Daedalus was surprised. Surprise was not often a good thing. It meant a miscalculation, or the lack of calculation, and he strived to be above either
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Although the girl known as Dolores (or Anise, depending on one’s perspective) was more than she presented herself to be, Daedalus didn’t entirely believe she’d be one of the patients to lash out aggressively--and hence bear the more severe punishment, including solitary, which would effectively cancel their session. Anyway, guilty or not, she was young, and inflicting physical suffering on her would be a bit… extreme.
His hunch was not wrong. Soon enough, there she was, led by one of the nurses who then called out to him, and Daedalus turned, quickly glancing over each of them in term. The girl, he ascertained, wasn’t exhibiting the common signs that came with exposure to such gasses. Not likely she’d been targeted. As for the other matter, no, he had not just arrived, but rather than address the question, he gave an archaic smile, one that expressed relief at finding the two seemingly unharmed. The little things could be forgotten in times of excitement. “It looks like it. Good work. Hopefully things have calmed down enough that everyone can resume their duties…?” One hand on the door, he chatted her back out into the hall, concealing his interest in getting her out through some careful maneuvering. If he could, he’d converse with the staff later, not now. For all he knew, soldiers might be inclined to follow in after her, a thought he cared little for.
Daedalus shut the door behind the nurse. There. With her gone, he let out a sigh, then returned his attention to the girl left behind. “You didn’t get hurt in all of that, did you?” he asked.
Anise also felt some relief in seeing the nurse go, but she didn't do anything to show it, aside from finally opening her mouth to speak. She shook her head at Daedalus' question, and answered, "Me and a friend went to the Sun Room as soon as things started looking bad." Looking back on what had happened to the people who stayed behind, she was glad she'd suggested moving. Whatever that gas did to those patients, it looked horrible.
The girl merely stood for a few seconds, facing the doctor without making direct eye contact, hesitant to move or speak. It wasn't too long, however, before she asked the question that was weighing heavily in her mind: "What are those soldiers doing here, anyway? They sure made a mess of things back there..."
Daedalus was a doctor for Landel, so maybe she couldn't completely trust him, but he was the only person she could ask who had any chance of knowing anything. And he was usually pretty nice, and didn't mind bending a few rules for Anise in the past... so there was at least a tiny chance of getting an honest answer. That was more than she could say for any of the other staff.
He kept his hand on the doorknob as though by letting it go, he would be risking an invasion of the relative peace and security of his office. Tension, the kind that was crackling in the air outside, did not suit his appearance.
"Good. Probably for the best…" She would have avoided the worst of the skirmish, then. "I was waiting for you," Daedalus went on, but she was no longer looking at him, rather off into the distance. “What is it?” The morning had revealed itself to be a touch situation that no one--not even the day staff--seemed to know how to deal with. He wouldn’t have blamed a single one of the patients for having a bit of a fright put into them. Daedalus wasn’t entirely unaffected, either.
When her uncertainty gave way to speech, he thought he had a fair grasp of her thought process. Asking questions could bring its own dangers. A mess, though… That he could agree with.
Bringing a hand up to rub his neck, he emitted another sigh. "Honestly, I’m not certain."
From Daedalus' demeanor, it seemed like he was uncomfortable with the situation too. A lot of the nurses were too, though... So maybe all the staff was unhappy with the soldiers being there.
The answer the doctor gave her was a little unexpected, however, and Anise's chin snapped upward as she looked at Daedalus with a wide-eyed, confused look. "Huh? But... you work here, right? Didn't they tell you what they're here for?" Anise always figured the doctors would be in the know about things happening at the institute. And if the nurses, orderlies, and even the doctors didn't really get what was happening... then was it just the Head Doctor who knew? Maybe the Head Nurse too, but she wasn't any easier to reach than Landel was...
Then again, maybe Daedalus was holding back, either because he couldn't share much with the patients, or because he didn't think his information was worth sharing. Because of that, Anise let her question linger, hoping he might be able to tell her something.
If only such things were as simple as the girl made them sound. Politics and power had their intricacies--unfortunately in this circumstance, when one grasped that truth, they might also realize who was at the top of the pyramid and who was… not.
Daedalus smiled for her. “A routine inspection, or so word has it.” He moved toward the couch’s corner seat and dropped into it. A genuine inspection of a hospital’s productivity was standard, and technically since he was one of the employees working closely with the patients, his lack of prior knowledge was not so strange under those conditions. Surprises left no time for pre-planned responses. However, these were no bureau inspectors. And if he had to bet, this was no normal inspection. But that was neither here nor there… “I only learned about it today. They have little to do with me.” So even if he’d wanted to, telling her specifics was out of the question. Theories weren’t the same as provable evidence.
