Day 43: Game Room, Third Shift

[piggy_king]

Peh. "Graduates." Who were they trying to fool? It's not like anyone here believed them, and no one ever visited the institute. What was the point in keeping up this sad little charade? To add to the realism of it? Well, whatever. If they wanted to continue this exercise in futility, that was fine with Porky. All it meant was that they spent more

Comments

[rocksthecourt]

This was getting ridiculous. Six days. Six. Days. And he was no closer to figuring anything out than he had been when he first woke up. No, forget figuring things out. He barely had a focus. Every time he started concentrating on one thing, he was immediately distracted by something else. Time differences, motives, I.R.I.S., zombies, alternate dimensions. Nothing made sense. And that wasn't even touching upon the insanity and the idiocy of the people here; the people too blinded by their petty issues to bother working together.

And now on top of everything, this place was upping the ante by sending him a 'visitor.' If what Kristoph had said about these 'visitors' was true, then this place had actually gone through the effort of finding people he was close to for the sake of trying to break him. Or maybe he should say 'trying to find.' He knew and spoke with a lot of people, but there were hardly any he could be considered particularly close to. And even then--

That's when he finally noticed. And it was only by chance that he'd turned his head just enough to catch it: the familiar gray of the institute uniform. Only this was directly in his peripheral vision. Right next to him. He jerked in surprised and whipped his head around in surprise. And, for some reason, he seemed even more shocked once he registered the face.

"Kristoph!" WHY would you do that?! / How long were you standing there?! / You almost gave me a heart attack!! "Y-You startled me..." He attempted to settle back into a casual manner (hardly feeling successful) and distracted himself by pulling his eyes from his brother to focus on putting his journal off to the side, as though to clear space. It was only a moment, but he needed that second to try and regain his bearings. Even if only a little.

He turned his eyes back to Kristoph after that one second distraction and attempted a bright smile. "Are... are you okay? How are... how are you holding up? After last night?"

[dasgift]

Kristoph shouldn't laugh at the reaction, as humorous as it was. A smile would do, which thankfully matched in time with Klavier's attempt. "Oh, I'm sorry," he mused. "You seemed so engrossed in your thoughts; I had no heart to interrupt." There existed no other reason for the man to stand so close and so still.

"And I am perfectly fine." The smile, as quickly as it came, dropped. "You, on the other hand, appear distressed. What is wrong?"

[rocksthecourt]

What wasn't wrong? Aside from the usual, Klavier was slowly starving himself since the very idea of food brought back visions of rotting flesh, he spent last shift being traumatized by a kid he'd intended to cheer up, and now he was a target in one of the institute's mind games. Had he actually been so inclined, the younger Gavin could have probably rambled on for hours about any one of these subjects. But thankfully he had enough sense not to do so.

He felt he could confide in his brother above any and all others. But at the same time, he hated ever bringing up things that would paint him badly in the elder's eyes. Even if his brother was worried, the last thing he intended to do was whine and provide details regarding his own shameful behavior. Just look at Kristoph... An unbreakable wall, as always. He'd been here almost twice as long and he'd managed to keep his resolve without any visible strain. Klavier couldn't possibly hope to match up to that amount of mental strength.

"Ah. Do I?" he said, trying to bluff it away with a brief laugh. "I suppose. Last night was a bit... jarring. Additionally, some of the people here are a bit more unstable than I first realized. And I'm apparently scheduled for a visit later today. But neither are worth worrying over." That's what he was telling himself right now, anyway.

He gestured to a nearby seat in wordless invitation, trying to push back any worry from his face or tone. "I'm glad you're well, though. It seems a lot of people were affected by what happened yesterday. Physically or otherwise."

[dasgift]

The question 'Do I?' was like watching an oxymoron becoming less metaphoric and more literal. As well as stupid, enough for Kristoph to lose a level of eloquence in his trail of thoughts. Oh, he could just slap the boy for the remark.

Instead, he took to the one interesting element in Klavier's explanation. A visit. The elder had nearly given away the previous week's unfortunate event the night before last, and now, he did not have to. Klavier would get the privilege of knowing firsthand while leaving Landel's as the tormentor and he as the sympathizer. This might...work to his advantage, yes.

Kristoph allowed his expression to waver, enough for his brother to take note. "A visit, you say? I see," he murmured, voice frozen in perfect concern. "This is most unfortunate." He quietly took the gestured seat.

Only to completely flip flop and jump onto the previous subject. "We were lucky. An encounter with the undead is hardly conducive to well-being." Unless you happened to enjoy killing what was already dead.

[rocksthecourt]

The shift in expression might have been slight to the average person, but to Klavier, it was painfully obvious. Especially from a man who wasn't normally bothered by too much. A hint of concern from the elder brother was worth special attention.

Klavier's own expression dropped a little and he frowned just slightly. "...I can't say I'm terribly happy about the idea. But it seems like something that's far more effective when it catches one off guard. Though frankly, you're the only one who's told me anything about this visitor's concept. I haven't heard so much as a word concerning it from anyone else. ...Is it that worrisome?"

He couldn't say he wouldn't feel irritation or sadness or concern for whoever they brought in. They were basically brainwashed hostages, after all. But he was accustomed to putting a professional distance between himself and those around him. Seeing as he already had theory as which people the institute would assume he was 'closest' to, he could prepare himself even moreso. So long as he steeled his emotions and simply played along with the farce, he should be fine. ...Assuming these were just visits and there wasn't something else going on he wasn't aware of.

[dasgift]

He'd taken the bait. Kristoph immediately raise an eyebrow, as though to consider an internal debate. There was, of course, none to mull over. "Well, it..." The man's frown deepened, albeit only for a millisecond. "Ah, this might be best to see with your own eyes."

And explain thoroughly later.

"For now--" The elder glanced around. "--why don't we pass the time? You look as though you could use a distraction."

[rocksthecourt]

That immediately set alarms off in the younger brother's mind. Suddenly, he wasn't so confident about his ability to handle this visit. It was starting to seem as though this visiting concept was a bit more complicated than Klavier had realized. Enough to cause concern in even Kristoph. And it was something the elder felt couldn't accurately be described. Above all else, it was that fact that made the situation seem especially dire.

A small, grateful smile crossed Klavier's lips at the suggestion. Distractions always worked well to clear his mind, as his brother most probably knew. He was certainly appreciative of the offer to console him. And under normal circumstances, the younger wouldn't have hesitated for even a second at the offer to play a game with the elder.

But that was just it. 'A game.' And that idea only renewed foul feelings he really wanted swallowed down and thoroughly forgotten. But even so, he could never refuse such an offer. It had been far too long since they'd been able to spend any leisure time together pleasantly. And what with Kristoph's incarceration... it wasn't exactly anything they could normally do back home. Anymore, that is.

He also glanced around at what the room had to offer. There were quite a few games to choose from without looking too hard, but there was one in particular that usually stuck out in Klavier's mind when considering playing a game with Kristoph. "...Chess? It's been a while, hasn't it?" There was already a checkered board at their table. They had only to set up the pieces.