Day 41: Lunch

[perfectrecord]

Just as von Karma started to enter the doorway leading to the Courtyard to look around for anyone remotely resembling his daughter, that pretentious lunatic's voice rang out over the Intercom, heralding the approach of lunch time. Right away, the damned nurse practically dragged him back into the cafeteria and towards the serving tables, telling

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[unmocked_lawr]

Finding Fuchs was simple; after all, Javert never forgot a face, and he'd spoken to his former roommate often enough.

But this was an interesting case. He'd read notes on the bulletin board about patients disappearing and then returning without memory of this place; he'd thought Fuchs was gone for good when he'd found himself with a new roommate, nurse comments about illness and surgery aside. But the man's memory was still intact, if his note to Javert was anything to go by. There was something suspicious about this, and he was determined to figure it out.

There - sitting glaring behind a large salad. Javert, who had considerably fewer qualms about the food here, filled half his plate with salad and the other half with chicken and headed over.

"M. Fuchs," he said, setting his tray down across from the other man. "It's good to see you well, though I wish it were under better circumstances."

[perfectrecord]

At the sound of the familiar, accented voice, von Karma looked up from his salad (at which he had finally begun to nibble now that the nurse was no longer scrutinizing him) to see the distinguished countenance of his former roommate from directly across him. Almost instantly, the deep scowl on his face disappeared, replaced by a fleeting smile -- a rare genuine smile, rather than his usual cynical, sardonic one -- as he nodded to the man in greeting

[unmocked_lawr]

A stroke! One of the more ridiculous excuses he'd heard from the nurses so far. Javert didn't know of many people who'd survived them, and those who had had certainly taken more than a week to recover. Even men like him, unacquainted with the medical world as he was, knew that.

"My assistance is yours, M. Fuchs. There's no doubt in my mind that what the nurses told you is deeply suspicious. If we can determine what actually transpired, we may be one step closer to finding out how this place works."

He fell silent for a moment, counting back in his head to the night he had last seen the other man, and shook his head slightly. "However, on the subject of how much time has gone by - it has been exactly six days since I saw you last. In that respect, at least, the nurse was telling the truth."

[perfectrecord]

von Karma nodded in a tacit "thank you" to both Javert's agreement to help and to his answer, then took a moment to reflect on what was said as he ate more of his salad. So, not everything the nurse said was a ludicrous falsehood after all. Though it was possible that Mr. Javert was lying to him, too, all of the information that his former roommate had given him had proved true thus far -- including what he had learned about his former student.

"Indeed. That is why I wanted confirmation of the actual time elapsed from someone far more trustworthy than this staff. Especially since due to my having been unconscious for most of that time, it feels as though more than six months have passed since then

[unmocked_lawr]

"Perhaps she assumes that since you're mentally ill to begin with, you wouldn't dare question her otherwise." Javert was unable to keep the dry note out of his voice. Still, it warranted a great deal of suspicion, and his curiosity was certainly piqued. "However, I have never heard of any other patient who has disappeared and then reappeared with his memory completely intact - you are the first I have met in all my weeks here. That alone interests me enough to investigate further

[perfectrecord]

"Hmph," von Karma grumbled as he speared a carrot a bit forcefully. "She would assume incorrectly, then. I have no mental illness. Unlike most of the other people here, my mind is perfectly sound. At times, I think you and I are the only ones trapped in this entire building who have a modicum of sense

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert raised an amused eyebrow. "I wouldn't presume to go quite that far, M. Fuchs, though I know the feeling." Surprising as it was to admit it, he had made quite a few allies here, some of whom he was beginning to trust despite himself, and a select few of whom he might not even have minded having on the force back in Paris. That Edgeworth boy, for one; lawyer or not, he had a good eye for details