Hope could barely muster the willpower to look up when he heard someone who might be speaking with him, as reluctant as he was to talk to anyone. His eyes widened, however, seeing a girl who looked... around his age? Had she just appeared here, too? But no, she looked far more comfortable, as is she was completely used to this already. But then, from what he had gleaned the night before, everyone here just... found themselves here one day.
But she looked cheerful; far more than he thought anyone here could be, especially after the near silent treatment he had gotten from the doctors (soldiers?) this morning, and the gloom of the blank walls and floors and even the clothes that had been given to him. He couldn't bring himself to be more appreciative of the clothing, though, it being old and musty and just... something he wouldn't have touched once upon a time. His mood had only darkened further at the sight of his brand, now well hidden under not only a long sleeved shirt but a much too big sweatshirt that had sleeves which stretched well beyond his fingertips. Another world, supposedly, and his brand was still there as stark and black as ever, reminding him of truths he didn't want to feel on his skin.
But for all the terrible things that were going on in his head and the gloom of being here... he couldn't seem to hang on to those thoughts in the face of someone else. Like Vanille.
Not knowing what to say, he just shook his head, scooting over slightly closer to the window to make room (not that there wasn't a lot of room already on the seat, especially since the both of them weren't exactly the biggest people out there).
Well, it didn't look like he was going to shoo her away, which was a good sign. There was a chance that he was just a gloomy, antisocial guy, but maybe he was just a little down in the dumps. Nothing a chat with a cute girl couldn't fix, right? It was worth a try.
"Thanks!" Anise chirped in her usual high-pitched voice, plopping down on the seat next to the stranger. Her paper bag was set in her lap, with her coupons and card safely inside. It was kind of a funny coincidence that the staff would give them money so soon after Anise and her friends went and collected a bunch, but the new policy was definitely a welcome one. Finally, she could go shopping! It was nice to have something to look forward to for once.
"My name's Anise." It was only polite to introduce herself if they were going to spend the ride together. The guy next to her looked pretty uncomfortable, though. Either he had a really rough night, or... "Is this your first time going on the field trip?" she asked, tilting her head a little as she did.
He blinked for a moment before nodding, still unsure of himself. The field trip? That sounded like a regular occurrence. Still, he couldn't wrap his head around it... another world, a hospital of some sort (it didn't look like any hospital he knew of, though. No technology. Or less), and a trip.
Was it any stranger than the idea he had in his head about being in some sort of military test, though? Maybe. He wasn't sure.
"Hi," he finally offered, although still a bit quiet. He winced at the sound of his own voice, still rough from sleep and having stayed silent all morning. But he shifted, bringing his head higher and away from his knees, rubbing at his nose with a sleeve. For all that he could nitpick about the clothes, at least the sleeves were long. He could clench the ends of them in his hands to ensure that they didn't ride up accidentally.
"I'm..." he hesitated just a bit. It didn't matter, though. At least, his name shouldn't matter at all. By now, the Sanctum would probably already have all of their names and know everything about them. And if this really was another world... well, it still wouldn't matter. "I'm Hope."
There, he ducked his head slightly, trying to figure out if all introductions were the same in different worlds and different universes. It had to be, right? Either way, if it wasn't...
Anise's smile softened a little when the boy answered. It looked like 'uncomfortable' was an understatement with this kid, and it wasn't long before he revealed why that was.
"Whoa! Just last night?" Her eyes widened for a moment. "No wonder. You're probably really confused right now, huh?" The military takeover made things confusing enough for veterans like Anise. It was hard to even imagine what it was like for a new arrival. And arriving in the middle of night? That was just cruel.
From the paper bag in her lap, Anise retrieved a muffin, picked a piece off the top, and ate it. "Hmm... There's a whole lot of stuff you probably want to hear about. Do you want me to start with the basics?" Fortunately, they had the whole ride to talk, so maybe Hope would leave the bus somewhat prepared for what was to come.
