damned_institute | Day 51: Breakfast

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Day 51: Breakfast

Yuffie Kisaragi, indomitable bouncing ball of sunshine and unfathomable ebullience, was tired. It'd been a long night full of gibberish and getting nowhere fast.

"Can't I—"

Plucky, who had been busily loading a plate full of French toast and bacon, tittered. "I'm afraid not, Hanna, darling. A chat over a nice, hearty breakfast would do you a world of good, don't you think?"

"Aaaaactually—"

"Come on, let's find you a seat. Plenty to choose from this morning!"

For a long moment, Yuffie seriously considered doing something—anything—to act out. Punch her nurse, rub jam in an orderly's face, climb a wall and hang off the ceiling, jump on a table and parody Loveless… A ruckus like that would definitely jolt her back into gear, right? Sedation aside. And it'd turn Plucky's good day right on its head, which was always a bonus worth shooting for.

But, by the time she'd reached a decision—and it was an epic decision, a really awesome one; everybody'd appreciate the genius, she was sure—she was already alone. Her breakfast tray had been set down neatly by the nurse, who had left with an infuriatingly winsome smile.

"Wow," Yuffie muttered. Shaking her head, she picked a chair at random and threw herself into it. She kicked back, one arm slung across her eyes, to wait. For what, she wasn't totally sure. Some moron to decide that she looked like good company? That was how it usually went.

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"Had language troubles on your end too, eh?" Technically Gant had still been able to understand Niikura's speech. But dealing with such a strong accent when everything had seemed to be moving along swimmingly just made last night's adventure all the more ridiculous. But thinking back on it, the fact that Recluse had still spoken perfect English was a little strange. What country did he say he ruled over again? Had he even mentioned the name?

"Interesting. Right," Gant chuckled weakly, eying the musician's bandages. He was almost curious enough to ask what kind of creature it had been this time to attack, but he didn't want to seem rude and bring up bad memories. Best to just let his imagination fill in the blanks rather than alienate a potentially helpful (and less homicidal) acquaintance.

"What a coincidence, I also made it out of the institute yesterday! Fellows I was traveling with provided some... interesting conversation. Learned a few things about this place." And a little too much about his companions' hobbies as well. And as for what he had seen, well... "I don't think I'm going to be venturing out there again for a while."

"Couldn't understand a word we were saying to each other, but we managed," he replied. All in all, it could have been far worse. Most of their communication needs had been pretty simple, it just meant he and Edgar had gone without any discussion about the things they'd found. Hopefully, they'd be able to remedy that later.

"Did you find anything useful?" Gant's reaction made Gren wonder just what he'd run into out there. The mine and especially the town ruins had been less than welcoming, but they hadn't run into anything that made Gren wary of heading out again. If there was something unpleasant, maybe he could find out where it was so they could avoid it if they decided to go over the wall again.

"We didn't run into any trouble last night, thankfully. I was definitely expecting some." The more he thought about it, the stranger that seemed. Maybe someone had wanted them to find what they'd found? Another thought to mull over later.

Gant nodded sympathetically but made no comment on his own situation. Apparently he had been pretty lucky that Recluse and Niikura both could speak his language. The night would have wound up feeling longer and just that much more frustrating.

"Oh, nothing really useful, no." He hated to admit it, but after he had realized he couldn't just escape from the institute as easily as walking out the door he had pretty much given up on the night. Looking for an exit seemed so pointless, and in the forest all they had found was that thing. He tugged a bit at his bangs, trying to separate the facts from the haze of fear. "Mostly traveled through the woods. We came across something that looked like a sacrificial altar. But I guess better that than a monster or what have you."

He hadn't really wanted to dredge up all the details of last night, but somehow talking about it made it seem less real, and by extension more tolerable. "I had expected the same. Was actually attacked the night before, but my partner only got scratched. I guess it's all about luck." Speaking of which, Gant wondered how Lana had fared all the day before. Hopefully well. She was much more useful to him whole than in pieces.

