damned_institute | Day 68: Dawn

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Day 68: Dawn

As the first light of morning came in over the mountains, a thick layer of clouds followed after it. All things considered, the weather could have been worse this morning at Landel's Institute.

Bad weather or not, the morning routine almost always went the same, with the intercom coming to life in each patient's room.

"Good morning, everyone," the Head Doctor greeted. "I hope you all rested well and that most of those of you who've fallen ill have now recovered. If you're still suffering from the sniffles, though, make sure to let your nurse know.

"For breakfast this morning, we have a popular choice of English muffin sandwiches, which you can get with sausage, bacon, or plain if you prefer. We also have chopped fruit and oatmeal on the side. Enjoy your food, and have a wonderful day!"

With the announcement over, the nurses quickly moved to collect their charges from their rooms.

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Ed shot up in bed as soon as the intercom came on. "What the fuck?"

He missed the first part of the announcement, but the second part filtered in and he blinked up at the intercom. "What the--never mind, I don't care."

He quickly got out of bed and gave the room a cursory search. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of any use, so he just pulled on the shoes he found, rolling his eyes at the slippers, and quickly tied the laces.

He needed to find out what was going on and find out where Al was. Personally, he would prefer the opposite order, but he had the sneaking suspicion that he was stuck with the former.

Immediately afterwards, the door opened admitting a woman in a nurse's uniform. "You're not going out today David, you don't need the shoes."

That promptly raised Ed's hackles. "That's not my name. Where the hell am I?"

She gave him a slightly pitying look with a touch of condescension. "Of course it is, and you're at Landel's, of course."

Ed scowled at her. "Never heard of it. And it is not. My name's Edward. And I don't think I like your attitude."

Her look turned more icy. "What you think of it is irrelevant. Now change to the slippers and come along before there's no food left for you."

Ed gave her a considering look before bolting for the slightly open door. He got through and immediately had to dodge to the side to avoid running into an orderly.

The orderly wasn't too happy to see the patient running out of the room, but he was prepared- after all, he'd seen many patients come and go at Landel's, and there were always those who didn't take their arrival calmly. With the door ajar, he heard the exchange between David and the nurse, and could tell from the moment he started arguing that this kid was going to be a handful.

He sighed and shook his head as the patient dodged him, stepping into the hallway and spreading his arms to block the path as the nurse followed Edward out the door. "Calm down, David. We're here to help you."

Ed backed away from the orderly to get enough space to be comfortable.

"That's not my name," he spat. "I don't even know anyone named that. And if you really wanted to help me, you'd let me go find my brother."

He felt twitchy. There was no explanation for why one moment, he was awake and pursuing Envy, and the next he was waking up in some strange place. The entire thing felt wrong to him.

He balanced on the balls of his feet, ready to either fight or make a run for it, and subtly turned his head from side to side to check his surroundings.

The orderly looked to the nurse, who made her way behind Edward to block the other end of the hallway. Though Edward couldn't escape even if he got behind her, the staff knew well enough to contain a disruptive patient, especially if they got out of line. There were still patients asleep in the hall, their nurses having not yet come to collect them for breakfast- they needed to get this one subdued, and quickly.

"Your brother is fine, David," the orderly reassured, his tone even. Though he could see the tension in Edward's muscles, the preparation for fight or flight kicking in, it was his job to make sure such behavior didn't rile the other patients. The last thing they needed was a panic of any sort, especially right at the start of the day. "You might see him later, but you have to calm down now. We're not going to hurt you."

Sedate, possibly, but it was for his own good, and a necessary step to keep the other residents of Landel's from a rude awakening.

Ed watched the nurse move to block him from escaping in that direction and then looked back at the orderly and gave him a suspicious look. He didn't know whether to believe him.

"He's here?" he asked, not relaxing, paranoid of a trick to keep him quiet.

"Yes, he is," the orderly assured, eyes flicking to the nurse behind Ed. She gave him a nod, acknowledging something only for the two of them to know. "Now, we know you're new and will need some time to adjust, but remember that we're here to help you. We only want what's best for you, and what's best for you at the moment would be some breakfast."

The nurse stepped forward, nodding in agreement, giving him an encouraging smile. "I'll take you to the cafeteria, we'll get some food in you, and you'll feel a lot better, David. Now, take off your shoes, put them back in your room, and we'll see about breakfast, hm?"

Ed's eyes narrowed; catching that little byplay, not understanding what it was for, although he had some guesses.

"Put yourself in my place. How would you react if the last thing you remembered was doing something important, only to wake up somewhere you've never seen before, with people calling you by a name that isn't yours, and won't let you go?" he asked in a flat tone, keeping a wary eye on both of them and not budging.

The orderly looked to the nurse again, and they both gave Edward a pitying look.

"Those memories are products of a sick mind, David," he assured, brow furrowing. It was always sad to see someone so young institutionalized, but he could find relief in the fact that they were going to help him.

