damned_institute | Day 67: Dinner

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Day 67: Dinner

"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!))

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Karkat was going to just go ahead and call this day a bust. It had been highly uneventful and dreadfully short considering his extra forced rest. Even if he was getting to the point where he could just blame everything on the Institute, it didn't make things any better. None of the Institute staff would actually care, anyway.

To make it worse, the nurse had caught him off guard and shoved a needle into his arm, claiming it was to protect him against some sort of disease going around. He didn't buy that for a second, though, and fully expected to mutate into something horrendous soon.

He didn't want whatever turkey and gravy was, either. It looked horribly bland - or worse, like someone had taken a runny shit all over his sliced meat. Meat wasn't even supposed to come in neat little slices like that, so the entire thing just looked unnatural. 'Turkey' was probably just another word for 'human meat' anyway, in which he meant that the Institute would be trying to make cannibals out of them.

Okay, that was too paranoid even for him, but could anyone really blame him? He knew he hadn't even scratched the surface when it came to the evils of this place, but that didn't mean he couldn't take some guesses at it just from what he was hearing.

He sat moodily on the edge of his bed, rubbing at the sore spot on his arm. The troll was reminded as he was waiting for his roommate that he still had his bat. That one wasn't his fault, either. He'd tried to give it to the girl. Ishida was free to try to do it himself this time, as long as he wasn't dragged off again.

Edited 2012-11-26 06:08 (UTC)

After separating from Irving-san in the Music Room, Uryuu stopped for the last time today at the bulletin board. Having intended only to check the status of his posting, he was surprised by Kratos-san's note; he'd indicated he would be available late, but the man's willingness to wait for him elicited no small amount of curiosity as to what the man had planned for the night. As for his post, the smallness of the response was unsurprising and so only a little discouraging. A huge group might be too difficult to do anything constructive with in the night, but the lack of any proper mass communication and understanding was inexcusable. For part of his purposes he could well enough gather names from the file rooms, expanding the reason for his intended stops there, but the other part required actual cooperation. Interest.

Not that he could blame those who distrusted it. Doubtless he would have himself.

He picked through thoughts of his and Kratos-san's posts, and of the Head Doctor's announcement, as his nurse walked him back to "his" room. Turkey with gravy didn't sound particularly appetizing, but it would be edible, even if the beginning return of the aching was reducing his appetite. More importantly, how were they claiming to help the sick? The illnesses were purportedly caused by metal objects in the stomach and cured or helped by ingesting a flower, if not through operation. It was unlikely that whatever they did, especially before the night, would help anyone.

"Make sure you get right to sleep after dinner, all right Mr. Way?" the woman said, her smile concerned as she ushered him into the room. "After last night, you really must take it easy!"

"Good night," he answered in monotone, and the door shut as he moved to his desk, nodding at Vantas-kun, not thinking anything of his rubbing at his arm, but noting it nonetheless. Knowing that he himself looked a little different--taller, perhaps older, his hair different--he tried not to tense or anticipate questions. Instead, he looked at the meal, finding no cup of pills had been left with it. Fine; he hadn't wanted to depend too much on them, anyway.

"Let's hope it's better than it looks," he sniffed, sliding into the chair at the desk.

His roommate looked... different. Not that he should have expected anything else after the way he'd been dragged away the night before, but it was still unsettling. He couldn't put his finger on all the differences, either, as he hadn't known the young man long enough to be able to notice the difference in height.

Ishida didn't seem all that upset about what had happened, but then the teen had strange priorities from what he'd seen. this was probably a matter best handled with caution, and any questions asked shouldn't pry too far. But then, this was Karkat, and exercising caution wasn't always one of his strong points.

"...Well, you look uglier than usual."

At least he wasn't asking questions.

The troll rubbed absently at his arm again, once again contemplating his food now that it looked like his roommate was about to dig into his own.

Uryuu stiffened at the comment, his fingers hooking and pausing on the end of the desk as he sat. A beat, then he rolled his eyes over his shoulder -- again, or still perhaps, his roommate favored his arm.

"Coming from you, I'll take it as a compliment."

Taking up his fork, he plunged it into a slice of meat, giving the brown and fatty coating one last, grim look before taking a bite. Not as bad as it looked after all. He swallowed, and pressed his heels to the floor, turning the chair more toward the center of the room, debating as he did how to broach Vantas-kun's arm without sounding as though he cared.

Extra help, the Head Doctor had said. He hadn't noticed Vantas-kun habitually rubbing his arm the night before, but two sightings now wasn't particularly damning.

"Don't tell me we've got mosquitoes, too."

"Huh?" What the hell were mosquitoes? Some human thing he didn't know, most likely, and from Ishida's gaze it had something to do with his arm, or at least the rubbing he was doing to his arm. Maybe it was some kind of disease?

