Day 50: Sun Room (4th Shift)

[ninelivesonce]

The Sun Room was dark when Taura re-entered it; her eyes adjusted quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid one of the 'techs coming over to talk to her.

"Were you going to join us for the movie, Kitty?" she asked, waving a hand at what appeared to be a 2-D projector screen.

"Movie?" This was, apparently, the wrong question to ask, as the woman's face fell into a moue of practiced disappointment.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, Kitty." Doing what, exactly, was something 'Kitty' was evidently supposed to know. Then the screen flicked on, and some sort of advertisement was playing while a staffer adjusted the volume. Oh. The term was unfamiliar, but entertainment hadn't changed that much.

"I mean, er, what movie is it?" Taura rumbled, keeping her voice low so as not to interrupt. That must have been the right question; the woman brightened back up and started explaining.

"King Kong!" she said, clearly expecting a reply. Then she sighed, and continued. "It's about a giant ape, brought back from an exploration," she began. "It's also a love story -- oh, just trust me. It's a classic."

"The ape falls in love?" That sounded a little outré, at least by Institute standards of entertainment. Not by Jacksonian ones, but those Taura had been just as pleased to leave behind.

"Oh, nothing like that. Well, the ape does fall in love -- but it's just a beast. Why, Fay Wray doesn't even come up to its waist." Taura blinked at her again. What did height have to do with it, anyway? She was leaning, just a little, without even realizing it. Perhaps looming would be a better word. The 'tech blinked back, and then finally the penny dropped. "Oh...oh. Maybe it wouldn't be to your taste, dear." And with that, she scurried off to adjust a chair that was already facing the screen quite adequately. Taura sighed, and slipped through the gathering crowd to the bulletin board.

[Zack]

Comments

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

While running into Reeve of all people made it clear that more people from Gaia were trickling in as the days went by (which wasn't exactly a good thing, especially considering they were going after Shin-Ra executives now; while Zack thought that a few of them deserved to be here, Mr. Tuesti wasn't necessarily one of them), at the same time, some of them were clearly disappearing, which was making Zack more and more nervous.

First there was Aerith, who hadn't responded all day, making him increasingly nervous. He was going to find her, though that required figuring out the girl's room number first. Hopefully Cloud or Yuffie knew it, though he'd just have to figure out a clever way to ask on the bulletin, while also checking into what the rest of their group was doing for the night. He'd need to see what Aidou and Sasuke were up to as well.

The other disappearance that seemed even more certain than Aerith's was Cissnei's. Zack didn't want to believe what he'd read from that Taura woman, but at the same time, he knew better than to lie to himself. If Cissnei was gone, then he did want to know what had happened. For some reason, he didn't really think it was as easy as her just getting to go home. And if it was, then he needed to know how.

First things first was getting that bulletin note out. Zack only gave the movie projector a quick glance before deciding that it wasn't interesting enough to keep his attention, and so he moved over to the board to scribble out a note in the dim light that he had.

Once he'd put it up, he glanced around to see who else was lingering nearby, and saw a strikingly tall woman to his right side. She towered over him, and he wasn't exactly tiny. This had to be the girl, right?

Figuring he had nothing to lose, Zack moved over to the woman, craning his head up as he shot her a greeting smile. "Afternoon. I was wondering... do you happen to be Taura?" If not, then he'd just say it was a misunderstanding and leave it at that. No big deal.

[ninelivesonce]

She'd described herself to two people today; since the man who'd just smiled at her was neither blonde nor female, she made an educated guess. "Zack, right?" A smile found her lips, but didn't make it to her eyes. "Yeah, that's me. Sergeant Taura, Dendarii Free Fleet." She wasn't entirely sure why she'd used her full rank; Cissnei hadn't been precisely military, but Zack moved like a fighter, and sometimes it was easier to hear these things from someone who knew how precarious life, and circumstance, could be.

A couple of staff nearby made shushing noises. Taura dropped her voice to a baritone whisper and continued. "I wish I had better news for you." Another round of hissing noises answered this; she glanced over her shoulder. "You must have a lot of questions. Should we go somewhere else?"

Taura wasn't sure she had many answers, but she'd give as many as she had. Almost everyone here had been remarkably kind; Cissnei among them. She owed her friend at least that much.

