DAY 45: LIBRARY

[byname_bynature]

Even before he got sick, Sean had enjoyed reading. His teachers had always said that he read 'ahead of his age group', but he figured that was just because he read more than most kids his age did. He liked everything: fantasy, science fiction, biographies, journal articles... There was just something satisfying about holding a book--something

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[poolcuemurder]

Needless to say, breakfast hadn't cheered Venom up.

An introduction had almost left his lips until Nurse appeared to scold him for refusing to eat. He wasn't a child, damn it, he'd be fine... But for that stubbornness, she warned as she dragged him from the unusual company, she wouldn't let him go back to his room and retrieve his journal like he had been planning. Constantly writing down those little ideas of his all day was bad for him, she said.

He hated this woman.

His fingers were twitching at his side by the time he had gotten to the library and sat down. He felt useless. If he wasn't working, what was he doing? Nothing. He was doing nothing and he could have never imagined before how much that could wear him out. He wanted to be working. He wanted to have this figured out already and he wanted to be home. Yes, a home that felt empty, oppressive, and cold, but it was still home, still his only purpose. If he wasn't working, wasn't finding a way to destroy this establishment, he couldn't get closer to that and he would never see the Guild again. It... it hurt.

'I thought you were stronger than that,' He could hear Master Zato's voice in his head (at least, he thought it was his. It felt like it had been years since he'd last heard it, the tones of that thing having infected and tarnished the memory, and now he couldn't be sure if that had been how he actually sounded or not. It was becoming static, generic, the more time went on), calm and soothing and forgiving. 'You can keep your chin up a little while longer for my sake, can't you?'

He could. He had to. Even if there were nothing useful on these shelves (as he was quickly finding to be the case as soon as he got up and started to look through them), he was doing something. It was better than the alternative.

[This is Brotha. Come in, Boobies and Brows. Come in, Boobies and Brows, Brotha is waiting for you.]

[constellates]

Well, unlike her dark-skinned brother in bookitude, breakfast had cheered Alkaid up. She hadn't seen Badou in a day or so, and so seeing him again had lightened her mood enough. The possibility of going to the library psyched her way out. She could spend all day in here if she had the chance! And the other day she hadn't gotten to be in here enough, so... yes! Even though Badou had called her a kid - jailbait, even (ugh, she still hated that stupid term, even if it was technically some kind of twisted compliment) - she could be happy with how things had turned out.

She started picking books at seeming random, eventually holding a tall stack of them in her arms, which she found herself carrying with surprising ease. That was when she spotted Venom. He'd checked up on her on the bulletin board earlier. That had kind of reassured her for some weird reason. Venom was a lot of fun in a weird, stilted, black-guy-with-white-hair-in-front-of-his-face way.

"Oh, hey, Venom!" Alkaid's voice was sunny. "The library's the best place to-"

And then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small child - a painfully familiar little boy. In fact, the one that'd been standing right behind her last night, the one with the cat - the one that had been so connected, somehow, with that strange tightening in her chest last night, and what could have been a major Bad End if Haseo and Endrance hadn't come to get her...

...anyway, all the books came tumbling out of her arms and onto the floor. She looked back up, clearly quite spooked, and the child had disappeared.

[poolcuemurder]

Fiction, fiction... It was all fiction, no non-fiction in sight. Where were the history book, biased as they might have been? Documentaries, information of any sort about this world? Any useful resources?

It was like being in a bubble. There was nothing here, nothing related to what was on the outside world. Like all traces of even where they were had been wiped from existence to keep them from progressing...

He didn't have much more time to dwell on it, though. Alkaid... His hand tightened around the spine of a book he had been placing back into the shelf when he heard her call his name, but didn't turn to greet her. He just couldn't be left alone, could he? Just thinking of the last time they'd spoken face to face was making that anger begin boiling again, but he quickly pushed it aside. She hadn't known any bette-

...?

The Guild Head turned to look at her and the dropped pile of books, concern in his eyes (not that she could see them). Unfortunately, concern wasn't what came out of his mouth. "You're clumsy."

[dual_worlds]

Nights, it seemed, were prone to ending without him making any significant progress in their investigations. Even when disaster didn't strike, they still had to concern themselves with the limited amount of time granted to them. Spock had barely been given the opportunity to greet Kirk and Chekov before the dayshift suddenly began. Meeting at a designated rendezvous point and venturing deeper into the building would normally not have been a difficult task for three Starfleet officers, but it was clear that time was not on their side.

If this continued, he was going to have to recommend that they form a new strategy.

Of course, he was well aware that any progress that they made would likely be under the strict supervision of the staff. Yet they would need to make better use of their time if they were going to form some theories as to where they truly were, how they had arrived, and the best course of action in regards to an escape plan.

