damned_institute | Day 46: Sun Room

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Day 46: Sun Room

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that...

After that, Zach had jumped in front of him like some kind of martyr, like the exact opposite of everything Sylar stood for, to take the next hit for him. It got pretty fuzzy after that, so night must have ended right around then.

The man let out a pained grunt as he straightened himself up in bed. For some reason, he got the feeling that he'd slept in. There was no way for him to really tell without a window in the room, but he just knew. The fact that Sam's bed looked long since vacated was another clue.

Sam, but was he Sam again? Had the brainwashing worn off, as he and Roland had hoped, or was he going to have to go through this nightmare for even longer? He didn't know how long he could handle "Zach" and "Harrison" before he started going batty himself.

Pulling himself out of bed, Peter lifted his shirt and saw that he was tightly bandaged. The scratch most likely wasn't nearly as bad as the bite that "Zach" had received, but it still smarted. He let his shirt fall and then had to deal with a nurse chiding him for sleeping through the morning announcements. Not that Peter really cared at the moment. He was too busy thinking about last night and the fact that in a way, he now owed something to Sylar. Except it hadn't been Sylar. That was something he was sure of now.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter reached the Sun Room right as the rest of the patient populace was trickling in from breakfast. Sighing to himself, he headed over to the bulletin board and then saw a note written in familiar yet unpleasant handwriting. Holding his pen in a vice grip, Peter scribbled out a reply and then stalked over to an armchair and fell into it with a huff.

While Sylar was maddeningly frustrating, there was one good thing about the fact that he was himself again. It meant that Nathan was too.

[For Spock!]

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Maybe it was because he was too irritated to think rationally or maybe it was due to the complexity of the situation, but Klavier actually wasn't sure what he should pursuing first. There was too much ground to cover and too much to improvise with. Perhaps his best course of action would be to calm down a little and organize his thoughts; maybe take note of everything significant regarding yesterday and the day before while it was still... fresh.

Actually, no. Another prospect made itself apparent for him. It was that woman from last night. Yoshiko, was it? No, she was introduced as something else first... Yomi. Just the sight of her pushed every one of yesterday's memories to the forefront, sending a pang of guilt through him. "David" hadn't exactly treated her with much tact, regarding her as a piece of meat rather than a lady. Blatant flirting aside, he'd thoughtlessly left her behind on several occasions and hadn't cared much for her safety. He could only be thankful she wasn't capable of reading minds.

He pursed his lips together for a moment before finally spreading a small attempt at a smile. Weak, really. Aside from not feeling much like acting jovial, he wanted to at least approach her with some sensitivity. Frankly, he wouldn't much blame her if she told him to get lost. Still, he wanted to at least attempt an apology on behalf of his "other" self.

"...Ah. Good morning, Fräulein," he said casually to get her attention. "How are you feeling?" He could only hope she had also regained her bearings. If she hadn't...

She watched the two a minute more, noncommittal. If talk was what she wanted, then physical force wasn’t what she could call on; on the other hand, getting things to conform to her way was that much more difficult--not to mention exasperating--when muzzled. She had nothing but time on her hands, but--

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone speaking to her, and Yomi blinked distractedly before tearing her eyes away to find the distraction. What?

… Oh.

Her gaze landed on another blonde, the third person who’d been with her in the basement. David… or Klavier… whatever his name was. She remembered looking up into the same pretty face that was looking at her now, though she had none of the same attachments to the awkwardly human introduction, the hand-holding, the desperate sense of companionship that Yoshiko’s memories did. But that was a lie, wasn’t it? Not the same attachments, but similar… familiar. (Teasing, smiles… so like someone else she knew… and the cowardice and callousness. Those were a part of him, too. But Noriyuki had gotten his in the end.) From faraway, Yomi could read the discomfort in the fair-haired man like a neon beacon, and more dimly, the source of his strange address. Some European accent she didn’t immediately know.

