damned_institute | Dayshift 20: Dr. Washu's Office [Doctor Office 5]

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Dayshift 20: Dr. Washu's Office [Doctor Office 5]

For Doctor Hakubi Washu, it was like Christmas had just come early, especially delivered by Santa Claus himself. She'd leaped at the chance to use her knowledge for good- well, at least kinda-sorta good?- and more importantly to advance her brilliant new theorem. All she needed were the minds for study, and it just so happened that the Institute had plenty of such minds for the studying, and plenty was being offered for her to do so.

Wasn't capitalism such a wonderful thing?

Thoroughly in her element, Washu had pored through the patient files and gotten everything ready, even managing to add a little 'flair' to her office. Several unidentifiable but quite flashy machines were on her desk, sharing the space with a small bowl of sweets, and the standard-issue padded couch had been 'modified' while she was at it.

She couldn't quite hide her glee as she clapped her hands together and grinned when she heard the intercom. Any moment now, aaaaany moment...

((OOC: For ~~Ichigo~~, ~~Tamaki~~, ~~Darman, Fayt~~, Nigredo, ~~Takaya~~, ~~Yazoo~~, and ~~Zoe~~.))

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Huh, tough nut to crack, wasn't he? Maybe she was barking up the wrong tree here. Or maybe he was just ready for it? Mm, hard to say.

"Nope, you're in the right room. Name's Doctor Hakubi Washu, after all, and it's not just to make me sound more impressive." She grinned a little, motioning for him to straighten out.

"Anyway; mind laying out and telling me about your family? I'm sure there's not much to say about the routine, after all."

Ichigo decided to take her advice, making himself a little more comfortable. He hesitated a little at first, though, watching her carefully for some kind of electric warning, before finding a cozy spot.

"Right, doctor." he nodded, then looking somewhat pensive. "Well...my family's a little strange. I have two sweet little sisters, and they're fine, but my dad...well, he means well, but he's kind of a nutcase. If I'm not home in time for curfew, I usually get a kick in the face."

Huh, that was odd. Actually doing what she asked him to do? It was a refreshing change of pace! And there weren't any shocks this time; she had invited him to sit, after all.

...she used her scientific genius for good! Honest!

"Woah, a literal boot to the noggin, here?"

"Yep. At least, he tries to." Ichigo shrugged lightly, usually making it a case to dodge any of Isshin's spontaneous attacks. "An elbow-drop for sleeping in, a kidney punch for not paying attention...things like that."

This was just going to sound weird to someone who didn't understand Ichigo's father. The man wasn't abusive, with all the specific mental instabilities that came with it; he simply had his own exuberant ways.

"But, he always does it with a smile. A real one. My dad's a real outgoing type of guy, very competitive, and just likes to show off, so he does weird things. I know he'd jump in front of a bullet for any of us, though, the stupid bastard."

...not abusive. Right. Well, Washu was going to make a note anyway, as some of that 'outgoing, competitive, weird stuff' seemed to have rubbed off on the kid, and in the wrong way.

"How about you? Would you describe yourself as 'competitive' or 'liking to show off'? ...and would you take a bullet for him or your sisters?"

"Sure, I can be competitive, but I don't hit people for no good reason." Ichigo quickly retorted, his lenient attitude quickly souring. It looks like he'd earned himself a bad reputation around here for all his fights.

"Listen...do you know what my name means? Ichigo." he began with a smile, sounding rather proud. "It means 'protector', and my dad gave me that name. I'd always do anything I could, if it'd just mean that none of them would ever have to feel that kind of pain again..."

Washu didn't reply to that first part, just nodding instead. 'For no good reason'? That explained a lot, at least.

"'That' kind of pain?" Her voice was quietly interrogative, but sympathetic as well. She honestly did feel for this guy... and she swore, once again, that she'd make him well enough to return to his family. As kooky as it sounded.

As legitimate as the expressions of sadness he wore were in that lingering moment, that was all Ichigo wanted to discuss on the matter.

"Yeah, 'that' kind of pain. Maybe you can figure out what that means, being a doctor and all, but we just met. I'm not gonna start telling you my life story."

"Then we'll just have to meet again, won't we?" She grinned, not minding the statement at all. Enough progress had been made, in her opinion, so there was no need to push any further. Not yet, anyway.

"Anything else you wanna talk about?"

"Seriously..." Ichigo shot back, returning to an earlier look of pure uncertainty. "...are you really a doctor?"

Ichigo sat up a little, resting back on the thick of his elbows. "I mean, you're supposed to help me reach some kind of breakthrough, but I've been doing most of the talking here."

