Jun 26, 2011 03:01
Edgar's charming company had raised Anise's spirits enough that not even the Head Doctor's voice could bring them back down. Besides, she was feeling pretty sure that Landel wasn't actually around. To begin with, it wouldn't make sense, and secondly, his announcements sounded suspiciously like ones she'd already heard before. While Anise wasn't
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sonia,
kirk,
carter,
japan,
bella,
scott pilgrim,
anise,
izaya,
claire littleton,
the doctor,
sora,
england,
prussia,
firo,
utena,
renamon,
claude,
guybrush,
ted logan,
elena gilbert,
edgeworth,
peter parker,
tolten,
kurogane,
dean winchester,
seishin,
grell,
byrne,
albedo,
guy,
stefan,
peter petrelli,
nigredo,
tear,
rose (tvd),
lightning,
damon,
rita,
ritsuka,
two-face,
rapunzel,
castiel,
erika,
edgar,
allelujah,
tifa,
the scarecrow,
mikado,
trickster,
chise,
ippo,
alaric,
okita,
meekins,
claire stanfield,
edward cullen,
battler,
zack,
mccoy,
wichita,
l,
harry lockhart
Peter was certainly a western name, less unique than Hope's and more... an actual name than a process. The man also looked European or American. Had he immigrated? His Japanese was flawless. Maybe a student of some sort. He gave a slightly uncomfortable smile. "I'm Ryuugamine Mikado. Pleased to meet you."
And as he half-bowed his head in acknowledgment, he noticed, off to the side, a girl with extremely long hair. Extremely long, white hair. How had she ever...? He wasn't an expert on bleaching and dyeing by any rate, but shouldn't her hair have fallen out if she did all of that? Maybe it was a wig.... Outright staring, he pulled his gaze back to his tablemate, waving off the concern. "Ah, it's fine, I'm sure this is..." He glanced down at his tray, expression slipping into doubt. "...Edible," he murmured quietly.
The boy glanced up at Peter. "...Do you know anything about this place? I've tried to ask some people and...." He trailed off hopelessly, glancing at a cluster of the men dressed like the one who had accompanied him. No answers to be found there at least.
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"Is it all right if I call you Mikado?" Because the other name was probably just going to end up butchered if he gave it a shot. He knew that the name was likely Japanese and therefore it was more polite to use the surname, but... this would really be the best option for both of them.
Though Peter still hadn't figured out why there were so many Japanese patients here. He wondered if anyone had ever tried to crack that mystery.
It looked like something had caught Mikado's attention for a moment, though it was hard to determine what that was when the room was already full. It could be just about anything, with how many strange sights there were to see in this place. Peter politely waited for him to return to the conversation and then nodded. "Yeah, it should be nutritious if nothing else."
But then came the questions. It seemed that Mikado was pretty new, with the way he'd asked and the lost look on his face. "I know a lot, actually," Peter admitted, and it was clear that he wasn't proud of that. "I've been stuck here for way too long. What do you need to know first?" He was sure there was a question or two (or three) that was at the forefront of the boy's mind right now, so it made sense to start there.
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As for the food, Mikado was doubtful. He glanced over the utensils and picked up a fork carefully, poking at the gelatinous mass like one would a corpse they found beside the road. The boy sighed, closing his eyes, then without anything further, scooped up some and put it in his mouth. There was an extended moment, and then his mouth worked and he swallowed. Then offered a half-smile to Peter, somewhat awkward. "Yeah. Only nutritious things taste this bad."
...And he suddenly wasn't sure if his stomach suddenly feeling upset was from the food or the man's words. That Mikado was really trying not to overthink on. For way too long? What did that... even mean? Mikado glanced at Peter hesitantly. "I don't even know what to ask. What is this place? I just woke up and I was here... And I don't know where here even is."
He frowned down at his plate, looking somewhat helpless. "I don't even see anyone familiar." And if it was a hospital? Fallout shelter? Anything of the sort, shouldn't there be at least someone he recognized here?