She stared at him for another long moment, spun around with memories that rightfully and unrightfully belonged to her, until she finally return to the present. Only to wonder if he wanted to commiserate with her or something else equally meaningless.

There wasn’t a trace of hard feelings in her when Yomi said, “I’m back to how I was. You must be, too.”

Well, she certainly didn't seem angry or resentful. Nor was she particularly thrilled to see him. It was good to see she was capable of putting an emotional distance regarding last night's events and wouldn't let it affect her behavior... or perhaps it was and that was why she seemed so callous as opposed to lively.

"I am. Thankfully." He allowed the smile to spread a little wider, though it was a bit hollow. "I'd feel even better if we knew why it happened in the first place. It doesn't seem as though everyone in the building was affected. Only a small percentage." It was a curious fact to consider, and one he would have liked discussing until the end of the day, but that wasn't his place at the moment. "Ah. But perhaps it's best not to linger too long on it. Regardless, I wanted to apologize should I have done anything that might have... offended you in any way. I'd hate to leave a bad impression on someone I just met."

Thankfully?

She hung onto the word after it was spoken, turning it over in the back of her mind. Yeah, thankfully. How great it was to be that and return to this. It wouldn’t have been beyond her to respond to the rest of it--a side of her recognized the same and agreed--but he didn’t wait for her input, so she didn’t have to force herself out of her uncharacteristic silence.

Thankfully, huh? Hmm. Living a lie or a living a nightmare, that was the choice?

Blinking, Yomi filed away the apology that came after. Not that he could know, but it was impossible to offend her anymore, at least in the way he meant. But right, this person had his alter ego to think about, and how that person had kissed her hand and tried to play around in the dark before his fear had overcome him. Ha, too much like Noriyuki. Playboys and their apologies.

Without even thinking about it, a smile came over her face, nearing a kind of cheered humor. For a moment, she could set Nigredo aside. “You don’t have to apologize to me,” she said evenly. “He was fun, for the most part. I‘m not upset about it.” Whether the kind of fun guy Yoshiko would have enjoyed on a normal day, or the kind of fun guy Yomi would enjoy breaking, it didn’t matter. The apology just made it that much better. Yoshiko had had bigger things on her mind, and so did Yomi, nor was she someone worth apologizing to. This man was better off sticking to his first impression of her and leaving it at that. “So I should say thanks.”

For memories of some kind of better times? Who knew.

He was fun? Yeah, fun like watching a drunken idiot attempt to dance. Then again, maybe he had to keep in mind that other people's standards didn't necessarily match his own. One more person acting like a moron probably didn't attract much attention. Perhaps he should be thankful for all the idiots around them in that case. There was also the chance that he hadn't come off as badly to other people as he thought he had been. He was quite sure Yomi would change her mind had she had the ability to hear his thoughts yesterday.

There was a bit of a bitter chuckle at that response of hers. It was strange that she would actually thank him for his behavior. Perhaps she didn't get much attention from men. It would be surprising if that were true. Either way, he'd take this as a good thing and not worry about aggravating further regret regarding yesterday.

"Heh, I see. Then I suppose it's a good thing nothing too bad came of it, ja?" At least that she was aware of. "Things could have turned out far worse, anyhow."

Her smiled took on the faintest air of secretiveness. The way he was acting… it was normal, she supposed, for all he’d been through, all the insanity of living a double life that wasn’t one’s own. But if he was as human as he appeared to her eyes, he was crying over skinned knees.

So he did feel bad and wanted to share sympathy. It was with the wrong person, though--he was about five hours too late.

Oh well.

“We could’ve gotten stuck that way,” she murmured, glancing back at Nigredo’s couch from the corner of her eye. The words weren’t so much meant for Klavier as for the evil that’d been wholly overpowered by an alternate identity, like a warm house full of light and laughter built over a series of ruins. To be blotted out and forgotten. Erased.

Well there was a morbid possibility he hadn't wanted to mull over too long. But it was a very likely one, to be frank. A hand went up to comb through the lock of hair on one side of his face distractedly. Klavier had wanted a bit more time to mull over the theory, but sharing the idea with one who went through the situation and gaining her input would likely be useful.

