Luxord or Xigbar.

"You think so? Then perhaps I'll ask them once I have the opportunity."

Day 22: Brunch

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