DAY 45: LIBRARY

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Even before he got sick, Sean had enjoyed reading. His teachers had always said that he read 'ahead of his age group', but he figured that was just because he read more than most kids his age did. He liked everything: fantasy, science fiction, biographies, journal articles... There was just something satisfying about holding a book--something someone poured a lot of effort into producing--to Sean.

Today, though, he didn't want to get into anything particularly heavy or involved. No psychology textbooks for him today--he was going to read something fictional. Pulling what looked like an interesting science fiction novel off the shelves, he cracked it open and began to read happily. Oliver would find him soon enough and no doubt interrupt him, so he'd just read as much as he could for now.

[For Badou]

Comments

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

Breakfast had been...stressful. He knew he'd met that guy before, but he didn't remember him being that spooky. Todd had been genuinely worried for his safety for a moment. Of course, he'd probably confused the poor guy without meaning to, but there was no excuse for violence.

Todd's enthusiasm for the library fizzled out and died about the time he realized that it was all fiction. Not that he had anything against novels, but most of it looked to be stuff he'd either already read or had no interest in. And here he'd been hoping to find something on archaeology, even if it was only some fluffy pop-science thing.

Oh well.

Seeing another man in a similar situation, Todd took a moment to muster up his courage and say something. "You can't find anything good either?" There. Tamara would have been so proud.

[no-ones-son.livejournal.com]

Jason glanced over the guy who'd spoken to him. Big guy, mass of grey hair, seemed timid or shy. No one he'd met before but any distraction from his thoughts was fine by him. "I'm not interested in reading, but the crap they got here doesn't help."

Holding out a hand, Jason said, "I'm Tim Drake. It's not a pleasure to meet you but that's nothing personal." Using the baby bird's name would draw his attention eventually even if Jason didn't start making a move against him but that was the whole point.

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it's a little 'high-school English' for my tastes."

Todd hesitated just a moment before shaking the man's hand, still somewhat shaken from his ordeal at breakfast. "Todd Wolfe, and I understand. There's lots of places I'd rather be than here, that's for certain." He wasn't about to get offended by anything this guy had to say, just as long as he didn't get manhandled or threatened again.

[no-ones-son.livejournal.com]

Jason frowned at Todd's apparent nervousness over a simple handshake. "Rough night?" he asked casually, looking the man over for obvious injuries. No sign of anything major but whatever made him so wary might not have left marks. He had heard stories of 'experiments' and shit like that that went on.

It was a little odd to be worried during the day as most people here seemed to believe that they only needed to be careful at night. While he didn't fall for that at all the ringleaders here were pretty invested in appearing normal. Possibly Todd had had a bad encounter with another patient - there were a lot of psychos here and most were good at playing nice until they turned on you. They really should be ashamed of themselves, deceiving people like that. He didn't know what the world was coming to these days.

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

Todd heaved a sigh. He must have looked as jumpy as he felt. "Rough morning, actually." He couldn't speak for how his night had gone. Just fine, he supposed, though he'd had the usual dream of prowling through a set of ruins. Odd that the ruins had looked so much like the institute, but he guessed it wasn't so unlikely, considering this was where he was spending all his time lately.

Back to the topic at hand, Todd gave the other guy a considering glance. He'd been threatened during breakfast, so statistically this other guy should be okay. "You're not going to smack me around for daring to be lucid today, are you?" he chuckled, only half joking.

[no-ones-son.livejournal.com]

Jason made a show of considering the question, eventually replying, "Nah, I guess not. Since you asked so nicely.

"But who decided it'd be a good idea to start smacking you around? Must've been a pretty big guy. Or some complete nut." He wasn't sure what Todd meant by the comment about 'daring to be lucid' but hopefully he'd clear that up. More than likely it was just that he'd been stuck with a real crazy who had jumped him for no reason but it couldn't hurt to ask.

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

"Ah." Todd twirled a bit of his hair around one finger. "It's sort of embarrassing, but no. He was kinda on the scrawny side." Though the scrawniness had been more than made up for by the guy's wiry strength and utter lunacy. "I'd met him before, when I was still delusional. I must have hurt his feeling somehow this morning. He was pretty upset."

Thinking on it now, Todd felt kind of bad about the whole thing. Maybe he should have tried to explain the situation better, instead of showing up as what must have seemed like a completely different person. Poor guy.

[no-ones-son.livejournal.com]

Well now. That was interesting. "Still delusional?" Jason asked, cocking his head and feigning confusion. "So you're saying you used to believe you were someone else but you don't anymore? How long has it been since you stopped believing the delusions?"

The announcements over the intercom had said something about people feeling 'better'. Another head game then. Not like their visitors who, as far as he could tell, had nearly all been fakes sent to try and convince them that they really were crazy. Todd said he'd met the guy who'd attacked him before and that he had been delusional too. So he'd been a patient and they'd done something to his head? Or was he a plant, designed to mislead them and make them afraid. No easy way to tell right now. He should check the bulletin board, see what information was there although with the threatened censorship there was less chance of getting anything useful.

[I don't know if you want to backthread or not? I'm fine either way.]