"That's right," agreed the nurse, moving to put a comforting hand on Ed's shoulder. "And you'll be able to go home once you're better. Now then, no more talk of these delusions. You have to eat something. Put your shoes back where you found them and follow me before all the food is snapped up."

"Don't touch me!" Ed snapped, as he shook the nurse's hand off his shoulder while glaring at her.

"There's nothing wrong with me that finding my brother and getting out of this place won't fix," he said with a belligerent stare at the both of them as he backed away to gain a bit of space before making an attempt to dart past the orderly to look for the exit.

Edited 2013-01-10 07:37 (UTC)

Well, so much for trying to calm him down with conversation. The orderly kept his stance, blocking the way down the hallway toward the main corridor, ready to grab Ed should he try to make a break for it. He'd been right to stay on his toes, and the moment Edward tried to dart past him, the orderly reached for his arm, determined to pin it back as he'd been trained to do. It was unfortunate when restraining a patient was the only way to get them to cooperate, but it was a necessary measure at times.

The nurse knew it as well and slipped past them both, running to the end of the hall to call for a second orderly. He met her at the end of the passage, handing something to her before going to aid his coworker.

Ed hissed in pain as his flesh arm was grabbed and twisted up behind him, resulting in him going up on his toes to lessen the pain.

He saw the other orderly approach him and aimed a hard stomp with his left foot for the first one's toes to force him to let go so he could fight. For now, he ignored whatever the nurse was given to worry about later.

Edited 2013-01-10 20:01 (UTC)

The orderly flinched and groaned as his toes were stepped on, feeling a crunch from the impact, but his grip on Ed's arm held strong. It wasn't the first time a patient had fought back against him; he doubted it'd be the last, either.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for backup long- the second orderly arrived to help hold Ed as the nurse made her way back toward them, uncapping a syringe. "I'm going to give you something to help you calm down," she announced sternly, waiting for the orderlies to restrain him.

Ed's eyes widened at the sight of the syringe and fear sent a burst of adrenaline through him, increasing the strength which with he struggled to get away from the men holding his arms. "No!"

He stomped on the first orderly's toes again to make him let go and lashed out with a kick at the nurse to make her keep her distance. He wanted no part of being stabbed with a needle.

Edited 2013-01-11 01:08 (UTC)

There was another unpleasant crunch from the orderly's toes, and his grip on Edward slipped as he was crippled with pain; the other orderly was on him in an instant, and this one wasn't nearly as forgiving as the first, restraining Edward as he lashed out at the nurse.

Thankfully, she wasn't close enough to be kicked, but the attempt garnered no good will from her. Her expression hardened as she waited patiently for the orderlies to get Ed in line. If it required pinning him against the wall, then so be it.

The wounded orderly recovered quickly, limping on his one foot as he tried to get a hold of Ed's legs, leaving his arms for the other orderly to wrangle.

Ed didn't have time to take advantage of the first one letting go and got slammed against the wall with a grunt by the second orderly. Between that one trapping his arms behind him and the other getting his legs to prevent any more kicks, he couldn't fight back effectively although that didn't stop his struggling.

"Dammit, let me go!" he yelled, turning his head and seeing the nurse with the sedative, fear giving him another burst of strength although this one was useless.

With both orderlies on him, they managed to get their rowdy patient under control. He was strong for a kid, and his condition was unfortunate, but their force was often a necessity at Landel's- after all, they were there to get well, and once he'd calmed down and they could explain the situation to him again, they were sure he'd see reason. All the patients did eventually.

Giving the syringe a tentative squeeze, the nurse waited for just the right moment to stick Ed, when he was able to neither reach her nor wriggle away.

"Everything is going to be just fine," she said, giving him a reassuring smile as she brought the needle to his skin. "This might sting a little."

"No don't, please," Ed almost but didn't quite beg, as he continued to try to get away.

He yelled when he felt the needle pierce skin and continued to struggle although his struggles weakened and slowed until he stilled, panting and with his head hanging, barely holding on to consciousness.

The nurse nodded, a sigh escaping her. She was never happy to sedate patients, but it was a far better option than letting him hurt himself- or worse, riling the rest.

"We'll try again in a little while," she said. She looked to the second orderly. "You take him to his room and keep an eye on him. We have to see if his" —she nodded to the first— "toes are still in one piece."

Ed cracked open an eye to try to look at her from the corner of it. He wanted to say something but his brain felt far too fogged over for him to think of anything, so he just closed his eye again and sank down into sleep.

Waking to the sound of the buzzing intercom was incredibly disconcerting, and Alphonse barely noticed what was being said past attempting to process the input of senses he hadn't had for years. It was dizzying, almost, the sensation of the sheets and clothes on his body, the sheer novelty of breath going in and out of his lungs.

