Day 41: Breakfast

[oftemptation]

Endrance turned his head to look at the intercom, giving it a look that would wither an entire rose garden in an instant. He would never get used to ending up in his room again from somewhere else in the Institute

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[unmocked_lawr]

Well, that hadn't been a bad night at all. He could really get used to this.

Javert slung the filled pillowcase of drugs into the closet and put the rest of his things away, returning to his desk as usual when the nurse came in. A serious nod and a "Good morning" were more than enough to make her beam irritatingly at him as she led him out of the door.

One quick pause at the bulletin board to check up on the men he'd left in the experimental laboratory last night and on to the cafeteria. Javert filled his plate with pancakes, eggs, and bacon before he headed toward his usual spot near the door, only to be stopped unexpectedly by his nurse.

"You don't talk to enough people, Mr. Hunt!" she chirped. "You need to make friends here! Why don't you talk to Mr. Williams - he's new here, and I'm sure he'd love a friend!"

Disagreeing with her would ruin the 'polite gentleman' image he'd carefully built up for her over the weeks. Javert smiled slightly - though it came out as more of a grimace - and took a seat next to the man, who appeared to be putting his fingers to his forehead and concentrating.

"That won't work, you know," he said dryly as he put his tray down. "Whatever it is you're doing has no effect during the day."

[bitpartgod]

Come on, come on... why couldn't he get a signal? This place looked like Earth, and that nurse looked an awful lot like an earthling, so why was he having so much trouble sensing anything at all? He'd never had any kind of trouble finding Kaioshinkai while on Earth before. Oh, geeze. Now he was starting to panic. And when he panicked he couldn't concentrate, and if he couldn't concentrate he couldn't-

"Huh?" There was, Kibitoshin suddenly noticed, a man sitting next to him. He flushed and dropped his hand as if it were scalding hot, realising just how bizarre he must have looked- and then recoiled. That uniform... he was a patient! Which meant that he was probably crazy!

Still, it would be rude to act strangely around him. And even crazy people sometimes made sense, right? Wait, was it rude to call them crazy? Never mind. Head to one side, Kibitoshin blinked at the man curiously. "What do you mean, no effect during the day?"

[unmocked_lawr]

The nurse hadn't been joking when she'd said the man was new. Javert didn't bother to hide his amusement.

"Judging by what you were doing and the expression on your face, I'd venture that you were trying to invoke some special power or whatever it is that passes for special powers where you're from. Trust me, it won't work. Nobody's powers work during the day, and they only just work at night."

He stuck out a hand. Might as well introduce himself. "The name's Javert. My esteemed companion - " a jerk of the head at his departing nurse - "called you Mr. Williams, but that's not your real name, is it?"

[bitpartgod]

Kibitoshin simply stared. He was vaguely aware of a growing sinking feeling, as though he were falling down a rather deep well. "This... isn't good, is it?" he managed lamely, head lowered. Oh dear. Either the man really was insane or he was in a lot of trouble, and something told him that it was very probably the latter.

"Me? Mr. Williams...? No," Kibitoshin answered thoughtfully, "I don't suppose I am." How embarrassing! He hadn't even noticed that the nurse had been calling him by a different name. In fact, he had barely noticed that Javert had offered him his hand either. "Oh! I'm Kibitoshin." He gave him a broad smile, grasping the man's hand with what was probably a lot more enthusiasm than was really warranted. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

[unmocked_lawr]

"The same, I'm sure." Irony? In Javert's voice? Never.

Withdrawing his hand, he began making inroads on his tray. Just because he would presumably have to explain this place to a newcomer didn't mean he should have to miss breakfast for it. "I suppose you arrived recently then, M. Kibitoshin?"

[bitpartgod]

Wait, was that sarcasm? It was so hard to tell with some people. Not that Kibitoshin wasn't used to be on the receiving end- the Elder Kaioshin had always been pretty sarcastic. Maybe all old people were, just by nature?

"I woke up here this morning." No need to mention the part where he fell out of bed. "Though I'm not exactly sure where 'here' is..."

[unmocked_lawr]

He hadn't received even a basic introduction, then. Javert nodded slightly; he'd been through this before.

"You're in Landel's Institute, located in what is either the northeastern United States or someplace that looks very much like it. That's on Earth." With luck, Kibitoshin had at least heard of that. "The year is unknown, but general consensus appears to be that it is in the late twentieth or early twenty-first century."

A pause to finish a pancake. "The nurses have no doubt told you that you are mentally ill, and perhaps you are; I'm no judge of that. But you're certainly not who they say you are, which is, I suppose, what matters here."

[bitpartgod]

With his face telling a story of its own, Kibitoshin really needn't have bothered with a response. That didn't stop him from blurting out the first thing that came into his head, of course.