Spock considered leaving a message on the bulletin board, but yesterday's incident involving Kirk and Chekov's disbelief concerning his identity indicated that direct contact would be best in the future if possible. Not only was it the only way to make certain of the true identities of those he was conversing with, but a face-to-face approach also minimized the chances of the staff learning of their activities.

In the meantime, it was best to locate Kirk and Chekov as soon as possible. Spock hadn't seen either of them as he passed through the sun room, and so he'd made his way into the library to see if either of them were there.

Almost as soon he'd entered the room, he witnessed a young woman he recognized as Alkaid abruptly drop a large stack of books, sending them tumbling onto the floor. Her movements suggested she'd been startled somehow, but the only other patient in close proximity to her was Venom. For a moment, Spock recalled their exchange in the library the day before yesterday, and how she had reacted to his presence.

As neither Alkaid nor Venom appeared to be in any hurry to clear the mess off the floor, Spock took it upon himself to step in and neatly gather the books into his arms. The scattered collection consisted of nine classic Earth titles -- Dracula, The Scarlet Letter, and Alice in Wonderland, to name a few. He wondered if Alkaid had intentions to read all of these works at some point, or if she'd simply been pulling what appealed to her from off the shelves. Either way, they didn't seem to offer much information concerning their whereabouts or how they'd arrived her.

[constellates]

"Ugh..." was all Alkaid could immediately say. Her palm met her forehead: no fever, just frustration with herself. She couldn't be losing her touch. This body would normally be way too dexterous to do something like that...

She bent down to start picking them up, only to realize that quick hands were already gathering them for her. She straightened up, staring from Spock to Venom. "Oh, uhh, thanks, Mr. Spock. The table's fine for those," she said a little sheepishly, pulling her hair a little over her slightly flushed ears.

...She felt like she should respond to Venom's accusation or something, but instead she changed the subject. At least it was tangential. "So... here's some news, guys. This place seems to be glitching during the day."

Alkaid wasn't normally this clumsy. She was just... on edge a little bit, and that stupid half-there kid had shown himself again. Yeah, there was no way he was actually a resident here. She'd never seen him before, and he was just too pale to be a human being.

[poolcuemurder]

Hm...? Alkaid had said she was feeling all right earlier, but from the looks of things, that was a lie. How... pointless of her. She wasn't going to help anyone by pretending to be fine.

Venom had been preparing to chastise her for this when another familiar face appeared (out of nowhere. He wasn't going to admit to being startled. Men in his position and profession did not get startled that easily. He only bumped into the shelf behind him by coincidence, not because he wasn't expecting another person to be there when he took a closer look at his surroundings) and assisted the girl with the mess she'd made. "Good morning, Mr. Spock." It was more of a formality than anything else. Aside from when the need came to tirelessly argue with him, he never found anything in himself to say to the taller man.

It was odd. This was twice now that when one came, along would come the other. He wouldn't believe these two to be friends, since he was under the impression they had all met the same night, but somehow the tension always lessened around the two when they were together as opposed to when either of them were speaking to him.

Somehow, he was feeling a bit like a third wheel. It was discomforting, but, amusingly enough (in a morose sort of way), very familiar.

But if they were here and Alkaid supposedly had information, he wasn't about to leave. "Glitching?" This wasn't a game. How hard was it for her to see that? No wonder she wasn't feeling well...

[dual_worlds]

Venom's bump against the bookshelf did not escape Spock's notice, and though he briefly raised an eyebrow at him, he chose not to comment. Instead, he inclined his head toward the man in greeting before setting the stack of books onto a nearby table. Despite their differences, they were polite enough to each other during the day.

He did have to wonder why it wasn't unusual to find Alkaid nearby every time he came across him, however. Some Humans had a tendency to become become emotionally attached to others in a short period of time, but Spock was doubtful that this was the case here. After all, yesterday's conversation concerning the photographs Alkaid had found had seemed rather tense upon his arrival. And yet they did not seem to harbor animosity toward each other either, which was somewhat noteworthy considering the fact Venom had struck Alkaid upside the head with a bat the night they'd first met.

When Alkaid claimed to have new information, Spock regarded her with a mildly curious expression. Under normal circumstances, "glitching" would have certainly been an odd choice of terminology, but Spock had experienced enough of Landel's understand what she may have meant.

"You are referring to the visual anomalies, such as the ones that occurred the night before last?" he asked. He had yet to personally experience such anomalies during the day. Privately, Spock had to admit that the possibility of having another encounter with his mother while eating breakfast or perusing through the bulletin's contents was something he would rather live without.

