damned_institute | Day 23: Lunch

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Day 23: Lunch

The second the intercom sounded, while the man on the intercom was still talking, Ashton pulled himself off the couch in the Music Room and slowly made his way to the door. He walked, glided even, as if he were a ghost in a dream. The nurses had already filed up to escort the patients to the lunchroom, and one bustled over to walk Ashton those few feet from one room to another.

"You're not looking very well, Mr. Pritchett," she said cheerfully. "Didn't you enjoy your shower?"

Ashton replied with a small, forced smile, then shook his head. He didn't feel like talking now. Though the nurses were pushy and downright annoying, he figured he owed this one at least a little explanation. They didn't know - or didn't believe - what went on after dark, but he owed them the benefit of the doubt. "Bad day," he decided on telling her.

Bad day indeed. The showers and the music had done nothing for his nerves. But then again, what could get that graphic image out of his head?

He glided ghostily through the taco line and settled on two chicken and bean tacos, with chips, a scoop of guacamole, two churros on the side, and a glass of apple juice. He wasn't used to this sort of food (save the juice) and he wasn't even sure he'd eat it, but the chances were high that he'd be able to pass it off on someone.

He was on the verge of tears again, too. What he would have given to just sit down next to a barrel and eat a hamburger.

Thank goodness the cafeteria was bare just now, too. It left all the corner tables open, the tables that shouted 'Don't talk to me, I'm brooding over here.' He sat at one, pushed his food a little away from him, and buried his head in his arms.

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Claire shook her head. "No. I hardly even got out last night."

This was almost worse than when her father had introduced her to Hank and Lisa. In that case, she'd felt terrible awkward. Something felt...off. She'd decided maybe her expectations were too high, but now she wasn't sure what to think.

"Do you...have any relatives?" she asked. It seemed like a good place to start.

"Relatives? None living." None that he knew about anyway, he might've had some distant cousins two or three times removed that he didn't know about, but he had never been interested in his own family, and stopped talking to them completely at the age of eighteen when he went to work at Umbrella.

This was an interesting line of questioning, and Wesker found himself gazing off past Claire as he thought about what little he remembered of his parents. When he was through with the brief reminiscing he refocused on Claire, awaiting the next question as he took a drink of juice.

Claire took a bite out of her taco, thinking. None living...but he could still have some distant relative he didn't know about.

Or maybe she was just wishing too hard.

"...Oh. Me neither, I don't think," she paused for a minute. "I was adopted. So, I really don't know much about my real family."

Taking a sip of juice, she tried another angle. "You've lived alone, then? ...Never married?" No kids?

"Yes, I lived alone. I did have interest in several people in the course of my life, but various circumstances prevented me from having any... continual... relations with them." He tilted his head slightly, and then suddenly stared intently at clare from behind his sunglasses, blond hair, blue eyes, regenerative ability, adopted.

Oh.

It was impossible, but she didn't need to know that. Wesker had occasionally entertained the idea of having a child, but never really found the time or desire, and after he'd injected himself with the G-virus, there had been no safe option for creating a biological child of his own. Still, Birkin had married that horrible woman so he could create a child to continue his legacy, and Wesker had considered taking that idea for himself.

Perhaps he could pick up that missed opportunity. Claire had already been adopted once, he could simply readopt her as his own, under the pretense of being her biological father. Her regenerative ability made her very valuable to him, even if they had no shared genetics. She was also already almost into adult-hood, saving him the trouble of raising her himself.

"There was one woman..." He allowed a fond smile to make it's way to his face, the emotion was genuine enough, he was very pleased with his current plan, and a master at deception as well. "But she put her career before all else, much like myself. Her career required her to move away, and at that time I couldn't afford to leave mine."

Food completely forgotten, Claire found herself almost leaning in closer as Wesker related (what she thought was) a fond memory.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Claire said, and she truly was, although she was much more interested in the slim chance that they could be related. If...if he'd had a kid...

"Were you two...together for a while?" She couldn't affored to be nervous or embarrassed now!

