Day 56: Main Street

[mustbethesuit]

After extricating himself from Harvey's company, Peter found himself at an utter loss for what to do. He drifted away from the park (too cold for that), munching on his breakfast muffin and searching out some place where $15 might be useful. The coupon pack was about as helpful as it had ever been. He wandered past Pearl's Prettification Parlour,

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[human_sponge]

Nice as it had been to see Ritsuka and confirm that the boy was all right, Peter had to assume that the kid had his own plans for the town. He likely had a number of friends his own age that he wanted to meet, and they didn't have much reason to stick together now that they had checked in on each other. For that reason, he let the boy go after telling him to take care of himself (not that there was much to be scared of in this town unless it got dark) and then slowly moved off of the bus.

The only thing about this that reminded him of New York was the temperature; the rest of it was far too small and pastoral and homey to fit that huge city that Peter called home. At this point, he had really gotten to a point where he honestly missed tall buildings, crowded streets, and the familiar sight of taxi cabs

[immortale]

Firo wasn't sure what he'd been expecting from a trip into town, but this surely hadn't been it. Looking around after stepping off the bus, he felt a bit disappointed; it was nice to be outside of the prison for a while, but this... For someone born and raised in New York City, the country town almost look barren: the streets were too empty, the buildings were too short and spaced too far apart, and it looked like the only people around were the ones who'd just come off the buses

[human_sponge]

At first, when Peter heard his name called out, it was an instinct to simply turn around. He was only halfway through the motion when he realized that that voice might not be calling for him. Peter was a common name, so he had gotten used to that through school and even at work. He was fully aware that there was another Peter here in the institute, even

[immortale]

Once he had caught up, Firo fell into a walk once more, matching Peter's pace. He gave a nervous-looking smile when the other man asked how he was adapting, feeling embarrassed about the reminder of how he'd reacted yesterday. Objectively, there was no way he could have known at the time what the situation he'd landed in was really like, but looking back now... Someone smarter would have probably gotten it right away.

"I'm doing alright," he answered. "I, uh... I was under the wrong impression yesterday. Even though some of what you said made a lot of sense, I doubted most of it. I had a chance to see for myself last night, and... Well, I believe you now."

The embarrassment grew with every word, but if his cheeks had become flushed, it was just from the chill in the air. He wasn't sure now why he'd tried to explain himself, anyway; he could have just answered Peter's question and not bring up their talk yesterday at all... But Peter had been a lot of help in explaining the situation, so somehow it felt wrong to pretend

[human_sponge]

At first, the smile that Firo gave worried Peter, since it was pretty clear that he was uncomfortable about something. Still, when the younger patient spoke up to explain himself, the reason for it became clear. Honestly, this sort of thing happened a lot here. New patients always presented some amount of skepticism and had to eat their words later on. Even someone like him, who was better at accepting things than most, had had some trouble with that during his first few days here

[immortale]

Firo was quiet for a moment at Peter's further question, going over the events of last night in his mind. Getting caught by surprise like he had was shameful-he'd known that he should be on alert, but in the end he hadn't paid enough attention-but this time, that was one detail he could easily skip.

"It wasn't much," Firo answered with a shrug. "Just a couple of overgrown cats in the hallway."

But then there was also the fact that he'd never returned to his room, yet had woken up there this morning... Firo frowned at the thought. For once, he actually wouldn't have minded an injury to last, to serve as proof that it hadn't been a dream. There were Peter's healing injuries to consider, and Dexter's injuries as well (while he had seen the man this morning, he felt certain that today he would be sporting a few new reminders of fighting), but it wasn't impossible for them to have gotten injured from something else entirely

[human_sponge]

"Just a couple of cats?" Peter parroted back as he raised an eyebrow. Seeing how Firo had been going on about a version of Alcatraz that was in the past, Peter doubted that the younger man had ever run across anything that monster-like before now. Maybe he was trying to play it cool or maybe he was just that unflappable, but it stood out either way

[immortale]

