piggy_king
in
damned
Nightshift 49: Women's Bathroom (Sun Room) - 1st Floor
[warped from here.]As Porky stepped through the doorway to the rec field, he suddenly felt queasy. He shut his eyes and readjusted his stance. Ugh...what had just happened? Was Landel pumping nerve gas into the institute or something? Shaking his head and giving himself a light slap on the cheek to help focus, Porky opened his eyes
( Read more... )
The moment Battler shut the door, something felt... off. Not to say that it hadn't been before--there was absolutely no explanation for something as screwed up as that scorpion that had been chasing them. But wasn't that where it got stranger? ... That thing had been chasing them. In fact, it still should have been, but there was absolutely no sense of it trying to force its way in. There was no feeling of it pushing on the door or any sound at all, not even something like movement against the tile. It was coupled with inexplicable sense of inertia, the kind that didn't come with simple movements and actions, and looking down, he noticed something interesting: this definitely wasn't the door he'd been holding. Wasn't the design completely different....?
The threat of the scorpion seeming to have all but vanished, he let go of the door, slowly turning around. ....... This wasn't the room he'd opened. While it was true that he hadn't noticed much about it under the impending sense of danger, it was absolutely certain that this wasn't it. A sink, some stalls.... Weren't those really obvious? Wouldn't he have noticed if he was stepping into a bathroom....?
In humans, logic was a preconceived notion, something defined by their knowledge of the world around them. When something didn't align with their own way of thinking they tended to question, not reacting well to something that didn't adhere to their own viewpoint. It was human nature to fear something not known nor understood. Therefore, in a situation like this, the outcome was only natural:
Panic.
"What the hell, this doesn't make any sense...! Something like that scorpion can't possibly exist, right?! And there's no way to just walk into one room and end up somewhere completely different! It's impossible, stuff like that just doesn't happen in reality! It has to be a trick, right?! Yeah, that's right, it's useless! It's all useless! Like I'm accepting that something so ridiculous happened so easily..!!"
It was true, he couldn't think of any reasonable explanation for what had just happened, but that didn't mean one didn't exist! It had to exist somewhere...!
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As he ran through, he felt a bit... strange. Dizzy, maybe? That was strange. Had he been getting so out of shape that a little running was actually disorienting him or had the sight of that blasted thing affected him more than he'd realized? He turned back to be sure they'd gotten through the door as well when he finally noticed... Hold on a second. Klavier frowned at the door then the tile then the inside of the room. He knew he hadn't been paying attention to the particular door he'd run through, but he was very sure it hadn't been a bathroom door. Actually, if memory served right, there weren't any bathrooms connected to the main hall. How the heck had they ended up in here? They couldn't have somehow run through the Sun Room without even noticing, could they? That was bizarre.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one who thought so. Herr Red suddenly started yelling and rambling about the logistics of the whole thing. He felt something like a twitch by one eye but otherwise gave no other facial reaction to this. Klavier had to admit he was just as shaken as this man was, as they all likely were, by that monstrous thing, but that was no need to get irrationally frantic. They'd managed to get away from it, after all. As for the room, they hadn't exactly been in the sharpest of mental states just a few moments ago. There was probably a perfectly rational explanation for it.
Klavier turned his attention to Herr Red, trying to steady both his voice and body language back to something reasonable. "...Hey, calm down. There's no need to start panicking." He glanced quickly to the door then back to the guy, as though checking before saying anything. "We got away from it, ja? That's all that's important right now. So let's... just stop for a moment and think."
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But the moment she crossed the threshold of the door, something felt off. Like she'd been riding a boat for too long in rough seas and had just stepped off onto dry land again. Everything tilted the wrong way and she stumbled, catching herself on--
A tiled wall?
Putting a hand over her mouth, Franziska shot a glance back toward the door and then flinched as she tried to take the room in. She'd been here before. Many times, actually, but never had she been in here when men were. They wouldn't come here as they weren't allowed to and likely because even if this were the women's bathroom, the women in this place were likely far more fierce than the men. Especially considering the redhead's little spazfest.
