Day 41: Sun Room

[feartehreaper]

Haseo's steps were heavy with the weight of righteous anger as he was escorted into the Sun Room, his posture so sullen and reluctant you could almost hear the nostalgic cry of an electric guitar. He was seething, and though perhaps it was a bit harder to be intimidating while wearing the uniform of an insane asylum and flanked by a bored-looking

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[bitpartgod]

Breakfast had been enlightening thanks to Javert, but not in the way that Kibitoshin would have hoped. The lasting impression was that the had not only fallen down a well but that he had landed on a tack at the bottom as well. Oh, dear...

Apparently, it must have shown on his face- one look drew a sympathetic murmur of, "Are you not feeling very well? Perhaps you should stay inside, dear," from the nurse who had collected him, and before he could put her right she had bustled him towards the big, sunny room with the bulletin board he had visited earlier that morning.

Kibitoshin hovered uncertainly in the doorway, one part shy and three parts reluctant. With the kind of place this was, could he really let himself- hey! By the board! W-was that...?!

"Trunks!"

Barely noticing that the volume his voice had suddenly shot through the roof, he charged over to him excitedly. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" The thought that he had seen a good few others with short purple hair at lunch didn't even cross his mind until he was already grasping Possibly-Trunks' shoulder. Oops.

[futureshope]

Well, Trunks certainly hadn't been expecting that. He heard someone calling his name, and started to turn--but whoever it was had been faster, and already had him by the shoulder. He jumped in surprise, whirling around with wide eyes.

He certainly didn't recognize whoever it was, though they obviously knew him. Or the other-time him...

"Uh. Hi?"

[bitpartgod]

The smile slipped from Kibitoshin's face the second he realised that Trunks had no idea who he was. At all.

Uh-oh. Not good.

Maybe it was the new skin colour? Or the shock? But Trunks had known him since he was young- much younger than he was now. They hadn't exactly been the best of friends, but surely he'd be able to recognise... no! He had to stay positive! "It's me! Kibitoshin!" He paused expectantly, then, encouragingly, added, "I used to be the East Kaioshin, remember?"

[futureshope]

Trunks was still drawing a complete blank. He knew of the Kais, vaguely, moreso from his time in the past than anything else. He'd never actually known one.

"...I think you're confusing me for...another me," Trunks finally said, lamely. How else to explain this situation? Kami, he was confused--and he didn't even know where he was yet. This Kibitoshin person had to be familiar with the past-him.

"I am Trunks, but I'm...from a different timeline than the Trunks I think you know."

[bitpartgod]

Another Trunks? Timelines? If Other-Trunks thought he was confused he should have gotten a look at Kibitoshin's head. "But we've met before," he persisted, a little lamely by this point, "I was so sure..."

There had to be (read: he hoped there was) a logical explanation for this. Maybe some kind of memory trick? But Javert had said that only happened during the day. Hmm.

"Oh! I know!" He snapped his fingers suddenly, beaming. "You're the Trunks that went back in time to warn Goku about the androids!" That had to be it. Unless, of course, he'd managed to muddle his Earth history again...

[futureshope]

"Yeah, that's me." Trunks ducked his head slightly. "Look, it's nice to meet you and all, but...do you know what's going on here? Where is everyone? We were watching Gohan fight Cell, he started to self-destruct and Goku used his Instant Transmission technique to take him off-world..."

It all went by so quickly after that.

"...is Goku, my father, or Gohan...or anyone else here?" Trunks couldn't sense them, then again he couldn't sense much of anything.

[bitpartgod]

Alright! He'd thought he was onto something! Unfortunately, Trunks didn't seem to share in his pleasure.

"O-oh! Have you only just woken up?" He coughed awkwardly. "Sorry. I was just so pleased to see someone I knew that-" And now he was babbling again. This time he didn't need prompting to stop himself. "Anyway, I only woke up a little while before this, so I'm not sure. But..." He broke off, biting his lip anxiously. "But I couldn't sense anyone. My senses, ah, aren't so great here, but I'm sure I'd be able to pick up on someone as strong as Gohan or Goku."

