Day 67: Dinner

[damned_intercom]

"Goodness, is it really already time for dinner? Time certainly does fly! And such a lovely day, too. I certainly wouldn't mind having a nice cup of cocoa out on the patio or something..."

That was how the Head Doctor greeted them, although it apparently didn't take him long to realize he'd gotten a little off topic.

"Now then, it's time for the nurses to escort you all back to your rooms, where you'll have the opportunity to tuck into a scrumptious plate of turkey and gravy. And, of course, we always carry vegetarian options for those who don't eat meat. We also have our usual assortment of water, juice and milk.

"Also, some of you will be receiving some extra help in warding off whatever bug some of us have been catching. Please take care, everyone, and be sure to wash your hands! I'll talk to you all again later. Enjoy your dinner."

The intercom clicked off, leaving patients with the prospect of preparing for yet another grueling Nightshift.

((Respond to this post with your character's room number in the subject line. New room assignments are listed here. If you have any questions, let us know!))

Comments

[earthling]

The moment he heard the door open, Claude struggled not to choke on his turkey. A sip of water fixed that, though, and he turned to look at his roommate.

"Hi, Lloyd," he greeted with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'm okay, considering. Thanks." Judging by that sigh, it seemed like he'd honestly been worried about him. Claude felt a little guilty, but he was also touched to realize he might have been thinking about him. When he thought about it, he was actually pretty lucky to have this guy as his roommate.

"What about you, though?" he asked. "The nurses didn't give you anything on the way here, did they?"

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd shook his head at the question, setting his journal down on his table and picking up his fork instead. "Maybe they figure I'm too new to need it, if it really is medicine." He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. He didn't like having to suspect the worst.

Speaking of suspecting the worst, though... Lloyd eyed his dinner for a moment. He poked at the turkey with his fork, then stirred the gravy. Nothing immediately suspicious surfaced for him, but he still glanced back at Claude.

"Have you already had some of this?"

[earthling]

He sorely doubted they were telling the truth, even if the nurses may have believed they were. Even so, Claude figured it would be pretty depressing to drive that point home, so he let it rest. The important thing was that they hadn't given Lloyd anything.

Instead, he glanced over at his food when Lloyd asked about it. Scratching the back of his head, his expression suddenly turned sheepish. "Oh, me? U-um, well...yeah. It tastes fine, actually! The food here normally does, for whatever that's worth. I do have a cast-iron stomach, though, so I might not be the best judge of food quality."

Joking aside, there was probably a chance it was laced with something, but it wasn't like he could let himself starve, either. They had plenty of opportunities to drug them whenever they felt like, so he didn't see why they would need to sprinkle stuff in their meals.

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd actually wasn't looking that deeply in his food. In fact, the thought of being drugged with it hadn't even really crossed his thoughts. He warily shoved a bit more of the food around on his plate before finally sitting down.

"They didn't put any tomatoes in it, did they? Does it taste at all like that?" Hey, it was a valid concern! Finding that tomato in his sandwich at lunch had reminded him that some people put tomatoes in anything.

[earthling]

Really? Was that all he was worried about? Claude almost said as much, but thankfully the filter between his brain and mouth was in working order today.

"Tomatoes? Umm..." Claude took another bite of his food, this time chewing it with a thoughtful expression. He didn't detect anything tomato-ish, but he didn't always have the most sophisticated palate, either. "Well, I don't taste any. Why? Are you allergic to them?"

[redcladidealist]

"No, I just don't like them." He only wished he had such an ironclad excuse to keep people from trying to feed them to him. Not that he wanted to die if he ate anything with tomato in it, but just something to get people to stop trying to sneak some into his food! "Someone put a tomato in my sandwich today. I was afraid they'd do it again."

But he trusted Claude's sense of taste, at least well enough to cautiously lift a bite to his mouth. He couldn't smell any hint of tomato in the sauce, and a small, tiny lick didn't reveal anything different. It just tasted like turkey and gravy. Good. That was good. It wouldn't have been anywhere near as easy to remove tomato from something like this. Putting the whole bite in his mouth, he chewed, then swallowed.

Still just turkey and gravy. Relief.

"So, are you feeling any better?" he asked, scooping more food onto his fork.

[earthling]

He just didn't like them? Oh brother.

"Huh..." Claude scratched at his cheek for a moment. "Well, I guess it's a pretty common ingredient, but not so much with turkey and gravy. You should be fine."

At least some people here could worry about stuff like that. Then again, Claude knew he couldn't exactly judge. He might not have been a terribly picky eater, but he could only imagine how he'd feel if a bunch of the food here had something like sea urchins in them. That stuff was nasty...

Thankfully, he hadn't led Lloyd astray, because he didn't seem to mind the food once he tasted it. That would have been awkward.

"I think I'm getting there," Claude said when the other boy kindly asked after his health. "Actually..." He gave his roommate a small smile, as though he were letting him in a secret. "My friends and I found a cure for whatever's been going around. One of us is already better, and I'm pretty sure there's more of it in the greenhouse. That's where I got this."

After fishing around his uniform, he produced a crumpled stem of St. John's Wort for Lloyd to see.

[redcladidealist]

Didn't like was really too mild a term for the way Lloyd felt about tomatoes, but he never really was the best with words. Trying to describe a feeling was hard. Thankfully, Claude didn't press him on it.

No, instead he turned to a more interesting subject by far. Lloyd perked up with interest, and he barely remembered to swallow before opening his mouth. "You did? That's great!" His attention honed in on the sprig of greenery, memorizing everything he could about its size and shape. He wasn't sick, and hopefully it would stay that way, but what if he found someone else who needed help finding a cure? "So you just eat that and you'll feel better? That's it?" He wanted to be sure. Medicine wasn't his strongest suit, either, but it was still a good idea to prepare in case someone needed his help.