He didn't marvel for very long, however, and with a bit of fumbling got himself out of bed and took stock of his surroundings. Bed, desk, chair, closet...not much to take in. Al rummaged through what was available, dressing himself as his mind ran a mile a minute to try and make sense of his situation. Why would he have his body back, when the homunculii had no reason to waste his Stone on such a feat? He shoved the thought that this was some sort of dying dream to the back of his head--ridiculous and not something he wanted to consider.

His had was on the knob when a nurse opened the door, causing them both to startle back in alarm. "Oh, Jonathan! We certainly are eager to greet the morning, aren't we?" She glanced down at his feet, and frowned as if he were a disobedient child. "Do change into your slippers, though, dear, you're going to be staying inside today."

Al stared at the woman with a blank look. "My name is Alphonse."

The nurse gave him a pitying look. "I'm afraid you're a bit mistaken. The doctors here will help you sort out what's real and not soon enough, though, so how about we go and get you some breakfast, hm?"

"I think not," Al snapped, barging past the woman and ignoring the cry of protest. He didn't have time for this, and whoever this woman was, she wasn't going to be giving him any straight answers.

It had been some time since a new patient had caused a ruckus like this, but that didn't meant that the nurse was unprepared for it. She hadn't been expecting it from a boy with such a sweet face, or from someone so young, but she knew that she couldn't let those facts soften her.

So she spun around as he pushed past her, grabbing for his arm while making certain to not hurt him by gripping too hard.

"Jonathan, please, listen to me. You're still ill, and you can't wander the institute unattended like this. If you let me, I'll lead you to the cafeteria and you can meet the rest of the patients." The last thing she wanted to do was sedate someone who was brand new, but if this escalated too much she might have no other choice.

[ Court ]

"I'm not sick!" Al turned to try and wrest his arm away from the nurse, scowling darkly. "And quit trying to call me by that name, I know who I am!"

A small part of him felt bad for yelling at the woman like this--it was possible she simply didn't know, but right now Al couldn't afford to trust anything, not until he got to his brother and could figure out what had happened.

When Jonathan pulled away from him, the nurse was forced to let go, because the last thing that she wanted to do was harm him. Extra force would have to be left to the orderlies, and she sighed to herself as she delivered that warning.

"Please, if you don't cooperate I'll have to call the orderlies over to take you to breakfast by force. I'd rather not do that." She refrained from using his name for the moment. He was going to have to get used to it (that was part of the healing process, after all), but for now she realized it would only make things worse. If only he would calm down...

Al grit his teeth in frustration--orderlies would definitely be able to overpower him right now, since his skill was limited by his renewed body. He was still subtly off-balance from his new-found senses (though not nearly as bad as he would have expected, which made him wonder just how long he'd been out) and definitely not in fighting trim.

He knew intellectually that he didn't have much choice right now, if he didn't want to wind up sedated and later confined either to this room or some other one with even less creature comforts, but that didn't mean he liked any bit of it. With difficulty he wrangled his emotions back under control, reducing his expression from an outright glower to something less antagonistic. "Then will you at least tell me where I am?"

Edited 2013-01-10 23:07 (UTC)

It seemed that she had gotten through to him, at least somewhat, and so the nurse relaxed in kind, letting her clipboard rest against her chest as she nodded. She wasn't allowed to give out all of the information that Jonathan surely wanted, but she could at least tell him a few things.

"You're at Landel's Institute for the mentally unwell. You were brought here by your family, and I'm sure that all of them would like you to get better as soon as possible. Your brother is here as well..." She hoped that didn't send him into an outburst. The two of them had been admitted together, but Jonathan's file mentioned that they were very close. Hearing of his brother's presence would either calm him or set him off again, but she was prepared for either possibility.

Al went back to the closet and knelt to replace shoes with slippers, frowning at her response. What use was there to place him in this sort of hoax?

That last caught his attention, of course. "My brother?" He turned quickly back toward the nurse, tense and worried. Had Edward really been captured as well, or was this some other layer to the identity being pressed onto him.

Good, he'd gone to change his footwear without her prompting. The nurse was glad that Jonathan seemed to have calmed down at least slightly. Maybe she wouldn't have to call the orderlies after all.

The mention of his brother only seemed to worry him, which made sense, as both of them were ill. It wasn't such a normal case, but it had happened in the past a few times. "Yes, your brother... If you come with me, I'm sure we can find him. He just woke up this morning as well."

The intercom went off then, which meant that any hopes of getting Jonathan a healthy breakfast were now gone. That meant she'd need to take him out to the recreational field.

Al's frown deepened, and he glanced up at the intercom's message. After taking a moment to consider things, he stood up and went back over to the nurse. "Lead on, then."

He didn't trust them, but letting them think he did might lead to some more clues.

Edited 2013-01-11 23:17 (UTC)

Letting out a sigh of relief, the nurse nodded and proceeded to lead Jonathan down the hall and out of the patient block in the direction of the recreational field. Luckily, it was a short walk, so she doubted that he would have any second thoughts and try to run off again.

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Day 68: Dawn

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