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damned_institute2009-12-20 03:02 am
tostepforward.livejournal.com) wrote in damned_institute2009-12-20 03:02 am
Entry tags:
- aerith,
- aidou,
- albedo,
- alkaid,
- allelujah,
- allen,
- ange,
- anise,
- ashton,
- asuka,
- ayumu,
- beelzemon,
- brainiac 5,
- chise,
- claude,
- dahlia,
- dean winchester,
- edgar,
- emmett,
- forte,
- guy,
- hanatarou,
- harley,
- haseo,
- hayes,
- hk-47,
- indiana jones,
- jason,
- kanji,
- kaworu,
- kenren,
- klavier,
- kratos,
- l,
- lelouch,
- lockdown,
- lord recluse,
- luke fon fabre,
- luxord,
- mccoy,
- meche,
- mele,
- mello,
- naminé,
- nigredo,
- peter parker,
- peter petrelli,
- raphael,
- ratchet,
- renamon,
- rey,
- ritsu,
- rolo,
- ronixis,
- sam winchester,
- scar (tlk),
- sechs,
- shinji,
- sho,
- sora,
- sync,
- taura,
- teisel,
- tenzen,
- the flash,
- the scarecrow,
- tim drake,
- tk-622,
- tony stark,
- tsubaki,
- tsukasa,
- two-face,
- tyki,
- usopp,
- venom,
- von karma,
- yomi,
- yuffie,
- yuna,
- zack,
- zex
Day 46: Lunch
The mere fact that she'd been susceptible to whatever hold the Institute had had on her yesterday was sufficient to leave Ayumu both upset and angry - no, not angry, downright furious, both at herself and whoever was responsible for that. But there was also the fact that because of it, she'd lost out on an entire day of work, and in several ways had ruined some of what she'd done already. That little conversation with Himura the day before, for instance, was something she'd sincerely prefer not to remember if she'd had any choice in the matter.
Unless the man was a complete moron, which, unfortunately, was one thing she couldn't believe of him, he had to have realized just who her brother was. After all the effort to keep that fact quiet (not exactly a secret, but certainly not advertised; half the Shinsengumi probably never even realized it because there was no reason to) she'd gone and chatted about it with him. Told him all about it, practically painted a bright target around a weakness that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
She'd spent the shift in the Sun Room pretending to sleep, while in truth forcing herself into calm. After years of practice she could shunt away the useless and distracting emotions, focusing only on what was important and needed to be at the forefront of her mind, and by the time the intercom signaled the lunch period she was feeling considerably calmer. The time to silently observe others had, as well, alerted her to something she probably should have noticed earlier: Mello was back. Would her previous objective be reinstated now? He seemed to have far less of a bulletin presence this time, so perhaps not. Still, though, it bore investigating.
None of her thoughts were visible, of course, as she moved through the line, examining the lunch selection somewhat dubiously. Now with the benefit of Yuuko's memories she might recognize the food, but she certainly didn't share the enthusiasm for it that her imaginary self apparently had. Ayumu skipped past that part and settled for the salad bar and some bread, then positioned herself in a place where she could watch both the door and the rest of the room, setting her journal open in front of herself as though planning to write something. There was far too much that she'd missed, too much work to do now.
[for Okita]
Unless the man was a complete moron, which, unfortunately, was one thing she couldn't believe of him, he had to have realized just who her brother was. After all the effort to keep that fact quiet (not exactly a secret, but certainly not advertised; half the Shinsengumi probably never even realized it because there was no reason to) she'd gone and chatted about it with him. Told him all about it, practically painted a bright target around a weakness that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
She'd spent the shift in the Sun Room pretending to sleep, while in truth forcing herself into calm. After years of practice she could shunt away the useless and distracting emotions, focusing only on what was important and needed to be at the forefront of her mind, and by the time the intercom signaled the lunch period she was feeling considerably calmer. The time to silently observe others had, as well, alerted her to something she probably should have noticed earlier: Mello was back. Would her previous objective be reinstated now? He seemed to have far less of a bulletin presence this time, so perhaps not. Still, though, it bore investigating.
None of her thoughts were visible, of course, as she moved through the line, examining the lunch selection somewhat dubiously. Now with the benefit of Yuuko's memories she might recognize the food, but she certainly didn't share the enthusiasm for it that her imaginary self apparently had. Ayumu skipped past that part and settled for the salad bar and some bread, then positioned herself in a place where she could watch both the door and the rest of the room, setting her journal open in front of herself as though planning to write something. There was far too much that she'd missed, too much work to do now.
