damned_institute | Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

There were very few activity shifts, Cloud was sure, that could possibly make him feel more like he was being treated like a child. He took a seat at one of the tables and blankly examined the materials set out before him. A pair of the dullest scissors he'd ever seen were labeled 'ages 3 and up'. It was good to know where the patients stood in this.

He wasn't much of an artist, and he ignored most of the paints and other drawing utensils in favor of a few sheets of colored paper and instructions on how to make origami. That sounded vaguely familiar. Didn't Yuffie have throwing weapons made out of paper at some point? It was something to do anyway, and thus Cloud began the process of crafting what ended up being very elaborate paper wads.

Sadly, his attempts to keep from dwelling on the subject of his missing friend failed when he realized this was something Aerith probably would have enjoyed greatly. Tonight, he and Yuffie would go out and try to accomplish... something. It was depressing to think there really might not be anything they could do, that they might all end up the same as the flower girl eventually.

[for a hopefully more optimistic materia thief]

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A patio, huh? Peter didn't think that he had been up there, but he also hadn't been to any kitchen on the second floor, so that would probably explain it. He'd seen a lot more of the first floor during his time here, though he'd been wandering around upstairs a little more lately. First there had been the hallway that fed into the experimentation rooms, and then the storage rooms that Hanatarou had taken him to. Hopefully the patio would be marked on Claire's map and he would have an idea of where it was.

Not that Peter was convinced that it was that easy, though. If it was just a matter of climbing up (which wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and he knew that), then someone would have managed it by now. Unless everyone was keeping it to themselves, he would have heard something, right?

He wasn't going to be a stick in the mud about it, though. Maybe it was possible. Maybe it just took the right pair of people, the right time, the right determination. "Bad timing," he said sympathetically, frowning over at the other patient. "You think you'll be trying again?"

As he watched the sketch of the cat evolve, Peter couldn't help being curious about what had inspired Abe to draw that of all things. It could just be an idle doodle (it was way more impressive than just a doodle, though), but it could be something else. "So, why a cat? Is it because of those ones in the Sun Room, or...?"

"More that I simply wanted to draw something peaceful. It's been a very stressful couple of days for me." Abe's pencil gracefully swiped across the paper, drawing in the sinuous lines of the cat's legs. "A friend of mine used to keep a lot of cats, this was one of them." Not that he was basing it on the cats, that it was one of them. Abe had a very strong mind when it came to recognition and recall, it was the emotional and social graces where he began to break down.

Would he try again? Who knew. Maybe he'd simply go sit naked under the shower all night or seek out the lake he'd heard about, get more water into his human skin. Stress relief, perhaps. This place seemed geared to drive anyone with a soul completely mad.

Something peaceful did sound pretty nice, Peter had to admit. They didn't get much of that here. Even during the day, when they were more or less safe, there was always that looming dread of what was to come, not to mention any anxieties and concerns that were bound to come up as a result of what went on during the nights. While he preferred that to languishing in boredom, he really would have liked a break from time to time. If he was admitting that, then their situation was clearly pretty serious.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said with a frown. It was always stressful for everyone, but maybe Abe had been through more than usual as of late. It happened; there were rough patches. In fact, Peter had to admit that things had been going relatively well for him until Elle had showed up again. Not that he wanted her dead rather than alive, but it had been unexpected. "Did you want to talk about it? I mean, it's fine if you don't, but..." He shrugged, trying to seem open. He knew what it was like to need someone's ear, so he figured he might as well offer since he was feeling pretty steady right now.

The pencil stopped, quivered, then firmly set back to its sketching again. "I...had a visitor," Abe said carefully, eyes focused on his paper. "I thought she was dead. She thinks I'm insane and doesn't remember what we had together. And I'm starting to wonder if I prefer her story to mine." He tried to hide the pain in his voice but didn't do a very good job of it. Everyone here had their problems and at least he'd been able to talk to her again (even if he hadn't been able to offer much conversation, he'd been so busy flailing that they hadn't actually said much to each other). And he'd felt her mind within his when they'd...

Abe wanted to consider himself lucky but selfishness seemed so much easier. The flowing motions of his arm became less graceful and the new parts of the cat took on a sharp, angular look. Still, the placid look on his face barely flinched.

Peter frowned the second that he heard the word "visitor," knowing how difficult that could be from his own experience. He felt bad that he'd pushed Abe into talking about it, but he'd tried to give the man the option and he'd chosen to speak. Whether or not he'd done that because he'd felt pressured to was hard to tell, but now the words were out and Peter figured he might as well try to cheer the guy up.

But that was easier said than done, wasn't it? Yes, his brother had been taken and forced to live a life that wasn't his, but at least there wasn't the added complication of death. If Peter had had to choose between Nathan being dead and Nathan being alive but thinking he was Harrison... Well, he could see why Abe was so conflicted.

"I'm sorry," he said as he kept his gaze on the table, not much in the mood for eye contact at that moment. "I know how it is, sort of. My brother used to be stuck in here with the rest of us, but he disappeared and then came to visit me, completely brainwashed." He'd been through this place twice, even, but Peter didn't need to get into all of the details.

"Still, I think it might be possible to snap them out of it. You might be able to get her back," he told the other patient, doing his best to believe in his own words.

"She was dead. I saw her die right in front of me." Scratch scratch, hand tightening around the pencil, Abe's expression never changing save for a slight tightening of his mouth. "If I take her back, she's dead, and if I take her how she is she's alive but thinks I'm her mad friend Langdon Caul." And he wasn't sure which one he wanted more.

Ugh. He came in here to get away from those nagging thoughts, not to have them intensified. "Could we perhaps talk about something else?" he asked quietly, forcing himself to smooth and curve the lines on a cat that was starting to look like it had crossbred with Samael.

It looked like he had just managed to screw up majorly. Peter sighed and held back the urge to rub at his eyes. He hadn't wanted to dredge up bad memories or anything, and while he wanted to tell Abe that it wasn't necessarily like that (maybe he could snap her out of it and take her home and she'd be alive again, he didn't know!), in the end he decided it would be better if he just left it alone. The guy had asked, and he didn't want to get too pushy with someone he barely knew.

"Of course," he said with a nod. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." But in the end, Peter couldn't find the words for a proper apology either. It was probably better to just leave it alone. "I've been asking you a lot of questions, so if you have anything you're wondering about, just... feel free." It was only fair if he returned the favor. Peter hadn't meant to start grilling the guy or anything; it had just sort of happened that way.

Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

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