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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Sora appreciated that they didn't force him to leave. Maybe it felt strange for them to have a teenager joining in on the conversation, but he didn't want to be treated like that. While he knew he could be naive when it came to certain things, he had already lost a lot of his innocence. People had died at his hand, after all. It didn't matter if they were "nobodies" - they were still people.

Spirit energy? That was -- well, he hadn't exactly heard about anything like that before. The only thing he could relate it to was how he could sense how much darkness or light was in another person's heart, but that was only if he was with the person. He couldn't reach out for another's heart if they weren't close-by, so there was no way for him to check if his friends were still present.

Though when Renji mentioned Kurosaki, Sora's eyes widened. He hadn't seen that on the bulletin board, he'd had no idea--

Him too? While he hadn't been as close to Kurosaki as he had been to Nowe, it felt like things were just being piled on top of each other now. Sora didn't want to make a scene, however - not when they had trusted him to partake in the conversation like an adult. He kept quiet, prepared to hear Hughes and Cliff's responses.

"Yeah, I get the idea." Cliff nodded. It went without saying that he needed to be discreet. He wasn't even sure he would be bringing this up with Fayt and Albel. They weren't really a part of this.

He listened to Renji's explanation. He'd been so many places it was damn near impossible to surprise him anymore. He'd never believed in any sort of spirit world, but whatever this thread was, Renji seemed to know it well. He'd just have to trust that.

"Do you know when Kurosaki disappeared? Or any idea how?" He didn't think it would do him any good but something compelled him to ask. He was just a kid.

Hughes sighed.

"That...happens a lot more than it should," he said, adjusting his glasses. "I'm not gonna lie. I've lost a lot of friends in this place. They just...disappear. I don't know what happens to them, and sometimes they come back, but...." He shook his head.

"The staff acts like they were never here. Now, I've been around when people die. When people die, you know. But when people just aren't here anymore..." He ran a hand over his face. "I don't know what it means or what happens. But I do know that there's a difference between people dying and people just not being here."

He looked at Cliff. "I don't know," he said. "If we weren't here, I would have felt it if he had gone in battle, or fought at all. Ichigo was... among those of us here, he had the strongest spirit. But I know nothing at all about what happened." Only that they were gone, and that somehow made it worse.

Renji listened to Hughes. If anything, it made his expression more somber. If it wasn't death, it was probably worse. And he was acquainted with the fact that there were, indeed, worse things than dying.

But in this case, he had no ideas.

When Hughes started to talk, Sora felt like he had to speak up. It was the way he'd described it that reminded the boy of what had happened to him the day before.

"Umm," he started, doing his best to interject without interrupting what anyone else was saying, "did any of you get visitors yesterday?" He shifted in his seat. He hadn't wanted to mention this to anyone (there was no way he was telling Kairi), but it wouldn't be fair for him to keep the information to himself when they were discussing it.

"Because I did. My best friend, Riku, was here before. Then he disappeared... Just like Kurosaki and Nowe. I tried not to think about it - I had no way of knowing he was gone for sure, but it was harder to ignore when it had been a few days since I'd seen him. Then yesterday, he... he was my visitor." He paused, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "He didn't call me 'Sora,' though, and he went by a different name. Still, he acted like Riku - and I... I think that maybe they took him and... did something to him, so that he really believed that he was someone else."

Cliff's mouth set into a thin line as he listened to Hughes, then Renji.

He shook his head at Sora's question. No visitors, and now he was almost thankful for it. He'd heard the stories on the bulletin but this was the first time anyone had spoken to him in person. This kid was brave. "You've got a point there." He looked back at Renji. "Would you be able to tell if it was something like that?"

"If it's not that it's..." He didn't want to suggest what he was about to, but he raked his fingers through his hair again and pressed on. Everyone else was offering up information and fair was fair. "I've heard people talking about the experiments they do in this place. And after seeing some of the monsters, I'm finding it less and less difficult to believe that maybe they're using the patients for building blocks."

Butchering, would be the word, but for what little difference it would make he couldn't say it in front of Sora. Cliff sighed and shook his head. "I just don't know."

"Huh." Hughes frowned, thoughtful for a moment, as he listened to Sora. "We know there's got to be a purpose to them trying so damn hard to make us think we're these other people. And that they've got to do something with the people they do convert." He drummed his fingers on the table, eyes narrowing.

"Maybe we ought to see about talking to people who had vistors, figure out if what the Head Doctor was ranting about may have any truth to it. If it does... well, then these people aren't dead. And there may be a chance to save them."

"I would know," Renji said. "As long as I can still sense reiatsu or try to look at the threads." So far, he was still going strong, but he was worried what would happen if he continued to push himself in these circumstances. He didn't have much of a choice, though. He had to keep going.

While everyone was sharing information, he thought maybe it was best to share another piece. He didn't know about Cliff, but Hughes seemed to be a capable man that a lot of people knew. He might know how to best begin organizing things.

