Part 2: Boy Named ??? Meets Girl Named Sue

Update 2 - Boy Named ??? Meets Girl Named Sue



These Grey Walls (hospital)



Welcome back, when we last left off, we were still stuck in our room. Now, we have freedom to explore the hospital and get to meet new folks that aren't creepy nihlistic kids!

First off, let's see what our doctor has to say.



Nothing good yet, so let's get to sleuthing! Let's start with that person behind the counter.



A kid being stuck in a hospital room isn't the greatest, but it's not the worst thing in the world, doctor.





Moving on to the room below us lets us meet another patient.





Say hello to Tony... a very grumpy and upset old man.

Get out!
It figures... When I want visitors no one shows up... But when I need peace and quiet, every idiot in the world has to come to my room...
And where is that nurse with my coffee!!

Uh ok, let's leave before this old man rips us into two.



He'll just growl at your like a big angry bear.
I heard that ya little brat!
See what I mean...

Yikes... well only one thing to check before we continue our investigation.



If you touch that music box, I'll break your hands!

Jeez Tony! This kid is like 8! Maybe give him a break, yea?

Opening the cabinet next to the nurse lets us nab 5G! The bathroom is locked so lets head out.





The sign says "KEEP OUT: Only authorized personnel allowed beyond this point."

On the door knob is an electronic device with a keycode labelled "Closet 5C"... but it's not on.

Things are stymied for now, but there are more people to talk to.





What's up?
Hey, I don't think we've formally met... I'm Cora. It's probably pretty easy to remember me because I'm the only girl in my grade with a pink mohawk!
Whoa, cool!
And don't worry, my mom knows...
She's the one who let me do it!



Welcome to my first use of the word adorable. It will be getting a lot of air time, as there is so much that just makes me "aww" in this game. There's several kid characters and they all feel real.

Anyways, it was nice meeting ya!
Nice meeting you too, Cora.
Oh hey! Some friends and I are working together to do something special for the people on our floor here in the hospital!
Like what?
I'll have more details later... but if you find anything cool you'd want to donate, come talk to me!
Okay!
I know a lot of folks feel powerless when they have to stay here...
But here's the way I see it...



...or 8 minutes!
...
Point is, I'm gonna do everything I can to make good use of my time. Time's precious you know! If I could help just one person here to feel happier, then it'd all be worth it.
...

That got... suprisingly deepy for a conversation between two kids. Asking her what's up again, yields the following:

Sometimes I like to look for spare change around the hospital.
You'd be surprised how much is just laying around in cabinets and drawers!

I'm just working on my new painting...
How do you like my cat?
I gave her pink fur, heh heh heh.



Dude yeah! Chef Panky came out here earlier and he was NOT happy.

... Panky?

I guess the thief took a lot of food from the cafeteria kitchen.
How the heck did they get into the kitchen? You can't even get there from the cafeteria...
Believe me, I've tried!





Finally, some gossip!

>Tony

Just between you and me... I think Tony's hiding something.
he acts so grumpy all the time, but he's got this pretty little music box in his room that he guards with his life.
Why would a grumpy old dude like that have a sweet little music box?

>Sue

Sue's a sweetheart.
But she's obsessed.
Obsessed?
Yeah, I guess she had to move to the hospital before saying goodbye to her friend.
And that's pretty much all she talks about now.

>Jacky

Jacky's that guy over at the blood draw station.
He's cool.
A little weird...
... but cool.
If you ever need to know about anything technical, he's the guy to ask.

While we haven't met Jacky or Sue yet, we will very shortly. In fact Jacky is just right there.





Interested in learning about the Circulatory System? Platelets?



... Who seems to fit the definition of cool... but weird.

Ahem.



What's up?
Sometimes I like to contemplate things like... Why are there only two egg laying mammals in the world?
I'm sure many species could benefit from laying eggs!!
But so far, only the Platapus and Echidna families have hopped on that bandwagon.
Why, if I could lay eggs, I would be laying eggs all the time.



Uh... yeah... anyway. What else is up with Jacky?

In a world with so many new things to learn, no one needs to be bored.
For example, did you know that a neutron star is SO dense that a teaspoonful of its matter would weigh more than...
ALL THE PEOPLE ON EARTH!?!?!
I don't know what that means.
One day you will...
And then it will BLOW YOUR MIND!
...



Come here... I'll let you in on a little secret... Have you noticed anything... strange about this hospital?
Hmm...
Not really.
A while back, I started noticing cryptic little messages written all over the place. And last night, I saw someone go into that closet south of Tony's room, but... I was told that closet has been locked since before I started working here! I'm pretty sure they were not staff.

