DAY 55: Sun Room [2nd Shift]

[autophoenix]

[ from here ]Either she was the only unlucky person to experience a freezing shower, or she just hadn't built up the tolerance for it that the more seasoned patients had. Whichever it was, she was the first person into the sun room and while normally she wouldn't mind that, the soldiers were majorly creepy and she was kind of hoping for some kind

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[scintillatingly]

It didn't take long for someone to join him, and it turned out to be a familiar face. Not as familiar as some, but Sora remembered Woody rather clearly. He'd seemed like a good person with the way he'd been worrying about Buzz, after all. Sora hoped that he'd helped him get a little more used to his new body, although they hadn't even been allowed to eat yet today. He felt kind of hungry himself, but he'd just have to put off those thoughts until lunch. They would have to feed them then, right?

He waved at the man as he walked up, smiling when the hat was tilted at him. He wished he could do that without his beret falling off, but that was besides the point.

"Go right ahead!" he responded, gesturing to the space next to him. "How have you been? I hope that you found Buzz and that you've been eating properly." He realized that he sounded a little bit like a parent when he said that, but he could understand how being in a new body could be scary. He'd experienced something similar when he'd gone to both Atlantica and The Pride Lands, though in those instances he could just rely on Donald to change him back at a moment's notice. That had made it fun rather than frightening. For all Woody knew, his change could be permanent.

[pullstrung]

Woody sat down onto the sofa beside Sora once he got the go-ahead, his long legs sprawling out in front of him. He still wasn't quite used to sitting on a piece of furniture that was actually designed with his body size in mind, but that was the least of his worries these days. Still, he couldn't help but smile a little when Sora asked after him. While there was no way he'd confide in someone so young about his problems, it was kind of touching to see that Sora was so concerned about other people even though he was in as much trouble as everybody else.

"Yeah," Woody said with a nod. "Yeah, I found him. We've met up a few times since I last talked to you, actually." As for eating, he couldn't help but snort at that. It was strange to hear a kid reminding him that he needed to take care of himself, but it was also true that Sora had more experience than him in being an actual person. "And I've been trying to eat more, but these new guys haven't been making it easy." The other patients weren't, either, come to think of it. Hadn't that one nut-job been the one to start the whole food fight?

"What about you?" he asked. "Been staying out of trouble?" He couldn't imagine someone like Sora throwing himself into the food fight, but getting involved hadn't exactly been on Woody's list of priorities, either. Once Scott started getting beaten up, it'd been too easy to get sucked in. Hopefully Sora had been luckier.

[scintillatingly]

Sora was relieved to hear that Woody had been meeting up with Buzz regularly. He took that to mean that they'd been going out at night together, which was the best way to go about things. He wondered if he should ask Woody if he wanted to join Arts and Crafts. Sora would be willing to always put him and Buzz in the same group, after all, and it was possible that they would need some support considering they were in bodies they weren't used to.

But he'd just made that attempt with Sam and had been turned down, so he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little discouraged by that. Sam had been really nice about it, of course, but what if he couldn't recruit anyone? Maybe it was better to leave that kind of thing to Kairi. She was a cute girl, so people were probably more likely to listen to her, right?

He thought that was how it worked, anyway.

"Yeah, it wasn't really fair of them to not feed us this morning, huh? Still, lunch should be better." Sora was counting on that, anyway. If they deprived them of two meals in a row, that would be bordering on cruelty.

Sora didn't know what counted as staying out of trouble, but he could only imagine that Woody meant with the soldiers. Seeing how they had been treating him so far, he thought it was safe to say that he had been. "Yeah, I've been fine! The only bad thing is that a friend of mine is missing again, but I've just been focusing on the Arts and Crafts club, so..."

Like always, there were ups and downs, and Sora did his best to focus on the former. It was harder than usual when Riku was gone again, but he knew that he'd be find with Kairi around.

