damned_institute | Dayshift 49: Bus 2

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Dayshift 49: Bus 2

Morning hit without warning, with the sheer knowledge hitting the Digimon before anything else that today they were going back to Doyletown. Her feet hit the floor and she rotated her right shoulder experimentally. The skin stretched tight, soreness persevering, but it moved fine. She stretched her fingers then curled them into a fist, staring at the tanned skin that was her right arm. If something happened this time... She would be more useful. Her mind replayed the events of last week, and Renamon stilled, considering.

There wasn't much time left to her as the nurse bustled in with an armful of clothes, the same shade as the weeks before. The woman murmured a cheery complaint that it was too cold for skirts and left Renamon to change. The pants were preferable to the past two weeks, though the other item she was left with gave too much to irony. She frowned at it for a minute, then slid it over her head, reflecting that this motion in days or weeks past would have left her shuddering. It meant she was becoming used to this human body, and that was nothing that boded well. She grabbed her notebook before being led to a bus, and slid into a seat halfway down the aisle, pressing against the window. Again, the previous night had been more than short. Was it just her, or was there something more to it?

[for Haseo!]

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Doyleton... While Naminé hadn't spent too much time at the place, it seemed especially foreboding. But not as bad as the other patients probably imagined it: she only knew of the events that transpired there while she was gone, and even when she was still here. So she was a little nervous when the nurses handed her some comfortable long-sleeved shirts and jeans, which ended up getting covered up by a garish bright pink raincoat, and shoved her onto a nearby bus.

It had been awhile since she had been on the bus, but Naminé wasn't quite early enough to be able to grab a seat for herself. Not that she particularly wanted one, but it seemed ... easier to her to grab a seat herself and then wait for a visitor. Picking the remaining leftover spaces next to a stranger seemed more intrusive than she would have liked to be.

"May I sit here?" In the end, she chose a seat near the front just to avoid standing around trying to make a decision, especially with the nurses quietly urging her to choose. The occupant, a red haired male, didn't look like he was too grumpy...

Battler slowly opened the the package of the bagel and bit into it. This wasn't exactly the best meal, was it? It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't exactly Gohda's cooking, either. And for a guy his size, it was really more a snack than a whole meal. Well, he supposed he couldn't expect too much if they were supposed to be eating on a bus. It didn't merit anything fancy.

He caught the voice of a young girl just as he washed the bit down with a swig of milk. She seemed a little hesitant, or maybe a little shy, so he did his best to seem friendly.

"Sure, sure, I's not a problem at all!" he greeted cheerfully. "My name's Battler. Yours?"

Good fortune smiled upon Naminé in the form of "Battler", and the girl returned his smile as she nodded and sat down next to him. She hadn't seen him before, but she couldn't tell if he was "new" or not; since she had been gone for quite some time, it was dangerous to make such assumptions.

"My name is Naminé. It's a pleasure to meet you, Battler," The witch greeted him, her gaze shifting to the food he was holding in his hand. Was that what they got for breakfast? She hadn't looked at her own brown bag yet, wondering if some of the breakfasts were different or if they all got the same thing. It took a moment to find out, retreiving her own bagel from the bag.

"Have you been to Doyleton before?" Naminé figured that was a good way to discern how long Battler had been here, and although her information was likely outdated, perhaps she could help a little bit. In the meantime, she flattened the paper bag out on her lap to use as a "plate" of sorts for her breakfast.

"Naminé, huh? That's a pretty name. Way different from my weird one, ihihi. Nice to meet you too!" He had to pause after the greeting however; there was something distinct there, evoking a sense of familiarity. What was it? He turned his attention to his breakfast, trying to figure it out.

".... Actually, come to think of it, I think I talked to you on the bulletin a little. You said something about the Head Doctor showing himself once, right?" He caught sight of one of the nurses looking their way as he said it, and instinctually raised his hands in defense. The woman shook her head and looked away, not seeming to care too much, but even so, he made a mental note to be a little more careful about what he said. Maybe the subject change would have to do for now, until the staff on the bus weren't paying as much attention.

