Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 1

[forgot_my_life]

Oh yeah. This was bad. Grabbing a chair and ignoring the woman who had brought him in, Takaya crossed his arms and glared at the wall. He wasn't going to participate in this bullshit. Being told he had 'company' and that he should he happy about it had ruined what was otherwise an okay day

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[secret_orchard]

This time Armand wasn't surprised when the nurse came to find him to lead him to the visitor's lobby. This time Armand was somewhat prepared to see his "sister." This time, he thought he'd be able to lie long enough to avoid the tears and general heartache of the last visit. Considering what had just happened with Elle, he was still vaguely embarrassed about his own behavior lately. He hadn't even been here much more than 2 weeks (Or was it not quite 2 weeks? He wasn't sure anymore. He'd have to count the days later.), and he already missed his family, Jeanne especially since he knew he'd never see her since the Institute denied her existence, enough to do silly rash things

[damned_visitors]

It wasn't terribly long before the woman arrived, swathed in a coat trimmed in fur and looking as elegant and expertly coiffed as she had the last week.

"Gilles!" she exclaimed, rushing over to her brother and throwing her arms around him. "Even one week is far too long to last without seeing your face!"

[secret_orchard]

His fingers were still twined in his hair, so Armand could only awkwardly hug her back with his free arm. He was thrilled to see her. For a few moments, he wasn't certain he would be. Her voice, the voice of one who protected and loved him so fiercely, almost undid all his resolve in one blow. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to enjoy that warmth and protection once again.

"Madeleine," he whispered, trying to hide how hoarse with unshed tears his voice had become. "I am so happy to see you. I was afraid you'd abandon me here."

[damned_visitors]

"How can you say such a thing?" She drew back, her hands on Gilles' shoulders, her pretty face looking hurt and shocked.

"I would never do such a terrible thing! I wish for nothing but the day these people tell me you are well and coming home with me! They tell me nothing, Gilles, nothing! But you can tell me, can't you? How is your progress? When can I take you home?" She sounded so emphatic, almost begging for her brother to tell her he was nearly well, and would come home soon.

[secret_orchard]

"I don't know. I wish I did. I miss you so much, and... Patrick. He is good to you still, is he not?" Armand bit his lip, not faking his worry in any way. "I saw a doctor last week, and she threw me out of her office! I still don't know what I did wrong. All I did was compare a computer to an intercom. They are similar, aren't they?"

But he didn't even leave her time to comment before rushing on, almost in one breath, to ask another question. "She told me... can you tell me? Did you put me here or did the courts?" He freed both his hands to touch her waist. Between lovers, it might be almost intimate, but she was his sister, far too slender but strong in all the ways he was not.

Although it was driven this time by worry about his deception, Armand's breathless excited way of speaking was a habit he'd had since he was young. When something was on his mind, all forms of politeness flew out the window. Even as he asked these questions, fitting to his pretense, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answers.

[damned_visitors]

"Of course he treats me will," Madeleine responded, as though confused. "Why on earth wouldn't he?" She blinked some, at the comparison. she supposed they were similar, in the way the sun and a cloud were similar. Both were in the sky, could be seen from the earth....

Well, they were both technologies used for communication. In that sense, she could easily see a comparison.

"Why does that matter?" she then asked, wetting her lips. "Oh Gilles, you must behave here. I want you home. Before that doctor had some sort of fit, were you told anything of your progress? They tell me so little! It's terribly frustrating."

[secret_orchard]

"She didn't say. How would I know? I'm the one they think is crazy and not to be allowed near sharp objects." Her distress tore at him--he wanted so much to relieve it, but in some ways, what he was trying to do today was an attack. He was desperate enough to try to her to tell him something that might be helpful in this bizarre trap. Even if it hurt both of them.

"It does matter, don't you see? If-if..." Armand could hardly make himself say it, because it was so like admitting that it was true and correct. "If I am well enough to leave here, will they even let me go home with you? Won't they put me in jail for what I did?" With only the lady doctor's haughty incomplete explanation he had the vaguest sense of the crime he'd supposedly committed. He hoped he understood it well enough to seem as if he remembered it, because, of course, he didn't.

