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damned_institute2009-08-17 06:01 am
damned-intercom.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2009-08-17 06:01 am
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Day 43: Intercom, Noon
I.R.I.S. here again, and we continue to hope that you are enjoying your temporary stay at Landel's Institute! We hope that our staff have proved adequate for your needs so far, and we are now ready to showcase an uncommon – but vital – aspect of the lives of our future patients. Once every week, we will allow 'visitors' from the outside world to interact with our community and assuage any fears our patients may have. Perfectly tailored for each individual, these visitors will in fact be graduates of the very program that you are surveying now, and a testament to how the methods of Landel's Institute will truly usher in a revolution in the Next-Wave programs.
In order to allow you to see the quality of our work with your own eyes, we have arranged for a handful of our original test subjects to return and show you how profoundly they've been re-educated in such a short span of time. We hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.
Thank you!
Once again, the nurses went about ushering assigned patients into the two waiting rooms as if Martin Landel was announcing with his same old shtick. Non-assigned patients were allowed to remain in the same public room of their choice or to move to a new one.
In order to allow you to see the quality of our work with your own eyes, we have arranged for a handful of our original test subjects to return and show you how profoundly they've been re-educated in such a short span of time. We hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.
Thank you!
Once again, the nurses went about ushering assigned patients into the two waiting rooms as if Martin Landel was announcing with his same old shtick. Non-assigned patients were allowed to remain in the same public room of their choice or to move to a new one.
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Nor, for that matter, was the rest of the shower.
Abe's eyes blinked open and he stared in confusion at what was definitely not the motel bathroom. Oh dear, had he been kidnapped again? At least this was a bit more comfortable than that traveling circus. Without bothering to turn to the side, Abe pressed his palm to the wall, intent on finding out exactly where he was--and saw nothing. It just felt like a wall. Perhaps he was more sleepy than he thought, his abilities were always at an ebb right after he woke up. Abe twisted his wrist to the side and focused harder, only to fall back with a groan as a sharp pain shot through his head. It wasn't until he put his hand over his face that he actually got a glimpse at it.
Pink. Soft. Unwebbed. Human. Abe ran a shocked hand over the top of his head, finding fluffy hair and ears to the side. He grabbed his neck and found smooth skin there rather than the ridges of his gills, touched his face and found a pointy nose and tiny simian eye sockets.
"Mr. Caul, are you feeling all right?" asked a gently voice to his side. Abe twisted to the side and recoiled, staring at her in horror. He should have felt that and yet he'd had no idea she was there at all.
"No. No, I'm not," he asked, trying to stay calm. His head was still throbbing from the shock of trying to force a human's brain to do the work of an icthyosapien's. "What's happened to me?"
"You're at Landel's Institute. It's all right, dear."
Abe reached out his hand towards her and widened his eyes as he again felt nothing. He began to try harder but felt his headache beginning to worsen and backed off again. The woman must have been quite a powerful psychic to block him like this, and and even more so to transform him so drastically.
"What did you do?" he nearly whimpered. "I can't feel anything." There wasn't even any resistance to his powers, there was nothing but emptiness...like what a human would feel. Abe's mind was already picking apart the situation and analyzing it. Of course, he was human now, he didn't have his enhanced frontal lobe. His abilities would be greatly reduced, if they were even still there.
The woman beside him smiled sympathetically and gently helped him to his feet. "Why don't you go sit in the sun room? I'm sure you'll feel much better after you've talked with some of the other patients." Abe, with his head still aching and his mind still panicking, didn't have the strength to disagree.
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Or what he believed was the last time. Tenpou's eyes slowly opened, the world around him a colorless, featureless blur as damaged eyes attempted to focus and failed. He groped instinctively for his glasses, but then remembered that they had been broken. Stepped on. Did the afterlife have an optometrist? Since it certainly didn't see fit to correct the flaw in his eyesight. Afterlife for Gods was proving to be very anticlimactic.
"Mr. Aday?" a female voice asked, and Tenpou didn't register it was addressing him, reaching up with his left hand to push his hair behind his ear, his thoughts working through the entire situation analytically now, analyzing every possibility about where he was and how he had come to be here. None of them seemed to fit.