"No, not yet," he answered. "I'm not sure what it's like, but getting out and around sounds better than staying in the same hospital all day. Anything interesting there?" It was a purely subjective question, of course, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Thank you, though I don't think your name is strange, Battler." The sad thing was that Naminé was being completely honest. After all, she knew plenty of people with stranger names. A natural consequence of the mixing of worlds, but she paid no more mind to that when Battler pointed out that he had spoken to her on the board. Her eyes widened a bit at the realization, though she had to wait until the nurse who overheard their conversation had walked away before replying. That's right, she did offer him information... What a coincidence!

"Ah, that was you? I'm sorry, I tried to find the note again so I could tell you what I looked like, but I couldn't find it..." It wasn't that Naminé didn't know where it was, but it wasn't where she last remembered it. It definitely had been moved or obscured, but that didn't matter now, she guessed. However, she promised Battler, so she would tell him what little she knew. That was, after she warned him about Doyleton.

Given what she was told, Naminé naturally looked a little apprehensive when Battler asked her if there was anything "interesting" about Doyleton. She hadn't actually witnessed any of the strange events that went down there, so... It was going to be difficult to describe, wasn't it? Perhaps it was best to start with what she knew.

"Not especially. We're allowed to walk around the town freely, but the nurses are watching in various places. I've never heard of anyone escaping, so... I'm not sure if that's a wise thing to do." Her last sentence was a little vague, because Naminé wasn't sure if there even was a consequence to trying to escape. Was it difficult, or merely impossible like back at the Institute? "You can use those coupons they give us for food, but other than that, we can't really buy anything or take anything back with us. They search you before you re-enter the bus at the end of the day, so be prepared for that. That's during the day, and we're usually back at night."

Right, the night time. Naminé paused again, thoughtfully trailing off. Would anything happen tonight?

"I never been on a trip where we stayed overnight, but I've heard... stories about what happened on the last trip. I wasn't here, though, so I can't tell you exactly what happened."

"Well, if you say so," Battler shrugged good-naturedly. It wasn't the sort of reaction he was used to, really. Some quirked a brow or asked about it, and others just politely ignored it, but he'd never actually had it referred to as normal. Maybe she was from somewhere else, although her name sounded more Japanese than Western. ... Ah well. It wasn't like he was complaining.

"That's okay. The bulletin's a busy place, right? It can be hard to keep track of things. Besides, we found each other anyway." It was certainly a bit ironic, but the institute wasn't terribly large, so the probability wasn't too low. "So, what happened?"

Battler wasn't too surprised to hear that there wasn't anything terribly awe-inspiring in Doyleton--the road they were on alone was proof enough of that. There was just nothing there, so it was hard to imagine they were visiting some busy metropolis. However, part of the story seemed.... strange, and the last thing that Naminé said only added to that. Battler found himself frowning, trying to catch the meaning.

"..... Stories? Did something bad happen?"

Where to start? Battler was interested in both stories, so Naminé had to choose which one should go first. What she heard happened at Doyleton was probably best to start off with, to help prepare Battler in the event that something should happen. If something happened. Perhaps because it was uncertain, she wanted to clear that matter up first. And then, she could tell him more about the Head Doctor - though for all she knew, her information about him was outdated as well.

"I've only heard this from trusted friends of mine, but I know they were telling the truth." Sora definitely wouldn't lie to her about something so serious, nor would Falis. Naminé had complete confidence in what they said... which was why she didn't think her next words were too strange.

"They said that, the last time they went to Doyleton, they had to stay overnight. And when they did that, there was... It's hard to describe without being there, but they said that the dead had risen from their graves, and everyone had to fight their way back to the Institute." And some didn't make it, but she didn't say anything more about that, not wanting to make her friend's failures known. "I also know that, another time, Nightshift started just as everyone came back. There was an outbreak of monsters waiting for everyone when they returned. It doesn't happen every time, which is the scary part. You don't know how the trip will turn out until then."

