Day 60: Intercom, Evening

[damned-intercom.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[zanuff]

Luckily for Luke, he didn't have to initiate any conversation at all. Like it or not, the moment Chipp saw his roommate (... oh yeah, he did have a roommate, didn't he?), he happily held out the piece of paper proclaiming his glorious Japanese citizenship to poor Luke (that was his name, right?)

"Hey, check it out! I've finally been recognized as a Japanese person! It's about damn time too!" Even though Chipp didn't bother to offer any explanation about what he was talking about, it was plain to see that it was very good news for him at the very least. "This day didn't end too badly. How about you?"

Actually, Chipp was sort of glad to see his roommate again, if only because this meant the other guy was alive and made it through the night. It was a shame he didn't manage to get out, but since he and Venom couldn't even manage it, Chipp would have been surprised if anyone did at this point. He didn't know what the hell was keeping everyone here, but it sure was powerful stuff.

Actually, now that he thought about it... maybe this guy would be willing to help him with tonight as well.

"You're not busy tonight, are you? I need some help." Best to just say it outright.

[dispersive]

"Oh," Luke murmured as he leaned forward to get a better look at this piece of paper. Apparently someone made him a Japanese citizen, where ever that was. It certainly wasn't anywhere on Auldrant. He finally decided on "Cool!" with a smile to go with it. Apparently this was kind of a big deal, so he might as well sound enthused even if he had no idea what the hell this guy was talking about.

"Uh, yeah, mine wasn't too bad, I guess." He wasn't free, but he certainly wasn't dead, so yeah, it wasn't a bad day, all things considered. There were a few things he was unsure of, but he had no interest in talking about his personal problems with a stranger and, thankfully, Chipp didn't press.

"Not really," he supposed. Tear wasn't going to be doing any medical team stuff tonight and it wasn't like she needed a bodyguard. "what do you need help with?"

[zanuff]

Chipp was able to forgive Luke for not seeing how incredibly important and awesome his newly granted citizenship was, since he offered his help. Chipp actually looked a little relieved when Luke offered, because this could very well be an extremely dangerous task tonight. Someone could even die. Of course, he didn't bother throwing in those details, mostly because Chipp was expecting the best of results from this mission.

"Good. There's this girl, and I want to check on her. I think if people found out what she was, she'd be in some huge trouble." Chipp knew that that other Gear girl who fell on him a year ago turned out okay, but the people here might not be understanding towards this one. If they even knew who she was, but it was better to be safe then sorry.

Besides, she still had to learn about the virtues and lessons of the Japanese!

"She walks kind of funny, so I think we'd be able to catch up. I just wanna make sure she's okay and see if I can't help her out a little." Unfortunately, without context, none of Chipp's motivation or reasoning for helping out a complete stranger would get across, but at the very least, his concern seemed mostly genuine. "I tried to help her walk earlier, but the damn nurse thought I was bullying her or some stupid shit. Tch, as if I could hurt a Gear just by pushing her over a bit! I'm good, but I'm not that good!"

[dispersive]

"What she is?" That was a strange way to describe someone. So far he didn't know much about how people grouped together in this place. It seemed like everyone would have a common enemy that would band them all together for the greater good. Apparently that was just too much to ask, but luck had been on his side when Luke arrived. He already had his group of friends and they were experienced to boot.

Anise had told him that you couldn't trust just anyone. Chipp seemed alright, but that strange explanation gave him pause.

"Is she crippled or something? What's wrong with her?" And what was a gear?

[zanuff]

"I dunno." That wasn't a good answer, but Chipp honestly didn't know if the girl was crippled or now she was not-crippled after previously being crippled, but she could at least use those legs of hers to walk... kinda. She was working on it. If she was a Gear, though, it shouldn't have been too difficult ... maybe? How did those damn things even work? "She was able to get out of her wheelchair, at least, but she had trouble standing. You know how messed up this place is, I wouldn't feel right just ignoring it."

Indeed, Chipp was actually concerned about the Gear girl's safety to a strange degree. It was just because he actually witnessed firsthand how crappy she was at walking, and while Chipp didn't know much about how strong she was as a Gear, a downed target was an easy target. And he still had to tell her about Japan. Now that it seemed like he had Luke's cooperation (which Chipp naturally assumed since Luke had yet to complain), he sat down on his bed and started to eat, if only to gain some strength before he went out looking for her.

Luke was such a good guy. It was great to know that there were a lot of allies in this place, even guys who were brave enough to go look for a Gear with him.

"Hey, thanks. I like you, you're really brave." If Chipp's plan didn't sound ominous before, it probably was starting to become questionable now...