damned_institute | Day 26; Doctor's Office #7: Dr. Huang

Entry tags:

greed,
huang

Day 26; Doctor's Office #7: Dr. Huang

Huang was waiting as normal for his new patient on one of his arm chairs instead of behind the desk. He was feeling relaxed this morning, which he supposed was a good thing considering that he had work to do.

There were folders of paperwork on his ignored desk that he had brought with him too look over during lunch.

He wondered who would be coming through his door first.

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"Here he is!" A flustered nurse opened the door and smiled apologetically at Dr. Huang. "Sorry he's late, Doctor; needed to make sure he got all showered, of course!"

Greed walked in, his shoulders slumped and his body language reserved as he glanced from the doctor to the nurse. He didn't want to be here, but then again, he didn't want to be standing butt-naked next to Kimbley either.

"Whatever. You'll be hauling me out soon, anyway." Greed flashed a sharp-toothed grin at the nurse, who seemed to frown at it.

"Well! I'll be off then. If you'll excuse me..." The nurse hurried out, seeming in a rush to get away from such an unpleasant patient. Greed took the opportunity to look towards the supposed doctor, appraising him. Funny. He was a different one from last time.

Huang watched the man appraise him without comment. He could tell by the way that the poor nurse was acting that he had his work cut out for him today, but he remained calm and unmoved.

"Hello," he finally said, not moving from his seat. "My name is Doctor Huang. Would you like a seat?" he asked, offering them to the patient. The file said that his name was 'Marcus Bailey' but if the thread of his last patients meant anything than he might not believe that to be his name.

Greed paused before he answered, gaze distrustful as he flexed his hand at his side

"I dunno. Don't plan on being here long, though maybe I'm stuck."

Huang nodded. "I'm not planning on forcing you to stay," he said simply. "Though while you are here if you have any questions or requests I'll listen to them."

Greed somehow doubted those words, and even if this guy was playing nice, he was sure there'd be a nurse right outside the door to keep him in this little communal prison cell. Still, the offer was a tempting one, and the homunculus might have made his escape had the prospect of "questions" and "requests" not found his ears.

He paused, knowing that nothing would come of whatever he asked for, but if there was even the slightest chance of getting items or information out of this guy...

"How about you answer this." Greed's eyes narrowed as he looked the doctor in the eye, gesturing towards the room around him. "What the hell is this place and why the hell am I here?"

"This place is a hospital," Huang said. "And you are here because someone thought that we would be able to help you."

He wasn't being menacing or sarcastic. His face was professionally expressionless and his voice was quiet and calm, despite that he also had an air of completely sincerity. He didn't try to trick Marcus by insisting on asking a question of his own.

"A hospital, huh?" Greed smirked wryly as he sauntered forward and fell into the chair across from the doctors. He'd might as well feel comfortable while he was fed bullshit. "Well, see, that's all great, but I'm a homunculus. I don't need help or hospitals or whatever the hell else you want to give me."

He brought up his hand to his face, concentrating and covering it with his carbon shield. He figured intimidating the doctor might get him solitary, but then again, it might get him back to his room.

"In fact, it seems more like you guys have taken stuff away."

Huang watched Marcus sit down with a little bit of relief. He would have let the patient go if he had really wanted too, but at least this way he could get to know the man.

He didn't show any reaction to the change in the man's arm. "A homunculus?" he asked, with a slight tone of curiosity.

"Yeah, you heard me." Greed's smirk widened, and he relished the feeling of superiority he got as he leaned back in his seat and prepared to explain how awesome he was. "A homunculus, meaning that regularly I'd be able to break out of this joint and kick all your asses, but unfortunately, I've been weakened too much to do that."

Huang still seemed professionally unimpressed. "Weakened?" he asked, appearing slightly concerned.

Greed's smirk fell slightly at the lack of response his claim had garnered, but then again, not everyone was an alchemist and maybe the doctors here were stupider than the guys back home.

