Night 53: Patient Possessions Storage

[scarefaux]

[From here.]

Well, the second floor was just room after room of boxes, wasn't it? The Scarecrow reached for his map and pen, preparing to label the entire hall as "Where one might find boxes and batteries" when the name of the room caught his eye. "It says here that this is the Patient Possessions Storage," he said, stopping after only a few steps into the room. He took another look around- surely enough, every box on the shelf had its own label, each bearing the name of a patient. Whether they were the possessions of past or present patients was yet to be known.

The Scarecrow started at the A section, passing slowly down the line in the hopes of finding a box for Abe Sapien. With no luck on the first name, he skipped to the wall with the S boxes, scanning for a "Scarecrow" box while he was there. It looked like they followed the same pattern as the files, going with the name given by the Institute. He paused again, turning to Mele as an idea came to mind. "Do you suppose this is where they keep what we had on us when they brought us here?"

Comments

[scarefaux]

The Scarecrow remained silent for a moment as Mele talked, his eyes still glued to the ceiling. It wasn't so long ago that he'd contemplated if the Wizard Landel really was telling the truth and that all he knew as a scarecrow and of Oz was just some figment of his imagination. In a strange way, he was grateful for the awful things that he'd faced in the Institute: if he'd not seen first-hand just how cruel Landel could be, he might have believed those lies.

"That was the idea in Oz. See, I didn't have a brain as a scarecrow." He pointed to his head. "Only straw up there. I'm not sure it works quite the same way here, though. The human body is a curious thing."

The Scarecrow finally tore his eyes from the writing on the ceiling. "Now I've got to admit that Wizard Landel does have some awfully convincing methods," he admitted. "With what the visitors say and all the nurses and now these boxes. I imagine those who aren't aware of just how wicked he is could fall for it."

He frowned, thinking of Dorothy. She was so sweet and trusting. Though she'd had the power to leave Oz with only a click of her heels, it seemed it took more to escape from the Institute.

[mugenreppa.livejournal.com]

"Maybe more than convincing," Mele muttered in response, looking for her false name. 'Welcome to your life.' Not a threat, just a statement. Some kind of psychological thing that she had no patience with. It was just a lie. Just a lie. She'd been tricked once into being the false person, but it was just a lie.

The truth, though... If given the choice, you'd pick it. Gen Juken.

This was silly and ridiculous and a trick! Disgruntled, Mele thought she might like to have her brain replaced right now. "Sounds complicated," she responded, turning for the door. "How did you think back then? You said something about a crown?"

[scarefaux]

"Oh, the crown came from the Emerald City." The Scarecrow fumbled around in his pocket, shifting through all the new contents for his map. "After the Wizard of Oz left, I was chosen to watch over Oz as its acting monarch in his stead. I do hope I didn't lose that crown somewhere in the trip here. With any luck, maybe it'll be with my body, wherever that could be."

Finally finding the scrap of paper he was looking for, he got his flashlight ready to read; however, he found himself unable to think about the map at that moment as Mele's other question ran through his mind. "To be honest, I'm not really sure how I thought before I got my brains. I used to supposed I couldn't. The Wizard said that anyone could have a brain and that it was a mediocre commodity, but I really did want one." The real question was whether or not it really had changed his life.

Still puzzling, the Scarecrow headed for the hall, throwing one more glance to the writing above them.

[To here.]