Day 51: Arts & Crafts (4th shift)

[notthistrain]

There were very few activity shifts, Cloud was sure, that could possibly make him feel more like he was being treated like a child. He took a seat at one of the tables and blankly examined the materials set out before him. A pair of the dullest scissors he'd ever seen were labeled 'ages 3 and up'. It was good to know where the patients stood in

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[human_sponge]

Oh, good, he'd picked someone friendly. Granted, the grand majority of people here were pretty friendly, but Peter had come across a few bad apples here and there, and so he never assumed that any one stranger would be okay with him just taking a seat like he owned the place. He did notice that the man's smile was a little off, though -- kind of forced, maybe? But that could just be because he had something else going on (an injured friend; a distressing visit the day before) that was making it hard to be sincere. Peter didn't want to pry.

When the piece of paper was turned toward him, Peter made sure to admire it enough that he was respectful, and really, it looked like the guy was off to a good start. Even though only the basic shape was there so far, he had been able to tell what it was right away.

At the question, he chuckled and shook his head. "No, not really. Not normally, anyway." But he wasn't sure if talking about precognitive art skills was the best idea with a complete stranger, and so he didn't elaborate on that point. "Usually the height of my ability ends right around stick figures wearing ties."

That drawing of him and Nathan had been his masterpiece.

[bprd_fishman]

"Ah. I've been trained in sketching, for professional work." Abe laughed slightly and unlike the smile it sounded quite natural. "I wouldn't say I'm an artist, of course." His pencil traced out the cat's tail, held high and perky.

At this point he was used to random people coming up and talking to him. It really seemed the only thing to do at the institute during the day. Supposedly there were activities but they were mild distractions at best, only a faint struggle against the white and sterile monotony. If he ever made it back to Doyleton he was going to raid the bookstore for as much as his arms could carry before daylight hit and he didn't care if they were old car manuals as long as they were books.

[human_sponge]

While Peter was no expert (he'd taken an art history course as an undergrad and it hadn't ended well -- way too much memorization), he would have said that this guy was a pretty good artist. But maybe what the man meant was that he mainly just did sketches of suspects and that sort of thing, if it was a professional deal. There was no vision in his art, or something along those lines. He'd heard Simone talk about it enough times to have a vague idea of how artists acted about their work.

"Way better than I am, that's for sure," he said with a small smirk as he shrugged his shoulders. He considered trying some origami or something, but Peter knew better. He just wasn't good at this sort of stuff. He knew how to stitch someone up, but when it came to arts and crafts like this, he was at a loss. Which he knew didn't make much sense, but that was how it was.

"What do you do for a living?" he said next, unable to help his curiosity now that the guy had brought it up. "If you don't mind me asking."

[bprd_fishman]

"Ah...government work." Little, delicate flicks of the pencil, the curves of leg muscles beginning to take form. "Problem-solving, investigation of strange occurrences. Sketches are useful when cameras aren't available." And as always the little lies, the need to hide who you were because the other was also hiding who he was. Abe wished there was a way for people to simply carry cards explaining what level of supernatural belief they possessed and how much they were willing to accept the strange story of Abe's life.

He was tired of getting laughed at.

[human_sponge]

So Peter had been half-right. It was something having to do with investigations, but maybe not in the strictest sense of the word. If the man was a cop, he could have just said so, but he was being more vague in his phrasing, which might mean it was something more covert. But if it was really covert like the FBI or CIA, he wouldn't have said anything at all, would he? Unless he'd decided that all bets were off while stuck in this place.

"Makes sense," he said with a nod. "I used to be a nurse, so drawings aren't really needed for something like that." Unless he was working with kids, but that hadn't usually been the case. A little bit here or there, but he could usually grab a fellow worker to handle the artsy part of that. Sometimes kids wanted to draw, but usually they didn't judge.

That all felt so long ago; he'd still been in school at that point, training in different areas and trying to figure out what to do with his life. He'd never made a proper decision, not until the dreams had come around.

"So have you been doing much investigation here?" he went on to ask. "Or not really?" It was probably a lot harder to pull off in this place, so Peter wasn't trying to judge. He was just curious. "The name's Peter, by the way," he added, wanting to get that out of the way before he forgot. He thought about offering a hand and then decided that he shouldn't distract the man from his drawing.