"Yeah, though I'm sure you know all about it," Greed growled, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms like a petulant child whose toys have been taken away. "You take us from the brink of death and leave us there while you toss us out for some damn dogs to chow down on. At night, anyway."

Huang blinked once and considered the words. He folded his hands in front of himself. Marcus hadn't been the first person he heard talking about this hospital 'at night'. Perhaps the patients were exchanging stories and building up a shared paranoia? That was troublesome.

"I'm sorry," he said, carefully. "But I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"Sure you do!" Greed sneered disdainfully, flexing his clawed hands. "Monsters and angry demons and no powers to fight back with. They're all out at night and they're all out to get us. I even heard about people being taken away for experimentation."

The homunculus tilted his head, remembering Lab 5 and seeing the parallels. He smirked.

"You've got a good gig going, Doc, but hell if you'll fool me into thinking you don't know what's up."

Huang's eyebrows rose slightly. This patient's delirium was very severe. It was made worse by the fact that he didn't seem willing to talk, not like the other ones so far.

"You think that I am working with monsters and demons?" he asked, seeking clarification.

"Heh," Greed smirked wryly, arching a brow. "The way you put it, I really do sound like I'm a nutcase."

His look turned sour and he sighed, glancing away.

"Everyone in here turns into a monster or demon at night, as far as I've heard. Not that it fucking matters." He flashed the doctor a grin. "I'm fucking Greed, and I'm fucking getting out of this joint as soon as I can."

"Greed?" Huang asked, focusing on the tidbits of information in the patients mini-rant that were most interesting. "One of the seven deadly sins?" He wondered how much theology that Marcus knew and why he would choose to call himself that particular sin. There had to be some sort of important implication there.

"Yeah, you heard me." Greed's grin widened. "And they call me that for a reason. Everything's gonna be mine someday--immortality included."

The sides of his smile drooped and he curled his lip as he looked away.

"Not that you care or are even gonna pretend to believe me, and not that I need any of that shit. I know who I am, and I'm not human."

"You look human," Huang pointed out. His tone wasn't one of arguement. He was merely pointing out an observation.

"Yeah, maybe to people easily fooled," Greed swung up from his seat, cracking his shielded knuckles and grinning through sharp teeth. "But if you take a closer look, I'm sure you'll see the difference, and it's not something you can hide."

"A closer look?" Huang asked, unsure what Marcus meant when he said that.

"What, you blind?" Greed deadpanned back, narrowing his eyes. Too bad he couldn't pull the decapitation thing anymore.

Huang was quiet for a moment. He considered Marcus carefully. "I do not see anything about you that does not look one hundred percent human," he said very carefully. "Would you care to enlighten me?" He sounded curious and open to anything that his patient had to say.

Greed wasn't sure if the good doctor was pulling his leg, but it sure as hell wasn't funny. The homunculus felt his frustration level rising, more out of his inability to impress the guy than anything else.

"The claws, the teeth..." With each item on the list, Greed exaggerated his having them until he finally leaned forward and stared into the guy's face. "The eyes...?"

"All look perfectly normal to me," Huang said calmly. His voice was quiet in tone. He could tell that Marcus was getting frustrated, but there was no point to lying to the man. "What do you think I should be seeing?"

"I don't need any of your mindgame bullshit!" Greed growled, slamming his claws down on the edge of the desk. He knew who this kind of quiet inquiry reminded him, this condescension and quiet know-it-all tone. He knew it, and it was driving him crazy. "I'm the Ultimate Shield! Can't you tell?!"

Huand was still calm, even as Marcus got more violent. "I don't know what you mean," he said after a moment. "If you calm down and explain it to me, perhaps then I'll be able to tell. If not, then there really isn't anyway that I can help you today."

"If I need to explain, you can't help." Greed scowled, slamming his hand down on the desk a final time before turning to leave. "I'm sick of this shit."

And out he went.

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Day 26; Doctor's Office #7: Dr. Huang

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