"Marvin," the female voice tried again, and as Tenpou lowered his left hand, he felt something pressed against it, cold and metallic against his hand. As he closed his hand around the object to identify it, the pads of his fingers made contact with smooth glass. A pair of glasses. Surprised, he took the offering and quickly put them on, blinking as he adjusted to the correction to his vision.
The room was still colorless, but at least it was no longer featureless. The woman herself seemed to match the decor: utterly unremarkable, bland but neat in appearance. She gave him no real clues as to where he could be, except that her clothing was rather peculiar. Then again, as he glanced down at himself, he realized that his was as well.
"Ah, thank you," Tenpou said quickly, just a little too late to be polite, or even let the woman know that he was referring to the glasses she had given him. "Pardon me if this is a peculiar question, but where am I?" His tone was even, completely devoid of any sense of panic. Really, he wasn't frightened. Just...confused, more than anything. He didn't like being thrown into unfamiliar situations, around unfamiliar people. It put his strategic mind out of its depth.
"This is Landel's Institute," the woman said politely, smiling insincerely (Tenpou knew a thing or two about artificial smiles), but her tone was completely condescending, as if she were speaking to a small child, or a person who was somehow mentally deficient. If she somehow believed Tenpou to be cognitively lacking, he could use this to his advantage, at least.
Tenpou reached up to readjust his new glasses, peering to examine her quizzically and openly. The woman seemed startled by the gesture. But Tenpou released his glasses and leaned back away from her. "Again, I apologize if this is an unusual question, but who exactly are you?" he asked her, hoping it would help piece together the puzzle the "Landel's Institute" answer had formed in his mind.
"I'm one of the nurses on staff, of course," the woman said patiently. "Is there something the matter, Mr. Aday? You seem a little confused."
Tenpou rose to his feet, patting his pockets. No cigarettes. No lighter. "I believe I just need a cigarette. By any chance, do you have one?" he asked, still not asking her to clarify her answers (it would put him at a disadvantage to appear completely ignorant). He had a gentle but completely artificial smile of his own now, a mirror of the nurse's.
The nurse seemed taken aback by the question, his movement, the sudden shift in his mood. "I'm afraid the patients aren't allowed to smoke on the premises," she informed him. Her tone then returned to that condescending note that she had used with him earlier. "But why don't we go to the sun room. Perhaps spending time with some other patients will help you clear your mind a bit." She put a firm hand on his shoulder, and Tenpou flinched momentarily, but allowed her to guide him from the room in the direction of this "sun room". Perhaps he would find more information there.
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That was a pretty big surprise in and of itself. He hadn't really been expecting that. Maybe some kind of afterlife--he wasn't entirely sure what sort he believed in, but it would make sense that there'd be something--but it definitely wasn't supposed to feel like this. This was a hospital bed; that suggested that he'd been healed. And that was more than a little surreal. Even going into battle that last time, he hadn't expected to survive; by the end he'd known he wouldn't. But he didn't even feel injured.
He sat up and stared down at his hands, turning them over again and again. No gloves, but that wasn't really a surprise. He'd have to ask for new ones. That was a good thing to focus on: getting his gloves back. That way he didn't have to worry about how he'd survived, who'd picked him up, or what waited for him now (there shouldn't have been anything; he was done, didn't they know that?).
His eyepatch was missing too, although that being a lot newer than the gloves, it took him a few moments to realize it. Then he stopped, realizing something else, and hesitantly lifted one hand to his face: first the left side, then the right. "Huh? ...It must have been a while, then." The thought that not only had time passed, but that his wounds had healed so perfectly, was terribly strange. He backed away from it. It would be better, for now, to focus on doing what he could to adjust. He'd find out more about what had happened later.
Lockon looked up just in time to see a young woman approaching in a non-descript outfit--a nurse's uniform, he assumed, since he was in a hospital (right?). He smiled at her and lifted a hand. "Hey, I'm finally up, so you don't have to worry," he said. She stopped as if surprised that he was addressing her. "We can get to the explanations later. For now, could you get me a pair of gloves? I'd appreciate it."
She regained her composure and smiled back at him. "Why would you need gloves?"
So she didn't know who he was. Either someone other than Celestial Being had rescued him, or she was far removed from the crew of the Ptolemy. He'd have to be careful and not give away too much. He didn't have the composure right now to come up with a lie, though, so he opted for a half-truth instead. "I like to keep my hands safe for some of the delicate work I do."
