damned_institute | Day 43: Sun Room

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Day 43: Sun Room

Why does this place always have to spoil my fun? was the first thing HK thought when he realized he was back in his cell in the Institute. Oh well. This meant his nurse would be coming soon to lead him off to whatever boring place he was supposed to go to now.

The meatbag arrived a few moments later, asking him in an overly cheerful tone if he slept well. HK responded with and equally cheerful "Statement: I was having the most wonderful dream. A dream of killing all humans." He managed to make a facial expression for best effect: A happy, terrifying grin. "And I think you were in it," he finished with an especially gleeful note.

The nurse nearly dragged him all the way down to the Sun Room. Success! He took a seat in one of the chairs, feeling smug.

[Free!]

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Pissed. That was only way to put it--Dahlia Hawthorne was pissed.

Not only did she have to deal with Sync all day and all night, not only did she have to deal with zombies trying to eat her, not only did she have to deal with cuts and scrapes and bruises all over her skin, or all that blood getting in her hair, or walking two to three miles to find a weapon and shelter, but now she was right back in the asylum, without her saw.

In its place was her lovely little knife bag, sans knives or blades or ANYTHING USEFUL..

She could have started screaming and ripping her hair out. She really could have.

How dare they- HOW. DARE. THEY. DO THIS TO HER. To put her through all that, then take it all away like it meant NOTHING?! That was it. That was IT. She didn't care who she had to con or squash to get her way out of here, but she was getting out. And, walking into the Sun Room, it looked like she found a new contestant for her game!

With Feenie and Mr. Attorney after her, she needed as much backup as she could have. This little twerp would do for now.

Dahlia walked toward the kid without the slightest hint of malice in either her voice or posture, back to looking like the purest, shining example of beauty the world had ever seen. She even looked... concerned. "Oh! Hello, little boy. What are you doing here...? It's dangerous! Please tell me you aren't a patient here too..." Psh, like she cared.

"Huh?" Raz looked up. A lady with bright red, braided hair had walked up to him with the most concerned look on her face. She wore the same shirt as Raz did, so it was safe to assume that she, too, was stuck in a nameless hospital where they called you weird names.

The Psycadet scowled. "Okay, just because I'm little and a boy, doesn't mean I'm a little boy, got it?" he snapped at the lady. Realizing what he just said, Raz sighed and rubbed his palm against his forehead. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "I just saved the- and I still get- nevermind. What were you saying?"

"'Dangerous?'" Raz questioned, cocking his eyebrow. "What's dangerous about this old place? We're just in a hospital, right?"

Wow, someone had a little spice in him. Dahlia made her best little gasping noise and backed away from the kid, tilting her head down like he was a teacher scolding her and not a brat a foot shorter than her that she could just kick in the face. ...If that last thought said anything, it was that she had been hanging around Sync too long. "N-no, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! You have every right to be mad... Um, what's your name? I'm Dahlia. Dahlia Hawthorne." Cue charming smile that was so sweet, you just just imagine little white butterflies flying around her.

But lo, what was this? Was she really the first person to tell this runt anything about this place? Hmph. What use was he, then? "...you don't know? I thought it was just a joke when I first heard about it, but, when night comes, they unlock all the doors and..." She paused and brought a hand to her shirt, twisting the fabric like it hurt her so much so say this! Oh, those horrible memories of that doll and the zombies... So hard to say this to a sweet, innocent child! "There are... monsters here! I know it sounds silly, but this place is very dangerous!" She sniffled and wiped at her eyes before glancing around the room. "I-I... I think they have a list of them on the bulletin board? It should help."

Raz wasn't sure what to make of this 'Dahlia' girl. She seemed really nice and all, but the last girl he met that was this nice turned out to be suicidal... But who knows, maybe she's actually nice and sane! It could happen right? Maybe? "My name's Razputin, or Raz for short," he introduced himself with a smile.

That smile immediately dropped at the mention of 'monsters.' "Wait, monsters? Like, UPEs?" Raz asked in disbelief. The boy turned to look at the bulletin board, which was covered with thousands of notes it seemed. He walked up to it and searched for the list described by Dahlia. It didn't take long before he found it, because the list was staggering.

"Giant snakes... Large leeches... zombies?" Raz read aloud. He turned back to Dahlia to give her a quizzical and, honestly, very concerned look. "Where are we?"

