Day 19 - Breakfast

[repolarization]

As Ginji was ushered through the halls towards the cafeteria he felt a little dizzy. He felt like something was very, very wrong but he wasn't sure what. It wasn't just the fact that he had woken up in the middle of some strange place, or the fact that Ban was no where to be found. Something else was wrong. Something important. Something that he

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[kukai]

Gaignun knew that he should be feeling some measure of regret that Jr. was trapped in this place alongside him, but after the initial shock faded, all he could find was relief at sighting a familiar face. Familiarity was something he took great comfort in, and it showed in his face, which had taken on a slightly less grim expression the moment he had spotted his redheaded companion.

"I don't remember," he answered absently, but honestly, focusing on Jr. the best he could. "I woke up in a white room last night and wandered into the hallway in an effort to gather more information about my location. It was there that I encountered some sort of catlike creature. I can only assume..." Gaignun trailed off, seeming to lose himself in thought for a moment. His eyes drifted away to a nearby wall, and it almost seemed as though he wasn't going to continue. Then he sighed faintly, closing his eyes and shaking his head once. "Never mind. I'll be fine." He didn't sound entirely sure of himself, even in his own head, but it would have to do. He then promptly changed the subject to Jr. himself; it was a wonderful diversionary tactic, in any situation, especially where his brother ws concerned. "What about you? Are you all right?"

[red_dragon_mode]

"You were one of the ones that the bastard over the intercom announced last night?" Damn! If he'd known, maybe he could have found Gaignun and been able to help him out a bit. At least he was here now, and somewhat safe. He gave his brother a disbelieving look when he said he'd be fine, but he could always push the issue later.

"I'm fine. I woke up here a couple days ago. Didn't go anywhere the first night, but I found someone I met last night and we decided to go look around. Didn't get very far, but I..." he hesitated for a moment, looking around again. "Gaignun...I think Albedo's here. I spotted him last night, but I didn't believe it. He--" Junior shook his head. "Nevermind. I'm sure he'll turn up soon if he's really here; he always does."

The redhead turned back to the food he'd gotten and started eating. He speared a piece of sausage with his fork and brought it to his mouth before looking back over at Gaignun. "There's probably some things you should know about this place," he started as he bit into the sausage. "They call it a mental institution, but it seems to be a lot more like the Yuriev Institute, complete with some bastard jerking us around however he wants to. Night's a lot different than the day, apparently, and someone said that there are other things than just that cat roaming around. And I don't know how, but there's some people here who haven't even heard of the Federation. Far as I can tell, too, they're able to keep us from using our abilities."

[kukai]

"Albedo?" Gaignun's normally collected tone betrayed more than just a hint of surprise. "That's impossible. How could he...?"

But as he continued to listen to Jr.'s warnings, he wondered if it really was. Cat monsters, things worse than cat monsters, ability suppression, being kidnapped (so to speak) by a mental institution... those seemed fairly unlikely, too, and yet there they were. Who was to say that Albedo couldn't be trapped in this place as well, laws of the universe be damned?

Gaignun sighed inwardly, chiding himself for such thoughts. Of course Albedo couldn't be here. Gaignun himself had not seen, not heard, but felt him die. This was not the time to be questioning physics. He needed all the constants he could get, at least for then; doubting the few he had was not going to get him anywhere. And besides that, there were other things in Jr.'s short speech that deserved equal attention. The information about this strange building, for instance.

"We've been taken hostage by a facility meant exclusively to help people." He turned the words over once or twice in his mind, musing over the information therein, but no matter how he looked at it, it still didn't make sense. "Strange... and I've never heard of a mental hospital capturing its own patients."

A pause. Gaignun took that moment to take a seat next to Jr., thankful for the chance to rest, although the scent of food wafting from the redhead's plate made his stomach turn slightly, and the hum of conversation surrounding them was terribly distracting. He did his best to ignore them both, and continued his previous train of thought. "Of course, I've never heard of a mental hospital that allowed dangerous animals to wander the hallways, either."

He hoped they were animals, at any rate. He didn't care to think of the alternative.

"How did we get here?," he asked at great length. Gaignun did not like asking questions, if he could help it, but this one in particular was a rather pressing weight on his mind. He leaned against the back of his chair sideways, watching Jr. with narrowed, guarded eyes. "I doubt that both of us being here at once is a mere coincidence. Although... you would think that we would have a vague recollection of the attack at the very least, if there was an attack to recall."

