Day 65: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

As some of the clouds from earlier began to clear, the intercom jingle sounded over the intercom once again.

"Hello, patients!" came the Head Doctor's cheery voice. "I hope you're all feeling fresh and clean this evening! To top it all off, we've prepared a scrumptious herb chicken dinner for you to eat before bed. Of course, we have vegetarian options available, so please don't hesitate to ask the nurse if you're interested in that.

Also, since we have the pleasure of welcoming a few new patients into our family, some of you will be receiving new roommates. Let's do our best to give them a nice, big Landel's Institute welcome, shall we?"

The Head Doctor gave a friendly chuckle. "Well, anyway, enjoy your dinner!"

With that, the intercom shut off.

[Note: All dinner threads are posted in response to this entry. Be sure to check the Roommate Assignments if you're not sure what room/roommate your character has! Thanks.]

Comments

M16

[stellarregions]

The evening announcement went largely unheard as Gren trudged his way through the cafeteria line (protesting that he wasn't hungry never worked on his nurse) and then back to his room, which was thankfully empty.

He abandoned the tray on his desk immediately and retreated to the bed, propping himself up in the corner. Clearly, forgoing his medication that morning had been a terrible idea--his head hurt, and there was a fine shaking that took hold of him if he didn't concentrate on stopping it. And there was really no way of knowing if it would get better if he just held out.

He'd gone cold turkey once, but then he'd had the luxury of hiding someplace fairly private. He couldn't do that, here. All he could do was try to tolerate it and hope someone wouldn't mistake this for whatever it was that was spreading through the patient population.

M58 (alfredo sauce)

[purgatio]

There was little learned, in the end--at least, not what Albedo wished to, and not for the price he'd like to pay. Nigredo had accepted things, as much as he was want to, and Albedo didn't know if he was supposed to feel strange that it seemed the youngest was becoming outwardly more accepting of murders. Of the evils that men do. Certainly, it was the youngest with the most blood on his hands--literally, at least--but it was always Albedo whose priorities lay not with moral impulses, but familial ties.

Such as things were. He was going out hunting tonight, with the sole goal of killing at least one patient. To that end, he passed on dinner, and once again, as he had not in a while, took to his closet, to take inventory of his weapons. The two shotguns were removed, and he sat down on the floor and began to take them apart to look things over. His two hunting knives were near him, and like before, he took no note of his roommate.

M42

[skeletonenigma]

It occurred to Skulduggery, as his nurse led him back to the room blocks, that despite the relatively medium-sized number of people milling around the Sun Room all day, there were a couple of familiar faces he hadn't seen. After a moment of contemplation, he turned to the nurse.

"You've been stalking me," he began, "as per your job description, correct?"

She frowned. "I wouldn't use the word 'stalking,' Erik-"

"So you know everyone I've spoken to. Have any of them been discharged?"

His nurse paused for a second, and then gave him a patronizing and entirely unappreciated gentle smile. "Mr. Theo Savalas was released this morning," she answered. "Do you remember him?"

Skulduggery shook his head. He doubted anyone here paid much attention to their supposed 'real' names. "When did I meet him?"

"During brunch yesterday. I'm so sorry. It looked like you two were getting along well."

Ah. Detective Tyrell Badd. The news quieted Skulduggery for the rest of the walk. He hadn't met many people here, and although he'd only talked with Badd for less than an hour, the familiar pain of losing a comrade underscored his thoughts once again. The fact that he'd met another detective today, however, at least boded well for the future.

The Scarecrow wasn't there this time when Skulduggery was left alone with his chicken dinner. After eyeing it warily for a few moments, Skulduggery left it in the center of his roommate's desk and sat down cross-legged on his own bed. Despite the hunger that was now painfully twisting his insides, the memory of what had happened at lunch was still a little too fresh in his mind.

M30

[ham_fisted]

Gumshoe opened his eyes and closed them again after seeing that ceiling for what seemed like the hundredth time. He sat up and sighed angrily as he listened to whatever Dr. Landel had to say this time. In the meantime, he turned so his legs were hanging off the side of the bed.

'Fresh and clean'... Oh. He had missed showering day, hadn't he?

Considering how it'd been several days, maybe a week, since they'd gotten word of there being any new 'patients' (in the time he'd been awake, at least), he was guessing they had to take this as a bad sign. Had Dr. Landel done a head count and noticed he was running short on prisoners? Was he preparing to replace people who were infected?

Then Gumshoe suddenly remembered all the crazy stuff that had happened last night! Th-That 'Lust' lady... or whatever her name was. People had already started turning into monsters! ...H-Hey, wait! What about those symptoms? As far as he could tell, she hadn't had any of them! Maybe he hadn't been paying enough attention.

At this rate, he wouldn't be surprised if he made himself sick! With worry!

Sobering a little, he ran a hand through his hair, clearly embarrassed. Some detective I've turned out to be. What a joke.

He just hoped a day was all he'd missed.