"...I suppose. It's actually fairly strange we didn't get stuck. With how thoroughly we were altered, I don't think it would be strange for the process to be permanent." That fact was actually very frightening when one stopped to think about it. Moreso when he considered he couldn't remember so much as being taken for said procedure. "...Which means, if everyone else recovered as well, they went out of their way to restore our memories and planned for our states to be temporary. Like a threat."

Or just for a little fun. Nothing wrong with that.

She should’ve been more interested in what had happened, and in a way, she was all too eager to figure out how it’d been done without her knowledge. But talking like a good, brainstorming girl meant thinking about it, and thinking about it meant feeling, and--

Her head ached, bitterly. Yomi bit the inside of her cheek, then moved to half-sit, half-lean against the nearest chair’s arm so that she could keep the rest of the room in sight. It didn’t look like she was going to get any better (or worse) company; maybe this Klavier knew something helpful, too. Staying for a quick chat would be all right, and it wasn’t like he would have much of a chance to bother her when he was still reeling over living flirty David’s life. (She still was.) And her presence had to be a reminder, at that. In another time, she might’ve played with him a bit more, just to see what color his distress was.

Yomi looked at him. “A threat implies a warning about bigger things to come. It doesn’t feel like that to you, does it? I think it’s enjoyment. He likes showing what he can do with his power. If it gets worse, it’s only because it’s gotten boring.” She cocked her head. “If the other lives were permanent, he wouldn’t get to see us suffer.”

He frowned just slightly at that. This was one theory he seemed to hear far too often in this place. It was actually startling how many people seemed to just accept the idea of the head doctor doing things simply for the sake of having fun. "For shits and giggles," as more crude people would put it. No one actually did such elaborate things for no real reason. No matter how insignificant, there was a purpose behind everything.

"Actually, if that were all it was, he'd have had quite a bit of fun just leaving us be. I think we may have suffered far more had we been made to survive here like that. We were distressed simply by the doors opening last night, if I recall correctly. Playing with us would be far easier without our various experiences helping us cope and survive."

Any discomfort and hints of a bad mood and melted away as he spoke, like he was talking about an incident that happened to someone else. For some reason, talking it out with someone helped him calm down a great deal. Reasoning was a good distraction. Had it not been for that, he might have broken long ago.

"More to the point, if he were just showing off, wouldn't he have done it to everyone? Instead, he chose a select few. Why?" It made more sense if he did it to send a message, but a message against what? Klavier had his own theory about himself, but were there similarities between the victims he wasn't aware of? "...Tell me: Can you think of any reason why you in particular may have been chosen as a target?"

With her legs extended out before her, she stretched her foot, letting the heel of her slipper pull away from her foot before relaxing and letting it fall back again. She repeated the process, eyes on the movement. Too subtle to be outright fidgeting, but not still enough to leave her with nothing but the man’s words and the whispers in her own head.

This guy, this Klavier, he was more of a thinker than ‘David’ had appeared to be. He was ready to theorize. Swap comments. Cooperate. He was probably speaking as much to himself as to her--wanting to figure out how they‘d come to believe they were other people and stop it from happening ever again. As for Yomi, the question wasn’t whether she was listening, or if she could keep up, but rather if she felt like saying anything beyond what she already had. He’d been more fun last night, this new friend of hers.

Then again, she probably had been, too.

Distress… Yomi raised her head. Yes, Yoshiko had been distressed. But she still had to disagree. The real horror was in breaking a person down and letting them know it, anticipate it. She stayed silent, however, and only looked back at him when he posed his rhetorical questions. The statistics weren’t that important to her, and at any rate, she had nothing but theories, too, not certainties. The final question was what earned her regard. Why her…?

“I don’t know,” Yomi said, lowering her chin to her shoulder. “Maybe I deserved it.”

Maybe.

