Day 44: breakfast

Yuffie had died.

No, really. Seriously. She had actually died. Bleeding all over the place, making a horrid, sticky mess and scaring the hell out of Suzaku; she remembered it clearly. Kind of. Sort of. Through the blood loss, the pain, and the visions. Through Aerith's voice whispering in her ear, Cloud's stricken eyes, and her own panic. As bad nights went, it had been Bad, capital B and all the trimmings, and oh, god. She sat, trembling on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and hands pressed hard over her racing heart. The by-play between Landel—Landel!—and Lydia barely even sunk in. There was nothing in the whole world, any world, that could prepare you for something like…

Had it all been some kind of hallucination?

Had she imagined the whole thing?

No… She didn't think so. Nightmarish or not, Yuffie knew reality. But if it had been real, how was she alive now? That kind of pain wasn't something you could just cook up, was it? She thought about it all the way to the cafeteria, drifting behind her nurse without focus or intent. Maybe if she tried to stay clinical, tried to step back… But she'd never been good at that when things got personal. And every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she swore that the scenes played back to her, like an overused commercial on a crappy channel on a crappy TV, in a run-down dump of an inn that smelled like mothballs and yesterday's breakfast.

The scent of blood and damp, rotted wood clogged her nose. Disgusted, Yuffie shoved her bowl of cereal—handed to her by a clucking Plucky—off to the side so that she could melt into her chair, palm heels scrubbing against her eyes. Too much. This was… Too much. She couldn't even paste a plastic smile on her face to make herself feel better. Her usual shield, the white noise of inane babble that could filter out almost any crisis, was in tatters all around her. Five minutes, she gave herself.

Five minutes (not) to think, five minutes to get her act together, because there was no way she could let herself shatter here. No way…

[Closed to Sheena]

[identity profile] sir-savien.livejournal.com 2009-09-23 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Kvothe could probably have been persueded to give more specifics on the subject of sleep studies, but he wasn't about to offer. It wasn't a pleasant memory. Then again, few things about the Institute were anything that could be considered 'pleasant.' "Nine days." It felt longer than that. "Long enough." He gave the other boy a thin and ghastly smile. "How about you?"

[identity profile] thirdboywonder.livejournal.com 2009-09-24 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Tim's mouth twitched. "About three days," he said. It felt like three years. Three lifetimes. Something. Definitely felt like more than three days.

He looked off at the wall for a second, then back at Kvothe. "Did the study...did it change you somehow? Are you different at all, do you know?"

It was probably a really strange question, but Tim had seen changes in both Bart and Bruce. They weren't overt, not unless you knew them well, but they were definitely there. He wasn't sure how to explain them or what to do, but that was a start. If Kvothe had also been somehow changed, then maybe Tim could put some more pieces together.

Maybe.

[identity profile] sir-savien.livejournal.com 2009-09-24 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Kvothe was silent for a minute, staring at nothing in particular. He unconciously wrapped his left hand around the wrist of his broken hand. "I think..." He eventually said, slowly, "that sometimes there may be lingering effects from the drugs that they use during the...'study.'"

Everything he saw that night, and from the corners of his eyes since, had to have been the result of powerful hallucinogenic drugs. There was no other option that he cared to entertain.

"And of course there are lingering psychological implications involved when subjected to something like that. It's a harrowing experience." To put things mildly.

[identity profile] thirdboywonder.livejournal.com 2009-09-24 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
He wondered if they'd administered drugs to Bart. He hadn't found that out the night before, because there was no way to test for them.

"So they injected you with something? Did they make up a reason?" he asked. It was possible that he'd get into invasive territory soon, but he'd have to try, or this meeting would be pointless.

Lingering psychological implications. Boy, was that an understatement, at least from what Tim had seen with Bart.

[identity profile] sir-savien.livejournal.com 2009-09-25 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
"When they've already got you strapped to a table, they don't need to make up a reason," he said flatly. That had been a terrifying experience. "I don't know what exactly it was, but it was yellow and appeared to have powerful hallucinogenic properties." There was little emotional content behind the words, just dryly factual and informative.

[identity profile] thirdboywonder.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
Yellow. He'd make a note of that, ask Alfred or Bruce what they thought it could be. There were several possibilities, but had it had lingering effects? He wanted to know what Kvothe had seen. There were still so many questions.

He opened his mouth to ask something, but he caught the nurse coming toward him out of the corner of his eye. Typical. He'd have to cut it short for now.

Lowering his voice, he asked, "Hey, do you mind if I catch you later and ask you a couple more things? You don't have to talk to me if you don't want." It was hard to convince people he meant well without being Robin. It was amazing how much of his life and his methods revolved around that identity.

Or maybe it wasn't, which actually said more about him than he would have liked to admit.

[identity profile] sir-savien.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Kvothe resisted the urge to follow his glance, he could guess easily enough what he might have been looking at. It still wasn't something he wanted to think about, but it might help Alvin's friend, and he supposed it couldn't hurt. And it wasn't as if he could put it all out of his mind forever. That wasn't healthy and he knew it. "...All right. When?"

[identity profile] thirdboywonder.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
"Tomorrow, second shift?" he offered. It might be easier if he wasn't pretending to eat. It might not be, but who could really say?

Speaking of which, he turned back to his food and pretended he was still interested in it, so the nurse would give him a few more seconds.

[identity profile] sir-savien.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"All right," Kvothe agreed after a moment, nodding. "Second shift. I'll see you then."

[identity profile] thirdboywonder.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Tim nodded back. "Thanks," he said, then stood up and followed the nurse off to whatever they had planned for second shift.