"No... At least I don't think so. My toes are fine. Nurse stuck something in my arm, though. That bitch. I bet it was toxic." Not that he'd shown any negative signs so far aside from a bit of itching where the needle had gone in, and even that was dying down. It could always be a slow acting poison, though he didn't see how doing that would make any sense seeing as he was already at their mercy anyway.

Maybe it would turn him into a different species again.

"...That shit any good?"

Toes? Uryuu blinked, the language queerness leaving him lost as to where that had come from and thus inclined to attribute it to Vantas-kun's alien culture. Perhaps mosquito meant something else, or sounded like something else. More to the point, that which he had kept from becoming even a niggling suspicion was confirmed. They'd given him an injection.

"Maybe," he said, noncommittal, at the assertion that it might be poisonous. "There are plenty of more interesting ways to kill us, I'd wager they think, so probably not. One thing we do know for sure: it's not actually meant to help against their manufactured illness. That was almost definitely an excuse to stick something else in you."

Matter-of-fact, however grim the tidings.

"It's not bad," he then said, taking another bite and chewing. Chewing, chewing. It might even be better than he thought, given his current condition. Speaking of. "I don't suppose she mentioned if nausea was a side effect?"

With whatever else it would do to Vantas-kun, he didn't need to also be retching while trying to navigate the institution.

"No, she didn't bother to mention any side effects! Just stuck the damn thing in my arm easy as you please and then acted like I should be grateful for it. ...Oh god, am I turning purple? I think I'm turning purple."

He's not turning purple, of course, though he's caused the area around where the needle was jabbed in to be bruised just the slightest bit. Human skin sure can change weird colors, which was strange given that all their blood should be red. He hated it when he started trying to compare human and troll biology.

"Have you seen people start hurling their last mealbits up after being given one of these? Because that would be a good thing to know so I can avoid eating the food here more than I'm already avoiding it." At least until he gave in out of hunger or the effects of the injection wore off.

"Not yet," Uryuu answered dryly, "but keep talking and you might. Maybe a little green, too. You could try for a rainbow."

No, of course she hadn't mentioned any side effects. That would be helpful, or indicative of the ridiculous notion that she truly cared about his well-being.He tugged his eyes from the only just discolored skin. Most likely nausea would be the least of Vantas-kun's worries. Which, he reflected with his hand curled, pensive, under his chin, probably didn't need to be said, as the guy was plenty capable of drawing the worst conclusion without him. In that light, Uryuu realized he probably shouldn't have said anything at all, possibly having turned Vantas-kun completely off the meal. Nothing to do about that but keep eating his normally.

"Surprisingly, no. I've yet to see anyone vomit, but I haven't seen that much, all considered."

Mealbits. Uryuu filed that away for Inoue-san.

"Fuck you, I'm not turning green. I know enough about humans to know that much." He gave his sleeve an unnecessary yank back down over where he'd been stuck, glaring back down at his food tray. It still didn't look any more appealing, even though he knew it wasn't likely to cause him any real harm. (He had the injection to worry about for that.)

Ishida could be wrong. It really could just be a precaution against some bug going around among the patients. But then his roommate was also the one who'd been dragged off to have who-knows-what done to him the previous night, so if there was anyone who'd know what they staff was capable of, it would be him.

Worrying about this place was bad enough in general, but now he had even more cause for concern. Great.

"So what were you planning on doing tonight anyway? Granted I don't turn into some kind of human munching monster and eat you first." The sad thing was that this was an honest fear of his.

Edited 2012-12-24 10:02 (UTC)

"Do you?" He asked, maintaining an indifferent air despite both irritation (at the 'Fuck you' however warranted) and amusement threatening to leak. "We can turn all sorts of interesting colors. Blue, purple, yellow, green, red, even orange... it's more of a tint, usually, resulting from either the weather, health, or general circulation."

Never all at once, of course, but Uryuu opted to encourage the image of rainbow people to fester in Vantas-kun's imagination. All of which was a nonsensical distraction from the issue of his roommate's arm, but better the distraction than stewing on their powerlessness. They hadn't any choice but to wait and see, something frustratingly commonplace here.

Before answering, he took another bite and chewed slowly. Although he always ate slowly, at the moment it seemed a particular effort to force his jaw to work, to swallow the small bits of increasingly tasteless food. His tongue still felt raw, and his overall aching made the turkey as appetizing as sandpaper. He knew it probably wasn't that bad, not really, but focused on keeping his expression blank as he swallowed the fat smothered bite. On that, and on Vantas-kun's granted.

Did he intend to come along, or did he imply it might happen before they could separate? With Vantas-kun the latter group would be pretty sizable, possibly earning Kratos-san's chagrin, yet suppose Vantas-kun did turn into a monster? Or would be controlled and forced to attack others? The headache held at bay by drugs throughout the day began to pound back into skull throbbing place. It would be irresponsible to let him go alone. After all--

His lips thinned into a smile, more of a smirk. "I can handle myself. If that happens, it will still be you who should worry." Then again, if it happened with Inoue-san... no, she had her shields, and as long as he responded quickly enough, it wouldn't be a problem.

