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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awyisss (rock)

[hersalvation]

...No, it wasn't "as if"-- this man clearly didn't have a clue about the world they were in. It was almost puzzling, because when Lion imagined different worlds being an actuality she had only thought of them as different variations of the one they currently lived in. So, it went even further than that, so much that this much of fiction could be reality?

Well, he probably thought much of the same, and unsurprisingly so he admitted he hadn't known about the existence of different Fragments; it wasn't too long ago that Lion didn't either. But to wind up someplace thoroughly different from your own... So far, nothing had been jarring barring the situation going down in the place they were at, but it must have been quite the opposite for him.

"I'll be frank, the morning had left a lot to be desired," Lion said, a hint of flatness in her voice. Peter was a nice boy, but he was about the only thing that made being in the cafeteria back there worthwhile at all. And even so, she was still feeling a little bitter about it. It was something she heavily hoped wouldn't become routine. "But if there's anything at all to gain while here, I might be interested in making a grab for it. To make it worthwhile, and all."

For all the bad to be said about Landel's, Lion definitely wouldn't have minded even the smallest amount of good to come out of all this.

And then, she regarded him with a curious look; Peter had explained things fairly thoroughly, or at least it sure felt like he had, but that last statement made her wonder about one thing; "For how long, if you don't mind my asking?" Lion had been under the impression some had been around long enough to understand what was happening, but that mention of 'a while' made her wonder just how long it all had been going on for.

[razing_phoenix]

Seeing how this patient had started off their time here (it was remarkable that he still couldn't pin down a gender, but he was just going to try his hardest to not think about it either way), it was no surprise that they were less than impressed with what Landel's had to offer. Sadly, that wasn't bound to change. The night was worse than the day in most ways, especially for anyone who wasn't used to fighting. Granted, waking up somewhere and being forced to clean a whole cafeteria when you had no idea of what was going on was hardly the best start, but...

"I'm not sure how much there is to gain, but two things I can think off right off the bat are friendships and information. You'll probably see a lot of things here that you never would have where you come from, and meet people who have lived in times and places completely different from your own." Those were the best aspects of the institute in Guy's opinion, though he knew that for some people even that wasn't enough. There was something to be said for looking for the silver lining, though.

The next question the patient asked was a typical one and simple enough for him to answer. Guy tilted his head to the side for a moment as he thought it over, though ended up wrinkling his nose when a snowflake landed on it. "Well..." Once again, he regretted the fact that he hadn't kept better track of the passing days since his arrival. It all blurred together after enough time had passed.

Keeping in mind that the Auldrant calendar didn't match up with the one on Earth, Guy decided to respond with days. "I'd say it's been around thirty days at this point. That doesn't sound like a long time, but believe me, it is." His rank made that clear enough on its own, though he wasn't going to get into that with a newcomer.

"Oh, and I forgot to mention." He gave a small bow of his head. "The name is Guy. It's nice to meet you."

[hersalvation]

As he mentioned it, the gaining of information suddenly seemed obvious; no doubt about it, Lion was already finding out some new things, and it made her wonder just how much more she'd learn. Back home, Lion studied hard because she had to, and not necessarily out of a thirst for knowledge, but here she was suddenly finding herself wanting to know more about the vast array of things that could be discovered from the people alone. Perhaps because, even though the place itself was already making its downfalls obvious (and there were more she had only heard about), the people here at least were already bringing something mysterious and new to the table; different realities was something that, to the average person, was either a ridiculous concept or one that was beyond actuality. How often did someone get to say they could meet someone who wasn't even familiar with Earth?

Helpful as this man and the boy in the cafeteria had been, Lion raised her eyebrows by a margin at the mention of gaining friendships. First impressions of the institute had lead her to believe that it didn't leave very much room for bonding in such a manner-- Lion had imagined such things like Jessica had liked to do, such as come together with one or two, maybe more friends and do simple things like have lunch together in the school cafeteria, or as Lion had done and participate in a sports team before she had graduated. Those were easy venues to meet people, but in a place that was, essentially, a prison of sorts? ...The skepticism didn't last for too long, however, as soon as he had mentioned just how long he had been here.

Thirty days. An entire month. At any other place, this amount of time would fly by, but given the right circumstances it could also last entirely too long... It wasn't very long, true, and truthfully she had been expecting to hear a longer amount of time. But given her feelings and thoughts about the place already when she had only been around for maybe a few hours, Lion was understanding when he claimed it was long.

And so, it made sense to gain friends-- or allies, at the very least-- during that time. In a place where everyone was stuck inside the same boat and had to band together during this supposed nighttime that was explained to her earlier, it was natural that no one wanted to stay alone. Lion couldn't blame them; she was feeling somewhat unnerved by the lack of familiar faces in such a daunting place, herself.

"So I take it you are rather experienced," she mused, although not as if she hadn't believed him before. It was curiosity, mostly; how long did one have to be around for it to be considered a 'while'? "I had a lot explained to me before coming out here, so to be honest, I'm not sure how much more I would need to know. But I wouldn't be surprised if there did happen to be a lot more to find out about."

--Ah, right. Where were her manners? After the man named Guy introduced himself, Lion brought up an arm across herself, and in a similarly polite manner bowed her own head. "I'm Lion Ushiromiya. It's a pleasure as well."

[razing_phoenix]

Lion Ushiromiya. It didn't mean a thing to him. Most of the names here were foreign, so he hadn't really known what to expect. Still, some names would have made the gender obvious; in this case, Guy had no clue. He knew he'd be better off if he stopped dwelling on it, and it wasn't as if the confusion had ruined the conversation by any means, but he still wanted to know.

There were ways to find out, such as keeping an eye on which showers were used or what room block was returned to, but the last thing Guy wanted was to be labeled as creepy. And he wasn't! He had a very good reason for needing to know, after all.

But that was all shoved to the side in the interest of trying to figure out what aspects of the institute Lion hadn't yet been warned about. While Lion seemed to think that a lot had already been covered, Guy seriously doubted that. There was just too much to touch on in one conversation. "Well, I'm guessing you heard about the nights, with the monsters. How about the brainwashing and experiments? Or the fact that we go into a nearby town once a week?" There was also the issue of visitors, the intercom and the radio, and the outside area that could be accessed. But the last thing he needed to do was overwhelm someone who seemed to be doing their best to take this all in stride. Which wasn't easy.