"...Deserved it?" he repeated incredulously. Of all the things he was prepared to hear, that wasn't one of them. How could a person think they deserved to be brainwashed and made to act against their usual will? Klavier couldn't even fathom such a thing. He regarded her for a moment, trying to read her expression to understand what she meant. "Why would you think that?"

Haha, was that strange? He had said any reason, so she’d just been complying with his question.

“That’s right,” she said. “Yoshiko was nice. I mean, don’t you think you could have liked her? I think so. She was smart and cute, she really was. Maybe it was punishment for not being more like her. Like getting to see the flip side of the coin. You said it was more than an idle joke, so maybe the point is that the chosen few had good stories? Ones that were so unlike the real thing, they were interesting. Ones that would rattle our cage come morning. Good reactions.”

There were so many ways her words could be misunderstood, it was almost amusing to the part of her that could lead people on and get away with it. And then there was the acknowledgment that she really didn’t know why she’d said so much, let alone said what she had. She wasn’t sure what she meant, either. There were competing thoughts in the words, competing intentions. Yomi thought it was a fitting punishment, making her suffer and scream on the inside like she’d made so many people suffer and scream on the outside. It wanted to laugh at Klavier and his attempts to make sense out of chaos, present the idea that perhaps everything was random, that their captor’s will was beyond their control, if not understanding.

And what did that leave? Well… she’d answered, so she guessed that was up to him.

Klavier watched Yomi carefully as she spoke. Her point was a very valid one. It could have simply been they chose the people whose personalities would be altered the most drastically, those who would be the most affected once they'd been returned to normal. He'd been told there were extraordinary efforts put into breaking people; this could just be one more of those methods. It certainly would explain his case.

And Yomi's? He agreed the woman was far more serious than her counterpart, almost to the point of being apathetic. Not that he considered that to be a particularly bad thing. He certainly wouldn't have minded seeing more women with a real sense of professionalism in the police department. But the way she had said that made him feel a small wave of regret... or perhaps pity.

...Confident as she was, it seemed like Yomi had some issues regarding herself in a positive light. She didn't sound like she thought very well of herself, and this entire experience only seems to have poked at that internal sentiment. It almost sounded like she was... well, jealous wasn't the right word to use here, but perhaps she'd seen something in Yoshiko she found... admirable? That must have been far better than experiencing traits she passionately hated.

For the first time during their conversation, he offered what seemed like a genuine smile toward her. "I'm sure you're quite intelligent. And that you can be both cute and nice when you want to be." The more professional tone had disappeared by this point in favor of a softer, more casual one. "No matter what traits you may have seen in Yoshiko, you have your own charm as Yomi. No one deserves to be 'punished' for that."

Yomi’s eyes widened ever so slightly.

Misunderstandings. No kidding. She made a faint sound of laughter, a smile coming over her in return. He was trying to boost an ailing ego? Even when he was drowning in his own worries and fears, he had time to give her words like that? Try and prove her wrong? It was touching, seriously. It reminded her of…

That’s not it! he’d said to her. The look in his eyes had been so desperate, like he were begging her to understand. I was preparing myself to be with you.

… only once again, the words were all wrong. Too late, too wrong.

The urge to laugh was growing, bubbling in her like champagne, and she looked away, closing her eyes with the smile still on her lips. Bringing one leg up, she braced the flat of her foot against the side of the chair, bringing herself into a kind of partial crouch with her hands dangling relaxed between her knees. The smile grew when she looked at him again, far too smooth and unflustered to have come from her alter ego. Are you sure? “You should be careful saying that sort of thing.” Her tone was light and impish. “It might get you in trouble.” ‘With swooning girls’, she seemed to be saying… not with the cold-hearted killer in her that would’ve been better off buried alive under another personality if only to spare the world its blood.

“Anyway, you don’t want to talk about that all day, do you? Where were we?” She needed to get back on track, too. “What about the basement? Have you ever been down there before?”

