Day 57: Library (third shift)

[unpriest]

The meal shift had come to an end without being able to ease Seishin's confusion. In fact, the conversation with Vino-san had only served to raise even more questions than he initially had. It had all sounded so strange and unreal, though he didn't think the other man had any reason to lie to him. He couldn't help but to be a little skeptical,

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[selfnighted]

[HI SEISHIN]

A new approach was in order. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing who had been present at the asylum for the length of time she supposed was necessary for one to collect useful information, save for how confused someone might look. Which wasn't a good indicator at all.

The hard way it would have to be, then. She had intended to meet as many patients as possible, she thought: it made the task less daunting. But only marginally so. For example, she hadn't seen Haseo for quite a while.

Things happen, I suppose, she thought as she slowly made her way through a bookshelf, but that was hardly comforting. What 'thing' could have 'happened' to cause patients to disappear? Recovering was out of the question; the asylum wasn't an asylum at all. Much like sending electricity to the brain, she thought, morbidly amused. Possibly this was a sort of secret experimental method of treatment, but the books (or the books' titles) didn't seem indicative of this at all

[unpriest]

[;D]

The library wasn't very large -- he was fairly certain even Sotoba's was bigger, though Seishin couldn't say he had expected otherwise. As he continued to walk past the shelves, scanning the titles written upon the book's spines, he couldn't help but notice that the selection solely consisted of fiction. He recognized many titles, having read a number of them himself at one point, but none of them had what he had been looking for. He did not know what he had hoped to find in such a tiny library -- perhaps a history book or a geography book -- but none of it was here.

A dead end, then. Even finding out about his whereabouts proved to be a difficult task.

Seishin had paused his wandering, standing still before a bookshelf when a woman finally approached him. Soothing poetry. He didn't think now was the moment for leisurely reading. "Unfortunately, I couldn't find what I was looking for," Seishin admitted, offering a polite smile.

[selfnighted]

"And what would that be?" Maya asked. She hadn't given the shelves much scrutiny the last time she was here, but it was merely that she hadn't found anything that appealed to her interests. She'd not made much effort to categorize what books were contained in this small library, but now that she was thinking of it, perhaps it may prove beneficial to her. "What books have you seen here?" she added casually.

Had she forgotten something? ...Ah. "I'm Maya," she said, smiling in return. "Pleasure to meet you." It was a pleasure; she didn't know yet whether he would be useful to her in the grander scheme of things, but conversations with people were never quite the waste of time they could be, especially today. At the very least, here there seemed to be a wealth of information she needed (for her eventual escape or otherwise) or methods for obtaining it that she could try.

[unpriest]

"I'm...not quite certain myself. I had hoped to find something helpful, about where this Landel's Institute is supposedly located, for instance..." Seishin admitted, his voice neutral. "But all you can find here is fiction. There is not a single book on geography or history in this library." Perhaps it could have been expected that they wished to keep their captives unknowing. After all, Vino-san had been here for four days and he had been unable to tell him their location. Others had surely thought to look in the library before him...

The hope to find anything here, as small and fragile as it was, may been a little naive of him.

"I'm Muroi Seishin," he answered to the introduction, the polite smile making its return. He offered her a polite bow of his head. "Nice to meet you, Maya-san." He paused for a moment, glancing at the books on the shelves before returning his gaze to the woman.

"Pardon me, but have you been here long?"

[selfnighted]

Of course; it had bee unfair of her to ask when she'd not confirmed his involvement in the perusal of the library. In her defense, he had a bit of the look of a librarian, and she hadn't had much exposure to librarians-she didn't have the experience to discern what a librarian was like beyond base stereotypes. Let's not do that again, shall we? How embarrassing.

As for the information he had gleaned.... Was the location truly important? Possibly. Hmm. Maya would have to ponder this. She would have to know what her surroundings were like, but she had no immediate location as her goal, which made it easier for her to assume that she'd simply work it out as she went. Oh well; not her immediate concern

[unpriest]

The nights. Vino-san had mentioned the supposed existence of monsters and even people capable of summoning lightning. It had sounded so unreal, though he realized his skepticism may be ill-founded.

As before.

"I have first awoken here earlier today," Seishin answered, not quite certain when he had actually arrived. He no longer felt sluggish and lethargic, the symptoms of his blood loss having all but disappeared. It must have been several days since he had hid in the Temple with Sunako, enough for his blood to be replenished. It did not help to ease his worries at all.

"I've...heard of the nights," he added after a pause.

[selfnighted]

-Ah. A new arrival. "You've heard what about the nights?" she asked. Clearly nothing good, judging from his voice, but Maya would be hard-pressed to find someone who would speak well of the nights. A pity he had to be greeted with this so soon after awakening. However...the alternative was far worse, indubitably.

"It would be wise to obtain a weapon," she said. "Unless you can do well without?" -Whoops. Oh dear, she was toeing the line. The nurse (or soldier, she couldn't tell which when she hadn't made their acquaintances and thus didn't recognize them) must not have been happy to hear the patients entertaining such 'delusions.'

There was no escaping them, but... "Join me?" she called over her shoulder as she made her way to the seating area. May as well be comfortable while they tried to communicate effectively to each other while censoring themselves. Didn't want anyone with needles or guns bearing down on them, after all.

[unpriest]

Seishin nodded at the mention of a weapon. It'd...probably be a good idea, yes. He wouldn't be able to do well without, though his ability would likely not improve much even with one. Yet, it seemed he had little choice; he could not find Sunako when he was dead.

It was strange, in a sense. Any other time he would have welcomed Death. He wouldn't have minded being killed by a resident of Sotoba, or a monster...the end of his existence would be a fortunate thing, he had thought. It would have been suitable, to finally end up taken by Death after its embrace had suffocated him for so long. He had welcomed it, after he had forsaken that village. He had visited the Kirishiki family, wanting to 'chat' with Sunako. He'd known the consequences

[selfnighted]

"Some things here are quite scary, aren't they?" Maya answered, leaning forward. "And be careful what you say; the soldiers and nurses are watching, yes?" she added in a lower tone, then sat back, as if the little aside was nothing at all. Far too brief a moment to be labelled suspicious, she thought, but it was foolhardy to glance sneakily at any of them, so she would simply take their lack of action as proof of success.

Though she really hadn't observed anyone taken away for speaking so, she thought. Perhaps she was being overcautious. It was simply that she'd seen the bulletin board this morning, with its coded speak; she'd assumed the same would hold true for face-to-face correspondence, and she didn't like to needlessly put herself at risk

[unpriest]

"...I see," Seishin said after a pause, a brief look of surprise crossing his features before a more neutral expression returned. Vino-san had not been discreet with sharing his information, though he supposed it wouldn't hurt to keep the nurses and soldiers in mind. He felt somewhat embarrassed; it would have been logical for their captors to keep an eye on them like this.

Thankfully, there hadn't been unpleasant consequences of their conversation thus far.

He nodded at her warning for the nights. "Thank you," he offered a small smile. "Please be careful as well, Maya-san."