damned_institute | Day 60: Intercom, Evening

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Day 60: Intercom, Evening

The intercom jingled at its standard time, with the Head Doctor still in his over-the-top, jovial mood. It seemed not even the evening light could keep down the love he held for his job.

"Good evening, everyone! I hope your soul is filled with music from last shift; I know mine is."

There again was a stretch of silence. When the Head Doctor continued, he sounded marginally disappointed.

"But now it's time to wind down the day with a bit of dinner. Tonight, we'll be serving turkey breasts and quality gravy, with sides of garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, grilled asparagus, and a small salad. For dessert, we will be having pumpkin pie with optional whipped creme. As per usual, we will have our vegetarian alternatives and a wide selection of drinks available. Turkey lovers, be sure to take advantage of the food; it'll be an entire week before you can have this delectable meat again."

He chuckled at the statement. One might have labeled it as dark.

"Anyway, enjoy! I will wish you all a good night momentarily!"

The intercom clicked off.

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Loki had found his talk with Rita fascinating and even a little enlightening. He didn't often get to have conversations like that. And it was odd, really, that there was turning out to be a definite up side to being kidnapped while falling through space to likely unpleasant death via spaghettification in a black hole.

Though when he put it like that, the list of things that were better than being slowly torn apart by the differential gravity of a singularity was probably a very long one.

Either way, he already had plans forming in his mind, directions he might be able to go to make this captivity more bearable and ultimately something that he could turn to his advantage. It was a hazy, long-term notion, but ground work needed to be laid while he was finding out more information and hammering out the details necessary for an eventual take over. More information needed. He attempted to extract a little form his personal nurse. She was relentlessly cheerful and useless both. Loki resolved to try a different nurse, one who didn't seem to be on some sort of reality-altering regiment of happy pills, the next day.

The meat portion of the dinner was somewhat familiar, though he was pleased to see more vegetables on his plate than anything else. Big thoughts required biological regularity, after all. No one had ever written a truly good theorem while battling constipation, of that he was certain, though it certainly seemed to contribute to the rage that powered meat-headed warriors.

There were two beds in the room, he noted as he began methodically tasting his dinner. That likely meant he had some sort of roommate. Which could be good for some cheap entertainment.

Edited 2011-12-17 21:32 (UTC)

It had been an interesting day and wasn't that a curse? China's people certainly had it right with the curse of 'may you live in interesting times' hadn't they? And now he had to face America at some point. America from possibly the worst point in time he could be from. Why couldn't the Institute have brought him from a more pliable time? Like 1700 or so, although he would have felt bad for his dear little boy being thrown into this mess.

But Prussia first. That argument had... well, best not to think about it until he had to.

He stopped dead in the door when he saw someone in there. Someone who decidedly wasn't his roommate. Not his usual roommate at least. But he had heard of people disappearing so all that happened was his lips thinned and he stepped inside, forcing down as much reaction as he could.

"You're new, I assume."

Loki watched the other man come into the room curiously, then wiped his mouth and stood. It was only polite, after all. "That would seem to be the case," he said calmly. "I take it that my presence is a bit unexpected? Unfortunately the nurses don't seem to care about any opinions we might have." He seemed more amused than anything else.

The other man looked human enough, though that apparently signified nothing here. He certainly didn't sound Aesir, which was really Loki's only concern. Anyone else could be dealt with easily if his touch was deft enough.

How stilted and polite. It had been a long time since someone had stood up simply to greet him. In some ways, he missed the formality of earlier ages. Politeness and elegance covering up the rot which always lay beneath. "I had another roommate yesterday, but I assume that he has gone now. Released, as the nurses would say, and shouldn't I be glad that he's recovered," he added in a mocking parody of one of the nurses.

"And they don't," he said, "care, I mean. They think they truly understand what is best for us."

"I've heard of this," Loki said. "I think it's curious that apparently we're supposed to recover from being ourselves. I suppose it's a bit distressing if you liked the roommate you had before." He made no assumptions about that either way, though curiously, her liked everyone that he'd met in person so far. He definitely hadn't expected that. "And I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name. I'm sure the nurse told me something but I've also already learned to just ignore that."

England shrugged, mostly unconcerned. It was a pity of course, but one got used to losing people when human lifespans were so very short in comparison to his own. "He was a good man," he said simply. "I didn't dislike him." But they had known each other for such a short time really. He went so sit down, glad that at least now there was decent food rather than pink slop. "Arthur," he said with a small smile. "My name is Arthur Kirkland. And you?"

Loki found the way the man spoke of his former roommate curious, though not alarming. Really the interesting thing was that Loki might have said something similar.

The man's name didn't ring any bells, not that he found that at all surprising. It was just his first day after all. Loki sat around the time Arthur did, turning his chair a little so he could keep an eye on him as he ate. "Lingormr." He favored his dinner with an amused smile. "No family name. Though if you go by the bulletin board I'm the bloody Norseman, so I think that's even better."

Lingormr... now that rang a bell, and England frowned for a moment as he started to eat. Where had he heard that name before? It sounded vaguely-

Norse.