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

It seemed that he'd picked the right person. Which was good, since imagining someone much taller than the woman in front of him right now was a little frightening, if he was going to be honest with himself. Zack grinned back at her. "That's right. Zack Fair," he introduced as his hand shot forward to shake. He noticed the rank that she gave, and it felt kind of odd that he couldn't give one in return. Ex-SOLDIER, maybe? But that wouldn't mean much to anyone who wants from Gaia. Well, he'd say it anyway, just to make things fair. "Ex-SOLDIER First Class."

So it was bad news, then. Zack wasn't all that surprised, even if he'd been holding out a little bit of hope. He just hoped that Cissnei was okay, wherever she'd ended up. In any case, it looked like they were going to have to move if they wanted to continue this, which was fine by him since the bulletin board didn't seem like a good place to have a conversation of this nature.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Any preference? I'm good with whatever, but... there's a library here, isn't there?" Zack hadn't gotten the chance to visit it yet, but now seemed like a good time. "That might be best." It would hopefully be quiet enough there for them to talk about this without too many interruptions.

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

Truth be told, Claire hated King Kong.

It was boring and she could see the same thing with a Happily Ever After in Beauty and the Beast, it seemed like (which just goes to show how much she knows about King Kong). Not only that, but she was still bitter that Casablanca hadn't been chosen. If they were going to be encouraged to sit around and watch a movie like nothing was wrong, a romance of epic proportions certainly wouldn't have hurt things.

Still. Between Peter, Bella and Edward, she could use the break, so she let her nurse talk her into the sun room for the last shift of the day. At least that way she'd be able to regain the ability to tackle all of the stuff she'd need to deal with when the sun disappeared and the doors all opened. She shuddered involuntarily at that, peeking in the sun room doors.

She'd been peering around corners since the morning, trying to make sure she didn't accidentally run into Sylar when she wasn't ready. As much as she wanted to hunt him down like an animal while they were both stuck in the Institute together, she didn't want to do it the day she'd found out that he was there. She needed time to, as silly as it sounded, collect herself. Luckily, it appeared he wasn't in the sun room, so she ignored her nurse's odd, judgmental looks and walked in, taking a seat and sliding down in it some, slouching to get comfortable.

Maybe she could take this time to nap, even. It was dark enough. Yeah, it would definitely be nice to take a shift off of dealing with people in favor of relaxing and letting her brain process all of what was going on around her. Hopefully, the other patients would take the hint and steer clear.

[ for the boogeyman ]

[darwinism]

Talking to Kirk had been weirdly therapeutic, kind of like squeezing a stress relief ball even though you couldn't really get at its contents. Aside from clearing up the whole "Zachary" thing (which Sylar wasn't yet sure had been worth the risk), he hadn't been able to get anything out of Kirk – or at least, anything meaty about Spock. In fact, the kid on the bus had been a lot more forthcoming, but even if Sylar was able to track him down again, a lower-ranked soldier probably wouldn't know much more than the kid had already revealed. It looked like Sylar would just have to keep trying to get something out of the subject of his interest itself.

Which was... a drag. A real damn drag that Sylar didn't want to deal with, the way his head kept throbbing and his hands kept trembling as he trudged out of the courtyard. He still couldn't shake the echoes of that weird feeling from last night, of feeling disoriented, unstable, wrong. The more mundane pain that the bastard had left with all his cutting was acting up too, and Sylar realized as he entered the dim Sun Room that a movie hall's darkness would be a hell of a lot better for his eyes than sunlight, even with all that old-time scratchy audio. Reminded him of Dale Smithers all over again.

Not really caring about the movie itself, Sylar moved into one of the back rows, gingerly rubbing the front of his head as he made his way down the aisle. Not too far in was some blonde girl, but that was about it for this row. Hopefully she wasn't too chatt–

The movie's current scene changed to something bright, and the projection screen's glow suddenly illuminated the girl's face. Sylar froze.

Of all the days.

Sylar realized he'd unconsciously taken a step backwards. His breath had gone silent, his blood icy cold. A second passed, and then something else shot up to overtake his senses, a kind of blind, irrational rage. What the hell was he doing, trying to run from Claire Bennet? What the hell was even going through his head? Last night? Last night meant nothing. Nothing. That video feed, her voice–

Almost breathlessly, carelessly, he hissed: "Out at the movies without an escort, Claire? I'm shocked."