"I know what the Head Doctor's spirit thread looks like," he said. "I was in the chapel, and I looked."

Sora's eyes widened when Cliff revealed his theory. "You mean they're using patients to make more monsters?" That was a chilling thought. In a way, it was similar to the Heartless. Once a person's heart was taken, there was nothing of them left, and...

Still, that wasn't quite so gruesome. Maybe it had been out of line for him to blurt that out so bluntly, but he'd been shocked at the very idea.

After that, he collected himself, knowing that he needed to act like a grown-up. "Still, if they could just brainwash people that easily, why haven't they done it to all of us?" He liked the idea that he could find Riku again and bring him back to normal, but he didn't know how probable that was.

Distracted by Renji's statement, he turned to face the redhead, mouth slightly open. "Really? What did it look like?" Not that he knew what 'spirit threads' looked like normally, but he was still curious.

Cliff leaned back in his chair, his brow still furrowed in thought as the others offered their theories. He nodded at Sora. "Easy kid." He said gently.

"They're not really trying to make us believe it. There are easier ways to do that and they'd look just as legal." They're just not as much fun. Any place that could do what this one did definitely had the technology. He'd bet his right arm on it.

As for helping them... Renji seemed very sure the kid was gone. Maybe only some of them survived the treatment and came back to 'visit' but it was still something. Before that though, they needed to think about getting out of here.

"If we can find the Doctor, that's a whole different ball game, and I'm guessing there's only one shot at it before they catch on."

"I dunno." Hughes shook his head. "Maybe some folks are more resistent, maybe some people take to it better. I just don't know. But all we've got is a bunch of theories, and no proof of anything." He ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm curious as to what the verdict is on the Head Doctor, too. Though getting to him isn't going to be easy. We might not even have one shot." How would they get to him? He'd heard about what had happened in the Chapel.

Damnit all, too many questions!

Renji frowned, shrugging uncomfortably. He felt that he should explain further, since he had brought this up, which meant they were wandering toward the fact that he was a Shinigami. And while he was tired of lying about it, it didn't mean he felt the need to tell everyone either.

But at the same time, this was important. They needed to share information if things were to ever get organized.

"I doubt getting to him will be easy. But unless there is a way for him to hide his spirit thread, I will be able to follow him to wherever he is." He smiled wryly. "I'll just be completely useless once I get there; here, tracking like that is... painful." He shook his head. "I'm not even going to try until things are ready. An overwhelming force is needed, armed and organized. And I'm worried if I keep looking, it'll be noticed and they'll take action to stop me."

He tapped his foot on the floor, trying to figure out the best way to explain what he'd seen with the Head Doctor. Really, he wanted to get up and pace again, like he had when he was telling Qui-Gon and Rukia.

"His spirit thread is human. But that doesn't mean he is no threat, or weak. There are very strong humans, very dangerous ones." He continued to tap his foot. "He is very strong. Very... dirty. A person that enjoys to torment and kill. Nothing new to that. But... even though he's human, there is something to him that reminds me of a Hollow. A Hollow is... are what my people hunt. A soul that has lost its humanity. They are monsters, and they are deadly. They consume souls and spirit." He hesitated, but while they were talking about this, he might as well throw in what Qui-Gon had said. "I talked to Jinn-san about it. He seems to sense reiatsu as well, though he calls it something different. Our impressions of the Head Doctor are alike."

"I think he'd probably be easier to find at night," Sora suggested, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. It felt good, to be included in the planning instead of just being told what to do. Sora didn't mind following orders if they made sense to him, but he liked to have some say in what was going on. "There aren't any nurses or orderlies to stop us... Well, there are, but we can actually fight them. He still talks to us over the intercom, which means he's probably still in the building..."

When did the head doctor sleep, anyway? It seemed like he was as deprived as they were, if he stayed up to talk to them all night and day.

At the talk of an overwhelming force, Sora glanced to Hughes. "You were putting together a big group of patients, weren't you? Like when you sent me, Scar, Lust, and Haru upstairs that one time." It had been a while ago, but he figured the man would remember. "We were organized for a while, but then..." Well, what had happened? A lot of people had disappeared, and so many new patients had come in.

As Renji explained the head doctor's 'spirit thread,' Sora nodded in understanding. "He must have a lot of darkness in his heart." He had to wonder if he was like Ansem. There was no way he was a Nobody, but a sentient Heartless, maybe? If he had been at the chapel, he might have been able to tell.

"Never said it was going to be easy." Cliff smiled wearily, his eyes cast down in thought. "Even if we can get to him, we have to be able to overcome whatever it was in the chapel, and a large group isn't going to do that or he'd be dead ten ways by now."