Well, that explained it, didn't it? He couldn't help but smirk slightly at the information. "You were one of the people involved in that idiocy on the bulletin, I take it?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "People will do anything for attention, but at least it was amusing to rest of us."

"You may have to clarify the particular idiocy you're referring to," Loki said with deceptive mildness. "There was rather a lot to go around, and nearly all of it was quite hilarious. If I'm to be honest, it's been quite some time since I've had that much fun." He speared a bit of turkey with his fork and inspected it idly before eating it. "Though that may be a sad commentary on my life more than anything else."

Just thinking about it made him smile to himself all over again. The fellow calling himself Prussia had been particularly fun. Now, Loki also would be seeing about arming himself quickly just in case, since it wouldn't do to assume safety around such an obviously unstable person, but it had still been hilarious.

"Oh, these declarations of war and splitting up the Institute grounds," England said dismissively. "Seems like madness to me but if it keeps people occupied, it isn't as though it's doing any harm." And people could go after Japan and America and Prussia and he could spend his time more productively. Never mind that a few people knew who he was.

"There aren't exactly many of us having a lot of fun here either. And well, it was entertaining."

"Oh yes, that." Loki laughed. "It's not so much madness as blatantly idiotic, but people will squabble over imaginary lines and labels. I'm uncertain about the concept behind it all, but stranger things have happened. Either way, it's an amusing enough diversion." He twirled his fork in his fingers idly. "Though I would disagree that it's not doing harm. That remains to be seen. Lines and labels, after all. Many people get quite cranky about that sort of thing, I've observed. While others believe those are bits of civilization that apply only to others."

Whether he was wearing his 'viking' persona or not, he certainly did believe that.

He chuckled softly. "It's quite an interesting place we've found ourselves in, all things told."

He managed to keep his expression neutral when the man explained how ridiculous it was, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from commenting more sharply than he intended. "People always need imaginary lines and labels," he said. "It makes them feel safe." It was what kept their kind alive.

"Interesting is one way of putting it," he said with a small smile. "Better than interminable meetings. Good to feel a sword in my hands again."

Loki was a master of watching closely without appearing to do so, though for the time being his attention to his roommate hadn't yielded any particularly interesting reactions yet. Which perhaps meant he needed to do a bit more searching to find buttons to push.

Which was always the fun part anyway.

"Generally speaking, that may well be the case," he said with an almost indecent amount of cheer. "But generally speaking, people are also utterly shallow fools." He took another careful bite of his dinner. "Who are content with such things as feeling safe, when the very concept is contrary to reality." He shook his head. "No sense of adventure."

He raised an eyebrow. "I should imagine anything is better than constantly being in meetings. And if I may ask, what sort of sword? I'd been given the impression that weapons were quite scarce." He snorted with precisely the right amount of self-deprecation. "Not that it would do me any good, should scarcity not be the rule."

"I wouldn't argue with that," England murmured. Safety was a fleeting thing, ephemeral and strange and something that he wasn't entirely comfortable with, even in these more peaceable times. Sometimes he worried about the idea of a world government, and a world of peace and unity. What place did a nation have in the utopias spoken of? "But it's only natural. Being at war constantly is tiring and feeling safe for a while might be the only rest that you get. Besides, humans live such short lives." And perhaps were less resilient than creatures meant to live for centuries.

England snorted softly, meeting his roommate's gaze. "A rapier," he admitted. "It turned up one night and I'd suggest learning to be good quickly if you truly do have trouble with using whatever weapons come to hand."

"I've known quite a few gentlemen - and one rather remarkable lady - who would beg to differ with you on that point," Loki said. "I suppose it just depends on if the people in question are warriors or not. Because there really is nothing more sad and tiresome than a warrior during a time of peace and safety. They do tend to mess with your glassware and disorder your books." He felt an odd stab of fondness as that memory, which he quickly strangled. It was no doubt just a symptom of being in such a strange environment and feeling a little off-balance. He certainly didn't miss his thrice-damned brother, considering how badly he wanted to insert pointy objects into various soft portions of Thor's anatomy.

He shook his head at his dinner, a wry smile twisting his lips. "I suppose in the grand scale of things, humans are quite ephemeral. If given to grandiose ideas about our own importance within the cosmos." He looked at his roommate, eyebrow going up. "Though I'm given to understand that there are quite a few non-humans wandering about. Might you be one of them?"

"A rapier," Loki said, putting just the right twist on his expression to indicate that he wasn't entirely certain what one of those was. Since they certainly hadn't been in existence on Midgard when he'd been there, though obviously he was familiar with the sort of weapons that Fandral preferred. "It just... turned up? How odd." He shrugged, propping his chin in one hand for a moment as he toyed with his dinner. "While I appreciate the advice, if years of getting screamed at by some very frightening, smelly men didn't transform me into a creditable warrior, I doubt that being here will have much better luck for me. We'll see if I manage to survive, I suppose."

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Day 60: Intercom, Evening

M73 eventually

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Sorry for the delay. Had a sucky week

No worries. I MISSED YOOOOOU!

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