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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[for_a_song]

After some quiet time in the Sun Room, Gren was feeling... well, 'better' wasn't really the term for it, but he was a little less on edge. He'd had time to calm down and get his wits about him a little more. There wasn't much he could do about the fact that today seemed to be doing it's damnedest to plunge him back into some of the worst parts of his life, but what he could do was remember that he'd got through it once, and he'd get through it again. Not was not the time to fall apart.

The cafeteria was remarkably clean, given what had transpired there at breakfast. It was also quite full by the time he got there, and his nurse, perhaps trying to help him out, steered him towards an empty place towards the middle of the room once he'd collected his lunch. Not an ideal place, but he didn't want to get in a fight with tensions running as high as they were. Instead, he turned to the spot he'd been lead to, looking at the woman who seemed quite content to be sitting there by herself.

Well, the nurses might have no qualms about shoving people together like they felt some God-given obligation to help them make friends, but he'd been raised with some manners, and realized not every woman would be entirely comfortable with a strange man sitting down across from them. So he cleared his throat quietly, and put on a smile for her.

"Would it be all right if I joined you?"

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe had been expecting someone to be seated across from her (as that had happened at every meal thus far) and looked up from where she had been poking at the rubbery excuse for tempera in front of her. Her eyes turned toward the nurse who was moving away for the moment before turning back to him and giving him a nod. Even if she refused the nurse would probably just steer him back to the seat anyway. At least he gave the impression of polite company.

[for_a_song]

It seemed the woman was either shy or just the quiet sort. Either way, Gren didn't particularly mind. He probably wasn't at his most charming, given the stress of breakfast, so he was content enough to just sit and eat. "Thanks," he said, sitting down and poking a little at his lunch with a fork. "The staff seems to like pairing people up for some reason." He was far from antisocial, so it wasn't usually a problem, but maybe they'd sensed he wasn't quite himself and decided to intervene.

[willing_sheath]

"So I have noticed," she answered quietly. She wasn't particularly shy, but she never did particularly will in social settings. And those were normal social settings. She picked at the strip of fish for a few more seconds before turning to the bits of fruit at the side of her tray. Considering she'd eaten about two bites of food that morning it would likely be a good idea to consume something that afternoon.

"Is... what happened this morning a common occurrence?" she asked after a measure of time, her tone sounding as if she could have been asking about the weather rather than massive gassing. She didn't know what to think. She was on her third day in the institution and had, yet again, managed not to get much more of an explanation aside from 'Don't leave your room at night' and 'Don't believe what they tell you.' Of course the fault lay with her--up until now she had been too shocked and confused to be willing to speak with anyone but the one familiar... and yet unfamiliar... face in the entire building.

[for_a_song]

Lunch seemed a better prospect than breakfast had been, even before it had been interrupted. He kept reminding himself that it wasn't worse than army rations, and that he couldn't keep skipping meals just because they didn't appeal to him, but it was a hard fought thing. This, at least, he could eat, even if it meant drowning the fish in tartar sauce.

Gren took a moment to finish chewing a bite of fishstick and shook his head at the question. "No. That was new, so far as I know. I haven't seen them get violent during the day before." Not the patients or the staff. Usually that sort of thing was reserved for after dark. "I think these soldiers are putting everyone on edge. I'm Gren, by the way." Might as well do the polite thing and introduce himself while he was answering questions.

[willing_sheath]

"My name is Tomoe," she answered, still not quite in the mood to dive for full pleasantries, taking up a piece of unidentifiable fruit (canned pineapple chunks) and studying it. "How long have you been here...?" She felt mildly uncomfortable asking a stranger questions as such... but with the way things had been going if she wanted to have any idea of what Landels was she was going to have to--between the world turning upside down and inside out the first day... and then losing half the second day entirely.

"I apologize, you don't need to answer me if you don't want to..." she swallowed briefly before finally looking over to him. "I've been here three days... and I still... don't remotely understand what is happening here."

[for_a_song]

"That's a pretty name," he replied, before he could stop to consider that it might come off as weird or flirtatious. Well, hopefully she wouldn't take it the wrong way.

"I don't mind. I've been here six days," he replied. It seemed almost unfathomable that it had only been that long. It seemed like an eternity, really. Then again, a lot had happened in that time. "I don't blame you for being confused. It's... a lot to handle. I'm still trying to figure things out myself." He was getting there, but while he'd spoken to a few people who'd been here far longer than himself, he'd also spent a lot of the time with people who were as new and confused as he was, which didn't really help shed much light on the situation.