[autophoenix.livejournal.com]

Okay, all things considered, Claire knew that she couldn't expect much from the patients here. It was an asylum, after all, and even if most people she'd met didn't seem to belong, she was sure that some of them would be better off. Still, it didn't help her from being a little creeped out, hedging on annoyed when she noticed someone standing awkwardly in the row she was seated in.

Was sitting down that hard? It wasn't like she was going to bite. It almost looked like he was going to go pick another row, but then he talked.

Claire could feel her blood run cold. Her mouth fell open a little in the shock and she was too stunned to even manage to crane her head for a few moments. When she finally managed to turn and look over at him, her heart was pounding out of her chest, making her ribs hurt from the strain. The screen had gone dark again, but even in the dark, she'd never forget that face. Truth be told, she probably recognized him better in the dark.

Somehow, despite all of the terror and slowly building rage, all she could think was how out of place the smiling face on his uniform's t-shirt looked on him. It was like a bad joke.

It took her that long to process what he'd actually said, because she was too busy fixating on his voice to manage much else. That voice had, in an instant, brought her back to her house in Costa Verde. She'd seen flashes of him dragging his finger through the air as he cut her head open, she'd seen him leaning over her as he violated her brain, and it was all interspersed with that sick smiling t-shirt.

Her gut told her to get up and run, but her stubbornness alone kept her rooted to her seat.

"I don't need an escort. I can take care of myself," she was spitting venom as she sneered up at him. It was hard not to take his words as an attack on the fact that he'd had to save her from Steve Canfield. Bile rose in her throat but she pushed it back. If this was supposed to end in some fucked up heart-to-heart like he'd gone for in the car on the ride back, she'd have to pass.

One thing was for sure, though, she wasn't getting her shift's worth of quiet time. Just another thing she could blame him for in her laundry list of offenses to raise against him.

[vstheworld]

Scott's shifty eyes were out in full force.

His nurse still wasn't letting him into the Game Room, even after Scott had given her his best pleading, dewy eyes and told her that he had enriched his mind through poetry during the last shift. Clearly, the woman was a robot with no heart, and he wasn't going to let someone like her stand in the way of him and his pixels.

Scott had asked to be taken to the Sun Room for the next showing of the movie instead. And while he liked King Kong well enough, he definitely wasn't planning on actually watching it right now. As the movie got started, Scott headed for the bulletin board, pretending to write a long and involved note for the moment. He kept shooting furtive glances at the Game Room and his nurse, who stood a little ways off behind the rows of chairs, waiting for him to come back and choose a seat. She couldn't keep watching him all the time, he thought. There had to be other patients she needed to watch at the same time. So, he figured, there had to be an opportunity to sneak into the Game Room unnoticed at some point. Maybe he could make a distraction of some sort if it came down to that? Even as he thought that, though, he had no idea what kind of distraction he could make on his own. What was he going to do? Chuck crumpled up papers over the nurse's head and just hope that they randomly decided to change into smoke bombs?

For now, he just kept taking quick peeks over at the room, waiting for an opportunity to make a break for it.

[Waiting for Player 2 Matt.]

[gamingsostfu.livejournal.com]

"Come on, Marcus; now is movie time."

"No, I think now would be game time." Despite the fact that said games were completely outdated, Matt felt like playing them; outdated didn't mean they weren't entertaining, after all. But the nurse disagreed apparently, and kept trying to steer him away from his destination.

He really didn't have it in him to be stubborn about it though; lethargically, he allowed her to guide him to the Sun Room, though his discontentment showed quite clearly in his expression: eyes narrowed behind the frames of his glasses, lips puckered to one side as he gave the woman the finest glare of his teen years. The darkness of the room, however anticipated, still surprised him; this was obviously another side effect of the drugs. Or... so he liked to think. Another minute, and he plopped down into a chair near the bulletin board.

There was a guy checking it out... or. He seemed to be checking it over. Matt felt like there was more to it, though.

Pushing himself back onto his feet, he shuffled over, letting his eyes glance over the board a moment before glancing at the guy, then the nurse. She was still watching him pretty close. Shaking his head, he looked back at the notes lining the board.

"Are all the nurses creepers? Or just mine?" Wait, what was he doing? Pursuing conversation? The sedative must've messed him up more than he realized.

