Day 57: Courtyard (Third Shift)

[roseoverture]

The air inside the Institute was getting stifling. It wasn't much different than usual, really, but knowing about all the changes done under the Institute's hood in her absence, Utena could barely stand it. The staff were so stiff, even as they pretended to be the same caring nurses as always. Landel's regurgitated voice recordings crept under her

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[roseoverture]

Utena thought over the best way to put this. The way Harley had first described the visitors to her had been pretty helpful, even if nothing could really prepare a person to see one. How exactly had she worded it again?

Her brow furrowed. Strange. She couldn't really remember now. It hadn't been that long ago she had last talked to Harley, had it? Even with the missing days, it was just a few weeks, tops. Did people and words really start to slip away that quickly sometimes?

She shook her head. Whatever, she thought. She was sure she could still think up a good description on her own. "Well, they're basically people you know from home. Only, they're not. They'll look and sound exactly like the person you know, but they call you by the stupid fake name the staff force on you, and they'll insist that you really are crazy. And they'll claim to have a totally different name of their own, too."

She paused for a moment, pressing her teeth together behind her lips as she forced memories of "Antony" and "Cecilia" out of her mind. After the moment passed, she continued: "They ask you how you're doing, if you're making progress, when you're 'coming home', that sort of thing. It's kind of like some kind of surreal dream, only you can't wake up from it." More like a nightmare, depending on who came to visit and how much it hurt to see them that way, she thought with a faint shudder.

[arakhnes]

"Wait, they'll insist that you're crazy?"

The whole concept was hard to wrap her mind around, but she had to wonder. If she ever got a visitor, who would come and see her? Her brothers were all dead, Peter couldn't since he was already here. That left, what, Carol Danvers or Doc Ock? Neither of those options were something she'd ever want to happen to her, for a multitude of reasons. One being she didn't want Octopus-But to tell her that she was crazy.

(Or Johnny. But she wouldn't know how to deal with it.)

She was silent again, shifting uncomfortably and tugging at her sleeves. "That sounds -- yeah, it sounds pretty screwed up." She paused. "Who are these people then? Because they can't really be... you know."

[roseoverture]

Utena nodded a confirmation. It sucked a hell of a lot, but everyone here had to find out sometime. Better to be prepared for it sooner than later, she figured.

"They might be, actually," said Utena, keeping the bad medicine coming. "Once you see them... I don't know how to describe it, but it just feels too real, you know? Like no one could've copied someone that perfectly." She wondered if that explanation even made sense, but continued anyway: "Most people figure they are the people we know, but they've been brainwashed or something like that. That makes the most sense to me, considering..."

Utena bit her lip for a moment, forcing down the memories of "Yoko" before shaking her head and pushing more words out of her mouth: "Anyway, yeah, it's so awful! I don't know how anyone justifies that kind of thing!"