[willing_sheath]

"I see..." Tomoe finally took the bit of fruit off her fork, chewing and swallowing before she said anything else. Only six days... it hadn't even been a full three days for her and it felt like it had been weeks. Kenshin had been there a month.

"I am almost afraid to ask... every time I start to something bizarre or violent happens," at least she would chalk her shadow coming to life and trying to strangle her and later being bombed with tear gas as bizarre or violent. "What... is this place? There is someone I know here, but... I've yet to get any proper answers from him."

[for_a_song]

Gren blinked a bit at the question. She'd been here three days and didn't know even that much? He had to wonder if this person she knew was trying to keep her in the dark on purpose. It didn't seem a very good plan, really. "We're supposed to believe it's some sort of hospital for the mentally ill," he replied. "That we're all crazy. As for what it really is, I'm not completely sure, but I think it may be a research facility of some sort. Maybe military."

He shot a glance at the soldiers scattered around the periphery of the room. "Given what's happened today, it seems to be fairly likely. I know they take people at night to experiment on them, but I haven't been able to get to where they're doing it, yet." Yet. Eventually, he'd do it, and try to sabotage whatever they were up to.

[willing_sheath]

She nodded to the explanation--being told of the mental institution and their apparent madness had been told to her immediately--but beyond that? Nothing. She had been told not to believe what she was told by the staff and not to exit her room when night came--beyond that it had been they had been kept apart and repeatedly interrupted, and up until now? Tomoe hadn't been willing to speak to anyone else. Perhaps the tear gas and the drugged child in that... oh so helpful 'group therapy' session had been enough to push her past her own walls.

"Does... anyone have any idea what the purpose is?" she asked, considering his words in their entirety. Whatever they were doing... she could see why they might have Kenshin here. Yuffie. Half of the people she'd seen struggling in the cafeteria that morning.

But what was the purpose of wasting the time and effort to bring an arguably useless woman back to life? She had gone beyond trying to figure out how it was possible... the why seemed much more important now.

[for_a_song]

"If anyone knows for sure, they're not sharing the information," he replied wryly. "To make some sort of weapon, is my guess. Either to make better soldiers, or make something to use against soldiers. But that's just my guess." An educated one, based on his past experience, but still a guess.

"Whatever it is, it's clear they don't have any problems hurting people in the process. It's probably best just to lie low and not attract too much attention to yourself." He didn't want to make assumptions, but Tomoe looked to him to be a pretty ordinary young woman. Probably not capable of defending against the sorts of things this place liked to throw at people.

[willing_sheath]

She nodded to his answer. At least it was an answer, more so than her idle wondering. "I was told that the rooms would be safe at night and to stay there... and then on my first night some... thing came out of the wall and nearly strangled me--" she said aloud for the first time, though she didn't want to say that the thing had been her own shadow. "I'm not entirely sure that 'lying low' will work so well..."

Of course she couldn't remember anything of the previous night at all. She didn't know if she had inexplicably lost consciousness or if something had happened that she couldn't remember. There was no physical evidence of anything happening... but at the same time there was no physical evidence of the fact that she'd died in a fairly traumatic and bloody manner those three days earlier either. Waking alive and unmarked after having her body cleaved nearly in two certainly set the bar as to what she would and would not believe.

[for_a_song]

"Whoever told you that was looking out for you, I'm sure. Those shadows--" An unhappy look flitted across his face for a split second--"that doesn't usually happen. The rooms are usually safe. If you wander too far away from them, you'll probably run into trouble. I wouldn't go out unless you can fight, or you're with someone who can. It's just not safe."

He sat back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. "If you want to go exploring, just make sure you take someone with you." He didn't think sitting in your room every night while things stalked the halls outside would be very comforting, but he also hated to see anyone get hurt. And then the overhead announcement went off, sounding stranger than any of the previous ones, in a way that made him feel distinctly uneasy. Before he could say anymore, though, his nurse showed up to take him away, looking a little impatient about it. "Take care, Tomoe."

[willing_sheath]

Tomoe continued listen, finding the smallest note of relief in having the events of her first night confirmed as abnormal again. Kenshin had said as much when it was happening--but that was difficult to fully believe on the tail end of everything else from the very same day.

She gave him a nod before her attention was drawn by the intercom again. It may have only been her third day, but she would have to be utterly dense not to pick up on the apparent clash happening between the regular staff and the military personnel.

She turned back in time to see his nurse arrive. "Thank you for the help, Gren-san."