"Oh, pull yourself together! The only useless thing is you for shouting!" she snapped, pressing a hand to her forehead. What had just happened? How could they have crossed the entire Sun Room without that blasted thing catching them? And why wasn't it here? Franziska pushed off the wall and stood, trying to seem like she hadn't almost lost her dinner in the simple act of walking through a door. A door that was completely devoid of scorpions the size of dogs trying to break through and kill them all. After seeing the undead walking around Doyleton, Franziska was willing to accept just about anything, but this? A giant white scorpion and doors that just dropped you wherever they pleased? God, she still felt dizzy. "Now. What evidence do we have to explain what just happened?"
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Taking this in more of a literal sense, Battler wandered over to the sink, turning to the faucet and splashing a little cold water on his face to let reality sink back in. Strange as it was, they were only in a bathroom, and there didn't seem to be any danger.
Evidence... That was a word he could definitely get behind. Calmly trying to get an explanation for all of this was probably their best bet. Normally, this is where he'd be setting up the scenario and trying to establish more facts, but in this situation, they didn't have the luxury of coming up with theories the way that he normally did. He was used to having his thinking directly confirmed or denied, but here, there would be no supplementing of truths, meaning that they would have to come up with everything on their own.
"... Let's establish what we know," he decided. That would probably be the easiest route. He set the flashlight down for a moment, leaning against the wall with his bat still in hand. "We all saw that... thing near the patient blocks. I think we can pretty safely say there's no such thing as a scorpion that size, but something was definitely chasing us. We can't say nothing was there at all since it was hit, right?
"Then there's this room. The door was across from the Sun Room, and after I opened it, I had my hand on the inside handle the entire time. After we were all inside and I shut it behind us, we somehow ended up in here, and even though I hadn't let go or noticed anything change, the door itself was completely different than the one I'd been holding." Battler frowned slightly after he said it; he'd never heard of any kind of trick that worked quite like that. Doors and entire rooms just didn't change without anyone noticing, not like that. "... That's definitely impossible. Did you guys notice anything else when you came in?"
There had to be something, and they needed all the information possible if they really wanted to figure this out. Right now, they weren't even close.
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When he spoke up again, he sounded calm and rational. Confident despite everything. Moreover, he was not talking like an idiot and was actually bringing up some good points. ...Well, the one brought up regarding the room, anyhow. The statements about the scorpion were moot at best. Yes, it was ridiculous to consider such a thing really existed in this place, but they had all just seen it with their very eyes. Hard to deny the existence of something right in front of your face. Ah, but he could argue the existence of beasts at any time. The room phenomenon was a different matter.
The guy's observations were sound for the most part. Klavier could easily argue that it was extremely dark here and they had been in a bit of a desperate state of mind. Thus, it was entirely possible Herr Red had simply mistaken the appearance of the door he'd opened. Except Klavier himself was very certain they did not run through a bathroom door, and Klavier did not make absurd observational oversights, no matter how scared he may have been at the time. But he supposed he had to take the argument into consideration anyway, even if it wasn't very possible.
Moreover, it was difficult to argue the fact that the man had stayed by the door the entire time until he'd shut it behind them. If he kept his hand on the handle the entire time, it made it completely impossible to consider they'd moved anywhere but a room adjacent to the main hall. They couldn't have traveled through the Sun Room. Of course, that was only taking Herr Red's word for it. There were of course other ways to drive the point further.
"Well... I'm certain I took no more than three steps past you. Even if we were to completely disregard the door handle and the appearance of the door, I don't believe any of us traveled far enough to get from the Sun Room door to the bathrooms. Let alone to do so without noticing." He glanced into the room itself, staring at the stalls in consideration. "...I don't remember noticing anything about the room itself, but I do remember feeling a bit... dizzy when I walked in. Disoriented, actually."
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With only one discrepancy.
Regaining her balance, Franziska pushed away from the wall and wrapped the leash around her left hand. She made sure to listen to both witnesses, closing her eyes as she took mental notes of everything they were saying. She didn't have to think long to find the first hole in the stranger's testimony. Pulling the leash taunt, she snapped it between her hands before pointing at the redhead, eyes opening to glare at him. "Objection! That thing, despite its improbable size, was a scorpion. The way it moved and its very form attests to that even if you don't want to believe it. I did hit it and it was real."
Or else she wouldn't have run. von Karmas didn't get up and run from illusions and parlor tricks. That thing was real and it was a scorpion.
