Day 57: Sun Room

[bodhiandspirit]

It figured that night would end before Rita and Taura could progress any further. Rita wasn't particularly disappointed to wake up abruptly, as they had reached a dead end. Really, the institute was doing them a favor by bringing them back to the starting point, where they could regroup.

What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time,

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[corvus_veritas]

For the third time in a row, the night ended without warning. At first, it seemed the only difference between this morning and other mornings was that Byrne had a mild headache upon waking up. Oh, back here again, was he? Same old story. Welp, time to see what's in store today. He sat up on the edge of his bed, rubbing his temples in the hope that his headache would go away--

Woah wait. Wait a second. Waaaait a second. Why was he wearing the smiley face t-shirt again? Where was his army uniform? Wh--huh? Over the intercom--was that--was that Landel's voice? He was in charge again?! What the hell was going on?! Again! He was saying that every day now! Was every damn day in this place an attempt to make him go mad from all the unexpected changes? Oh sure Landel, Aguilar, whoever the hell you are, I'll make it easy for you, just let me apply my head to the wall several hundred thousand times until it splits open like a goddamn watermelon! I'm sure that's what you want, isn't it?! You sons of--...Before he could finish his inner tirade,

[yin_yang_fox]

[ If he has painkillers for her. ]Different clothes. The same clothes. Surprisingly, this was what she focused on her, blearily looking down at the fabric she had pulled away from her chest. She felt wretched, body drained of all energy. Slowly the Digimon sat up, the announcement echoing like cotton through her head. Landel? No... That sounded more like a mash of words. A pressed together transmission. And of course; today was when 'visitors' came, was it not? And Renamon would not... Even think of that

[corvus_veritas]

Ah, a familiar voice. Byrne glanced over at the owner of that voice, half unsure of whether his headache would would allow him to tolerate too much conversation or not.

...And suddenly, the headache seemed so trivial compared to what he was looking at.

True, he couldn't see all of the bandages, but it was clear enough just by looking at her that Renamon was in a hell of a lot more pain than he was. Byrne sat up quickly, face full of concern and surprise, and mumbled under his breath, "Holy sh..." His subconscious parental censors prevented him from completing the sentence out loud. A habit that could only be obtained from being a parent. Why should he even bother now? Today was not a day for censorship, damnit. "Renamon? What happened to you? Are you alright?"

[yin_yang_fox]

A part of her begged the necessity of learning to deal with human pain better. The reactions gotten from her appearance begged much in retrospect--shame passed through her quietly. Still, this one reacted very much in the same way of another, and all the more ironic for it, if Byrne was familiar with Edgeworth at all. Still, that existed separately, and the Digimon understood that conversing would be faulty until she offered some explanation.

Luckily, at least, this explanation was relatively straight-forward. "Two cats. I'll be fine. One just opened my stomach a bit." And shredded the skin on her back. Those two had definitely moved differently than the other she had encountered. The nonchalance in which she spoke did not mirror her mental state on it. In reality, she'd prefer to not consider the event. "Please don't concern yourself with me," she added, bowing her head. "This isn't the worst that's happened by far."

[corvus_veritas]

...She got her stomach opened a bit by a cat. That was the farthest thing from the definition of 'fine' that he'd ever heard in his life. Yet Renamon talked about it like it was an every day occurrence. How can she be so calm? Oh, Byrne was concerning himself with her alright, whether she liked it or not. "How can I not be concerned?" he protested, "You don't look or sound fine at all! That injury...what kind of cat attacked you, anyway?"

What bothered him most was Renamon's last sentence. This wasn't the worst? Did he want to know exactly how much worse she'd been harmed before? How much worse it could get around here, if that was even possible?

[yin_yang_fox]

She was starting to become uncomfortable. Having another be so concerned about her was disconcerting, far from the normal flow of things. It crossed her face, and she glanced to the side, eying the bulletin board in a pull for distraction. "I'm not fine," she responded quietly. "But I will be fine. You don't have to worry." The last sentence came almost as a plea, and she near-hated herself for the method.

Ask the details--she'd give those better. The Digimon glanced back at him, wondering. "You remember the scorpion you told me about? The cats at night are a little smaller than that, perhaps coming to my knee. And like all mammals at the institute when darkness falls--they begin to decompose while alive, becoming as undead as the people in Doyletown do once the day slips away." Though, that was right. Byrne was yet new. Hadn't she promised to test his belief in her today? "Before you came we were shown in details the way the townpeople turn to zombi at night."

[corvus_veritas]

[I apologize for the delay! I had internet troubles the past two days, but it's all good now.]Byrne saw the brief change in Renamon's expression, but it didn't stop him from being any more concerned about her. It was in his nature to care about others, after all, whether they wanted the care or not. However, he did respect the fact that she seemed unwilling to focus the conversation on her. His expression made it clear that he was still worried, but he did not press the topic any further

[yin_yang_fox]

[ no worries! I'm glad it got fixed. ^_^ ]

To her relief, he took the subject change. "It depends on how you define everywhere." And this brought to mind the conversation she had with Sasuke yesterday, among others. "None have been past the town--until recently, we could not even get to the town under our own power at night. The question, perhaps, is less if Doyleton is affected by the Institute, and more if it's part of the Institute itself."