His eyes were wider as he listened, loosening his grip on his worn and baggy jeans. She sounded so straight forward about it, as if the change hadn't bothered her at all, or at the very least, it didn't bother her anymore. It was... nicer. Not panicking, that was. While he hadn't exactly panicked last night (he hadn't, he told himself firmly. He had just... floundered a bit. It was a normal reaction), he was in no way comfortable with the thoughts of it. Being stranded with no way home, or even just no way back to normal.
...He would never be able to get his life back to normal.
He didn't even know how much time he had. How much time were l'Cie given to fulfill their Focus before they failed and turned into monsters? How much time did he have? Another world or not, he still had the brand, and he doubted that distance would do anything to stall its acceleration. Here, he had no chance of fulfilling his Focus-- Hope had to scoff at the idea, though. Them saving Cocoon. That was a preposterous thought. Cocoon needed to be saved from them, or at least they needed to be saved themselves. There was no way he could do anything that... big. Or the others.
Especially Snow. If he couldn't save one person, just one, the one who mattered to Hope the most, how did he want to save Cocoon?
He pushed back the thoughts, though, and nodded hesitantly. "There's... more than basics?"
Even for a new guy, this kid looked pretty helpless. It was hard not to want to help someone like that. It was something Anise often cursed herself for; no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to leave helpless people alone, even if she knew that sometimes it was the best thing to do.
"Yep! Lots more. This place is really complicated, and the creeps running it try to keep us in the dark as much as they can." She took another bite of her muffin, a thoughtful look on her face. "For starters, how much have you figured out? Any old guesses are good, too. I'll try to expand on that first."
That seemed like an okay place to start. Anise didn't want to say anything too redundant if Hope already caught on to some basics, and hearing what Hope thought of the place so far would give her an idea of how much he'd be willing to believe. Some people would consider her crazy if she mentioned other worlds and aliens, for one thing, and the last thing she wanted was for him to write her off as some nutcase when she had genuinely important information to share with him.
He shrugged loosely. What had he figured out yesterday-- that this place was creepy? That there were places darker than when he closed his eyes. Perhaps the one good thing that had come out of the morning was the relief that came with knowing that light hadn't disappeared, or actually existed in this place. Pitch black had been... unnerving, to say the least.
"I was told this place is a hospital." Although he wasn't certain of that. It didn't look like a hospital. The man who had told him that (teenager?) had been concise in his wording as well, and seemed as unaffected as Anise did. How long had they been here? "And... it's supposed to be another world."
He was surprisingly accepting of the other world theory, perhaps because that was what he had woken up thinking-- that maybe this place was Pulse; was Hell. Knowing that he wasn't on Pulse, but on some other world... Hope wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more frightened.
"I don't understand, though-- how did we get here? Why would people be keeping us in the dark?" Was there a way back? Who were those people? And were they the ones who brought him? But too many questions at a time was never a good idea, and he could wait. Everything was a mystery to him here.
That wasn't a bad start. It sounded like Hope might have run into someone the previous night, if he heard the hospital bit. He also mentioned the 'other world' part, which maybe meant that he wasn't going to completely disregard it.
"The hospital thing's a front," Anise began by explaining. "They'd tell us that we were sick, and we didn't know who we really were, and they'd show us these fake names and fake lives to try and convince us that we're someone we're not." Part of Anise wished that was still the worst of her problems, but things had gotten really complicated since. Still, it was a good starting place for an explanation.
As she went on, Anise lowered her voice to a whisper. Since the staff seemed to have dropped their front, it might not have been necessary, but she still didn't want to be too obvious. "But like I said, that's not true. We're not crazy, and they're not trying to help us. At night, they sic monsters on people, do experiments on them, brainwash them - all kinds of creepy stuff."
She knew Hope had way more questions than what she just answered, but that was probably lots to take in already, so Anise stopped for a moment, took another bite of her breakfast, and then asked, "Are you with me so far?"
That seemed... more than a lot to take in. He hadn't run into anything last night other than one person... and the darkness. It wasn't like he could go very far when he couldn't see anything at all, but his imagination had supplied plenty of monsters for him.
