Day 58: Sun Room (Fourth Shift)

[human_sponge]

Peter's lunch meeting with Tear had gone far better than he could have even expected. It was a good thing that he wasn't the sort of person who judged by age, seeing how the girl had proved herself to be very capable despite the fact that she was only a teenager. Not that Peter would ever admit it out loud, but Tear was a lot more mature than his

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[gald_digger]

[from here]

After leaving the showers, the first thing Anise did was check the bulletin board. It looked like there were a few messages for her. Tear had received her little gift bag, which was nice to see. Claude left a message, too... It looked like they weren't going back to the basement after all.

Anise was a little relieved to see that, actually. If she and her friends had to do last night's trials again in their current state, they might not have made it out alive. They had to assume the next trials would be at least equally dangerous, so they couldn't attempt them unless they were all at their very best.

Now Anise didn't know what she was going to do tonight, though. If Claude was taking it easy, he probably wouldn't mind if she kept him company (unless he was still flustered over her earlier note - which would honestly just make it more fun). Although... since Anise wasn't in too bad shape, maybe she could find something productive to do with herself. She didn't have any ideas at the moment, but maybe she'd come up with

[gald_digger]

"You can't!" Anise blurted out, panic in her voice. Even if it was just a 'maybe', she didn't want Badd to even consider doing something that dangerous. It wasn't just a risk, it was certain death

[tasteoftruth]

Interesting. Badd had assumed conspiracy, since assuming the worst of people would do you well nine times out of ten, but with the way Anise was talking maybe they really were trying to warn people off

[gald_digger]

It looked like he wasn't going to accuse her of lying. That allowed Anise to relax a little, and she finished her last braid, tying it with her other ribbon. She nodded at Badd's statements, confirming that he basically had the right idea.

Her eyes widened a little when asked if it was Aguilar keeping her quiet, and she looked up at the glass ceiling as she thought. After a few moments, her gaze came back down to meet Badd's. "I don't really know," she answered honestly. "I just know that when I try to tell people about what happened, my head goes blank and my mouth won't move."

Anise hoped that didn't sound too crazy... but when she thought about what she just said, she realized it could sound like she was traumatized in a way that made her unable to talk. "And it's not just me," she abruptly added to clarify. "Everyone else who was there said they had the same problem."

[tasteoftruth]

"Interesting..." Badd curled his tongue around the lollipop surrogate that his pen had become and sucked it further into his mouth. Some kind of mental censor bar. That'd explain everything very neatly. If the Institute could brainwash patients into being subservient pawns it made sense he could alter them to prevent them talking. If that was how brainwashing worked, anything went in this damn place. If it also applied to writing it would explain why everyone was being so dodgy on the bulletin. Even if they desperately wanted to explain they'd just wind up getting spasming hands or limp fingers

[gald_digger]

It sounded like he believed her. It had been easy to convince a good friend like Luke about her literal inability to talk on the subject, but Anise thought it might be harder for strangers to believe something like that. In any case, she was glad he wasn't arguing with her or anything.

She watched Badd as he asked his next question, one that he seemed to put a lot of thought into. Anise wasn't too sure if her answer would be helpful, but she'd give it a try. "I don't really know that, either. I didn't find anything like that down there... but if I did, they'd probably try to keep me quiet about it." Unless they wanted her to be able to give people incentive to put themselves in danger... That was possible too.

[tasteoftruth]

Badd had known of fourteen year old girls who were liars...worse than liars, if the sordid details of the Dahlia Hawthorne murders were to be believed. But he liked to think girls like that were rare and Anise seemed eager to please. Sharp and quick on her feet, if she'd survived over a month here, but still carried herself with childish sweetness. It was comforting to know that the Institute hadn't scarred her beyond the simple pleasures of braiding her hair

[gald_digger]

Anise fidgeted with her hair as she waited for Badd to reply, or to give a follow-up question... but the man was silent. Thinking he might have been deep in thought, Anise just continued to play with the ends of her braids... but then she saw the man's face contort as if in pain, and his hand clutch his leg. Anise quickly straightened her body, her feet sliding off the seat as she leaned in, watching the man with concern.

