damned_institute | Day 48: Sun Room [Second Shift]

Hmph. While this Rude was the proverbial "man of few words," von Karma found more potential use from him than a number of the other patients he had met put together. He would still ask Franziska about the man... as well as the other people he had learned that she had been spending time around. Many of them were utter fools, especially that Kibitoshin.

He ignored the nurse as she insisted that he stay indoors, lest he "catch his death of pneumonia." Already having planned to meet his daughter in the Sun Room, the prosecutor had no intention of spending the cold, gloomy morning in the Courtyard anyway.

It appeared that he was the first to arrive in the spacious room. Gray light from the overcast sky filtered in through the glass windows high above, making it somewhat more difficult for von Karma to peruse the notes on the bulletin board as he awaited Franziska's arrival.

The lines in his forehead furrowed as he saw Kibitoshin's note to her, asking her whether she was "feeling better." What made that blasted oaf think that it was any of his business how she was doing or to worry about her?! She had been raised to take care of herself, damn it! ...Did Franziska say or do something that would lead the clumsy idiot to think otherwise? This, among other things, von Karma would ask her.

After removing his daughter's response to his original note from the board -- and noting that Ms. Taura had yet to reply to his other note -- he sat down at a table in a remote corner of the room, claiming this space that would afford him and his daughter the most privacy.

Mew?

What was that noise? And what was that tugging sensation at the leg of his pants? He peered down in the direction from which the irritating sound had come and was greeted by a tiny orange kitten that had the mistaken notion that his leg was a climbing post. Infernal creature! One glance at his face, and the furry little nuisance was suddenly at the other end of the room, having cleared it within several skittish bounds. Good riddance!

[Waiting for his Dear Daughter]

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Lunge just about managed to contain his surprise at Sakura's grip- stronger than he'd have credited a girl of her size for, but not as though she were making a conscious effort to seem so (was it natural, then?)- and instead managed a nod. "That would be the new censorship policy in action." Following her to the chairs nearby, he took a seat next to her.

Things to discuss. A subtle compliment wouldn't hurt, he supposed, especially not when it came to teenage girls; he'd be sure to hand her the reigns of the conversation, too. "It's probably a good thing you came to find me. I doubt anything could be exchanged over the board as it is now. Where would you like to begin?"

Well it was about time people were actually appreciative of her. Hanatarou and now this Lunge guy. Even if she couldn't be picky, she didn't mind feeling like her work meant something to someone. Or that she was bringing something valuable to the team. Given the other members of her usual team 7, sometimes it was pretty hard to come by any decent praise.

She smiled a little easier though, flipping through her notes from the last several days. "Finding where to start is the trouble. At first I was investigating the different... incidents that have been happening, but with the frequency and... and just the general nature of them, I have to wonder if they're meant more to distract us from reaching any sort of significant goals."

From what she'd observed, the incidents happened every few days or nights and usually the patient populace took at least a day, sometimes more to recover from said incidents. If the institute was trying to keep them from any sort of organization, that was sure a good way to do it.

"The fact that they actually began any kind of censorship on the bulletin is reason enough to believe we were headed in the right direction. Something had to have startled them into that action, don't you think? Otherwise, why so suddenly start?"

She tapped her pen against her notebook a few times, mulling the thought over even as she spoke it. While she wasn't the primary tactician for any of their missions, she wasn't stupid. Her grades weren't at the top of the class for no reason.

"What are your thoughts Inspector?"

The compliment seemed to work as an ice-breaker. Sakura's smile relaxed just a little and she seemed easy enough as she opened up her notebook. It was, he noticed, full of notes and scribbles, a few of which he recognised snatches of from the bulletin board as the pages flipped past his eyes just a fraction faster than he could keep up with- she'd been keeping surprisingly thorough notes.

More surprising, though, was just how thoroughly she seemed to be thinking her ideas through. Lunge listened, letting her speak uninterrupted as he quietly processed her thoughts for both their worth and, whether she realised it or not, for a better understanding of the young woman he was sitting with. The way her mind worked. When she finished, he had already prepared an answer.

