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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The confusion didn't abate when Maya arrived at the cafeteria. It explained what the intercom man had been talking about this morning, but not why there had been a flashlight under her pillow the night before, if it was indeed a mental institution like the nurse had said, unless the flashlight had been some manner of lucky fluke and "mental institution" really meant "spooky dark place wherein some stranger cackled over the speaker system."

The nurse seemed far too cheerful and earnestly helpful for that, however, and though Maya knew the pitfalls of judging someone by base impressions, she couldn't detect any malevolence from the nurse. But then, she was used to being careful merely of Fangire presence; the nurse's—and the institution's, perhaps—maliciousness was perhaps merely of the more mundane sort.

Or the institution was simply as it appeared to be: a safe place to keep away the mentally ill. Maya could deal with that, she supposed: she was, after all, sitting in a cafeteria, keeping company with a plate topped with more food than she wanted to eat. It could have been quite worse, especially when her captors wielded a weapon that could knock a person unconscious without giving the victim any notice whatsoever.

Musing on what she didn't know all on her lonesome was fairly boring, so she moved her plate over a few seats and sat beside a boy who seemed to have a weary look about him, if she was reading him correctly—though he could very well be simply afflicted with a teenage kind of mood. "Why the gloom? Are you waiting for someone?"

Haseo was surprised when someone moved closer to him-- not because a nurse told her to, but apparently of her own accord entirely. "Huh? No, not really," he answered, crimson eyes blinking at the woman over a slice of plain toast. She was pretty if notably older than he was, but he couldn't help but wonder what kind of person questioned a random stranger they met here over 'gloominess.'

"Why?" he asked after a beat, deciding to just brush off the initial question. He frowned slightly in the process, albeit more out of confusion and mild suspicion than outright hostility. However, considering his track record with meeting other people in general, perhaps two out of those three wasn't that bad.

"Why not?" Maya countered, genuinely curious. The cafeteria was communal, was it not? Sitting by oneself was hardly the best way to keep to oneself. It attracted attention; people kept away from those engaged in a conversation because it invited exclusion. Or so she had observed so far. "Doesn't it get lonely? These marks..." Uninvited, Maya raised a hand in an attempt to touch the red marks on the boy's face. "They're very distinctive. Is that the reason?"

Maya couldn't imagine so, however. He wasn't covering them with his hair. A trendy tattoo, perhaps?

If Haseo had been expecting any specific type of reaction, that wasn't it. He stared obliquely, slowly becoming more agitated at the questions, and then-- all bets were off when the woman tried to touch his face. Mind racing, the Adept Rogue leaned away immediately, not quite enough to be out of range entirely, but enough to make it clear he was definitely uncomfortable with it.

"It's not-- no," he replied forcefully, though his face quickly flushed despite himself. Wavemarks, whether on the face or otherwise, were exceedingly common in 'The World', and Haseo still wasn't used to having them thought as strange in the same way he frequently forgot they were there entirely due to, naturally, not really having them in real life. In the game they were little more than a means to mark one's character as unique from those with a similar design, but here they only made the teen stand out too much. He disliked having excessive attention drawn to them!

He swallowed, then continued in a decidedly more even, though no less serious, tone- "I just hadn't made plans to meet anyone this morning," he said, looking her in the eye, willingness to stand his ground deliberately made obvious. Her behavior reminded him far too strongly of certain player-killers- those low-lifes who merely preyed on those weaker than them, aiming to fluster or terrorize other players for nothing more than their own entertainment. He had not gained such a powerful online reputation by backing down to that kind of person, and despite the rough start, he certainly wasn't planning on starting now.

Maya retracted her arm and tilted her head at the odd reaction. The marks had reminded her of Fangire marks, in placement if not in actual resemblance, and it took her a moment to think why the boy would be sensitive of them. Ah...tattoos, she'd thought them. Sentimental value? Unwanted, perhaps? She wouldn't aggravate him further by asking. "My apologies," she said, making a sincere effort to sound so, even though Otoya had told her once that her apologies never sounded as if she meant it. Often, she didn't.

"Shall we start over? I'm Maya." She smiled, the benevolent one she used on humans and small children. "Shall I be your date this morning? You look unenergetic. Did something happen?"

Hmm, perhaps that was a little too thick. She was a bit out of practice. Nevertheless, she did want to know. Even if she wasn't going to ask about the marks, she thought that he could word his distress so as not to give much of himself away, if he tried. He looked a bit too young to carry the weariness she'd seen earlier, and she would be relieved if it were something at least a little normal.

The expression on Haseo's face did not waver; any extended curiosity just strengthened the teen's assumption that he was being played somehow, regardless of any underlying sincerity from the person he was currently talking to. After what he'd been through in the last three-quarters of a year, it was an ingrained response that he probably would never fully shake.

"Haseo," he answered, confident but cautious. Did she deserve to know his name? Maybe not, but he had no reason so far to be afraid of the other patients here, and he already knew that the institute was aware of not only that name, but his real one and much more too. As far as he knew, the entire Network was still against him back home- there were few things more frightening than the combined force of net addicts with a vendetta and too much free time, so no, it seemed pretty useless to worry about that. Let her have his handle if she wanted.

"...But I'm not into older women, sorry," he said, and without hesitation, returned part of his attention back to the breakfast tray in front of him. Such a strange comment about being his 'date' for the morning deserved a flippant response in return. It was only fair.

As for the other question... the Adept Rogue remained silent for a long moment. If she thought him 'unenergetic' now, then it was awfully fortunate they hadn't talked the previous morning. That entire day had been a low point for Haseo, relieved only very slightly by his own means and what calming presence Endrance was able to provide. At the thought the teen briefly scanned the crowd for that familiar light-blue hair, but didn't spot the other young man amongst the others. That left him with Maya's question alone, which was really just as baffling as her initial greeting.

