Jan 25, 2011 01:07
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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leela,
sechs,
asuka,
senna,
tsubaki,
bella,
scott pilgrim,
anise,
gumshoe,
izaya,
the doctor,
gren,
ranulf,
sora,
england,
prussia,
rei,
claude,
guybrush,
niikura,
taura,
elena gilbert,
claire bennet,
javert,
lana skye,
ruby,
mello,
brainiac 5,
byrne,
albedo,
sakura,
guy,
stefan,
kairi,
gaara,
peter petrelli,
nigredo,
kibitoshin,
tear,
soma,
damon,
rita,
two-face,
yuffie,
ritsuka,
rapunzel,
isaac,
castiel,
edgar,
allelujah,
hijikata,
the scarecrow,
trickster,
ippo,
alaric,
yomi,
riku,
sai,
mccoy,
zack,
kratos,
l,
captain jack
By the time Rapunzel entered the large eating area (the "Cafeteria" as the nurse had called it), her head was spinning to such a degree that she was surprised she hadn't fallen over again. This was less out of actual dizziness and more due to information overload. For one thing, the woman who had picked her up in the strange white room kept calling her by a different name, "Amanda," even when Rapunzel insisted she was mistaken. For another, there was the fact that there even was an unfamiliar woman there with her at all, and a nurse at that. That had alone had thrown her for a loop even more than the name thing did. Then there was the building itself, which was unlike any Rapunzel had ever seen in her life. The sights, sounds, and smells alone were doing a number on her brain every second that she spent walking through it.
When Rapunzel had asked where "Mother" was, she had been told that yes, it was indeed her mother that had arranged for her to come here. She was also told, however, that she would have to wait to see the woman until she was "better," whatever that meant. None of it made any sense. Wasn't she here so that no one else would ever be able to use her hair's magic again? Why send her to a place that was full of nurses, scary uniformed soldiers, and other people, then? Did it have something to do with the missing 90% of her hair? There was a lot more that Gothel had kept hidden than Rapunzel had first thought, apparently.
She squinted as she and the nurse (Alice, apparently) made their way between the tables in the Cafeteria, not used to such bright lights overhead all the time. What kinds of lights were those, anyway? They didn't flicker like candle flames, and the light they gave off was pure white, not golden like flame or sunlight. The only thing she knew that glowed that steadily was... her own... hair.
Dread seized her chest as she suddenly envisioned her missing hair powering all the lights in the building. Oh god. She could just see every glowing tube with a core of golden locks in the centre...
...for about a half-second before she assured herself that Gothel wouldn't dare waste magic on something like that. Phew.
Anyway, that wasn't even the most important thing she was worried about. "You still haven't told me about Eugene!" she pleaded with Nurse Alice once she had gotten that frightening vision out of her head. "Are you sure you don't know where he is or if he's all right?"
"I'm sorry, Amanda dear, but I really don't know. Your mother didn't say anything about anyone of that name," answered the nurse, who seemed to be searching the crowd for something. "Maybe you'll see him on Visitors Day later this week if he's around?"
"Visitors Day...?"
She didn't get to ask any more questions (or correct her name again) before the nurse gently touched her shoulder and guided her toward one of the tables. "Here, why don't you ask Claire some of your questions while you get some food in your tummy, hmm? She's been here a while now. I'm sure she'll be more than willing to help you learn a few things about how Landel's Institute works. And if you still have more questions later, I'll come back and get you after lunch. Okay, dear?"
Rapunzel would have protested more, but she felt like she was getting nowhere fast no matter what she said. This Claire girl looked nice, at least. Sitting with her couldn't be much worse than talking to Nurse Alice, anyway. "Okay," she said with a sigh, setting down her tray and moving what was left of her hair out of the way as she took a seat opposite the other girl.
Once the nurse was gone, Rapunzel turned her attention back to her new tablemate. "Okay, I am so seriously lost right now. What is going on? What is this place?" she asked, exasperation creeping into her voice.
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When the girl spoke, Kairi did her best to give her a reassuring smile. She was new; she had to be, with those questions and the blatant confusion and worry on her face. How could she blame her?
"Well," Kairi began, placing her fork down on the table before continuing. "First off ... don't worry, it's going to be okay. So, breathe," she said with a soft laugh, smiling. "This place is called Landel's. It's ... a mental asylum, but only on the outside. The truth is," her voice then got low, and she leaned closer to the girl. "This place ... by day may look like an asylum, turns ..."
How to explain it? If this girl already looked this confused, then there was no doubt the next things she said were only going to make her feel worse.
"The lights go off, and we're allowed out of our rooms, but... no matter how far you run or try to get away, you wake up back in your bed in the morning. And then there are also ..." a pause, and she sighed. "Things that lurk in the hallways as well as us. Monsters, creatures... nothing good.
