damned_institute | Day 50: Intercom, Dawn

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Day 50: Intercom, Dawn

As the sun rose over the Institute's valley, it became obvious that the rain had finally stopped pouring. The skies weren't exactly clear, but they were now a light grey and no longer carried the ominous weight of water and thunder. Even the Head Doctor himself seemed relieved as the jingle came on and he spoke to the Institute body.

"Good morning, everyone – and it is a good morning, isn't it? The rain's let up, we have your family and friends coming in to visit, and as part of our Landel's Institute policy for cooperation and understanding, we've provided a new weekly suggestion box over at the bulletin board to find ways to improve your stay as much as we can! Keep an eye out, too, for the section polling you about a movie to watch today! We'll be turning the Sun Room into our own personal Landel's theater just after brunch, although attendance is optional.

"As most of you know, we will be beginning today not in the cafeteria but in the Sun Room or the Chapel – whichever you choose. Please let your nurse know of your preference and they will escort you there gladly. I believe that's all for now, and I hope you enjoy the rest of our fun-filled day!"

The intercom clicked off.

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"No! Wait, Ammy-"

She had not waited for Issun to finish his plea. His tiny voice trailed away as she bolted through the Spirit Gate, allowing brilliant white light to engulf her and then . . .

Amaterasu awoke to an array of strange sights and unfamiliar senses. She was in a small room that greatly lacked color, laying on some sort of uncomfortable, high-raised futon. The air around her did not carry any sort of defining aroma or scent. In fact, her nose could barely detect anything at all. There were sounds all around her, too, but they were so much quieter than what she was usually used to. Had she lost her senses? Or had they simply dulled since her departure through the Spirit Gate?

The slightest movement of her body brought about another wave of shocking discoveries.
For one, she was aching all over. Not that this was a big deal. Fighting demons can do that to a wolf, after all. But this ache felt different. She could feel it in places that she didn't even know she had.
Amaterasu whimpered, then raised her head to see what the damage was.

There were no blood stains in her snowy-white fur. That was always a good thing. Come to think of it, there wasn't any fur at all. Or paws. Or even that artistically-talented tail she was so fond of. None of them were anywhere in sight. The only thing she could see was a clumsy mess of tangled limbs and pale-colored flesh clothed in gray.

The goddess sat upright in an instant.

Her dark eyes traveled along the slender shape of human legs and up to a well-toned belly. Her front legs were now . . . arms?! There was no doubt they were arms! They even had a hand at the end of each one, complete with five fingers. Her claws were still there, but they had shrunk down and looked very flimsy and breakable now.
A curtain of black silk had draped itself over her shoulders, falling from the top of her head and ending at the middle of her torso. Was this hair? It was so long and dark, almost like Queen Himiko's hair.

Before Amaterasu could study anything else, a soft knocking sound made her stop short. It was immediately followed by a woman's voice.

"Are you finally awake, Amari?"

A young woman was standing a few feet away, directly beneath the shape of a door-frame. Her clothes were unlike anything Ammy had ever seen before and the yellow color of her hair brought the Moon Tribe to mind.

"Amari?"

Was she addressing Ammy? The former wolf was used to being called a variety of nicknames, such as Shiranui, Snowy or Fido, so being called 'Amari' didn't phase her very much. She was more bothered by this woman's familiarity with her, if anything.
A low growl started up in Amaterasu's throat as the human approached her cautiously, a hand extended. The goddess shrunk back against the wall behind her, teeth bared and shoulders raised.

"Now, now, Amari," the strangely-dressed woman coaxed. "You are a person, remember? Not a dog. A person. And the sooner you act like a person, the sooner you can have breakfast and eat some yummy food!"

Breakfast. Eat. Food.

Those words alone were powerful enough to crumble Ammy's defensive position and bring a wolf-like grin to her face. She scooted towards the edge of the tall futon and allowed her legs to swing over, her bare feet connecting with the hard ground below. Walking on two legs was going to be different, that was for sure, but how hard could it really be? If Waka could keep his balance in those ridiculous shoes, then there was no doubt in Amaterasu's mind that she could walk on two legs.
With a heave of her muscles, she managed to pull the rest of her body into a standing position. Success! Or at least, she seemed to think . . . until she lost her balance and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Oh!" the woman cried, rushing over to help Amaterasu stand once more. "Don't worry, Amari. I'll help you walk, alright?"

Slowly but carefully, the goddess took one uneasy step after the other. Her balance was kept by this kindly stranger, who helped her move forward and out of the door.

[Moved to Sun Room]

What the fuck was that? Jack recovered from the momentary hitch in his breathing and let it even out once again. He'd gotten so good at this over the years, he could almost make himself look dead. It helped that he felt it more often than not lately. Not actually dead, because he knew that feeling very well, and there was nothing calm or peaceful about it. It was blood and pain and tearing and burning and wet and sick and trembling with nothing more than the effort to keep your insides in. Metaphorical death. Dead inside. Dead to the world. Everything lyrical and florid that pale youths in overly ruffled shirts went to such pains to romanticize.

But he was getting off track. Not that that was anything new, either. His mind wandered. It was better than staying in his head. Jack's head was a twisted, painful place. He couldn't blame his mind for wanting to run away. The vodka usually did its part to help it along.

He wasn't drunk now. Not drunk now, and he hadn't been drunk enough last night to lose time. No, that took a special kind of drunk - the drunk in the gap between 'absolutely hammered' and 'dead from a pickled liver.' He hadn't been the special kind of drunk. Which means he definitely hadn't passed out face down in the street and been dragged to a hospital by well meaning samaritans. That meant he probably didn't want to be here. Well, didn't want to be here more than he didn't want to be everywhere else.

