Day 54: Lunch

[full_score]

All things considered, last shift had been pretty low key. After this morning's disaster, though, that was perfectly fine by Claude. Some fresh air and a chance to make sure Guy and Okita were all right weren't things to take for granted. It was also good to have a fairly normal, conversation with Guy that didn't slip off into awkward territory

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[sasuke_of_sound]

Then not everyone who had left the cafeteria had done so with intention. Or perhaps this one had just given up easily when faced with armed soldiers. They had been trained, without a doubt, given the tightness of formation and fluid response to orders; it was perhaps to be expected that not everyone would attempt to fight off the squads in the halls.

Smoother formation than Sasuke had expected, really. He'd thought he could corner one of them, but ... the staff here had made him soft. Stark reminder of how easily a lack of training could strip away strength.

Whatever the case, it seemed obvious that this stranger could provide little more than what Sasuke already knew. The weaponry, though -- the stray thought wandered through that if the man was familiar with the food, he might be familiar with the arms.

Something to consider once he'd finished eating. Sasuke's breakfast had probably ended up on an orderly's face, given the way he'd gotten out of the cafeteria. Dropping his fork, he picked up a greasy potato and started in. "Are you familiar with this world, then?"

[unheroed]

Apparently his word counted for something, since the kid forgot about the fork and started eating with his hands. Sure, it ended up being messier, but it was also a lot easier. Seeing how the staff didn't seem to have a problem with giving them napkins, it wasn't a huge deal either way.

Though... then he had to get asked one of those questions that just made him went to set his head down on the table and pretend that the world didn't exist. Why? Why wouldn't he be familiar with this world? He hated the implication, but he also didn't want to get into an argument about it when he'd been down this road before; it led nowhere.

Jones being from the past was bad enough. The existence of other worlds was just not something he was willing to deal with now or ever. At least it explained why the kid believed he didn't know what fish and chips were.

"Yeah," he said, though his tone had an edge to it that he couldn't hide. "Yeah, I am." He took a sip from his shake, trying not to focus on the food the other patient was eating too much.

[sasuke_of_sound]

There was a response with a sharpness that Sasuke hadn't detected previously in the conversation. A hint of reluctance to engage in a full conversation, maybe -- had the man simply reached the end of his willingness to talk to a stranger? Unusual in Landel's for people to end discussion of topics this easily whether they were enjoying it or not, at least in Sasuke's experience.

Too many of them wanted out at the same time. Competing theories, he could recall from talking with Aidou more than a few times, and the obfuscating nature of the place. Strange for this stranger.

What had Sasuke asked immediately before -- about worlds. Sasuke worked through the potatoes with a frown, ear still turned toward the man, before asking: "You don't sound pleased to be."

Blunt. Had it been less of a nuisance to push away the lingering fog, Sasuke might have phrased it more carefully -- then again, patience ran thin in this place.

[unheroed]

It looked like the kid had it wrong once more, but Harvey didn't really care. If he couldn't figure out the real reason for Harvey's anger, then maybe that was for the best. They didn't need to get into a discussion about how he thought the boy was nuts, since that clearly wasn't going to go anywhere.

"It's not that," he said with a shake of his head. Sure, the world wasn't that great of a place -- he was more aware of that than ever now -- but it wasn't like he wanted to escape it all and go live on some imaginary alien planet. He wasn't the type of person who looked for a way out like that. He'd just changed to fit the world he was a part of, that was all.

"Why do you ask?" he continued instead, even though he wasn't sure he was going to like the answer. This kid had to have asked for a reason, which probably meant he was going to admit to ignorance about something that was a bigger deal than the proper eating method for fish and chips.

Harvey let out a quiet sigh and continued to sip from his shake, bracing himself for it.

[sasuke_of_sound]

It wasn't? The man didn't deny the irritation, though, which meant that Sasuke hadn't been off the mark in his diagnosis of tone. A shinobi is always aware of his environment. Some mix of the Code and Academy lessons, but sometimes Sasuke felt like the absolute basics were the most useful things after all.

The question gave him pause, the remnants of sedation making themselves known again as he traced back through the recent turns of the conversation. It was probably a good thing that it was somewhat less thrilling than last shift's, and even last shift had by and large consisted of providing a run-down of what had happened to someone he hadn't even kept particularly close tabs on. Another shift and he'd be more or less back to normal.

Inasmuch as normal applied. Sasuke answered first to hunger and worked through a handful of the fried potatoes before speaking again. "Not enough of the patients I've met are."

[unheroed]

There came the temptation to correct him again: not enough patients thought they were from here. They'd somehow decided they were from some made-up world with rainbows and unicorns because they couldn't cope with the reality of the real world or something along those lines. It was pretty pathetic, actually, but Harvey didn't need to launch into a rant about that now. Not with a sedated patient who wasn't going to be able to follow along in the first place.

"Maybe if they had been, they would have known that trying to make a fuss when there's trained military around is a terrible idea," Harvey grumbled as he rubbed at his good eye. He took another sip of his shake, already quite certain that this conversation was going nowhere fast.

Still, it seemed that was a lesson that this kid should have learned, too, if he'd gotten drugged. Harvey could have made some sort of judgment, but in the end it wasn't worth the effort to insult a complete stranger.