Still, she hoped that Battler had seen enough of the Institute to believe her. Those who had experienced the horrors within were more likely to believe her when she said that horror extended to beyond the Institute; even so, it was a little much to claim that dead people could rise from the grave. She hoped Battler would take her seriously anyway, waiting for a reaction as she laced her fingers together nervously.

"What... the hell....?" The humor all but vanished from Battler's expression, and he found himself swallowing thickly. "There's no way that can happen, right? When people die, they don't come back, so to be saying a bunch of corpses were walking around is...."

He sounded confident enough in his words, but it came out a little forceful, or maybe defensive; as certain of his own words as he was, Battler couldn't deny a certain sinking feeling in his stomach. It was just way too weird for comfort, like a bad horror movie, the kind he'd forced himself not to be afraid of when he was a little kid. Everywhere you went, there were ghost stories, weren't there? Rokkenjima held two; the story of the traveling Shinto priest sealing away venerable spirits with a mirror, and the legend of the witch that Grandfather had perpetrated. It wasn't surprising at all that a town near a secluded mental hospital might have something like that. .... Or at least, that's what he wanted to think. Creepy stories like that often had basis in fact, and with what he knew about the particular hospital they were residing in, he couldn't just blow it off completely.

... There was no such thing as zombies. To be honest, he was still ambivalent about the concept of monsters in the halls, even though it was clear that all the injuries around him had to stem from somewhere. But wasn't this where he'd always gotten tripped up in Beato's game? He'd gotten so caught up in face value that he could sometimes lose sight of what he should really be looking at. This was exactly the same; he had to turn the chessboard over, and view things from a different perspective. It wasn't the the content that he should be looking at, but the meaning behind it. In other words, it wasn't what had been seen, but how, or why. From the way the two stories fit together, he thought he might have a general idea.

"...Sorry, I didn't mean to doubt you. It was just kind of startling, is all." He tried to give a reassuring look, to let her know that she hadn't lost him, before starting again. "Anyway, you're saying some bad things have happened, but they have no set pattern, right? It doesn't always happen, and there's no way of telling beforehand. And it's not just that; both of the things you mentioned aren't exactly very normal. ... Doesn't that sound like someone trying to scare us? If there's one thing humans fear, it's the unknown. People like to follow an established order. When things don't follow the patterns or rules they've set for themselves, they start getting pretty uncomfortable."

That was the only thing he could think of, if he wanted it to make sense. Actual zombies were impossible, but if someone wanted to make it seem like they were there, the story changed completely. So, either one of the witnesses had lied, or they sincerely believed what they were saying, and had fallen victim to some sort of trick, something like that.

Edited 2010-04-15 07:04 (UTC)

It didn't seem to surprise the witch that Battler didn't seem to believe her. Without seeing it, it was a little difficult to believe it without seeing it. Battler did make sense, as he asked if it was merely a ploy to make the patients uncomfortable. That wasn't what bothered Naminé; what bothered her was how Battler mentioned that none of the things she mentioned were normal. Of course it wasn't 'normal', wasn't it the point of this place?

"You may be right... Scaring us and testing us seems to be the point to this place." The Head Doctor was someone who seemed to enjoy showing off, always gloating from the safety of his office. To Naminé, who had missed all of his 'weak' moments, he still seemed like an indomitable figure. Yet Naminé was also getting the impression that Battler had still not yet accepted the strange circumstances behind the Institute. But generally, people from other worlds was not a normal thing for many of the patients. Now, monsters... that depended.

"But please, be careful. Even if nothing happens, there's still danger present during the night. There's nothing worse than being unprepared," Naminé didn't like the feeling that Battler wasn't taking her seriously, but it wasn't like this was the first time it happened. At the very least, he would be warned if something did happen. If something happened. Naminé truly hoped that nothing would.

