Day 25: Breakfast

[uncage]

Kuja was, in fact, quite surprised to suddenly find himself in bed. An odd turn of events, as he previously remembered investigating the contents of a closet. If the genome hadn't known any better, he would have thought he hadn't even left the room. However, the items he was still holding obviously proved such thoughts untrue; he had left his room

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[transgenix]

Max was annoyed. Very, very annoyed. For one thing, she felt as if she'd wasted an entire night. She'd learned almost nothing about this place and had convinced herself that whatever tales she'd heard about the day before about the terrors that lurked were just the other patients' ways of pulling newcomers legs. She'd certainly seen nothing of the sort. All she and Susan had come across were a bunch of clearly unstable - or at the very least, very, very strange - patients, and an ancient filing room that looked as if it hadn't been touched in ages, with a file full of made-up information on her. Apparently her 'husband' was a real ass, since he considered this the best place to put her to 'fix' her psychosis. Whenever she found who was running this place, she'd show them what she thought about their senses of humor

[transgenix]

"Oh, he certainly thinks he is," Max retorted with an amused little smirk, leaning back comfortably in her own chair and arching an eyebrow at him. The resemblance was downright eerie, which made the comfortable banter she and Alec had always shared come naturally.

[thehellismycar]

"So," he linked his fingers together, inclining frontward and placing forearms over his thighs. "Who is Alec? Friend before this place, I'm guessing?"

[transgenix]

"He's my brother. Sort of," she answered, hedging a bit. "We're not blood-related, but we grew up together. Otherwise, he's a pain in the ass." The last bit, however, was still said with no small amount of obvious affection in her tone, despite the wry expression that flitted across her face.

[thehellismycar]

Brother. The word haphazardly dived through him, causing the man to straighten on cue. Sam had to turn up sooner or later, right? They were siblings; each existing as the sole person the other could rely on. As far as he was concerned, the younger man possessed a larger mesh of unsolved queries in his past than Dean ever would.

Dammit, he had to come to grips with this already. It was gonna kill him if he handed it the ticket to pour out and form a lagoon of misery. The fact a mere word was snatching his all like this was a disturbing sign.

"Pain in the ass, huh?" Tone diminished to neutral, it was evident something was bothering him. He could slam the door on it, but it was starting to dawn on the huntsman that doing so in abundance was just gonna rupture the hinges. He forced a smile, trying to show some teeth. No, he wouldn't allow his trivial concerns get the best of him. No bucketing your heart and soul into a stranger. His heart and soul was akin to an icy shower; no way he'd wanna expose that on anyone else. No"... People've

[transgenix]

"I don't think so," Max replied ruefully, shaking her head. "We've got no other family except those of us that grew up together. And those we've added along the way. You are eerily like him, though. Kinda creepy, that," she added, unable to resist the teasing, craving the familiarity of it. She'd only been here twenty-four hours and was already craving some sane hint of normalcy in the sudden unexpected twist her life had taken.

[thehellismycar]

So she valued family - that was as positive an attribute as any, nowadays. The affection she conveyed for her 'brother' was crystal, and the man settled on pursuing that as a theme.

"Heh... I've got family outside o' here, too. You grow accustomed to their absence after a while." A smirk played on his lips as another thought slipped into his processes. "Maybe Doctor Landel brought us both here for a reason, except -" He sniggered - "You've got miles to go before bearing resemblance to Sam. Fortunately," he quipped as a finish.

[transgenix]

"Sam?" she asked curiously, titling her head to the side as she eyed him. "Who's Doctor Landel? And after a while? You been here a while, then?"

[thehellismycar]

He was silent as Max spoke, his mouth open in a lopsided grin until he registered the four questions.

"OK, Sam's my brother; Doctor Landel is the head honcho; yes, I been here a while. This'll be my fourth day." He hit one finger as he tumbled through each response, hand limp at his side when he was done. "How 'bout you? How long since you awoke in Pleasantville?"

[transgenix]

"Yeah, it's a real trip, isn't it?" she snorted in wry amusement. "Since yesterday morning about this time, so you've got a head on me by three days. Back where I'm from, that's not really considered a long time, though. Has anyone been here longer than a week? I mean, the place is strange, I'll grant them that, but I've been in worse digs. I think you all exaggerate a bit."

[thehellismycar]

"May've only been three days, but every day seems to drag when you're stuck in oblivion. Or it could just be me." He laughed softly. "I mean, the last memory I have of life outside o' here was... well, not a reassuring one. Went through a phase where I believed this place was Hell or, uh, Purgatory." Smiling wryly, he added, "But you come to learn it isn't that simple."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Isn't a joke around here. You've been here a day, you said?" Pressing index fingers together, he plugged on with a small frown. "Give it time. Shouldn't underestimate your surroundings like that. Day's harmless enough. Night's another matter." He gave an inward sigh, leaning back a bit. "From what I can tell, I'm considered newer than other patients. I'm sure there'd be people about who can answer that better than me."

[transgenix]

"I've heard that from a couple people," Max commented thoughtfully, her expression showing she was mulling that over. "And it's something I might have believed if I hadn't lived to see the aftermath of the calamity where I was from and it was a complete dud. The last thing I remember is finally landing in bed with my boyfriend, and all I can say is these creeps have shitty timing."

"I'm not underestimating my surroundings," she continued with a slight shrug. "I've been careful, I've been watching. So far I haven't seen what the big deal is about, other than some people here who are probably legitimately crazy. Not that I've really proved otherwise myself this morning," she added dryly, lips quirking into a smirk once more.

[thehellismycar]

There was a pause subsequent to the announcement of her last memory, and he granted her a disbelieving look consisting of narrowed eyes and a sly grin prior to releasing a chuckle of genuine mirth.

"Man, that's the first 'final account' I've heard that sounded horrendous as mine." With an ending hoot of laughter, Dean pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. Façade reversing to customary again, he shook his head. "No! You're... as sane as they come, I'm sure." Clearing his throat, he continued with a straight face. "No, but what a lot o' them say is true. About nightshift and all that. I'm... amazed you haven't noticed anything unusual, to say the least."

[transgenix]

"Oh, there were plenty of unusual people around," Max replied with a shrug, her smirk melting into a grin in response to his laughter - she could be mor amused about it today than she had been yesterday. After all, sex was a much better last memory than dying or exploding or something. "The place seems to have a fondness for military types, doesn't it? At least a lot of the people I've run into have been. People were talking about monsters, but I didn't come across any. Maybe I'll make more time tonight if I strike out alone and go lookng for some. Personally, I'm still inclined it's all one big joke people play on the new arrivals around here."

[thehellismycar]

"Not everyone." He leveled for a moment to stretch, a snap sounding from somewhere. Yawning as he loosened in his chair, the man smiled groggily. "Met a kid, second night. Must've been... what, say, thirteen? Didn't have a smidgen of fighting experience."

Of all the blessed... he'd kill to own that extent of fortune. She acted as though nightshift was a run of the mill convention for the patients - an innocent belief he'd never have the luxury of possessing, regardless of whether or not the Institute encompassed malevolent objectives.

"Sweetheart, I call that luck."

[transgenix]

Max couldn't help but shrug again, her expression turning wry once more. "What can I say? I'm a lucky person. Although usually my luck runs the other direction. Although I would have relished a good fight last night," she admitted, almost wistfully. Waking up in this strange place had been infuriating, to say the least. Finding something or someone to take out those frustrations on would have probably improved her temperment even more. Although having met Alec's 'twin' was surprisingly more relaxing and amusing than she would have normally anticipated.