[red_dragon_mode]

"I don't know how he could be here," Junior replied, a bit surprised that Gaignun reacted as he did. Guess he did know when it happened. At least I don't have to try and explain it to him. The redhead was comforted a bit by that knowledge, since he didn't really want to relive that moment anytime soon. "It sure seems impossible, at the very least." And he left it at that, hoping that the topic would only be brought up again if the white-haired variant decided to show himself.

"I don't know how we got here, and no one else I've talked to has any idea, either. But I mean, they're able to do things that we can't, so who's to say they didn't just warp us here or something?" He shrugged and ate a bit more of his breakfast before continuing. "I thought it might have been U-TIC when I first woke up here, but with the way the nurses are acting, I doubt that's it. Besides, the technology here isn't as advanced as it should be for them to be behind it."

There was a pause and Junior narrowed his eyes a bit. "Hey, what's with that 'capturing its own patients' thing? We don't belong here. Right?"

[kukai]

"Yes. I came to a similar conclusion last night," Gaignun replied in regards to U-TIC, gliding smoothly over Jr.'s inquiry with the faintest suggestion of a smirk. He hadn't meant the comment the way it had been taken, but it would've been a shame to miss the chance to push the redhead's buttons. "I believe mine had something more to do with the furnishings, though. I doubt that U-TIC's holding cells would be so... pleasant."

Dissatisfied with the answer he'd received but aware that he wasn't going to get a better one, Gaignun accepted the lack of knowledge graciously and wasted no time in dropping the subject, shifting in his chair to watch the other patients with mild interest. His headache, while fading, still didn't permit true concentration, but over the course of his life he'd learned quite well that any information could prove useful. Three things became readily apparent: there was no semblance of rhyme or reason to any of the patients; the cafeteria was just as bleak and sterile as everywhere else he'd seen in the hospital; and the nurses... Gaignun truly did not like those nurses. They reminded him of those weak, slimy businessmen he'd been forced to converse with back home; they smiled constantly and made every effort to appear friendly, but if you'd only turn your back for long enough...

Gaignun eyed them distastefully, deciding in that moment that he would be interacting with them as little as possible. He glanced sideways at his brother, offering him a grim half-smile. "Though, pleasant or not, I think I would almost prefer U-TIC's soldiers to the staff here. Some of the orderlies make Margulis seem like a pushover."

[red_dragon_mode]

"Yeah," Junior agreed, chuckling. "If it was U-TIC's soldiers, I really doubt that anyone would be trapped in this place for long, whether they have their powers or not. Besides...if it was U-TIC, I don't think that the pajamas they make us wear would look so bad on you. Or maybe they'd be more appropriate because it'd be more like prison. Gray sweats and a smiley face doesn't really suit you," the redhead said, pointing at the face on his brother's shirt and grinning. After a moment, though, he was serious again.

"I think that the power's more with those needles, though, and the orderlies are more for intimidation. Getting drugged and sitting there so out of it really doesn't seem like a good plan, so they try to get you to behave that way." Junior shrugged and he frowned a bit as he remembered how he'd gotten carried around on his first day. "They're pretty strong, though. I guess they'd have to be. But they can lift people pretty easily."

[kukai]

Gaignun blinked once, looking more surprised than he probably should've. It was somewhat silly of him, he knew, but it really hadn't occurred to him that he was wearing the same clothes as everyone else in the hospital. Jr.'s words took him rather off guard. He glanced down at the bright, beaming smiley face on his chest and frowned slightly, noting with some disapproval that the redhead's appraisal of his current clothing was quite accurate, both in the fact that he was wearing the uniform and in the fact that it did not suit him. Grey was fine and well, if not his first choice, but that yellow smiley...

He spent another moment or two frowning at his clothing as though somehow that would make it magically change form and color, or at least restore his dignity. Then Jr.'s last statement registered in his mind. Gaignun lifted his gaze, and his eyebrows with it.

"How would you know that?"

He tried to appear honestly interested, but he had the feeling he already knew. He could almost see the other pitching a screaming fit, slung over an orderly's shoulder and being carried out of the room spouting a long stream of protests and expletives. The thought alone was enough to make him smile. That'd be just like Jr...

[red_dragon_mode]

He couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Gaignun's reaction to the uniform. The man was in a suit so much that seeing him in anything casual - or a bit less than, as the case was - was quite the occasion. And really funny.

Then came the question. "Let's just say I wasn't the best of patients when I first got here," he replied, narrowing his eyes at his brother's smile. Of course Gaignun would have known; how could he not have? But he didn't have to think it was funny. But then, that probably worked both ways, what with the asylum's uniform looking funny to the redhead so long as it wasn't on him. Which it was, but he tried to ignore that.