Day 64: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

When the cheery jingle sounded over the speakers, the Head Doctor could be heard humming a song that suspiciously sounded like pieces of "Superstar" from today's movie. Then, as if realizing people were listening, he abruptly cleared his throat.

"Good evening, patients!" he greeted after a quick recovery. "I do hope everyone had a pleasant day. And what better way to end things than with a scrumptious steak dinner? We'll be including fries on the side, as well as offering our usual assortment of water, milk, and juices. Of course, we also carry vegetarian options for those of you who don't eat meat. Enjoy!"

The intercom turned off, leaving the nurses to escort patients to their rooms.

((Please make all dinner threads under this post with your character's room number in the subject line. For updated roommate assignments, refer to the latest Lounge Post. Thanks!))

Comments

M63

[nobleman]

In the end, Guy had been left to his own devices when it came to playing one of those electronic games on the larger screen. He hadn't minded that much, since it had allowed him to get an idea of how to use the controller without having to embarrass himself in front of something else when he kept leading the on-screen character to an early death.

Eventually, he'd gotten the plumber in the red overalls all the way through a few levels, but before he could reach the castle that the character was aiming for, the shift had ended.

Of course, what would have been more fun was taking apart the gray-colored machine and the cartridge that had been put in it to see how it all worked, but that was something he could only do if he had a free night. Such a thing hadn't existed for him in a long time, but he'd had fun either way.

When Guy reached his room and saw the steak that was laid out on plates for him and Okita, he couldn't help but think about how Claude was going to be pleased. He smiled to himself and took a seat, but his good mood only lasted for a short while. As the distraction of the video game wore off and he was left to sit in silence, he had to consider what he was going to do about Anise. They would all be meeting up tonight, at least, so they could work things out then.

[kings_thief]

Locke's meeting with his 'doctor' had put the treasure hunter in a sour mood for the rest of the day. He'd pretty much kept to himself the entire time and he was looking forward to resting before the night started. He really hadn't even been paying much attention to his nurse until she led him past the door that they usually took to get to his room. When questioned, all he got in response was a cheerful announcement that he'd been moved to a new room with a new roommate.

Just great.

He was sick, his shoulder still ached, he'd been harassed by an asshole that reminded him far too much of Kefka, he hadn't seen Edgar all day long, and he wasn't even in his same room. Hopefully his journal would be there waiting for him, at least. If he had lost all those notes and maps he'd written down...well, it would probably be the perfect ending to the type of day he'd been having.

Locke didn't bother trying to argue with the nurse over the news and let her lead him to his new room. Maybe he'd gotten there before his new roommate had. Of course, that hope died as soon as he opened the door and noticed the blond already in the room. Well, so much for that. He pushed down his annoyance and moved further into the room; might as well try and be sociable. "Um..hi, I'm Locke."

[nobleman]

When the door opened, Guy naturally expected the "Good evening, Guy-san" that he'd been hearing since he'd arrived in this place. He turned in his seat, but instead of Okita standing there, it was a complete stranger.

Guy stiffened in his seat the moment that it all clicked together, and a second later he stood up, edging toward the door where the nurse who had brought the stranger here was still standing. "Hold on a second," he said, his tone more urgent than he meant for it to be. "This is a mistake, right?"

The nurse, who had been about to leave, paused and looked at him with a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry, Dana, but Julian was released today. I know you were roommates for a long time, but try to be happy for him, okay?"

Guy stared after her, his mouth gaping open as the full realization hit him like a sack of bricks in his chest. Okita -- after all they'd been through, after both of them had died and come back in this place, it was going to end like this? Without them even getting the chance to say goodbye?

He clenched a fist, but by the time he looked up again the nurse was gone, leaving him with this other patient who was, more than anything else, not Okita. Guy found that he had no words, even as the man introduced himself.

[kings_thief]

The man's silence after his exchange with the nurse cut through all the annoyance and cloudiness in Locke's head like a slap in the face. Maybe if he'd pull his head out of his own problems and concerns, he would have seen something like this coming. After all, the only reason he would have been moving rooms was if he was being placed with a new roommate...which meant their respective roommates must have..left somehow. Escaped, brainwashed and released, or something worse, either way, it was definitely possible this guy and whoever Locke was replacing had been close.

He could certainly imagine how that would feel, even if he had never been close to his own roommate.

Locke found himself wishing it was already time to head out, he suddenly didn't feel right standing in that room. "I'm sorry..."

[nobleman]

The apology broke Guy out of his own thoughts, if only a little, because he realized that he was being unfair. Locke, as he'd called himself, had nothing to do with Okita leaving. He hadn't chosen to be moved to this room, and chances were he hadn't even met Okita in the first place. There was no point in Guy directing his anger at his new roommate.

But even thinking of someone as "his new roommate" seemed wrong, and having anyone but Okita standing in this room with him was practically beyond his comprehension. Still, Guy had never been the sort of person to hide from the truth, and he was going to have to deal with this situation one way or another.

All he could do was hope that wherever Okita was, and whatever state of mind he was in, that he was safe.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong," Guy said eventually. "It's just that... my roommate, we shared this room since both of us woke up here, and that was..." He'd lost track of the days a long time ago, but he needed to give Locke some idea of what this all meant. "Well, a long time. So I guess you could say I wasn't expecting this." And the very idea of eating dinner seemed impossible now.

And this is why we don't tag things at 5:45 am

[kings_thief]

Locke nodded at the explanation. He still felt bad; no longer for being insensitive, but for the guy's situation. even if he hadn't known Heine all that well, just imagining the same situation with any of his friends from back home was more than enough to sympathize.

I get it....I'm still sorry it happened." He wished he knew what else to say. He usually wasn't one to run out of words, but it wasn't like it was impossible. He ran his eyes over the food and his stomach twisted unpleasantly telling him that dinner wasn't likely tonight. Next his eyes found his journal, the corners of pages bent just as he'd left them, that was a small relief at least.

He couldn't think of a time since he'd arrived here when he wanted the night to begin; he just felt like an intruder in this room and there wasn't a place he could put himself in it that wouldn't feel awkward.

[nobleman]

That wasn't much of a response, but Guy could understand that. A situation like this was just going to be awkward for the person not involved, and he wasn't going to dump more of his emotions into the conversation now that they'd gotten the basic explanation out of the way. He wasn't okay with what had happened, but he'd talk it out with someone he was closer to when he had the chance.

"Thanks," he said, because that kind of sentiment was appreciated, despite the fact that it didn't change anything.

It didn't seem like either of them would be eating tonight, and Guy didn't think he had the focus needed to work on making his sheath either, so in the end he took a seat on his bed and fought not to wring his hands. It was so bizarre to realize that he might never see Okita again, and with so much unsaid between them. Okita had kept a lot of things from him, and Guy had to wonder if any of it had to do with his disappearance.

If he'd pried a little harder and found out what was going on with his roommate, could he have prevented this? Probably not, but the idea that he had somehow not done enough was still hard to shake.

"Did I introduce myself?" he asked as he lifted his head, dragging himself away from those thoughts. "The name's Guy." He didn't want to start over with someone else, even if Locke seemed perfectly nice, but he didn't have a choice.