Day 68: Intercom, Dinner

[damned_intercom]

As it turned out, all of the female patients were wise enough to remain indoors, so the nurses didn't have as much work to do as the intercom came on and the end of the day officially hit.

"Hello, patients! This storm put a wrench into some of our planned activities, but I hope that all of you stayed dry and safe, especially those of you who are sick!" The Head Doctor did a spectacular job of sounding like he was truly worried for the patients' well-being.

"For dinner, we'll be serving some gourmet spaghetti with marinara sauce. There'll be parmesen cheese and some crushed red peppers on the side to add if you wish, not to mention a salad! I hope that you all eat well before lights out, and those of you who've been paired up with some of our new arrivals, make sure to make them feel welcome."

The announcement echoed through the halls as the patients were led back to their assigned rooms, and Landel finished it all off as most of them arrived to their doors.

"That's all for now. Sleep well, everyone, and we'll be talking again come tomorrow."

The intercom turned off, leaving patients with only their roommates as company.

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Comments

[trollverine]

That was pleasantly straightforward. "Daken," he said, repaying the courtesy. He half anticipated some smartass answer -I didn't ask, for example - but he'd been wrong a second ago, his annoyance at the attitude was fast fading. He himself had never really mastered humility, after all.

On the other hand, there were good reasons for that.

"Every interaction's a form of negotiation, Aidou." It was an unusual name. Daken pushed his own food around his tray, unimpressed. (He had kind of expected some bomb-shelter level glorified rations, but low expectations never really meant much, in practical terms.) "Especially here, where you're essentially a captive."

[idolism]

With the introductions over, Aidou nodded, but his expression quickly turned dry and amused at Daken's answer. Captivity. Aidou was undoubtedly an expert on that after all of the time he'd sacrificed to Landel's ambition.

"Oh, you hardly need to school me on such things, dear boy, I of all people understand about chains, invisible or no," he answered, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. He kept his eyes on his tray of food. "And for the record, there's no "essentially" about it. I can see you're still fairly unaccustomed to the Institute, but soon you'll see that's very little difference between this and captivity composed of physical chains."