Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

[scarefaux]

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he

Comments

[unheroed]

Speaking with Gant always felt a little bit like a trial by fire -- not because he was really threatened by the man, but because he felt like he had to be on his guard the whole time he was around him. The man had his uses, but in general Harvey didn't really think the positives outweighed the negatives. Gant was odd and untrustworthy and Harvey didn't really like when those two traits got mixed together

[scientist_skye]

Something about the way Ema's nurse carried herself when she collected her ward from breakfast and led her to the Sun Room seemed relieved. One of the benefits of her "sleep study" had been more acute eyesight, and Ema put it to use here, glancing upward occasionally. Something flickered in the nurse's expression when she passed her less fortunate peers who dealt with patients who were sulking or cranky or otherwise uncooperative. It seemed like a lot of people were out of sorts, and no wonder. Ema hadn't seen her own shadow, but seeing Lana's shadow had been bad enough.

As if to corroborate Ema's observation, the nurse focused her attention down at the girl. "You seem to be in a much better mood this morning than most, Marie. And certainly better than you've been the past few days. I'm very proud of you." The woman's tone was an off-putting blend of sincere and condescending, causing Ema to purse her lips a little in distaste. "Oh, don't look at me that way; this is a good thing! Especially since you seem so eager to help

[unheroed]

With the way that his bad mood was practically radiating off of him in waves, it was really no surprise that a nurse had decided that he needed to be cheered up. However, the last thing he needed was for some little twerp to start bothering him about this and that. Getting himself introduced the wrong way wasn't a good way to begin the conversation, either. He almost called after the nurse to give her a piece of his mind, but

[scientist_skye]

Nothing. Ema backed off slightly, sitting straighter and frowning deeply. "That happened before you got here, then? Why didn't they heal you?" Not that she expected him to know, but it wasn't an unreasonable question to ask in general. Based on her own experience, this place was capable of closing wounds and speeding up the healing process significantly. Her infected rate bite cleared up in a matter of days, for one. More strikingly, Ema was pretty sure she should still be incapacitated by migraines like she had been just after the experiment, yet the worst she had felt the past couple of days was a nagging ache in her temples (and, of course, sharp pangs of pain at high-pitched noises, but that seemed like it would be a permanent side effect of the experiment). The fact that they had decided to leave him in whatever state he arrived seemed odd and almost counter-intuitive. If this place was a scientific experiment like she had been led to believe, didn't it make sense to have your test subjects in the best possible health

[unheroed]

The idea that he could have been healed upon entering the institute wasn't even something that had really occurred to Harvey before. It really should have, since it seemed as if most people came in spic and span, but he hadn't considered it an offense since he didn't want to be healed in the first place. Everyone would have called him nuts for being so against the idea of skin grafts or the sort of intense high-speed healing they had here, but

[scientist_skye]

"Harvey..." Ema parroted softly, the gears of her mind turning as she tapped the end of her pen against her cheek. The name was awfully familiar, she just had to go through her memory and actually place it. There was so much data from the last several days that she honestly needed a moment to recall. Harvey...?

Ah! "You're Mr. Dent!" Ema cried out suddenly when it came to her. Funny, Lana hadn't mentioned an injury when she'd called attention to him as they passed the previous night, nor had she really given Ema time to get a good enough look at the man to notice herself. It seemed like a pretty big omission, especially from someone for whom details were her life. Ema would have to ask Lana about it the next time the sisters saw each other. Possibly tonight.

"Lana pointed you out last night in one of the hallways. The light was bad so I didn't get a good look at you, but it's nice to actually meet you." Gone were any remnants of her earlier offense or indignation, replaced with a friendly smile and, beyond it, a slightly

[unheroed]

That thoughtful look on the girl's face made Harvey slightly nervous, mainly because he had no idea what was going through her head and he didn't like it when someone was scheming right in front of him

[scientist_skye]

"She was?" It was a stupid question that was out of her mouth before any thought went toward it whatsoever. Of course Lana had been worried about her--she'd made that much clear to Ema herself countless times over the past several days, in her own way. What was surprising was the fact that Lana had expressed her worry to someone else, even if it was indirectly. Lana had a tendency to be guarded toward people she didn't know or trust--she had to be, in her line of work--so Ema could only take this as more evidence to support her hypothesis about the two of them.