Now to think... Franziska crossed her arms and closed her eyes again. The man had opened the door and stepped inside, then when Klavier had entered and taken three steps, Franziska followed and the door shut. She had taken...six - no, seven steps after the door was closed, enough to take her to the wall for support. Until crossing the threshold, she had only seen the Sun Room in front of her and now she was in the bathrooms. "It cannot be impossible because we are here and that is evidence enough that something has happened. Like Klavier Gavin, I felt dizzy upon entering, accounting for my needing support on the wall. It took me-" She paused and opened her eyes, confirming the distance from her to the door. "-seven steps to reach this point. So either the maintenance the Head Doctor spoke of entails rearranging the entire Institute, or some sort of instantaneous movement is involved."
Which sounded so impossible, but she herself had just said that it couldn't be impossible because their physical presence was the evidence. Franziska turned and went to the door, rapping it with her knuckle twice. "Solid. Nothing unusual with the door itself." And she tested the handle. It turned and she opened it slightly, looking out to see the quiet of the Sun Room. She closed it again and turned back to the others. "Are there other theories?"
A thought occured to her suddenly and she pointed back at the stranger. "And you! Name and occupation. If I'm going to record the things that happened tonight you cannot remain nameless. That is Klavier Gavin, Criminal Prosecutor, and I am Franziska von Karma, prosecuting prodigy."
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"There was certainly something there," he conceded, "but a scorpion that big doesn't seem very realistic, does it? ... You could definitely argue that it's a Devil's Proof; we can't prove something like doesn't exist. But just because of that, there's no reason so accept something so ridiculous! We all might have seen it, and it may have gotten hit, but beyond that, there isn't much to go on, is there? It was dark, and none of us were thinking straight. Doesn't that create enough room for doubt? ... We can't prove that scorpion doesn't exist somewhere. So then, let's try turning the chessboard over. Instead of what was chasing us, what wasn't chasing us? In other words, if there was some kind of trick behind it, there will be some kind of clue to that effect. It's better to look for something like that, instead of assuming the existence of that scorpion."
He listened quietly as they described their experiences entering the room. As the woman said, there really didn't seem to be anything unusual.... Then, what? "I felt the same way, even though I wasn't moving. Actually, it hit just when I closed the door. Something like an alternate entrance or a hidden device might explain the dizziness or when the appearance changed, but that's probably pushing it. The distance still wouldn't add up, and there's still the problem me not letting go of the door."
Rooms switching without them even noticing.... Of course, there had to be a trick behind that, but he honestly didn't have a clue. His theories had some pretty obvious holes in them, and he wasn't entirely sure how to work around them. ... Dizziness. The appearance of the room changing completely. The fact that they didn't seem to notice until after the fact. Could that mean something...?
"... This is going to sound kind of crazy," he began slowly, "but what if we weren't actually running where we thought we were? Couldn't it be possible there was some kind of light trick directing us elsewhere? You'd normally think something like that would be pretty noticeable, but even so, we were pretty distracted at the time." It was admittedly a little strange, but right now, it was probably the best he could come up with.
The accusatory finger he received shortly afterward was a little startling, but more because of the familiarity of the action than the connotation; it was something he'd done himself more than a few times. So they were prosecutors, huh....? Interesting. That would explain the objection he'd received and why they were so willing to go over the facts. .... That must have been a nice profession, able to rely on the law instead of being stuck amateurishly picking at a series of horrendously gruesome and complex crimes with no real experience and zero probability that the police would ever uncover anything. ... Still, even a fool could eventually discover something if they didn't stop thinking. There was no choice but to believe in that.
".... Ushiromiya Battler," he introduced himself. "I'm in my last year of high school." It was a sort of embarrassing thing to admit when he'd just been trying his hand at reasoning out the situation with a couple of trained professionals, but what could he do? He definitely didn't want to be disregarded because of something like that, but if things took that turn, it wasn't like he'd have any say in the matter.
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Herr Red -- Battler, it seemed -- was adamant in arguing this ridiculous point. Why he was even bothering with such a thing was beyond Klavier, but it was worth offering its due consideration, he supposed. Or he supposed that until the young man actually answered back.
"..............." What? No, really. Klavier almost asked the guy to repeat himself. Because surely there was no way he could have honestly been making such a ridiculous argument. If he really had this straight, Herr Red was saying that because the scorpion was improbable there was no way it had existed at all? Despite the fact that they had seen, heard, and inadvertently felt it? Dear goodness, this man almost made Forehead's theories seem like strokes of common sense.