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It was difficult to watch someone struggling to eat that food, though Mikado got a bite down without too much trouble. When he was sitting there eating just as well as they always had in this place, the guilt started to grow. It wasn't his fault, but if the staff had at least let him pass some of his food over, that would have been better. It wasn't worth the risk, though, and so Peter just laughed at the boy's comment. "That sounds about right, yeah." Peter tried to make a habit of eating healthy things, but he had to agree that the stuff that was bad for you tasted the best.
But if Mikado was that clueless, that meant he had to be really new. As in just-woke-up new. Peter tried not to sigh. It wasn't that he blamed the kid for knowing nothing, but rather that he felt bad for him. With the military involved and all sorts of cover-ups going on, this place was more confusing than ever.
"This place... Technically, it's called Landel's Institute. For a long time -- most of the time that I've been here, really -- it functioned as a fake mental hospital. All the nurses treated us like we were crazy and that everything we knew about our lives was made up." He sent a glance around at some of the passing staff members, the look in his eyes clearly suspicious. "The nurses you see now are just soldiers in disguise, though. A couple of days back the military rolled in and took over. They're just pretending today because we're scheduled to have visitors later in the day."
That was about as coherent of an explanation as he could give, and yet he really didn't know if it'd made any sense at all.
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Maybe he should go back to his first thought. Maybe Namie-san truly was the kind of person to hold a grudge to this extent. To place someone in a--
...Though this person had said that everyone was told their life was a lie. If that was true, was this something else? Or was this just an actual asylum? Wouldn't people that were actually crazy deny that they were? Mikado glanced up hesitantly. Though Peter seemed... more normal than some Mikado knew. Did that mean anything though?
Maybe Mikado should just take what Peter said for the moment, and see if it added up as the day went on. No one had... really said anything honestly. One way or the other. Not about hospitals or soldiers, at least. He blinked for a few seconds in thought. If he took what Peter was saying, then.... "If that's true, why are we here, then?"
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And, unfortunately, very difficult to answer.
Peter brushed his hair back behind his ear somewhat nervously and then gave out a small, humorless laugh. "That's the question. There are all sorts of theories about why we're here and what the people who brought us here really want, but no one can say for sure. Some say experiments, others think we're being trained to fight." He shrugged and glanced away, bothered by the fact that he still couldn't say he was sure about either option.
"The point, though, is that we're stuck here. You might have friends here, but you might not. Either way, what you have to be careful about is when night comes. We're allowed out of our rooms to go wherever we want, but all the lights go out and it can be pretty dangerous." Especially for a kid who probably had no idea of what he was getting into -- although Peter also realized that looks could be deceiving in a place like this.
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Were people still going missing? Was this where they were kept, or was this something entirely different? Mikado blinked a few times, placing the fork he had been holding down, and instead touching his hand to his chin in thought. A different kind of question then. If Peter didn't know why, he might know how. "How were you taken? I just woke up here..." And... nothing. Gas, maybe. Some kind of chemical to keep him under until he was settled. Like he knew anything about it other than what he'd seen used in movies and books.
Which seemed to be what Peter was describing. The dark was dangerous? Mikado raised his eyebrows. "We're allowed out of our rooms? Can we just leave, then?" Maybe from the outside, he'd know where he was.... Unlikely, since... he still got lost in Ikebukuro, but there was possibly a chance that he'd recognize... Something. Maybe. "Why do you think it's dangerous?"
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"No, I don't think anyone remembers how they ended up here. It's like you fall asleep in one place and wake up in another." It was disorienting, seeing how most people would expect to at least recall vague images from when they had been half-asleep or something along those lines. At this point, though, Peter imagined that they were knocked out and then teleported here. If that was the case, it wasn't like there was much to remember anyway.
"But yeah, you can get outside the building if you're lucky, but you won't be able to get far. It's dangerous because -- bear with me here -- there are monsters that are trained to attack us to keep us from getting anywhere." Not to mention the fact that they suddenly ended up in their beds every morning, but Peter figured that was the sort of thing that you had to experience firsthand to even understand.
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Unlike Peter's second point. That they could get outside was reassuring--if nothing else, finding out about the surroundings would be acceptable. Of the other part....
