Day 44: Arts and Crafts Room, Second Shift

[gothamsfuture]

Astor hadn't talked much after introducing himself, which hadn't bothered Terry. With all the crap their little hospital of horrors piled on the patients, he couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to open up to some stranger. Plus, not talking meant he could get a decent meal in, and then check out the bulletin for the latest in Landel's news and

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[chainsaw_royal]

Hime would have liked to stay reading the bulletin board before, as the numerous accounts of the events that transpired the night before were both fascinating and mystifying. However, they were also many, and she was not even halfway through the main body of them before her nurse insisted she move on to the Arts & Crafts room. Having seen what happened to more rebellious patients, the Royal chose to hold her tongue and go along with it for now.

"Here, Sarah, why don't you sit with Jonathan? Perhaps you can help him with anything he needs, considering his current health," suggested the nurse. Hime only gave her an irritated look, but it only met the back of the woman's head since she was already on her way to round up the next patient. Once again stuck babysitting another, Hime sighed once before dismissing her displeasure; there was no point in subjecting the poor boy to her temper because of these people who dared push her around.

"Hello," she instead said, almost pleasantly, though her smile was somewhat flat. Her gaze went down to the bandages and his legs, then back up to his face. "Those injuries are from last night?"

[chainsaw_royal]

Hime noted that the boy seemed both preoccupied and uncomfortable with her questioning. Not that that was about to steer her away from the subject; again, she was intent on learning as much as she could about the many and various threats of the Institute.

"Oh? You were caught up in that?" she asked, leaning an elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. "And just what was that all about?"

She had been hoping he'd been one of the "mysterious deaths" that had been reported, but then she recalled that those who suffered such incidents bore no sign of injury come morning, so finding them would be more or less by chance. At least Kagura's doppleganger story made more sense now.

[chainsaw_royal]

Missiles? Some kind of android? Hime wondered if she was a relation of Flandre. Not a close relation if she could relay messages other than "hooba" on the bulletin board. Considering the weaponry, it was a wonder the boy had come away with his legs at all.

"I guess she's one of us, then," she noted. If there was a girl who had somehow hidden away that many dangerous weapons, that certainly lent credence to Hime's theory that they were brought here for their abilities, possibly to be weaponized and copied. "A contributor on the bulletin yesterday said that they'll often brainwash patients into fighting the rest of the population and restore their former abilities for the task." Hime was unsure how her abilities had been affected. She'd yet to get into a fight with anything, and she hadn't exactly had the need to test her true power either.

"When did you arrive here?" she continued her questioning. If he didn't know about the brainwashing, he was probably new, like her. Still, his injuries were a testament to having explored other areas than she had, so he might know about things she did not, even if that didn't include the basement which had caught her interest.

[chainsaw_royal]

"There's warnings to all those who wield magic or other such 'supernatural' powers that they won't work here, or at least not the same," she explained. "That restriction is apparently lifted when one is brainwashed, so as to better combat one's peers, I assume. It's for that night only, though." It would be far too easy if a single night of service to the enemy was the only price for full redemption. "The same seem to apply to those who have non-human bodies before arrival, otherwise I'm sure we'd see all sorts around here." Robots and werewolves would be the least of it if she had read some of those notes right.

The morning... he had a few hours on her, but was still new. Besides, it seemed the nights counted for far more than the days.

"So, you're as new as I to this strange situation," she murmured. "And what sort of life did you lead before now?" What sort of ability did he have was what she was really wondering. She still needed more cases to lend credence to her theory, and his question made it likely.

[chainsaw_royal]

Hime didn't mind not knowing the boy's name; there were plenty of things in the world without name. If it bothered him, then he should ask.

While she was curious and forwards, Hime was not prying, so had Jun refused to answer, either by silence or verbal refusal, she may have made some vague comments about everyone having secrets and left it at that. His vague reply, though, just made her want to ask more.

"Oh, is that so? Perhaps it only seems strange to you," she mused. "Care to elaborate?" He probably didn't, but he might answer anyway.

[chainsaw_royal]

Well, that certainly was strange. It was reminiscent of a haunting, but the ability to take new information and incorporate it into it was not a characteristic of that kind anomaly. Something else then?

"And the source of the phenomenon?" This was steering away from whether the boy himself possessed any oddities, but she could always loop back to it. This rumor-to-reality incident was certainly a mystery. Such an event sounded both extremely strong, if they indeed became reality and not just the illusion of, and unpredictable given the whim and nature of humans.

[chainsaw_royal]

Man's reach far exceeded his grasp? It was always worst when disaster arose from the best of intentions. Prophecies are also trouble.

"And how did it all end? Did the shining hero come to save the day from the Joker's out of control plan?" she asked with a smirk. "Or did the rumors replace reality ever after?"

[chainsaw_royal]

"How unfortunate," was her reply, though "from the lost recesses of time" was an odd term. "And is that how it is today? A world were words become reality? No wonder you called it strange."

Even by Hime's standards, if such an incident became the status quo, such a fluidly chaotic setting would be... unsettling.