[for Okita]
no subject
"Alright. Angelo-san, then," he said with a slight nod. Least it was easier to say than his full name. Him being Italian kind of made sense, too. It explained the weirdass haircut. Not that he was going to say anything about it; guy could do whatever the hell he wanted with his own head.
Kanji looked down at the food on his tray. ...Wasn't pizza supposed to be Italian, too? Didn't that mean this guy had some kind of food bias or something? Could he trust that? Hmn. Oh well. Couldn't be any worse than Chie and Yukiko-senpai's cooking. Ignoring the greasy mess pooled in each pepperoni piece, Kanji manned up took a big bite out of the thing. "...Not bad... I guess," he muttered with mouth half full. "Not great either but..."
no subject
That ought to get a rise out of Kanji. If nothing else, getting called out on his affiliation with Passione ought to make him a bit nervous. After all, it's not like Kanji wouldn't have heard of one of the head operatives in the gang. Hell, Kanji was probably nervous enough, considering he was supposed to keep an eye on such an experienced stand user. Perhaps the best course of action for the time being would be to toy with Kanji a little. Provided Bucciarati didn't slip up at all, it could provide some valuable insight regarding the inner workings of the boss' scheme.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention this, but..." Bucciarati began, looking around the cafeteria, "It's actually my first day here at Landel's institute. How long have you been here?"
no subject
He was going to continue eating his cheesy, grease slab but stopped mid bite when the guy let that little bit slip. "Wait. This is your first day? As in, you just woke up this morning?" Kanji stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was being serious or not. "What the hell you so calm for?! I been here almost a week and this place still pisses me off!"
Seriously. The guy seemed so completely NOT freaked out, he would have just assumed Angelo had been here for even longer than Kanji. It almost made him feel like some kind of wimp for overreacting so much. Only he got to punch some orderlies in the face so it was still worth it. "...Anyone tell you 'bout this place yet? Or anything that's been going down?"
no subject
What the hell just happened? Here Bucciarati had been trying to put some pressure on Kanji by mentioning Passione, but he had stayed as cool as a cucumber the whole time. He had barely batted an eyelash at the mention of the gang!
Even stranger, however, was Kanji's vehement reaction towards Bucciarati's casual mention that today was his first day! The way Kanji had reacted, you may have thought Bucciarati had just insulted his mother or something! This must be another one of the boss' tests...trying to shake Bucciarati with the possibility that things were not as Bucciarati saw them.
"Geez, Kanji," Bucciarati said, laughing somewhat nervously, "I know that this is a mental institution, but you could try to be a little calmer!"
no subject
This guy better not be screwing with him! This place had been nothing but a nightmare since he'd gotten here. He didn't want to think that there were people actually sending patients in here willingly. That there was even a slight chance that the nurses might actually be right. That he and Naoto and Senpai...
"Hey! Don't tell me to 'calm down,' alright? You telling me you actually got sent here by your family? You really remember that happening?" One hand clenched but he otherwise didn't move. "Cause I'll tell you right now, no one else in this dump remembers anything like that! No one's here cause their families sent them!"
no subject
Wait a moment...could Kanji be in Bucciarati's situation as well? There was a definite Mafioso vibe about him and he certainly wasn't buying into the whole "institution" story. Perhaps Kanji had been sent here by the boss as well...maybe he could be an ally in this place. Well, Bucciarati was cornered anyhow. Hopefully his guess that Kanji had been brought here unwillingly was correct. If not...well, he would just die sooner rather than later.
"Alright, listen closely," Bucciarati whispered hurriedly, maintaining his normal posture as he spoke, "My name is not Michelangelo, it is Bruno Bucciarati, but keep calling me 'Angelo' to keep up the facade. I have no idea how I got here, but I'm trying to play along with the story that the 'nurse' told me to avoid suspicion. What can you tell me about this place?"
no subject
No, actually that wasn't stupid at all. In fact, that made a whole hell of a lot of sense. To be honest, the idea hadn't even occurred to him. Now that it had, he was a little bit freaked out just thinking about it. If nurses were eavesdropping on them, then that meant they could find out where people were planning to go at night and what they were going to do. And where they could be found. Could that be why Naoto had been taken?
He looked down at his tray, anger still sizzling beneath the surface, but now for an entirely different reason. These assholes! He knew the nurses couldn't be so dumb that they weren't noticing what was going on, but if they were actually in cahoots with the pricks in charge... He grit his teeth but looked back up at "Angelo" looking about as angry as his face usually looked; that is to say, he calmed down a little.
