Day 32: Lunch

[damnrudecock]

Sanosuke hadn't quite been ready to part ways from Kenshin, but his nurse was insistent, and she was offering food. That second thing was what really got Sano off the couch and headed to the cafeteria. And at the very least, the thing about Okita had been settled, which meant the fighter could focus on his meal

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[yin_yang_fox]

The woman pushing her seemed like she was in a hurry. She wheeled Renamon into a large cafeteria and set her at a table, apologizing for not introducing her to anyone, but there are a lot of patients so you understand, don't you, Reiko?

Reiko? Patients? Huh.

The woman disappeared only to come back with a small plate of pizza and a glass of water. She smiled, apologetic, then left to supposedly assist someone else.

Renamon stared at the food in front of her. She was getting more confused with no answers in sight. More people were coming in and sitting themselves down, and she started to feel a little defensive. Where was she? She needed to know what was going on, right now.

And this food didn't really look all that good. She plucked at the sweatshirt she wore, trying to control her anxiety.

[Free fox to a good home?]

[secret_orchard]

[Hope you don't mind a little Frenchman]

Armand frowned in irritation as the nurse herded him into the cafeteria--he was getting tired of the nurses thinking he was incapable of moving from one room to the next without their over-cheery assistance. It was one thing to find your way to a new part of the hospital, but this was ridiculous. The choice of foods wasn't much to his liking either, but he'd more or less missed breakfast. He requested lots of vegetables and perhaps some sausage. He thought he could smell the meaty spice of something like that in the air.

She left him with a full plate and some juice in a seat beside a young blonde in a wheelchair. Someone new? He tuned out so much of what the nurses said automatically he didn't quite catch what she told him. So as not be rude, he poked at the food first with his frown still in place, then looked over at the young woman. "I think she said that you were new. Is that true? I'm Armand."

[yin_yang_fox]

[As long as you can handle her slight mood swings. ^^;]

Renamon's eyes, which had started to dull, snapped up to focus on the man another woman had left next to her. Her mind, focused by years of training, started to assess his threat level, when she realized it didn't matter. She didn't have any of her powers to fight with and she wasn't sure she had the same capabilities in this form. She took a breath (how many times did she have to remember to breathe today?) and brought one of her new hands up to push bright hair from her eyes. Focus.

Her eyes still locked on the man, she spoke soft and low. "One would have to know where they are to know if they're new." She restrained herself from asking what world they were in. She really needed to calm down. "And I am Renamon."

She could possibly get her questions answered, as long as she kept a hold on herself.

[secret_orchard]

"I'd like to say it was a pleasure to meet you, and for yourself, I am sure it would be, miss, but our location makes it a sad place to make new acquaintances." Armand brushed at his hair with one hand nervously, as if it were in his face. He'd become accustomed to that feeling, though it was tied neatly back now. "This little parcel of Hell on Earth is called Landel's Institute. Here, they will try to tell you that your life is not your own and that you are some mad person with another name."

He glanced down at his plate then and tried to cut up the pizza with his fork. He didn't want to handle food with his bandaged hands.

[yin_yang_fox]

...Well, that wasn't what she expected at all.

Forgetting herself, she leaned forward. "I don't understand quite what you mean. You're being literal? Why do they do that? Why wouldn't you just leave?"

Renamon, who was never held against her will before, didn't quite grasp the concept. There wasn't much in her worlds that could keep her captive, and if they tried she could just slide or run away. But this seemed like the human world. Maybe she could find Rika. If this was -her- human world. Impmon's words still played a loop track in her mind. Renamon hated not understanding.

[secret_orchard]

"I think they do it to demoralize and confuse us. I haven't heard any strong theories otherwise, though my opinion on the matter counts for little."

Armand set his utensils down so he could look at her. She seemed so young in his eyes. He remembered what he'd said to Thursday about needing to protect the young and weak and her reply that even those that seemed so often had some hidden power he couldn't guess at. "Even those with great power in their former lives have had no opportunity to escape. Those of us who have good in our hearts try to look after one another," he said, though he wasn't entirely sure how true that was even as he said it. He supposed the rescue missions and the advice exchanges on the bulletin board supported his claim.

[yin_yang_fox]

"But what's the point?" Her bright eyes lowered a bit as she tried to make sense of the situation. And then she caught the man's next sentence. "Former lives? You mean there's no way to go back?"

Rika.

This wasn't a time to get emotional. Renamon needed answers. "People look after one another here... I used to be the one to do that, but I guess times change." And we change, too.

Renamon latched on to a point Armand had said. "You said 'we.' Are all these people," she moved her hand slightly to include the room, "being held against their will? What exactly is this place?"

[secret_orchard]

He nodded. "Yes, everyone you see in these gray garments are supposedly mental patients and prisoners here. The others are the staff that dance to Dr. Landel's whim." Armand hated being the one to break the news to people, but someone had to do it, and he fancied he might be gentler than some. "I don't know if there's a way back to where we were before. It's a matter of worlds for some, apparent great gulfs of time for others. No one known has found a way to bridge that gap."