"What about you, Grenny? Find something nice? The pool, maybe?" The last part was actually a joke this time, just to help lighten the mood a bit. But he was curious. Hopefully the lake wouldn't be his only alternative to get some swimming in. It was his preferred mode of exercise, not to mention he actually enjoyed the activity.

"We found an abandoned mine north of here," he replied. "There's some old equipment, and a truck, but it was too old for me to make much sense of. I doubt it would run, anyway." The whole thing had been pretty rusted out. "We were in the woods for a little while, but there was a river we didn't want to try and cross." For one thing, it had been far too cold, and for another, he had no idea what his roommate's swimming abilities were like. It could have been troublesome.

"We did find an old town, though." He paused for a moment, remembering all the skeletons in that church and the lingering questions as to just what had happened there. "We were able to salvage some supplies, and I think I might have a better idea of where we are now." Assuming, of course, that those clues hadn't been planted for their benefit. "It was a pretty successful trip, but I'm afraid there were no pools to be found," he added with a slight smile. "I'll keep an eye out, though."

So there was a mine out there and another town as well. The terrain around the institute sure seemed varied, almost like an obstacle course. Gant hadn't really given much thought to why all the patients were here before now, but he was starting to wonder if it was all some sort of test. He couldn't be certain until he had more information, but it was a possibility, especially if Landel had some ulterior motive for choosing specifically who was brought here.

"Certainly sounds like you were successful," Gant said, grinning. It irked him to think maybe he could have discovered just a bit more if they'd just gone a different way rather than hacking through that forest, but what was done was done. Better to try harder next time, though maybe he'd stick to the inside of the institute.

"Sure is a shame about the pool. Starting to look like they don't even have one." Much to Gant's dismay. "Though, one of my buddies from last night said there was a lake somewhere out there. Perhaps that would make for a fun excursion sometime." Not the same as the beach, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

"I definitely appreciate your watchfulness. And speaking of keeping an eye out..." Gant clasped his hands in front of him and broke out his biggest smile. "Mind telling me if you ever happen to find the Head Doctor's Office? Seems like we hear a lot from him but I've yet to see hide or hair of the man. Not sure where my next adventure will take me, but if you've got something you need found and I happen across it, I'd be glad to give you the heads up." Nothing like a bit of friendly info swapping between buddies. If Gant had learned anything on his rise to Chiefdom it was you couldn't get anything without giving a little in return.

"Still haven't found a good weapon, though," he replied. "But I guess they're not going to leave those lying around. I managed to get a shovel from the shed in the courtyard, anyway." He'd make do, for now. He wasn't usually the paranoid type, and he'd certainly never carried a weapon on him as a matter of course, but if things were going to continue on like they had been, he was going to need something better than a shovel for defense.

Gren blinked a little at that request, but nodded. "Sure. If I come across it, I'll let you know." He doubted it was going to be easy to find such a place, to be honest. Only a fool would leave himself easily accessible while actively taunting an institute full of very unhappy prisoners. ...and that was what they were, really. He'd only been there a few days, but it was long enough to realize everyone seemed to be in the same boat... taken from their own homes and dumped here somehow, fed a story about how they weren't who they thought they were. Bottle all of that up and toss in what seemed to be a nice attempt at psychological torture, and Gren was honestly a little amazed that it wasn't one continuous riot.

"And I appreciate it. I think we're going to have to find whoever's in charge if we ever want to get out of here. Walking away doesn't seem to work very well." He still wanted to know how they'd been brought back here so easily after having wandered so far afield. "But we'll probably have our work cut out for us."

"Only have a candlestick to my name," Gant admitted, though a gardening shovel probably wouldn't be much better. A bit of a longer reach, but more cumbersome. "Friend of mine from last night had a sword. Maybe I should ask him where he acquired such a nice thing." Though Gant held no illusions about using a sword himself. He knew it would be a useless lump of metal in the hands of someone without proper training. And he preferred the long, safe range of a gun.

