damned_institute | Day 43: Arts & Crafts Room (4th Shift)

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Day 43: Arts & Crafts Room (4th Shift)

When Momo left Hitsugaya's side, she felt both relieved to be away from him and disappointed that the nurses had separated them. Either way, she felt like she was suffocating, that she had too much building in her mind with all this on top of the message she'd been given by the undead knight on that rooftop the night before. There was only one way for Momo to relieve the pressure.

After leaving a note on the board for Senna, Momo headed into the Arts & Crafts room. She was still in a lot of pain, but Hitsugaya's healing, though minor, did make it much less painful to hold things. Taking all of the special markers, she stood before the large white board and uncapped the lightest of the colors - yellow.

Save thyself.

Those words would echo in Momo's mind for a very long time. She had much to thank the knight for, the least of which was leaving her right arm relatively undamaged. She needed it for many things, being her primary hand, but right now she needed it for one thing.

Momo began to draw.

[reserved for Senna]

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Yukito only laughed and shrugged a little, pushing the container away and sorting through the rest of what the nurse had left for him to work with. "Sometimes what other people consider 'silly' can be a lot of fun," he observed, picking up one of the googly eyes from its packet and shaking it a little. "Though...to be honest, I'm not quite sure just what they're expecting us to do here."

Art projects weren't exactly the kind of thing he went in for, usually. Especially not art projects using these kinds of materials. Ururu would've liked it, he was certain. Maybe Sakura or her friends.

"I guess that crazy people like us need to make art to feel better." He slid a sheet of paper over toward himself and began folding it, almost idly. "I'm Tsukishiro Yukito, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Jamie shifted uncomfortably and ducked his head a little at the comment about "crazy people" - now that he had a constant voice in his head, the whole asylum situation seemed just a little too appropriate - and set to fitfully straightening the paper on the table, prodding its edges into precise alignment. "Uh - yeah, guess so." He half-grinned again, though it looked a little more like a grimace. "Jamie Hemeros. Nice to meet you too."

The reaction had been noticed and noted - Yukito was only completely oblivious about certain matters, and this didn't fit at all into that category. His expression didn't change, though, still the same genuine-looking friendly smile as he picked up a pair of scissors and began clipping away shapes from the folded paper.

"So how long have you been here, Jamie-san?" he asked, attention apparently fixed on what he was working on. "It seems like they brought in some more people today, but I think I might have seen you around before. Am I right?"

"Uh...about a week, I think." Jamie continued obsessing over his stack of paper, far more interested in tidying it than making anything out of it. Wild Eagle seemed perplexed by this behavior as well, since Jamie could feel him mentally staring at him. "We had a trip into town right after I got here, and yesterday was my second time there, so."

He glanced over at Yukito, at his sincere smile, and was momentarily reminded of Kurt on the bus yesterday. "Um. How about you? 've you been here long?"

"Me? Oh..." Yukito paused for a moment, head tilting to one side as he counted the days. "Let's see - it would be my ten--twelfth day." He always had to remember to include the days he didn't remember, except in Yue's second-hand memories. But almost two weeks? That wasn't good.

He considered that for a moment, then mentally shrugged and went back to his careful cutting. "Mm, that was my second trip to town, too." And he was hard-pressed to say whether the night after was better or worse this time, all things considered. The zombies certainly had left fewer repercussions, from what he could see. "If they're going to be like that every time, that gives me even more reason to hope that I won't be here for a third one."

"I don't think anyone wants to be here any longer than they have to," Jamie agreed, finishing with his stack of paper and moving on to a scattered collection of felt-tip markers, which he began absently lining up side-by-side. "Have you, um. Made any progress trying to, y'know, get out?" He said this last in an undertone, mindful of any eavesdropping nurses.

Wild Eagle snorted derisively at this. Hello? I was TRYING to 'make progress' yesterday and you're still all uptight abo - WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING. He'd clearly had enough of Jamie's restless organizing and now, irritated, decided to try to do something about it. The result wasn't spectacular, as Jamie was far too alert to relinquish control entirely, but it was something; Jamie's arm jerked spasmodically, scattering the markers he'd previously been fussing over.

The lapse lasted only a split second, after which Jamie, once again in full control of all his appendages, looked utterly mortified, shooting a brief, paranoid glance at Yukito while Eagle grinned in amused triumph. Ooh. That worked better'n I thought it would.

"I'm...not sure. Perhaps. Although anything we've found could just be misdirection, knowing this place." Somehow Yukito managed to not sound concerned when talking about that kind of thing, as though it wasn't important. He could remain cheerfully optimistic in just about any situation, especially with the amount of practice he'd had.

Jamie's obsession with neatness was a little odd, but Yukito didn't want to call attention to it without any need. Some people had weird quirks and it could be rude to ask.