"But why would anyone want to do that?" It didn't matter that a part of him, a very bitter part, snarked about it being exactly what he had feared. That he had been kidnapped by the Sanctum and was going to be experimented on before they killed him. That he had been expecting it, for all intents and purposes, and did he really think he was going to escape unscathed even for whatever time he might have left over? With his luck and his life lately, nothing good was going to happen to him; no solace even in being pulled to some kind of demented hospital. Hospitals were meant to heal, and this wasn't... anything like that at all.
It just didn't make sense to him, everything that had happened. He knew the words, knew what was being told to him, but understanding failed where comprehension of the sentences succeeded. What would be the motive? Why had things happened? Why did people... even do things like this? He understood that he had been sheltered... his mom never liked seeing anything bad happen, and Hope had been quick to appease her at all times. But it just never made sense to him; bad people. Why anyone would do terrible things.
Unfortunately, Hope had just asked the one question that nobody could answer for him.
Anise shook her head. "Nobody knows for sure. Some people have some guesses, like that it's secretly a research facility for experimenting on people, or that it's a training facility for making people into some kind super-soldiers..." She stopped for a moment, and despite the horrific reality they were facing, she smiled sheepishly. "Um... that probably sounds completely crazy, huh?"
But it was still possible. Anise had already lived through enough crazy things that those theories didn't even seem that weird anymore.
"Anyway, a couple days ago, these soldiers showed up and took over. The Head Doctor and the nurses were driven out, and everything changed. Now they don't even pretend they're helping us. They've been treating us like recruits," she added. That made the whole 'super-soldier' theory seem a little more likely, but who knew what the truth was? "Today might be different, though, since we have the field trip." It was surprising that they were even going on the field trip in the first place. Did the military gain something from this? And who were they trying to fool with those costumes of theirs?
"Why would they... give us a field trip if they're trying to experiment on people and test them...?"
It just didn't make any sense to him. The idea of doctors running a training facility, and the military giving them a field trip... maybe he really should have asked the person who escorted him out some questions, but... he didn't seem like he would answer them. In fact, the person who threw him the clothes and escorted him out didn't seem to really want anything to do with him at all. At the time, it had seemed like a welcome change to actively being pursued and held at gunpoint.
He eyed the muffin contemplatively, though. Did that mean there was food in the bag that had been given to him? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten since... he didn't know. Since the whole mess started. There hadn't been the time nor the motivation, since running and staying alive had felt more important. How long had it been? Two days?
He pulled his legs up tighter to try and prevent his stomach from protesting at the thought. He'd think about food later. Later. Right now, he wanted answers more than anything else. And honestly, he was ready to believe just about anything.
"It does sound crazy," He added, although there was nothing reproachful in his tone.
Ack. Anise figured a new guy would have lots of easy questions, but he just kept coming up with the tough ones.
Anise tilted her head to the side as she thought. "I'm not really sure. I thought they were doing it to back up their lies, but the military isn't pretending to run a hospital, so..." If they weren't trying to trick the patients, who were they trying to fool? Or maybe they were never trying to fool anyone. "Maybe it's part of their experiments. You know, like... putting a rat in a maze and seeing what it'll do."
It was a pretty dark way of looking at things, but the truth was that the people heading the institute had control over everything around them. It actually wouldn't be that weird if they were doing something like that.
After letting that thought sink in for a few seconds, Anise looked over Hope once more, noticing the untouched snack bag. "You should eat," she suggested with a small smile. "You might not get much for good food after today." Hope was lucky not to have been inflicted with that horrible-looking gruel yet, but chances were that he was going to be faced with it tomorrow. The least Anise could do was warn him so he didn't pass up his chance to eat real food while he could.
A rat in a maze. He closed his eyes for a moment, burying his nose down into the thick scarf around his neck. It was the first thought he had about this place; what a thing to learn that might be true.
