damned_institute | Day 52: Game Room

Lunch had taken his mind from his worries, if only for a few minutes. But after the intercom sounded and the nurses began leading patients onto the next activity, one look at the bulletin board brought everything back in full force. No replies from Ashton, Dias or Dad. By now Claude felt like he was practically counting down until the end of the day, when he was going to have to finally grapple with the real possibility that most of his friends from before Landel's, as well as his own father, had fallen victim to the institute.

And now he was going to have to deal with his mother being here on top of that. It didn't seem like a coincidence that she'd show up right when his father's whereabouts were so up in the air. But what did it mean? Why couldn't Landel leave his family out of this?

Normally, the announcement about new video games would have made him perk up, but his eyebrows only knit together with concern as his nurse led him into the game room. That didn't seem to stop her from trying to get him to unwind, though.

"Oh, come now, Thomas, you've worn that expression for most of the day!" she told him with a frown. "Why don't you have a bit of fun now that your eyes are all better? I'm sure you could use it."

The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of his "sleep studies", he darkly thought to himself. But before he could protest, his nurse had sat him down in front of one of the television screens. There was an old gaming console, one Claude had never seen before, and he glanced at her with a confused expression. "Go on," she encouraged as she placed one of the controllers in his hands. "I know how much you enjoy these kinds of things. Someone will come play with you soon, too, I'm sure. Doesn't that sound nice?"

He didn't have time to answer her, because she'd soon bustled off to tend to some of the other patients. Claude watched her leave with a sigh. He realized the daytime staff meant well, which made knowing what they turned into at night even worse to think about. But now he was just being negative for the sake of it, wasn't he?

Taking in a small breath, he reached over to the console and turned it on. As long as he was waiting for some kind of answer from the bulletin, there probably wasn't much he could do except pass the time. Claude watched the title screen appear on the television, his expression growing more curious in spite of himself. Super Mario Bros....

[For Prussia!]

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Jeeze, no one had talked to Kay at all the last two shifts! Seriously, was she invisible or something? She was even wearing her little cardboard Yatagarasu pin that she'd made, but no one had wandered over to ask her about stealing the truth and bringing criminals to justice or anything.

Well, at least Ema seemed to be okay, from the glimpses she'd caught of her friend, so Kay wouldn't have to worry about her! That was good, at least. And in the meantime, Kay could go bother someone instead of waiting for someone to approach her-- like that pretty girl over there, who looked rather quiet and lonely. Kay would have to bring some brightness into her life, yeah!

Kay went over, smiling cheerfully, and greeted, "Hey there! I'm Kay Faraday. Who're you?"

Tomoe glanced up at the younger girl walking in her direction, at first just for curiosity's sake, being attracted by the girl's movement. And then said girl continued to get closer... and closer. Good lord, did she have a sign on her forehead that said 'please bother me'?

She nodded shallowly to the girl. There didn't seem any point to fighting the socialization in this place, no more than there seemed any point in fighting the concepts being forced onto her: the impermanence of death, the concept of multiple worlds, the fallacy of time--and of course whatever happened in the facility at night. In the face of all of those... railing against casual conversation seemed quite silly.

"Himura Tomoe," she answered quietly, not bothering with full pleasantries for the moment. Responding was enough at this point.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Tomoe." Kay smiled brightly at the older girl, who did, in fact, have a sign on her forehead that asked for Kay to bother her (but then, for Kay, so did everyone else in the room). "Not much of one for the games, huh?" she asked, with a wave of her hand at the various electronics (the cards and board games, she ignored; who played those anymore?). "I can't really blame you, this stuff is, like, thirty years outta date."

"Is that so...?" she stated blandly. A part of her wanted to ask what exactly she was looking at that was 'out of date'... considering she'd never so much as seen a telegraph with her own eyes--much less a video game system and a television. (Imagine her amazement when she discovers indoor plumbing in this place...)

Day 52: Game Room

(omg tomoe <3333 does she mind a cheerful teenager getting all up in her business? :3 )

(she probably minds a lot, but she won't say so! XDDD)

(THAT SOUNDS LIKE PERMISSION FOR KAY TO BUG HER C: )

(BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! >D)