Klavier offered a small laugh back as though to say, "Oh dear, can't have that~!" This was a nice switch. Who would have thought he'd be exchanging playful laughter with the person he'd regretted treating so rudely yesterday? Strange either of them could laugh at all. This was why he enjoyed speaking with women so much: they always had a way of easing the atmosphere, even if only a little.

She didn't have to accept his words if she didn't want to. The fact that he got her to smile if even for a moment was enough. And so he went along with the subject change without missing a beat. "No, I can't say I have. I only recently heard about basement, actually. It peaked my interest, and I've been interested in exploring it regardless. ...It would have been better if I could have gone under different circumstances, of course."

Actually, it was incredibly dangerous for them to have been down there at all as they had been. Had something appeared before them, "David" would have either stood there like an idiot or abandoned the lot of them to save his own worthless hide. "Do you know anything of the sublevels?"

Oh, less interesting all of a sudden. No insights about why there was a glittering ballroom beneath their feet from him.

But he was still interesting enough. Both of them, or maybe only one.

“That was my first time. I doubt I know any more than you,” Yomi had to admit. First time, venturing into the place’s basement, seeing that style of architecture, facing a giant Sphinx that was more of a rip-off from a movie than a reminiscent of a spectre. She supposed that made them pretty useless. After all, they’d been at the mercy of those sweet-faced angels then, and still knew less then they did now.

Tsk, tsk.

“It’s not exactly what a basement usually brings to mind, is it? There was another strange thing: the first door we passed through down there. Did you notice how it opened?”

So she wasn't any more acquainted with the place than he was. He'd been hoping for a little extra insight seeing as "David" was an idiot and had spent more time whining and throwing tantrums to pay attention to what was around him. Yomi, of course, couldn't possibly understand how badly it itched at him to have so little detail to go on due to his own lack of observation. It was killing him; probably the worst thing about last night, actually. He exhaled to himself, but otherwise didn't shift demeanor too much.

"No, it isn't. It's far more like an additional level than a basement in any way. I was originally interested since it was the only area Herr Doktor actually bothered to 'hide.' I hadn't quite been expecting the... theatrics of the area itself, though." Far too unnecessarily dramatic. Klavier wasn't fooled for a second into believing the place was authentically ancient in any way. Even his limited observations were enough to tell that.

Klavier frowned a little thinking about the door. Noticed how it opened? He still had the blasted scrape on his cheek from his little temper tantrum; A mark to remember his stupidity by. Yes, he remembered perfectly fine. "Yes, I noticed that, too," he said instead, levelly. "It would be easy to say it was the force of kicking it, but... my foot barely touched the door when it flew open. Yet Albedo's full body weight didn't make it shift at all beforehand."

He had a... theory about that, but it was honestly too ridiculous to mention. Doors simply didn't work that way. He might have been made to accept a lot of ridiculous things since getting here, but it didn't mean he'd believe anything. Maybe listening to these nonsensical flights of fancy every day was getting to him.

Yomi watched him patiently, barely aware of the pain in her head.

She had an idea about the doors, too, but the level of importance she put on unravelling the mysteries of Landel’s was no doubt different from most others. She’d almost be content to leave things as they were, if not for a few wrongs that needed righting: like Shishiou, her true powers. (Herself, too, maybe.) As it was, ideas were fine by her. Could anyone justifiably cling to a sense of the ludicrous anymore? Yomi didn’t see a point in doing so, and in regards to the ‘basement’, what she knew and what the place could do were probably not so far apart, anyway.

All a person needed was a little imagination, right? There were Transformers, and TV characters, and archaic samurai walking around that were proof of that.

“And it was heavy-looking,” she mused further, though it wasn’t entirely for her own benefit. She’d absorbed Klavier’s words without a blink. So he had been helpful--she’d knew she’d get at least something out of him, even if it was just a dead-end. But this was leading somewhere. Yomi continued to watch Klavier, waiting for him to pounce on her words. “So it seems like it wasn’t a door that worked in the conventional way. Not just pushing it would do…”

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Day 46: Sun Room

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