[pullstrung]

Woody hoped lunch would be better. He'd cringed every time the female soldier had spoken up with that harsh voice of hers. Why were they even giving those kinds of orders to a toy? Why had they thought bringing someone like him or Buzz here would be a good idea? It just didn't make any sense to Woody. Not for the first time, he felt more than a little angry that they'd been unfairly targeted like this.

Either way, it sounded like Sora was doing okay, which was good to know. Although, his expression grew more somber when he mentioned losing a friend. "Who is it?" he asked. "Maybe I could keep an eye out for you." It wasn't much, but it was all Wood could do for now. Sora had helped him realize Buzz was safe and sound, after all.

"And what's Arts and Crafts club?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. He'd seen a little bit about it on the bulletin board, but didn't quite understand whether it was supposed to be a daytime activity, or what. The name alone sounded like something Andy would have done at summer camp, but this didn't seem like the time or place for that.

[scintillatingly]

It was nice of Woody to offer to keep an eye out, although Sora was already pretty sure that Riku was gone for good. For the moment, anyway. There was always the chance that he could come back, but at this point he was starting to wonder if it was better that he didn't. The fact that he'd come in and out so many times couldn't be a good sign, after all.

"Oh, his name is Riku. He has silver hair, he's a little taller than me, but around my age. He can be kind of a loner sometimes..." Sora didn't know why it was hard for Riku to make friends, seeing how the two of them had hit it off as children, but he wasn't going to question it. It was something that his friend struggled with, maybe because he was too focused on getting things done. If all he could do was talk about what to do next, it might scare people away -- and it was no way to get to know someone, either. "But yeah, thanks for that! I appreciate it."

And it looked like Woody was curious about Arts and Crafts after all! Part of that was because he didn't know what it was, so it was possible that he wouldn't be interested in joining once he had it explained to him. Still, Sora was optimistic. "Oh, it's not what it sounds like. It's just a code word so that the nurses -- well, the soldiers now -- don't get suspicious. But it's basically just a way for people to work together at nights and focus on specific goals. We follow the radio clues, search for supplies, explore areas we haven't checked out before, and sometimes we even try to take down the brainwashed patients so others don't have to. It's a good way to make sure that you always have something to do at night, and someone to do it with!"

He was getting pretty good at giving that explanation now, and he could only hope that he'd done a good job of making it sound appealing. He realized that numbers didn't really matter, but he thought that the club might be more effective if it had more people in it.

[pullstrung]

Woody couldn't help but look faintly skeptical at that description. A kid with silver hair? Either he'd gone gray early, or it was some fad he hadn't heard about -- unless there were other reasons for such an unusual hair color, but so far Sora hadn't said anything to make Woody think that was likely. The expression faded as quickly as it came, though, and Woody nodded. "All right, I'll let you know if I ever see him." He sounded distinct-looking enough, at least.

When Sora launched into his explanation about Arts and Crafts, Woody realized it was probably the exact opposite of a summer camp activity. Of course, he shouldn't have been surprised by anything at this point. This place called itself a hospital when they did anything except help people, and now it was being run by soldiers. It was like everything else was already upside-down enough, so why not a group that posed as a regular club by day while trying to tear apart the institute at night?

Rubbing his chin, he considered that new bit of information. He and Buzz hadn't made much progress the last couple nights on their own, but that still didn't change the fact that they had very real toy concerns to investigate. Regular patients wouldn't understand their objectives, and they probably didn't need to know about them, either. But joining up with another group would give them a good way to make connections with people, which would up their chances of finding out about something that interested him and Buzz.

"So you guys do a lot of exploring," Woody said after a moment. Then he blinked, looking a little more concerned now. "Wait, do you have other people you go with, too?" A kid Sora's age didn't need to run around slaying monsters by himself. His mother was probably worried sick about him.

[scintillatingly]

Even if it had been brief, Sora had caught the look on Woody's face in response to the description he'd given. He wasn't sure what had stood out about it, though it probably had something to do with the hair color. For some reason silver hair seemed odd to Woody, though Sora had always seen it as normal. He'd grown up alongside Riku and his hair had always been like that, so it didn't strike him as strange. "Thanks a lot," he said, nodding back even though he got the feeling Woody wouldn't be running across his friend.