The way Peter echoed Firo's words made him feel suddenly sheepish, as if he'd said the wrong thing entirely. He hadn't been trying to brag just then, but with that reaction it seemed like maybe he had been

[human_sponge]

Maybe it was due to the fact that the cat Peter had dealt with was the one that had attacked Nathan and knocked him out, but he really didn't think that they were just like normal cats that were a little faster and a little bigger. It wasn't something he wanted to argue, though; if Firo could handle what this place threw at him, then that was a good thing. "Well, believe me, there's worse out there. And... was their skin rotting in places?" Almost all of the monsters here seemed to be afflicted by that same disease, though it was possible the younger man hadn't noticed in the darkness

[immortale]

Had its skin been rotting? Firo tilted his head up as he tried to recall, but in the darkened hallway and with only a flashlight for light, he hadn't been able to take in all the details during the few glimpses he'd caught-just the essentials. "I'm not really sure," he concluded. "It might have been, but I was only able to see them clearly a couple of times. I'll try to take a closer look next time

[human_sponge]

That explained it, then. If Firo hadn't gotten a clear look at the things with the help of his flashlight, then he could have easily missed the way that patches of skin were gone and bone was showing through. The thought was enough to make Peter's stomach do a few turns, and he was a nurse who'd seen his fair share of unsettling sights. Somehow it was worse on animals

[immortale]

Peter's warning had been noted, but it was, for the most part, unnecessary. Firo might not have said anything about the trouble the cats had caused (and without any injuries to show for it, it would have been Peter's turn to doubt him if he had), but he figured they had been a pretty good introduction to what he might run into, tip of the iceberg or not. If anything, it was nice to know that there was a chance he might not encounter anything some nights; he and Dexter hadn't made it to the kitchen thanks to the attack, and it would be beyond frustrating to have to waste time like that night after night

[human_sponge]

Firo made a good point. Generally, the military had been harsher on them so far, so why were they rewarding them now? The only thing he could think of was that it was one more way to reinforce the ranking system that they were setting up, and the small amounts of money they were getting probably didn't mean much to General Aguilar in the grand scheme of things.

"There's got to be some catch to it, but I'm also not going to not use it just because of that." They had the money now, and he couldn't really foresee any danger in making the most of that. Granted, the fact that things like knives were more or less out of the picture made the whole thing a little more difficult.

What point had he come to, where he was disappointed that he couldn't purchase a weapon?

More than that, though, he needed to think about what he could buy, and almost immediately something popped into his head. "Actually, I need a bag to hold all of my medical supplies," he mused, more to himself than to Firo. He realized that wouldn't make much sense without an

[immortale]

For his part, Firo almost hoped there really was a catch. Like Peter, it wouldn't stop him from using the money if there was something worth it, but it would make him feel like he'd done something to deserve it. Even the pickpocketing he'd done before becoming acquainted with the Martillo Family had taken more effort than this

[human_sponge]

The idea of Peter having been part of the staff at one point was enough to make his blood run cold -- colder than this weather could make it go. He knew that that had never been the case, but the very thought of it disturbed him. He'd been fighting against this place for so long; working for them would just be out of the question

[immortale]

As Peter began answering, Firo wondered if he hadn't really asked what he'd thought he'd asked. How could no one here know what they were here for? The specific reason for being at Landel's Institute instead of another prison was one thing (if the inmates were crazy and it was an asylum after all that would be a reason, but that obviously wasn't the case), but not knowing why they were in prison at all was another thing entirely.

"Shouldn't being arrested in the first place be a correlation?" he found himself asking. "Even if there's no connection between the crimes and even if there are some innocent people who were found guilty, everyone has a reason for being imprisoned. Being here specifically instead of someplace else doesn't change that, but now that you mention it..."

Why they were here specifically was a good question as well. Still, someone had gone through a lot of trouble to send him here instead of Alcatraz, and Firo wasn't entirely sure that Victor was the one responsible. So far, he hadn't seen a single trace of