How does a storage closet stay closed for months at a time? No one needs to use storage in a hospital??

What did they look like?
I only saw them out of the corner of my eye, and for but a second... so unfortunately I could not say.





>Panky

The children love Chef Panky. If he notices someone is having a bad day, he'll give them ice cream.

I'm pretty sure he's just bribing them so they don't mock his name.

Ah ice cream, using the scientific secret of salt to lower the freezing point of ice in order to freeze the cream. Genius!

>Kisaburo

I knew Kisaburo back before his mind started going... We spoke often.
It's sad to see someone's mental condition deteriorate like that.
What do you mean?
Well, for example...
Recently, the staff found him outside digging in the mud again... He was on his hands and knees, making piles of mud using spoons he got from the kitchen...


I'm...not sure you should talk about a patient like that doctor.

But hey... maybe he knows something we don't. Maybe he was looking for...
BURIED TREASURE!
...

Jacky realizing he upset the boy and trying to make him feel better.

...or Jacky could believe he is actually searching for buried treasure. Could go either way, honestly.

>Danielle

Danielle is the purple-haired girl who hangs out in the cafeteria.
She sews the most marvelous plushies for the patients here!

And that's it for Jacky! Cool... but weird... but cool, is spot on, honestly.



Yeah. Apparently, the toliet in Sue's room is broken now. Can you do anything about it?
I'm a nurse, not a plumber. I don't even know HOW to fix a toliet.
Well someone has to do it. You know we're short staffed.
Fine. I'll go see if I can dig up some supplies.





And my stomach is growling! What I wouldn't give for a Peanut Chew Chew!

Ah, a hint at progress. Well, let's go follow the nurse in.





If you have to go, you should probably find a different bathroom.

Guess the nurse decided to use this as an excuse to take a break for the day. Don't worry, we aren't narcs. Let's talk to that man standing up next to that patient's bed.





What's up?
My wife's been asleep for months now.
But I still talk with her everyday, and sometimes I read to her.
I also heard that you created an entire set of armor out of paper!
That's quite impressive!



Have you noticed that some of the doors around here have electronic passcode devices? I've been told that those areas have long been closed off, even to the staff...
But recently, I noticed that one of the devices had been turned on.





>Sue

On occasion I've had to take Sue back to her room; she has a habit of walking around aimlessly on certain nights.

>Tony

I believe Tony hasn't talked with his family in a long while.

Shocking

It makes me sad to think that families can be torn apart just because people don't see eye to eye on something.

>Cora

I heard that Cora and her friends have been working on a special project to boost morale around the hospital.
Last I heard, they were calling themselves the "Towel Cape Heroes."

That's adorable Cora.

That's all Winston has to say. He's not very talkative, which is a bit understandable as he's likely very tired.

Checking the counter reveals...





...that his wife may not be waking up.

Heading to the bathroom reveals that it's locked but does seem to get the attention of the other patient.





I... um...

To be fair, we don't even know why we're going in there. Other than it's a game and progress is behind that door.





Ok, lets go talk to Sue.



Well...
I guess...?
Yeah I get it... we all gotta go sometimes.
But I can't let just anyone use our bathroom... it is a girl's room ya know!
Gosh... it looks like you really gotta go though...

Our boy is apparently a great actor to not reveal he has his own bathroom.

Hmm...
Well... how 'bout this. See that jar next to me?



Yup!
That's my marble collection.
I'm missing some though... I was carrying a bunch of them around in my pocket, and I'm pretty sure some fell out... If you could find me just one, I'd let you use our bathroom whenever you want. Do you think you could do that for me?
I'll try my best!
Thank-you. The last place I was playing was with Danielle in the cafeteria. So you might wanna check around there.

And with that, we have a new goal.



Heading back into the hallways, lets first check on the rest of the rooms and talk to other patients.







It's good to see you walking around again.

Awww. Kisaburo was the one that Jacky said had mental degredation. So that he remembers us is really cool.



What's up?
It seems these days it's getting harder and harder to find the words.
Either that, or people just aren't listening.
But you know, if it's my time to leave this world, then I'm ready to go.
I just want to make sure I say the things I need to say before it's too late.
What are you drinking?
Hah. Does it smell that bad? It's a new kind of tea I've been experimenting with.
The nurses don't seem too thrilled about me drinking "experimental things"...
But I don't care. Folks here don't seem thrilled with a lot of the things I do.
...



I've been telling the nurses for a long time that someone has been sneaking around here after hours.
I heard they were stealing food from the cafeteria kitchen... Which means they obviously have some way of getting into parts of the hospital that we patients don't have access to.
What, were they crawling through the vents? You'd have to be pretty small to fit through there.