Woody took some time to think over what he'd said about the club, which was fine by Sora. He did his best to not seem anxious by settling against the couch some more and staring up at the skylight over their heads. The sky looked really gray, and more than that, it seemed like the glass was being darkened by something. Was it snowing?

Before Sora could be sure, Woody spoke up again, drawing his attention back down to the conversation. It sounded like he was the most interested in exploring, which made sense for someone who was still pretty new to the institute. "Yeah, we do! And I could put you on assignments that were focused on that, if you joined. I usually put people into groups of three, so no one's ever alone! Don't worry about that." That was one the main points of the club, after all.

[pullstrung]

So the people in Arts and Crafts worked in groups of three. That made sense, though Woody wondered if they'd get stuck with someone who'd just slow him and Buzz down in their own goals. On the other hand, they could also get paired with someone who knew their way around the building a lot better than either of them. Probably a bit of a coin toss, but wasn't anything around here anymore?

"Well, I'd have to talk about it with, you know, my friend," Woody explained, not wanting to promise anything, but not exactly aiming to shoot Sora down either. "But I'll let you know if we decide to join." He offered the boy a warm smile. "Thanks." He hoped someone older was at least helping run it, since that sounded like a lot of responsibility for a kid.

There was something else Sora had mentioned that niggled in the back of his mind, though, and Woody's eyebrows furrowed together. "Except, uhhh, what did you mean when you talked about that, that..." He gestured with his hand, as if he still couldn't quite believe he was having these kinds of conversations at all. "...brainwashing stuff?""

[scintillatingly]

While Woody's answer wasn't a yes, it also wasn't a flat-out no like what Sora had gotten from Sam, so it was better than nothing. Sora figured that the man was probably being genuine, since he said he'd talk to his friend about it and all. Buzz seemed like the sort of person who would like the idea of a club, so he allowed himself to have high hopes about the whole thing. And even if they didn't join, it wasn't the end of the world or anything.

"Okay, sounds good! You can always leave me a note on the bulletin to let me know." Sora hoped that Woody would tell him either way, but he could always follow up on it if he needed to. He'd run into the man twice now, so he clearly wasn't a hard person to locate.

Though after that, Woody brought the topic back to something Sora had mentioned earlier. In fact, he hadn't gone into detail because he was so used to people already knowing about it. The realization that Woody hadn't had it explained to him was troubling. "Oh, that's... It's called Special Counseling. Every other night patients will be taken from their rooms. Usually it's only a few, I think, but something's done to them that makes them think that they need to stop the other patients from getting around at night, and they usually end up attacking people because of it. We don't know if there's a point to it other than having guards around during the night, but it's pretty scary." More for the person who was being brainwashed than those who came across them -- or that was Sora's guess, at least.

[pullstrung]

He'd heard a lot about the monsters, the supposed impossibility of escape, and even the torture that went on, but this was definitely the first Woody had heard about brainwashing.

"What?!" he hissed, throwing a glance over his shoulder to make sure none of the other soldiers were listening in on their conversation. "You mean they can really do that here!?" It wasn't a new concept to Woody, especially after what Lotso had done to Buzz, but people didn't have a reset button like Buzz Lightyear toys.

"And you actually try to take them down?" he anxiously asked. It seemed like coming up with a plan to trick them would be a better idea than attacking them directly, but that probably depended on who'd been brainwashed.

[scintillatingly]

Woody's sudden outburst caused Sora to jerk out of his more relaxed position, and he also couldn't help sending a glance around the area, but it was more to check and see if they had attracted any attention. A few of the soldiers were looking their way, but when the loud talking didn't continue they lost interest, at least somewhat. These guys seemed way more persistent about watching them than the nurses had been, which was saying something.

