damned_institute | Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

Despite the rough start and the heavier snowfall, the buses managed to stay on route and on schedule. With minutes to spare, they arrived at the gates of Landel's Institute, back to the waiting arms of the military. All pretenses seemed to drop at this point, and the soldiers again took on their patented gruff exteriors. Patients were filed out of the buses in an orderly manner, eventually being escorted to their rooms for dinner in much the same. There, as promised by the personnel, well-behaved patients found their purchases among their returned possessions. A few even found new faces, though whether they brought as much joy as bought goods remained unseen.

The woman manning the intercom seemed to have missed the notice about the day's trip as her announcement remained no different from the usual. "Attention all subjects and personnel," she said. "Lights Out will commence within the hour."

A pause.

"I repeat, Lights Out will commence within the hour. All personnel: please report to your stations. The General will begin his address once preparations are underway. Thank you."

The intercom clicked off.

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So much of this was under Landel's jurisdiction, or the jurisdiction of whoever was in charge of Landel, that Sai was hardly surprised by the way any human outside the patient body acted toward them. They turned into zombies, after all, then apparently reverted back to normal if these weren't different townspeople entirely. Their reactions stopped becoming relevant after that. They couldn't be relied on.

The ninja wasn't surprised that their purchases had been limited in variety. He counted himself lucky that he'd been able to buy a lighter without any difficulty. Either his rank had allowed him the purchase, or such small means of fire wasn't considered much of a threat. He was sure whoever he'd be trading it to would want it for the purpose of lighting cigarettes and little else.

At the mention of soldering, Sai was reminded of Usopp and the soldering iron, but he pushed such thoughts aside. They no longer had that particular item, as it had vanished along with his pirate friend, but it hardly mattered to him considering the one who made the best use of it wasn't around to do so.

He shook his head at the mention of food. "Apparently my higher rank gives me access to the usual food during the day, and giving it to other patients then isn't an option. I have no problem with sharing it when I have the opportunity, as I don't find the alternative entirely unpalatable."

Day 56: Intercom, Late Evening

Re: M55