[futureshope]

Trunks nodded. Just woken up, only a few minutes ago in fact, and he still had absolutely no idea what was going on. "Yeah...just a little bit ago. You don't have to apologize or anything, I understand that...well, seeing someone you know when you don't know what's going on..." He didn't know what he was trying to say. "...anyway, I understand."

"I can't really sense anything either," Trunks admitted. The faint impressions from all around him was starting to get a bit overwhelming, and he shut down his senses to avoid the headache growing between his eyes. He wanted to add 'and my father' to Kibitoshin's list of strong fighters, mostly out of pride. Vegeta was just as strong as Gohan and Goku. But he refrained.

[bitpartgod]

"Just a little bit ago..." Kibitoshin blinked at Trunks curiously. "So does that mean that you don't know about any of this?" He clenched his fists, suddenly pumped again. "Then just you wait 'til you hear this! Apparently the doctors and nurses here try and convince the patients that they're someone else, but they really aren't, and then at night they let everyone out but then send monsters out to attack them and do experiments on them, and then..." Out of steam and out of breath. He broke off with an sheepish grin. "I'm... not making much sense, am I?"

[futureshope]

[hahaha ilu.]

Trunks blinked, trying to follow what Kibitoshin was saying. But it was all just a bit too fast, and a lot to take in beside. "Ah. A little bit slower please?" he requested, smiling slightly as he rubbed the back of his head with one hand.

This was strange. And it was probably only going to get stranger. "Maybe we should...sit down or something."

[bitpartgod]

[ilu2, bb <3 also: epic slow poster is epically slow]

"R-right! I can do that!" Kibitoshin fought back the blush he could feel spreading up to his face, rubbing the back of his neck as if it would make it go away. Maybe the oxygen wasn't getting to his brain- he certainly hadn't done much breathing in the last minute. "I think there are some seats over here. C'mon."

He moved to a nearby huddle of armchairs and sank down into one, hands clapped to his knees. "Okay! Where do you want me to start?"

[futureshope]

Trunks nodded and followed--honestly, a bit lost. "'Where are we' might be a good place," he said, smiling hesitantly as he settled into another chair. He felt so lost, and the fact that the only person around who knew him, well...didn't know him.

He unconsciously pulled one knee up and clasped his hands around it, trying to relax.

[bitpartgod]

It made a nice change to be the one doing the explaining rather than the one having things explained to them. Nonetheless, even Kibitoshin could see how uneasy Trunks was, and he pressed on as quickly as he could. He could enjoy it later.

"This place is supposed to be some kind of mental hospital. During the day there are doctors and nurses that call you by a different name and act like you're someone else. They tell you that you're crazy, but in reality it's all a big lie. All the patients have been transported here somehow from different worlds. And then at night... it gets worse."

[futureshope]

"Worse?" Trunks's mind was already whirling--how was this place transporting people through time and space? Was it something like the time machine his mother had invented, on a grand scale? The amount of energy that would require would be astronomical--not to mention impractical. Either way, they really wanted these people to be here--unaware and against their will.

And it could apparently even drag people back from the dead, whole and unharmed.

Kibitoshin was certainly right about one thing, Trunks was very uneasy--he was downright nervous. Why would anyone go through so much effort? It couldn't be for any good reason.

[bitpartgod]

And now things only seemed to getting more difficult for Trunks. Kibitoshin winced inwardly; the last thing he wanted to do was make things even worse for him, but there really was no easy way of breaking this kind of thing to someone. At least he wasn't freaking out all over the place. Not like he had, anyway...

"At night they let everyone out of their rooms so that they can explore, but there are monsters everywhere. Some nights, I hear they take people for experimentation or brainwash them into attacking people." He toed the floor anxiously, glancing sideways at Trunks. "I only got here a little while ago, so I can't tell you much more."

[futureshope]

"...that's fine, we'll both find out eventually, I guess." Monsters? And here he felt so weak...

"At least if they let us all out, we can meet up at night. It probably isn't safe to go anywhere alone." He looked over at Kibitoshin. "But I don't know what room I woke up in, and I can't really sense any ki. It's like...hearing static, almost."