[constellates]

Well, it was the three of them again. Funny how that was - when there was one, there was usually the other. Not that Alkaid minded, of course. Venom was just a big softy under all that hair, she guessed. No one but softies got so sentimentally possessive over photographs. And Spock? Well, he just seemed to know so much. Part of her had come to the library to help compile that Quiz Battle she'd promised him.

But... yes! The distraction from her clumsiness was complete!

"Yes, exactly," she said to Spock. "Not that I can prove it or anything, mind you, but I swear I just saw a... well, I guess you could call it a monster. Nightshift monster. In the corner of my eye."

She went to sit down in a comfortable-ish chair, in front of where the glorified elf had stacked her books. She took one - Lolita - off the top and stared at it. "Now, you noobs might not have realized this yet, but stuff like that just doesn't happen in dayshift. So, since I'm not crazy.."

Was that a casual glance at Venom during the word 'crazy'? Yeah, it might have been.

"I think this place is going to hell!"

[poolcuemurder]

Visual anomalies...? The ghosts, he meant. So they'd seen them too? Venom had to admire their resolve if they had gone through what he knew he himself had and could still talk about it like it was nothing. If they had died like he had, like Jun and Edward and Master Zato...

...He didn't want to think about that night. He shouldn't be thinking of it, not for dwelling on it in a negative light. In fact, he shouldn't bother admiring something that was fundamental to keeping their heads on straight in a situation like this. Thankfully, Alkaid kept speaking and his exasperation with her outweighed his exasperation with himself, at least for now.

There was that word again. Noobs. He still didn't have any idea as to what the word meant and yet, somehow, he didn't think it meant what she thought it meant. And...was she trying to suggest something about his sanity? Or that he would automatically brush her off as delusional?

Why did he continue to speak with her?

Still, if she had seen something, it would explain her brief loss of control and subsequent book dumping (unless she felt the need to cover up her own clumsiness by blaming an outside source, though he didn't figure her the type to do something like that, at least not with something so mundane as letting something slip out of her grip). He couldn't completely discount her despite having every right to. Unless all the options were taken into consideration, they couldn't make a sound conclusion.

In that spirit... "Are you positive? It could have been stress or a number of other things." Not that he would mind if she was right. If this place was falling apart on its own, it would make his job a lot easier.

[dual_worlds]

Catching a glimpse of a creature more commonly seen at night would certainly damage the image of normalcy the staff tried to project during the day. While it was true that allowing such a thing to happen could possibly be used as data for whatever sort of behavior study Landel's appeared to be conducting, the patient body had recently witnessed a very apparent malfunction on the institute's part not more than two nights ago. Even those who had not had the misfortune of encountering shadows of their pasts had witnessed the brief appearances of pipes or doors in places where they should not have existed.

Yet Alkaid was the only person he knew of who had reported such an anomaly during the day. Spock was skeptical, not because he thought she was lying (there was no logical reason for her to fabricate such a story), but because there could have been a number of factors that would contribute to seeing such a thing from the corner of one's eye.

Spock retained his typical stoic expression, but a brief glance toward Venom indicated that he silently agreed that his theory was a plausible one. Barring that, it was also worth noting that out of the three of them, Alkaid had been the only one to suffer an infection from those "zombies" the night of his arrival. Although he had yet to hear of such a symptom from others who had also contracted the illness, the possibility that the two were related could not be entirely dismissed until others reported similar experiences.

"Can you provide a description of the creature you saw?" Spock inquired as he focused his attention back onto Alkaid.

[constellates]

The suggestion that Alkaid might have been stressed out or something kind of ground her gears. Did they honestly think she was the type to get stressed out about any little thing? Venom didn't know her that well yet, but he'd soon learn that Alkaid was as cool as a cucumber, ninety percent of the time. "No way. I am totally relaxed. Never better. Besides, this is a library. It's like my natural habitat," she said, flipping casually through the book. "No reason I should freak out in a place like this."

She loved being a bookworm. It always seemed to surprise people for some reason, especially if they'd known her online first - apparently effusive badasses weren't allowed to be into fantasy novels and war history. Well, one had to train their mind as well as their body, didn't they?

"Um, it wasn't a creature so much as a little kid. Really pale and short. He showed up last night... teleporting behind me and stuff... I think he might have caused my friend to have a coughing fit, too. I don't get it. But if things like that are showing up during the day, I think someone's hacked the system or something." Alkaid seemed to be beaming at the thought. She wasn't normally in support of hackers, but in this case she didn't mind at all.

Alkaid looked up from the book, glancing from one of them to the other. "You guys run into monsters recently? Kick any butt?"

[poolcuemurder]

He may have been looking too close into it, but she sounded awfully defensive about that. Had something happened to her last night to cause that...? Still, he was thankful when Spock asked that question for him and even more when Alkaid clarified her vision, enough so that he didn't pursue the topic (though Spock seemed agree in the slightest with his assessment. He would need to mark his calender) in favor of the next one.

