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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Takaya slid his glare to rest on the kid. How long had it been?

"Four days," he said, just as abruptly. "Give or take." Takaya couldn't bring himself to care anymore. How long he'd been here was less important than how he could get out. "And I'm not a fucking teacher, so if you're a new kid looking for a guide, try someone else."

Sasuke didn't bat an eyelid at the other patient's harsh tone, sliding easily into the familiar blank demeanour from Sound.

"By your standards, I am also an experienced patient," he said, revealing no reaction to the rudeness, although his voice was emotionless to the point of insult. "I am looking for allies in the interests of escape. Are you useful?"

There was no point in tact in a place like this -- there was very rarely a point in tact. It reminded Sasuke of walking through the large rooms of experiments, stopping before each one and grilling it for answers. Wasn't that what they were in Landel's, anyway? Experiments?

He raised an expectant eyebrow at the dark-haired patient, an expression that was blandly challenging.

"That depends on your definition of 'useful'," Naoe said very calmly. He had come into the lunch room with his hair still a little damp from the shower. He probably had taken longer than he needed. His mind had been very distracted as he thought about Takaya and the boy's situation. If he was going to go out and get hurt every night without him then Naoe wasn't sure he wanted him around.

The question was, was it better for Kagetora to be in control? He would be angry, but at least he would survive. There was also the danger that the more that Naoe purposely upset Takaya, them more that Kagetora would remember.

He did not want Takaya alone with Sasuke for other reason though. He had ignored the excuse for food and scanned the room to find the teenager talking to the only real person Naoe considered an 'ally'. He wasn't about to let Takaya express his opinion without him being there to know what the boy had said.

Lee was not one to let things get him down, even if everything at this hospital made absolutely no sense at all. Therefore, when he was told that it was now time to get food, he merely nodded his head and followed.

That meant he simply had to go with the flow, which was something he felt he did fairly well.

As he entered the dining hall once more, he glanced around the room to see what was going on, and his eyes widened. Ah ha! There was Sasuke, and look, he was with Takaya and Naoe. Wonderful time to make an appearance.

"Sasuke-san!" he practically yelled. "I see that you are speaking with my roommate! It is a shame that we are not able to talk while the sun shines proudly above us, but I suppose that we cannot have everything we wish in life!"

Takaya was about to snarl something rude back to this kid when he showed up. So, instead, he transferred his glare to Naoe.

"Probably at useful as you, I would think," he growled. Naoe was the last person he wanted to see right now. Already tense and unstable from his morning memory problems, he was ready to bite off the older man's head.

So, of course, Takaya's afternoon had to get worse. He knew that LOUD VOICE. With a snarl, he glared down at his food, stabbing it with a fork.

"Anyone who can fight," Sasuke responded, hiding his surprise at Yoshiaki's sudden entrance, nodding a brief greeting instead. It didn't look like these two got along, but Sasuke had dealt with that before. He was about to question either or both further when a startlingly familiar voice hollered near them.

Rock Lee? Of all the --

Sasuke blinked once, glared vaguely, then wiped all expression off his face again. Another Konoha-nin. At least Lee was accustomed to being without chakra, which made him an interesting possibility.

"No, we can't," he said, voice dry as he acknowledged the newest addition. "Lee. I assume you're new?"

"Uchiha-kun," Naoe said carefully. Considering their ages (both physical and spiritual, as far as Naoe knew) the name seemed appropriate. He had respect for Sasuke, but he wasn't about to show the same respect that he would for Takaya's name. "You know Takaya-san's.... roommate?" He said with a small smile. He was about to say 'very annoying roommate' or 'very nosy roommate' or 'this kid that doesn't know when to butt out of other people's business', but the pleasantries couldn't be ignored. Besides, if Takaya knew how much Lee irritated Naoe the teenager might purposely spend more time with him in a futile attempt to keep Naoe away.

Perhaps it was the place, but suddenly, Lee's eyes appeared far sharper than normal. He was not unaware of the dark cloud around the three; obviously someone was unhappy. He actually found it rather funny to see Takaya stab at food, but he was currently not irritated enough to make any sort of sarcastic remark. He did give him a bemused look.

"Yes, I am new to this terror of darkness. Have you been here long, Sasuke-san?" Lee did not use the formal term because he believed in Sasuke's superiority or whatever one would call it, but rather the fact that he was not foolish to think that the other boy had put some distance between himself and Konoha. He was treading carefully in talking to Sasuke, he knew, but this place required a different course of action than from before.

"We used to be from the same village," Sasuke explained to Yoshiaki, noting the caution with which the man spoke. Looked like there was more than simple antagonism, judging by the feel of increasing tension as Yoshiaki remained.

"I've been here three days," he answered Lee's question and, unlike Yoshiaki, ignored pleasantries in favour of getting to the point. "How are your abilities?"

Takaya had had enough. He wasn't hungry anymore, especally not for whatever the hell this food was. Sure as hell wasn't meat.

He didn't want to deal with Naoe right now, not after last night. Everything was too close to the surface, too ... too fucked up right now. He didn't want to risk another apperance of him. Not now, and certainly not so soon after the last time.

So, even though arguing with someone a little closer to him in age (at least physically) sounded like a good way to blow off some steam, he couldn't do it with that asshole around. Takaya shoved away from the table.

"Nice to meet ya Uchiha," he said, with a clipped nod at the kid he'd been talking to. "See ya later Lee." And he would. They were roommates after all. He might even be a friend.... if he could ever work past all that weird speech.

