damned_institute | Day 50: Patient Library (3rd Shift)

Given a choice, as should have been implied by the whole "Free Choice Day" thing, Scott would have gone straight for the Game Room. Maybe it didn't have the greatest selection of games, but he was raring for another epic Tetris match with Indy or anyone else who cared to challenge him. Unfortunately for him, however, his nurse was already onto his line of thinking.

"Now Bryan, I know how much you love your games, but don't you think some more time away from them would be good for you?" the woman asked him in a soothing tone, gently taking his shoulder when he turned toward the Game Room.

"Uh, why would I think that?" he asked, blinking at her in honest confusion.

"Well, I know your family was worried about more than just your condition before you came here. They're hoping you can start to wean yourself down to a more healthy level of enjoyment with your games, too," the nurse explained with continuing gentleness.

"Yeah. And?" Scott raised an eyebrow. "It's Free Choice Day, isn't it? Don't I get to choose and stuff?"

"Of course, Bryan. But I'm still here to make suggestions, and I think you'd do well with a different activity today." The woman smiled at him, genuine care and concern in her expression. "You can always come here later in the week. It'll probably be more rewarding if you wait, too."

Scott was silent, considering the advice. He raised an index finger. "Well, I suppose... Uh, yeah no. Please to be going to the Game Room now, thanks."

The nurse frowned.

Five minutes of irritatingly gentle coaxing later, and Scott found himself in the patient library. "Stupid guilt tripping never even talked to my real mom and dad I bet I could be playing Tetris right now they don't even have any cool books in here..." he grumbled to himself under his breath as he lazily perused the shelves. He picked a book completely at random, The Oxford Book of English Verse. He was half-hoping that maybe pulling the book out would trigger something more exciting, like a secret item appearing, a bonus stage unlocking, or a new shortcut tunnel opening. But no, Landel's reality was boring as ever. "Maybe there'll be an awesome poem or something in here, at least," he told himself as he headed over to an empty seat with a short sigh.

[Unknowingly waiting for Sam]

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Leon wasn't even sure why he'd requested coming to the library. From the looks of things, nothing had changed since the last time he'd been in the room, meaning there weren't any new books aside from the usual fiction and worthless handful of nonfiction. Even if the Head Doctor bothered to look at his suggestion in the box, it was incredibly doubtful that any changes had already been made.

Still, this was his comfort zone. After being so thoroughly confused over the events of the past night, it would be good to just sit back and read something quietly, even if he had very little interest in the material. What were those books Claude had been interested in out of the ones he'd grabbed before? Would copies of them still be here?

The young mage bent down and grabbed himself a copy of The Time Machine before taking a seat in one of the provided chairs.

[free]

The library wasn't the girl's first choice of places, but having been told she had been running around too much with her injury, she was given a choice of indoor activities. Lame. After complaining, the nurse conceded that she could go outside next shift. So, for now, Senna settled for the library, one of the few places she hadn't been to much.

What would be, would be. Senna wandered the room idly, sling still bound tightly across her chest. A few titles jumped out at her, but nothing really to keep her attention. In the end, she snagged a fairy tale book--The Crimson Fairy Book, to be exact--and went to find a place to settle in to page through it. Close-by, there was a boy already looking through another book. Half wondering if it was rude to interrupt, she sat beside him, offering a smile. "Hey."

Startled by the unfamiliar female voice, Leon looked up from his book to stare at her in surprise. An attractive girl making small talk with him when there were other men around? Did she find him interesting? Perhaps it was his choice of reading material, slightly advanced for someone else his age.

...Or he was in the way. He wasn't in the way, was he?

"Hello." He smiled back. Company would be nice either way, as he'd only been partly interested in the book. (Not that it was a bad book, quite the opposite.) "How are you?" The mage barely kept himself from asking more unnecessary questions, such as So, you like reading too? Now if only he could stay cool and collected for the rest of the conversation.

Oh, nice. It seemed like he wasn't too big on continuing reading. Senna pulled a leg up to her chest, tucking the book she had snagged next to her. "I'm okay more or less," she offered. Man, it was nice to find someone friendly around here. "How about you?"