"It may have just been a lingering spirit," he said with a small shrug. From what he had seen, their captors obviously couldn't control those who had already passed on. Although it was disappointing to think that this institute was just as strong as it was before, that train of thought was slightly comforting. Maybe he could see him again... "If you don't like it, don't pay it any attention; it will go away."

As it didn't sound that pressing of a matter anymore, Venom turned back to the bookshelf and continued glancing across the spines futilely.

The days were slow here. He couldn't write anything down until the last minute, he didn't have the resources or ground to pull together others into this cause of his, and he couldn't even find himself able to relax with the thought that he had useful information because he just didn't. But as nerve-wracking and aggravatingly slow as the days were, the nights were even worse; they promised freedom, a chance to find answers and work out this puzzle and never delivered. The last few nights had been nothing but a string of failures and the way he tilted his head downward and said nothing in response when Alkaid asked her question showed that well enough. He wasn't anywhere near to giving into this punishment, but it was frustrating and demeaning. He wasn't used to just standing around.

He'd let Spock answer that. He didn't have anything to say to it.

[dual_worlds]

This was the first Spock had heard of a "spirit" actively following a patient around the vicinity, much less during the day. Although he hadn't been in Landel's for very long compared to most of the other captives, Spock was under the impression that such an occurrence was rare. On the other hand, automatically assuming that it was a mistake on the part of the institute may have been a little rash, although Spock could not necessarily discount the possibility.

"Was the child in any way familiar to yourself or your friend?" he asked. "In which area of the building did you first encounter him?"

Venom didn't seem particularly concerned with hearing Alkaid's story, and it showed in the way he turned to scan over the selection of books. Spock paid him no heed and kept his attention on the girl. Unlike Venom, the half Vulcan was interested in finding out whatever information he could in the event that he personally witnessed such a phenomena at some point during his captivity. Perhaps it would offer more insight concerning what sorts of external variables Landel chose to expose to his test subjects.

"As for myself, I have not had the opportunity to encounter anything abnormal since we last met," he answered her simply. Although, he did briefly give her a quizzical look and added: "However, I fail to understand why anyone would wish to kick one of the institute's creatures in the posterior of its pelvic region."

[constellates]

"Lingering spirit? I don't think spirits exist outside of the nightshift here, so, no. I wouldn't pay it any attention if it wasn't, um, right there." Alkaid laughed haughtily. Thinking that spirits existed was utterly stupid, and she wasn't about to give that idea any more credibility.

Oh, silly Venom. Believing in spirits. Even though he was an assassin or whatever, he sure was superstitious.

She answered Spock's question while she was taking the next book out. She'd closed Lolita, and gone on to Alice in Wonderland. "Never seen him before," she said dismissively. "I saw him at the western part of the upstairs hallway. We were going to rescue a friend from torture, or whatever, and it held me up a little." She frowned. Maybe at some point Haseo would thank her for trying. But she wouldn't hold her breath on that.

Resisting the urge to slap her forehead when Spock didn't understand what 'kick butt' meant, she laughed again. "Because you don't like it. Well, if you guys haven't had to encounter any monsters since the zombie approach, then you might be good luck charms. Any chance you're free tonight?"

She was speaking to both of them, even though her head was still in the book.

[poolcuemurder]

She didn't think they existed? That was naive of her. For someone constantly surrounded by death though, there wasn't a question up for debate. It was just something else to deal with. Still, even if she wasn't the same as him, he would have thought her to be a bit more open minded than that. Weren't the Japanese superstitious people themselves?

His thoughts went to that Australian spirit channeler who didn't believe he was a spirit channeler. It would have been a funny story if it wasn't just an unfortunate one. That poor man... He held so much potential and yet had no idea what do with any of it, none the less knew of what he was capable of. He would have made a nice asset to the Guild with a bit of training. Sigh.

From then on, he was only half-listening to the conversation. It wasn't very relevant to what he wanted to know and--

...For someone he assumed to be blessed with a singularly large IQ, Venom never imagined Mr. Spock to be so literal minded. That had to have been a joke. No one was that incredibly dense. But Spock wasn't the type to make jokes, from all he had seen. Then...

His palm was itching to meet with his forehead. While he denied that, it still managed to get a quick burst of laughter out of him (quick being the operative word), before it died down into a cough and he went back to trying to be in the periphery of this awkward conversation.

Unfortunately, it looked like Alkaid was going to have none of that. What did she want with him?

"I was just going to examine the second floor for any useful information on how this facility is being run." He turned back to look at them, not quite as confused as he was wary. "Why?"