It uh... wasn't us, I swear! We just got control of the boy this morning!





I'm not one for gossip.

Wow, the first person to not wanna blab about everyone else here. That's it for Kisaburo, though his room has some interesting things like 5G in the cabinet next to the empty bed.





It is my recommendation to begin administering antipsychotic medication. Please refer to the list of hallucinations and delusions.

>Page 2 (torn)
10-21: Was found climbing ladder in construction zone 5b. When questioned, replied that he intended to make a hole in the ceiling.
10-28: Was found in the yard digging in the mud. Completely unresponsive when questioned. Appeared to be unaware of location/time.
11-2: Carrying bags of...

That's it for Kisaburo, lets check out that last room. It's where Yami's staying.



And it's locked as expected. Guess the kid tries to flee constantly. Let's talk to that wondering doctor.



Who, potentially drops a hint alongside that key. There's four lockers in this room, one contains 5G, the rest nothing but scrubs, as it is a hospital.









With that locked off, only one other place to check.





The cafeteria! First off let's check these plushies next to us.



It looks like there's something underneath one of the toys... You found a Snowy Marble!

Now we can go back and talk to Sue, but first let's talk to the people in the cafeteria.





My vision is really bad.
Get it outta here, Danielle!
Yeah, yeah whatever. Panky is the WORST!!

A nice introduction to both of them, before we've even said a word to either. Let's start with Danielle.



What's up?
I'm just finishing up a batch of plushies. My goal is to make one for all the patients on the floor. Even old cranky men like Tony and Panky.
Eh! I heard that!
Good!



Don't tell anyone I told you this, but... You know how some of the doors around here have those electronic lock box things on them? I heard that they keep the password somewhere behind the reception desk that's across from Kisaburo's room. What do you think is beyond those doors?
You mean you haven't been there?
What? No, of course not... I'm just a volunteer.



Hmm, not really a fan tbh.



OK JEEZ YES I LOVE THEM.



Aren't they the best?? I have like 4 of them at home.
If all goes well, I'll have lucky number 5 by the end of the year.





Ah, we found the town gossip.

>Winston

Have you noticed... Winston's wife doesn't have her wedding band on. Don't you think that's a little strange? I mean, Winston is still wearing his...

Oh man, I really hope they weren't having issues before she went into the coma.

>Tony

I know Tony seems like the biggest grump on the planet, but I can tell that he's just a bit lonely.
I bet if you brought him some coffee he'd open up to you a bit.

More future goals to add to the list.

>Sue

Sue didn't used to be so poor. But I heard that her father drank a bit too much, and gambled away all their savings.

Jesus Christ Danielle, maybe have a bit more tact about telling an 8 year old that.

And with that, we bid adieu to Danielle. Let's see what that lady has to say.



Just a progress blocker then. Let's talk to Panky and see what the chef has for us.



You need something?
What's up?
Did ya hear? They finally stocked the vending machine out in the hospital hall with Peanut Chew Chews. The Shift Leader was in here the other day beggin' us to do it!
Guess It's not just kids who like 'em, eh?
Anyway... I used to work for a big fancy restaurant. Pay was good, but I didn't really enjoy it.



Oh yeah... someone came in here and took a bunch of food and drinks. Ain't no way they got in here through the cafeteria. See that metal door up there? It comes down after hours and NO one gets through that. So I bet they somehow got into the backspace.
The backspace?
Yeah... it's a network of colsed off passageways. Half-built rooms, storage closets, you know. The aftermath of... well yeah. It's crazy back there.





>Danielle

Don't tell her I said this, but... Danielle's got a heart of gold. She spends her free time comin' in here and sewing toys for all the patients. And REALLY don't tell her I said this... She's a bit of a crazy cat lady.
I HEARD THAT!
Eh, what can I say? It's true!
Yeah... it is.

Aww, that's adorable.

>Kisaburo

If that Kisaburo comes in here one more time "borrowing" my stuff, I swear...
Borrowing?
Oh yeah... He took all my soup ladles! Andf for what? To go digging in the mud outside to look for "buried treasure." I feel bad for the guy though... it's never easy when one starts losing their mind like that... Must be even tougher for his family.
...

>Jacky

Jacky's a smart guy. Sometimes I think he's on another planet, but if there's one thing we can talk about, it's food. Of course, we have different methods. He's all science, he cooks with his brain.
I cook with my heart.

Well that's everyone on the floor! Next time, we'll give the marble to Sue and see what's inside that bathroom.