She was still smiling, but by now he realized that it was a slightly fixed expression, not as friendly as he'd hoped initially. "What kind of work is that?"
Well, if they'd picked him up from a battlefield, they had to know something about what he did. "I'm a sniper," he explained. "So I work with rifles."
And suddenly she wasn't smiling anymore. Instead, she gave him a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder. He didn't resist--he'd done it to other people loads of times, after all--but it didn't help his confusion. In fact, it upped his bewilderment to a whole new level when she spoke again. "You don't have to worry about that here, Mr. Dylandy. You're in--"
He cut her off, reaching up to grab hold of her hand on his shoulder (she tensed as if afraid; what threat could he pose to her, dazed and unarmed?) and staring up at her. "How do you know my real name?" He couldn't even begin to guess what that meant. (A panicky thought: they'd mistaken him for his brother, and it was Lyle who was in danger. He pushed the fear away. As soon as he could check what they thought his given name was, he'd be able to confirm or dismiss it.)
"That was the name you were checked in under, of course," the nurse said.
He looked up at her again, still not comprehending. "Checked in under? You mean I wasn't--" Rescued, he was about to say, but it suddenly seemed absurd. Instead, he asked, "What is this place?"
"This is Landel's Institute," she said. "Surely you remember that much."
Lockon didn't remember it at all, but he knew he needed to, and soon. "All right," he said. "I must be a little disoriented, but I'm sure it'll go away soon. Can you take me somewhere I can talk with the other patients? If that's all right." He doubted he was going to get any more information from the nurse, and he needed to get it from someone. Maybe, if he was lucky, another patient would be as friendly as he was, but a lot less confused.
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Once Feldt's initial disorientation faded a bit, and after she managed to get used to gravity again, she sat up and brushed her long pink bangs out of her eyes. She was finally taking in her new surroundings, and... it looked a lot like a hospital. Why was she in a hospital? Nothing really hurt, and as far as she knew, she was completely fine. She didn't feel like she had any injuries either, although... if she had, maybe there was a possibility that they had been taken care of already. Maybe something had happened in the middle of battle... which could be why she didn't even remember finishing the battle in the first place. Either way, it looked like she was in a hospital, and she didn't know why. There wasn't even anything in the room that gave her any information on the place.
Of course, she didn't need to wait too long. A nurse walked in, smiling at Feldt cheerfully. "You're awake! I was beginning to wonder when you were going to wake up, dear. I hope you slept well."
Feldt nodded. Maybe this nurse would be able to answer her questions. She seemed friendly enough, so... it couldn't hurt to at least ask. "... Where are we?" That was a good enough first question.
"We're at Landel's Institute!" The nurse said, still smiling. "You had such a long trip here. I'm not surprised you're confused, Anna. But don't worry, we're going to make sure you get better!"
An institute? So... it wasn't exactly a hospital, then. Either way, Feldt still didn't know what was going on, and she didn't think that Celestial Being would send her here without telling her. What had happened between the battle and now? Feldt couldn't remember, no matter how hard she tried. And why was this nurse calling her Anna? She never went by that name before. But before she could even start to say that she wasn't named Anna, the nurse started pulling her off of the bed.
"How about we get you out so that you can start making some new friends, Anna? How does the Sun Room sound?" She asked, before she started pushing Feldt out of the room.
Well... maybe exploring the place would be a good idea anyway, so that she could know more about it. And maybe she'd be able to find out more information about why, exactly, she was there in the first place.
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This was relevant because he very quickly recognized that he was not where he used to be, even without opening his eyes. The bed was more comfortable, at least, but it was still a bit unsettling. He blinked his eyes open, glancing around for a bit before sitting up and giving the room a more thorough once-over. It was... boring, really. Just two beds, white walls, bright lights, and quite possibly the least fashionable clothes he'd ever worn in his life(even moreso than when he was young, before he'd really developed good[in his mind] taste). Bad enough that they didn't let him keep his makeup after he was arrested, they had to take his clothes too? In addition, his glasses were on, which was odd, since he always removed them before sleeping to prevent them from getting bent. He'd pulled them off to inspect them, just in case, when the door opened.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up, Marcus," chirped a female voice, and Dist glanced up as he slid his glasses back on.