"But don't worry!" she continued. "We're all here to help each other. Things to be used as weapons can be found ... like there are baseball bats in the recreational shed, and the kitchen upstairs has pots and pants and knives as well."
Was that good? For now, she hoped. Either way, Kairi took in a large breath, as if she had spoken the entire thing without breathing at all. Once she was done, she smiled once again. "I'm Kairi, by the way. I've ... well, been here for a while," she admitted sadly. "But see! I'm still okay and in one piece!"
On the outside, anyway.
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No, no no no no no, he couldn't be. If she was here, that had to mean the deal had gone through, right? M- Gothel had never been one to put more effort into things than necessary. If she could take Rapunzel along somewhere without a chance Rapunzel would ever fight back again, she would take that option. She wouldn't risk upsetting a deal like that just to make sure Eugene died. The woman was cruel and selfish, but she wasn't bloodthirsty. At least, that's what Rapunzel believed, anyway. Though, even as she thought that, a little niggling part of her pointed out what a fat load of good most of her beliefs had done for her in her life up until now.
Eventually, she took the advice to breathe slower and steadier, and she listened to the rest of the other girl's explanation even as her hands still trembled on top of the table. She wasn't quite sure what was meant by "mental asylum." Wasn't "asylum" just another word for sanctuary? Gothel had used that word on occasion to describe her tower, so it made sense that this new place would be something like that as well. She still didn't see where the "mental" part of things came in, though.
She didn't have much time to be confused by that, however, before she was confused - and immediately frightened - by something else.
"Wait, wha- monsters? Creatures?! Here?!"
But don't worry!
"Don't worry?!" she repeated, this time out loud. Rapunzel was gripping the edges of the table tight beneath her fingertips as the girl went on to assure her that there were ways to defend against the monsters. Come on, breathe, breathe, she told herself, making a note in her head about the shed and the kitchen (especially the kitchen). Also, she had a point about being all in one piece. Kairi was a little younger than her, and if she was all right, then that said good things for Rapunzel's chances, right?
A few more breaths before she spoke again. "I'm Rapunzel. And I still don't get why I'm here. Just before this, I was supposed to be going somewhere that..." She bit her lip, unsure of how to explain this without having to go into painful details. "Well, somewhere that's not here, anyway. How did you get here? Do you remember? Who brought you here? And why?" She hoped she wasn't overloading Kairi (had the nurse gotten her name wrong too?) with questions, but she just had to know more about what was going on.
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Rapunzel. A strange name, but then again, according to some of the other patients, her name was strange as well. "It's nice to meet you, Rapunzel," she gave the girl a bright smile, hoping to at least calm her down a little bit. "Oh! And the nurses are calling you a different name because according to the leader here, our real lives are make believe. But you mustn't believe them, because ... well, what we have really lived is real, right? You just have to focus on that."
Questions, questions, questions. "None of us really know why we're here," Kairi explained, brushing her fingers through her hair as she tried to think. "One minute we're somewhere else, and the next ... well, we wake up in strange white beds wearing strange clothes. It's the same for all of us. I don't actually remember how I got here; no one does. It's the same for everyone. The last thing I remember was a sudden flash of light from a machine exploding, and then all of a sudden I woke up and everything was dark, and I was ... here."
She had woken up at night. Now it felt like the patients awoke during the day; she wished she had been that lucky.
"So we're all the same," she said with a small, sad laugh. "We were all taken from where we belong, and thrown into this mess. Everything is different here, too. Things we used to be able to do, we are ... unable to, now."
Kairi looked down at her hands then, a solemn look crossing her face. Or you can do things you were unable to do before, she thought. She couldn't tell the girl that. Everything was too new, too fresh. She didn't want to cause any more damage than she needed to. Rapunzel already looked rather upset, and she didn't want to push her any more than necessary.
"But!" she quickly continued, shoving her hands in her lap. "There are people here who can help. At night, I help out in a club. It's really just a code name for a group of us trying to figure out things, and working together to complete tasks, but still. It gives you a little more security, because you're around others instead of being alone. You should look into one, if you're unsure of what to do!"
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Rapunzel's hands slipped down from the table when Kairi mentioned losing abilities. Without thinking, her fingers closed around a thin section of hair hanging in her lap, the strands quickly becoming warm in her grasp. Was that why so much of her hair was missing now? Was it simply in the power of the people who ran this place to take magic away from those who possessed it? Did they store it somewhere for safekeeping? That would explain why Gothel wasn't here with her. But if that was the case, then how come she hadn't just gone to these people years ago and just not bothered to raise Rapunzel at all? Her eyes closed for a moment as the beginnings of a headache surfaced in her temples.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't catch Kairi's look toward her hands, and was slightly startled when the girl's pitch picked up again. "A club..." The word wasn't familiar to Rapunzel in any sense other than as a bludgeon, but the explanation for what one was came quickly enough. For the first time since waking up, a little hopeful feeling sprouted inside her. Getting help from other people, making friends, forming plans together - that sounded like the best idea she had heard so far.