[vstheworld]

"Dunno. The one I've had is mostly a creeper, anyway," Scott answered without thinking and without really looking at who he was talking to. He was too busy taking an umpteenth check on the space between him, his nurse, and the door to the room. If it was possible, Scott could have sworn the woman had moved in closer without his even noticing. Darn it, why did she have to make this so hard?

It took him a few more moments, but it finally registered in his mind that he was now talking to someone. Moreover, he was talking to a complete stranger. A brief kindergarten flashback of STRANGER DANGER seized him for a second, making him tense up with wide eyes for a second before the feeling gave way to his more rational mind. The other guy didn't look threatening at all upon a second glance; in fact, he looked about as normal as a person could get. Scott could easily envision him chilling with him and his friends at Stills's place or something. Whether that would really be true or not, Scott didn't know, but he was hoping his first impression would be right. And not, you know, secret serial murderer.

Scott shook his head free of that scary thought. "Uh, sorry. I'm Scott, by the way. Scott Pilgrim," he said, turning to face the other guy a little more directly. "You don't look too keen to be here either. Not a fan of the big guy?" he asked, gesturing at the screen (which lacked Kong at the moment, but Scott was sure his meaning would be understood anyway). "Or just wanna be somewhere else?"

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

At some point in the conversation, Yukari had drifted off into faint, tenuous slumber. Worries aside, ninjas aside, her mind had wandered and its directionless journey had crossed from waking into sleeping. Still slumbering on the couch, unaware if her summoner was still with her or not, the youkai lay prone and adrift, only slightly less focused than when she was awake. Hopefully she'd feel better by the time night rolled around.

[Free]

[givemeoblivion.livejournal.com]

Callisto remained in the room for the next shift, still trying to make sense of the projector while trying to appear like she couldn't care less. Most of the patients were being shuffled around, but her nurse allowed her to remain put when she complained that the person next to her had talked through half the movie the first time.

This was a good place to be right now. It was dark, so people were less likely to pick her out. She did catch sight of a familiar face as they entered, however, and was soon relocating next to her. The former warlord gave Yukari's chair a kick. This woman already knew her, and would have known when she went missing, so there was no point in hiding it. "Hey. How long?"

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

The couch was comfy and solid, but whoever had just hit it had jostled it hard enough to wake the slumbering youkai out of her tenuous stupor. Sitting up, blinking her eyes owlishly, the first thing Yukari noticed was that she couldn't find Sheena - this time in a more literal sense as well as in reference to her dampened connection to the ninja. The second thing she noticed was another familiar face - not one she'd expected to see.

"How long is what?" she asked, tilting her head curiously at the woman, Callisto, wasn't it? Still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she sat up, the youkai glanced over at the screen. "It's about an hour and a half, isn't it? Not that I was really watching the movie..."

If Callisto wanted straight answers out of the youkai, today was going to be even harder than most, and it wasn't even on purpose this time.

[degozaruyo.livejournal.com]

If Kenshin had been in the mood to actually pay attention to the world around him, he would have marveled at the way that the images the nurses were projecting onto a blank screen were moving, just like in real life and clearer than any photograph he’d ever seen. There was sound accompanying the pictures, music and dialogue and ambient noise. It would have all been very interesting, if he hadn’t been so preoccupied.

Kaoru was gone. The nurse had confirmed it after he’d left the cafeteria. Kaoru had been released sometime before dawn yesterday, before they had all gone into town. Kenshin had sensed it, had known that something was deeply amiss, but he hadn’t acted on it. He’d gone on deluding himself, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t all alone again, but he had and he was. It was just like losing Sanosuke and Yahiko, and it was also worse. Kaoru was the one person in this world he cared about more than anyone else. She had learned about his past and accepted him anyway, asking him to stay and treating him like Kenshin, not the Hitokiri Battousai. Kamiya Kaoru, the very young mistress of an unimportant little dojo in Tokyo, had seen what generals and ministers at the highest levels of the Meiji government had failed to, and Kenshin loved her for that.

He loved her, and he’d failed her.

This place had taken her, just like they’d taken Sano and Yahiko, and he’d been powerless to stop it. He had failed in his most basic goal: to protect the ones he cared about.

[Japan?]

[osoreirimasu.livejournal.com]

"Mr. Honda?"

"Mr. Honda? Will you put the game down for a moment?"

"...Mr. Honda. Put the game down."

