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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Niikura frowned. Had he used the wrong word? "Okay, took advantage of an opportunity presented by him more like - that better?" He had to admit, 'use' did have certain connotation that certainly hadn't been there.

And then the frown disappeared. 'Mello', had he heard? So 'Morgan'...judging by Drugged Patient No. 2's reaction, that was an alias. (If he had a name like 'Mello', he'd want to go by another name too, personally.) "Aye, I know," Niikura said with a soft chuckle. "Not the type...see what you mean."

But it was okay that Mello had tricked him. Humans were like that - deceitful, suspicious...how could he have expected any less? As long as he wasn't evil, Niikura would let him continue on.

He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, know we started off on a bad foot so let's try again." He extended a hand even though the other man was currently trying to make himself become one with the bookshelves. "I'm Niikura."

"I could care less about wording," he shot off before he thought about it. He blinked, flush deepening just a smidge, and stepped back from the bookshelf; it was little more than fidgeting, but being more out in the open, however small, helped him feel like he could breathe.

He hated that he'd outed Mello, however much a prat the guy had been the night before; at least now his attitude made sense. He was somewhat worried about what would happen when Mello found out that he'd let his "real name" slip - hopefully the blond wouldn't be too angry. At least he hadn't let slip his birth name? That seemed like a point in his favor - and he needed all the points he could round up at the moment.

This guy, though... He seemed a great deal conceited, but arrogance was one personality trait Matt was adept at dealing with, after all the time spent working so closely with Mello. Not inherently evil or out to get him, though, which was refreshing to find.

Yet another name exchange, though... The act obviously made him uneasy, but he really had to wonder: what was the harm in giving someone what was ultimately yet another alias? That's all "Matt" is, if he was honest with himself, and what would it hurt in this place to let it get out a bit? It was already apparent that keeping under the radar was no way to find himself on the other side of Landel's front door, and there didn't seem to be much he could do on his own. Allies would prove useful in this sort of scenario, and Niikura seemed like he'd make a good one.

"Um. Matt." He nodded to the other male, his shoulders hunching unconsciously. It was a gut reaction to admitting his most basic and close to home alias. Now, though... to figure out the elusive art of small talk. "Y-You been here long?"

Edited 2010-06-29 20:38 (UTC)

Niikura nodded. "That's good. Some people are really picky." What do you mean by 'evil'?, they'd asked, and it had been frustrating explaining himself over and over again. Well. It hadn't really been him, but someone in his brain had - who was him. Yeah.

He withdrew his hand once he realized that he wasn't going to be getting a customary handshake and stared off into space. "Nah, just three days. I haven't been able to do much, but I guess that's better than nothing." Niikura looked back at Matt. "Hey. What year are you from? I know this sounds weird, but I hafta know."

Matt stretched a little, trying to work out some of the discomfort that was probably more psychological than physical. Was worth a try, though. "'m picky 'bout other shit," he commented in return, a little shortly. "Words don't matter much when you're dealin' with th'sort of shit we are."

He glanced over at Niikura, noting the outstretched hand was gone. His comfort level went up at that, and he visibly relaxed. "Seems like a determined person could get plenty done in that amount'a time," he said, then sighed. He and Mello hadn't gotten too much accomplished the other night - but in their defense, the entire madhouse had gone... well. Mad.

And he still needed to go get those drugs back from Mello. Couldn't let himself forget that.

"From the start of 2010," he answered after barely a second's pause; that wasn't any big deal to release to a stranger. There were all sorts of weird people running about the place, from all sorts of weird times and places. It was slightly off-putting, but whatever. Matt knew how to deal.

"Mmm..." Matt's words stung a bit because it was true: he'd almost destroyed Japan's entire governmental structure in a month, and here he had just wasted two nights on really inconsequential things. "It's a little harder here, I think, to get things done. Less time. But you're right."

And then Niikura's heart skipped a beat. 2010? It was 2006 where he was...that meant that this man might know what happened - if Akumetsu had actually worked! And there was no way that the entire world hadn't heard about it..."I'm assumin' you're from this world, right? Have you ever heard of Akumetsu? Did it work?"

The cool, laid-back persona was fading. Now he just seemed like a hyperactive teenager.

Matt's eyes narrowed, and he just shook his head in response. It wasn't his thing, really, to keep up with current events or watch the news... Hell, after he left Wammy's, he hadn't even paid too much attention to how bad the Kira situation had gotten; the first he'd actually heard of it in years was what Mello'd told him when the prat called him for help.

He stared at Niikura another long moment, unsure of what was going on. He seemed to have become quite excited upon hearing when Matt was from, and his questions... There was something he obviously needed to get back to, and in a right hurry. The question was... what?

"Wh-What is that? I mean, 'm pretty sure 'm from this world - but this madhouse isn't really much t'go on, y'know?" He chuckled awkwardly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "But, nah, I've not heard anything about Akumetsu." He was somewhat curious now, watching carefully for signs in the other male's expression that might give it away instead.

Niikura's face fell. "Really? Alright..." Then he sprung back up. "Ya sure? Akumetsu was going on in Japan right before I left - which was 2006. There was this group, and they were tryin' to clear out the corruption in Japan in a month. Killin' off all the evil politicians and all. Some people call 'em crazy, but I think that's pretty heroic, what they're doing. Did."

So this was also terrible, over-inflated self-flattery, but Niikura knew - he'd even gotten the damn police to agree with him at one point - that what he was doing was actually right and good.

Matt couldn't help tuning the other man out after just another few seconds; Niikura was starting to sound like a blatant self-promoter, really, and it just plain didn't interest him, whatever he was talking about. Had to do with Japan, and its government, and it all happened in 2006... As disinterested as he was, he tried to think of where he was in 2006. Still in Winchester, if I remember right, he thought, nodding to himself a little.

"Look," he said after another moment; he reached out and grabbed hold of the bookshelf, trying to shake off the sudden bout of dizziness. "I jus'... I don't pay much attention to current events. It's a personal choice, dude, a lifestyle.. Nothin'- Nothin' personal."

He eyed Niikura another moment, as the dizzy passed; taking a deep breath, he let go of the shelf. It was obvious, from the way he spoke about the group, that he was a part of them. Matt didn't completely understand the urgency, really, though several of the other students at Wammy's had discussed the possibility of Kira being located in Japan. Perhaps that was the "corruption" Niikura was talking about, that "this group" was trying to purge from the government. And why was he using so many quotes in his internal monologue? Some good questions, but only one that he could actually voice: "You've heard of Kira, yeah?"

Day 50: Patient Library (3rd Shift)

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