Maybe it was that Peter spoke so rationally, even giving that he understood it was a hard point to bear. Still. Monsters? Even after Celty-san and everything with that, having it said like this.... Mikado laughed slightly, a bit awkwardly. "Do you mean... like there's attack dogs outside?" Attack bears. Who knows what could be trained to do things?
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"You could say that," he responded after a pause. "Some of them look like animals that are half-dead... and they usually are much larger than you'd expect, too." That was the case with the cats, at least, and he figured it applied to most of the other mammals here.
"It might sound nuts and you can believe whatever you want for now, but just..." He cut off for a moment to sigh. "Be careful, all right?" It was all he could really say for now.
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"...It is a little hard to believe," Mikado replied slowly. "But I'm glad that you took the time to tell me. Thank you." The boy nodded his head in brief gratitude, before glancing over to the group of men dressed like the one that had escorted him. "Those guys over there wouldn't answer anything."
Peter's concern seemed sincere, and Mikado blinked downward, really wondering what went on at night. From the way Peter spoke, it seemed like it was assumed Mikado would still be here by then. He... didn't know what to think about that. "Can I ask you one other thing? Where is this place? It's not familiar at all to me."
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"No problem," he replied with a nod. "And don't ever expect to learn too much from the staff here. Most of the time you're better off asking other patients. There's a bulletin board in the Sun Room where you can post up notes, too." That was something that was easily missed and yet very important in the long run.
As for Mikado's next question, Peter sighed for a moment and ran his hand over his mouth before answering. "That's another mystery. I think it's pretty much a given that we're in America somewhere, but no one knows more than that." It was hard to guess where exactly, but judging from the range of weather and the surrounding scenery, Peter's guess was that it was somewhere on the east coast. They could just as easily be somewhere like Oregon or Washington, though. All Peter really knew was that he was a long way from New York.
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As well, another way to test out the weight of words would be the bulletin board Peter mentioned. At the least Mikado could see if people lined up on this. He nodded again. "Okay."
It was the last thing said that shattered any outward calm in the boy. For a moment, Mikado was still gazing at Peter in troubled thought, and apparently digesting the information. Then his eyes widening, blinking rapidly as he leaned forward, hands clutching the edge of the table. "America?"
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This might not even be their version of Earth, after all.
"... Yeah, America," he said with an apologetic smile. "I'm guessing you're not from here?" He had already guessed Japan, but he didn't want to vocalize that in case he was wrong. "There's a kind of... system in place that translates everything we say to each other, so right now you sound to me like you're speaking English." And he was probably speaking Japanese as far as Mikado could tell.
It was pretty bizarre, but he couldn't be too upset because it was also convenient. That and their fast healing wounds were really the only breaks they got here.
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He was silent, then spoke up belatedly. "No, I'm not, sorry. I'm from Japan." Something he never thought he'd have to say in a situation like this. He had been in two areas his entire life, and the second had been such a severe transition. Now, if Peter was right, he was in a whole different country. He couldn't fathom it. And he really couldn't believe that Peter was speaking and hearing english. Were there chips? Hearing devices? He felt at his ear unconsciously, before realizing it and lowering his hand sheepishly. "Are you really... not speaking Japanese?"
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At least he'd been right about where he was from. Peter nodded and then replied with his own hometown: "I'm from New York specifically, so this is a pretty big change for me too." The middle of nowhere, not a skyscraper in sight? Yeah, it was bizarre. Depending on where in Japan Mikado was from, it might be just as strange for him for that reason.
"But yeah, believe me, I'm speaking English. I know about three words of Japanese and my pronunciation is terrible." There was a reason he'd asked if he could just call him Mikado, after all.
It looked like he was out of time, though, since the intercom came on soon after, announcing that it was time for some patients to see visitors and for others to wander in the available areas -- or even watch a movie. He glanced to the boy and gave him an encouraging smile. "Anyway, I know it's a lot to take in, but... if you're careful, you'll be all right." He'd managed while basically powerless, so anyone else could pull it off too. That was what he figured.
Standing from his seat, Peter gave Mikado a wave and then headed off, contemplating what he should do with the rest of his day.
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