[bprd_fishman]

"Abe Sapien." Abe turned to him and nodded slightly in welcome. His hand kept drawing even when he wasn't looking at the paper, as if possessed of its own eyes and motivations. Usually he found it hard to keep them from wriggling about but the focus on his art kept them still. "And yes, quite a bit. We nearly made it to the roof last night. My training is in investigation of...unusual disappearances and strange reports, so I'm quite used to dealing with the sort of things Dr. Landel likes to throw at us."

There, that was vague enough to let Peter draw his own conclusions. He seemed a nice, polite man, a welcome change from some of the pointlessly hostile people you could meet around here. He'd never understood infighting, it always led to people getting killed because they'd done something stupid. Or possibly getting pregnant but Abe attributed that less to fighting and more to making up.

[human_sponge]

Peter couldn't help staring when he noticed the way the other patient was continuing to draw even when his eyes weren't directed at the piece of paper. How could he have that much confidence in what he was doing? Even as a nurse, Peter couldn't imagine wrapping a bandage or giving someone a shot without paying complete attention. Granted, the consequence if something like that was screwed up would be way worse when compared to a wrong line on a drawing, but...

The guy's name was pretty odd, but Peter had heard a lot of that here. His occupation didn't necessarily indicate that he had to be out of the ordinary, but it also did sound like the sort of thing that had to be kept under lock and key from the rest of the world. "Yeah, sounds like it," he said with a nod. "I guess you must really be in your element here, huh?" Not that that was a good thing, but it probably kept Abe from feeling useless too often.

"How did you almost get to the roof?" he asked with a slight tilt of his head, narrowing his eyes in bemusement. "I haven't even heard of people reaching the third floor."

[bprd_fishman]

Abe followed Peter's gaze back to his own sketch and his lips slightly pursed in confusion. What was Peter staring at, it was only a cat. "We made it to the porch or patio on the second floor by going through the second floor kitchen. From there one can see the roof, it is merely a matter of climbing upwards. My companion made some indentations in the wall of the building and we were on the verge of climbing before we woke up."

One might almost find it too convenient that they disappeared when they came too close to exceeding their boundaries, but then again Abe had made it out to Doyleton the night before and that was obviously not too far for Landel's control. More and more things were pointing to the theory that this entire 'world' was created and/or controlled by Dr. Landel and that escape was more than simply getting out of the institute and walking as far as you could before dawn. That would have just been far too easy.

[human_sponge]

A patio, huh? Peter didn't think that he had been up there, but he also hadn't been to any kitchen on the second floor, so that would probably explain it. He'd seen a lot more of the first floor during his time here, though he'd been wandering around upstairs a little more lately. First there had been the hallway that fed into the experimentation rooms, and then the storage rooms that Hanatarou had taken him to. Hopefully the patio would be marked on Claire's map and he would have an idea of where it was.

Not that Peter was convinced that it was that easy, though. If it was just a matter of climbing up (which wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and he knew that), then someone would have managed it by now. Unless everyone was keeping it to themselves, he would have heard something, right?

He wasn't going to be a stick in the mud about it, though. Maybe it was possible. Maybe it just took the right pair of people, the right time, the right determination. "Bad timing," he said sympathetically, frowning over at the other patient. "You think you'll be trying again?"

As he watched the sketch of the cat evolve, Peter couldn't help being curious about what had inspired Abe to draw that of all things. It could just be an idle doodle (it was way more impressive than just a doodle, though), but it could be something else. "So, why a cat? Is it because of those ones in the Sun Room, or...?"

[bprd_fishman]

"More that I simply wanted to draw something peaceful. It's been a very stressful couple of days for me." Abe's pencil gracefully swiped across the paper, drawing in the sinuous lines of the cat's legs. "A friend of mine used to keep a lot of cats, this was one of them." Not that he was basing it on the cats, that it was one of them. Abe had a very strong mind when it came to recognition and recall, it was the emotional and social graces where he began to break down.