One eyebrow lifted, and his tone took on greater immediacy. “Besides that, what happened? Why was there such an outburst?”
Routine? Anise had her doubts about that. With the armed soldiers and the nurses acting so anxious, there was no way this was normal, even for a hospital as crazy as Landel's.
But that answer was more than what anyone else had told her, so Anise decided to leave it at that. It was probably all she'd be able to get until the Head Doctor decided to say something. She followed the doctor with her eyes as he moved to the couch and sat down. When asked about the incident, she moved forward and took a seat on the other side of the couch.
There wasn't any harm in telling Daedalus something that was already common knowledge among most people, so Anise gave him a short summary of the events. "Some weirdo started shouting and throwing food all over the place, and I guess lots of people joined in. Then the orderlies and soldiers tried to stop them, and people started fighting." She pulled Tokunaga off her back and held it in front of her as she scooted back a little on the couch. "I left the room, but I saw all the soldiers and staff run out... and then they gassed everyone inside."
Was it ironic that a child could exhibit more sense than the culprit in question? Daedalus had ascertained the general timeline of events from the day staff, but there was more to be said coming from a patient who had been there.
He didn’t bother masking how he felt about the situation. With or without the involvement of the militarized force, a commotion like this was still troublesome. “What a mess,” he said wearily, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his hand. “The needless violence is unfortunate. I should apologize: I think control agents are a bit extreme, even if the staff were being physically threatened. Hopefully this can be kept from happening again.”
A vain hope when aggression was so easily triggered here.
It still felt a little weird, being able to get along with one of Landel's staff this easily. His sympathy sounded genuine, even though Anise knew she could never be totally sure of that. She gave him a small smile, still looking a little nervous. "Yeah... I hope so too."
It was her turn to sigh then, and she leaned a bit more into the back of the couch, holding Tokunaga close. "I kinda get why people are so mad, but they sure picked a stupid time to do something about it." There were lots of times where Anise felt like she wanted to get the staff back for everything she'd been through, but she knew she'd just get sedated, and she definitely wasn't stupid enough to try it when there were armed soldiers watching.
Whatever complaints Daedalus nurtured, they were not worth being the focus of attention; he straightened up and put his elbows on his knees. “If conflict should get out of hand again, just do what you did before and find a nurse. They’ll get you out of harm’s way,” he advised reassuringly. If the task was to care for and sustain these patients, surely helping them to avoid injury was a far sight up from actively causing it with physical blows and tear gas. “Those armed men, they were doing their duty in their own way. They should have no reason to bother you now.”
The soldiers were still a force to be cautious of, though, which the girl was already aware of. There were times when it was best not to cause the largest ripples.
“I’m sure today was a shock on top of everything else,” he agreed. “Let’s just do our best to keep tempers in check, okay?” Daedalus expected his own involvement to be limited, however, which was why he had no ready solution. The soldiers seemed interested in interacting with the patients on some close level, and he couldn’t do much about that.
“Well, did you get to eat? I could always get something if you missed breakfast.”
Depending on the nurses was the last thing Anise wanted to do, but she nodded at the suggestion anyway, not wanting to bring up her distrust of the staff. She also wasn't sure she could believe that the soldiers would leave her alone, but... well, she could agree with laying low and staying out of their way, at least.
Calling the incident a shock was pretty accurate. Anise had been pretty scared at the time, and it probably showed. She had calmed down a lot by now, however, and a hint of her usual enthusiasm slipped into her tone as she assured her doctor, "You don't have to worry about me! I'm good at staying out of trouble."
It was nice of Daedalus to offer her a meal, considering her breakfast had been ruined partway through, but... "I didn't get to finish, but I'll be okay! Lunch isn't too far away." Anise wasn't exactly looking forward to it, though. The doctor's office was quiet and actually a little cozy, but it wouldn't be long before she had to go back to tiptoeing around anxious staff and heavy-handed soldiers. She supposed she ought to sit back and enjoy the peace while it lasted.
At that, he huffed a small laugh. He was more of a guiding force for her than she could be for him, but they were not classic models of a structured adult and wayward child. She wasn’t waiting for his advice. “You’re a smart girl,” Daedalus replied with the beginnings of a smile.