"Kiddo, I've got more Ph. D.'s than most people have bills in a month. I've been certified by every major institute in the world, and quite a few minor ones in the bargain. Yeah, I'm a doctor. And yeah, I'm trying to help you reach 'some kind of breakthrough'. But you know what?"

She leaned forward, honestly meaning what she was saying. "You're a person first, and a patient second. If I don't know who you are, then how am I supposed to help you out? I could probably hop you up on drugs and be done with it, but that's not what I want. And somehow, I bet that's not what you want, either. Right?"

It took him a moment, but Ichigo actually took the small pause in the conversation to envision what it really was that he wanted. He wouldn't reveal just what that was, but it didn't exactly involve therapy.

"Yeah, that's true, isn't it?" he agreed, nodding lightly. "So, we'll talk...maybe. I'm gonna reserve the right to stay quiet on some things, okay?"

"Sure, that's fine. Let me know if you don't want to talk, and we can move to something else." For now, anyway. She'd break out one of her inventions if she really needed something, though. But that was her little secret.

"How about you tell me what you think about this place, again. The patients, the staff... do you think that you've improved at all since you got here?"

Ichigo prompt shook his head, even adding a slight look of pouting disappointment. "No, I don't think I've improved at all since then." he commented, sounding strangely as if it should be rather obvious. "I haven't had much contact with the staff except nobody nurses and no-name orderlies..."

Then there was the matter of his reason for fighting so often. "There are a few other patients that sorta piss me off. They've been causing trouble for some of my friends, and that's why I end up throwing punches."

She scoffed under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like 'What are they thinking?', before she looked at the kid again. He seemed strangely lucid... then again, they weren't talking about his delusions at that point.

Washu had had quite enough of that, thank you. Dealing with patients was something that had to be done in small chunks. And even now she was less than half-way done.

"What kind of trouble? And let me guess, the nurses only step in after the fists start flying?

"Trouble, as in one guy snuck into the bedroom of my friend the other night when lights were out, then tortured her. Ripped her hair out, cut her up, and beat her up."

The idea, as it ran visually about in his mind, was starting to make his blood boil again. As soon as he met up with Kadaj once more, there'd be no guarantees that the nurses could drag him away again.

"Maybe the security at night isn't so hot. You guys should look into it." he nodded, then cleared his throat rather loudly to hide an emerging bit of chuckling. "Yeah. The nurses like to show up out of nowhere with a big, goofy smile."

That made Washu summon her computer- two blank black panels that only barely seemed to rest on the desk- and quickly type down a note. 'Create Anti-Molester Device.'

Washu wasn't normally one to be angry- she preferred to get even- but hearing that a guy sneaked into a woman's room and tortured her? Yeah, just a bit of a problem there. "How'd that make you feel, not being able to protect her? And what are you going to do about it?"

Despite the fact that she was supposed to be professional, she hoped that the answer was 'beating the ever-living daylights out of the creep'.

She made another note, though. 'Ask about night-shift security.' If something like that could happen, then how on earth were the patients supposed to get better, anyway? Like asking dolphins to perform when there were sharks in the water, going at it like that.

Ichigo sat there for a moment, staring thoughtfully up at the ceiling, as if he were mulling the question over a few times for just the right answer.

"It felt...awful. Empty. I saw what he did to her in the cafeteria this morning, how hurt she looked, and I just...saw red."

Man, how gratifying that would've felt. Like a little piece of home, putting the local gang trash in their place. "I was about to knock him out, but one of the nurses stopped me, of course. If I get the chance again later, I'm gonna smash his smug little face into a wall!" Ichigo blurted out, narrowing his eyes decidedly.

That put Washu in an extremely sticky dilemma, ethics-wise. Not being able to control anger was a serious problem, and was probably the reason this kid was locked up in the first place. But she couldn't exactly say, 'Oh no, don't get revenge, I'm sure that if you talked it out it would work.' Sometimes kids needed a good smacking to make them understand.

So instead she simply nodded. "Just remember where you are; getting caught again isn't going to help her."

She checked her timepiece- which had an image of herself inside, needless to say- and frowned. "We're almost out of time here, kiddo. Anything you want to ask me before I send you to the fun fun fun Arts and Crafts room?" Fun, right. The last time she'd built a gingerbread house, she'd 'upgraded' it.

...she was no longer allowed to build gingerbread houses in most principalities, for some inexplicable reason.

"Yeah, I'm not going to do anything stupid." Ichigo replied, sitting up again with a soft, sullen sigh. He clearly didn't look excited about the thought. "I just need to make sure he knows better."

Arching his neck from side to side, working out the stiffness, Ichigo shook his head. "No, I think that'll do. Thanks for the talk, Doc."

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Dayshift 20: Dr. Washu's Office [Doctor Office 5]

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