At least, that's what he thought until the young man abruptly swiped at the neat row of markers, sending them skittering across the table. At that point Yukito paused, eyebrows lifting slightly in silent inquiry as he set down his scissors, pushing two markers from the table in front of him over toward Jamie. "Everything okay?" he asked, sounding nothing more than concerned.

"- um. Yeah. Fine. Just a...nervous tic. Don't worry about it." Jamie smiled wanly at Yukito and, after a moment's hesitation, as though unsure his alter wouldn't try something again, reclaimed the markers Yukito had nudged back over to him.

Eagle mentally rolled his eyes. Gimme a break. I didn't act all ashamed'a you when I was talkin' with Raph. An' he didn't think I was a freak or whatever for sharin' a body with someone, an' neither did that girl in the park yesterday. Get over it.

Jamie sent his head-voice a silent shut up and began obsessing over the markers again, trying to focus and compose himself. "Uhm. Sorry about that," he said eventually. "So, uh. What have you found out about...here? I've never gotten any further than the first floor when they let us out at night..."

That looked almost like - no, he was probably just imagining things. After his talk with Allelujah last shift, and all the other stuff that had been on his mind lately, Yukito was probably imagining things. Still, though, he watched Jamie just a moment longer than really necessary before giving a small nod and smile. "It's not a big deal."

He picked up his scissors again and resumed carefully clipping away bits of paper. "Oh? I've been on the second floor a few times..." One of those instances a time he'd really rather not think about, too. "And we went to the basement a couple of nights ago, but didn't really find much."

Jamie noticed the slightly-too-long look and felt a twinge of misgiving in his gut - Yukito appeared to suspect something, not that Jamie's excuse for his bizarre behavior had been all that convincing in the first place - but tried to ignore it. And Eagle, who was prodding at various spots in Jamie's mental defenses, mostly to annoy him.

"...I didn't even really know there was a basement," he said, trying to look undistracted. "Er. And, um...who d'you usually travel with? Do you stick with anyone specific?"

Yukito made one more cut and stopped, frowning just a little as he examined the piece of paper. "Yes, it's kind of hidden. People have said they've found things down there, and that it's dangerous, but...well, we had more trouble with getting down there than actually being there. I didn't see any monsters or anything."

He abruptly smiled and unfolded the paper again, displaying the snowflake that he'd made with an air of triumph. See, I can make snowflakes too, he observed, a comment which Yue pretended not to hear. "Me? I have a couple of friends from back home who are here. Before that, though, I had some friends..." And there he hesitated for a moment, looking suddenly thoughtful. Fai he'd seen last night, though he did want to ask about that note on the board, but he hadn't seen Subaru lately. Did he have someone to travel with?

After a second he just shook his head a little and set the paper snowflake down again. "If you don't have anyone, you could always try talking to one of the clubs? Or just see if someone else is in the same situation."

Jamie and Eagle watched, vaguely bemused, as Yukito revealed the fruits of his paper-snipping labor. He seemed to be having fun with this arts-and-crafts business, anyway; kind of weird, to Jamie, but who was he to judge.

Yeeeah. Too bad he doesn't have normal hobbies, like obsessing over freakin' art supplies. Eagle attempted another annoyed swipe at the markers with which Jamie was still attempting to distract himself, an action Jamie only prevented by hurriedly clamping the opposite hand around his wrist. With a forced air of nonchalance, Jamie glanced back at Yukito to continue their conversation as though nothing was amiss.

"There's other people here from your, uh, your universe or whatever?" he asked, ignoring the twitch in his shoulder and the Eagle's agitation. "That must be - um. Good in some ways, I guess?

"And - the clubs, yeah. I guess I could, um. Check them out. I used to go out at night with my roommate but he disappeared a couple nights ago, so."

"Both good and bad, I'd say." Yukito rested one elbow on the table and chin in his hand, idly poking at the snowflake he'd made with one finger of his other hand. "While it's nice to have someone familiar around, I'd also not wish a place like this on anyone, much less my friends."

Not to mention the fact that Sakura was entirely too young and too nice for a place like this. It worried him every time she ran into danger, and even more so when she'd been hurt the other night. Yue had to feel the same, only probably stronger.

"And...if you don't mind me asking," he added, still in the same entirely casual and cheerful tone, "is there something wrong with your arm?"

Jamie stared at Yukito with a deer-in-the-headlights expression for a split second. "No! No. Not exactly." Which was true, in a way; his arm was just fine - the problem was in his head. "Just that...nervous tic. 's like it's got a mind of its own sometimes," he trailed off feebly. He gave the Eagle-controlled wrist a warning squeeze, against which it twitched defiantly. Jamie supposed he'd just have to hold onto it for a little longer, whether he liked it or not.