The last question that Woody asked almost came across as an accusation, and Sora started to wring his hands together as he worked on gathering the words together to explain. "Well, I usually just try to knock them out. I mean, it's not their fault that they're doing that, but they will hurt other patients really badly. I'd rather try to take care of them early on and make sure they don't hurt people who are less prepared, y'know?"

That had sort of worked with Porky, except it had gotten out of hand. Sora still didn't know what to think about that whole mess, and he got the feeling that Soma and Neku were of the same opinion about it. They'd fought hard, but the guy's machine had malfunctioned on him, and that was what had eventually put him down. Did that mean it was their fault, or was it just a matter of bad timing? He honestly didn't know.

[pullstrung]

Woody relaxed a little when Sora admitted he didn't actively try to hurt people who'd been brainwashed, but it was still disconcerting that someone his age would even have to worry about things like that. He wasn't supposed to be locked in an institute and fighting monsters. Boys like Sora needed to be out in the fresh air, going to school, making friends, and joining sports teams. What kind of sicko would throw kids in a place like this, anyway?

Either way, some of the messages he'd seen on the board suddenly made a lot more sense. There were people here who were forced to work for the institute for a night. Great. He hoped a couple of toys like him and Buzz could fly under the radar enough not to be used for something like that. Then again, the fact they were toys hadn't saved them from winding up here in the first place, so that was probably a major case of wishful thinking.

"And you...actually fight these guys," he said, not entirely convinced, but also a bit concerned just the same. He knew some of Andy's friends took things like judo or karate, but he wasn't sure if something like that would be all that effective against some of the hideous things he'd seen here. "Isn't that dangerous, Sora?"

[scintillatingly]

From the sound of it, Woody didn't seem to think that he would have been capable of fighting successfully, and while it did hit a sore spot for Sora, he realized that the man was just looking out for his well-being. Most fifteen-year-olds didn't go on journeys across worlds to defeat creatures of darkness, and so he could understand why someone might be confused. What really bugged him was when he explained what he was capable of and people still didn't believe him.

"It is, yeah," he admitted, because that was the truth in the end. It was easy to get in over your head in this place and end up with crutches or something like that. Sora had avoided any severe injures during his time here so he'd never been in a wheelchair, but he'd seen plenty of other patients who'd suffered that, and he was sure that Woody had by now too.

"But I've been fighting even before I came here. I kind of... got chosen to do that," he explained. He wasn't sure if it was going to sound weird to Woody or not, especially since Buzz hadn't quite followed when he'd gone through some of it with him originally. Still, he wasn't a liar. He'd give the facts and then it was up to them to decide what to make of them.

[pullstrung]

Woody raised his eyebrows at that admission -- not necessarily because he thought Sora was lying, but because he wasn't sure what it meant. It was possible the kid had a healthy, active imagination, but maybe he was just outright crazy too. On the other hand, what if he really had been fighting before being brought to the institute? That didn't sound like a good thing for a kid his age to do, but Woody knew not all children came from stable homes.

"'Chosen', huh," he said slowly, uncertain of whether he should ask for details or not. Did his parents know about any of this? Woody almost had a mind to ask, but then the intercom suddenly went off. Great, he inwardly sighed. Shift change already? After having him stand in the cafeteria while everyone scrubbed, there was no telling what else they'd make him do later.

"Look," he said, glancing back at Sora, "I'll talk to my friend Buzz about that club thing. But you be careful, okay?"

[scintillatingly]

It was the way that Woody parroted back the word that made the boy worry about whether he was being believed or not. It was something he could prove if night came, though, but that all depended on if he ever spent one with Buzz and Woody. It sounded like he was going to have to wait to hear back on that, though, which was fine.

There was no telling what lunch shift would bring at this point, but Sora was always ready to face those things head-on. He stood from the table as Woody said goodbye to him, nodding in response to the man's words.

"No problem! Just let me know when you find out." Woody seemed like the trustworthy sort if nothing else, so Sora was confident that he would hear back from him soon. "And you be careful, too!" He and Buzz had seemed to be doing well enough so far, but that could change at any time.