Re-l had never waited long for his assistance, either, even when she’d been that age… Today especially he missed her. A lot of the patients showed the rambunctious inclination to create ripples, as his ever-curious Re-l did, but it wasn’t the same. She was different.
“All right,” he slowly continued. “You can tell me if you need anything.” And with that, the rest of the session lay waiting. He hadn’t walked into work without ideas, and with the gap between meeting there was always a certain amount of catch-up to be done, but the events of the morning had overshadowed the mood somewhat. Choosing to remain where he was, he exhaled and asked, “So what do you want to do today? Was there anything on your mind?”
Daedalus' compliment made Anise smile. She already knew she was pretty clever, but it was nice to get acknowledged for it from time to time!
When he told her his offer would still stand, Anise nodded to show that she understood and appreciated the help. There wasn't really much that the doctor could do for her, though... was there? Most of the things Anise actually needed were things she couldn't ask for without sounding completely crazy. She'd keep him in mind, though, in case something ever did come up that he could (or would) help with.
"Hmm... nothing besides the usual, I guess... not counting the weird stuff that just happened today," Anise replied when asked what was on her mind. As for what she wanted to do, she only had one particular preference in mind. "I don't really care what we do, so long as I get to stay here and away from those creepy guards!" She couldn't avoid them forever, but at least they'd leave her alone for as long as she was in the doctor's office.
Asking if anything had stood out during the times he wasn’t around to observe them up close usually brought up discrepancies and other interesting questions, but like he had in the past, he didn’t chase the ‘usual’ down quite yet. He just nodded at her answer, followed by a humoured smile at her wish.
If there was one group of people more distrusted than the staff, which Daedalus fell into, it now seemed to be the ones skulking around in black. Oh, the transience of allegiances.
“If not for how the shifts are structured, I’d do my best to keep them from interfering, too,” he said. “Of course you can stay here.” This was supposed to be an environment where he could act as the patients’ carer; if his workspace wasn’t a relatively safe place in their eyes, his job would be much more difficult. His smile kicked up at one corner in a joking manner. “It’d probably be unscrupulous to pretend you badly needed my attention for the day. I don’t think they’d believe it.”
"Really? I bet you could be pretty convincing if you tried," Anise joked back with a grin. She knew, realistically, that he probably wasn't about to put his job on the line just to make her feel a little better for a few hours. Besides, he probably had other patients to deal with later in the day.
As for Anise, she was going to have to go back to dealing with the soldiers' presence one way or another. As fun as it would be to hide away for the whole day, Anise wasn't naive enough to think she could get away with it. And besides that, while Daedalus was easy to get along with, it was still a fact that she couldn't completely be herself around him - she had to make some effort to pretend to be 'Dolores'. No matter how weird things got, there were definitely some good sides to being surrounded by her fellow patients.
… Ah, that comment could be a trap if he let it become one.
His eyebrows lifted and an almost self-deprecating smile touched his face. It was a private expression that only Daedalus himself could understand. "Oh, I don’t know about that. The competition is stiff." More of a truth than humorous fiction.
"Anyway," Daedalus went on, shaking his head as if to say 'enough about that', "there’s little point in talking about me and there's not much to be done about the Institute's guests now. You know you can contact me if you need anything. Why don’t you tell me what’s happened while we’ve been away?"
Anise wondered if contacting Daedalus really was possible. She didn't completely trust the nurses to pass along any messages she wanted to get to the doctor. She'd keep it in mind, though. Maybe there would be a time when he could help her out with something.
"Hmm... it's been pretty boring this past week," Anise answered, letting her head rest lazily against the back of the couch. There wasn't much that happened that she could actually talk about, since most of it happened at night. And when it came to personal stuff, the less things the staff had on record, the better. When she thought about it, though, there was something that Daedalus had probably already caught wind of. "... Oh, I hurt my arm the other day, so that's something. It's all better now, though."
It probably couldn't hurt to mention that, since the staff probably kept records of all her injuries. Maybe she could even find out what their excuse for her latest monster-related injury was. The staff's lies didn't mean anything to her, but it was a way to pass the time.
His hunch was not wrong. Soon enough, there she was, led by one of the nurses who then called out to him, and Daedalus turned, quickly glancing over each of them in term. The girl, he ascertained, wasn’t exhibiting the common signs that came with exposure to such gasses. Not likely she’d been targeted. As for the other matter, no, he had not just arrived, but rather than address the question, he gave an archaic smile, one that expressed relief at finding the two seemingly unharmed. The little things could be forgotten in times of excitement. “It looks like it. Good work. Hopefully things have calmed down enough that everyone can resume their duties…?” One hand on the door, he chatted her back out into the hall, concealing his interest in getting her out through some careful maneuvering. If he could, he’d converse with the staff later, not now. For all he knew, soldiers might be inclined to follow in after her, a thought he cared little for.