At the mention of food, though, he glanced at the bag. Hope wasn't sure if he wanted to eat, especially if it would just tease his hunger. He was still running on the nearing empty reserves of adrenaline and shock, and to eat would just make him hungrier, he knew. And it would mean he stopped for... something. And that might open a floodgate he wasn't prepared to face yet. Of what, he didn't know. But right now, it felt like he was still running. Learning about the new place he was in; defending himself.
And as long as he didn't stop and didn't look back, he would be okay for that moment.
"In... a little while." He agreed. He shook his head again to clear his thoughts, though. He needed to stop thinking about that. Thinking about anything, really. "And everyone just got here one day? Has anyone been able to get home?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "What if someone here is dangerous and needs to get back?"
When Hope declined to eat, Anise let out a small, silent sigh. She still thought that he might regret that, but she couldn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do. Besides, maybe he wasn't feeling well, and she definitely didn't want to push that when she was the one sitting next to him for the whole ride. All this talk of human experiments could churn most people's stomachs, she realized.
Letting that subject drop as abruptly as it was brought up, she focused instead on his questions. Unfortunately, there really wasn't an easy way to answer them.
"No one remembers getting here, and... no one's been able to get home, from what I've heard," she answered, her gaze lowering to her own knees as she shared the gloomy facts. "The only people who leave are the people they let out; the people they managed to brainwash into thinking they're someone else." There were also the people who died, but... this conversation was dark enough without mentioning that.
Hope's last question was one that gave Anise pause, however, and she looked back to him with a confused look. Someone dangerous? Did he meet someone like that last night? Or... was he talking about himself? Looking at him now, though, Anise had a hard time imagining anything about Hope being dangerous. After a long pause, she finally asked, "What do you mean, dangerous?"
"I meant, sick." He amended quickly. Dangerous probably wasn't the best word to go about it, now that he thought on that. "Dangerous to themselves... maybe others. But if they're sick and need to go home in order to get better... isn't there something? Anything?"
Not that he was sure he wanted to go back. Going back would just be going to a swift execution. But the chance of being able to do something and make the last of his days seem worthwhile was there. He still had to take revenge for his mother's death. Even if that was the only thing he would be able to do before he was caught by Psicom.
He wasn't sure what she meant by brainwashing, either, but at least it seemed like some way out. Enough to perk his interest, anyway. A way out of the hospital might not mean a way home, but it could be a start. Better than staying in the dark, anyway. He... didn't like that darkness.
"Couldn't anyone just... pretend to believe them?" He asked, tilting his head. "And then just... find a way home once they're out of the hospital?"
"Sick? Um..." Anise wasn't sure how to answer. Did he mean sick in a contagious way, or in a sick-in-the-head way? And... he was talking about himself, wasn't he? Why else would he ask? "Sometimes they give medicine or treatments to people. During the day, they actually take good care of patients, usually." She wasn't sure if the military was going to be a different story, but... they were treating Tear's miasma poisoning, weren't they? All Anise could do was hope they were actually helping her. "But if they don't treat something, then it's probably because they don't want it to be treated..."
She bit her lip a little, knowing that that probably wasn't something Hope wanted to hear. It was probably part of their experiments; watching weird, foreign illnesses as they got worse. It was disgusting, but that was the kind of people their captors were.
"As for pretending to believe them, I've been trying that for weeks and they still don't buy it, boooo," Anise groaned, pouting a little. She was sure that she was a convincing actress, so maybe they had some way of knowing for sure who still had their identities.
But Anise didn't want to give only bad news, so she quickly followed up with something a little more upbeat. "Anyway, all you can really do is rely on the friends you make here. Like me!" She grinned in a way that she hoped was reassuring. "You can come to me for anything, okay?"