[yin_yang_fox]

So this was another world. Impmon was right. He would be unbearable if he ever found out. Renamon chose her words cautiously. "Where I come from, we have more than one world. The separate worlds are hard to get to, but usually it's just about finding the right door." She would hold onto hope for that. Maybe a door in this buliding was another portal.

"So everyone's from separate worlds here?" She thought for a minute, before continuing. "Are there many different... races?" She didn't want Armand, a seemingly normal human, thinking she was mad herself for asking about different species. "Do many have special abilities?"

Moreof, were any not human with magical powers, and could they still use them? But she wasn't going to voice that particular thought yet.

[secret_orchard]

"Perhaps not everyone but near enough." Armand looked around the cafeteria, trying to guess what she meant by different races. It seemed obvious to him that people had wildly varied hair and skin tones. "I suppose. I don't ask about that. You may want to try the bulletin board for a question like that."

He worried a piece of pizza free to taste. "Yes, as I understand it. Weakened, I believe. It doesn't affect me, you understand, since I don't have any myself. I have a friend who can heal with magic, and I know there are others. Many seem more than prepared to fight, even hobbled."

[yin_yang_fox]

"The Bulletin Board? What's that?"

"Are they ways to get the powers back?" Perhaps if others were using them, they returned in time, or something like that. The fact alone that other had powers made her pause though. Were they Digimon, or something else altogether?

But it was the last senctence that truly made her give her full attentions to Armand. "People are fighting against this?" Her already bright eyes shone a little more. There was more hope in this place than she thought, if others weren't just sitting back and taking it. "How would I get involved?"

And then she remembered she was in a human form. Idiot.

[secret_orchard]

Armand pointed back toward the Sun Room. "There's a board in there where people leave messages. It isn't private, but it works very well for asking questions in general or finding people." He could tell she was paying greater attention to him now, though he wasn't sure what that attention entailed and that made him a bit nervous. Nor was he certain why he merited the attention.

"There are the clubs: Arts & Crafts, History and Cooking, I believe, if you prefer some organization. But most here are fighting in some way. Some of us just keep our eyes and ears open and try to learn new things, but others... well, if we ever have a chance against our captors, it would lie with the more powerful ones."

[yin_yang_fox]

She gave a quick nod to the Bulletin Board explanation. She would definitely want to take a look at that.

At the next remark, she tilted her head. "Clubs? How would making crafts be helpful?"

She noticed the man had went over her question about powers returning. She filed that away, and latched on to a new point. "And do you know who the more powerful ones are?"

[secret_orchard]

Armand shook his head at her question about the clubs. "Those are just names, for secrecy. Each group has people designated to answer questions about what they really do. I've met two of the leaders, Captain Hitsugaya and Colonel Mustang."

He bit his lip sadly before he continued on. "No, miss, I don't know that. Without any magical or special senses of my own, I can't tell such things. I've only seen the brainwashed prisoners using their full powers, and most of the time when that happens, I am trying to get out of the way. One of them did this to me." He held up his bandaged hands. "A friend and I were burned two nights ago."

[yin_yang_fox]

Renamon nodded again, absorbing the information. "And which do each run, if you know?"

And then her calm facade shattered a bit. "...Brainwashed?" Her eyes widened slightly. "They attack... each other? How is that possible?" Patients hindering others when all should be trying to escape.... It was devious, and was a tactic that would definitely lower moral. Eyes downcast in thought, she muttered, "Who's doing this all this?..."

Fire attacks. Elemental. It sounded like Digimon to her. Was it possible that there were more Digimon in human form here? "Why did they attack you?" And then, belatedly, she raised her gaze again, "Are you alright?"

Decorum dictated that she was being rude, even if she did need this information. She bowed her head slightly. "I apologize if I'm asking too many questions. Please tell me if I'm bothering you."

[secret_orchard]

"Oh, Mustang is the Cooking Club and Hitsugaya is Arts & Crafts."

At the widening of her eyes, Armand reached a hand toward her as if he meant to touch her arm, but the bandage reminded him to keep his hands to himself. "I didn't mean to distress you more. Yes, roughly every other night a few patients are taken and brainwashed into fighting the rest of us. It's all Dr. Landel's work. He and his staff."

He wrung his hands slightly, wincing a bit as they were still a little tender. "We wanted past him. My partner was fighting him, and I tried to help, but when we were so close he said something called up fire from the floor." Armand shivered at the memory. "Then he started chanting, which we took as something even more diabolical, so we broke off and fled as fast as we could."

"You're not bothering me at all." Truly, Armand didn't mind the questions. They gave him a chance to think through what he already knew, and he appreciated that. He made himself eat some of the pizza.