He didn't even look at Naoe.

((Grouch AWAY! ^^;;))

Naoe watched Takaya leave but made no comment. His face grew very serious when the teenager wasn't looking at him to see the flicker of worry in his eyes.

Stop! Naoe had to say to himself. This was the emotion that had stopped him from trapping Takaya forever when he had the chance. The desire to protect Takaya but still have Kagetora. It wasn't something that could actually be done. Naoe sighed and looked at Lee, his expression darkened slightly.

Yes that's right, said a dark voice in Naoe's head, his own voice. This annoying nosey kid gets to spend every night with Takaya while you are stuck with some creepy grinning whatever-the-hell that man is. Right then, Naoe hated Lee. Hated Lee like he hadn't hated someone for three decades.

"Later," he said to Takaya as he walked away.

Not even with a change in his facial features, Lee glanced at Naoe, noting somewhere in the back of his mind that he did not appear pleased either. It would really be a shame if something happened this night between them.

Finally, he looked at Sasuke. There was no doubt what the dark-haired nin was asking him. "I am weakened by whatever powers lie here, but my previous skills seem to be mostly intact. It is possible that I could not fight as long as before. I have not attempted to access any of the Eight Chakra Gates, but my assumption would be that I cannot."

A lot more than simple enmity, Sasuke decided, scrutinizing the two reactions as the apparent younger of the two stalked off.

"You know each other, then," He said to Yoshiaki, making it a statement. And while Sasuke much preferred to collect information and judge it for himself, Landel's did not readily provide that luxury, so: "What can he do?"

How Lee and Takaya knew each other was less important -- Sasuke assumed that Lee had done the proper thing for a shinobi and performed reconnaissance both physically and through contact with the other patients.

Sasuke nodded at the information, figuring that Lee had learned enough about the suppression caused by the institute to extrapolate about Sasuke's abilities. "Have you been here at night yet?"

"He can do a lot more when he's not in this place," Naoe said quietly. "Where I come from he is spiritually the strongest being... alive." He used the term loosely. "But his memories have been damaged. He doesn't really know what he is." There was no point in hiding it. "He's a sadist and will kill anyone that gets in his way." A small smile. "Be careful around him. He might play the part of the angry teenager well, but don't trust him too much." There was a pause.

"Oh," Naoe said, answering Sasuke's question for Lee. "Lee-chan accompanied myself and Takaya-san last night. I'm amusing Takaya-san filled the young boy in as he rattled about 'Great Evil' a good portion of the night." He spoke of Lee as if the teenager was a five-year-old and couldn't understand what was being said. There was an icy undertone to his polite facade.

Lee continued to smile even as Naoe talked about him as if he were not there. So this was the true Naoe. Whether he could or could not be trusted was not worrisome to the shinobi. He would note what he said of Takaya either way.

Of course, it did grate on his nerves how the other man simply brushed him off. Still, he would not hold onto that feeling for long. What would it help to argue with each other?

"I find it interesting that in a place where we are all in grave danger, a man can make such jokes of another person's words," he said to Naoe. So perhaps he did not let it go completely, but on the other hand, he did not put any malice in the words either. "Tonight, I would suggest that instead of aggravating Takaya-san and getting into a quarrel that perhaps we attempt something more constructive if Takaya-san is unwilling to stay in his room."

"What is he capable of here?" Sasuke took note of the comment about power. Someone to watch out for if caught by the institute and brainwashed, then. And also someone useful, if approached in the right way. Sasuke was no artist with manipulation, but watching Orochimaru's interaction with everyone from experiments to 'pets' had at least improved his negotiation skills.

He also took note of the fact that Yoshiaki disliked Lee, and assumed that Lee was shinobi enough to not act upon it until it was unavoidable, or at least 'honourable' enough to issue a warning.

"Lee is useful in his way," he told Yoshiaki, not in the way of someone defending a friend, but the way of a commander ending an argument before it escalated. It was largely unconscious; Sasuke had automatically assumed the role of leader. "I've been through most of the patients' quarters and some of the area above that. If you want to work with me, I will be heading upstairs again."

Naoe was not offended by Sasuke's tone. He often the follower. Besides, he knew he was letting his emotions get the better of him.

"I do not know for sure, we haven't had the time to discuss it in detail. I would be careful if he is ever one of the people that the Institute brainwashes." His jaw tightened at the idea. He wondered if the gods would still respond to Takaya even in this place. If that were the case... then Naoe wasn't sure what could stop him.

Lee was lost in thought for several seconds. So not only could they capture them, but they could also brainwash people as well. The thought, to say the least, was not reassuring. He knew the strength that the others had from his home and beyond, and fighting them was not going to be an easy thing.

"We must find information," he said. However, he had no idea where to look.

"Most of the people here are dangerous," Sasuke said, bluntly informative, and moved on to practical matters. He'd speak with Takaya at some other point.

"The intercom and the radios in our rooms spit out random speeches at night," he told Lee. "They seem like clues." Mostly to play with our minds. The resemblance to Orochimaru, again, was uncanny.

A glance up revealed that the nurses were beginning to come to clear trays and escort patients to the next shift.

"I'm in M58," he said. "Give me your room numbers. Lee, I'll find you and Takaya."

They could talk then.

"We are in room M15," said Lee, with a small bow. "May we meet with little misfortune. Till later!"

With that, Lee walked off, deep in his own thoughts, and of the night that would all too soon approach them all. At least he had more information, though.

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Day 23: Lunch

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