Day 55: Courtyard [2nd Shift]

[sheepwood]

After what seemed like an eternity of being amused, irritable, bored, in pain, in excruciating pain, and any combination of those, Guybrush was met by the same soldier who had led him to the cafeteria. He wasn't offered a trip to the Sun Room to check the bulletin board, but didn't push for it anyway. That would have been more walking, and moving

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[corvus_veritas]

From all of this worrying, Byrne was close to curling up into fetal position and sobbing like a baby. He probably would have been doing that, anyway, if a particular statement of Badd's hadn't have grabbed his attention first. Three days. She'd been here three days ago, he said. It was a curious impossibility that made Byrne raise an eyebrow. ...Well, it was impossible if Byrne kept assuming today was September 12, 2011. However, if he'd been out cold for several days after being kidnapped, who was he to know what date it was now?

It didn't help that Badd was clearly off his rocker and everything he'd been saying otherwise was utter nonsense. Just look at him acting unnaturally, being terrified of everything and...great, and now blowing his best friend off as an illusion. Again. Thanks Badd, you're such a pal.

"Hold it!" Byrne snapped, "We're not done yet!" Just for added emphasis, he whipped out the ol' trusty pointer finger and directed it at the detective's face the moment he cried hold it! That should certainly get his attention. "Alright. First of all, explain. How could Kay've been here for three days or more? She was at the courthouse two days ago, just before they kidnapped me and brought me here. Trust me, I would know if she had gone missing anytime before that. And second of all, do you need me to grab you and shake you to prove I'm real? I'll damn well do it if you keep this up any longer!"

He paused, lowering the pointer finger as he gave Badd a frustrated stare. Then he shook his head and let out a long sigh. "I don't know what they did to you, but they sure as hell screwed you over one way or another, Badd."

[tasteoftruth]

Badd flinched and hit the wall when the familiar finger snapped out at him.

"They didn't kidnap you, they murdered..." He literally had to bite his lip to keep himself from continuing. If it shook him, it was only because Badd's mind made him think it was real and the rest of the crowd would just see a crazy old man arguing and flailing against himself. As much as it it hurt to resist he couldn't let himself be consumed by fantasy.

If it was September 2011, if it was that day all over again he'd have a thousand things to say to Byrne before they entered the courtroom, things he'd obsessed over wanting to say for years. The temptation was near irresistible to drop sanity just for a few moments, beg Byrne for forgiveness, and then go right back to being a calm, collected island. Would it even matter? Would anyone know if he took a moment of weakness?

The soldiers were calling them for lunch. Badd stepped towards the door with an expression like a scared child. His jaw worked for a few moments, as if he was desperately trying to find something to say. So much to say...

He's not real.

Badd's nails pressed against the inside of his palms. He steeled himself to turn away and fled into the comforting warmth and monotony of Landel's Institute. Maybe they'd be starved again. He wasn't sure he could keep so much as a sugarcube down.