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

[redcladidealist]

"Yeah, I'm better with swords," Lloyd admitted with soft laugh. "But a knife is loads better than what I was planning to use. Thanks." He put his hand on the weapon, not yet ready to put it on, but accepting it with open gratitude. "I'll try to take care of it, and if I find something better, I'll give it back."

His other hand lifted the chicken again and he took a few more bites. The food really was pretty good, better than a lot of meals he'd had to suffer through on the road, not even counting the times when Raine cooked. If it weren't for the situation, he could have enjoyed it.

"So, what're you going to do once we're out?" he asked after a few minutes. "I think I'm going to look for the front door. Even if other people have tried to get out that way before, it feels like the best place for me to start. You want to come with me?"

[earthling]

Upon hearing Lloyd accept the weapon, Claude offered a lopsided smile. "Hey, no problem." Patients had to stick together, after all. If they just left each other out in the cold, then they'd never find a way out of here. Not only that, but Claude felt like it was just the right thing to do.

He hoped Lloyd would give the knife back, though -- not because Claude was particularly attached to it, but because he'd rather see him do it himself instead of suddenly finding the item in his box, with Lloyd gone without a trace. Something like that had already happened to all of his previous roommates already, and it made Claude sick to think about.

When Lloyd continued speaking, he shook himself out of his thoughts. Although he knew the front door probably wouldn't amount to much, he couldn't fault Lloyd for wanting to start there for his own reasons. "Fair enough," he said, though he hadn't expected Lloyd to ask him to accompany him. Claude scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh, um...normally, I'd love to, but some friends and I..." Claude averted his gaze as he pushed a piece of chicken around on our plate. "Well, you might not have heard, but some people haven't been feeling well. We're trying to find a way to cure their symptoms before it gets worse."

[redcladidealist]

The smile immediately faded from Lloyd's face. Pieces started fitting together that he hadn't thought much about before. Claude's half-hearted attempt at his chicken, the haggard look on his face when he'd come in, the way he moved sometimes, nothing overtly wrong, but still just a little bit off. Was Claude...?

"Someone told me the doctors were making people sick." Lloyd gave the other man a look that was heavily laced with concern. "Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?" He wasn't a healer. He knew how to make bandages and wrap injuries up, could even manage a makeshift splint if it came to that, but anything more than that was beyond his skill. That didn't keep him from offering, though. If there was something he could do, he wouldn't hesitate. He'd never abandon someone in need.

Of course, it was possible that Claude was just tired, that he was just saying he was going to help someone else who needed to find a cure. Either way, Lloyd's offer held. His own plans could wait if he could make a difference somewhere else.

[earthling]

While he knew he'd probably have to come clean about his condition sooner or later, Claude didn't feel like talking about it to someone he'd just met, and he didn't want to burden Lloyd with his problems. The guy already had enough to figure out, especially since this was his first day.

"It's fine," he assured him instead, knowing that was probably only half true. "We've got a small group, and we know the general layout of the building, so our chances are as good as anyone else's." Plus with at least two of them infected, they didn't need to put Lloyd at risk of getting attacked in case one (or, hell, both) of them did transform. Guy was already putting himself at risk. He couldn't ask a new patient to do the same when they probably didn't know the full extent of the problem.

"Thanks anyway, though," he added after a moment. Lloyd seemed like a nice person to worry about someone he barely knew. Not everyone here was like that. Claude could only hope he didn't meet the same fate as every other roommate he'd had before.

He licked his lips and set his fork down. "Anyway, try to find someone to stick with tonight, okay?" They probably didn't have a lot of time left, and Claude knew he needed to make that point clear to Lloyd. "Even if you've got a lot of fighting experience, it's dangerous to go out alone."

[redcladidealist]

Claude had a plan, and he had people to help him. That was as much as anyone could hope for, and more than Lloyd had at the moment. Not that he hadn't gotten help, first from Tsurugi and now from Claude, but his roommate was right. He should find someone to work together with, too.

"All right," he said. "I'll stick with my own plan, then, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for other people tonight. If we all work together, even if it's on separate things, we can beat this place. I know it. Just take care of yourself, all right?" He was still sick, after all. He worriedly eyed the other's plate, fighting back the urge to say something about how little the other had eaten. It wasn't really his place to say anything, not when they'd only just met, and the other man probably knew how much he could handle.

It still worried him, though. If he hadn't found a way to break out of this place before the next time he saw Claude, he promised to himself to try to keep an eye on him. For now, though, all he could do was concentrate on his own food and vow to do everything he could to get out of here and find someone who knew how to heal.