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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[vitale]

The teenager smiled warmly as the older man said she could sit down, and she took the seat next to him with a soft thump, wincing out of embarrassment at the way she flopped down. This isn't school, Bella, she scolded, brushing her hair out of her face, You could at least try to look happy.

Even though it was an impossible thought, she tried away. At least, until the mention of her neck. Bella looked down, fingers playing with the slightly curled tips of her long hair. "Oh, um, a few nights ago I ... ran into a monster that looked like someone I knew, and I didn't know until it ... tried to eat me."

How funny, to think that even though Edward was a vampire, she knew he would never hurt her ... but now some fake Edward had done just that. Landel had taken the one thing she believed in and trusted the most and turned it against her. If that wasn't nightmare fuel, she didn't know what was.

"I'm fine, though," she told Lunge quickly, trying to be reassuring. At that moment, she was incredibly glad those strange frostbite burns on her arms were gone. "Just ... yeah. Uh. Watch out for ... monsters that look like people you care about. I think that's the worst thing I've seen thus far.

"But how've you been?" Bella continued, looking up at Lunge with a curious smile. "Since we really haven't been able to talk in a while, I mean."

[herr_inspektor]

A monster that looked like a friend. Now, wasn't that an apt metaphor for the facility as a whole? Less so now that the the stapled-on permasmiles of the nurses had been replaced with military severity, but the stark contrast was still there between the seeming-safety of day and the danger of the night.

But then, what was the use in thinking that way? Lunge could tell himself that he was looking at the big picture all he wanted to, that he was looking for patterns, but he knew all too well that the only thing he was doing was circumnavigate the more literal and more painful truth of it. In the end, it was that truth which won out; his guard slipped.

"Illusions seem to be their specialty, don't they?" he answered after a pause, smile fading. "Last week they brought me my daughter- at least, a woman they claimed to be my daughter."

There was no way she could actually have been his daughter. That wasn't just denial talking; brainwashed or not, there was no way she would ever have agreed to see him.

But now he was thinking again, and it was becoming increasingly clear that he was losing his grip on his words. Not good; he was exposed without the cover of control. Swiftly he shook his head and attempted to put a little more force behind his voice. "It's a nasty example of psychological warfare. I'm glad that you weren't too badly injured- and sorry that it had to happen to you." That was easy enough to say, the last part; it was the truth. "I've been fine. The takeover has given me more than enough to investigate, at least."

[vitale]

It really did seem that way, Bella didn't want to admit. "Especially lately, I feel like, what with those few nights ago and the shadows ..." Not that she wanted to think about them. Not that she ever thought about them. Of course not.

When Lunge mentioned his daughter, she looked up at him with a shocked expression, melting into one of concern. "Your ... your daughter?" A part of her had hoped that maybe the institute wouldn't resort to such low tricks. However, she had already been proven wrong once, and she knew she shouldn't have been surprised about his daughter, but ... it worried her. What would she do if her father came to visit? Her mother? Alice? ... Jacob? What would she do if she saw his face, but it wasn't really him? All at once, she was particularly happy that Edward was actually in the institute with her. What would she do if a not!Edward appeared and told her about his life outside the institute walls? She didn't even want to think about it.

"I'm sorry," Bella blurted out, running her fingers through her hair once again. "I mean - I'm sorry they did that to you. That ... mustn't have been pleasant. At all."

Not so oddly enough, when Lunge said he was sorry that she had gotten hurt, Bella felt some kind of homesickness for Charlie. Perhaps it was because the Inspector reminded her so much of her father. "Thanks," she told him with a smile. "And this whole ... military thing is pretty weird. I mean, what do you think happened to Landel? And ... everyone else we used to see in the institute? These soldiers are just not ... all that friendly. And the so called food they force some of us to have is just pure cruelty, seriously. I almost miss the way things used to be, if that makes any ... sense.

"Have you ... found any interesting information out, though?" Bella continued, her voice falling soft once again. "Since everything has changed so much, I mean."

dhjsa sorry for the delay! my internet died >:

[herr_inspektor]

Ah, yes. The shadows. That one hadn't cut quite so deeply as his visitor had; the discomfort there had stemmed more from having his fears so publicly aired, and to the one person he didn't want to know about his doubts and inabilities. Of course it wasn't as though he wanted L to think of him as infallible, but their professional relationship hinged on their ability to perform. And, truth be told, he needed L's help to make sense of the Institute.

And speaking of aired fears- Bella's expression changed almost instantly. He could see the thought process almost too clearly: how cruel... what if it happened to me...? The thought was a bitter one. He had thought that he would be emotionally capable of brushing off the experience, and he had thought wrong; what did that mean for Bella, a teenager? He didn't doubt that she had to have some sort of strength for her to have survived (survived- he didn't like that word here, it made failure seem inescapably permanent) for this long, but even so...

"It's fine." It wasn't particularly, but lingering on it wouldn't make it any more so. There was no need to make Bella worry any more. "I should have been more prepared for something like that."

Even so, there was something oddly alien about having someone worry over him at all; Lunge wasn't sure what to make of it, and in the end it seemed best to move on to safer territory swiftly. That said, he still couldn't help but smile at her choice in complaint- the food?

"You didn't hear the radio broadcast last night?" he asked with some surprise, head to one side. "Landel seems to have found himself a new partner." One who had him on the end of a shotgun, but a partner nonetheless. He waited for that to sink in, then continued. "I don't understand how he managed to escape, but perhaps Marc wanted answers that only Landel could give in person."