"So this is all a big lie?" The further the idea sank in, the more hysterical he began to sound- and the more worried, too. The bottom of the well was getting closer and closer. "That's... that's crazy! Why in the universe would someone do that? They must know that they've got it all wrong."

[unmocked_lawr]

"Calm down." Javert should've known he was the hysterical type. Oh well, he thought wryly - nothing for it. "Of course they know. That's the thing, I'm afraid - nobody knows why they're doing this. I'm inclined to think it's merely for the head doctor's sadistic amusement, myself."

He could add more, but he supposed what he'd just said was already a lot to take. At least Kibitoshin seemed to believe him for the moment. Javert had just thought his roommate was completely mad when he'd arrived.

...which wasn't to say that Kibitoshin didn't think he was mad either, but that was beside the point.

[bitpartgod]

Kibitoshin flushed again at the command and stared down into his lap again, momentarily silenced. "I'm sorry, sir, it's just... all happening so quickly." He slumped back, biting his lip anxiously. Frankly, he couldn't understand how Javert could just sit there and explain it all so calmly. This was serious! "I can't believe this is happening."

The mention of a head doctor at least renewed a little hope for him. "A head doctor? As in, he's in charge?" His eyes widened. "He must be a powerful warrior!" Powerful enough, at least, to keep a Kaioshin here and take away his powers. Even an untrained one.

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert hadn't actually expected the order to work. That was surprising, but he wasn't about to complain about it. "I can't blame you, M. Kibitoshin; it's quite a lot to take in a matter of minutes, and I don't expect you to react calmly. Frankly, the fact that you believe me at all is surprising."

He wasn't entirely sure why the other man's face brightened at the mention of a head doctor, unless he was thinking of taking the man on himself. Stupid idea. "There's a Head Doctor, yes - Martin Landel. I wouldn't call him a warrior, but there's certainly more to him than meets the eye. I haven't seen him myself, but he appeared in the chapel on the morning of the day I arrived, and there are quite a few patients here who have seen him."

[bitpartgod]

"Huh? Why wouldn't I believe you?" Javert looked older and sounded a lot smarter than him- that was reason enough to trust him, wasn't it? "I can't imagine why you'd want to lie to me, if we're in the same situation."

So this Martin Landel person wasn't a warrior... probably a good thing. He'd probably have been a lot stronger than him if he was. "Then is he some kind of wizard? Like Babidi?" A thought struck him quite out of the blue and, with his self-control caught unawares, managed to carry off his mouth. "Do you think he was the one that changed my colour? After all, I used to be purple but now I'm earthling-coloured, so he must have used magic to change me!"

The young Kaioshin paused for breath. "... I'm not crazy, you know."

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert raised an eyebrow. Naïve to boot, then. But presumably not mad - or at least, no madder than most of the patients here.

"He appears human, at the very least, but nobody is entirely sure who he is, or how he manages to make such trouble for the rest of us. It's entirely possible that he's the one who changed your color, though how he might have done that is up for debate. Perhaps magic is involved; perhaps it isn't." A dry laugh. "You see our knowledge about the man behind the scenes is not exactly extensive."

He took a bite of egg. "Very few people here are crazy. We're simply trapped in here for no apparent reason, much like yourself."

[bitpartgod]

"I'd call this a little more than 'trouble'," Kibitoshin answered, staring glumly down at his plate. Now he really didn't feel like eating, no matter how good it looked. "And I thought the universe couldn't be any more difficult than it already is."

Javert, on the other hand, didn't seem to be having any trouble putting away his meal. Actually, he didn't sound all that bothered about the situation. In a strange way, it helped. Maybe he was part saiyan or something? Though the saiyans Kibitoshin had known had been big and brawny, and Javert was, well... "How long have you been trapped here, anyway? You sound like a real expert."

[unmocked_lawr]

"It gets worse, I'm afraid. Are you any good in a fight?" Kibitoshin looked capable enough from a physical standpoint, but the man(?)'s apparent tendency to wax hysterical wasn't exactly a point in his favor. Still, almost everyone here had some hidden secrets or another, and Kibitoshin had already revealed that he was capable of some unidentifiable power in his home world, dulled as it might be here.

"Almost three weeks now - not a particularly significant time, but I suppose I've been here longer than most." Javert shook his head slightly, half-smirking. "I only keep my eyes and ears open, nothing more."

[bitpartgod]

Kibitoshin broke into a sunny smile. Now that was something he could say about himself! Or, at least, he hoped he could... "I may not be as strong as Goku or Ve- ah, anyone else I know, but I'm no pushover! Well," he added swiftly, "I like to think I'm not." Whether anyone else would agree was another story. "Can you?"

Even if Javert didn't look like a fighter, that didn't mean that he couldn't fight at all. That was easy enough to understand. Or maybe he was a master of the mind, like Piccolo? He must have been doing something right to be okay after three weeks in a place like this, at any rate.