"My name is Dist," he said, his tone impatient. "Where am I? Is this Jade's idea of a joke?" The woman smiled and shook her head.
"There are no patients here by that name currently. You're in Landel's Institute; many of the patients here are a bit confused as to who they are, but you don't need to worry. We'll take good care of you." Her tone was infuriating, and Dist couldn't keep back a scowl.
"Don't patronize me! What's going on?!" He stood up, finding with a slight bit of annoyance that he wasn't that much taller than the woman. He wasn't particularly sad to not be in prison any more, but he would have expected some notice if they were going to move him. The woman's smile became a bit strained.
"I'll have to ask you not to shout. There's no need to get angry. Now, you like to make things, right?" She looked at the clipboard in her hand as she spoke. "Let's go to the arts and crafts room, then; you can meet some of your fellow patients there, as long as you control your temper."
"Good! They'll be more useful than you." He crossed his arms and didn't drop his scowl as he followed the (increasingly more exasperated) woman out of the room. Surely someone would be more helpful; he'd just have to find someone willing to talk.
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Then he opened his eyes, and he was in another place entirely.
It took a while for his vision to focus, and when it did he found himself on his back, staring at a white ceiling. When he tried to curl his hand around the Gundam's controls, he grabbed at sheets. Instead of hearing firing and explosions, there was quiet. It was during this temporary state of confusion that a voice beside him spoke up.
"Oh, so you're finally awake, aren't you?"
He blinked and sat up, turning to the direction of the voice. A woman wearing the standard outfit of those working in hospitals was looking back at him with a smile on her face. He held his stare for a while before the most recent events suddenly came rushing back: His encounter with Ali Al Saachez, the battle between Celestial Being and the UN Forces, the way he and his Gundam tried to reach out to Lockon Stratos, only a few seconds too late as he watched his comrade's body explode before his eyes...
He wildly turned around to scan the area. She was not a familiar presence. This wasn't the Ptolemaios. This wasn't even...
"This is not space."
He raised his eyes back to the nurse at this point, and saw that she was wearing a look on her face he hadn't quite expected and did not fully comprehend. Regardless, alarm, a sense of urgency, even traces of fear: The emotions he encountered the most during battle was nowhere to be found in her expression.
"Of course, Soran, this is Landel's—"
His eyes narrowed. "What did you address me as?"
She gave him a slightly startled look before she continued. "Soran. As I was saying, you are in Landel's Institute—"
"Who informed you of that name?" The last time he heard someone refer to him as such was just after a battle, uttered by an enemy. His eyes darted around to see if there was something he could use as a weapon in case he was attacked, and gritted his teeth when he found none.
But she didn't do anything hostile and instead flashed him another smile. "That was the name on your file, of course. Everyone in this institution has their name on record."
"I am not supposed to be here. I need to return to the Ptolemaios." His brows drew together and a frown formed on his face as he said this.
There was another pause before she resumed speaking. "I'm afraid you're confused right now, Soran. You are currently—"
"Do not call me by that name."
"I-I would gladly do so, dear, but how else will I—"
"My name is Setsuna F. Seiei." Realizing that he would probably not get anything out of her, he got off the bed and quickly started towards the door. The most likely conclusion was that he had passed out and one of his comrades had brought him and his Gundam back to the Ptolemaios, and when he did not wake they had returned him to Earth for further treatment. He needed further information, though, needed to get out, to talk to someone else who would actually give him the answers he required. Did Celestial Being manage to survive, or did they perish during the assault? What happened to his other comrades? And the Gundams... What had become of them?
He shot a glare at the nurse as he opened the door. Fine, she could follow him if she wanted, but he was certain he was going to return to Celestial Being, and to his Gundam. He had to.
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"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Grayson."
-- absolutely certain. If he were the type to cuss, this would be the moment a string worthy of Grace would be coming out of his mouth. As it stood, he just groaned. Despite the fact Dick wasn't wearing the right clothes, he appeared to be in tact physically so that 'land of the living' probably wasn't literal. That could mean the security of Manor could be compromised or on a more mundane route of thought, he was being targeted as Dick Grayson, adopted son of Bruce Wayne as opposed to Nightwing, vigilante extraordinaire. It was a bit more mundane, but not implausible and no less dangerous. It would give him an ace up his sleeve if it came right down to a life or death situation but he didn't want to completely jump to ideas without any conclusive evidence beyond the fact they knew his name.