"But - yeah. It'd be kinda...rough, seeing someone you care about stuck here, with everything that goes on at night." Smooth transition. Smooth.

One brow rose, then the other, until Yukito was watching Jamie with a look of polite disbelief. That was going somewhat beyond "nervous tic," especially with the way the young man was holding his arm in place like he was. "Mm. Yes, it is."

He mentally debated whether or not it would be impolite to pry any more, but finally curiosity and some concern for how distressed Jamie looked finally won out. "And I imagine that must be...difficult, then. You know, you don't have to hurt yourself or anything. I don't mind if a few markers go flying."

Jamie smiled tightly but did not release his death grip on his own arm. "...mn. It's just, um. Embarrassing."

At this Wild Eagle, already thoroughly annoyed, reflected sudden white-hot rage and attempted another furious jerk of the limb he'd managed to control. YOU'RE embarrassing. YOUR MOM'S EMBARRASSING.

Jamie recoiled slightly and cast a nervous glance around, though the room's other occupants all thus far seemed engrossed with their own activities. "It's, y'know. Not something you see all that often," he went on blithely. "Dunno how people'd react to it, so. I'd just as soon not...call attention to it." Another pained grin.

"Oh, trust me. I've seen some things that...er. Aren't exactly common." The corner of Yukito's mouth twitched slightly at that, and he definitely sounded amused. All things considered, he ranked whatever this was a little lower on the "weird" scale than half the things in his life. Or, well, his life, considering the reason for his existence in the first place. "I can understand not wanting to seem different, though."

He paused for a moment, then cautiously ventured, "Is this maybe a, well, more recent development? Oh, but if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay, I don't want to pry," he quickly added, with a wave of one hand.

"Not...exactly?" Jamie fidgeted a little and marginally loosened his grip. The arm jerked in response, and he hurriedly clamped down on it again. "It - um. I had it for a while before I got here and it's just...gotten worse in the last couple of days."

He trailed off, eyes unfocussing briefly as his thoughts returned to the darkened room he'd been trapped in two nights previous, when this mess with his alter had started. He blanched, shook himself a little and flicked an uneasy glance Yukito's direction. "...but - yeah. Kinda...hard to adjust to," he finished in a subdued tone.

"Well, it's. Complicated." That only began to sum it up, but. "And if I tried to explain I'd probably sound just a crazy as they like to say I am." Yukito offered a somewhat rueful smile and shrugged, straightening up to pull another sheet of paper over toward himself.

He paused, though, when he caught sight of Jamie's expression. "Although things did, er, get worse after I'd been here for a few days. Things like that sometimes happen around here," he replied, with perhaps a hint of concern.

It was likely that he was just jumping to conclusions, but he couldn't be certain.

Jamie regarded Yuktio guardedly for a moment or two. "...you too, huh," he commented quietly. "Got worse here, I mean."

He had a feeling Yukito might be alluding to the kind of 'treatment' Jamie himself had gone through the other night - that kind of thing went on here every night, didn't it? He didn't know exactly what condition of Yukito's had worsened and wasn't sure if he should ask - if the other teen's treatment had been anything like Jamie's, it probably wasn't the sort of thing he'd want to revisit in any detail. Jamie chewed his lip for a moment before speaking again, hesitantly.

"It's - it kinda feels like they're trying to make us more crazy here," he said. "Or make us think we're crazy, anyway, with the drugs and the - the treatments and everything."

His wrist twitched again.

All right, so maybe he hadn't been entirely off-base with his guess. The concern only increased in Yukito's slight frown, and he folded his arms on the table in front of himself as he regarded the young man thoughtfully. "I did. About a week ago, the night after the last trip into town."

He leaned forward slightly, resting his weight on his elbows as he considered the comment. "Maybe they just want to make us so miserable here that we'd be willing to accept the false life rather than stay," he suggested, with a quiet sigh. "It would fit the evidence, I suppose."

Jamie frowned and shook his head. "...I don't think they want us to accept anything," he said. "I think they just - wanna make us miserable, make us question everything, and that's the only reason they're keeping us here." His expression darkened; he looked almost - angry.

"Admitting we're crazy when we're not, or accepting what they tell us about our lives or whatever - that's not going to fix the problems they give us while we're here," he said. "The stuff that they do during th - in those...experiments. At night. Those aren't gonna disappear if they let us go."

Wild Eagle, silent for the past few moments, suddenly rose to the forefront of Jamie's consciousness, spewing fury. I'm not a damn DISEASE that needs t'be CURED, YOU ASSHOLE, he snarled. The force of his rage made Jamie physically recoil, his entire body tensing now rather than just his arm. Stop talkin' about me like I'm just some problem you hafta put up with!

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Day 43: Arts & Crafts Room (4th Shift)

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