Klavier's face retained it's smile from Fräulein's outburst, the expression generally neutral and calm as though he were simply playing the observer here. The smile itself, however, had shifted slightly to something almost playful. "Oh I agree. It's not very realistic at all. But Herr Red... that doesn't change the fact that it was there." He offered a brief, good-natured laugh. "Arguing something is impossible, as Fräulein has said, is rather pointless once it has already happened. ...But it's still worth thinking over, I suppose."
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Testimony was always shoddy as far as evidence went, which was why testimony could never be used to convict on its own. Solid evidence was always preferable. But for now, testimony was all he had. "My roommate. He told me he had found a room upstairs which held a good number of caged animals. Judging by the equipment in the lab and the state of the animals there, he said it was highly probable the creatures rumored to roam this place... are made right in that very room." A second snap of his fingers. "Furthermore, whenever these rumors about 'monsters' pop up, they are usually described as some kind of identifiable, but mutated animal. A cat. A spider." He put his hand down onto his hip and grinned at Herr Red oh-so-pleasantly. "...It is not so hard to imagine, then, that it is possible a scorpion may also be among that list. Ja?"
Not really proof, per say, but if Herr Red's theory relied solely on the lack of possibility, then possibility was all that was needed. The smile went from playful to bright and friendly. After all, he couldn't completely disrespect someone who refused to believe the impossible. Better that than someone who believed everything like some people. And anyway, it was possible the poor man was new and had no idea about any of this. Some leniency was warranted.
"As for the room... I concede. We were all distracted to some degree. Throw in a small bout of dizziness, and perhaps we can't state with absolute certainty that our memories are completely reliable." Except Klavier knew his at least was, but subjective arguments were hardly convincing. "In which case... there is too little evidence to really form a theory. I admit, if it were the case that we weren't originally where we thought we were, it would make a bit more sense." That didn't mean he was agreeing to light tricks or revolving walls or whatever it was Herr Red was suggesting. He only agreed to the general idea that, if their first impressions regarding their location was wrong, it made more sense than just popping into a room.
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She listened as Klavier brought up excellent points to counter Battler's attempt at a logic battle and then snapped her whip at the redhead's feet. "There is no room for doubt, Ushiromiya Battler. As Klavier Gavin has testified, there are unnatural creatures in great abundance here. Only absolute fools deny the facts simply because they can't wrap their foolish minds around the truth!" The whip cracked against the floor tile again and Franziska caught it as it came back, snapping it tight over her head before bringing it down in front of her. "And if you are so certain it could not be a scorpion, then go out and capture it - prove us wrong with evidence, not roundabout logic!"
Because that was all it boiled down to: evidence. They had no evidence that said the scorpion was real and no evidence that the scorpion was fake. There was no evidence to say that Battler was wrong, just as there was none to indicate he was right. It was a stalemate argument, but Franziska was ready to defend her position until the bitter end.
As for Battler and Klavier's second arguments? Something about it just seemed off. A trick of the light couldn't account for what should have been an over 30 step journey taking less than a second. It couldn't account for the fact that she knew they had just been in the hallway and now were in the women's bathroom. There was no way she wouldn't recognize this bathroom and it's precise location in conjunction with the rest of the Sun Room and unless Battler had somehow opened two doors while holding the one handle, it was extremely unlikely they had waltzed across without realizing it.
They had been distracted though, and like they said, the dizziness could have accounted for it. Was it possible the scorpion had hit them somehow? Done something to the air? Anything was possible, she supposed. Franziska relaxed as she thought this over, recalling all her past cases and the utterly ridiculous things that often happened in them. Circuses, television stars, mediums; nothing could be discounted after dealing with those clowns. She'd closed her eyes without realizing it, her arms crossed in front of her, right hand tugging rhythmically at her left sleeve - a habit she'd picked up from her father when he thought over cases. Her father who was awaiting her judgment in his own case. The thought came from nowhere and her eyes snapped open, chasing it away as she tugged the leash between both hands. "Klavier Gavin, Ushiromiya Battler, if it is evidence we need, then it is evidence we must gather. Either to prove the scorpion exists or to close the case on how we ended up in the women's bathroom from the hallway. The investigation starts in the Sun Room."
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With that, she stepped through the door, expecting the others to be on her heels.
[warping to here - and their heads summarily explode]
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