But she looked cheerful; far more than he thought anyone here could be, especially after the near silent treatment he had gotten from the doctors (soldiers?) this morning, and the gloom of the blank walls and floors and even the clothes that had been given to him. He couldn't bring himself to be more appreciative of the clothing, though, it being old and musty and just... something he wouldn't have touched once upon a time. His mood had only darkened further at the sight of his brand, now well hidden under not only a long sleeved shirt but a much too big sweatshirt that had sleeves which stretched well beyond his fingertips. Another world, supposedly, and his brand was still there as stark and black as ever, reminding him of truths he didn't want to feel on his skin.
But for all the terrible things that were going on in his head and the gloom of being here... he couldn't seem to hang on to those thoughts in the face of someone else. Like Vanille.
Not knowing what to say, he just shook his head, scooting over slightly closer to the window to make room (not that there wasn't a lot of room already on the seat, especially since the both of them weren't exactly the biggest people out there).
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"Thanks!" Anise chirped in her usual high-pitched voice, plopping down on the seat next to the stranger. Her paper bag was set in her lap, with her coupons and card safely inside. It was kind of a funny coincidence that the staff would give them money so soon after Anise and her friends went and collected a bunch, but the new policy was definitely a welcome one. Finally, she could go shopping! It was nice to have something to look forward to for once.
"My name's Anise." It was only polite to introduce herself if they were going to spend the ride together. The guy next to her looked pretty uncomfortable, though. Either he had a really rough night, or... "Is this your first time going on the field trip?" she asked, tilting her head a little as she did.
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Was it any stranger than the idea he had in his head about being in some sort of military test, though? Maybe. He wasn't sure.
"Hi," he finally offered, although still a bit quiet. He winced at the sound of his own voice, still rough from sleep and having stayed silent all morning. But he shifted, bringing his head higher and away from his knees, rubbing at his nose with a sleeve. For all that he could nitpick about the clothes, at least the sleeves were long. He could clench the ends of them in his hands to ensure that they didn't ride up accidentally.
"I'm..." he hesitated just a bit. It didn't matter, though. At least, his name shouldn't matter at all. By now, the Sanctum would probably already have all of their names and know everything about them. And if this really was another world... well, it still wouldn't matter. "I'm Hope."
There, he ducked his head slightly, trying to figure out if all introductions were the same in different worlds and different universes. It had to be, right? Either way, if it wasn't...
"I, uh. Just... got here last night."
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"Whoa! Just last night?" Her eyes widened for a moment. "No wonder. You're probably really confused right now, huh?" The military takeover made things confusing enough for veterans like Anise. It was hard to even imagine what it was like for a new arrival. And arriving in the middle of night? That was just cruel.
From the paper bag in her lap, Anise retrieved a muffin, picked a piece off the top, and ate it. "Hmm... There's a whole lot of stuff you probably want to hear about. Do you want me to start with the basics?" Fortunately, they had the whole ride to talk, so maybe Hope would leave the bus somewhat prepared for what was to come.
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...He would never be able to get his life back to normal.
He didn't even know how much time he had. How much time were l'Cie given to fulfill their Focus before they failed and turned into monsters? How much time did he have? Another world or not, he still had the brand, and he doubted that distance would do anything to stall its acceleration. Here, he had no chance of fulfilling his Focus-- Hope had to scoff at the idea, though. Them saving Cocoon. That was a preposterous thought. Cocoon needed to be saved from them, or at least they needed to be saved themselves. There was no way he could do anything that... big. Or the others.
Especially Snow. If he couldn't save one person, just one, the one who mattered to Hope the most, how did he want to save Cocoon?
He pushed back the thoughts, though, and nodded hesitantly. "There's... more than basics?"
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"Yep! Lots more. This place is really complicated, and the creeps running it try to keep us in the dark as much as they can." She took another bite of her muffin, a thoughtful look on her face. "For starters, how much have you figured out? Any old guesses are good, too. I'll try to expand on that first."
That seemed like an okay place to start. Anise didn't want to say anything too redundant if Hope already caught on to some basics, and hearing what Hope thought of the place so far would give her an idea of how much he'd be willing to believe. Some people would consider her crazy if she mentioned other worlds and aliens, for one thing, and the last thing she wanted was for him to write her off as some nutcase when she had genuinely important information to share with him.