"Yeah, alright, fine. I get it." His tone was even and simple, which for him was being quiet. He wasn't all that great at being subtle... or at explaining things. But he'd try, dammit. "'S like I said. No one's here cause they wanna be. Just wake up here one day with these hags feeding you bullshit about being nuts. During the day, you basically gotta follow whatever they all try to make you do. You step outta line, they pump you fulla drugs. It's messed up, man."
no subject
"Is anyone ever separated from the general population?" Bucciarati said, picking at his pizza to look nondescript, "Like, are any individuals escorted somewhere by nurses and they don't return later?"
In his heart, however, Bucciarati knew that it wasn't likely that assassinations would be carried out during the day. The boss wouldn't risk anyone catching onto his plan, even the people he was trying to kill that hadn't caught on. But when would the killings take place, then? Bucciarati had seen two beds in the room he had woken up in, so unless the killings were carried out in twos or...
Suddenly, Bucciarati froze up. Or the roommate was the killer.
"Kanji," Bucciarati said, trying to hide the urgency, "Has anything odd ever happened at night with you and your roommate? Has he ever acted suspicious?"
no subject
"My roommate? Well... Not really? I mean, sometimes he asks a bunch of weird random questions sometimes and he was waving some bigass knives he keeps in his closet the other night. ...Is that suspicious?" He actually wasn't sure. Haseo was kind of weird and sometimes irritating, but he didn't figure the guy was bad or anything. Hmm.
"Truth is, people do end up disappearing every now and then 'round here. If you ask any of the hags about it, they just tell you something about them getting released and going home. I know some 'a the people who got sent home though, and the stories they're feedin' people don't fly." He still hadn't been able to figure out how much the nurses know about what was really going on; if they were in on this or not. "I always figured that shit happened at night though, not during the day. People'd notice if that happened and'd prolly get everyone to riot together." Which sounded like a kickass idea, actually. Why the hell wasn't anyone doing that?!
"Actually, mosta the shit goes down at night. I mean, irritating as everything is during the day, it gets even worse after dinner. It's like..." Kanji paused for a moment and gave the guy a look. Explaining this to Souji-senpai was one thing. Trying to explain it to some guy he didn't know was completely different. "...Look. What I'm gonna say is gonna sound really freakin' stupid and nuts. But just... kinda bear with me, 'lright? I'm not makin' shit up."
no subject
Of course, it only confirmed his earlier suspicions. If the faculty of this so-called "institute" allowed Kanji's roommate to keep something as dangerous as a knife with him, then it wouldn't be too far-fetched to conclude that he was actually serving as an assassin. The "random questions" obviously had some meaning that Kanji merely couldn't piece together at the moment. All in all, it was becoming more and more apparent that the person whom Bucciarati would have to be wary of was his roommate.
"Kanji, I don't know how long you've been roommates with your current one, but..." Bucciarati said, his fingers steepled, "I would keep an eye on him. I may not have been here that long, but I have experience with...unsavory characters, and I have a bad feeling about your roommate."
The way Kanji hesitated before he spoke about what happened at night was almost more suspicious than the roommate's behavior. What was going on here at night?
"Kanji, you needn't hold anything back," Bucciarati said calmly, "I've had my fair share of bizarre adventures. I doubt anything that could happen here would shock me. If you are making this up, however...I'll be able to tell. Don't try to pull something funny just because I'm new here."
no subject
Angelo was talking all strange now. Collected. Serious. Formal words. It wasn't much like he was a little while ago. The conversation suddenly felt all serious all of a sudden on all ends.
"Alright. Well. Like I said, the place is pretty much normal all day. But after dinner, all the lights get shut off and they open all the room doors. Don't really get why, but all the docs and nurses and junk? They're just gone at night. Sounds weird, right?" Kanji leaned forward a little and put both elbows on the table, lowering his voice a little bit. "Thing is, it still ain't all that safe to wander around. I never seen any myself, but... there's supposed to be monsters or somethin' that walk around at night, too. They attack anyone they find.
"And if that ain't bad enough, sometimes the docs'll take people right outta their rooms and do do shit to 'em." He shook his head. "You know the roommate I was tellin' you about? He was taken just the other night. He came back and he don't look like he's gotta scratch on him. But when I asked what the hell happened, he wouldn't tell me anything. ...I don't really know what happens when they take people."
This entire conversation kind of killed Kanji's appetite, and that was really saying something. He probably wouldn't be touching his pizza thing again.
no subject
"Well, Kanji," Bucciarati said, a completely neutral expression on his face, "You've been very helpful, and I thank you for telling me all this information about the institute. Should you ever need any assistance...don't hesitate to call on me. I'm always willing to aid an ally, no matter how...illicit the job may be, if you catch my drift. Like I said before, I'm no stranger to the seedy underbelly of society."