The topic itself, however, was significantly less exciting than the fact that Lana was making a friend, so Ema quickly sobered herself and took a deep breath before elaborating on Mr. Dent's comment. If Lana trusted him, so would she. "I was taken for a sleep study a few nights ago; that's why I assumed they'd done the same to you." After a pause, Ema decided against elaborating further. It wasn't really the point of the conversation, for one, and Ema wasn't eager to

[unheroed]

The fact that the girl seemed surprised made Harvey wonder about a few things. While it had seemed clear to him that Lana cared for her sister and was protective of her the way any older sibling would be, it was possible that she didn't make that as clear when she was interacting with Ema herself. The reason for that was less obvious, but some people just had a difficult time showing affection directly to another person, even a family member. If there was one thing that stood out about Lana Skye, it was that she was closed off. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was still something to note

[scientist_skye]

"Hopefully, you'll be lucky enough never to go at all," Ema replied emphatically, frowning deeply as she balled her hands into fists. Despite the fact that she purposefully used the most euphemistic term available to refer to the experience, she had no illusions that the 'sleep studies' were anything less than torture and trauma hiding behind a veneer of science. Even if she hadn't been personally subjected to it, the very idea was enough to offend her on a deeply core level. Ema huffed a little, expressing defiance and refusal to bend without outwardly declaring it. She wasn't going to become a useless girl who couldn't even talk about what happened to her, let alone take action against it. Not again

[unheroed]

Harvey wondered if there was even a chance of that, or if everyone here eventually got nabbed to be poked and prodded at. He couldn't be sure, since there was always a chance that the patients who disappeared did so because they didn't make it through their experiments, or they were released once it was over with. It probably wasn't worth thinking about too much, though -- if his time came, he wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it. He'd been powerless against the staff when they'd come for Lunge, hadn't he? And he'd never heard of any other patient being able to resist

[scientist_skye]

Ema knew better than to take Mr. Dent's scoffing personally, although it did dim her demeanor somewhat. "I don't think it's common. Dr. Landel seems more intent on making us all miserable. Why else would he do all of this to us?" Her question was rhetorical, since Mr. Dent couldn't reasonably have an answer, but it did lead to a fairly legitimate one; what could the man possibly be trying to do with all of this? "And it didn't come easily. Still, I know I'm lucky that she's here and that we're okay." It was almost funny, how being tortured and (literally!) facing her sister's deeply-set self-hatred made her lucky.

Almost.

Her smile returning--she refused to be brought down--Ema opted for some small talk. "Is there anyone else here from your world, Mr. Dent?" Okay, so for her 'small talk' generally consisted of inquiries, investigations, and science. At least it was an innocent enough question. Right?

[unheroed]

The more that Ema talked about her moment of growth with her sister, the less Harvey found himself caring. He was sure that it was great for the both of them, but it wasn't something that had much to do with him. He was glad that she was able to move on to another topic eventually, since griping about how much Landel wanted to make their lives hell was becoming more and more redundant. They were only pointing out things that were already obvious because they didn't have anything better worth saying with so little in the way of leads, and that was frustrating

[scientist_skye]

Mr. Dent didn't seem to be all that bothered by the apparent release of people she knew, which surprised Ema a little. For her part, even though Mr. Edeworth and Mr. Wright were both released before she arrived she was still worried about them. What had the institute done to them prior to their release? Or, worse, was 'released' a euphemism for something more terrible? Ema wouldn't have been able to mention them so calmly.

Then again, Mr. Dent seemed like a man who kept his emotions close to the vest, so maybe it was just him being stoic and not a lack of concern. That was pretty admirable, if that was the case. No wonder he and Lana got along; they were similar in that way.

"People really come and go, don't they? There are always notes on the board about people being released, but does anyone actually know what it means? To be released, I mean." Pusring her lips in thought, Ema jotted down a note to herself in her journal. She'd have to see if anyone actually had an answer to the question. "Do you have any idea, Mr. Dent

[unheroed]

Instead of expressing any concern over his released acquaintances, the girl just moved on to ask a more pertinent question. That, Harvey liked. Whether she'd taken a cue from his lack of emotion when he'd delivered the information or if she also had her priorities rearranged wasn't too important; actions stood out more than the intent behind them at times

[scientist_skye]

"That happens?" Ema's pen started moving across the page in front of her once more. "I knew that the visitors acted brainwashed and all, but I didn't realize they could be former patients! I wonder what finally sets all of this-" she waved her hand around to indicate the institute as a whole "-into your mind? It doesn't seem like they're actively brainwashing us so much as they just keep insisting that what we know isn't real. Scientifically speaking, that's not at all the same thing." This new bit of knowledge was troubling. Was Dr. Landel capable of that kind of full-on brainwashing? If so, why brainwash some and not others? And why let the doctors address patients by their actual names during the nighttime experiments