Japan wasn't used to hearing his other name and so it took a good long time for him to realize the woman (different from earlier and definitely not moe) was talking to him. She was much older, gray hair pulled back into a bun, with a severe look on her face. Apparently she was upset that he'd spent the entire shift engrossed with the DS, ignoring everyone else around him. It wasn't like it was his fault though! Games were what he did and even if the games here were old and mostly puzzle based, they were a good way for him to keep his old mind sharp. They took the game system away though and told him he should go be social "for his own health."

He really didn't know why they said that to him, especially considering he lived well enough for over 200 years secluded in his room alone, but since his people had yet to come and pick him up, he supposed humoring them for a little while longer wouldn't be so bad. Patience had always been one of Japan's greatest virtues. Or...something like that.

Led into the Sun Room, Japan paused when he heard a movie playing and peeked at the screen. Black and white, old, with...a giant monkey? The room was dark now and he had a hard time seeing who was who in here, but he supposed they were more of the staff or other patients and nations or something. It was still disturbing that he couldn't feel his nation, but maybe...it was merely a cold? Or perhaps a dream. A dream would definitely account for how old those games had been. Maybe it was a nightmare. Augh, how he'd hate to be stuck in a nightmare with only old games to play until he woke up.

Moving toward the back, Japan shuffled along, trying not to get in the way of the movie projector when he noticed something quite strange. One of the patrons in the theatre was none other than the Hitokiri Battousai, Himura Kenshin. The manga and anime had been quite popular as Japan remembered and even now was one of the more recognizable of anime centered around a most tumultuous time in Japan's history. Tilting his head, the nation moved closer and peered at the man as he sat, seemingly lost in thought. Well, he looked real enough. And he seemed to be in three dimensions instead of two.

That clinched it. This had to be a dream.

[degozaruyo.livejournal.com]

It didn’t take Kenshin long to realize that someone was in his space. Years of training alerted him as soon as someone got too close, even distracted as he was. He snapped back into reality, taking in the man in front of him. He looked about Kenshin’s age, maybe a little older, with a similar height and build. His face was placid and had to read, but there was a definite air of curiosity about him, and he was staring at the rurouni with some interest. Kenshin forced a smile that looked mostly genuine, though it didn’t reach his eyes, and bowed slightly to the other man.

“Yes?” he asked. The other man was a stranger to him, which probably meant that he was a new patient. Kenshin had been here long enough that he knew practically all of the remaining veterans, at least by sight. This one was entirely unfamiliar. “May this one help you?”

[mugenreppa.livejournal.com]

After finally getting a chance to look at the schedule on the bulletin (which was no small feat, considering how dark it was in here), Mele was then pounced on by the nurse and made to sit in a chair and stare at some moving pictures.

Unimpressive moving pictures, at that. Five minutes in, Mele started fidgeting, and eventually moved her seat to the farthest place from the screen when the nurse wasn't looking.

Okay, so it was Sunday, there was this visitors thing, the movie's flickering was starting to make that dull ache in her head come back.... Thinkytimes were a no-go, then, but the only other option was to watch the movie. Unless she did like Violet over there and go to sleep, but Mele didn't feel very comfortable sleeping right now, when there were things she needed to remember come nightfall. And she didn't feel sleepy, at any rate.

A few minutes later found Mele staring blankly up at the things covering the ceiling windows and tapping her fingers on her lap.

[neuepolitik.livejournal.com]

((For Nataku))

Germany didn't really care much for movies. It was in his nature to pay close attention to details and to take careful notes, so when a movie inevitably had some sort of incongruity or plot hole, Ludwig was unable to let it go. It spoiled the movie every time, and with a few very notable exceptions, he didn't much care for the movies.

However, he did like the idea of being in a semi-quiet spot and given a chance to observe from the quiet of the shadows. One could learn a lot from the movements of security, and so Ludwig remained a face in the crowd, paying little attention to the movie and much more to the staff. It was fascinating... they seemed so normal. Too normal, in a sense. They talked, they laughed, they seemed completely unconcerned with the mass of patients set in one concentrated block. Indeed, they didn't seem to be paying much attention at all, just cursory glances, probably to look only for obvious signs of conflict.

It was baffling. Ludwig didn't like being baffled, and so he watched on, wanting to learn as much as he could during the daylight hours. After all, when night fell, there'd be far greater problems awaiting him...