Daedalus shut the door behind the nurse. There. With her gone, he let out a sigh, then returned his attention to the girl left behind. “You didn’t get hurt in all of that, did you?” he asked.
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The girl merely stood for a few seconds, facing the doctor without making direct eye contact, hesitant to move or speak. It wasn't too long, however, before she asked the question that was weighing heavily in her mind: "What are those soldiers doing here, anyway? They sure made a mess of things back there..."
Daedalus was a doctor for Landel, so maybe she couldn't completely trust him, but he was the only person she could ask who had any chance of knowing anything. And he was usually pretty nice, and didn't mind bending a few rules for Anise in the past... so there was at least a tiny chance of getting an honest answer. That was more than she could say for any of the other staff.
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"Good. Probably for the best…" She would have avoided the worst of the skirmish, then. "I was waiting for you," Daedalus went on, but she was no longer looking at him, rather off into the distance. “What is it?” The morning had revealed itself to be a touch situation that no one--not even the day staff--seemed to know how to deal with. He wouldn’t have blamed a single one of the patients for having a bit of a fright put into them. Daedalus wasn’t entirely unaffected, either.
When her uncertainty gave way to speech, he thought he had a fair grasp of her thought process. Asking questions could bring its own dangers. A mess, though… That he could agree with.
Bringing a hand up to rub his neck, he emitted another sigh. "Honestly, I’m not certain."
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The answer the doctor gave her was a little unexpected, however, and Anise's chin snapped upward as she looked at Daedalus with a wide-eyed, confused look. "Huh? But... you work here, right? Didn't they tell you what they're here for?" Anise always figured the doctors would be in the know about things happening at the institute. And if the nurses, orderlies, and even the doctors didn't really get what was happening... then was it just the Head Doctor who knew? Maybe the Head Nurse too, but she wasn't any easier to reach than Landel was...
Then again, maybe Daedalus was holding back, either because he couldn't share much with the patients, or because he didn't think his information was worth sharing. Because of that, Anise let her question linger, hoping he might be able to tell her something.
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Daedalus smiled for her. “A routine inspection, or so word has it.” He moved toward the couch’s corner seat and dropped into it. A genuine inspection of a hospital’s productivity was standard, and technically since he was one of the employees working closely with the patients, his lack of prior knowledge was not so strange under those conditions. Surprises left no time for pre-planned responses. However, these were no bureau inspectors. And if he had to bet, this was no normal inspection. But that was neither here nor there… “I only learned about it today. They have little to do with me.” So even if he’d wanted to, telling her specifics was out of the question. Theories weren’t the same as provable evidence.
One eyebrow lifted, and his tone took on greater immediacy. “Besides that, what happened? Why was there such an outburst?”
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But that answer was more than what anyone else had told her, so Anise decided to leave it at that. It was probably all she'd be able to get until the Head Doctor decided to say something. She followed the doctor with her eyes as he moved to the couch and sat down. When asked about the incident, she moved forward and took a seat on the other side of the couch.
There wasn't any harm in telling Daedalus something that was already common knowledge among most people, so Anise gave him a short summary of the events. "Some weirdo started shouting and throwing food all over the place, and I guess lots of people joined in. Then the orderlies and soldiers tried to stop them, and people started fighting." She pulled Tokunaga off her back and held it in front of her as she scooted back a little on the couch. "I left the room, but I saw all the soldiers and staff run out... and then they gassed everyone inside."
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He didn’t bother masking how he felt about the situation. With or without the involvement of the militarized force, a commotion like this was still troublesome. “What a mess,” he said wearily, rubbing his forehead with the heel of his hand. “The needless violence is unfortunate. I should apologize: I think control agents are a bit extreme, even if the staff were being physically threatened. Hopefully this can be kept from happening again.”
A vain hope when aggression was so easily triggered here.
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It was her turn to sigh then, and she leaned a bit more into the back of the couch, holding Tokunaga close. "I kinda get why people are so mad, but they sure picked a stupid time to do something about it." There were lots of times where Anise felt like she wanted to get the staff back for everything she'd been through, but she knew she'd just get sedated, and she definitely wasn't stupid enough to try it when there were armed soldiers watching.