"H-hey, are you okay?" There was alarm in her voice, but she tried to keep from raising it too much. It was possible that he didn't want the soldiers' attention. He didn't seem as spaced out as he did a moment ago, but it was hard to tell if he was really okay or not. And he was grabbing his leg a moment ago... "Are you hurt somewhere?"

[tasteoftruth]

Damn, the kid had seen him trip out, hadn't she? At least he hadn't actually acted the memory out or he'd really have made a fool of himself. "No. I'm fine. It's fine," Badd said, shaking his head and raising a hand to stop her. "I'm not hurt anywhere. Just...thinking about a few things."

Hopefully it wouldn't happen again now that the little drama had hit its climax. Beyond that moment Badd himself wasn't that clear on what happened. There had been more bleeding, and an ambulance, and he'd woken up at the hospital, nothing he hadn't done before. It was all just memories anyway. Vivid and hallucinated ones, but he'd coped with them before.

"You didn't take any of those drugs last night, did you?" Badd asked, struck by a sudden concern. If he'd been stupid enough for it...

[gald_digger]

At Badd's reassurance, Anise's worried look softened, but didn't fully fade. She could maybe believe that he wasn't injured, but he really didn't look fine. Just thinking usually didn't make people react like that.

Her expression shifted into a more puzzled look when he asked her about the drugs. "Huh? No, I didn't..." A second passed as she tried to guess at why he'd ask that so suddenly, and when it hit her, her eyes widened. "Wait, did you...!?"

If it turned out that her suspicion was right, Anise wouldn't be able to scold the man or anything, though. Her exploration of the basement was just as dangerous, if not moreso. In the end, it was a choice between doing nothing, following the Head Doctor's lead, or following the military's lead. There wasn't a single good choice to be made.

[tasteoftruth]

Badd gave a short, jerky nod. "It wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done," he said, looking away sheepishly. He felt far more comfortable admitting his weaknesses to Anise than he would to a man nearer to his own age. Children saw you on pedestals, adults were always searching for the chinks in your armor. "But I didn't come off as bad as some. The guy with me...heh. If I hadn't thought I was hallucinating about him too, I might have tried to hurt him. He turned into one of the monsters."

You really had to pity the guy. There was no way to recover your dignity from turning into a gigantic sheep, even if the actual result had been genuinely horrific. At least he'd managed to keep his mind intact during the process. It was probably far more traumatic for him, but it meant he was able to keep himself under control. If he'd tried to attack Badd, Badd would have done what he had to and finally put his paper cutter to good use.

[gald_digger]

Since Anise wasn't really doing any better at keeping herself out of risky situations, she just nodded quietly as Badd confirmed her guess. She felt pretty bad for the guy. Whatever he was hallucinating, it looked seriously bad. All she could really do was hope that the effects would go away soon...

When he mentioned another guy who turned into a monster, Anise's lips tightened into a thin line, but she did her best not to react too dramatically. She'd seen people turn into monsters before, and... well, it wasn't something that got easier to watch after seeing it a few times. "I read something like that on the bulletin... It sounds pretty scary." Bringing up horrific past experiences would just be depressing for both of them, so she left that part out.

The intercom sounded then, but rather than the usual type of announcement, it sounded like some military code was being used. Code 1-8...? "They're probably up to something weird again," she suggested, an uncertain look on her face. "I think we have to go to dinner now, though. Take

[tasteoftruth]

Badd gave her a gentle, uncharacteristic smile. He stood, leaning on the chair arm despite the fact that the false pain in his leg had long faded. "You take care too, Miss Anise. Thanks for the information. You...really brightened up my day."

The night was going to be nasty no matter what happened, and the next day little better. Getting his hopes up that anything good existed in this place was foolishness. But...she was alive. That was enough to settle the homicidal impulses for a few minutes.