Day 67: Dinner

[damned_intercom]

"Goodness, is it really already time for dinner? Time certainly does fly! And such a lovely day, too. I certainly wouldn't mind having a nice cup of cocoa out on the patio or something..."

That was how the Head Doctor greeted them, although it apparently didn't take him long to realize he'd gotten a little off topic.

"Now then, it's time for the nurses to escort you all back to your rooms, where you'll have the opportunity to tuck into a scrumptious plate of turkey and gravy. And, of course, we always carry vegetarian options for those who don't eat meat. We also have our usual assortment of water, juice and milk.

"Also, some of you will be receiving some extra help in warding off whatever bug some of us have been catching. Please take care, everyone, and be sure to wash your hands! I'll talk to you all again later. Enjoy your dinner."

The intercom clicked off, leaving patients with the prospect of preparing for yet another grueling Nightshift.

((Respond to this post with your character's room number in the subject line. New room assignments are listed here. If you have any questions, let us know!))

Comments

M10

[ofthemotions]

...He had been moved rooms again. Hadn't he just been moved before-- But Izaya had said that was days ago now, and Mikado was still trying to wrap his head around it. It was enough of a focus that the boy didn't realize at first when the nurse followed him inside instead of simply closing the door to leave.

After the night before last, Mikado was more than a little worried. He watched the woman, his one good eye nervous and alert.

"Come now, there's no need for that," she chided, slipping a hand into her pockets. "You must know by now that some of the patients have been getting sick recently. You've been healthy so far, Kenta; we don't want you catching ill." When her hand appeared again, she was holding a small syringe. "It's an immune booster--think of it like a flu shot." She smiled reassuringly, and Mikado wondered if he should still be wary.

That man--Castiel--had said as much, that people were becoming... infected. And Izaya hadn't seemed surprised when Mikado brought it up. So maybe... Maybe there was nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

He nodded once, head jerking a little nervously, and allowing her to find a vein and inject him with whatever substance what in it. Inject or infect, huh? It was so ridiculous it wasn't even funny.

[idolism]

In general, Aidou didn't much care for his cellmates; they were finite resources that always seemed to disappear at some point. Ippo had been a fairly uninteresting child as far as human roommates were concerned, but the noble was still irritated to see him go. It meant moving.

Aidou had been in M52 for so long that being told--no, being ordered--to join his new roommate in M10 pissed him off. Although he knew all of his things were probably rifled through and cataloged regularly, having them moved to a new room was outright obnoxious, and now he had to rearrange his plan to visit Sasuke right away, and--

When he got to the door with his own nurse in tow, he was just in time to witness a strange sight. That was a syringe, wasn't it? And the recipient a boy. Seeing one of the staff members finishing up with some kind of injection effectively interrupted his thoughts. What depraved activities were going on now? He could smell the pinprick of blood that welled up with the needle's passage, and it made him raise an eyebrow, stone-faced.

They wouldn't dare try something like that with him, would they? It didn't seem like it...

Having stopped just inside the door, Aidou watched until everything was over. Then he said, "That's probably going to be quite bad for you, I hope you know."

[ofthemotions]

When the nurses left and his roommate spoke, it wasn't that Mikado hadn't ever seen the other before that was what was noticed. It was the other's looks that drew Mikado's attention entirely for a moment, enough that he delayed on answering as he stared for a beat. Enough that he didn't put pressure on the slight puncture and allowed the blood to bead against his skin.

This person... had to be around Mikado's age, probably a couple years older, but he was more attractive than Kida or Shizuo with his blond hair-- Which looked a lot more natural than the two aforementioned.

...It was around then that Mikado noticed he was staring. And not answering. And, uh--

The boy blushed slightly, looking to the side as his hand found the back of his neck. What had the other been saying? "Um, I... Know that. Mostly. But things will happen one way or the other." So he might as well take it, instead of waiting for something unknown to happen. It lacked all pretense of an intelligent decision, but after the procedure they did to him two nights ago, Mikado was losing focus on what should be done.

He was still alive, right? He had survived what they had did to his eye. So why not allow more? What if more interesting things came from it?

[idolism]

Aidou really hoped the child was staring out of amazement (fear also worked), and not because he was slow or suffering from the instantaneous effects of the injection. Slow people and messy experiments--two things he didn't need.

He crossed his arms, mostly to cover the smiley face on his uniform and look more authoritative. Like with puppy training, it was important to set a good example early. To the kid's credit, though, he seemed agreeable on the outside. No glaring, no sniping, no foisting unnecessary questions on Aidou as if he should have time to pay his cellmates attention. Just a reserved kind of staring that ended with a blush.

It was all very... normal, strangely enough. The noble had almost forgotten what a normal reaction to his presence was like.

For a moment, Aidou merely blinked. Then he raised an eyebrow. "I'd commend that attitude, but it'll get you absolutely nowhere in a place like this. I sincerely hope she didn't just infect you with whatever transformation catalyst is going around--that'll end even worse." Aidou, after all, wasn't about to share his cell with one of the hospital's monsters. But in the interests of politeness, he wouldn't point that out quite yet. "Did the nurse happen to inform you what she believed she was giving you?"

[ofthemotions]

...The straightforward attitude really wasn't expected. Mikado stared at the other for another moment before thinking to speak. "So there is really something that's going around? Someone I spoke to said that they used to be infected, but I don't really know any details."

Other than it being confirmed by Izaya, Mikado was still out of the loop in what had happened while he was... asleep. Which he... really didn't want to think about. He focused on the other instead. "She just said it was something like a flu shot--an immune booster." Which sounded realistic if this place was actually what it appeared to be. But that, Mikado knew, was not all it seemed.

His roommate, on the other hand, seemed to be more used to this setting. Mikado looked at the other more carefully this time. "You seem like you've been here for a while."