Sun room, brunch - that didn't sound too hardcore. His mind didn't even register the word chapel. Not now. Nurse was of a slight concern, but Jack was at a disadvantage at the moment. He didn't remember anything after his second bottle, and it wasn't as though he'd have proof if they'd poked and prodded him. Hell, they could have sliced him paper thin and pressed the most interesting bits of him between slides to study old school and he wouldn't know it now.

Probably not.

He was in a room, on a bed, unrestrained. He definitely wouldn't be if the people here were solving for X where X = "what the fuck is he?" Been there, done that, and it always involved a very sophisticated pair of handcuffs. Which meant they probably had no idea who and what he was, which meant he wasn't anywhere in the nine major systems. He could work with that.

Finally, Jack opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Time to go.

The door opened not long afterwards to admit a smartly dressed nurse who wasted no time in making her way over to the bed one of the newer patients was stretched out on. It was always a little more delicate, dealing with the new arrivals on their first day. So many of them were confused to the point of not knowing where they were or why, and some of them could react violently out of fear. That was why two orderlies waited outside the room, just to be on the safe side. Hopefully Mr. Chambers would be perfectly reasonably and the orderlies would simply remain outside the room, though.

Pausing near the bed, the nurse cleared her throat and spoke loudly. "Mr. Chambers? It's time to go."

Chambers. Well, that was either very good news or very bad news. Time to find out which. Jack turned his head slowly and took his time examining the woman standing next to him. She didn't seem like she'd be too tough to overpower, but three sets of feet had come marching up to his door, and the other two fell with considerably more force.

He did have one advantage he could press. Nothing freaked out a guard like snapping a prisoner's neck when they weren't meant to. If they weren't expecting Jack to come back from that, they'd probably be huddled together getting their stories straight and he could get the drop on them. For this reason he moved just as slowly when he sat up. Set a pace for the encounter, and keep it sedate.

"My name isn't Chambers." Could it actually be as simple as mistaken identity? That... would be nice. Surely he was due a little bit of good luck by now. "I think you might have the wrong man."

The nurse sighed, her expression one of sympathy, as though this complaint wasn't really unusual. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Chambers," she said calmly. "You've been checked into Landel's Institute to help you with this, however, so don't worry."

She smiled encouragingly. "And our patients have a very high rate of recovery, some as soon as a few weeks, so if you do your best to help the doctors and staff here, you'll be home before you know it." She reached out to pat him gently on the shoulder. "Now, why don't we get you up and ready to meet the rest of the patient body then?"

Jack grabbed her wrist, not hard enough to hurt, but firmly enough to move her hand away from his shoulder. "That is not my name." She was short, actually. The bed was closer to the ground than he'd first thought, and Jack stood up, invading her personal space and looking down at her. "I didn't check myself in to anything. You can't keep me here."

A frown creased the nurse's face as she gently freed her hand from the patient's, the fingers of her other hand straying closer to the sedatives hidden away in her pocket, just to remind her of their presence. In all likelihood they'd be unnecessary, but it was helpful to know the option was there.

"Your friends and family arranged for you to be checked into the institute, Mr. Chambers," she said, maintaining the calm, controlled voice and not letting his attitude get to her. "You're not entirely well, as you know. Now, let's get you out into the institute with everyone else." Her voice implied there wouldn't be much space for argument here. It was important that James get integrated into the patient body if he was to make a full recovery.

"My friends and family?" He said the words slowly, each one falling heavily into place, like a lead weight. He didn't want to play along any more. He wasn't amused. Not even a little. "My friends and family are in the ground." He was walking now, forcing her back, and the room wasn't big enough to allow for that for very long. He could kill her. Just a little pressure. What would it really matter? Her life had another fifty years, maybe sixty? Nothing. Meaningless. His hand was already on the way to her throat, but he managed to halt the journey at her shoulder, fingers almost shaking with the strain of not slamming her into the wall. "I'm very unwell." Nothing in his life was anything approaching well at the moment. Maybe it never had been. Definitely wouldn't ever be again. "And you know nothing about it, little girl. If you did, there's no way you'd be--" Jack stopped, shook his head. What was the point. "I'm leaving. Please don't be stupid enough to say over my dead body."

James' voice, and more importantly what he was saying, drew the orderlies into the room, one of them approaching the patient and taking the man's wrist firmly.

"Please, Mr. Chambers," the nurse said, hoping to convince the man to calm down, since there was nothing she disliked more than having to sedate someone when they'd just arrived, but making it clear that no further argument would be accepted. "This is your final warning."

Fuck fuck fuck. He was so incredibly out of practice when it came to interacting with people. He just... needed to not be here. He wasn't ready for this, for any of it. He didn't want people. He didn't want anything even remotely sentient around him. Even ships with audible control interface systems were too human for him.

Now he had even more people. People who were bigger and stronger than the annoyingly chipper nurse. He had to go, and waiting around wasn't going to be any help for him. He looked at the large hand on his wrist, at the way his own wrist was being held. Strong grip. He didn't want anyone touching him. Jack moved quickly. More quickly than he'd had to in a very long time. He grabbed that wrist and twisted as hard as he could, and when the pressure lessened he just ran.

How could a person get so out of practice in appearing sane in such a relatively short period of time? Something to think about later, after he got out. He just needed to get away from all these people.

Edited 2010-07-23 02:03 (UTC)

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Day 50: Intercom, Dawn

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