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"I was told this place is a hospital." Although he wasn't certain of that. It didn't look like a hospital. The man who had told him that (teenager?) had been concise in his wording as well, and seemed as unaffected as Anise did. How long had they been here? "And... it's supposed to be another world."
He was surprisingly accepting of the other world theory, perhaps because that was what he had woken up thinking-- that maybe this place was Pulse; was Hell. Knowing that he wasn't on Pulse, but on some other world... Hope wasn't sure whether to be relieved or more frightened.
"I don't understand, though-- how did we get here? Why would people be keeping us in the dark?" Was there a way back? Who were those people? And were they the ones who brought him? But too many questions at a time was never a good idea, and he could wait. Everything was a mystery to him here.
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"The hospital thing's a front," Anise began by explaining. "They'd tell us that we were sick, and we didn't know who we really were, and they'd show us these fake names and fake lives to try and convince us that we're someone we're not." Part of Anise wished that was still the worst of her problems, but things had gotten really complicated since. Still, it was a good starting place for an explanation.
As she went on, Anise lowered her voice to a whisper. Since the staff seemed to have dropped their front, it might not have been necessary, but she still didn't want to be too obvious. "But like I said, that's not true. We're not crazy, and they're not trying to help us. At night, they sic monsters on people, do experiments on them, brainwash them - all kinds of creepy stuff."
She knew Hope had way more questions than what she just answered, but that was probably lots to take in already, so Anise stopped for a moment, took another bite of her breakfast, and then asked, "Are you with me so far?"
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That seemed... more than a lot to take in. He hadn't run into anything last night other than one person... and the darkness. It wasn't like he could go very far when he couldn't see anything at all, but his imagination had supplied plenty of monsters for him.
"But why would anyone want to do that?" It didn't matter that a part of him, a very bitter part, snarked about it being exactly what he had feared. That he had been kidnapped by the Sanctum and was going to be experimented on before they killed him. That he had been expecting it, for all intents and purposes, and did he really think he was going to escape unscathed even for whatever time he might have left over? With his luck and his life lately, nothing good was going to happen to him; no solace even in being pulled to some kind of demented hospital. Hospitals were meant to heal, and this wasn't... anything like that at all.
It just didn't make sense to him, everything that had happened. He knew the words, knew what was being told to him, but understanding failed where comprehension of the sentences succeeded. What would be the motive? Why had things happened? Why did people... even do things like this? He understood that he had been sheltered... his mom never liked seeing anything bad happen, and Hope had been quick to appease her at all times. But it just never made sense to him; bad people. Why anyone would do terrible things.
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Anise shook her head. "Nobody knows for sure. Some people have some guesses, like that it's secretly a research facility for experimenting on people, or that it's a training facility for making people into some kind super-soldiers..." She stopped for a moment, and despite the horrific reality they were facing, she smiled sheepishly. "Um... that probably sounds completely crazy, huh?"
But it was still possible. Anise had already lived through enough crazy things that those theories didn't even seem that weird anymore.
"Anyway, a couple days ago, these soldiers showed up and took over. The Head Doctor and the nurses were driven out, and everything changed. Now they don't even pretend they're helping us. They've been treating us like recruits," she added. That made the whole 'super-soldier' theory seem a little more likely, but who knew what the truth was? "Today might be different, though, since we have the field trip." It was surprising that they were even going on the field trip in the first place. Did the military gain something from this? And who were they trying to fool with those costumes of theirs?
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It just didn't make any sense to him. The idea of doctors running a training facility, and the military giving them a field trip... maybe he really should have asked the person who escorted him out some questions, but... he didn't seem like he would answer them. In fact, the person who threw him the clothes and escorted him out didn't seem to really want anything to do with him at all. At the time, it had seemed like a welcome change to actively being pursued and held at gunpoint.
He eyed the muffin contemplatively, though. Did that mean there was food in the bag that had been given to him? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten since... he didn't know. Since the whole mess started. There hadn't been the time nor the motivation, since running and staying alive had felt more important. How long had it been? Two days?