To start with: the possibility of events acting as a distraction. "I've discussed the possibility of events acting as distractions with a colleague. I agree, for the most part- a lot of the events brought on by Landel often seem to only serve the purpose of reminding his prisoners just how much control he has over them. But I'd hesitate to say the same about those outside of his control- the night in Doyleton, for example. Those potentially represent important developments or motives."

Then, the bulletin board: briefly, the inspector's mind flickered back to what Doctor Landel had to say on the matter himself. However, the recent events here at the Institute have made us realize that our current protection is not quite so fine. But then, if the security breeches were down to outside forces, how did what the patients have to say come into it? "It's certainly a possibility that's what triggered the censorship," he conceded, "and one I hadn't thought of myself. Still, picking out exactly what it was that set them on alert would be next to impossible."

And then, of course, there was Sakura herself to figure out. Lunge sat back, fingers laced, and watched her complacently for her answer.

She'd expected Lunge to dismiss some of her theories, insist on his own, or any of the other stuff that people older and with higher rank usually did when confronted with someone new and significantly younger. But no, he listened, almost seemed to expect some of the things she'd spoken about and had his own reply ready as soon as she finished. Interesting guy. Definitely not what she'd expected.

"That's true," she admitted. The incident with tampering with their minds obviously stood out most. If the people here could get inside their heads, then what was safe? Could they even have any secrets? Had it been simply to show what power Landel had over them? Or was there more to it? Pushing the limits of what their technology or medicine was capable of maybe? Using them as test subjects. It hadn't happened to all of those here, so it was possible...

"I can think of a few reasons then," she started her explanation, still tapping her pen idly on the open page of her notebook. "If we go with what you've suggested, that those running the institute fear, or at least are wary of those outside their control and the censorship... if there's a relation between the two, it could mean that the outsiders have planted one of their own here, or that at the very least, someone here is in contact with one of them."

She folded her arms for a moment, letting the idea run its course, "otherwise, why bother? Unless there's some higher power that is going to come checking up on them and be particularly suspicious that a bunch of crazy people are planning things for the night that will supposedly never happen anyway." It was possible, but it wasn't as if they'd seen much evidence of that one. Landel's influence spread far beyond the institute and into the neighboring town at the very least. Who knew how much further?

"Because unless I missed something huge, there wasn't an incident that seemed to coincide directly with the sudden censorship."

This time, Lunge's eyes flashed with interest- and maybe a little something predatory, too, though he caught it at the last moment, before it could do any real harm. "You're sure about that?" He sat back, loosening his fingers so that he could type with them more freely. "As I recall, the censorship came with the first announcement Landel made after he had recovered from his attack on the night of the Doyleton incident. I'd guess that was enough to make him skittish."

It occurred to him to that correcting her so abruptly probably wasn't the nicest possible way of doing things, but he'd already set this as a discussion between adults. He had no time for children. She was clever, he decided, but not quite imaginative enough with the facts just yet. Still, he had to applaud her tenacity; she was speaking to a man more than three times her own age and holding her own so far.

Lunge paused. "It's possible there's someone in the Institute. I know it's happened before- I believe the previous radio host appeared at the Institute before he died. But the current host insists that she is-" his fingers tapped out the woman's words as they came back to him in a quiet rush, "back to trying to help you all on my own. And since she's unlikely to be in the Institute herself, one has to wonder who could possibly be helping her."

If she can be trusted at all, a voice added silently. Or was that L's voice? Landel seemed intent on setting 'Jill' up as an enemy of the Institute, but if there was a conspiracy at work--

He had no reason to pursue that line of thought. He ended it. "I suppose even if it doesn't necessarily mean anything for us in terms of being on the right track, the decision to censor something as easily written off as the bulletin board could be seen as indicative of Landel's frame of mind: growing paranoia. And a paranoid man is more likely to make mistakes." It was a stretch, an optimistic one at that, but to accept that there was no meaning to anything they heard was to admit defeat right away.

Day 48: Sun Room [Second Shift]

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tl;dr apologies ><

Pfff what tldr;

there's tldr? I don't see any tldr. >>