[stringless-doll.livejournal.com]

By the end of the shift his anger had settled somewhere beneath the surface. He knew he'd been irrational. If he had stopped Jason, it would have been worse than letting him die... but this was assuming that he could have prevented any of it in the first place. This was assuming that Jason had been killed by that boy. What if he had simply disappeared like so many others? Did it even matter in the end? The control he felt here had always been a lie. He'd simply exchanged a leash and collar for a cage.

He wanted little more than the opportunity to protect the small friendships he had built, but how was he supposed to defend against something he couldn't fight?

The nurse nudged him out of his thoughts the second time that day. She'd brought him to the sun room, now dark and arranged for a 'movie', and set him down beside someone, apparently because he needed more cheering up. Nataku watched the screen for a grand total of three seconds, but moving pictures weren't really his idea of entertainment. He turned to the man beside him, watching him for a few seconds more before he spoke. "Is this movie thing kinda boring for you too?"

[neuepolitik.livejournal.com]

"Hm?" Ludwig had noticed someone approaching from the corner of his eye, but he hadn't really paid attention until he heard that voice. Someone who didn't like the movie... well, that was all right. He did need to learn more about the other patients besides his fellow nations, so why not this one?

Even still, his first glance revealed quite an interesting character. Silvery hair and golden eyes, combined with an odd diamond-shaped mark set into his forehead. Such a combination was like nothing Ludwig had ever seen before, and for a moment, he stared in a relatively unsubtle manner. Just for a moment, however; after that he remembered his manners and blinked, glancing away so the young man wouldn't feel too uncomfortable. He hoped.

"Er... I wasn't watching it," he stiffly admitted, "it's an American movie, they tend to all be similar in execution."

Hm... there was something odd about how he'd said that, though. 'Movie thing'? No, a young man his age should be speaking about it as just a 'movie' or a 'video' or something similar, not as though it was unfamiliar. It was possible that he wasn't familiar with it for other reasons, but Germany doubted that. His German was so good, so flawless, that Ludwig was honestly taken aback. The others had been properly educated and so it was no surprise, but this was almost inexplicable. Still, it did win him over, at least enough to offer, "...I'm Ludwig."

[ai-no-minako.livejournal.com]

"But I don't want to watch a movie! I was perfectly happy outside. You know, exercising and getting healthy. That's a good thing, right?" Minako gave the nurse her best puppy-dog begging eyes, but an expression that had managed miracles in the past seemed to have absolutely no impact on the woman whatsoever. Seriously, what was wrong with her? If the nurse had ever managed a joke Minako would be amazed.

Instead of what she'd wanted to do, Minako found herself dragged indoors, shown to a couch in the darkened Sun Room, and told to enjoy the movie. She didn't want to enjoy the movie. She didn't want to watch the movie at all, in fact, but in the end it was probably preferable to a lot of activities the nurse might have foisted on her. And it was definitely better than English class, which was where she probably would have been if she'd been at home right now.

She flopped unceremoniously onto the couch and wrinkled her nose at the screen for a moment before leaning back to stare at the coverings over the skylights. Seriously, all this moving around made it difficult to figure out how she was going to get herself home, which was probably the point of it. She heaved a gusty sigh and began idly braiding a section of her hair for lack of anything better to do, as she considered her options (and wondered and worried a little if Alfred or Arthur had mentioned anything about the night before to anyone else).

[for Wally]

[scarletspeedstr.livejournal.com]

After the meeting with Bruce, Wally didn't really care where the nurse led him to, his mind too caught up in running circles around itself, trying to figure out if it had been someone or something just pretending to be his friend, or if they'd actually managed to brainwash Batman.

He hoped it was the first one. The second was just too much to think about.

It was only when they reached the sun room that Wally realised where he was and that there was a movie playing now. In one way it was probably a good thing he was here, instead of outside like he might have asked about. If there was enough space to run, he wasn't sure if he might just start and not stop until he was too tired to be thinking about what was going on. Here there was at least the chance for a distraction with talking to someone or watching the movie.

Wally nodded as his nurse told him to pick out a spot and quickly made his way to an empty seat next to a young girl who looked bored with the whole situation, at least judging from how she was braiding her hair and staring around the place.

"Hey, is this seat taken?"