He pulled his legs up tighter to try and prevent his stomach from protesting at the thought. He'd think about food later. Later. Right now, he wanted answers more than anything else. And honestly, he was ready to believe just about anything.
"It does sound crazy," He added, although there was nothing reproachful in his tone.
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Anise tilted her head to the side as she thought. "I'm not really sure. I thought they were doing it to back up their lies, but the military isn't pretending to run a hospital, so..." If they weren't trying to trick the patients, who were they trying to fool? Or maybe they were never trying to fool anyone. "Maybe it's part of their experiments. You know, like... putting a rat in a maze and seeing what it'll do."
It was a pretty dark way of looking at things, but the truth was that the people heading the institute had control over everything around them. It actually wouldn't be that weird if they were doing something like that.
After letting that thought sink in for a few seconds, Anise looked over Hope once more, noticing the untouched snack bag. "You should eat," she suggested with a small smile. "You might not get much for good food after today." Hope was lucky not to have been inflicted with that horrible-looking gruel yet, but chances were that he was going to be faced with it tomorrow. The least Anise could do was warn him so he didn't pass up his chance to eat real food while he could.
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At the mention of food, though, he glanced at the bag. Hope wasn't sure if he wanted to eat, especially if it would just tease his hunger. He was still running on the nearing empty reserves of adrenaline and shock, and to eat would just make him hungrier, he knew. And it would mean he stopped for... something. And that might open a floodgate he wasn't prepared to face yet. Of what, he didn't know. But right now, it felt like he was still running. Learning about the new place he was in; defending himself.
And as long as he didn't stop and didn't look back, he would be okay for that moment.
"In... a little while." He agreed. He shook his head again to clear his thoughts, though. He needed to stop thinking about that. Thinking about anything, really. "And everyone just got here one day? Has anyone been able to get home?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "What if someone here is dangerous and needs to get back?"
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Letting that subject drop as abruptly as it was brought up, she focused instead on his questions. Unfortunately, there really wasn't an easy way to answer them.
"No one remembers getting here, and... no one's been able to get home, from what I've heard," she answered, her gaze lowering to her own knees as she shared the gloomy facts. "The only people who leave are the people they let out; the people they managed to brainwash into thinking they're someone else." There were also the people who died, but... this conversation was dark enough without mentioning that.
Hope's last question was one that gave Anise pause, however, and she looked back to him with a confused look. Someone dangerous? Did he meet someone like that last night? Or... was he talking about himself? Looking at him now, though, Anise had a hard time imagining anything about Hope being dangerous. After a long pause, she finally asked, "What do you mean, dangerous?"
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Not that he was sure he wanted to go back. Going back would just be going to a swift execution. But the chance of being able to do something and make the last of his days seem worthwhile was there. He still had to take revenge for his mother's death. Even if that was the only thing he would be able to do before he was caught by Psicom.
He wasn't sure what she meant by brainwashing, either, but at least it seemed like some way out. Enough to perk his interest, anyway. A way out of the hospital might not mean a way home, but it could be a start. Better than staying in the dark, anyway. He... didn't like that darkness.
"Couldn't anyone just... pretend to believe them?" He asked, tilting his head. "And then just... find a way home once they're out of the hospital?"
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She bit her lip a little, knowing that that probably wasn't something Hope wanted to hear. It was probably part of their experiments; watching weird, foreign illnesses as they got worse. It was disgusting, but that was the kind of people their captors were.
"As for pretending to believe them, I've been trying that for weeks and they still don't buy it, boooo," Anise groaned, pouting a little. She was sure that she was a convincing actress, so maybe they had some way of knowing for sure who still had their identities.
But Anise didn't want to give only bad news, so she quickly followed up with something a little more upbeat. "Anyway, all you can really do is rely on the friends you make here. Like me!" She grinned in a way that she hoped was reassuring. "You can come to me for anything, okay?"
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