Would he try again? Who knew. Maybe he'd simply go sit naked under the shower all night or seek out the lake he'd heard about, get more water into his human skin. Stress relief, perhaps. This place seemed geared to drive anyone with a soul completely mad.

[human_sponge]

Something peaceful did sound pretty nice, Peter had to admit. They didn't get much of that here. Even during the day, when they were more or less safe, there was always that looming dread of what was to come, not to mention any anxieties and concerns that were bound to come up as a result of what went on during the nights. While he preferred that to languishing in boredom, he really would have liked a break from time to time. If he was admitting that, then their situation was clearly pretty serious.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said with a frown. It was always stressful for everyone, but maybe Abe had been through more than usual as of late. It happened; there were rough patches. In fact, Peter had to admit that things had been going relatively well for him until Elle had showed up again. Not that he wanted her dead rather than alive, but it had been unexpected. "Did you want to talk about it? I mean, it's fine if you don't, but..." He shrugged, trying to seem open. He knew what it was like to need someone's ear, so he figured he might as well offer since he was feeling pretty steady right now.

[bprd_fishman]

The pencil stopped, quivered, then firmly set back to its sketching again. "I...had a visitor," Abe said carefully, eyes focused on his paper. "I thought she was dead. She thinks I'm insane and doesn't remember what we had together. And I'm starting to wonder if I prefer her story to mine." He tried to hide the pain in his voice but didn't do a very good job of it. Everyone here had their problems and at least he'd been able to talk to her again (even if he hadn't been able to offer much conversation, he'd been so busy flailing that they hadn't actually said much to each other). And he'd felt her mind within his when they'd...

Abe wanted to consider himself lucky but selfishness seemed so much easier. The flowing motions of his arm became less graceful and the new parts of the cat took on a sharp, angular look. Still, the placid look on his face barely flinched.

[human_sponge]

Peter frowned the second that he heard the word "visitor," knowing how difficult that could be from his own experience. He felt bad that he'd pushed Abe into talking about it, but he'd tried to give the man the option and he'd chosen to speak. Whether or not he'd done that because he'd felt pressured to was hard to tell, but now the words were out and Peter figured he might as well try to cheer the guy up.

But that was easier said than done, wasn't it? Yes, his brother had been taken and forced to live a life that wasn't his, but at least there wasn't the added complication of death. If Peter had had to choose between Nathan being dead and Nathan being alive but thinking he was Harrison... Well, he could see why Abe was so conflicted.

"I'm sorry," he said as he kept his gaze on the table, not much in the mood for eye contact at that moment. "I know how it is, sort of. My brother used to be stuck in here with the rest of us, but he disappeared and then came to visit me, completely brainwashed." He'd been through this place twice, even, but Peter didn't need to get into all of the details.

"Still, I think it might be possible to snap them out of it. You might be able to get her back," he told the other patient, doing his best to believe in his own words.

[bprd_fishman]

"She was dead. I saw her die right in front of me." Scratch scratch, hand tightening around the pencil, Abe's expression never changing save for a slight tightening of his mouth. "If I take her back, she's dead, and if I take her how she is she's alive but thinks I'm her mad friend Langdon Caul." And he wasn't sure which one he wanted more.

Ugh. He came in here to get away from those nagging thoughts, not to have them intensified. "Could we perhaps talk about something else?" he asked quietly, forcing himself to smooth and curve the lines on a cat that was starting to look like it had crossbred with Samael.

[human_sponge]

It looked like he had just managed to screw up majorly. Peter sighed and held back the urge to rub at his eyes. He hadn't wanted to dredge up bad memories or anything, and while he wanted to tell Abe that it wasn't necessarily like that (maybe he could snap her out of it and take her home and she'd be alive again, he didn't know!), in the end he decided it would be better if he just left it alone. The guy had asked, and he didn't want to get too pushy with someone he barely knew.

"Of course," he said with a nod. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." But in the end, Peter couldn't find the words for a proper apology either. It was probably better to just leave it alone. "I've been asking you a lot of questions, so if you have anything you're wondering about, just... feel free." It was only fair if he returned the favor. Peter hadn't meant to start grilling the guy or anything; it had just sort of happened that way.