Day 37: Sun Room
Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.
Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or ( Read more... )
Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or ( Read more... )
Lugnut still felt unbalanced and dull when the announcement system came online and another human female, with the assistance of a large, glowering male, coaxed him to his feet-- away from that traitor-- and led him to the next room (though he sullenly balked and had to be tugged not-so-gently along; he didn't trust the humans, not at all, not when he'd woken up in a human body, not when they'd done something to him to incapacitate his processor and alter his emotional core).
However, though the human female showed some exasperation at his vague struggles, she made no move to restrain Lugnut any further, instead leaving him to sit like a small, confused mountain on some of the bright room's soft seating.
After a few moments, his processor began to work at half-speed, and he looked around, trying to see if this room contained some kind of prompt for what he should do.
He saw nothing.
Lugnut began trying to figure it out without prompting. He would destroy whoever did this, yes, and return to his true form, and return to Megatron, and then they would take Cybertron, yes!
So, the first order of business: destroying whoever had caused the transformation, ripped him away from his lord's side. He could do that. He was Lugnut.
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Hair still a little damp, Xelloss exited the showers in a decidedly social mood. The morning's conversation had been entertaining enough, and possibly useful too, although Xelloss wasn't really one to shun entertainment because it lacked a practical function.
Given the choices of rooms, Xelloss had decided on the Sun Room, since it was so popular as a meeting place in general and it usually had something entertaining by day or night. Looking around, his attention focused on someone sitting by himself, generally a good sign for a target. It was no one Xelloss recognized, although that didn't mean much considering the crowds of people in Landel's Institute, and the man seemed to have a sort of determined look about him for someone who was sitting in place.
Taking a seat nearby, and watching without comment for a moment, Xelloss finally asked, "What are you doing?" The fact that the man didn't seem to be doing anything wasn't the point.
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Slowly, Lugnut swung his head towards the human who had sat next to him. It was considerably smaller than him; no threat. (Not small enough-- it was disconcerting to his already drug-numbed brain to have humans so close to his size-- but smaller all the same.)
"Thinking," he replied, expression absolutely blank, then looked forward again. He had to return to the side of the glorious Megatron, immediately... but he needed to be in his own body, or else he would be useless, an inexcusable crime.
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"... Is it interesting?" New patients did seem to be inclined towards getting sedated, so that was another point in favor of that possibility, but Xelloss wasn't asking outright yet. Really, new patient or not made very little difference to him, aside from the entertainment at disorientation. And he'd already enjoyed that once today.
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He needed to get out.
He needed... more data. Information. Lugnut's head swung towards the human again, and his eyes narrowed. "You," he said, to get the organic's attention. "Explain this place."
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"You've been drugged, yes, that's right," he encouraged, when the other man demanded attention. "This is Landel's Institute, a fake mental institution. A mental institution is a place where insane people are kept. Oddly, many people here are actually neither insane nor people! A large number of problems arise from this. Ah, and we're also attacked by monsters during the night." That summed it up fairly well, didn't it?
He wondered idly if a person who wasn't drugged would be able to make sense out of that summary.
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Ah, yes, that. "Human. Why do I appear human?" That was bothersome. In his true body, he would have simply transformed and left through the roof.
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"You appear human because everyone in this place appears human. Especially during the daytime." At night, the rules seemed to bend a bit more, although on the whole Xelloss wasn't willing to bet that the changes to patients weren't primarily cosmetic (such as in the case of poor dear Rhode) and the changes to other creatures were... obviously more. "But you'll probably appear human at night as well. That's part of the way this Institution is run; by making everyone human. It would certainly be interesting if they'd decided on all fishpeople instead, wouldn't it?"
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That didn't stop him from beginning to question the human's more nonsense contributions, and he asked in a puzzled voice, "What are fishpeople?"
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Not that Xelloss particularly cared about fishpeople, or beastpeople in general. "If a fishperson came here, he or she would appear human too. Everyone appears human here, as I said."
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"So anyone may be an old enemy in a new body..." He hadn't recognized Starscream, even when faced with him; would he recognize an Autobot? Those blasted clones?
Would he even be able to recognize Megatron himself, if his liege was trapped in a shell of flesh?
No, unthinkable; it was impossible for Megatron to be captured by this place. Not for any logical reason, but simply because it was Megatron, their great one, the one that would lead them ever-onwards and ever-upwards, towards that final glorious victory... it was unthinkable that he would fall to anything. It was blasphemy to even consider, and Lugnut lifted his gaze to the skylights above them, murmuring a prayer plea for forgiveness from his lord.
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For example, even with the brief accusations on the board, Xelloss seemed to still be accepted in general by whichever groups he cared to speak with. He'd been on his best behavior, true, and he had spent enough time playing the same game of false humanity on his own terms at home, but there were others who were more inclined to the obvious and they slid by just as easily. And of course, that was only speaking to threats within the patient population itself. What the larger 'man' had actually said was...
"Do you have many enemies?" Xelloss asked innocently. Hopefully whatever he'd been muttering at the sky wouldn't distract him from the answer, Xelloss had a feeling it would be interesting.
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He paused for a long, silent moment, then sat back down, looking slightly dizzy from the exertion. "My liege has many enemies," he repeated, a little more vaguely.
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"I see! That sounds like a very important and serious mission!" Xelloss nodded, pleased at how well Lugnut had responded. "I'm sure your liege will do very well with someone so loyal! Actually, my liege has many enemies too." Well, existing to destroy all things tended to bring out that sort of reaction from people, in fairness "If there are any enemies here, I think you might find them just because of your dedication!" And volume.
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And if an enemy appeared, Lugnut was ready to attack him in the name of Megatron's glory.
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Actually, Xelloss did admire the single-minded dedication, even if it was a bit addled and missing real direction. He didn't know who Megatron was, who the Autobots were, or anything like that, but in a place like this he couldn't think it mattered too much. His own loyalties were mostly distant, and the closest thing he had to a leader was still missing, but he was certainly still loyal to them. Just a bit quieter about those loyalties. Even if he'd stood up on a chair to shout out the praises of the Greater Beast or Lord RubyEye here, though, nobody would really know what he was talking about.
"So, how did you destroy your enemies at home?" If it were mechanics, Xelloss would be lost in the conversation, but it couldn't hurt to ask out of curiosity.
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