She took a breath, skin stretching painfully. "In all likelihood, it exists as an extension of this place. Would we really be allowed near free roam, despite our own powerlessness? And moreso--" Here, she hesitated, despite Byrne's affirmation of belief. For it stretched most's imaginations if they were not familiar.

"...It's also possible that this isn't real at all," she continued quietly. "And that we exist in an illusion or digital representation. It would explain... much of what has happened here. And how it is possible."

[corvus_veritas]

An illusion? Byrne had seen the concept done to death in movies, people being subjected to dream worlds while their bodies lie dormant in some machine somewhere else, or some variant of the idea. But was it possible here? Could it be possible? And if so, how was it possible? A complicated machine or just good old drugs? The thought of it was making him very uncomfortable. This was obviously a road he didn't want to travel down just yet; the idea would break his brain fairly quickly, if all the other possibilities weren't doing a good job of hurting his head already

[yin_yang_fox]

She nodded slightly at his words, expression solemn. Yes, she understood that sentiment quite well. To the point of acting near unintelligently at points. Her mouth thinned, eyes downcast. He was right, really. For anything could happen in this place, and she had been shown that repeatedly. Even as she had believed that fact, nearly from the beginning, she had still been outdone in what could happen here

[corvus_veritas]

The radio? Oh yeah, there had been something going off over the radio at the beginning of the night. Something about escaping and basements and whatnot. Byrne nodded. "I did hear some weird conversation over the radio," he answered, "but I didn't hear or understand much of what was being said. I just know one of the voices was Landel and he was talking about some basement or something." It had been difficult to hear the entire thing from where he'd been standing. But even if he had listened to the conversation more carefully, Byrne would have put the whole thing in the back of his mind anyway. Other things had been much more important at the time. For instance, he had been (and was still) worried about the tales from the future that Badd had for him. And there was always Kay and her whereabouts...

However, the radio conversation was the subject of importance right now. "So who is this Marc fellow then? The other guy that was talking over the radio?" It would seem that he still had much more to learn about the people in this place.

[yin_yang_fox]

It seemed she'd have to start from the beginning. She gave Byrne a half-smile of amusement, then nodded. "Marc was the other voice. Before I arrived here, there was another voice on the radio. Alec Doyle, known as Mr. Radio or Jack, he gave help and hints and left gifts for the patients here. It turns out that Doyle had previously worked for the institute, and broke away to assist us. Days before I arrived, he was murdered by Landel

[corvus_veritas]

...It would seem that he still had much more to learn about the people in this place. Much, much more.

Byrne's expression at the moment was something of a mix between surprise, interest, and confusion. Mostly interest, though. The thought that there had actually been an institute staff member who rebelled against the Head Doctor gave Byrne a small amount of hope. Forget the fact he was dead, someone on the inside was actually human enough to stand up for the patient populace. That proved Landel didn't have a bunch of mindless slaves working for him

[yin_yang_fox]

She angled her head in a give. "Sometimes. The majority of the time, it's only commentary. I don't even usually have it on me at night. I only heard last night because I ran into someone carrying theirs when it went off." The strange blond haired man. She idly wondered if he was still here. Of the second question, she wondered. And paused to think. Given time, Renamon might have considered otherwise, but head full of the night's events and light painkillers, nothing came to mind that stood alone. "Not yet, I'm afraid. That I know of. I heard rumors of his movements during the night with the portals, though I know nothing that's actual fact regarding that."

Though, here again, she doubled back. If she spoke of the portal night, here was enough to spark memory of elements and a decorative sword. It was possible Byrne knew as much as she, and if so, would not need to be informed. "Do you know about the basement they were speaking of?"

[corvus_veritas]

Portals? What was this about portals? ...Well. That was another thing to add to the 'common happenings around here that defied every natural law' list. A curious look briefly flashed across Byrne's face when Renamon mentioned the portals, but he decided not to say anything about it just yet. There were likely many nights with strange occurrences that he wasn't aware of. Those stories could wait. He would rather stay on topic with this basement issue and get that out of the way first.

"I wasn't aware that there was even a basement here," he admitted. "I never saw stairs leading down to it, unless they hid them away somewhere in a different part of the building. What's down there? It must be something important if Landel and Marc were going on about it."

[yin_yang_fox]

To his look, she gave a half-smile of understanding. Something else that he hadn't heard of, then. She knew he had came in only a few days ago, but she had thought he might have possibly heard about it elsewhere. The man did not bring it up, and so the Digimon continued on subject. There was time enough to explain that later. "I'm afraid the entrance is a bit cliche. A trap door, found in the freezer of the cafeteria's kitchen