Day 34: Lunch

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, reallyDespite the occasional blip, talking to

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[miracle_grow]

[Waiting for Wesker?]

The shower had been wonderful. Claire came out feeling almost like a new person. The injuries on her shoulder had healed nicely - other than a faint scar where the one boy had bit her, which was odd, but she'd wait and ask her dad or Peter what they thought about that when she next saw them.

Filling her plate with food, she glanced around at the still-almost-empty cafeteria and figured they were still ushering the adults back in from outside. Not knowing anyone that was here, she found an empty table and sank down to start on her lunch.

[no_side_effects]

Wesker felt as though his luck were improving after that unfortunate night when his hand had been cut off. He'd gained Schuldig and Farfarello, even if they were only on loan, and now he had another potential person to join him.

Noticing Claire sitting by herself, Wesker took his tray and sat down next to her. "Claire... I'm glad to see you're alright, I was worried about you," Worried that she'd vanished, though it looked like she was still here. He was slightly unhappy that she hadn't gotten in contact with him or sought him out, and blamed that on the Nathan guy that had shown up.

[miracle_grow]

Claire froze as a strange man sat down and addressed her by name. She paused, blinking at him for a moment, chicken tender raised halfway to her mouth. Then she realized what must have happened and quickly dropped her food back to her plate.

"Umm. Hi! I'm okay. See? But they... sorta did something to my memories," she began, offering him a self-conscious, embarrassed smile. This got more awkward and guilt-inducing every time she had to do it.

[no_side_effects]

For a moment, Wesker was quite angry about finding it out. However, it was something he had considered as possible, so he managed to keep that under control.

"Nothing...? Very well, you and I arrived here on the same night... which was a little over two weeks ago. You have the same regenerative ability that I do, and... you really don't remember me at all?" Wesker was going to be cautious here about how much he said until he knew what Claire's memories were of her life outside this place. It was possible those had changed too... and that was a disturbing thought, if they did alter the memories of the lives that people had outside this place.

Though it was possible this Claire was also from another point in time, one where she knew her biological father. It would be unfortunate if he could no longer assume that role in her life, but he would deal with it anyway.

[miracle_grow]

"Wait, wait wait," Claire exclaimed, looking surprised. "You can... do what I do? And no, I don't. I only remember waking up here 3 days ago. I wouldn't even know I'd been here before if Clark hadn't found me my first morning and explained... things."

But he hadn't known about her abilities, but this man did. And they shared them. Claire leaned forward eagerly. "You really have the same ability as I do? Have you known for a long time?"

[no_side_effects]

"Yes... when we first found out about it we broke each other's fingers to be sure our abilities worked in this place, even with the weakening here," And she really didn't remember, but the fact that she was excited about meeting someone with the same ability she had was promising.

"I've had my abilities for a number of years, and while I can't quite be sure, from what I've observed of your regenerative, they appear to be on par with my own. Though, last time we spoke, regenerating was your only ability... is that still the case?" Wesker asked curiously. It was probable that, as her abilities were naturally occurring, that she would only have the regeneration. But Wesker might as well ask, just to cover the possibility.

[miracle_grow]

"Yes," she agreed with a nod, looking fascinated. She'd never run into someone who could do the same thing as her before. "This is amazing! I didn't know there was anyone else out there with the same ability as mine. I've met people with other abilities, but never this."

[no_side_effects]

"Do you mind if I ask you some more personal questions? Just to sort out how much of your memory has changed since the last time I spoke to you," Wesker said, he anticipated that she'd go along with it because she was so excited about finding someone with the same abilities she had.

Last time he'd been able to control Claire quite easily, hopefully with her so eager to find out more about other people with the same abilities, it wouldn't be too difficult. Though he was hesitant to invest a lot of time dealing with her if she was only going to have her memory altered again.

[miracle_grow]

Claire tilted her head to the side at the odd question, pausing a moment to puzzle out how she should answer that or not. Then, deciding that she didn't think it could hurt much, she nodded.

"Alright. I think I can do that."

She'd just have to be careful about her answers, depending on what he asked.

[no_side_effects]

"Before you came here, you were a cheerleader. You were also adopted, and didn't know who your real father was, are those statements still true?" Wesker was most interested in the last one, but the three questions would give him a general idea of how much of her memory had been altered, or if there were any vast changes to her time line.

He was also curious to see how open she was to the suggestion that some things she remembered now weren't true.

[miracle_grow]

Claire blinked in surprise. She and this man really had conversed a lot.

"Not... entirely. I mean, I was a cheerleader, yes, and I was adopted, but a friend helped me track down my birth mother, and I... sort of stumbled across the rest of my birth family by accident. I have a father, an uncle, and a grandmother."

How could she have different memories of home now than she had before? Could they block and renew memories? Trying to figure out what was wrong with her memory was giving her a headache. She was beginning to suspect that this wasn't just the Haitian anymore.

[no_side_effects]

The mention of Claire's birth family had Wesker frowning, he'd hoped that perhaps she might still not know them. He considered what she told him, remaining silent for a few long moments as he went over the ramifications of that information.

"Interesting," He commented finally. So this Claire was taken after the Claire that he knew, if he was to go with the theory of separate points in time. "Just to establish a potential time frame... how long ago did you find your birth mother?"

[miracle_grow]

Claire frowned in thought. "A month or two ago?" she answered after a moment. "Of course, it's been a little longer than I remember, since I'm missing a few weeks in there."

"Why?" she added, looking curious as she cocked her head to the side to study him. "Is that important somehow?"

[no_side_effects]

"It helps establish a time line to determine how many months of 'new' memories you have. I have to admit, it probably won't directly help me determine what they're doing here, but it may provide relevant information down the line... assuming I don't have my memories tampered with as well," That would be singularly frustrating, to forget everything that had happened so far. Frustrating and dangerous, as he wouldn't remember whatever lies he might have told previously.

The differences could be explained away as his memory having been altered, but it would still be a major setback. "How have you been since you remember being here... I'm assuming Clark has been speaking to you?"

[miracle_grow]

"He did," Claire nodded, smiling again. "He found me my first day here and explained things to me, as best he could. Our first night wasn't so great, because... well, I almost got him killed by accident, but he got to the chapel and healed in time. But we ran into a horrible monster that looked like it had been put together with parts from other things, and then when we were trying to get away, there was a patient being controlled out in the hallway and attacking people, and he sort of... bit me."

[no_side_effects]

"Well... at least you're not running around on your own, though you should be more careful. If you run into a monster you can't take out the best thing to do would really be to run away. Even if you'll recover from it, the people with you that don't know about that may get themselves hurt trying to protect you, though you've probably noticed that by now," It had become sort of a habit to act like a father to her, and Wesker decided it was one that should probably be broken.

"Before you had your memories tampered with, I was going to teach you how to defend yourself. The offer still stands, though I will not be able to do so tonight," Wesker said. Teaching would be a good excuse to spend time with Claire and gain more influence over her.