Razputin? Ha! Really? What a stupid name. "What a cute name! It's an honor to meet you, Raz. I'm... sorry it couldn't have been someplace better."

She had no idea what a UPE was supposed to be, but so long as he looked to the board for an explanation and not her, they'd be just fine with one another. Oh, wait. "It's called Landel's. No one... really knows what we're doing here, just that we've all been kidnapped and need to escape." She lowered her head again, dejected. "I only woke up here yesterday morning, but I learned to just stay in my room. It's safer there..."

Raz rubbed his chin in deep thought, now feeling very confused. He was more than just hospitalized... he was imprisoned! But how? And why hadn't his dad or any of the Psychonauts come to rescue him yet?

He snapped out of his thoughts when he looked at Dahlia's face and noticed the look of despair she gave. Well, that was understandable - not everyone had awesome psychic powers like he did! "Don't worry Dahlia," the Psycadet assured her, "I'm a trained professional. Just stick with me and you'll be fine!" He pounded his chest with pride; I may not technically be a Psychonaut just yet, he thought to himself, but saving the damn world has gotta count for something, right?

"...A professional?" Professional what? Brat? ...aww, wait. Did he think he was important or something? How sickeningly adorable.

Che. Dahlia had had enough hearing about prodigies from her own half-sister; she didn't need it from this shrimp if he got started on it. But that was how her luck ran these days, wasn't it? Have an insane mother, two useless sisters, and a lousy boyfriend, then get tossed in jail, then an asylum, and almost get killed by zombies. Things were looking so sunshiny!

As if she actually believed those thoughts, Dahlia placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder and looked down at him with kindness and a hint of blush to her cheeks. "You're so kind, Razzy... But I can't do that to you. I'll only hold you back."

"That's right, a professional!" Raz nodded. "I've been trained for dangerous situations like these, so if you need any help, you can count on me!"

He blinked a few times at Dahlia's kind gesture - the first blink was at her calling him 'Razzy' out of nowhere, and the other few were for the fact that, for some reason, she seemed to be actually taking him seriously. Since when did an adult ever treat him seriously? This had got to be an act.

"You don't think I can actually protect you, do you?" Raz said bitterly.

Ha! She was sorry, Razzy, but she didn't trust anyone could be trained in Zombie Survival 101. She had been lucky to just find out Sy-Sweetie wasn't as much as an idiot as he put up a front of being and use him to take out what was in her way. This four foot tall pip-squeak thought he could handle, that he was trained for this crap they put her through?

Good luck with that.

But now he was doubting her and she just couldn't have that. "O-of course I do! You... wouldn't lie to me about it, would you?" When in doubt, turn it back to them. Whatever age, men were all the same: too prideful to say a girl can't depend on them or that she was wrongly led to believe that she could. "Besides, everyone else here seems so much stronger than I am... I have every reason to believe you!"

"Of course I wouldn't lie!" Raz piped, but then he added, "Although I wouldn't blame you if you thought I did... We don't really know each other after all."

But that was what made Raz cynical about her words in the first place! She didn't know a thing about him, but she seemed too trusting of him, especially in a place like this. Either this Dahlia is incredibly stupid, or something's up with her...

If only there was a way I could tell she was telling the truth, he pondered to himself. Something I can do to open her mind, like I was reading a book... WAIT! Duh! Raz stared straight at Dahlia and began channeling his mental energy into reading her thoughts. Now we'll see if you're as sweet as you make yourself to be!

But there was no signal.

"Huh?" Raz uttered. That was weird... was Dahlia psychic too? That shouldn't have mattered too much, though; the boy's experiences with his girlfriend knew it should be possible to read her anyway. He tried again, this time walking a little closer towards her and having his hand reached out in the general direction of her face. His other hand had two fingers pressed his forehead, and he furrowed his brows as he tried to put all of his focus into reading the woman's mind. Finally, he heard... well, he didn't really hear anything at all, but Dahlia's mind felt like it was just filled with static. Nothing was clear, yet for some reason he got a gut feeling from the reading that this woman wasn't being honest with him. Not one bit.

Immediately after that feeling, Raz dropped the psychic connection and fell to the ground on his knees. He clutched his head, as man was it hurting like hell all of a sudden. He tried to do the simplest psychic trick of all time and for some reason it's now crippling. "What is wrong with me?" he whimpered pathetically.