Gant clapped his large hands together once, but kept it at just the one smack. Without his gloves the echo in this room was a little much, even for the loud Chief of Police. "Thanks a lot, Grenny! You're a good pal!" It sure was nice to have people agree to help with the legwork. Nice people always made the best gofers.

"Yeah, I should've know just walking out the front door wouldn't help when it was that easy." How was it even possible to draw them all back to their rooms when they had been so deep in the woods when dawn broke? Really, it didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"We'll just have to do what we can. Seems like I might have some buddies from home that have been here longer. I'll check in with them and see if we can't pool all our information together." Having a web of knowledge also seemed to be key to surviving this place. One could only gather so much on their own. If only he knew how to get in touch with them without having to resort to that inefficient bulletin. Maybe that was the point of those clubs he had seen mentioned the day before. Might have to consider starting one himself if that was the case.

"We wound up somewhere the night before last that had weapons," Gren replied. "Of course, it came with a price, and I don't know if it's even in this building." The portals had made everything pretty confusing, to be honest. They'd wound up a few places he was sure were here at the institute, and at least one he knew wasn't, but he had no clue when it came to the hall with the armor suits.

Gant's reaction to his agreement to keep him informed made Gren wonder if other people were less inclined to do so. He supposed there were some people who might be inclined to keep everything to themselves due either to selfishness or some hope they could strike a deal of some sort, but Gren didn't see a point. The communal approach seemed the most practical to him.

"Even if we could just walk out, I doubt getting home would be easy, anyway." Certainly not for him. From the look of things out there, there was no way there was an operational gate system that could get him back to Mars. If anything were capable of getting there, given the state of technology. He sincerely doubted there were any spacecraft lying around.

"You've got friends here? That must be nice." He hadn't been able to find anyone from the same planet let alone anyone he knew. Granted, he didn't really want any of the people he counted as friends winding up in a place like this. "If I find out anything else useful, I'll try and let you know."

"A price, huh?" Since it was during the night, Gant was pretty certain Gren wasn't talking dollars and cents. Damn. His hope for a pistol was dimming with each day that passed. He probably shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. But if there was a way to get weapons, then maybe he'd get lucky and just find one someone dropped one night.... Yeah, right.

Thinking about home made Gant sigh. He didn't have much of a home to go back to. His career had been his wife and the civilians on the street were his children. Well, sort of. Maybe the civilians were more like pets than children. He took care of them and expected absolute love and devotion in return. But without his job he had no power, and no power meant he had nothing. Depressing.

"L.A. certainly feels far away right now." Gren had mentioned not having much of a home to return to a couple days before. Poor kid. That was about the extent of Gant's pity.

"Couple old buddies from the Prosecutor's Office, actually. They've been here longer than I have." Gant brightened up again. It was a relief in itself to not be the only one trapped. He would need to check up on Lana and Manny later. "I'm looking forward to working with you, son. If I find out anything more, I'll be in touch."

"Yeah," he replied, gesturing towards his injured arm. "Some sort of... animal." Monster, he wanted to say, but it just sounded so outlandish, even in his own head. "We got past it, but we didn't take the weapon with us... I'm not sure if we could have." At the time, it just hadn't been a option, not with both of them seriously wounded. And he personally wasn't eager to find his way back to that place, if it was even in the building at all.

"If it helps, I think we're in America," he offered. "Some of the items I saw last night made it seem that way, at least." He had no idea where, of course, and the money could easily have been quite out of date, but it was something. "So maybe it isn't that far for you." Being on Earth didn't make things any simpler for him, of course, but he doubted much would.

"Oh. That might come in handy." They might have more information, or at the very least, know things that would make their stay here--however long that turned out to be--easier to deal with.

And then the intercom crackled to life with its usual grating cheer, and Gren couldn't help but sigh a little. "I guess that's out cue," he replied somewhat wryly. He wasn't really looking forward to the rest of the day.

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Day 51: Breakfast

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