[ai-no-minako.livejournal.com]

Well, at least if she was going to be stuck inside she could have company. Even if it was harder to see with the lights dimmed Minako was practically an expert when it came to guys, and from what she could tell this one didn't look half bad. Older than she was, sure, but that wasn't too unusual (and probably a good thing, in a place like this) and she was good with it.

"Not at all," she replied, sitting up a little straighter and flashing him a grin. "Feel free to take it." She spared a moment to wonder just why there were so many guys here in comparison to girls, then filed the thought away to consider later. It seemed kind of unlikely that it was done so the girls could have plenty of choices, but hey, she was willing to take advantage of it anyway.

(Not that she had time for dating even back home, much less here where she was trying to get home, but she could enjoy the view while she had the chance, couldn't she?)

"I'm Minako," she added after half a second with a nod of greeting. "Aino Minako. Nice to meet you. Did you want to watch the giant monkey or did they decide it for you, too?"

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

A little shaken from his discussion with Grell - though thankfully nowhere near as badly as he would have been a week ago - Brainiac 5 was more than willing to allow himself to be led off into the Sun Room to take a seat while the nurses got the movie organised.

Sitting in the dark while the film started to slowly play reminded him of the Legion's movie nights, a pasttime brought in by Bouncing Boy and often featuring a range of ancient B-grade horror films. The Legion would get together to watch them all, with a majority of Legionnaires making comments and offering advice to the characters on screen all the while. Superman had even explained a few other movie traditions from his own time as well, like popcorn and sodas and staying up all night watching movies. Brainiac 5 had never really let on how much he enjoyed those nights, but even this set up in the institute was a little... familiar and comforting. He could feel himself relaxing more and more as the movie played. Even the comments from the other patients he could hear being whispered didn't detract from that.

It was almost a shame they couldn't get any popcorn, however, he found himself wondering idly. Or that Peter wasn't here to watch the movie and make remarks about it with him. But otherwise it was exactly what he needed after that last meeting.

[MOP-HEAD]

[anemptydecapo]

thumpthumpthumpthumpthump

It was a mirror image of his first day here. Shoulders squared, strength renewed, steps powerful and relenting for no one.

"Mr. Lant, would you please slow down?" Nurse trailed behind the assassin, her petite feet unable to move faster than the pace she were used to dragging him at. It was one discussion, not even one lasting an hour, but the effect was evident the moment Venom stepped away from the meeting room and back into the pale gray hallways of the institute.

No more getting distracted by insignificant things. No more letting this guilt, this ever-present depression, eat away at his will and strength. No more waiting for his tentative allies to pull themselves together for him to get the information he needed. No more self-pity. No more sympathy. His hands combed through his hair, letting the thick strands fall back over his steeled gaze.

The quickest way from one point to the next was a straight line. For the longest time, Venom had been somewhat aimless and even hesitant of returning to a home they may not be there anymore. Thankfully, Martin Landel was an idiot. Martin Landel had just created an obvious goal the assassin was more than willing to aim for.

If Venom was Point A and Master Zato's safety was Point B, Landel's Institute was hereby in the damn way.

He kept moving, stride even, yet determined as he moved into the Sun Room (Nurse appeared to have given up once she made it to the doors after him, putting her own head in her hands and muttering pointlessly about how well he'd be doing before now). It wasn't hard to pin-point the person he was looking for; he was sitting quietly by himself and attempting to enjoy the flickering images on the wall before the Guild Head moved into his company.

He should feel guilt for disturbing the boy in an obvious moment of peace. He didn't. He only stared at the boy for a moment before bowing at the waist.

"Brainiac 5. I'd like to discuss a few things further with you, if you wouldn't mind."

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It was impossible not to tense up when Venom loomed over him in the darkened room, and Brainiac 5 hesitated a fraction of a second before nodding and indicating the seat next to him.

"Alright," he agreed, "But I'd prefer it if you sat. For obvious reasons."

The older patient looked a bit different now than he had before when they'd met, and not only because of the hair that was hanging in his face now (which made Brainiac 5 speculate how well he could see at all). His demeanour seemed more... intense, almost. Concentrated and a fraction more distant than it had been before. The man was almost entirely business and while Brainiac 5 could appreciate that, he appreciated it a lot more when it wasn't infringing on his movie.

He shifted a little to give Venom more space, his brow furrowing in thought. "However, I do have to ask... how can you see with any degree of accuracy like that?"