At last, a partially relieved smile crossed Rapunzel's face. "Oh thank you! I will definitely do that sometime soon, because I really don't want to have to be alone here." Her hand moved up from her lap, brushing hair behind her ear. "I've had enough of that in my life up to now."
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That was one reason she couldn't help but feel ... at least slightly happy to be stuck in the institute. She had Sora and Riku by her side after what felt like ages upon ages of never seeing them. She had been alone on the island for far too long for her tastes, and she had wanted to be with them more than anything ...
It wasn't time to think of that now, though! "I'm in a club - called the Arts and Crafts club," she told Rapunzel warmly. "Who knows, if you sign up for it, I may be able to help you! I'd be able to at least help you get a weapon or two," especially considering she had a sword she could use. She would protect someone, she swore to herself.
"And ... I know this is completely off topic," Kairi suddenly began again before she could stop herself, "But ... your hair is beautiful," she gave the girl a small smile, a small blush forming on her cheeks. "I've never seen hair that long. How long have you been growing it for?"
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...If monsters even had anything resembling a head. And weren't so much bigger than her. And were less monster and more, say, fluffy bunny.
Oh my gosh can daytime just last forever starting now? Please?
Then Kairi brought something else up, taking Rapunzel slightly off-guard again. "What? Oh, thanks. I, uh, just got it trimmed, actually," she answered with a wince, though still trying to sound genuinely thankful for the kind words. In truth, even if her hair were its proper length, she still wouldn't have been totally sure how to respond to a compliment about it. Up until two days ago, only one person had ever made any kinds of comments about her hair (in non-animal-speak, anyway). Hearing these kinds of unabashed compliments, no strings attached, was still new to her. "It's been growing all my life, pretty much?" she went on, hoping that by focusing on the question, she would lose a bit more of that awkwardness. "You could say it's practically a friend at this point. It's just always been there..."
She let herself smile a little bit again following a short pause. "Your hair looks really beautiful too, by the way. I love the colour," she told Kairi. She might have been more enthusiastic under different circumstances, but she was glad to return the compliment, all the same.
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Why am I thinking about this.
Kairi's smile turned warm and understanding at the comment about her hair becoming her friend, and she nodded her head. "Reliable, right? I understand. When I was separated from my best friends for a while, I used to write notes in bottles and send them into the ocean. It was my way of talking to them, I suppose, though I don't think they ever got any of them," a small laugh, and she sighed. It was true; they never mentioned any of her notes, so she supposed she never got any of them. Which was okay, she decided, since most of them were written when she was feeling lonely and sad, and she didn't want to explain to either of them what they really meant. "So I guess I could say that my notes were my friends, too."
However, at the returned compliment, Kairi couldn't help but blush. "Thank you," she replied happily, brushing her hair behind her ears. "I'm letting it grow out; I used to keep it short, but now I want it long. It's so hard; I'm so impatient!"
And now her curiosity was getting the best of her. "Where are you from? If you don't mind my asking. I always like to ask, because there are so many people from all of the different worlds, and it's all so fascinating! I'm from Destiny Islands, by the way. Are you from Earth, too?"
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"That's a really sweet idea, actually. Maybe I should try writing messages like that sometime," she remarked after Kairi finished. "I've never really had anyone to write to before, but now... I think I do." If Eugene was all right and he was out there somewhere, then maybe she could contact him that way. If she could hail down a passing bird or chameleon (was it too much to hope that Pascal might find her here?), she was sure she could get some assistance sending a note out there. That would at least be more reliable than ocean waves, she was sure. A slightly more hopeful smile touched Rapunzel's lips at that. It might not have been much of an idea, but it was better than just panicking. She was sure she would think of other things to try as she got a better sense of what was going on, too.
It was odd listening to Kairi go on about hair like this, considering what Rapunzel had just woken up from, but it felt okay somehow. How skilled was this girl in the art of friendship that she could make a person feel so much better in this kind of situation? Respect for the other girl was fast bubbling up inside her. "Hey, you know, hair grows faster than you think. At least mine does, anyway," she assured Kairi with a puff of air through her nose - almost a laugh. "I'm sure you'll be able to get it out as long as you want someday. And it won't take a million years, either, trust me."
Her head raised and tilted when the words "different worlds" came up. What did Kairi mean by that? Did she mean kingdoms, countries, continents...? "Uh, I'm pretty sure the kingdom I'm from is called Corona. I only learned that just the other day, though. My..." She paused, correcting herself. "Someone I was close to never mentioned the name before. I had to find out by going to the capital city myself. We were both always pretty far on the outskirts of that world before that."
No thanks to her, thought Rapunzel, a flash of bitterness crossing her expression then. Her fingers clutched tighter around her hair, memories of the immediate past frothing back to the surface.
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