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The soldiers were still a force to be cautious of, though, which the girl was already aware of. There were times when it was best not to cause the largest ripples.
“I’m sure today was a shock on top of everything else,” he agreed. “Let’s just do our best to keep tempers in check, okay?” Daedalus expected his own involvement to be limited, however, which was why he had no ready solution. The soldiers seemed interested in interacting with the patients on some close level, and he couldn’t do much about that.
“Well, did you get to eat? I could always get something if you missed breakfast.”
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Calling the incident a shock was pretty accurate. Anise had been pretty scared at the time, and it probably showed. She had calmed down a lot by now, however, and a hint of her usual enthusiasm slipped into her tone as she assured her doctor, "You don't have to worry about me! I'm good at staying out of trouble."
It was nice of Daedalus to offer her a meal, considering her breakfast had been ruined partway through, but... "I didn't get to finish, but I'll be okay! Lunch isn't too far away." Anise wasn't exactly looking forward to it, though. The doctor's office was quiet and actually a little cozy, but it wouldn't be long before she had to go back to tiptoeing around anxious staff and heavy-handed soldiers. She supposed she ought to sit back and enjoy the peace while it lasted.
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Re-l had never waited long for his assistance, either, even when she’d been that age… Today especially he missed her. A lot of the patients showed the rambunctious inclination to create ripples, as his ever-curious Re-l did, but it wasn’t the same. She was different.
“All right,” he slowly continued. “You can tell me if you need anything.” And with that, the rest of the session lay waiting. He hadn’t walked into work without ideas, and with the gap between meeting there was always a certain amount of catch-up to be done, but the events of the morning had overshadowed the mood somewhat. Choosing to remain where he was, he exhaled and asked, “So what do you want to do today? Was there anything on your mind?”
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When he told her his offer would still stand, Anise nodded to show that she understood and appreciated the help. There wasn't really much that the doctor could do for her, though... was there? Most of the things Anise actually needed were things she couldn't ask for without sounding completely crazy. She'd keep him in mind, though, in case something ever did come up that he could (or would) help with.
"Hmm... nothing besides the usual, I guess... not counting the weird stuff that just happened today," Anise replied when asked what was on her mind. As for what she wanted to do, she only had one particular preference in mind. "I don't really care what we do, so long as I get to stay here and away from those creepy guards!" She couldn't avoid them forever, but at least they'd leave her alone for as long as she was in the doctor's office.
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If there was one group of people more distrusted than the staff, which Daedalus fell into, it now seemed to be the ones skulking around in black. Oh, the transience of allegiances.
“If not for how the shifts are structured, I’d do my best to keep them from interfering, too,” he said. “Of course you can stay here.” This was supposed to be an environment where he could act as the patients’ carer; if his workspace wasn’t a relatively safe place in their eyes, his job would be much more difficult. His smile kicked up at one corner in a joking manner. “It’d probably be unscrupulous to pretend you badly needed my attention for the day. I don’t think they’d believe it.”
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As for Anise, she was going to have to go back to dealing with the soldiers' presence one way or another. As fun as it would be to hide away for the whole day, Anise wasn't naive enough to think she could get away with it. And besides that, while Daedalus was easy to get along with, it was still a fact that she couldn't completely be herself around him - she had to make some effort to pretend to be 'Dolores'. No matter how weird things got, there were definitely some good sides to being surrounded by her fellow patients.
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His eyebrows lifted and an almost self-deprecating smile touched his face. It was a private expression that only Daedalus himself could understand. "Oh, I don’t know about that. The competition is stiff." More of a truth than humorous fiction.
"Anyway," Daedalus went on, shaking his head as if to say 'enough about that', "there’s little point in talking about me and there's not much to be done about the Institute's guests now. You know you can contact me if you need anything. Why don’t you tell me what’s happened while we’ve been away?"
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"Hmm... it's been pretty boring this past week," Anise answered, letting her head rest lazily against the back of the couch. There wasn't much that happened that she could actually talk about, since most of it happened at night. And when it came to personal stuff, the less things the staff had on record, the better. When she thought about it, though, there was something that Daedalus had probably already caught wind of. "... Oh, I hurt my arm the other day, so that's something. It's all better now, though."
It probably couldn't hurt to mention that, since the staff probably kept records of all her injuries. Maybe she could even find out what their excuse for her latest monster-related injury was. The staff's lies didn't mean anything to her, but it was a way to pass the time.
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