"We were... together for some time before she had to leave..." Now to get more to the point. Wesker let the smile fade from his face, visibly bringing his emotions under control.

"These are all very personal questions, Claire..." He let a slight bit of uneasiness make it's way to his voice, this was, after all supposed to be an emotional meeting between father and daughter.

"If you're wondering," Sometimes it was difficult to evoke emotional responses from his body, but bringing up the appropriate thoughts allowed him to get his throat to tighten slightly, and he let himself become nervous, since this would make or break his plan. "There is a distinct possibility... that I am your biological father... regeneration, blond hair..." He smiled faintly at Claire.

"You have your her eyes... and hair too." There, that should do it. It was very likely what Claire wanted to hear, so she was that much more likely to believe it if she suspected it as well.

Oh, busted. Not that she minded too much...she was sort of hoping he'd take the initiative with the topic anyway.

But...a possibility he could be her father? Her real father? A nervous knot formed in the pit of her stomach. It was true, they did look just alike, and the shared ability...

"I...you think I could be your daughter?" Her eyes were about as wide as saucers, she didn't bother hiding the hopeful tone in her voice. Claire unconciously tugged at a strand of her hair. "I mean," God, Claire, breathe! "It's likely?"

She didn't want too come off as too desperate.

"I would say that it is more than likely, and in fact very probable, how many other people could have the regenerative trait. I won't be able to say for absolute certain without a DNA test, or a birth certificate, but I will be very surprised if you aren't my daughter." He calmly reached over to grab the hand that Claire was using to tug at her own hair. Normally, he disliked such physical contact, but it would be fitting to give his... daughter... supportive physical contact.

It would take some getting use to thinking of her as his child, but he was certain he could handle it. She was reasonable enough, and intelligent enough, if she'd managed to hide her regenerative ability for six months.

"I really had no idea... she never told me..."

Claire had never met anyone with her ability, save Peter, and he was a total stranger. She was a bit surprised when Wesker grabbed her hand - he didn't seem the touchy-feely type, but she was thankful for the gesture.

"I was hoping, if I found my real parents, they could explain this...ability," Or whatever it was. "I was hoping someone could explain what was happening to me."

A thought occured. "The woman...did she have any abilities?"

"I do not yet fully understand my own ability, but I will try to help you understand," He could do that, even if Claire's ability was naturally occurring.

At the question concerning Claire's mother having any abilities, Wesker paused to think for a moment before shaking his head just slightly. "I never saw anything to indicate that she did have abilities... but my abilities had not yet fully developed at that point, and she didn't know about my regeneration."

That was certainly a safe answer, it was unlikely Wesker would ever meet Claire's real biological mother, so he would never get to investigate to see if she did possess any unusual abilities.

Claire beamed. He would help her...finally, she could understand why this had happened to her. That fact alone pushed aside any feelings of dissapointment that her mother probably didn't have any abilities.

"Thanks...really," Claire said. From the looks of the nurses starting to enter the cafeteria, she knew the shift would be changing soon. "I've felt alone for so long - like a freak..."

Despite the comfort she'd gotten from Renji and Eric, she couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't belong. But that was slowly changing.

"There's no need to feel that way, it can be difficult, to be vastly different from those around you," Wesker had found himself with a distaste for most normal humans after his injection with the G-virus... but he had viewed most people as inferior long before that point, so his physical changes had merely increased the gap.

He found himself regretting the fact that he didn't have any Hunters at his disposal, it would eliminate his need to have other combat capable patients around... Wesker would've even settle for Krauser, so long as the man could keep his mouth shut.

"However... I would like to inform you that it might not be... safe to let certain people know that you're my daughter. I've made a lot of enemies, and there is someone here from my work, he's from a different part of the company, and therefore doesn't know about my abilities, but be careful. His name is Captain Jack, and there might be others as well that you need to be wary of. People who might use you to get to me." That was certainly true, he needed to prepare her in case people started saying bad things about her, or tried to attack her because of a supposed relation to him.

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Day 23: Lunch

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