[sasuke_of_sound]

True that knowing more about the military training in this world might have been useful, but even those Sasuke had met who were from the same place hadn't given any hint that they were anything that a shinobi couldn't handle. And they hadn't been -- but Sasuke was barely a shinobi in this place, and Rock Lee had been defeated by Gaara of the Sand in the end, after all.

Still, the presence of trained forces in the Institute itself unexpected, for all that Sasuke had suspected some species of training going on here. Certainly something worth questioning the next time he had a chance to locate Aidou, for one.

"I intended to isolate one for interrogation, but they were better-trained than I expected for civilian military," Sasuke mused aloud, remembered belatedly that musing aloud was something ill-advised in any place, and finished the rest of the potatoes before remembering to ask: "Are these typical products of military training here?"

[unheroed]

It was starting to get a little weird, the way this kid was talking like he was at least five years old than he looked. No, even a twenty-year-old wouldn't talk that way, Harvey realized; it was just way too stiff and formal. Maybe it was something he consciously did to fit his own image of who he thought he was, not to mention the "world" he came from. Harvey decided to just leave it alone.

He wasn't too shocked to hear that one of the soldiers had been able to give the kid a beatdown with little trouble, but he was tactful enough to keep that thought to himself. After all, if -- by some strange coincidence -- the kid actually was well-trained, Harvey didn't really want to get his ass handed to him by someone a head shorter than him. He wasn't much of a fighter when it came to just your bare hands.

Though the final question did give him something to respond to. "If you're talking about the tear gas, then yes and no. It's definitely used, but I think it's mainly restricted to battlefield settings -- or actual military or political uprisings." A food fight in a mental hospital hardly constituted reason to release it, that was for sure.

[sasuke_of_sound]

Sasuke was still bruised from where one of the soldiers had finally managed to get behind him and smash him in the back of the skull, but it lacked the precision-pain he was accustomed to as a shinobi and pulsed faintly enough to be ignored. It was obvious enough that these people weren't about to avoid hurting them, though it had also been clear that they weren't ready to use anything close to deadly force.

Which meant that using a gas made sense, in the confines of a crowded room, but apparently it was beyond what was expected here in the Institute's daytime charade. Interesting.

"How was it released?" He asked, leaving off his food to focus more on the question at hand now. "Did the soldiers have it with them, or was it Landel's doing?"

If Landel had had it in reserve the whole time -- and Sasuke could remember Sakura's theory about gas in the vents that first night they'd all started hallucinating, short-lived as it had been -- then that meant both the day and the night building had been designed to fend against the patients.

[unheroed]

Harvey still thought it was pretty strange how this kid was asking him questions like he hadn't been there when the sedation made it obvious that he had been. Maybe he'd been too busy getting his teenage ass kicked to pay attention to what was going on around him.

Granted, it wasn't like Harvey had had a front-row seat, seeing how he and Grell had been smart enough to get the hell out of Dodge. Still, from what he had seen from his spot in the Sun Room, not to mention his own common sense, he could make a few guesses.

"Looks like it was just spilling right into the room from vents or something," he said with a shrug, since it's not like they had canisters of it that they'd carried in or anything. "But seeing how this only happened when those grunts and their general" -- wherever he was -- "showed up, I'm guessing Landel isn't behind it."

He didn't know if it was better or worse to have a new target for his anger; the scope of this had widened, though, which made their chances of success even smaller.

[sasuke_of_sound]

The vents. Something within the Institute, then, or certainly something Landel would have had to grant access to in order for it to be possible, and the man had sounded something less than ecstatic about the visit. For the first time, it settled with more weight: Landel wasn't the lynchpin. He, too, answered to someone, who perhaps answered to someone else.

It should have been more obvious from experience, but the enclosure of the Institute had been so absolute until now -- even with the coming and going of so-called resistance members, it had seemed hermetic, a creation of a single lunatic more than something systematic. And Sasuke had been the one who had suspected some species of order within the madness. It spoke to weakness (of mind, of body) more than anything else.

"The last time something like this happened, there was no gas," he mused aloud absently yet again, wracking his memory. Last time he had left the room as well, but no ill-consequence had come of it, with no military standing at the ready in the hallways. Landel's strings were being pulled, no doubt about it. Sasuke's expression shifted into a contemplative frown as he continued with his meal.

[unheroed]

If the kid had had that kind of information, then why hadn't he shared it before now? In fact, why hadn't he already used that as proof for who was behind this? Harvey forced out a sigh, having long ago lost his appetite for the vitamin shake. It was just impossible to keep forcing down the bland stuff day in and day out.

"Right, so even more reason to assume that this is a change that came with those military men." He didn't know why this was so hard to puzzle through, but maybe the other patient was a stickler for details. It was yet another trait that didn't fit someone his age, but Harvey didn't know why the hell he was questioning anything in this place anymore.

Luckily, he didn't have to worry about it for much longer, as that was when the intercom went off with an announcement that made today's events that much more interesting. Harvey forgot about the kid as he focused on the words; even if he was only hearing half of the exchange, that was enough.

And then, before he knew it, there was a nurse at his side, calling him Mr. Eckhart and urging him along. With a sigh, he shoved the cup that had held his lunch away from him and stood.