"Testing? ... I wonder," Battler thought aloud. Even the Head Doctor had referred to everything as a game. It implied that they were being challenged to something, and that there was a chance of victory for either side. "There's got to be some kind of reason for everything that's going on, at least."

He leaned back into his seat a little and sighed. It was something he'd considered before, but something he was no closer to finding an answer to. That was one of the reasons he wanted to find Landel in the first place, but there was no way he'd be all that easy to find, or so willing to hand out answers. If it were that easy, wouldn't someone have found it by now? It was annoying to admit, but most of the people he'd met here knew more about the place than he did. ... Well, that wasn't necessarily true. It was possible there was some clue he had yet to discover, just on the surface, that everyone was overlooking. Didn't that kind of thing happened a lot?

"Well, you don't have to worry about me," he assured. "I'd be lying if I said I've never done anything stupid and reckless, but I'm not about to let myself die. There's no meaning in uselessly throwing your own life away, right? ... I'm definitely not invincible. I don't plan on doing anything I can't take back." He grinned, self-assured. "But you too, okay? No getting hurt too badly."

"So, what happened when the head doctor appeared?"

At the very least, Battler assured her that he wouldn't be doing anything stupid. He sounded sincere, so even if her warning may not have been taken as seriously as she liked... Well, Battler must have understood that this place was dangerous, at the very least. So she was satisfied with just that. When he tried to make sure she would follow her own advice, Naminé only gave him a slight smile, before nodding. Yes, she mustn't repeat what happened two weeks ago... But for now, it was time for her to recollect what happened when the Head Doctor finally showed himself to the patients.

"That morning, he made an announcement that there was a surprise waiting for us in the Chapel, if we wanted to visit it in the morning. Many patients showed up that morning, myself included. It took some time, but the Head Doctor finally showed himself. He was right in front of all of us, but yet..."

Naminé frowned. Despite the many times she went over this in her head, it was still eerie to think about it. It wasn't as difficult to explain as the dead walking, but it surely was strange in it's own right.

"Any patients who tried to get near him... just couldn't. And a lot of them tried, but they couldn't touch him. In fact, they were exhausted just trying. There were nurses there to stop them, but it wasn't really necessary. He just couldn't be touched. And the whole time, the Head Doctor was just talking over them, like it was nothing."

She still wasn't quite sure what the point of that appearance was. A display of power, to show them who pulled the strings? Was it because he earnestly wanted to give a speech, or was it something else entirely? She supposed she would never really know the answer to that, not unless she had a chance to speak to the Head Doctor face-to-face. And honestly, Naminé hoped that such a circumstance would never arise.

Couldn't be touched? It wasn't an entirely unfamiliar concept, but the way Naminé described it was something new to Battler. "Exhausted... just trying to get near him?" he repeated to himself. What exactly could cause something like that? Certainly nothing like a magical barrier. But weirder than that was the fact that it had occurred during the day. Wasn't the day supposed to be the friendly, 'normal' face of things? That story contradicted that; it wasn't much advocation to the idea that people there were insane, if he had gone in and flaunted some sort of fake power. The question was, what did that mean? It sounded like he wanted to give off the impression that he was untouchable, but the timing seemed off. Could there be a hidden message there?

He scratched his chin with his thumb, trying to reason out the possibilities, but was interrupted by a particularly large bump, accompanied by a small *thud* and the buss shaking.

"U-waaahhh!!!"

Even as he was acting on auto-pilot, bracing himself for some kind of horrible mountainside crash, he could already feel his face getting red, vaguely aware that he'd just done something really, really embarrassing. It was just a bump, they weren't going to have any accidents like rolling off the side of a cliff and never being heard from again or anything...! Ah, dammit, that wasn't helping at all! He forced himself to stop thinking about it, taking in a deep breath and leaning back into his seat.

"Ihihi... Um, sorry about that," he said a little warily, rubbing the back of his head. At the very least, it had happened in front of a nice girl. A guy his age and he'd probably never hear the end of it.

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Dayshift 49: Bus 2

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