Day 48: Courtyard [Fourth Shift]

[gald_digger]

So much for a relaxing shower. Anise couldn't possibly relax around someone with a voice like that! This was beyond weird. How could a girl who didn't have any relation to Sync have the exact same voice as him?

And what made it even weirder was that this wasn't even the first time Anise had encountered something like that. There was a boy, who

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[gothamsfuture]

Terry's nurse seemed to think he'd be overly grateful to get outside, so much that she hadn't appreciated the sarcasm of his response. But what did she expect, really? The last thing he wanted to do was spend the rest of his afternoon freezing, even if it did mean getting out of the building. Unfortunately, his nurse firmly believed that fresh air was the new cure for insane delusions, or so someone would think if they heard the way she rattled on about it.

Once he was in the greatly-restricted outdoors, Terry had been left to his own devices; thank goodness for small miracles. Since it looked like the only other person around was occupied, Terry decided to get something good out of the opportunity that had been forced upon him. While he'd been fortunate enough to get hold of a map early on (especially since it didn't look like they were being posted anymore), that only helped him plan out routes. It didn't give him an idea of obstacles, or even actual distance. Kurt had mentioned wanting to go to the basement on the bulletin, and Terry knew from the layout that going through the Courtyard was one of the ways to get there. So he began to walk around the perimeter, getting as close to the wall as the orderlies would let him before growling like good little guard dogs. If he got a feel for this area, then maybe they could avoid the Sun Room and whatever fun Landel saw fit to leave for them that night. Not that it meant they'd have a clear path by going outdoors, but the Courtyard at least offered some form of shielding by means of trees. Maybe if something bad did come after them, they could pitch it into the lake somehow.

Too bad they hadn't met Peter that way. Terry grinned at the mental image of a soaking wet Spidey, even if common sense told him things probably wouldn't have ended up that way.

[Free]

[alwayscomesback]

[FREE BAT MINE! *pounce*]

Lunch had been good, especially since it had been wonderfully devoid of psychopaths and their talk of power through fire. At least Sokka didn't have to think that Zuko would try something like that anymore, but in this place? Well, he wasn't going to take his chances. The next guy he met could end up being just as crazy as this place told them they were! Like the guy walking around the courtyard. Definitely suspicious, or as suspicious as anyone would be just walking. But again, Sokka wasn't going to take his chances!

Unfortunately though, his nurse was paying too much attention to her patient's interests and patted him on the back. "Are you in the mood for a walk? Why don't you go join Mr. McGinnis over there? He looks like he could use some company."

"Huh?" Sokka's head turned back with a surprised blink. "But...!"

"No buts now, go on," she said, giving a soft nudge and waving her hand as though to shoo him over.

So much for not taking any chances. Oh well, at least the nurses were nice enough and would keep him from getting deep fried by anyone. Hopefully. Eying the nurse to see if she was watching (she was), Sokka slowly went to the black haired guy. Once close enough he awkwardly lifted a hand and simply said, "Hi." Careful. He could still do that much at least!

[gothamsfuture]

Terry saw an unfamiliar kid heading toward him out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned his head to look, the nurse watching from a distance. Oh great. Bad enough how much Terry's regular nurse tried to dictate his every move, but now he got to deal with babysitters by proxy too.

"Hey." From the looks of things, the kid wasn't anymore thrilled about the idea than Terry himself. On top of that, he might have been shy; the way he was acting reminded Terry of the first days of oh so many transfers, just before some jock tried to shove their head into a toilet. Terry prided himself on not being that sort of person.

"You can relax. I'm not going to bite or anything." Walking away would just get the kid in trouble; hopefully Terry could spare him at least that part of the headache. "The name's Alex. Nice to meet you."

[alwayscomesback]

Sokka wasn't shy! Especially not when it came to talking with guys. Maybe in front of a bunch of guys where all eyes were on him, but definitely not with just one! He was only being cautious. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing shy about that either.

"Oh, I'm Sokka," he said, lowering his hand, "And not biting is good. I think we might both get in trouble for that..." he added, glancing back at the nurse.

He didn't mind them since they hadn't giving him a real reason to dislike them, but somehow he could see him getting in trouble if this Alex guy ended up biting him. That's how it had always worked when Katara had attacked him when they were little. Somehow he always got punished to, which made no sense at all.