Speaking of they..."Uh, where am I?"
The woman, likely a nurse from the clothing, did the kind of smile that Alfred gave him sometimes that told him he was being difficult and that he just needed to calm down and think rationally. "Landel's Institute," she told him, as if that was supposed to mean anything. What he wouldn't give for Oracle on comms to be running the name right about now.
"Sorry, I'm too sure what that is." He could play dumb, but at the moment, it wasn't really playing. He guessed that would be what you could called method acting. "Uh, how'd I get here?"
"You were checked in last night, dear." That was a fake smile if ever he'd seen one and he'd seen his fair share. The condescending tone wasn't lost on him either.
This wasn't good at all, but the best way to get to who was behind a trap was to spring it. "Is there anyone I can talk to about this? I'm sure there's just been some kind of mistake. He aimed one of his most Robinesque smiles at her and that seemed to settle her.
"You're just a little confused," She said, attempting to sound soothing but there was a wooden quality to tone and her movements were extremely practiced. "Why don't you head on into the Sun Room with the others and I'm sure that will jog your memory." It really wasn't much of a question, but nondescript rooms had limited answers for him. Hopefully, having people to question, he'd get to the bottom of this.
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Sitting up, she also noted with mild disdain the gray clothes she was wearing. Was this some kind of insult? Hime shook her head; better to gather all the facts first before making conclusions.
Someone had relocated her, even changed her clothes. Calling for Hiro or Flandre would be useless; if they were here they would find her eventually; if not, she’d just be giving herself away. After checking herself for injuries or any other strange marks or implants, whatever they might have done to her while she was asleep, Hime stood up and got out of bed.
The stark white room seemed more like a hospital than any sort of prison, and the lack of any sort of security measures, such as cameras or guards was suspicious also. Still, it was a strange, enclosed room with only one way out, so the idea that this was a prison was still a possibility. She was just about to begin examining the desk when the door opened, putting her on her guard though she didn’t show anything other than bored unconcern as she turned to face the newcomer.
“Good morning, Sarah, did you sleep well?” asked the nurse that entered. “It's a little late, but there's still plenty of time in the day!”
The nurse was obviously looking at her, and there was no one else in the room, so she was referring to Hime. But that name held no significance or meaning to her, so it meant nothing.
“I slept passably well,” Hime said, taking in the details of the room and the nurse. Nothing about this was familiar, so this wasn’t a dream. Unless it was someone else’s, but she wasn’t sure whose. Had Hiro ever visited somewhere like this? She pondered this as she put on the slippers the nurse gave her.
“You said my name is Sarah?” she said casually as she tapped her foot on the ground, getting it the slipper into place.
“Oh dear,” murmured the nurse quietly, though not without Hime’s notice. She sighed a little, then put on a fake smile. “Yes, your name is Sarah, Sarah Kingston. You’ve been admitted to Landel’s Institute, a mental facility where we help patients get better so they can return to their lives and families outside.”
“I see,” replied Hime casually, finishing adjusting the drab and tasteless clothes they’d deemed to put her in. “Well then, I wouldn’t want to miss my first day then, would I? Let’s be off.”
Smiling at having such a cooperative patient this time, the nurse led the way out into the hall. As they walked, Hime silently considered the possibilities. There was, of course, the idea that one of her siblings was responsible, but most of them would have simply killed had they had the chance to kidnap her. There were some that may have simply moved her here to keep her out of the way, but that was hardly a permanent solution. To go through the elaborate ruse of calling her by a different name and pretending she was crazy – this was a mental hospital after all, was it not? – seemed too far for even that.
Then was it someone else? Another party intent on the throne, perhaps wanting to keep her their captive Royal and brainwash her with this? Or perhaps just after her blood? Or someone entirely unrelated? Whoever it was had vast resources and abilities to get past her servants and put this all together, but there was really no telling at this point in the game, now was there? Ever calm and regal, Hime followed her nurse out into the Sun Room.
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