Pleasantries aside, Senna's attention kept being drawn... upward. That was an amazing shade for hair. And it even matched his eyes. Nice. "Hey, is that your real hair color?" There was a beat as she remembered herself and smiled again. "Oh, I'm Senna. Nice to meet you."

"It's been kinda crazy around here," ...wow, bad choice of words, "but I think I've come through all right." Confused, but all right. A lack of physical injuries was always good, and he had a new list of people to help out over the next few nightshifts. Think of the positive!

Her comment about his hair made him grin. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten a question like that, after all. "Yep! It's a hundred percent natural!" His parents probably wouldn't have let him dye it even if he'd wanted to. Though that was a subject he really didn't want to dwell on. Wherever they were right now, they were fine. They had to be. "Guess it's not as common a color here, huh."

Wasn't it, thought? He was sure he'd seen some other people with blue hair. There was Dias, and if Rena had been here... Was pink hair more common? He saw some of that around. "I'm Leon."

Heh. Senna grinned. "Now that's something good to hear." Someone not depressed or unable to move. Already she liked this kid. Leon, huh? She'd remember. Not many people were able to still smile like that.

At the lighter subject, her grin widened. "That's cool! It's not something I've seen a lot of, at least. I like it." It was a lot better than any drab colors, that was for sure.

Well it wasn't so unique back home, but he wasn't going to point that out. If she wanted to think there was something cool and original about his hair color, then far be it from him to tell her otherwise! It wasn't what he usually liked to be recognized for, but Leon would take what he could get when it came to cute girls.

"What about you? You didn't run into much trouble last night, did you?" She didn't look bad off, in any case. It was always so disparaging seeing someone fine one day and in a wheelchair the next. So far he'd been lucky in that regard, though he was pretty sure this wouldn't have been the case if he hadn't had Claude and Haseo to look out for him.

Trouble. No, not quite. There had been zombies, sure, but they had left that pretty early. Her worry had came in the form of closed doors and small rooms, but that was nothing that had been actually troublesome. Just. Concerning. Or something. Hell.

Outwardly, the girl shook her head, smiling. "Nope. Pretty slow night, other than the popping around everywhere. We did meet this one guy, though. Claimed that he knew that radio guy. Jack. He was able to send us anywhere in the institute we wanted to go."

Leon's eyes widened, and his voice became a whisper as he leaned closer. "You met someone who knew Mr. Radio?" He knew there were still others around who at least claimed to be trying to help them like Jack had. (Though some of the items he'd pointed them toward, most of them really, hadn't exactly been easy to get to.)

"I met Jack... just briefly. Once, the night before he died. He had some good connections." But to think this guy could just send them anywhere... If that was the case, then why didn't he just help them all get out? Though she had said 'in the Institute' so perhaps he was working on it? "What was he like? Do you think he's reliable at all?"

The reaction was interesting but not too strange. She nodded. "So he said at least. I don't think he would lie." The guy didn't seem the type, though she couldn't really say.

Leon's admittance was surprising. "Wait, you met the guy?" But he had died a while before she got here. A week maybe. "You've been here that long?" Should she be surprised really? Momo'd been here a lot longer than Senna had, let alone other people. Anyway. "He said his name was Marc, and that he'd met Jack before. He was using his equipment in this bomb shelter because he didn't want it to go to waste. Or something like that. We didn't talk to him long."

Though... "But one of my friends seemed to know him a little. I guess they met before."

How long was 'that long'? Leon knew he'd been around longer than, well, possibly the majority of those in the asylum now, but it was difficult to think of things that way when Claude and Dias had been around for longer than he had. They weren't the only ones either.

"Yeah... I've been here nearly four weeks now." Close to a month. In the grand scheme of things, that didn't seem like a long time. But here... Not that she needed to worry about him, of course. The young mage was capable of taking care of himself! ...In that he knew when to rely on his friends - those he was grateful to have around. He supposed he could have been proud to say he'd met the former man on the radio, but somehow that didn't seem like the right way to think of things.

If someone had met this Marc person before the previous night, then he'd been around for a while. He was going to have to look into that, and tell Claude and Haseo if they weren't already aware.

Day 50: Patient Library (3rd Shift)

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