"Well, yes... but that doesn't mean-" ...what was he doing? For a split second, Dahlia sneered at the kid before going right back into a clueless expression, eyes focused on the weird gesture he was making at her. Ugh, don't tell her he was another self-proclaimed telepath. If he was trying to read her mind, it looked like he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Whatever he was doing, she knew she didn't like it. He didn't believe her lies. If he didn't believe her lies, he wasn't useful. If he wasn't useful, he was nothing but trash. Really, how could any girl want someone around that couldn't trust her or follow her every whim? He should be proud of himself that he was one of the first to think there was something more to her than a pretty face.

She didn't move any closer to him, only held her hands together and stared down at his fallen form. "Are you okay?"

~~[why so mean, dahlia? ;_;]~~

Still clutching his head, Raz slowly got back up on his feet. "Yeah, I'm fine," he growled. He now looked at Dahlia with eyes of suspicion; while he didn't know why exactly was she lying to him, it was enough to know that she simply was.

But really, should he had expected anything else? They were in a crazy hospital filled with zombies and people that called you 'Greg!' No one could be trusted, and Dahlia knew that. That didn't mean she was a bad person, though. If there was one thing he learned from poking around in so many minds, it's that everyone has their secrets, and nothing's wrong with having them. And even if it turned out she was a bad person... well, maybe she just had a bad childhood like Oleander did. That said, it probably wouldn't be the best idea to stick around with this woman for long.

Raz leaned back against the bulletin board, his hand still on his head, and his eyes were downcast. "Hey, Dahlia," he began, "I'm shouldn't have done this, but - you see, I'm a psychic, and I read your mind. I know you've been lying to me." He awkwardly glanced around the room, then sighed. "But I'm okay with that, you know? I can totally understand not trusting anyone in a place like this."

[:D ♥?]

The first rule about catching someone's lies, Razzy? Don't tell them you know the truth. In the case of talking to such an actress like Dahlia, they will immediately find out how much of the truth you do know just by what you're telling them or your obliviousness to just how huge of a fib they're telling you, and lie more. Secondly? Don't tell someone you can read their mind seconds after collapsing and looking for all the world like you just failed to do so. As airheaded as she made herself out to be? Dahlia was smarter than that.

Even still, having a little punk of a lie-detector around her while she tried to play him for a fool wasn't the best of situations she could be in right now. She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows in what looked like fear as he explained himself, growing more and more tense the longer he spoke.

The best way she knew to get out a mess like this? Lie about your lies. And cry.

"I'm lying?" How could he even say such a thing to a face this sweet?! Didn't he know she was delicate and frail?! "N-no! I would never...! How could you be so...? I-I...!" Then, all at once, her confidence crumbled and the poor little redhead burst into pathetic, crocodile tears, futilely covering her face in her hands like she was absolutely distraught to be caught red-handed. "...I- I'm sorry, Razzy! I didn't mean to!" Sob. "I never lie, never! I wasn't raised to be so crass! But... I don't think anyone could protect me! I'm a bad girl--horrible!" A few more shivering sobs escaped her, followed by some hiccups, before she finally collected herself and wrapped her arms around her shoulders in a little hug. "After what happened last night... You'd be better off helping someone else. I'm no good..."

...huh.

Raz silently watched Dahlia cry her pretty eyes out, keeping a straight face throughout the entire thing. He wasn't expecting her to burst into tears that quickly. But the longer he watched, the less sympathy he felt for the woman. "I don't think anyone could protect me, I'm a bad girl, horrible?" She was trying way too hard to make Raz feel bad -- and truthfully, he did feel a tiny bit of guilt building in his chest. Still, it was quickly becoming obvious that Dahlia was much more than what she let on, and the boy knew that he was better off finding a more reliable ally.

"A Psychonaut needs to keep their emotions in check at all times to prevent irrational bad decisions, Razputin," he could imagine Agent Nein saying. "So leave this silly girl and find people that aren't lying their arses off."

Raz softly pushed himself off of the bulletin board and stood flat-footed on the floor again. He stared directly at Dahlia and said, "You can go find someone else to protect you. I'm sure there are other suckers out there." The headache seemed to have finally calmed down and disappeared, and he let go of his head accordingly. Then he simply gave Dahlia a wave and walked off without another word.

[off to... somewhere. not sure yet.]

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Day 43: Sun Room

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