[damned_visitors]

She shook her head. "No, Gilles, you aren't going to go to jail. You're sick, you did not know or understand what you were doing. That's why you're here, and not in prison. And once you're better, you can come home." There would be further therapy and perhaps medications, but he would be home.

"But don't you see!" Madeleine went on, excitedly. "You're remembering! You're getting better!" He wasn't talking like he had no memory of the incident. Surely that was a good sign?

[secret_orchard]

He always found lying impossible looking into Marguerite's eyes, so he kept his eyes down. The worried frown he wore came naturally. "I remember," Armand said, "and... I am so sorry. Please tell Patrick how sorry I am." Again he didn't lie in his tone. In his mind, he was thinking of Percy and all that he owed him. "I want to come home, more than anything. I miss you so much."

He stepped back and reached to take one of her hands. "You should sit, Madeleine. I think I make the nurses nervous being on my feet." The absences in what he said shouted at him. How could he sound so sincere when what he knew about his supposed life here could be written on the palm of his hand in large letters and still leave room. He didn't even know his sister's married name. He ran his other hand through his hair in a nervous gesture to smooth it.

[damned_visitors]

"Oh he understands! Sickness...this sort of sickness, no one can blame you! I'm sure you'll be home before very much longer, if you're remembering and you know everything else is just...well, a sick mind trying to trick you."

She did sit down though, sweeping her skirt and long jacket in an elegant gesture as she did so.

"Those nurses! They hurried me in here, you know. For such a prestigious establishment, I think I'll have to have a word about the staff. They don't...take advantage of patients, do they?"

[secret_orchard]

That question shocked him so, Armand raised his head and stared at her. His horror must have been evident. Not exactly what she meant, but the nightly ordeals and the soul-eating grind of living here filled his mind. Very little color remained in his pale face though his eyes had darkened to nearly all gray. "I couldn't even begin to tell you," he finally whispered.

He rolled his shoulders back, trying to feel if the slash across his back remained evident enough to be distinguished from his older scars. The burns on his hands had healed far too long ago to show. His fingers tightened on her hand, probably too tightly. "They probably won't let me say."

[damned_visitors]

"Gilles! do you mean it? What on earth do they do? They feed you, don't they? And you're getting the proper medication, aren't you?" She'd seen specials after all. Institutes that saved money by not feeding their patients, or giving them medication, things like that. Or horrible nurses who taunted and teased their wards. It was terrible!

And to think even in a place like this, there were those unscrupulous sorts who would take advantage and be cruel to poor, sick people! And her beloved brother!

[secret_orchard]

"We're fed. I've only been medicated once." Best not tell her how or why.

Armand still didn't know how bad his back looked, but decided to risk it. "Patients are hurt here every day. I know there are old scars still there, but... there's a new cut on my back. I got it several days ago." He had no idea what to tell her about how he got it--an alien creature's claw. "Dr. Landel lets terrible things happen to us here. Terrible."

[damned_visitors]

Madeliene's face fell, and a look of sadness came over her face. "Oh, Gilles..."

It wasn't sorrow for the supposed 'abuse', but rather the realization that her brother wasn't as well as she'd assumed. He was still having delusions, just different ones now.

[secret_orchard]

He should have known that anything approaching the truth wouldn't work. Lies were the coin of the realm here, not the truth. Armand closed his eyes, just breathing for a moment and fighting against his frustration. If he fell too deeply into it, even the little bit of progress he'd convinced her he'd made would be disproved. "I'm not lying," he protested, the lame denial sounding childish. "I can show you. You know what it looked like before. How often have I lied to you?"

[damned_visitors]

"I don't believe you think you're lying," Madeliene said, carefully. No, she thought he was confused and having different delusions now. "And you will show me no such thing. You're just confused again, that's all."