[gothamsfuture]

...Okay then. Terry hadn't said biting as if people should have the literal intention, but then again? The patients at large didn't always fit into Terry's idea of normal. He had to feel sorry for Sokka if something made him think that biting was a legitimate concern, at least during the day. Night was it's own thing, but why were the staff even around if people could get away with things like that when they were supposedly doing their jobs?

"Not to mention it's unhygienic." Trying to make light of it, Terry nodded forward, toward the path he'd been walking, resuming his pace. Imposed company or not, he could still continue his survey. "Anyway, might as well walk some, right? It'll only get colder if we keep standing still."

Terry glanced back at Sokka's nurse, judging the distance between them, and the likelihood of her eavesdropping. They'd cracked down hard on what could be put on the bulletin, but from what Terry could tell, patients could at least still talk about almost anything in person. Still, a little caution couldn't hurt. "So have you been here long?" They were stuck together anyway, so might as well make some good come out of it. Terry wasn't at all adverse to getting more information.

[alwayscomesback]

"Yeah. And I definitely don't taste good," Sokka said without much thought before he realized how weird that sounded, "I mean... not that I've tasted myself or anything!" He held up his hands and waved them before letting them fall. "But it's probably better to think that so nothing else does... right?"

Somehow this was reminding him of that dream where food ate people. What was it with him and these weird tangents today? Maybe breakfast had freaked him out more than he'd thought. Or made him homesick. He did kind of miss Katara's bossing and Aang's Aanginess. He had to admit he even missed how Toph bugged him. Just a little bit. But out of anyone he really would had loved to see Suki again. First he lost her, then got her back, and now he was the one who was lost! How messed up was that?!

While his mind had wandered off, the Alex guy had said something about walking. Oh, that was right. "Yeah, sure. Sorry..." Sokka looked to the nurse once again. There were more there now, so maybe she would stop watching him after a while. Until then a walk didn't sound so bad. "I think it's my fault. There weren't many here yet, so I guess I was looking at you and she thought I wanted to walk or something..." he shrugged in apology, then focused on the question, "Not really long. Maybe a week. What about you?"

[gothamsfuture]

Was this kid really that obsessed with the idea of someone eating him? Granted, Terry had heard more than a few things might try to take a bite out of a patient at night, but there should be a limit to anyone's paranoia. Or, almost anyone's--someone like Bruce Wayne had pretty decent justification for being uptight, at least some of the time. But it was the day, Terry was just another patient, and they were surrounded by trigger-happy nurses with sedatives. Sokka probably didn't have to worry about being served to the patients for dinner.

"A little less." Five days now, and what did Terry have to show for it? Squat. He didn't exactly take pride in the feeling, especially when he looked over what he'd failed to do in that time. He still hadn't gotten in good with any of Bruce's allies, though he'd made a couple of friends of his own, and that definitely fell on the positive side of things. As good of a man as Wayne was, Terry had always made it a point to do things his own way. Still, he wanted to at least try to get in touch with some of the people from his world.

Then there was the fact that Bruce had gone missing without a trace. Nothing about that ranked positive. Come to think of it, Terry hadn't seen anything from Alfred lately either, or Tim Drake. That might not mean too much though, given how good anyone associated with Batman got at keeping secrets. But Terry still wanted to look into it.

There was more, but going down that road for too long would just be depressing. Terry had to focus on what he could actually do, especially since it really would be night soon. "So let me guess. Not a day has gone by without something trying to eat you?" It'd explain why Sokka was so jumpy, at least.

[alwayscomesback]

Hey, when you had dreams about food eating you, as well as the actual potential for something to eat you when the lights went out and you left your room, you'd want to at least hope that you didn't taste, smell, or look like something a monster wanted to gobble down! Or that was certainly Sokka's take on the whole matter. Only an idiot would want to be eaten, after all.

"Not... really," Sokka admitted, but then amended, "I haven't really been out of my room a lot, but when I did go out this one time..." he shivered. No, the sand-bleeding, knife-wielding thing hadn't tried to necessarily eat any one of the group that night, but that didn't mean it couldn't have. And really, for something to bleed sand, it definitely couldn't have been a nice monster. If it wouldn't have eaten them, then it definitely would have done something that Sokka wouldn't have liked any better.