"Just your standard night," he answered vaguely, though mentally he marked it as one of the better ones over all. As he did so, however, a thought finally occurred to him, whose answer might shed some light on the issue at hand. "How long have you been here, anyway...?"

Maya had to chuckle about the comment about older women; lack of interest was no reason not to enjoy another's company, now was it? "Pleasure to meet you, Haseo-kun," she replied, allowing her voice to quirk the honorific, a teasing note to indicate that she hadn't been seriously thinking of this conversation as a date. She had to assume this would be a very serious meeting, then.

She did catch the look he directed at the room at large. "There. You seem to be looking for someone? Did you have a falling-out?" She wanted to stroke his hair or back—any kind of gesture meant to be soothing, but firmly kept her hands in her lap. Perhaps it was the tattoos that made her feel so; Haseo didn't resemble her son by any stretch of the imagination (behavior included), but the markings....

Best not to dwell on that. "How long...?" Ah, this was a mental institute. Perhaps that explained the reticence. What was that saying? "The insane never think themselves as such"...? No, that had the wrong cadence, wasn't catchy enough. In any case. "I was admitted this morning. Or so I'm told."

"No," came the once more purposefully-general answer, accompanied by a sideways glance and serious, careful tone- an attempt to avoid letting on anything more than mild annoyance. Names were one thing, but just because Haseo gave up his own didn't mean he was simply willing to give information to just anyone about who his friends and... whatever Endrance was were. He was already troubled about that anyway; he couldn't deny that the closer he let the Blade Brandier get to him, the more danger they were both put in. The institute had already proven the sort of horror they could pull off. What could be next?

It was a sobering thought, and since he had already been in a mediocre mood to begin with, his attempt to cover the reaction was probably only partially successful. It wasn't like he was able to hide behind his PC here, even if the way he was able to persist steadfastly remained.

... This morning. "Oh," Haseo said, just as short as his previous denial. He finally looked over again, feeling a bit off-balance for a reason he didn't get at first. It wasn't as if he hadn't met someone new before, but... after a moment he realized that it was the word 'admitted' that tipped him off. Usually, it would be something like 'told I was admitted' instead.

"Well... you should know this isn't a normal hospital," he said then, rearranging the fruit left on his tray. Even if he was on-edge and Maya seemed a little weird, it was only right to warn her. Due to the implausibility of the premise, there was a chance he wouldn't be believed anyway, but it was a start.

Once more, an abrupt answer. And a suspicious look, too! Perhaps it was time to let the subject drop.

"Mental institute, you mean?" Was there a difference between hospital and mental institution? Maya had never bothered to find out. Or did he simply not like it here? Or...something to do with her little adventure last night? She had been returned to the room unharmed, but perhaps it was not so innocuous as that. "How is it different from a normal hospital?"

Haseo frowned at the table. "You aren't actually crazy, right?" he answered, "Most of the people here aren't." Okay, so he wasn't an expert in explaining things, but that seemed reasonable. The part where they were all held against their will and told a bunch of lies about who they were was the most obvious thing wrong about the stupid place.

The suspicion in the Rogue lingered still, however. There was something about the way that... oh, he'd been mercilessly PKed the first time he'd played 'The World', and a good deal of the things he'd witnessed since that time, that made him wary of those who acted like Maya was. It didn't help either that, aside from the one day where some of the patients had been brainwashed to do so, Haseo had yet to meet anyone who actually believed any of the institute's stories. From the beginning it seemed most people could tell something was off, even if there was little chance they would also be able to predict monsters roamed the halls at night... until they were told or saw it themselves, of course.

"No, I think that's normal in mental institutions." Smiling, Maya picked up a slice of apple from the food she hadn't—until now—touched. "What are you in for—no...I mean, what were you brought in for?" It didn't seem a question he would clam up for, but...perhaps not. "...If you wouldn't mind?"

Maya nibbled at the apple as she considered. She would ask if something was bothering him, but she'd already tried that. However, earlier, she'd only been teasing with a slice of actual concern. She wished she hadn't used that card so early on; it seemed to have only made him more uncomfortable. She hadn't figured until now that she'd have something to bargain for. Hmm, but she'd had nothing to give in the first place. Only what she'd experienced last night.

By all accounts, it wasn't good to feed a person's paranoia, but... "Hey." She leaned forward conspiratorially, being careful not to get so close—she didn't want to imply or otherwise indicate she might touch him. "There was a flashlight under my pillow last night. And a scary noise came from the speaker system. Is that what you mean?"

... This lady thinks I'm actually crazy! Haseo thought, feeling a bit of stunned annoyance, Or... is acting like she thinks that, I guess. He straightened in his seat slightly, expression flat as he just stared at Maya for a long, tense pause. Were people being brainwashed again? If she actually did consider herself worthy of being institutionalized or whatever, then... what?

"None of your business," he answered at last, though he briefly toyed with the idea of regurgitating the ridiculous story he'd been fed by the daytime staff and 'visitors'- that little tale about anger and jealousy and hurting people in retaliation for imagined slights. Maya probably would have believed it too, motorcycles and all. But she definitely didn't need to know about the stuff he'd actually been through... or his suspicions about the real reasons he was there for.

In the end, it wasn't his responsibility to make her see the dangers, or for that matter, even tell the truth. Or feel sorry for her. If it was a ploy to trick him somehow, then he wasn't falling for it. Should the offer to meet her after dark come up, then she was getting stood up, damn it.

"Hey, I thought you were admitted this morning," he remarked, setting his elbows on the table. A pause, and his eyes narrowed. "But yeah, you could say that. You don't have to believe me, but if you're not into fighting monsters in the dark, you should really keep an eye on that flashlight."

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Day 51: Breakfast

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