"But, to answer your question, I have two plans. In a matter of speaking. First, I'll be gathering information from the file rooms with Inoue-san. They're in the entrance room. Then, I'll be meeting with Kratos-san and Irving-san; Kratos-san is currently the head of the Arts and Crafts Club, which, of course, is simply a cover for activities or "missions" performed at night. Kratos-san did not explain his plan on the board."

Uryuu looked at Vantas-kun, honing in on the sleeve covering the spot on his arm. "As entertaining as I'm sure that all sounds, you might as well come along. You won't want to be alone if something does happen."

Edited 2012-12-24 19:54 (UTC)

Karkat narrowed his eyes at Ishida as he went on, certain that the teen was trying to take him for a fool at least about the first part. He'd watched John and the others plenty and he'd never seen them turn rainbow colors or heard them talk about turning rainbow colors. Unfortunately, it was hard to tell whenever his roommate was joking, since he didn't look any different in those cases from when he wasn't (and that was more than a little infuriating).

Then of course he had to go and make a comment about how strong he was, or close enough to it. It wasn't as though Karkat was a weakling himself, and if he was transformed into some sort of monster he was likely to be even more powerful. ...Except now he was being insulted that someone thought they could take on a form he hoped not to become at all. The night was already looking to be wonderful.

Anyway, he didn't like the idea of being alone whether or not he'd been stuck by some mysterious needle, but this was as good of an excuse as any. He nodded. "I've got better night vision than you guys, anyway. You'll never get anywhere just having to follow worthless points of light along the ground the whole way."

Aggravating as his delivery might have been, and without having done much to make it less abrasive, Uryuu hadn't intended to be insulting. Not that he knew he'd been, as Vantas-kun didn't say or make anything of it, and his mannerisms and general attitude were so generally cantankerous, nothing stood out now.

So, relatively oblvious, Uryuu managed to work down another forkful of grease and sand, musing on Vantas-kun's assent before speaking. It didn't look as if his roommate intended to eat, though whether that was for better or for worse, doubtless only the night would tell.

"How good is your night vision?" He asked, interested. "We get by with and without flashlights, but that's definitely a bonus."

Uryuu preferred to keep his off for the most part, with the hope of not disturbing or alerting monsters to his presence. Not anymore than his movements already had done, anyway. The problem, of course, that however much human eyes adjusted to the dark, they still suffered, making the light at times essential.

"Trolls are nocturnal by default," he pointed out, honestly glad that the conversation had turned away from whatever had been done to his arm. There were exceptions to this rule with trolls, of course (Kanaya came to mind) but it wasn't worth it to get into the whole hemospectrum. "I don't know these weak as fuck human gander bulbs still managed to keep some of that, but I guess they did."

He supposed he should clarify. "To answer your question, I can see almost as well as I could at night normally, which would have been as well as you humans see during the day, but not quite. Things are a bit darker and fuzzier around the edges. It's still something, at least. I'd hate to have been practically blinded at night as most of you are." How did they stand it, having all those shadows they couldn't see into?

Nocturnal by default? Interesting. Although Uryuu preferred to keep his mind ever on the complications of the institute, the place seemed to actively work to make it impossible to accomplish anything on that front. His mind could use the break and be allowed extraneous interest, and there was plenty of that, with so many hailing from different worlds. If he stopped and thought about it... he was rooming with an alien.

An alien with a persistent unique way of phrasing things. Gander bulbs made sense; like someone abusing a thesaurus to describe things.

He turned more in his seat, more toward Vantas-kun, peering at the younger boy -- trying to make out from this distance if his eyes looked in anyway unusual. Did they have or retain a tapetum lucidum? ...would they thus reflect light like a feline's? Not that he would be able to tell by looking now; perhaps if he shone a flashlight directly into his eyes.

...That would definitely go over well.

"Practically blinded is something of an exaggeration; like I said, we get by. You, of course, have an edge. Kind of them to let you keep that."

The extra scrutiny caused Karkat to shift awkwardly in his chair, though he tried to ignore it for the most part. If Ishida was looking for any strange differences in his appearance that made his night vision obvious, he wouldn't find any. Though the idea did make Karkat himself wonder if there were any differences. He knew his eyes distinctly showed his troll blood color from glances in the bathroom mirrors, and that was bad enough. He'd always feared what would happen once he aged enough for that to show on Alternia.

"Yeah, well. They owe me something for making me human anyway." It wasn't much in the way of compensation, but at least it was something. Though it might still not make Lloyd believe he wasn't human originally, that jerk.

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Day 67: Dinner

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