"If that force field's not sym...spiritual then it might be the technology this place has. I can try to pull something together to disrupt it...depends on what I find tonight." That was a big maybe though. He didn't know what he'd find in the office, or even if his theory was right. Then there was trying to build the damn thing. Even with Fayt's help it would be tricky to counter something they didn't fully understand. "Long range weapons could work too. Bullets, arrows... I don't think anyone mentioned a physical shield."

Now he was getting too hung up on the details. Cliff took a breath and tried to ease the tension out of his features. He knew he'd made a face at Renji's description of the doctor. Every time he thought he couldn't be more disgusted, he was proved wrong.

"Anyway, we've all got people we trust. We'll have to start there and see what we can do." He glanced up at Hughes, remembering Sora's words as well. There were a lot of patients to organize and he knew what that was like. Hughes was probably wracking his mind trying to make sense of the place. He'd said as much when they first talked. "It's a bit much, eh fearless leader?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to organize people." Hughes gave a small, rough little laugh. "But people don't really want to be organized." he ran a hand through his hair. "And getting everybody together... it's a lot tougher than it should be. But if you guys are up for making an organized effort, we can."

It was all that he could do, really. "But it's hard getting everybody all the information they need. What I really want to do is set up a network, so I can tell one or two people what's up, and they can tell a couple people and so on and so on."

It was easier to just think on the details, to look at things logically and not get emotional about it.

"One of my people, Rukia, is very adept with... spirit arts," Renji said. "If there is some kind of spell on him, she and others with that aptitude may be able to have an effect. We would just need to get them together before hand so that they can learn to work together. We can do our arts, here, but it's very difficult and incapacitates us afterwards."

He frowned as Hughes spoke. "Until someone that outranks me shows up, I speak for my people." He didn't really count Gin in that, though he also thought that Gin would probably help if the plan was suitable. "There are only three of us now, though." He smiled slightly. "But if you give us swords, you'll see what we can truly do. And the other people that I often see, I can also pass information to, easily."

He would have to speak to Hisoka and the other Shinigami, Tsuzuki. It would be easier, since they both seemed low ranking, if they would just respect his position as a Vice-Captain for the time being.

"I will see what I can get organized."

"I think we should try," Sora said, his spirits seeming to pick up as he sat straighter in his seat, his tone becoming more determined. "I don't think we can win unless we all work together. And I know we can unite everyone, but we can see how many people are willing." He knew that Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé would probably help him if he asked - and there were other friends he made that he could talk to about it, as well.

"We probably shouldn't organize over the bulletin board, though," he voiced with a frown. That was too public, and while it was good for a short note that only one or two other people would understand, he didn't think abusing it would be smart. "That network should work, though," he said to Hughes with a nod. He had to look at things optimistically, or they wouldn't get anywhere.

"What's everyone doing tonight? Renji, you're busy, right?" Which meant he would have to make his own plans, and he wasn't necessarily good at doing that. It sounded like Cliff had organized something as well, and Hughes always seemed to have something to do.

He would get Kairi, and work from there.

"I'm about the same. There are two from my world and a few others I trust. Plus, I'm a friendly guy. If you need to spread anything that can't go on the bulletin..." He shrugged and half-smiled. He was good at that sort of thing. Hughes' network seemed like it would work out alright. They just had to be careful it didn't turn into a game of broken telephone.

He nodded at Sora. The bulletin was pretty much a given. "We could use it to give some general information about what this place is, though. That's not a secret and the worst they'd do is tear it down."

They were going to get dragged off soon. Cliff stretched a little despite himself. Back home he paced during meetings and drove everyone crazy. "I'm checking out the doctors' offices." He said, then he paused and frowned slightly at Sora. "You've got friends to travel with, right?"

He nodded in answer to Sora's question. "I am seeing to my weapon," he said. "But I will ask Vice-Captain Matsumoto... ah, Rangiku, rather... to go to Rukia and Kairi's room. Would you join them? The four of you would make a fast, effective group."

"There are a few people I will have to speak with tomorrow, who may have similar abilities to mine." He grinned. He mostly needed to find out if Hisoka and Tsuzuki would respect his rank and follow his lead. It would be nice for all the Shinigami to stick together, even if they were from different worlds. "The most important work now is getting organized. And finding a way to arm everyone appropriately. Why don't we have lunch together again, the day after tomorrow, or maybe the day after that. We can compare notes." He added another point to his mental check list.

Then the speaker came on, announcing the end to lunch.

"Yeah, I'll go find them," Sora agreed. He had gotten over to Kairi's room easily the night before, so he doubted there would be any problems this time, either. It looked like everyone had something to do, then.

Sora got the feeling that he would see Renji before the planned time for another meeting, but that was probably to be expected. Either way, their plans had been set and the nurses were beckoning for them now.

"I'll see you guys around," the boy said as he stood, looking to his three companions in turn before heading toward his nurse.

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Day 23: Lunch

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(skipping Hughes with Fey's permission)

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